Paola Middle School Newsletter

December 2nd - Girls Basketball- 7th @ Home; 8th @ Eudora

December 3rd - Girls Basketball - 7th @ Spring Hill; 8th @ Home

December 5th - Girls Basketball- 7th @ Woodland Spring; 8th @ Home

December 9th- Girls Basketball- 7th @ Baldwin; 8th @ Home

December 11th- FINE ARTS NIGHT -Art Show 5:00 - 7: 30, Band/Choir Winter Concert 7:00 p.m.

December 12th - Girls Basketball- 7th @ Home; 8th @ TBD

December 16th -18th Boys Basketball Try-Outs- 7th Grade 3:15-4:30/8th Grade- 4:30-5:45

December 20th - Last Day of School- ALL STUDENTS RELEASE at 1:00. Buses will run at this time.

Congratulations to our wrestlers on a successful season. They won the Santa Fe Trail Tournament, and then placed 2nd at League as a combined (boys/girls) team. The boys finished 1st in the League, and the girls finished 4th.

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS:

Aiden Scheffer

Bryce Nabus

Kayden Hendrickson

Olivia Worden

Adaylyn Brummer

Jade Willard

2nd Place Medal Winners:

Dax Allen

Trejen Jackson

3rd Place Medal Winners:

Steel Meade

Bear Smail

Flint Scherman

Jerrit Still

Dalton Perina

Temperance Johnson

Congrats to the entire team and coaches for an awesome season!

As we enter cold and flu season, please be reminded of school policy for any respiratory viruses (Influenza, COVID or RSV) are as follows:

• Any person with a positive case shall remain in home isolation until fever-free for 24 hours without the aid of fever reducing medications AND overall symptoms are getting better.

Note: We still have FREE COVID home test kits you can help yourself to in the Nurse's office. Contact health office staff with any questions.

Ancient Egypt

This week, our classroom transformed into an ancient embalming chamber as our students stepped into the sandals of Egyptian embalmers! Their task? To preserve our sacred Apple Pharaohs and ensure they are prepared for their journey to the afterlife. Using techniques inspired by ancient Egyptian rituals, students carefully “embalmed” apples, mimicking the process used to preserve mummies thousands of years ago. From cleansing and drying to wrapping and protecting, every step was taken with precision and respect for our fruity pharaohs.

But the preservation didn’t stop there! Our students crafted mini replicas of canopic jars, where they symbolically stored the pharaohs’ organs. Each jar was decorated with designs inspired by ancient Egypt, and students learned about the gods believed to protect these precious containers.

The big question is: Will our Apple Pharaohs stand the test of time? We'll check on them over the next few weeks to see how well our preservation techniques worked. It’s a race against decay to determine if these apples can survive long enough to reunite with their jars in the afterlife—or perhaps become a timeless classroom artifact!

We encourage you to ask your students about their embalming experience and what they’ve learned about the fascinating world of mummies. Who knew apples could be so historical?

P.S. Let’s hope our Apple Pharaohs make it to the afterlife without becoming... applesauce!

Character Autopsy: The Landlady

This week, A chilling mystery unfolded in our classroom as students investigated one of Roald Dahl’s most unsettling short stories, The Landlady. Armed with sharp minds and keen eyes for detail, our 6th-grade detectives dove deep into the eerie world of Billy Weaver and the peculiar landlady.

Through our Character Autopsy activity, students analyzed the characters to uncover the motives, secrets, and intentions hidden in Dahl’s words. They examined the landlady’s peculiar hospitality, Billy’s naïve trust, and the unsettling clues that hint at the story’s dark twist.

To crack the case, students answered questions like:

• What drives the landlady’s strange behavior?

• How does Billy’s innocence lead him deeper into danger?

• What details foreshadow the sinister ending?

Their investigations sparked lively debates and fascinating theories. Some students even spotted chilling details others missed, adding to the mystery’s allure. This activity sharpened their critical thinking and brought Dahl’s suspenseful storytelling to life.

Ask your student about their discoveries—if they dare! You may find yourself hooked by this classic tale’s sinister charm.

Students in 6th grade Communications classes finished up a unit on bats involving several different activities, which included a KWL, doing research on 2 topics about bats, taking that research and composing a 4 paragraph essay, using Citefast to cite their sources correctly, typing their finished essay, and creating a bat personality. Students in Mrs. Kendrick’s class voted on the most creative bat personality in each class

7th grade students have been learning about AI (artificial intelligence) and seem to really have caught on. When we return from Thanksgiving break students will do a gallery walk and see the different slideshows students have created using google translate and linking one picture to another. Students also learned how to tie a necktie. This is a life skill that I believe is very important to all. We talked about careers that may require an employee to wear a tie every day to a part time job at a grocery store or restaurant.

8th grade students have been working on Google Sheets for the past several days. After choosing a partner for their Friendsgiving they came up with their grocery list and looked up the cost per each item. Students were given a budget of $100 and had to use the formulas and functions to find out their remaining balance. At first students were somewhat confused working between two google sheets but after a few tries it started to make sense. Comments from one student were, “Oh my gosh, look how expensive this ham is,” and another student shouted over to them to look at Aldi’s website for prices. We will finish up the Google Sheets Unit when we come back from break and begin Google Slides.

Important Announcements

Exciting Learning Activities:

• Our class has been actively engaged in learning about the first four Presidents of the United States.
• To end our last unit on the Constitution, students showcased their creativity through various hands-on projects.

Creative Projects Highlights:

Students brought history to life with an impressive range of projects, including:

• A Ferris Wheel symbolizing the foundations of the constitution.
• A Dart Board illustrating key constitutional principles
• Building Structures representing the foundations of American democracy.
• Scrolls detailing important constitutional amendments and historical documents.
• A Cake creatively designed to depict the layers of American government and history.

These innovative projects not only demonstrated students' understanding of the Constitution but also fostered creativity and critical thinking skills.

On November 11, we had the privilege of honoring men and women who have served our great country. These veterans represented every branch of the armed forces. Our students made artwork decorations and showed the veterans respect with their behavior. Christina Caster (6th grader) sang the National Anthem and Melody Bain (8th grader), sang America the Beautiful. Mr. Doolittle performed Taps on the bugle to honor those we have lost.

The students creates a Biodiversity proposal, selecting a human caused issue negatively affecting Biodiversity to research. They were tasked with evaluating current solutions for the problem at hand, and planning one of their own. This project required students to think deeply about how human actions can damage Earth's variety of species. Finally, they recorded a fun video in which they shared their problem, their team's solution, and the resources needed to put their solution into action.

Our 7th graders recently had the privilege of experiencing a bit of local Indian tribal culture. On November 8th, Miss Sherrera McCoy, former Miami tribal princess and PMS and PHS graduate, came and shared much about the history of her native tribe, which was forcibly removed from northern Indiana to Kansas via the Trail of Death as a result of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The tribe currently resides on their own reservation in northern Oklahoma. Shannera demonstrated tribal dances, and spoke and sang in her mother tongue--the most interesting part of her visit according to most of the students attending!

Jana Harrington-Barcus, Miami Co. Historical Museum director, was also in attendance, and added in sharing other tidbits of knowledge, explaining many of the primary source artifacts that were brought and displayed. Our museum, just off the square in downtown Paola, contains a wealth of local Native American history, with hundreds of artifacts to view. We are grateful for the partnership that has developed with our local historical museum and the contacts made to help all of us better understand the indigenous people groups who once inhabited the land we now call home. We look forward to continuing to benefit with our local partners in history as we move forward.