progress. Parent-Teacher conferences are scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 2nd IMS CALENDAR 15 NO SCHOOL STUDENTS

Transcription

1 IONIA MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL S POINTS Dear Parents/Guardians: It is hard to believe that we are almost at the end of 1st Marking Period. I am sure that you feel as I do and are surprised at how fast the school year is moving. The students are off to a wonderful start and involved in many of the activities that IMS has to offer. I want to take a moment to stress the importance of staying involved with your child s academic and social progress. The middle school years are very important and exciting times for students. As parents and educators, this is the time when we begin to encourage students to become independent thinkers and learners, but balancing this development of independence with support and guidance. I want to make you aware of the many opportunities that we provide to stay informed and involved in your child s social and academic progress. Biweekly progress reports are sent home with students from each of their classes. The dates that reports are sent home are listed in the newsletter. All parents/guardians should have received their user ID and password for using the Skyward Parent Viewer. This service allows you to monitor your child s grades and attendance for each class. Parent-Teacher conferences are scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 2nd OCTOBER 2016 and Thursday, Nov. 3rd. Staff are very excited about the opportunity to talk with you about your child s progress. All Staff have voic extensions and addresses and you may contact a teacher at any time with questions, suggestions or concerns. These are just a few ways to stay connected and involved in your son/ daughters middle school experience. Please feel free to contact us at any time with suggestions or concerns. Sincerely, Wayne E. Piercefield III Principal IMS CALENDAR OCTOBER 21 Progress Reports to Students 27 IMS Fall Choir Concert 7:30 p.m. Watt Auditorium 28 END 1ST MARKING PERIOD NOVEMBER 2 IMS Picture Retakes 2 Parent Teacher Conferences- 4:30-8:00 p.m. 3 Parent Teacher Conferences- 4:00-8:00 p.m. 4 NO SCHOOL STUDENTS 9 Cyber Safety Assemblies 8-11 a.m. 11 Progress Reports to Students 15 NO SCHOOL STUDENTS 16 Students Attend AM only (10:53 a.m. release) 23 Progress Reports to Students 24 Thanksgiving Break - No School 25 Thanksgiving Break - No School DECEMBER 2 IMS Fun Night 7-9 p.m. IHS 11 Progress Reports to Students 15 PLC Day-Students attend AM only. Release at 10:53 a.m. 19 Winter Break Begins (return Jan. 4) IMPORTANT DATE CHANGE: The IMS Fun Night that was scheduled for Nov. 18 has been changed to: December 2

2 QUIZ BOWL The Quiz Bowl team of Megan Ransom and Trevor Stedman with Joel Cairns and De'Angelo Barr (8th grade) compiled a 5-3 record at the White Cloud Invitational on Saturday, October 15. They competed against 11th-grade competition and won two of those matches on the final question of the match. They next compete at the Holland Invitational in November. Effective Parents Get Involved!!!... But how?! Page 2 We know just how important parent involvement is in our students success and we want to partner with you to help your child succeed. This pledge really narrows down how to get involved in your child s education. Will you take the pledge?! I will I --- Impress on my child the need for regular school attendance N --- Notice my child s progress V --- Volunteer to help at school O --- Oversee my child s activities to insure adequate study time L --- Learn from teachers what is expected of my child V --- Visit my child s school and teachers as an expression of interest E --- Expect my child to behave appropriately D --- Declare the need for and support a positive climate of high expectations If we can be of any help to you or your child with any of the above, please do not hesitate to contact us in the Counseling Office! Mrs. Buxton and Mrs. Kingsbury PHYSICAL EDUCATION ON THE RUN! Mrs. Kraatz and Mr. Amell The physical education classes and fitness classes have run a mile every Friday this quarter. Each student sets a goal prior to running and if they achieve a new personal record for that mile run, their name is posted in the gymnasium for that specific mile. Keep up the great work students!

3 IMS BULLDOG SPORTS. OFF THE LEASH! Fall season sports are just wrapping up their season. What a start our young athletes have had! Page 3 Coach Riccius and Coach Groom lead our large team of 55 middle school students to Cross Country meets all over central Michigan. These young people really did an extraordinary job not only as athletes and team members but also as IMS Students. Thank you to Coach Riccius and Coach Groom for your many hours of training and events traveled all in order to give these young people the opportunity to grow and succeed! More thanks go to our Girls Volleyball coaches. 7 th Grade Coaches were Mrs. Swinehart and Ms. Spitzley. 8 th grade coaches were Coach Klein and Coach Rogers. These coaches gave our many young ladies opportunity for intense practices, skill building, and comradery. To watch their team commitment grow along with improved skills is always an exciting experience. We will kick off our next season of sports the end of October. Our Winter Sports season is made up of Boy s Basketball and Cheerleading. Returning as coaching partners for our 7 th grade boys Basketball, Coach Nevins and Coach Gage. Coaching our 8 th grade boys will again be Coach Amell along with Coach VanSyckle. Coach Havenstein will once again be coaching our Cheer team. This is always such an exciting season of sports at IMS! **Please don t forget that all students participating in any of our League sports must first have a Sports Physical on file at the school. Physical forms are available on-line under MS or HS Athletics and in our building offices. Please come and welcome these teams during our MEET THE TEAM night, Thursday Nov. 3rd, 6:00 pm at the IMS Gym. The Boy s Basketball schedules is attached to this newsletter. Cheer will take place during every HOME event. Marilee Buxton Ionia MS Athletic Director Please come, Cheer and Enjoy Go DAWGS! 8th Grade Math Mr. Brighton and Mr. Nevins In Pre-Algebra, students will be finishing up a unit called Thinking With Mathematical Models. In this unit, students have developed the ability to represent data using tables, graphs, equations or inequalities, and rules. Students have also extended their understanding and skill in dealing with linear and inverse functions and equations. Next, students will begin a unit called Growing, Growing, Growing. In this unit, students will learn about exponential functions. The class will investigate models of exponential growth and decay involving bacteria, radioactive material, and money. In Algebra, students are finishing a unit in which they are using algebra tiles to represent expressions and equations physically and visually. This is helping students to establish a strong foundation for simplifying expressions and solving equations that they will need and build upon throughout the year. Next, students will be working on a unit that focuses on linear relationships and building connections between multiple representations of linear functions. ELA Classes Mrs. Pishea Happy October! We are making our way through several curricular skills this month, with an added bonus of participating in the Global Read Aloud project. For more information on this great activity, go to or on Twitter search #GRA10#PAX. We may be Skyping with other schools and asking the author questions. Students should be on their second or third independent novel, depending on their hour. Many students are on their fourth or fifth book, which is so impressive! This is a group of readers! We should be having our first unit assessment by the end of the month and also start on our first major writing piece. Watch for s and look in your students' agendas for more information. If you have not been receiving updates regarding my class, please feel free to me with your student's names as the subject line to apischea@ioniaschools.org and I will add you to the list!

4 Page 4 Mrs. Williams IMS Leadership Happenings Purple Week at IMS This year the IMS leadership groups worked hard to get IMS involved with the annual Community Awareness Week and were very successful!! Students sold various fun items like purple beads, bracelets, and the community awareness purple shirts at school and at IMS home athletic events, as well as at several of the lunch periods throughout the week. They organized the first annual IMS purple color run, a mini carnival, and held a 3 on 3 tournament before school. IMS also participated in a coin drive held by the purple committee. All of our efforts raised a total of $1800 to donate to the community awareness cause!!! WOW well done IMS!!! Homecoming & Spirit Week at IMS This year the IMS leadership group is working hard to get IMS involved and show some school spirit! Students were invited to dress up and show school spirit by participating. Leaders sold various spirit items like spirit beads, bracelets, hair painting, and face tattoos during all three lunches this week. Friday s lunch had special tailgating theme and some fun treats. The leadership kids organized and held our very first IMS pep assembly at which the students and staff all participated in a variety of fun events!! We crowned our spirit Prince Caden Brownell and our Princess was Michaela Castle!! Congratulations to everyone!!! IMS Pride Shirts New this year, we are offering IMS Pride t-shirts for $15. When a student purchases one of these shirts and wears it to any IMS athletic event they will get in free for the entire school year. So hurry and buy a shirt today and show your school pride! IMS 7 th Grade Teen Leadership The 7 th grade teen leadership class has designed their class t-shirt. If you are in this class and would like to purchase a t-shirt please send $10 into Mrs. Williams as soon as possible. As always, I would like all parents and students to sign up for my Remind app. This allows a great line of communication and gives me the ability to keep everyone up to date on happenings in my class and at IMS. See me or ask your student how to sign up! If you have any fun pictures you would like to share, please feel free to send them to me for consideration in our IMS video announcements. IMS is on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter so like us or follow us today!

5 Page 5 CSI Michigan Cyber Safety Initiative The Attorney General s Office will be conducting an assembly at the Middle School on November 9th. The assembly features two customized programs to protect children across the state. The Michigan Cyber Safety Initiative (CSI) is a national, award-winning program and has been presented to over one million students across the state. It teaches children the importance of being safe, making smart decisions, and protecting themselves and others all while online. The student safety hotline, OK2SAY, is a confidential way to file reports on potential harm or criminal activity that is involving students, school employees, and schools. Tips can be submitted 24/7 via telephone, text message, , mobile app, or the OK2SAY website. The 6th-8th grade students get a presentation that combines both CSI and OK2SAY. The students first get an in-depth explanation of OK2SAY on how it works, what types of incidents they can report, how to submit a tip, and what will happen with the tip. Students then get detailed explanations about bullying, cyberbullying, suicide, sexting, sexual abuse, the predator threat, and how to protect themselves online. Students will see videos on the stories of teenage Internet predator survivors, the stories of Michigan teens that have died by suicide, and the impacts of sexting. If you choose to have your child opt out of this assembly, please fill out and return the opt out letter that has been sent home with your child. IMS NOTIFICATIONS IMS FUN NIGHT Our next IMS Fun Night is December 2 7:00-9:00 p.m. at Ionia High School Don t forget to sign up for Enotify and select the following 3 options to get all of the most current event and cancellation info for IMS: Ionia Middle School Events Home Page News You will receive texts or s (your choice, or both) when important information is updated or released! Simply go to and look for

6 Page 6 STUDENTS OF THE MONTH 8TH GRADE Isabella Seigo Maira VanBeveren 7TH GRADE Holden Brenner Jewels Conn 6TH GRADE Riccius/Schumacher Tess Griffith Sally Ruehs 6TH GRADE Rodgers/Walter Savannah Clark Brianna Fuentes Frias/Gensterblum/Hyde Elijah Hatfield Abbey Lowery Evan Williams Hammer/Powell/Proctor Monserrat Mendez-Camacho Ethan Bowen Meijer Dignity and Respect Brooklyn Challender

7 7 th Grade Boys Basketball Schedule /7/16 Away Portland 11/9/16 Away Grand Ledge 11/14/16 Home St. Johns 11/16/16 Home Mason 11/21/16 Away Fowlerville 11/28/16 Home Owosso 11/30/16 Away Waverly 12/5/ 16 Home Portland 12/7/16 Home DeWitt 12/12/16 Away St. Johns All games start at 4:30 pm B games are played first.

8 8 th Grade Boys Basketball Schedule /7/16 Home Portland 11/9/16 Home Grand Ledge 11/14/16 Away St. Johns 11/16/16 Away Mason 11/21/16 Home Fowlerville 11/28/16 Away Owosso 11/30/16 Home Waverly 12/5/16 Away Portland 12/7/16 Away DeWitt 12/12/16 Home St. Johns All games start at 4:30 pm B games are played first.

9 **8 th Grade Messages due March 15** Pre-ordering is the only guaranteed way to reserve a yearbook~~very few extras are ordered. Last day to pre-order is March 20, 2017 $17.00 for full color 80 page book ordered by March 20, 2017 $18.00 I ordered after March 20. Pre-order with cash or check in Mrs. Hammer s room #230 before or after school Also pre-order

10 Parent of an 8 th Grader? Would you like to include a personalized message in the yearbook for your student? **Complete the following and return to Mrs. Hammer (room 230) or to the IMS Main Office along with a fee of $5.00 by March 15, th Grade Parent Message Student Name-Who is the message for? Who is the message from? Message EXACTLY as you wish it to appear. (25 words or less) Parent phone number or in case there are questions regarding your message Please enclose $5.00 per message- checks to IMS Yearbook or cash. Sorry--Messages submitted without payment will not be published. payment enclosed cash check number

11

12 Halloween Party Green Acres Retirement Living Monday, October 31st 3:30 to 5:30 pm Free hotdogs, chips, and games 2550 Commerce Lane This is not an Ionia Public Schools Sponsored Event

13 Ionia High School 1 st Annual Veterans Day Ceremony November 11, 2016 Is there a veteran who has a special place in your heart? Ionia High School Bulldogs would like to honor your veteran and invite you to join us on November 11, 2016, as we honor and remember all those who served our great nation. Our Veterans Day Ceremony will be held at 7:00 pm on November 11 th in room 304. Veterans are encouraged to be present, but their names will be called to honor their service whether or not they are in attendance. Family members and friends are encouraged to attend as well. Please arrive by 6:45 pm as our ceremony will commence promptly at 7:00 pm. Refreshments will be served following the ceremony. To allow us to honor your veteran, , mail, or bring us the information below by November 1 st. We will announce each veteran s name, rank, branch of service and the dates of service; we will ask each veteran to stand when their name is called. You are not limited to honoring just one veteran; you may provide us with information for multiple veterans. You may also provide a photo that we will include as part of the ceremony. You can the below information to Ms. Weller at mweller@ioniaschools.org or mail/bring it to 250 E. Tuttle, Ionia, MI Please call Ionia High School at if you have questions. Name of Veteran: Branch of Service: Rank: Dates/Years of Service: From to If you provide a hard-copy photo, write the address to which it should be returned: