"Don't mistake politeness for lack of strength."

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Sonya Sotomayor

We celebrate Women's History Month to remind ourselves of the accomplishments of women throughout the years to our culture and society.

Hello Husky Families!

Welcome March…we are looking forward to spring! It’s hard to believe the third quarter will be ending Friday and soon we will begin the fourth quarter. As we continue our work, it is important that we have students on time to class, engaged, and completing assignments; we want our students to finish the year strong. Please continue to check students' assignments, check Schoology, and reach out to their teacher(s) if you have questions, comments, or concerns.

Working together, we can ensure the success of our students. I also wanted to take a moment to thank our parents for your support of our hard-working teachers. We know that many are giving all they have in some of the most challenging of times. We are fortunate to have amazing students and parents here at Herget, matched only by our committed staff.

Lastly, thank you, PTA, for assisting with dinner for staff during evening parent-teacher conferences; we remain touched by your kindness. Thank you for supporting and partnering with us; it is our privilege to partner with you!

Ms. Larry, Principal

SD129 is pleased to announce the start of a district-wide English and Mathematics tutoring opportunity for our 6th through 12th-grade students.

SIGN UP HERE!

https://docs.google.com/.../2PACX.../pub

Welcome to the student guide for Littera. Using the links below, you will find instructions for navigating the program and scheduling tutoring sessions with our West Aurora tutors.

To begin, your student will need to use their District-provided Chromebook to log onto the following link. (Personal devices will not be able to readily access this link.)

https://login.litteraeducation.com/

Once you have typed this link into the search bar you will have access to the tutoring site. On their site, your student can “sign in with Google” by using their SD129 email and password.

To learn how to schedule a session, you can click on the link below. From this page, there will be instructions for how to “Request a Session.”

https://litteraeducation.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/sections/1500002277282-Student-guide

When requesting a session, you will be able to select from the following courses.

Algebra and Geometry

6th - 8th Grade Math

Other High School Math

6th - 8th ELA

High School English

Merry Tutors are current West Aurora High School National Honor Society members, and they are available to tutor elementary, middle, and high school students!

Tutoring is located at the Aurora Public Library West Branch at 233 S. Constitution Drive on Thursdays, starting March 3 from 3:45-5:30 PM. Please show up with your materials and questions!

March - Women’s History Month and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

This month, we continue our focus to make a Commitment to Dialogue. But, as we look at the indicators in the district commitment, we, as a building, will really focus on the highlighted indicator and think about what our instructional intention is for the lesson, unit, activity and how we can best plan out “deliberate opportunities of planned dialogue.” To do that, Teaching and Learning will focus on how we plan and initiate questions and responses to further our student understanding. We will also reflect as a building on the dialogue techniques, strategies, and activities we are trying and using in our classrooms

Commitment to Dialogue (Exploratory Talk)

• Exploratory dialogue underpins collaboration between all learners. Talk is exploratory rather than cumulative or disputational

• High-quality dialogue enables students to generate ideas and think more deeply

• Everyone experiences deliberate opportunities of planned dialogue leading to meaningful learning

• The learning environment and culture of each classroom enables students to take risks in their thinking and dialogue.

This month, Herget Celebrates Women’s History! During this month, we will celebrate, acknowledge and highlight the achievements, works, and contributions of women. Students will see and hear about individuals and events through announcements, posters throughout the building, in conversations they may have in class, and through Schoology posts.

Dates, Events, and Information to put on your radar…

• March 11 End of 3rd Quarter

• March 15 -17 IAR Testing (parent information has been emailed)

• March 17 St. Patrick’s Day

• March 18 3rd Quarter Grades Available in Home Access

• March 23 - April 1 SPRING BREAK

Mrs. Nicholson-Rigaud

Assistant Principal Teaching & Learning

knicholson@sd129.org

As we prepare for Spring, students focus on the beginning of the 4th quarter by participating in a variety of classroom activities and engaging in questioning and dialogue as we prepare for the final stretch of the school year. Regular student attendance and being prepared and on time for class is still an essential step in the academic success of each student here at Herget MS. There may be times when a student is not attending school because they are ill or for some other reason. Even as we near the end of the year, please call in the attendance using the attendance line below or if a student is going to miss part of the day.

