#iamsouth

Email: msattendance@avon-schools.org
Website: https://www.avon-schools.org/mssouth
Location: 7199 East US Highway 36, Avon, IN, USA
Phone: 317-544-5700
Twitter: @avonsouth

Feb. 19, 2024 - NO SCHOOL - President's Day

Mar. 18 - 29, 2024 - NO SCHOOL - Spring Break

Federal School Lunch Guidelines do not allow students to have food from local restaurants in the school cafeteria. A few students have recently asked their parents to drop off food for them and their friends to eat during their lunchtime. Please say no if your child asks you to do this.

We can only allow parents to bring in food from a nearby restaurant for your child when you are staying to eat lunch with your child during his or her scheduled lunch time. Your child's friends will not be allowed to eat lunch with you and your child.

Thank you for helping us follow the school lunch guidelines.
Dan Chapin

Mr. Will Mahan, Athletic Director/Dean of Students

Ms. Joni Johnson, Athletic Trainer

Spring sports will start after we return from Spring Break!

Our Athletic Department is offering a season ticket option for all students. This season pass is $40. This pass will get all students into each regular season game hosted by South. Regular ticket price is $5 per event. We host approximately 45 athletic events this year at South. This pass will also allow students to enter the three tailgates this year.

The season pass for students is offered through EventLink. EventLink is the online ticket platform that we use for athletic events at South. The student will simply need to show the barcode via cellphone to the ticket taker when entering a game.

The link to purchase this ticket is below:

https://websites.eventlink.com/s/avon-middle-school-south/Tickets/Passes/2900/276

Happy Birthday

to our students celebrating a birthday this week:

Ryleigh Owens

Riley Fuller

Dapo Kolurejo

Alex Kasprzyk

Ferdinand Kosimani

Crystal Luie

Ariane Powell

If you are interested in your child having an international travel experience, please consider the following opportunity. Señora Barker, Spanish teacher at South, will be leading an educational travel opportunity to Panama Spring Break 2026. Panama is located in Central America and is the crossroads between the Americas. Students will experience the jungle, wildlife, science, history, and fun! Panama is a playground for adventure and the itinerary is packed with activities such as ziplining, surfing, whitewater rafting, a trip to the Panama Canal and more! This is a great opportunity for students to broaden their horizons and put their Spanish skills into real world practice. While this is a student-focused tour, adventurous parents are welcome for an additional cost.

Please attend the informational meeting on Monday, March 11 at 6pm at AMS NORTH media center. Enter door 27 or attend via zoom. The zoom link will be posted on the rsvp page. https://rsvp.eftours.com/xsdytt3

If you have any questions, please email Mrs. Barker at habarker@avon-schools.org

*This opportunity is not school sponsored.

2023 - 2024 Yearbooks are on sale now!

Follow the link below to order your yearbook today.

Yearbook school ID: 15098424

National Junior Honor Society will offer after school study help sessions on Wednesday’s after school from 4:10 - 5:00PM. Students will then go to the front commons area and wait for the late bus or parent pick-up. During this time, there will be a supervisor with the students while they wait for the late bus to arrive. Students that will be a car rider home on these days can be picked up at door 1 at 5:00PM.

If your student will be staying for the study session and they need bus transportation home they must sign up for the late bus in the Guidance Office at lunch that day. For those students taking the late bus home, the bus will leave AMS South at 5:10pm.

Each week your child's team will give an update about the current week or week ahead. Please find your child's team below for that information. In addition, you will find news from our Encore teachers, Media Center, and PE/Wellness teachers.

Mrs. Dugan, Mrs. Williams, Mr. Schubert & Mr. Uhl

In Language Arts, we will be finishing our Unit 7C Brain Science and taking the unit assessment on Wednesday and Thursday. In Math, we will be finishing up our unit on angle relationships, triangles, scale drawings, and similarity and taking the test on Thursday. In Pre-Algebra, we will be finding the surface area and volume of prisms, pyramids, cylinders, cones, and spheres. The test will be April 5th. In Science, we will dive into Earth Science by learning about how continents move and how the Earth changes with that movement. In Social Studies, we will finish our unit on South Asia with our Unit Test on Wednesday.

