Jaguar Junction *March 2024*

Happy March! It's super hard to believe the 4th quarter is upon us in the 2023-2024 school year. Thank you to everyone who came out during parent teacher conferences to talk about the progress of your students here at Jardine Middle School. We also want to thank the PTO for providing staff lunch from Hog Wild's Barbecue.

WIth the 4th quarter comes the annual KAP state assessments. 8th grade Science will be participating in the assessments March 25-28. 6-8 ELA classes will go the following week on April 2nd and 3rd with Math 6-8 following up the next week on April 9th and 10th. Please remind your student to take these assessments seriously and to give it their absolute best as it shows their progression of learning which is important!!! We just need students to try hard, have stamina and perseverance, and to focus!

Have an amazing Spring Break. Students come back to school on the 19th of March. Also keep in mind, Friday, March 29th is an additional day out of school as long as we have NOT used our Snow Days for the year. At this point, the 29th is a day out!!!

STATE ASSESSMENT PREPARATIONS

Parents and Students -

With the Kansas Math, Reading, and Science Assessments right around the corner, there are some preparations that students can do to help their minds and bodies be prepared for the rigorous assessments that they are about to take. Outside of their studies, here are a few things students can do to make sure they are best prepared for these assessments:

∙ Get plenty of sleep!! Students need at least 7 to 8 hours of good sleep to have enough energy to focus during a school day.

∙ Eat a good breakfast every day! A good breakfast with all of the appropriate food groups help students maintain the energy level they need to stay focused.

∙ BE AT SCHOOL ON TIME! Coming in late could affect the amount of time students have to work on the assessments. Being late places a level of stress on students that interferes with their thought process.

∙ HAVE CHROMEBOOKS CHARGED AND READY TO GO. This is a DAILY expectation anyway.

• Students may NOT use any wireless additions (wireless mouse/earbuds)

By doing some of the above items can help your students be successful.

We would like to thank all the parents of 8th grade students that participated in the Parent/Teacher Conferences on February 21st and 22nd. It was great to be able to visit with you regarding your student’s 9th grade course requests. We would also like to applaud all the 8th grade students that put in the time to complete their 4-Year Plan for high school. They completed this while keeping in mind what their current plans are after high school. This plan can be accessed in Naviance. Parents, if you did not attend conferences, please ask your student to show you the work they did and share their plans for the future.

Mr. Falk and Mr. Barber will now begin working with 6th and 7th grade students on plans for next year. Related Arts classes available include the following:

7th Grade

Band (Year)

Orchestra (Year)

Full Year Choir (Year)

PE (Semester)

FACS (Semester)

Art (Semester)

Computer (Semester)

8th Grade

Band (Year)

Orchestra (Year)

Full Year Choir (Year)

PE (Semester)

Career & Life Planning (Semester of High School Credit)

Design (Semester of High School Credit)

Computer Science (Semester of High School Credit)

At this time in the year, we feel it is a good time to review our attendance policy. All contacts to excuse absences must be made within 24 hours of the absence. Please refer to the state and school policies below in regards to student attendance.

ATTENDANCE/TRUANCY

Regular attendance is required by law. Please refer to the District Student Handbook for further guidelines. It is necessary that a parent/guardian notify the school within 24 hours whenever a student is absent.

Truancy is defined by Kansas state statute (K.S. 72-1106) as a student under age 18 who has been absent unexcused from school on three (3) consecutive days or five (5) days absent within a semester or seven (7) days within a school year.

Parents will be notified for the following attendance issues:

• Multiple unexcused absences

• Excessive lateness to school

• Excessive (10 or more) absences

• At truant status: Home visits are made by our counselors prior to truancy being filed.

Additional Jardine Middle School policies regarding attendance:

• After 10 absences, doctor’s documentation will be required for any further absences.

• Family vacations or family trips will need prior administrative approval. If approved, the absence will only be excused up to 3 school days.

SPRING BREAK ACTIVITIES FOR TEENS AND TWEENS

Many schools have their spring breaks in March; Topeka 501# has Spring Break beginning March 11th, 2024. We as parents become tired of seeing our tweens and teens glued to their phones and TVs. You can only go for so many walks outside, and there is still an entire week before the online classes start back up. What’s a parent to do?