Please remember to call the safe phone at 630-301-5230 when a student is absent and call 630-301-5224 to confirm any absences or questions about attendance as soon as possible.

As a reminder, do not forget to log-in to Schoology to access student grades and homework. Please call student services at 630-301-5235 with any questions.

Thank you for your support and having students continue to show their Herget Husky “B.A.R.K.”

Herget Families,

It is hard to believe we are already discussing items for the next school year, but it will be here before we know it. Registration for the next school year is now open. The registration information has been sent via email, Facebook, Twitter, and is located on the district website. At this time it is important to share any changes to your student’s contact information that include: address, phone numbers, and email. The changes can be completed via Home Access Center or by working with one of our office professionals.

Registration Process in Brief

Returning Students

Log in to the Home Access Center via (Parent Portals) Update/verify your student’s information.

*Follow the directions on the screen if you do not remember your username or password. If you require additional help with the login process, please contact the parent help desk at 630.301.5067 or email Pam Abdullah at pabdullah@sd129.org

*No internet connection or need assistance with the registration process you can stop by Herget Middle School between the hours of 8:30am-4:00pm –or-

Central Registration Office 1877 W. Downer from 8:00am-4:00pm

New Students/Kindergarten

New Students and students who reside in West Aurora School District 129 that will be

age 5 on or before September 1, 2022, are eligible to enroll in Kindergarten click the link

to begin registration (New Student Link).

*Follow the directions on the screen and if you require assistance with the process, please contact parent help desk at 630.301.5067 or email Pam Abdullah at pabdullah@sd129.org

Any questions please feel free to contact our main line at 630.301.5006. We would be happy to help!

Central Registration Office

1877 W. Downer Place

Aurora, IL 60506

Joseph Neukirch

Assistant Principal Operations, Herget Middle School

630.301.5232

jneukirch@sd129.org

Thank you for joining us at the District 129 Fine Arts Festival this past Saturday! This Festival was a day that allowed us to celebrate the talents of our West Aurora students in grades K through 12. There were jazz bands and drumming groups, singers and dancers, as well as artwork and pop-up theater performances. We are proud of all of our students that showcased/performed and we encourage them to keep up the great work!

March 7-11, 2022. Once again, the World Language Department will be celebrating National World Language Week. This year's theme is "Celebrate Humanity Through Language." The whole building gets involved in celebrating. The Herget community is very diverse, and this is an opportunity to learn more about each other.

Tuesday, March 1 was Mardi Gras. French classes at both levels will be learning about how the Francophone world celebrates this holiday. This day is also known as Pancake day, Shrove Tuesday, Paczki Day. Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez!

Level A classes are finishing their novel study. For the final writing project, students are writing a chapter of their own about the adventures of Jean-Paul/Berto.

Level B classes are finishing Unit 3, weather and clothing by creating a story about someone who has a problem on vacation. Students chose a problem(lost luggage or switched luggage). Students used clothing vocabulary, colors, and sizes.

7 MIDDLE SCHOOL MATH SKILLS STUDENTS MUST MASTER

Though I currently teach 6th-grade math, I am well versed in high school math; I've taught both Algebra 1 to freshmen and Algebra 2 to sophomores.

Time and time again, I found myself reteaching math concepts students should have been proficient in before entering high school. The middle school transition to high school is going to be hard, but it shouldn’t be because of math. I’ve compiled a list of middle school math skills students master to thrive in high school. In addition to that, I taught ACT preparation as part of Algebra 2, and I found many of the problems I encountered to be skills that students learned in middle school but more rigorous. In fact, I looked at three ACT practice tests and found that around 40% of problems are covered or introduced in grades 6, 7, and 8.

1. Order of Operations – introduced in Grade 5. Any substitution problem most likely will involve order of operations. The quadratic formula is one giant order of operations problem.

2. Proportions – introduced in Grade 6. Considering that many linear equations represent proportions, proportions are foundational for high school algebra.

3. Integer Operations – This is introduced in 6th grade, but students still struggle up through high school. Though access to a calculator should help with this skill, I would still see students distribute a negative number incorrectly.

4. Solving Equations – introduced in the elementary grades. If students have a firm grasp on how to isolate the variable using inverse operations, then they will be more successful when the variable is on both sides or when they are solving systems of equations.