Mrs. Barnes, Mr. Blackmore, Mrs. Boroff & Ms. Weinstein

Social Studies students will be finishing their South Asia unit with Gandhi and the partition of India in 1947. We will have a review day on Wednesday and South Asia unit test on Thursday March 14th. There will be digital flashcards, and multiple games on Schoology to help review the week of the test. In Language Arts, students will be concluding their work within the 7C Brain Science unit. We will be taking our Unit Test on Wednesday and Thursday, and we'll be studying using a practice exam on Tuesday. Reminder: Late work for the 7C Unit will no longer be accepted after the conclusion of the Unit! In Science, we will be moving to our last major unit of the year – Earth Science. We will be starting with continental drift and plate tectonics. Last but not least, March Mammal Madness 2024 is here! We’ll be doing a mini-research task on the different animals in this year’s MMM and then filling out brackets for which animals we think would be most successful if they were to meet up! Math students will be reviewing Monday to Wednesday and then will be taking the test on angles and triangles on Thursday. Pre-Algebra students will be continuing their work on volume and surface area of 3D shapes.

Mr. Leach, Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Ringham & Mrs. Schaffer

Mr. McDonald, Ms. Schaber, Mrs. Shambaugh & Mr. Thoennes

Language Arts

Mrs. Ringham - Language Arts students are wrapping up our Brain Science unit. The unit test will be Wednesday and Thursday.

Mr. Thoennes - Students will be wrapping unit 7C with a test on Wednesday and Thursday

Math & Pre-Algebra

Mrs. Schaffer - Math 7 students will be reviewing and testing over angle relationships, triangles, and scale drawings. Then we will be learning about the number pi. In Pre-Algebra, students will be practicing with calculating the volume of prisms, pyramids, cylinders, cones and spheres.

Mrs. Shambaugh - Math students will complete our unit over angles and triangles. The unit test will be Friday, March 15. Thursday 3/14 is Pi Day, so we will have some fun celebrating all things pi (and pie)!

Science

Mrs. Miller - In Science, students will be starting our unit about the Continental Drift and plate tectonics. Our last quarter will be covering Earth Science.

Ms. Schaber - Science will be continuing learning about earth science. Next week we will be diving into how Pangea broke apart and different types of plate boundaries.

Social Studies

Mr. Leach - Social Studies students will take their unit 7 test over South Asia.

Mr. McDonald - Social Studies will take their Unit 7 test over South Asia.

Mrs. DeBow, Mr. Goson, Mrs. Mellen & Mrs. Zimmerman

Mr. McDonald, Ms. Schaber, Mrs. Shambaugh & Mr. Thoennes

Language Arts

Mrs. Zimmerman - Students will continue to work through unit 8C. They will complete the volume 1 quiz on Friday, March 15.

Mr. Thoennes - Students will be wrapping up Volume 1 on Frankenstein with a quiz.

Pre-Algebra & Algebra

Mrs. DeBow - Algebra students will learn to solve and graph inequalities. Pre-algebra students will finish the geometry unit and test on Thursday.

Mrs. Shambaugh - Pre-Algebra students will complete our geometry unit with a test on Friday, March 15. Thursday 3/14 is Pi Day, so we will have some fun celebrating all things pi (and pie)!

Science

Mr. Goson - Next week we will be completing a mini unit on circuits. Please have your child bring in a shoe box for this lab.

Ms. Schaber - Science students will be diving into a week-long mini unit. This mini unit will be over electric circuits.

Mrs. Hood - Biology students will continue their introduction into genetics and heredity.

Social Studies

Mrs. Mellen - Next week, we will be finishing our Jackson Unit. We have a test on Wednesday, March 13th.

Mr. McDonald - Social Studies students will take their Unit 8 test over the Age of Jackson.

Mrs. Warthan, Ms. Kegley, Mr. Casey & Mr. Osen

In Science, students will be investigating electrical circuits and will need to bring in a shoebox for next week. Biology students will be investigating heredity/genetics. In Pre-Algebra, students will test over solid geometry. Algebra students will be solving and graphing inequalities. Social Studies students will prepare for their Unit 8 Test on the Age of Jackson. In Language Arts, students will be reading volume one of Frankenstein and learning how to read/analyze a graphic novel.

Mrs. Hood, Mr. Rodgers, Mrs. Taylor & Mr. Williams

In Language Arts, students will read and analyze Volume I of Frankenstein. They will take a quiz on Friday over Volume I, including the twenty vocabulary words they were given at the beginning of the volume. Science students will be doing a weeklong circuit investigation. This is called the shoebox circuit lab. Notice students will need to bring in an empty shoebox for this lab. Biology students will continue their introduction into genetics and heredity. Algebra students begin our unit on Inequalities. This week we will be solving and graphing 1 variable inequalities and will begin graphing linear inequalities on the coordinate plane. Thursday is National Pi Day so join us in a happy salute to pi at 1:59 on Thursday! Pre-Algebra will end our unit on 3 Dimensional Figures with applications of finding volume and surface area. Our unit test will be Thursday 3/14. Which happens to be National Pi Day 😊 Please join us by celebrating at 1:59PM! Social Studies classes will be studying the Age of Jackson. We will have a test on Wednesday or Thursday depending on the outcome of certain lessons.