A school in Front Royal Virginia, Randolph Macon Academy, asked their staff to help with ideas and asked them: What can our parents do to help their homebound teens and tweens engage in some fun, even though they are stuck at home? The Randolph Macon Academy has shared a few ideas we can pass on to you.

1. At-home “Chopped Dinner Challenge.”
   Split the house into two teams and select a few required ingredients to be used for dinner and dessert, and see where the imagination takes everyone! If you have an odd number of people in the house, even better, because that odd person out can select the ingredients and be the final judge!

2. Go through old photos.
   Use this time to connect your children to their extended family by sharing stories of growing up. Break out those old photo albums. Take the boxes of loose photos and get them organized. Or go through the thousands of digital photos you have stored and decide which ones you want to get printed. Make a scrapbook!

3. Have a campfire in the backyard.
   If you’re apartment-bound, make your s’mores in the oven (we actually prefer them this way!) and sit on the floor with pillows and blankets. To make a s’more in the oven, take a graham cracker square, layer on a few pieces of chocolate and a marshmallow, and top it off with another graham cracker square. Bake it for a few minutes at a mere 250 degrees until it is gooey and hot!

4. Family Game Nights.
   I know, not very original, but here is a twist to make it a bit more interesting: Work your way through every single game in the closet, no matter how old or how silly or how terrible! After each (if you make it all the way through), decide whether to keep it in the family or put it “aside.” Whether that means heading for the yard sale, the thrift store, or the garbage, I’ll leave to you to decide.

5. Put on a play or a concert.

A lot of schools will have Spring Concerts so make up your own to prepare your student for participating. So if it will be a musical, create a stage, set up the camera, and let them perform for you live (and for relatives virtually)!

1. Pizza Dance Off and Nerf Gun Battle.
   Whether you order a pizza or throw one in the oven, you have time to kill–so have a dance off! Or, if you’re a fighter rather than a dancer, dig out those Nerf guns and have at it. The person that gets hit the least amount of times when the buzzer goes off (or the pizza arrives) is the winner!

2. Puzzle it out together.
   If all else fails…how about a puzzle? The bigger the better! Or if you only have small ones, turn it into a race to see who can put them together the fastest.

3. Tour a college.
   Finally, for those of you who want to feel you are accomplishing something during the break: take a few virtual tours on college campuses. Colleges are beginning to offer online Q&A sessions, virtual tour presentations, and all kinds of opportunities to help you get acquainted with them. This could be the perfect opportunity to “see” those colleges that are on the other side of the country!

WHATEVER YOU DO TOGETHER TAKE SELFIES AND HAVE SOME FUN!!

John Wooden once said, “Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”

Our spring sports season will begin after spring break. I will have a form out during morning arrival time in the gym to see who is interested in boys/girls track, boys tennis and girls soccer. You must have a physical on file in order to participate. We will also follow the KSHSAA guidelines for eligibility. We plan to begin on March 19th

I would like to remind all students that want to participate in athletics that KSHSAA has a rule that you must pass five of your six classes before you can participate. This rule applies to the quarter before the season begins. For example, the boy’s basketball season will be based on the 2nd quarter grades. For the sixth graders who want to participate next year, your eligibility will be based on your fourth quarter grades. The district has an eligibility rule that you must pass all classes in order to play during your season. We run weekly grade checks and if you are failing a class you have until the day of the game to pass that class. This does not mean waiting until 1pm that day of the game to turn in late work. Please be a student first and the rest will take care of its self. KSHSAA also has a rule on physicals, if you want to participate for the 2024-2025 season. You must have a physical on file dated after May 01, 2024.

• New year, new class. In the library the students are rotating through 4 small group stations during their 45 minute library class. These stations each have a different activity relating to a theme for the day. One station is always book checkout so they will be able to read in their leisure time.

• This month the students have looked at a Kansas map, played Presidential Jeopardy, started the game of life, and created some drawings.

• BEANSTACK!!!! Congratulations to many students who have completed our first few challenges. The current challenge goes until the end of the month. There will be a new challenge for March.

