Office: 605-367-7643
Website: https://www.sf.k12.sd.us/edison/home
Email: SFSDEdisonOffice@k12.sd.us
Counseling Center: 605-367-8331
Fax: 605-367-8457
Edison is now on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Facebook: @WeAreTheCats
Twitter: @EdisonCats
Instagram: @sfsdedisoncats
Newsletter Date:
November 3rd, 2022
Volume 2, Issue 15
Tips From the Office...
Please let the office know as soon as possible if your child is going to be tardy or absent from school. You can call the office or email sfsdedisonattendance@k12.sd.us. If your child is leaving early from school for any reason, please try and let the office know before school starts to avoid classroom disruption.
Student Check In/Out Procedure- You do NOT need to walk your student in to school to check them in if they are late or returning from an appointment. When a student is checking OUT we do need to see the adult that is picking them up in the office. If you are unable to come inside, call the office and we will have a staff member walk your student out to their ride to verify who is picking them up.
Please call or email the office if you have any questions.
605-367-7643
Yearbook Order: Yearbooks can be pre-ordered using the link below. Orders must be placed by November 15th. We will have a very limited amount of extra yearbooks this year
Principal's Corner
Edison Middle School Families,
On the last day of the month my phone prompts me to share memories of the month, and so many came up from our fun times at Edison this past month. Some of my favorites were….
- Families visiting with teachers and checking out the book fair during parent/teacher conferences.
- The final color blast at our Color Run, which involved over 250 Edison students, staff, and families.
- Students chanting a favorite teacher’s name to be subbed in at the Staff vs. Student Volleyball Game, where the 8th grade girls ended up taking the win!
- The Student Council raising over $1000 to donate to the Sanford and Avera Breast Cancer Centers during PINK week.
- Seeing the many different outfits during dress up days focused on Depression Education and Awareness.
Along with all those highlights, I am fortunate every day to see great things happening in our classrooms between our staff and students. As much as I have enjoyed all the special events this past month, the classroom moments are my very favorite!
A special thank you to all the parents, staff, and students that made all these events possible, including our amazing PTO that go above and beyond to support our school! We are so very fortunate to have such a great school community!
Looking forward into 2nd Quarter we must continue to dig deep and focus on the learning happening in our classrooms. One item I want to emphasize this month is attendance. Did you know that studies show that if a student misses more than 10 days of school in a year, it can negatively impact their achievement? It is essential that your student is in school! Keep in mind, if your student needs extra help, we provide morning Edison EXTRA help sessions Tuesday and Thursday mornings beginning at 8:00am. We also have intervention opportunities throughout the school day for those needing support. You can help at home by monitoring Infinite Campus regularly. Please contact the Edison office if you need help accessing your child’s Infinite Campus account. We appreciate your partnership in supporting your child’s learning!
Sincerely,
Amber Blume, Principal
Superintendent Column
Building Up or Tearing Down
By Dr. Jane Stavem, Superintendent
Raising children is difficult. Working with children can be difficult. But parenting and working with children can also be the most rewarding and meaningful things we can do.
When we care for our babies, we focus on their basic needs, and our entire lives are consumed with feeding and sleeping schedules. I often looked back and wondered why it was so hard to get something done when my children were babies when all they did was sit in one place and smile at me!
When we reach the toddler stage, we deal with busy hands and feet that require constant monitoring to keep children safe from power outlets, falling objects, and eating dog food. Well, maybe the dog food was just at my house! There are tantrums in the toy aisle, bargaining over candy in the grocery store checkout lanes, and the continual need for reteaching and redirection as we train children about what is right and wrong.
Finally, children are ready for school, and the focus shifts to helping them learn, dealing with friendships and social settings, and learning accountability and responsibility through activities and new challenges.
At last, independence arrives, and worries shift to safe driving, safe choices, and hoping they don’t head down a path that leads to failure or hinders their adult trajectory.
My youngest child graduated, and I felt this overwhelming relief. We had run the gauntlet and come out on the other side. Now I had to worry about my children from a distance. I would no longer be able to monitor their daily life, and it was time for them to be responsible for their adult choices.
When I think about the community of Sioux Falls and the Sioux Falls School District, I am continually amazed and reminded of so many things that have been put in place to support children and families through the journey of parenting and school. From essential resources to awesome activities, we live in this fantastic place where the focus is on helping families thrive.
As we look to the future, there are new challenges and opportunities, and for me, there is a clear line for determining what should become part of our Sioux Falls life.
- Does it build kids and families up or tear them down?
- Does it make it easier to be a child in Sioux Falls, or does it make it more difficult?
- Does it help families thrive or create new avenues for challenges?