Señora Barker (Spanish), Mrs. Hauptmann (Japanese), Mr. Parr (Computer Science),

Mrs. Leonard (Art), Mr. McFarlin (Engineering and Technology), Mr. Wolf (Robotics),

Mrs. Snyder (Flight & Space and Medical Detectives),

and Mr. Tarnowski (Digital Literacy & Communication)

Spanish

Students will be learning about stem changing verbs and will have a tener expression quiz on Tuesday.

Japanese

The Japanese class topics this week will be katakana and kanji characters, reading words written in katakana, issuing and accepting invitations.

Computer Science

7th grade students will be starting the first of their 9 weeks with learning about simple shapes and sprites in coding.

8th grade students will be starting their first week with Innovators and makers and will be learning about Microbits, their future projects, and will get a crash course of the program.

Art

To start out the first week of art, students will create a mixed media sculpture using wire, nylon, gesso, and paint. After spring break we will get into our clay unit which lasts about 6 weeks. Clay dries out our skin so if any students bring in lotion for the class to use, they will earn 15 PBIS points that can be cashed in for prizes.

7th grade Engineering and Design & 8th grade Gateway to Technology

7th Grade & 8th Grade - I am excited to start a brand-new quarter once again inviting new students to learn about the process of design and engineering! Starting out both grade levels will be going through lab safety/expectations and general classroom environment expectations. All students are required to pass the safety test before they can be in the shop.

Digital Literacy & Communication

In this final week of Digital Literacy and Communication, our 8th graders are performing their Mock Trial and our 7th graders are giving their Shark Tank presentations, both finishing off their unit on argumentative writing!

Robotics

Robotics 1 – Students will be introduced to robotics and begin exploring the engineering design process.

Robotics 2 – Students will review gear ratios and will begin construction of a gear mechanism.

Medical Detectives

Next week we begin the new quarter for Medical Detectives. We will begin by discussing classroom procedures and rules.

Flight & Space

Next week we begin the new quarter for Flight and Space. We will begin by discussing classroom procedures and rules.

Mrs. Fair, Mrs. Lucas & Mr. Jackson

We are glad to welcome students to a new quarter of PE. Uniforms of a gray shirt, black shorts, and tennis shoes are required each day. As a reminder, this is 30% of the overall grade. This quarter we will be playing ultimate frisbee, pickleball, and fitness.

Mr. Basso (Band), Ms. Szymkow (Band), Mr. Miller (Orchestra) & Mr. Nelson (Choir)

Band

The bands all have the ISSMA performance on Friday night and I'd like to include the results since the newsletter comes out Sunday. Do you think I can send you results on Saturday to get added or is that too late?

Choir

ISSMA is tomorrow! We are very excited to perform all the music we’ve been working on all quarter. After this week we will begin our Spring Concert programming!

Orchestra

Congratulations to all orchestras on yet again another fantastic ISSMA contest. All orchestras represented themselves well and did exactly as expected - performed their very best!

Students will be receiving new music this week. After Spring Break, we will only have 5 weeks until our spring concert. They will need to amp up their practice.

HS Audition: 8th Grade students will be receiving HS audition information, and that will be due in the first two weeks of May. More info to come.

8th Grade & Chamber King's Island Trip: Information will be passed out this week.

Thank you!

-Mr. Miller

Ms. Sever

As we approach Spring Break, please remind your students to return any books they are NOT currently reading to the library. Students are still welcome to keep or check out new books to read over Spring Break. I am hoping to prevent lost books by having them return ones not currently in use. If you or your student has any questions about their library account, please reach out to me at casever@avon-schools.org or on Schoology by messaging Cassidy Sever. Thank you!

ABSENCE PROCEDURE

If a student is absent from school, the PARENT must call the school by 10:00 A.M. to report the absence. If no call is received, the automated school system will make an effort to contact the parent, but if NO PARENT CALL has been received by 3:00 P.M. the day following the absence, the student will be charged with an unexcused absence. You may also send an email to us to notify us of your child's absence at msattendance@avon-schools.org.