• If your student is having chromebook issues, please tell them to visit the library during AB time to talk to Ms. Gilliland

• Each student at Jardine is allowed to check out up to 3 library books at a time. The students are allowed to checkout anytime they have permission from their teachers.

Chromebook chargers: You can purchase one from A office for $25 or follow these links at Walmart.com or Amazon. Please do not continue to charge your chromebook with a phone charger as this will destroy the chromebook battery due to the different watts.

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CONGRATULATIONS to the following students for completing the BUNDLE UP FOR BOOKS Beanstack Challenge!

Jayel M.

Da’Vion H.

JJ. W

James C.

Liam E.

Xadrian G.

Brianna C.

Lucy S.

Rylie S.

Jennifer M.

Adelaide S.

Isaac W.

Charlotte H.

Keegan L

Lily A.

Aric L.

Jaylen P.

LJ J.

Pierre G.

Lilyana G.

Ethan H

Miguel S.

Makayla M.

The Book Fair will be here from APRIL 29-MAY 3! Be on the lookout for more information!!

March 6—7th and 8th Grade Band will perform for the Boys Basketball Classic at TWHS. Time: TBA.

“Like” our Jardine Middle School Band Facebook page to keep up with our activities!

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Liam Emberton (6th Grade, trumpet- pictured to the right) participated in the Topeka Youth Jazz Workshop Middle School Band at Washburn University for six Thursday evenings and concluded with an afternoon concert on Sunday, February 11. The jazz band sounded awesome!

Jardine design students are currently in the middle of our color unit. Students are learning color mixing and creating an abstract painting based on the work of Sayna Delaunay. Referencing the work of Delaunay, we are using concentric circles and geometric shapes to create a variety of color schemes. Students are only given primary colors to create the full color wheel spectrum. They are learning to create secondary and intermediate hues as well as to create tints, tones, and shades. With in this unit our young artist are also learning how to desaturate color intensity to better convey a particular mood.
We will continue on to our second painting after spring break.

Following our painting unit, the beloved clay unit begins. This year students will learn how to make Decorative Scafitto pinch pots, get an opportunity to throw on the potters wheel, and learn the slab building technique to build a box with a lid. It’s hard to believe we are almost finished with the third quarter of school and almost halfway through our design class. Please ask your Jardine student to share their digital portfolio to see all the projects we have completed this far.

A class period in the day of a Jardine Middle School Physical Education student…

1. Students enter through the gym (girls) and locker room doors (boys).

2. Students place their supplies in a locker.

3. Students get their proper PE shoes (if they have a daily change) from Ms. Remer’s secured, grade-level totes.

4. Students use the bathroom or get a drink.

5. The entire class goes to the gym and sit directly in their squad spots for a quick roll.

6. The teachers may remind students no cell phones in class and when asked to do something simply respond with OK.

7. On Mondays, we start class with Boy’s Town and our weekly Health PowerPoint.

8. The entire class does the daily warm-up #1.

9. Most days, we will have a daily warm-up #2.

10. Students gather with the activity’s expectations and rules.

11. At the end of class, students are asked to sit in their teams for a closure

statement and/or addressing any concerns that might have not been addressed during the game.

12. Students line up on the bleachers and are led into the locker rooms to apply deodorant, get drinks, change shoes and gather their supplies before the dismissal bell rings.

Reminder- Wear comfortable and appropriate clothes to class out in, bring tennis shoes, bring a water bottle, and deodorant daily.

Mr. Mitchell and I wish to thank you for sharing your amazing, healthy, and kind student with us this year. We are looking forward to a great 2024.

A few activities to look forward to in February and in March-

Feb. 26 - March 1- Spike It Tournament and Wall Ball

March 4-8 - Volleyball Skills andVolleyball Tournament

March 11-15 - Spring Break

March 19-22 - Basketball Skills, Line Basketball and Four Team Court Basketball Game

Mrs. Remer (6th grade classes)

785-730-8134

bremer@tps501.org

Mr. Mitchell (7- 8th grade classes)

785-730-8133

kmitchell@tps501.org

7th Grade: The end of the third quarter is upon us, we are finishing up Chemistry and moving on to Geologic Processes and Earth History. Our main focus will be on Weathering, Rock Cycle and Plate Tectonics. We will conclude our school year with Ecology (Food chairs, Food webs) and the Environment (Ecosystems - Biomes).