5. Measures of Central Tendency and Variability – introduced in Grade 6. Mean, median, mode, and range will follow students from Grade 6 to the ACT. On the practice ACT I took, I saw at least two questions regarding this skill. Armed with a calculator, there is nothing challenging about this skill — except remembering what each word means.

6. Percents – introduced in Grade 6. The mistake I saw most often when solving problems involving percents was that students struggled to move the decimal in the correct direction the correct number of times. Though I don’t think percents are explicitly expounded on more in high school, it is one of the most applicable real-world skills.

7. Substitution – introduced in Grade 6. Substitution is foundational for success not only in high school math but in high school science as well. Students who can substitute values can be highly successful in checking their work in Algebra and using formulas in Geometry.

If we can ensure that students are stronger with these math concepts, then we can feel relief knowing that we have made the middle school transition to high school easier for our students.

This article is written by Noelle, a teacher that writes a blog and posts on maneuvering the middle. It was published on August 20, 2018. It can be found at the following address: https://www.maneuveringthemiddle.com/middle-school-math-skills-students-must-master/

Mrs. Masus, Math Intervention & Support

Students in PLTW: Computer Science is continuing to develop their coding skills as they learn to design and build apps. By working through conditional statements, these students think through possible scenarios that the user might encounter in using the app. Students build code that addresses these scenarios and makes decisions based on the conditions. This process is how we develop artificial intelligence... but these students know that there is nothing artificial about it.... they are the intelligence that makes these app systems "smart".

Coding Insert

The Project Lead the Way Robotics class has been busy learning about gears and mechanisms. Understanding how parts can be joined to create the working mechanics of objects has been a great way to learn in a hands-on environment. Teamwork is essential for great communication in the learning process.

Happy Almost Spring!

PE is finishing up with Fitness Testing and hoping the weather will cooperate so we can enjoy some fresh air! Health classes are finishing up with a Disease Research Project in 8th grade, a Personalized Meal Plan in 7th grade, and 6th graders are learning about the Body Systems! Health Classes will return to PE on March 14th!

A few reminders from the PE Department: 1) Cell phones are NOT to be used inside of the locker rooms or during PE class. We are unfortunately seeing increased use of these devices in the PE areas. Please remind your student that the locker room is considered a bathroom area therefore it is violating someone's privacy when cell phones are out and being used. The student may not intentionally be taking a picture of other people but they are in the background and can be photographed in the selfie.

Ear bus/air pods should be put away; they should not be in the student's ear during PE class. 2) PE dressing consists of the following: RED PE shirt, can be purchased for $6 from your student's PE teacher, pants/shorts that are not being worn to school, and TENNIS SHOES, NO CROCS or SLIDES. Crocs and slides are a safety concern and we do not want the students to be injured during a PE activity. We are seeing an increase in students not dressing and this is directly affecting their grades. Please also understand, the high school requires students to change for PE, this is not just a middle school requirement. Please contact your student's PE teacher if you have any questions.

February 2022 has offered us a change in Herget practices in regards to COVID precautions and protections. Masks are optional in school. Close contacts are notified but not restricted from attending school unless symptoms arise. Many Herget Huskies have submitted proof of C-19 vaccination. We continue to learn how to live through and with the pandemic. Although changes have been continuous, some things never change because healthy habits are tools for life.

Habits to Stay Healthy:

• Monitor your symptoms and stay home when you feel sick.

• Wash your hands frequently

• Cover your cough and sneeze

• Consult your doctor for individualized healthcare guidance by being ready to discuss what you feel and what you need

Reminder: The State of Illinois requires a complete dental examination for all students in Kindergarten, 2nd, 6th, and 9th grades. Please submit your child’s sixth-grade dental exam prior to May 15, 2022. For the 2021-22 school year the exam must have been completed after 11-15-2020.

Thank you for your cooperation this school year as we grow through change. Both Nurse Capp and Nurse Silva were recognized at the school board meeting on 2-22-2022 as part of the District 129 Health Services Team for their services during the pandemic. Keeping Herget Huskies Healthy is our priority. A healthy mind and body are needed for productive learning.

Submitted by: Elizabeth Silva RN-CSN

Email: hergethuskies@sd129.org
Website: https://herget.sd129.org/
Location: 1550 Deerpath Road, Aurora, IL, USA
Phone: (630)301-5006
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HergetHuskies
Twitter: @HergetSchool