** Please be advised that we cannot take early dismissal information over the telephone. **

If your child needs to leave school early during the school day please send a note in with your child to bring to the office first thing in the morning or email us at

msattendance@avon-schools.org with all the necessary information: students name, date and time picking up, and the name of the person picking your child up if someone other than a parent or guardian will be picking up. This email will go directly to the front office secretaries and they will be able to get your child an early dismissal pass so that they can be in the front office when you are ready to pick them up. If you are unable to email us we will need you to come into the office with your valid ID, once we verify it is a parent/guardian picking up we will be able to call the student down for dismissal.

If someone other than a parent or guardian will be picking up your child we MUST have this information in writing from a parent/guardian. Please include his or her name on the note or email. Once we verify their photo ID then the student can sign out and leave.

If leaving early for a doctor/dentist/orthodontist appointment, please provide verification note from the appointment to the main office to ensure that the absence is excused.

Using this email will ensure your child will get a pass out of class to be in the office. Please do not use Parent Square to send a message to your child's teachers as we cannot guarantee that this message will get to the front office to get your child a pass. Our teachers are very busy throughout the day and may not be able to check Parent Square often, or if the teacher is out that day we would not get that message in the front office in time to get your child an early dismissal pass.

We want to make sure that your information is getting to the right person in a timely manner, and hopefully prevent any miscommunication or missed messages.

It is our belief that students can best achieve academic success by being in school every day. We also understand that a student may occasionally have an opportunity to experience extraordinary opportunities that may result in a missed day of school. The principal or designee may grant a pre-arranged absence, if the absence provides an extraordinary opportunity for the student and/or family. The request must be submitted at least five school days in advance of the requested absence. The student will be required to complete all missed work upon his/her return to school. No more than three days of pre-arranged absences will be approved each year. Pre-arranged absences may not be granted during the following circumstances:

• I-Learn

• During semester exams

• When the requested absence would push the student’s attendance record into excessive absence status or if the student has surpassed the allowable number of absences.

Below is our Pre-Arranged Absence form.

For Visitors to our Building

Avon Schools require all visitors to check-in at the front office using our visitor management system, Safe Visitor. This system requires visitors to scan their driver's license or state identification card for a check of their record. A temporary badge is provided to all visitors to wear while in our buildings. As our visitors leave school, they scan and return that badge to front office staff.

Entering the Building

Anyone entering our building beyond the front office will need to have a valid photo ID with them so that they can be checked in through our Safe Visitor Solutions system. You will be given a badge to wear while in the building so that you are identified as a visitor. When leaving you will return to the front office so that we can check you out of Safe Visitor Solutions and take your badge.

Visiting Students during Lunch

At this time, we are allowing parents/guardians to have lunch with their child during their specified lunch time in our commons area outside of the cafeteria. Parents must follow our policy for entering our building listed above; present a valid photo ID and be checked into our Safe Visitor system. Please take note that this process may take a few minutes to get you checked into our system so please allow for a few extra minutes for that process.

**If someone other than a parent/guardian would like to have lunch with your student, we MUST have that information in writing in advance from a parent/guardian. You can either send a note in with your student to bring to the office when they arrive at school in the morning, or you can email our attendance line with the information at msattendance@avon-schools.org

7th and 8th grade parents: Your children may be eligible for a college scholarship!

If your child qualifies for free and reduced lunch they are automatically enrolled in the 21st Century Scholars Program.

View the form below for more information.

Avon Community Schools has chosen Worth Ave. Group as the vendor of choice to insure school-issued laptops. Insurance with Worth Ave. Group will protect the device against: Accidental Damage, Theft, Fire, Flood, Natural Disasters, Power Surge and Vandalism. This insurance policy will provide full replacement cost coverage and will protect the item worldwide (on and off school grounds). The policy is also transferable to a replacement unit. Insurance plans may be purchased online. Please note this insurance does not cover accidental loss of the laptop, and families will be charged the full replacement cost for a lost device.

• Coverage Term: July 18, 2023 - July 18, 2024
  • It is up to you to renew yearly.

Need help with Math and Science homework?

Call the Homework Hotline

1-877-ASK-ROSE

Click below to visit their website

www.askrose.org

The Mary Lee Maier Community Pantry is available to Avon school families and employees.

Every Thursday from 5:00 - 6:00PM (when school is in session)

at Avon Intermediate School East

Please do not arrive before 4:30PM due to AIS bus/school traffic

Enrollment is simple. Please complete your 2023 - 2024 enrollment before you shop. Below you will find more information for enrollment, please click the link below.

Please click on Community Flyers below to take you to the ACSC web page of all the Educational Flyers and Community Events Flyers happening in our community.