7th grade Kansas History is forging ahead. We are moving into the era of Bleeding Kansas. This was a time full of turmoil in our state, and our nation. Events in Kansas are often seen as the catalyst for The Civil War. It was indeed a violent and dangerous time. We will examine abolitionists who vowed to keep Kansas a Free State, and those that opposed them. Students will delve into the lives of heroes and villains on both sides of the fight, and their roles in making Kansas a state. It was a time when all eyes were on Kansas, for the outcome in the fight for Kansas would have consequences for the entire nation.

In 8th grade U.S. History, the students just finished their unit over the American Civil War. We will be learning about the Reconstruction Era next followed by the Westward Expansion and the Conflict with the Indians.

6th Math- We will be concluding Module 4 before Spring Break with inequalities and how to graph them as well as learning to solve one-step equations. After Spring Break, students will expand their understanding of area and volume with different figures and solids such as compound and irregular figures, trapezoids, triangles and triangular prisms.

7th Math- In 7th grade math, we are finishing our unit of Percents and will be starting our next unit, Statistics and Probability, after spring break. In this module, students begin their study of probability, learning how to interpret probabilities and how to compute probabilities in simple settings. They also learn how to estimate probabilities empirically. The concept of probability provides a foundation for the thinking required to make inferential reasoning that is developed in the second half of this module.

Please encourage your child to complete any incomplete work that is in the gradebook.

8th Grade Math- Students will be using their knowledge of y=mx+b in the study of functions and scatter plots. A function is a special relationship where each input, x-value, has a single output, y-value. Students will need to determine if a relationship is a function, whether an input-output pair is a solution to a function, and write a function given a table, equation, or a verbal description of a linear relationship between two quantities. They will need to use their skills from the previous unit of determining the constant rate of change, m, and the initial value, b. New for students will be determining the intervals where a function is increasing, positive slope, or decreasing, negative slope.

Also in this unit, students will be working with scatter plots. A scatter plot is a graph of plotted points that show the relationship between two sets of data, also called bivariate data. The will need to construct as well as interpret a scatter plot and informally fit a line of fit to the data as well as write the equation of that line. New vocabulary for them will be terms such as outlier, cluster, and correlation.

8th Grade Algebra- New Unit- Exponents, Scientific Notation, and Polynomials. In this unit, Algebra students will be reviewing laws of exponents to simplify expressions as well as using scientific notation to read and write gigantic or miniscule numbers.

New for students in this unit will be performing operations with polynomials. A polynomial is an expression of more than two algebraic terms. The word polynomial comes from poly-, meaning many, and -nomial, meaning term….so it literally means “many terms”. Polynomials can have constants, variables, and exponents, but never division by a variable. We will be grouping them by degree and number of terms. When we add polynomials, we will be combining like terms. Then we will be multiplying a monomial or a binomial, using laws of exponents to help us. We will also be factoring polynomials using the GCF, greatest common factor. The unit will wrap up with factoring trinomials with leading coefficient equal to 1 or not equal to one. It is imperative that students have mastery of their multiplication and division facts.

The Topeka Public Schools, Unified School District No. 501 is committed to affirmative action and equal opportunity. No person shall, on the basis of age, race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, disability, national origin or ancestry be denied lawful access to any appropriate educational service, program or activity provided by the school district. The Title VI and Title IX compliance coordinator is the Assistant Superintendent for Teaching/Learning/Administration. The Section 504/Title II compliance coordinator is the Coordinator of College and Career Ready Services. For employment, the EEO/AA officer is the General Director of Human Resources. All compliance coordinators may be contacted at 624 SW 24th Street, Topeka, KS 66611-1294, (785) 295-3000. The clerk of the Board of Education has been designated to receive and redirect or handle inquiries regarding nondiscrimination policies, regulations and procedures. The clerk may be contacted by calling (785) 295-3045 or by writing to 624 SW 24th Street, Topeka, KS 66611-1294.

Website: www.topekapublicschools.net/jardine
Location: 2600 SW 33rd St, Topeka, KS, USA
Phone: (785) 730-8100