Every day, thousands of people come to work in Sioux Falls to make a difference in a child's life. It has never been easy work, and it never will be. Let’s make sure we’re doing everything possible to increase those things that make parenting and working with children better and reduce and eliminate obstacles to that goal whenever possible.
Our children depend on us for a bright future!
Edison's PTO
Happy November from the PTO! We are so grateful for all the support we received from Edison families over the last month.
A big THANK YOU to all our Color Run participants and volunteers! Not only was there laughter and a great feeling of community at the event, but we raised just over $19,000 in pledges! Way to go, Cats! If you have any photos or videos from the Color Run that you'd like to share for the yearbook, you can email them to the PTO at edisonsiouxfalls@gmail.com.
Another thanks goes out to everyone who donated food items, money, and time toward the staff meals during conferences. We were able to provide a variety of delicious soups, breads, and treats as well as a catered meal from Jimmy John's.
We would also like to thank everyone who volunteered and shopped at the Scholastic book fair and Spirit Wear store. We raised over $500 in Scholastic dollars which will allow us to purchase books for the Edison library and classrooms. And we raised over $500 from the Spirit Wear sales! We owe an extra special thanks to Chelsey McClenehan for organizing the book fair and Angela Gosch for always keeping our Spirit Wear store running!
As we head into the holiday season, please keep Edison in mind:
*Edison Spirit Wear makes a great holiday gift! We are working on another online spirit wear store. Watch for an email reminder in the next couple weeks. If you have any questions you can contact our Spirit Wear Coordinator, Angela Gosch, at edisonms.spiritwear@gmail.com
* As you do your online holiday shopping, don't forget about AmazonSmile! Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your purchase to the charitable organization of your choice. Just start your shopping at Amazon Smile and choose Edison Middle School of Sioux Falls. www.smile.amazon.com.
Lastly, we hope you can join us for our next PTO meeting on Wednesday, November 19th, at noon via Zoom. Look for an email with the Zoom link, or you find it on our website www.edisonsf.org.
With gratitude,
Edison PTO
edisonsiouxfalls@gmailcom, www.edisonsf.org
Student Council
Music Notes
Important Dates for First Semester~
Make sure your child’s concert dates are on your calendar. High school concert information will be communicated with your child if they are an 8th grader in band or chorus.
MAIN CONCERTS -
Nov. 8 Edison Orchestra-City Wide 6-12 Orchestra Festival SF Arena Time 7:00 pm
Dec. 6 Edison Band Concerts 6th grade–6:30 p.m., 7th & 8th grade–7:30 p.m.
Dec. 13 Edison Chorus Concerts 6th grade – 6:30 p.m. & 7th/8th grade – 7:45 p.m.
OTHER IMPORTANT DATES -
Nov. 7 RHS Fall Choir Concert w/8th grade chorus students (rehearsal 6 pm)7:00 p.m. @ RHS
Nov. 21 LHS Band Concert w/8th graders (rehearsal on 11/18 at 7:30 a.m.) 7:00 p.m. @ LHS
Nov. 29, 30, & Dec. 1 Cinderella Musical Auditions in the Auditorium 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Dec. 8 RHS Band Concert w/8th graders (7:30 am rehearsal) 7:00 p.m. @ RHS
Musician of the Month~
Each month the band, orchestra, and chorus areas will each recognize a 6th, 7th, and 8th grader that shows exceptional dedication, responsibility, and character each and every day.
Musicians of the month for October are:
Band: Sydney Hartmann (8) Maddison Kleinsasser (7) Emma Dougherty (6)
Chorus: Karen Gonzalez (8) Edwin Konz (7) Simon Cole (6)
Orchestra: Austin Loween (8) Lauren Statema (7) Kaidynce Twedt (6)
The Edison music department wishes to thank Lewis Drug for supporting our Musician of the Month program!
Ensemble Schedule~
Jazz Band meets on Monday and Wednesday mornings from 7:45 – 8:45 a.m.
Wind Ensemble will not be meeting this year due to lack of sign-ups and availability.
Thank you to all who were interested!
Brio - Students who audition and are selected for the string ensemble, Brio, will meet on Wednesday and Friday morning from 8:10 – 8:45 a.m.
Inventions meets on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 7:45 - 8:45 a.m.
Cinderella Musical Auditions~
We will hold auditions for this year’s musical, CINDERELLA, on November 29, 30, and December 1. Auditions will be after school in the auditorium. Sign ups for musical auditions are posted outside the chorus room. Students should sign up for the audition night that works best for them. There will be audition workshops to help prepare interested students. Workshop dates: Nov. 9 from 7:45 - 8:40 a.m., Nov. 15 from 3:55 - 4:45 p.m., Nov. 18 from 7:45 - 8:40 a.m., and Nov. 28 from 3:55 - 4:45 p.m. Students can come to as many of the workshops as they want. The musical performances will be on March 16 and 17, 2023.
Sign Language Interpreter~
Please notify your child’s director if you need a sign language interpreter for either the winter or spring concert. Notify the director at least ONE MONTH before the concert date. (Director e-mails are included in this ECHO.)
Edison Music Department Website~
The Edison Music Department has a website! Refer to this website for information and dates.
http://emsmusicdept.weebly.com/
“Like” us on Facebook!~
Edison Music Department has a Facebook page! This page will be used for informational purposes only. You can check concert dates, rehearsal dates, practicing tips, etc. on our page. We will NOT have any pictures of students posted, it will strictly be used for getting information out to you!
The page is: www.facebook.com/EMSMusicDept
There are other Edison schools out there so check before you “like” our site!
Band directors – Rick Jensen - Rick.T.Jensen@k12.sd.us & Emily Deinken – Emily.Deinken@k12.sd.us
Chorus directors – Amber Sundvold – Amber.Sundvold@k12.sd.us & Mollie Weflen – Mollie.Weflen@k12.sd.us
Orchestra directors – Stacy Sip – Stacy.Sip@k12.sd.us & Shannon Abels – Shannon.Abels@k12.sd.us
“Without music, life would be a mistake.” Friedrich Nietzsche
Library News
SD Teen Choice @your EMS Library
Since 1989, each year the South Dakota Teen Choice Award Committee of the South Dakota Library Association publishes a list of books to promote quality literature and to help South Dakota teachers and librarians in selecting and promoting books for adolescents. Students read books from the list and give it a star rating of 1 to 5, 5 being best. The book that gets the highest score wins the South Dakota Teen Choice Award!
At Edison, students can be involved in our school level challenge. Each time a student finishes one of these SD Teen Choice books, they can enter the monthly drawing for prizes. All students that enter the monthly drawings are eligible to win the Big Kahuna (the grand prize), which includes lunch and a trip to Barnes and Noble with a friend during the school day. Please encourage your child to read any of the books listed below!
News from the Counseling Office
JA Inspire
As many of you may be familiar with “JA in a Day,” there is now a new transformation of this program at the 8th grade level. Rather than having community members come in and work with students in the schools, students are completing their SD MyLife inventories and, based on those results, take a tour of several business opportunities at the convention center. 8th grade students will be involved in 60 minutes of career activities with roughly 100 business partners from the community at this location. There will be preparatory work done at school by staff in October and early November with the trip to the convention center happening the morning of November 15th.
Our 6th and 7th grade students will still have a school based JA experience, but that will also be modified. Rather than a whole day, these grade levels will have a morning of activities. We are excited to see how these opportunities “inspire” our students for their career related futures.
8th Graders Thinking About High School Already?
8th grade students will be working on high school transition activities during pro! They took an interest inventory assessment on SDMyLife.com in Social Studies classes. Dates will be set for them and their families to go to their respective high schools in January to get more information, get questions answered and registration will also begin in January. More information to follow in December.
Edison Athletic Information
Edison Families-
The fall athletic season has come to a close. Wow! did that go fast. I witnessed some excellent performances in all three sports this past fall and hope that continues into our winter seasons. With that said, Athletic opportunities keep coming.
Girls basketball practice begins November 7th. Sign ups are now through November 4th. Please see Mr. Christian after November 4th if you want to participate. Sign-ups close November 10th. Please go to the Edison athletic website for more information on practice/game schedules and to sign-up.
Girls are required to have a sports physical and parent permission packet completed in order to participate. If a student participated in a fall sport they already have all the required paperwork completed.
Gymnastics for 7th and 8th graders will begin at the high schools later this month as well. Please check with your child's attendance area high school for more information about those opportunities.
Boys and girls wrestling begins 1/17/23
Due to shipping and availability boys wrestling which was supposed to start in November has been moved to coincide with girls wrestling starting in January. Sign-ups will begin in early January after Christmas break.
All students are welcome to attend and I hope we fill the stands with cheering and supportive fans. A couple of reminders for students who do attend these sporting events after school. All school rules still apply. Here are a few expectation reminders:
1) Students are expected to sit in the bleachers during the athletic contest and watch the game. Students are not to be “hanging out” in the hallways,or in the cafeteria. Once a student leaves the gym you will be asked to go home.
2) Students are not to be on the playing court or field at any time. These areas are only for competitors, coaches, and officials.
3) Students are expected to show good sportsmanship to everyone that is involved in the competition including: officials, coaches, and athletes of both teams.
If you have any questions about athletics, please feel free to contact me
David Christian
Go Cats!
“In purrsuit of Excellence”
