Middle School Newsletter
Quarter 1
From the Dean's Desk...
Welcome back! I hope everyone had a restful summer break. Students seem to be adjusting back into the routine of school. I am pleased to report that seventh graders are finding success opening their lockers!
We kicked off the first day of school with a Rock, Paper, Scissors relay race against mentor groups and enjoyed ice cream sandwiches afterward.
Homecoming preparations have begun for Middle School students. Each mentor group will design and create door decorations and banners. T-shirt designs have been submitted and voted on for this year's Middle School t-shirt, watch your email for ordering information. For the third year, parents will play in a volleyball match against their students on Friday, October 11. See below for a message and sign up from Mrs. Rathmann.
A few reminders... if you haven't sent in supplies from the lists yet, we are in desperate need of Kleenex with the influx of allergies already this year. Students can bring supplies to their mentor teacher.
Students have been reminded of the dress code policy and cell phone policy. Please remind them in the mornings to follow both policies. Lastly, teachers report that students are "starving" in the mornings. It is over three hours until lunch time if they haven't eaten anything before school.
We are off to a great start! Thank you for your continued support.
Mrs. Frey
Middle School Teachers wore their favorite back to school t-shirts.
Quote for the Quarter-Mrs. Kimmel
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” – Albert Einstein.
Language Arts-Ms. Nelson
7th Graders are currently learning about the eight parts of speech to get us started this year. Learning this will help us understand other grammar and mechanics as we move forward into writing and other grammar units. Knowing the parts of speech will help with overall sentence fluency and knowledge in how to correctly structure sentences!
8th Graders have been reviewing parts of speech and how to structure paragraphs, but we are now moving into our first writing unit! Students will be writing personal narratives that will focus on a single incident from their lives during which they learned some kind of lesson. We will also be working on using strong descriptive language in this project. It will be great to get our writing muscles going again!
REMINDER: Journals are due on the last day of every month! (Prompts and expectations are posted on Canvas.)
Middle School Forensics will begin in early October. More information to come!
Science-Ms. Fish
We have been off to a great start of the year in science!
In 8th grade science we have started our year learning about energy and how energy is transferred between objects. Moving forward in the quarter we will be learning all about forces and how they impact the movement of different objects in our universe.
This quarter in 7th grade science we started out the year by learning about the rock formations on Mars and how they can provide evidence that there was once liquid water on Mars. As we continue with our study of geology we will begin learning all about plate tectonics and how plate motion has changed the Earth over that last 4.5 billion years.
Social Studies-Ms. Clements
“History is who we are, and why we are the way we are.” David McCullough
7th Grade Social Studies:
Students are working their way through political and physical maps of Europe. While this is time-consuming, it will pay off when we begin talking about the Roman Empire and the beginning of the medieval period in Europe. The 7th graders have just finished the maps of Western Europe and are beginning Eastern Europe. Following this, we will look at Eurasia before starting on the Roman Republic.
8th Grade Social Studies:
We started the year with political and physical maps of the North American continents, the 50 American States, and Latin America. Soon we will begin discussing the earliest Americans including current theories about how these early groups arrived in the Americas, patterns of settlement, and cultural ways of life.
Literature-Mr. Mueller
Independent Reading Choices
Students who are reluctant readers will often gravitate to short books that can earn them quick points. Books like “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and “Big Nate” are fun and easy to comprehend, so I find many of these titles on my students’ Books to Read lists.
While these books do a great job of promoting reading, they often don’t require students to stretch themselves as readers. Therefore, I strongly encourage Literature students to limit how many of these books they read in a year. If your child enjoys these books but needs something different to read, they can always see me or the school librarian, and we will gladly suggest interesting alternatives to read. It’s even possible we can help them find a new series that captures their attention and makes the independent reading process easier to manage.
Novel units are three weeks away
Students in the eighth grade will read The Adoration of Jenna Fox. In this science fiction novel, a young girl awakens from a coma only to find that she no longer remembers her life. Her parents tell her that she has been in a terrible accident, but they are unwilling to share any other details about what actually happened. As Jenna tries to reconnect with her past by watching home movies, she finds it increasingly difficult to avoid the feeling that her family is keeping a much larger secret from her. This is a slower moving book, so some students will say that it is boring. However, it raises a number of interesting questions that are worth exploring: How important are one’s memories? What limits should we place on technology? And what types of choices should parents make for their children? Students should enjoy debating some of these topics over the next couple of weeks.
Students in the seventh grade will read The Outsiders. A classroom staple for years (it’s possible you read it yourself in school), The Outsiders covers two weeks in the life of Ponyboy, a “greaser” living in a poor neighborhood in Tulsa. Ponyboy and his friends regularly fight with the upper class “Socs” who live on the West side of town. One fateful evening, the rivalry goes too far, and Ponyboy and his friends have to deal with the fallout from that night. Despite its age, this book is always warmly received by students. If you remember reading the book or watching the movie, don’t hesitate to talk to your child about Ponyboy’s experience and what it teaches him about life. Taking the time to have a conversation about books with your child is a great way to send the signal that reading is important!
