Oriole's Nest
August 12, 2022
Avon Middle School South
Email: msattendance@avon-schools.org
Website: https://www.avon-schools.org/mssouth
Location: 7199 East US Highway 36, Avon, IN, USA
Phone: 317-544-5700
Twitter: @avonsouth
ACSC 2022 - 2023 School Calendar
AMS South's Attendance Policy & Early Dismissal Proceedures
ABSENCE PROCEDURE
If a student is absent from school, the PARENT must call the school by 10:00 A.M. to report the absence. If no call is received, the automated school system will make an effort to contact the parent, but if NO PARENT CALL has been received by 3:00 P.M. the day following the absence, the student will be charged with an unexcused absence. You may also send an email to us to notify us of your child's absence at msattendance@avon-schools.org.
EARLY DISMISSALS
** Please be advised that we cannot take early dismissal information over the telephone. **
If your child needs to leave school early during the school day please send a note in with your child to bring to the office first thing in the morning or email us at
msattendance@avon-schools.org with all the necessary information: students name, date and time picking up, and the name of the person picking your child up if someone other than a parent or guardian will be picking up. This email will go directly to the front office secretaries and they will be able to get your child an early dismissal pass so that they can be in the front office when you are ready to pick them up. If you are unable to email us we will need you to come into the office with your valid ID, once we verify it is a parent/guardian picking up we will be able to call the student down for dismissal.
If someone other than a parent or guardian will be picking up your child we MUST have this information in writing from a parent/guardian. Please include his or her name on the note or email. Once we verify their photo ID then the student can sign out and leave.
If leaving early for a doctor/dentist/orthodontist appointment, please provide verification note from the appointment to the main office to ensure that the absence is excused.
Using this email will ensure your child will get a pass out of class to be in the office. Please do not use Parent Square to send a message to your child's teachers as we cannot guarantee that this message will get to the front office to get your child a pass. Our teachers are very busy throughout the day and may not be able to check Parent Square often, or if the teacher is out that day we would not get that message in the front office in time to get your child an early dismissal pass.
We want to make sure that your information is getting to the right person in a timely manner, and hopefully prevent any miscommunication or missed messages.
Pre-Arranged Absences
It is our belief that students can best achieve academic success by being in school every day. We also understand that a student may occasionally have an opportunity to experience extraordinary opportunities that may result in a missed day of school. The principal or designee may grant a pre-arranged absence, if the absence provides an extraordinary opportunity for the student and/or family. The request must be submitted at least five school days in advance of the requested absence. The student will be required to complete all missed work upon his/her return to school.
No more than three days of pre-arranged absences will be approved each year. Pre-arranged absences may not be granted during the following circumstances:
- I-Learn
- During semester exams
- When the requested absence would push the student’s attendance record into excessive absence status or if the student has surpassed the allowable number of absences.
Important Upcoming Dates
August 19, 2022 - Book Rental Statement sent home via ParentSquare
September 5, 2022 - Labor Day - NO SCHOOL!
Fall Musical Auditions
Mr. Zimmerman and Ms. Hatton would live to invite all students at AMS South to audition for the Fall Musical, Junie B. Jones Jr.!
Auditions will take place next week on
Tuesday & Wednesday, Aug 16 and 17 after school from 4:15-5:30 PM.
You may sign up for a 5-minute audition slot on the sign-up sheet across from the choir room (B124). Please prepare a short musical theatre song of your choice and a monologue, which can be found in Mr. Zimmerman’s and Ms. Hatton’s classrooms (A213). If you are planning to sign up for an audition, make sure you have a ride home soon after your time slot! We look forward to seeing you!
Upcoming Athletic Events
Football
7th grade Football - 8/18 HOME vs. Plainfield 5:00PM
8th grade Football - 8/18 HOME vs. Plainfield 6:15PM
Good luck!
Avon High School Athletic Events
The Avon High School Athletic Administrators asked us to pass along the following information regarding middle school students attending football games. Please read carefully as students must purchase tickets online prior to showing up at the stadium.
Avon High School Athletic Events - This Friday night is the first home Football event at Avon high School. The Avon Orioles will scrimmage Warren Central beginning at 7:00 pm for a maximum of two hours.
Students must have a digital ticket or All Sport Pass for entry. Tickets are $7 this year for Varsity events. To expedite entry, the ticket should be purchased ahead of time via the link with a credit card. Ticket info for purchasing online single event tickets and/or All Sport Passes (which will be sent to the purchaser’s phone) can be found at https://websites.eventlink.com/s/avon-high-school/Tickets. Tickets can be purchased on the link provided for Home and Away events throughout the school year.
K-8 STUDENTS ATTENDING FOOTBALL EVENTS AT AVON HIGH SCHOOL - It is highly encouraged that all elementary and middle school students be accompanied by a paid adult. Unsupervised students will be required to sit in the middle school section on the SW corner of the Football Stadium and will not be allowed to wonder around. Backpacks, shoestring bags, and sports equipment (footballs, frisbees, etc.) are not permitted at AHS athletic events.
STUDENT INFORMATION
AMS South Yearbook Staff Needed!
Want to be a part of creating the South yearbook for this school year? If you want to join the yearbook staff now is the time! Applications for this group can be picked up from the Main Office or Mrs. Boroff’s room C223. Please make sure to complete the entire packet and follow all directions. Completed applications must be turned back in by September 2nd to the main office or Mrs. Boroff to be considered. Questions can be directed to Mrs. Boroff.
Celebrating Birthday's This Week!
Happy Birthday
to our students celebrating a birthday this week:
Brock Bravo
Sean Downey
Landen Mercer
Gertrude Tennery-Wilson
Abigail Austin
Vandan Patel
Junelis Perez-Patino
Samuel Dobbins
Payton Hall
Isabel Uhl
David Owoeye
Michael Rodriguez-Garcia
Conner Smith
Moses Orobiyi
Gemma Rehm
Parker Gentry-Links
NJHS Study Tables
Starting September 07, 2022, National Junior Honor Society will offer after school study help sessions on Wednesday’s after school from 4:10 - 5:00PM. Students will then go to the front commons area and wait for the late bus or parent pick-up. During this time, there will be a supervisor with the students while they wait for the late bus to arrive. Students that will be a car rider home on these days can be picked up at door 1 at 5:00PM.
If your student will be staying for the study session and they need bus transportation home they must sign up for the late bus in the Guidance Office at lunch that day. For those students taking the late bus home, the bus will leave AMS South at 5:10pm.
TEAM NEWS
Each week your child's team will give an update about the current week or week ahead. Please find your child's team below for that information. In addition, you will find news from our Encore teachers, Media Center, and PE/Wellness teachers.
Cardinals News
Mrs. Dugan, Mrs. Williams, Mr. Schubert & Mr. Uhl
In Social Studies, we will begin learning about Climate and Landforms. In Science, we will continue to apply the Engineering Design Method Process to real-life situations. We will follow the Engineering Design Process while creating the best paper airplane. In Math, we will be taking our first test over fractions, decimals, percents, probability, and fraction addition. In Pre-Algebra, we will be finishing up probability and start talking about data representations, data distributions, and random samples. In Language Arts, students will continue analyzing narrative writing as we read the first few chapters of Red Scarf Girl. Be sure to ask them about what they’re reading!
Grizzlies News
Mrs. Barnes, Mrs. Boroff, Mrs. Schroer & Ms. Weinstein
Next week in Language Arts, we will read through Chapters 3, 4, and 5 of Red Scarf Girl and take time for accompanying activities to help us further develop our comprehension of Narrative writing. In Science, we have started our first lab dealing with gravity, buoyancy, and water displacement. We will continue this into next week. Students must have their Lab Safety Contract signed by a parent and turned in before they participate in labs in class. These were passed out on August 4th. Students who have yet to turn the contract in will have an alternate textbook assignment to complete. Social Studies students will be diving into the five themes of geography (Location, Place, Movement, Region, and Human Environmental Interaction), as well as landforms and world climate zones. In Math, students will be taking their Probability test on Wednesday and starting the fraction computation unit. Review for the test will be posted on Monday and Tuesday’s Schoology assignment. Pre-Algebra students will continue working on single and compound event Probabilities. Their probability test will be Tuesday, August 23.
Jaguars News
Mrs. Cassida, Ms. Hatton, Mrs. Ringham & Ms. Schaber
Ms. Costello, Ms. Gawrys, Mr. Thoennes & Mr. Walker
Language Arts
Mrs. Ringham - Language Arts students will begin reading the memoir “Red Scarf Girl” and build on what they have learned about China’s Cultural Revolution. Students will use concrete details from the opening passage of Red Scarf Girl to support a claim about the narrator’s emotional tone.
Mr. Thoennes - In Language Arts, we will continue to read Going Solo.
Math & Pre-Algebra
Mrs. Cassida - In Math, students will take the Chapter 1 Assessment over probability and expressing fractions as percentages and decimals on Wednesday. Students should bring home their folders with lesson pages that can be used to study. We will the begin Chapter 2 on fractions and integer addition. In Pre-Algebra, we will continue our study of probability with compound independent events and survey samples.
Ms. Costello - In Math, we will be reviewing for and taking the Chapter 1 Test on Wednesday (8/17). Then we will begin Chapter 2.
Science
Ms. Schaber - In Science we will continue learning about the engineering design process and observations. We will also be starting a paper airplane lab.
Ms. Gawrys - In Science, we will be continuing our exploration of the Engineering Design Process with a paper airplane lab.
Social Studies
Ms. Hatton - Social Studies students will be starting to learn about Earth and its systems. We will begin talking about climate, plate tectonics, and how/why the Earth changes.
Mr. Walker - In Social Studies, we will be finishing up the 5 Themes of Geography and learning climate zones.
Foresters News
Mrs. DeBow, Mr. Gullion, Ms. Tobin & Mrs. Zimmerman
Ms. Costello, Ms. Gawrys, Mr. Thoennes & Mr. Walker
Language Arts
Mrs. Zimmerman - Students will continue reading "Going Solo" as they analyze Dahl's work, students will be pushed to think critically.
Mr. Thoennes - In Language Arts, we will be continuing to read Red Scarf Girl.
Pre-Algebra & Algebra
Mrs. DeBow - Pre-Algebra students will take their Chapter 1 test over probability on Wednesday and then begin model expressions using algebra tiles. Algebra students will learn about functions, domain and range and then test over Chapter 1 on Thursday.
Ms. Costello - In Math, we will be reviewing for and taking the Chapter 1 Team Test on Wednesday (8/17). Then we will begin Chapter 2.
Science
Ms. Tobin - Next week, in Science, will be taking our first quiz over the scientific method and graphing on Friday, August 19.
Ms. Gawrys - In Science, we will be continuing our dive into the scientific method with an Egg Toss Lab and wrapping up with a quiz on Friday!
Social Studies
Mr. Gullion - We will have our first exam on Wednesday over the Age of Exploration.
Mr. Walker - In Social Studies, we will be continuing to learn about explorers discovering North America and playing the mercantilism game.
Greyhounds News
Mrs. Warthan, Ms. Kegley, Mr. Casey & Mr. Osen
In Science, students will be reviewing the Scientific Method and preparing for a quiz on Friday. Biology classes will be studying the different impacts on their ecological disaster. In Pre-Algebra, we will be working on a probability test Wednesday and reviewing combining like terms and order of operations. Algebra classes will identify functions and find their domain and range. Chapter 1 test on Thursday!! Social Studies classes will be learning about mercantilism and preparing for their unit test. In Language Arts, students will be working on creating dialogue and continuing to read “Going Solo” by Roald Dahl.
Greyhound Team Information: We have a large group of students that are coming to school with uncharged computers. This causes disruptions during class. Please remind your student to charge each night. It may even help to set up an area where your student charge their computer each evening so it is ready to go in the morning. Thanks for your help!
Panthers News
Mrs. Hood, Mr. Rodgers, Mrs. Taylor & Mr. Williams
In Language Arts, classes will be reading and doing work with some excerpts from Roald Dahl’s memoir Going Solo. Test next Wednesday in Social Studies, students already have a study guide. Our next unit will cover the early colonial period. In Science, we will continue practicing graphing and scientific investigations. There will be a quiz overall graphing and variables on Friday 8-19. We will also continue to take Froot Loop donations for next week’s graphing lab. For those of you who have already donated, thank you so much. Biology classes will investigate the impacts of keystone predators and niches with our hands on food web. We will also continue to take empty 2-liter bottle donations for an upcoming biobottle activity. For those of you who have already donated, thank you so much. Algebra, week 3 already!! We began working on functions last week and will continue with that content this week. We will be identifying key parts of a function and using function notation to evaluate the elements of the given function. We will also be interpreting functions and their aspects in terms of a given context. Our test for this unit is scheduled for August 19th. In Pre-Algebra, we will be finishing up our unit on Probability this week. Our final topic for this unit is finding the probability of dependent events. Tuesday we will be reviewing, and we will be taking our test on Wednesday. It will be our first test and I am excited to see the results! Our new unit begins the end of the week. The first sections involve evaluating expressions and simplifying expressions using the order of operations.
Encore News & World Languages
Señora Barker (Spanish), