Senator Speaker
What's happening at O'Neill Middle School
A Note from Mr. Durbala:
Welcome to O’Neill as we begin another school year. The first few weeks are past us, and we are off to a strong start. I enjoyed meeting many of you during our Curriculum Night held last month. I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of the parents who do so much to help us get off on the right foot each year. O’Neill would not be the fantastic place to learn that it is without the help of so many parents who volunteer their time and efforts in countless ways throughout the school year.
It is hard to believe that Friday, September 22 marked the mid-term point of Quarter #1! Please watch the mail in October for information regarding parent-teacher conferences.
Sincerely,
Matt Durbala
Principal
A few important reminders:
STUDENT SUPPORT - The middle school experience is one filled with great excitement, nervousness, and rapid change for both you and your student. The adjustment from the elementary setting to the middle school setting can sometimes be filled with anxiety. I would like to highlight some of the people on our staff who are here to help you and your child. We have two counselors, each of whom works with one grade level of students. The counselor will travel with the students from seventh to eighth grade to provide a layer of stability for the child. Mr. Barry Kincaid, bkincaid@dg58.org, works with our seventh grade students and Mrs. Vanessa Jeris, vjeris@dg58.org, will continue to work with our eighth grade students. We also have a school nurse (Mrs. Donahue, sdonahue@dg58.org), a social worker (Mr. Caton, ccaton@dg58.org), a speech therapist (Mr. Willard, nwillard@dg58.org), and a psychologist (Mrs. Wagner, bwagner@dg58.org) in the building. You may reach any of these people by calling 630-719-5815 during the school day.
DRESS CODE - District 58 has a dress code for students. This and other valuable information can be found in the ‘Schools of 58’ booklet. We ask for your cooperation when buying clothes for you child. At O'Neill, we echo the dress code of District 99 and are looking for:
(1) Clothing that completely covers the midriff (no stomachs or underwear visible)
(2) Tank tops with shoulder straps that are at least two fingers wide.
(3) Shorts and skirts which come to the tips of the pinky finger when the student holds their arms at his or her side.
VISITING SCHOOL - Parents that come to school for any reason are asked to visit the front office and get a visitor’s badge prior to going to any other part of the building. We may not always recognize our visitors and want to make sure that our school is safe. When visiting you will be given a visitor’s badge so that staff and students know that the people in the hallways are meant to be in the building. All O’Neill staff members and employees of District 58 wear ID badges. We welcome visitors and encourage parents to become involved at O’Neill but please do your part to help keep our building a safe place for students and adults. All exterior doors at O’Neill will be locked during the school day. Visitors are asked to enter the building through our main entrance (door #1) on 59th Street.
O'Neill Classroom Updates:
Connections
Seventh grade Connections classes are busy working on community service projects. Recently they put in a great deal of time and effort to clean up the school’s courtyard. This clean up allows the whole school to use the courtyard.
On September 21st, the Connections classes made pinwheels to be placed in front of the school to celebrate Peace Day/Pinwheels For Peace. The classes have also made dog tug toys out of old t-shirts for a no-kill animal shelter.
Connections classes organized a school-wide collection of items needed for the Kentucky Mountain Kids. A list of suggested items was sent out in a letter from the principal. The Kentucky Mountain Kids collection will be running from Monday, September 18th - Friday, October 29th.
ELA
SEVENTH GRADE READING/LANGUAGE ARTS
Mrs. Ferroli, Ms. Nickell, & Mrs. West
In Reading, using a short story entitled “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson, students have been reviewing the different Elements of Literature. After the Elements of Literature Final Assessment is complete, seventh grade students will begin various genre studies. Also, students have had the opportunity to be reading a book of their choice in class. Students should be reading everyday, outside of class as well. The requirement in seventh grade is for each student to read at least 25 texts by the end of the school year. The students are excited and determined to reach their goal!
In Language Arts, students spent the very beginning of the year learning about the components of a good paragraph. Students were introduced to the MEL-Con format. Students are now practicing how to write a good Narrative piece. Soon, students will be asked to put together all of the components into a cohesive story about themselves. As well as different genre writing, students are involved in Grammar lessons and Vocabulary each week. Although seventh grade students are very busy, they have done a wonderful job transitioning from elementary school into middle school.
EIGHTH GRADE READING/LANGUAGE ARTS
Mrs. Bernhard & Mrs. Panico
In Reading, students completed a graffiti wall which highlighted their summer reading. The focus was on summarization and theme. We have begun our Contemporary Fiction Unit and the students are reviewing setting, dialogue, and theme. The essential question throughout the unit is, “How do the struggles a character goes through create who they are?” Students are also reading daily from their self-selected novels. Their goal this year is to read a minimum of 30 books. Many students are well on their way to surpassing that goal!
In Language Arts, the students are reviewing some of the grammar components from seventh grade. Presently, the focus is on verbs and infinitives. While it is important to be able to identify the different parts of speech, the goal is to be able to apply it to their writing. Students are also working hard on their vocabulary lessons each week. The students recently completed their first writing prompt titled, “If You Really Knew Me.” They were given the opportunity to write anonymously about themselves. It was a very powerful writing piece, and the students enjoyed writing about themselves without the fear of judgment from their peers. The next writing piece that we will be starting is titled, “Unwritten Rules”. This will surely bring out a lot of laughs and great conversations as we discuss some of the unwritten rules we follow, not only in middle school but also in society. It has been a fantastic start to the school year, and we're looking forward to a fun and successful year!
Mrs. Callaghan
8th grade reading/language arts classes are off to a great start. The first few days were spent getting to know each other and organizing our supplies. Next, we jumped right into our reading goal for the year - a minimum of 30 texts. Students spent several days looking through Ms. Callaghan’s library, the LRC, the Internet, and listening to 1-minute book talks from other students to create a list of books they would like to read during the school year. Students are required to bring a personal book to class each day and reading class begins with 10 minutes of silent reading. Students also reviewed their summer reading requirements with a group assignment and a book selfie. After a book talk from Mrs. Squires, students selected a contemporary fiction book for our first genre study. Writing class begins with a writing prompt, vocabulary ‘word chunks’, or a grammar mini-lesson. We just completed our first major writing piece titled "If You Really Knew Me." Students used the ‘SEEPS’ strategy to add elaboration, and they were also required to incorporate their vocabulary ‘word chunks’. Weekly, students are presenting their ‘vocabulary in action’ word to the class. This is a vocabulary word that they hear during the week that they would like to share with the class. Next, we will begin a paper titled "This I Believe," based on the 1950's radio series of the same name, and we will be preparing for our NaNoWriMo novel in November. We are looking forward to a great year.
Mrs. Saenz & Miss Groch
Reading and Language Arts classes have had a fabulous start to the 8th grade year!
In reading, students began the year by reviewing nonfiction text skills and completing our Summer Reading Assignments. We have also had many library experiences, in which we scoured the shelves to find books to meet our goal of reading at least thirty texts to increase our vocabulary and comprehension in literature. These novels are self-selected and students are expected to be reading this book every day outside of school as well. As the quarter continues, we will begin a study of Contemporary Fiction through an author study of SL Rottman, where we will analyze and interpret different strategies of reading.
In Language Arts class, we have been exploring the umbrella question: How do our experiences influence who we are today? This question will guide us through our Personal Narrative, as we explore both our individuality, as well as the similarities we share in our community of learners. We have also been practicing vocabulary and grammar throughout the quarter in the form of mini-lessons applied to our writing.
Let’s keep up the hard work and dedication demonstrated thus far!
GIFTED READING/LANGUAGE ARTS
Mrs. Saenz
The Gifted Reading/ Language Arts course is off to an amazing start this year.
Our theme-based reading class began the year looking at the concept of “Identity and Transformation”. Beginning with a plethora of nonfiction articles, students have explored this theme by analyzing and evaluating individual and group motives. Through close reading and analysis, we have explored how individuals overcome the struggle of not belonging to a specific group and the adversity they face. Analyzing critical incidents through fictional and real individuals, we will continue to explore complex texts through the experiences of others for quarter one.
In Gifted Language Arts, we have also begun a study of Greek and Latin word chunks. These words are explored throughout the week and are then used in an authentic manner in our writing pieces. Our writing has focused on an exploration of “Identity and Transformation” as well, using mini-lessons to strengthen our areas of need.
Our classes have had a seamless transition into the 2017-2018 school year and we are excited to continue to grow as individuals and as a group!
Math
7th Grade Math
The year is off to a great start in the seventh grade math classes. The students in the Common Core 7 classes have reviewed and refreshed their integer operation skills. No negative number will stand a chance against them! They continue to strengthen their integer skills as they work with positive and negative fractions. The students continue to build on to their fraction operation skills from sixth grade.
In Math A, the students are adapting to the quick-paced curriculum and expectations. The students have mastered their review of integers and are finishing up fractions. Our next stop will be to work with exponents and roots, an exciting 8th grade topic!
Seventh grade Foundations classes are working hard to master their integer operations. They have practiced and worked hard to work with adding and subtracting integers. Next, they will tackle multiplying and dividing fractions.
Accelerated 7th Math is also adjusting to the rigors and expectations of an accelerated class. They will soon be finishing the first Unit, The Number System, which places much emphasis on Powers, Exponents, Roots, and Monomials. These students are great taskmasters and are always up for a challenge!
All of the seventh grade math classes have worked very diligently so far this year. Always remember to seek help when needed and refer to your teacher’s webpage for assignments and extra practice! This is going to be a great year!
8th Grade Math
The 8th grade math classes have had a great start to the year! It is amazing to see how much the students have grown over the summer. Mrs. Messineo and Mrs. Magliola have enjoyed getting to know all of the students and can’t wait to see how much they will continue to grow this year.
The Common Core 8 class began the year with Solving Equations. This is a very challenging way to begin. Students are learning how to work with multistep equations that include variables on both sides and parenthesis. This topic is completely new to them and they are really doing a great job. Students have taken their first chapter test and are moving on to Chapter 3, Equations in Two Variables. Students will begin to learn about the properties of lines and how to graph linear equations.
In Math B, the students have also been working extremely hard. Students have jumped right into the Math 1 textbook. Everyone has worked on writing and solving equations and inequalities. Students will use these skills throughout the year with the Math B curriculum. We just took our first test and now students will begin to work to review skills from last year involving Linear Equations.
Don’t forget that Mrs. Messineo’s and Mrs. Magliola’s webpage are a great way to keep your students on top of everything. We post daily assignments and notes on the webpage so students can use them from home or when they are absent. Keeping up with daily homework assignments is one way to stay on top of your math grade, coming in for help is the other. We look forward to a great year!
Science
7th Grade
Wow! 7th grade scientists have been busy in Mrs. Pinkus and Mrs Fager’s labs! We kicked off the year with a Metric Olympics! Events included, but were not limited to, straw javelin throw, paper plate discus, and cotton ball shotput! We celebrated the Olympics with a beautiful award ceremony where the contestants were awarded medals based on their skills and estimations. Estimating is an important part of practicing science.
Once we completed our competitions, we entered into our biology content through the doors of living, non-living, and dead. Students defined living, non-living, dead through an inquiry practice in the classroom and had the opportunity to investigate biodiversity through adopting their own courtyard plot! The excitement was high as the students became adoptive parents of their plants and plots! Adoptive parent responsibilities this quarter include data collection and upkeep of their plot.
In addition, the students trekked through the blazing heat to collect and analyze local water from Barth Pond. These seventh graders were true troopers! They tested the water’s turbidity, temperature, pH level, and dissolved oxygen level. From there, they were also able to discern what microorganisms could survive in their water sample. Amazing life was witnessed in 7th grade science under the microscope with Barth Pond samples-- mosquito larvae, water boatmen, and even some different forms of paramecium! The eukaryotic and prokaryotic life in our home pond is pretty cool!
Further, students have learned to annotate like a scientist. They interacted with text while making personal connections, asking questions, taking notes, and connecting major science themes across curriculum topics.
As we move on, the students will be studying the structure and function of cells and system. The students will be creating a cell model in the form of a brochure. Hopefully, from the brochures, you will want to pick your child’s “cell” as your next family outing!
8th Grade
The 8th grade Science students have had a wonderful start to the year! Dr. Van Dyke and Mr. Mueller have started with an NGSS aligned Sound Unit! Did you know that all things vibrate when they make sound?! Even walls and other solid objects! Students have been reading science-related articles each week to find the main idea. We're looking forward to the rest of the year!
Social Studies
Mrs. Brost
Mrs. Brost’s classes have started the year off strong! We began the year talking about working in groups, what they look for in a group member, and how group work should be evaluated. This along with the group skills survey they took this week, will help the students become more effective and assertive group members.
Our first theme is American Identity and students have already learned about how the Colonists were able to defeat the British despite being overmatched! Within this unit, students created a Broadside, which was how they delivered the latest news back in the 1700’s. Broadsides consist of a catchy slogan and an illustration that reinforces the slogan. These will be displayed in the classroom and in the hallway outside of Mrs. Brost’s room. Currently, students are learning about how the founding fathers set up our government and wrote the Constitution. Students will eventually apply the principles of the Constitution, as well as some of the individual freedoms, to current events and real life. The Constitution test will come at the end of the 1st quarter (end of October). Much more information regarding the test will be on my website in a few weeks.
Ms. Groch
What is social studies & why does it matter? Why study cultures around the world? Why study history? What is geography used for? What does it mean to be a global citizen? All excellent questions that we will be exploring this year in 7th grade social studies!
Miss Groch’s classes began the year with fun icebreakers & getting to know you activities. We began our adventure into utilizing whole brain teaching strategies to keep our classes focused & engaged! Together, we explored the past events of the 9/11 tragedy, with a focus on the largest water boatlift evacuation in American history! On September 11th, 2001, heroes came together in Lower Manhattan to evacuate 500,000 citizens to safety within 9 hours! The history & current state of terrorism in America have been discussed as we link current events to events of the past.
Our current focus is learning how geographer’s show information on maps by analyzing map titles, symbols, longitude, latitude, map scales, & map projections. This year we will be analyzing six thematic maps to gather information about the world. These thematic maps include physical features, climate zones, vegetation zones, population density, economic activity, & regions. We will be starting our study of Monsoon Asia. Throughout the school year, we will be studying civics, human rights, & ethics!
Mrs. Scapellato
7th grade social studies class kicked off the school year with some exciting icebreaker activities that helped everyone get to know each other. Next, students began working on their first unit: The Tools of Geography. They analyzed six thematic maps to gather information about the world. Students also practiced various map skills such as using map titles, cardinal directions, legends, symbols, longitude, latitude, map scales and map projections while working on their first set of Mapping Labs. As September 11th approached our classes prepared by learning what took place before, during, and after this day in history. We paused to remember our heroes and discussed our response as a nation and world. Up next in social studies we will be exploring the history, culture, and geography of various countries across Asia. Current events will continue to be incorporated on a regular basis.
Mr. Jones
Mr. Jones’s Social Studies classes have opened our first quarter of work with a consideration, first, of the purpose of studying History. Why study about a topic and devote the days, weeks and months ahead to learning about something we now cannot change? We participated in a partner scavenger hunt around topics that are part of America’s history and what we already know of this story. After learning of the naming and importance of Labor Day and returning from that three day weekend, we dove into some significant current events, notably the continuing controversy surrounding San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s decision not to stand for the National Anthem. We also read and discussed, via our class Edmodo page, the events in North Korea at this time and the impact of the decision to withdraw the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (D.A.C.A)
We began our ‘journey of a thousand miles’, by dividing our first six chapters of our book among our six tables and groups. Each table has adopted a chapter and each person has taken on a section to become the expert on, to tell us, the larger group about one aspect of that section. This ‘large red’ text heading becomes the basis of a Google Slides presentation that the student then gives for our larger group. At the time of writing, we are about to begin the presentations for Chapter 3.
Fine Arts
Orchestra
Orchestra performed in a joint concert with District 99 orchestras and Herrick MS on October 17. It was themed "Music Makes Us Move" and featured different types of dance music. We were proud of each group and our combined effort on the "Chicken Dance".
We are looking forward to performing at the Niles West Clinic on Nov. 15 and the Winter Concert (band/orch/choir) on Dec. 21.
Athletics:
Fall Athletics
The OMS Cross Country team worked hard this season to embrace the discomfort that comes with pushing past their comfort zone to make great personal gains. Collectively, the 7th grade boys and girls as well as the 8th grade boys and girls teams all finished in the top three overall at the conference meet. This was highlighted by our 8th grade girls team finishing the season undefeated and taking first place in Conference! A special shout out to Jeffrey Spirek (7th boys) and Alex Spang (8th girls) for winning their race and taking first place individually at the conference meet as well! A total of 18 OMS runners earned ribbons for finishing in the Top 12 places of their race. Most important, this team came together to encourage and support each other, and created a fun and enjoyable atmosphere to celebrate their personal growth. Their team motto, "PUMPED!", says it best and set the tone for the team this season.
This team also dealt with one of the most demanding season schedules, with 2 home meets in the same week to back-to-back meets with temperatures in the mid-90s, and became stronger and more experienced runners. This year's 7th grade teams will be in great shape for competing next season, and coaches look forward to hopefully seeing them return. Coaches also want to thank this year's 8th grade runners and encourage them to continue to try to find time to keep running in their routine. Hopefully, this might include them running Cross Country next year in high school.
The team dealt with many challenges and successes, both big and small, along the way to allow us to be able to reflect and have a sense of accomplishment from this process. Perhaps this is most important, more so than any award or ribbon, in moving forward to be a better version of yourself.
7th Grade Girl's Volleyball
The 7th grade girls volleyball team season has come to an end. Showing a lot of improvement from the beginning of the season, the girls finished with a 5-6 record and advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament. Although they ended in losses, one of the highlights included their battles against cross-town rival Herrick. Undefeated at the time, our girls gave Herrick their first game loss in the playoffs, showing that they are capable of playing with and beating anyone in the conference. Mr. Moore is very proud of the team and is looking forward to seeing what they are capable of as 8th graders next year. The team members are: Cadee Baker, Alli Bogdanski, Lindsay Born, Anna Casmere, Ella Dvoracek, Kaylin James, Sam Meyers, Ella O'Neill, Emily Petring, Maura Raftery, Sofia Storrs and Kate Wilson. The managers were Eryn Becker and Hannah Logan. Great job 7th graders!
8th Grade Girls' Volleyball
Enthusiastic and goal driven were words to describe members of the 8th grade volleyball team, who showed up in the gym most mornings at 6:30 for practice.
The team made it to the championship game for the second year in a row. Olivia Bifulco, Natalie Blazyk, Katrina Carlson, Paige Horonzy, Hailey Lloyd, Ava Matheson, Audrey Mahoney, Taylor Pertile, Drew Populorum, Sydney Populorum, Olivia Ray, Abbey Turek, Kristin Weidner, and Madolyn Werner gave 100% every time they stepped on the court. That effort paid off with a winning season, losing only to an undefeated Herrick team.
Mrs. West thanks the players for a most enjoyable season, and wishes them well in their high school activities.