Math-Mrs. Rathmann
Math 101 - Syllabus
7th Graders: Unit 1 - Scale Drawings (Think blue prints!)
8th Graders: Unit 1 - Rigid Transformations (Skill to build a foundation for both Math8 and Algebra)
Daily Required Materials: Workbook, Notebook, and Chromebook - ALL the books!
Homework
Daily Homework: Workbook problems - usually around 5 practice problems that match with the concept for the day and review. Effort must be seen, not necessarily correct answers, in order to receive credit for the daily homework.
Weekly Homework: Delta Assignment - Posted online on Fridays and due the following Friday at the end of the day (3:13). Possible to get 100% every week, because it is based on completion. Estimated Time it takes to complete - 25-30 minutes.
Quizzes and Tests
Practice problems are assigned via Delta Math - if your student(s) do not complete this, they basically haven’t studied for the assessments.
Quizzes - No corrections or retakes allowed. Your student(s) may be assigned to a study session or two with the teacher to prepare for the Unit Test.
Tests - Corrections and retakes are allowed, but they must be doing their daily homework in order to receive this opportunity. I will prioritize students that have been putting forth an effort throughout the unit when helping with studying for the test or corrections afterwards. Corrections do give 50% of the points lost back. Retakes can take the place of the original test grade, but corrections must have been made first.
RETAKES AND CORRECTIONS must be done by the assigned due date to count.
In my math classes, I want the students to think deeper about concepts and work through the problems slowly….treat everything like it is a puzzle to be solved. I do not care about how fast you are or correct answers, if you cannot explain what you did.
If EVER you need anything to support your child, PLEASE email and let me know. They are all great mathematicians.
Health and Physical Education-Mr. Wierzba and Mr. Jensen
In health 7 we started into our health overview unit. To start the unit we did a health introduction to help to get to know everyone in class. Then we completed a health assessment to see how we are doing with the components of health. Then we went into the meat and potatoes of the unit by covering influences on health, lifestyle factors and what a reliable health resource looks like. We then dug a little deeper into lifestyle factors by doing a current health article with a partner. The next few units we are going to cover are body systems along with goal setting.
In PE we have been juggling a few units depending on the weather. The units we have started into are biking, ultimate football and squeezing in a few fitness tests to get a baseline for the year. The biking unit is off to a good start because we have gone on several rides to enjoy the beautiful days we had this warm fall. On our rainy days we have stayed in the gym for some competitive ultimate football games that have usually come down to the final few plays. Finally in PE we will be starting into fitness tests soon (sit-ups, push-ups, mile, sit and reach and shuttle run) in hopes of getting them done before mid October. Upcoming units will be weight room, volleyball and basketball.
Business Education-Mr. Schneider
Business 8 Exploratory News!
Mr. Schneider is excited to join the MS staff as the Business 8 Exploratory teacher. He teachers a section of Business 8 Exploratory for Grade 8 students each term. Topics covered include: creating a business plan, money in our lives, consumer skills, budgeting, credit, savings, investing, protecting yourself from consumer fraud and so much more! We learn, we share, we present and we are engaged each day with something new and fun! I look forward to working with all of the Grade 8 students this school year!
Art-Mrs. Schmidt
7th-grade student artists began making mini works of art in their first project, Artist Trading Cards. We studied Line, an Element of Art, by creating various complex Zentangle designs of lines, shapes, and patterns. Students recorded their process as a timelapse video and are in the process of turning it into an iMovie. Check out student work on our online gallery at Artsonia!
DHS Art Club is holding a fundraiser in which our Demon logo will be spray painted on your driveway for $30 per logo.
MS Art Club Bake Sale during MS Lunch: Thursday, October 24
(All proceeds pay for Costume Contest Prizes)
MS Costume Contest during MS Lunch (Hosted by MS Art Club): Thursday, October 31
Parent/Teacher Conferences
Wednesday, October 2nd, is the first night of parents/teacher conferences. Teachers will be reaching out to students and families to schedule group or individual conferences. On Wednesday, October 9th, Skyward will be open for families to schedule conferences with individual teachers.
Mr. Mueller explains the relay game
Students lined up ready to go
Joke-Mrs. Kimmel
Where do pears go on vacation?
Why are eggs bad at telling jokes?
Important Dates
September 25-Early Release
September 26-American Players Theater Field Trip
October 2-Parent Teacher Conferences
October 8-Parent Teacher Conferences
October 11-Parent vs. Student Volleyball, dismissal after pep rally, parade
October 25-No School
November 1-MS Quarter One Ends
Joke answers:
Paris
They always crack each other up.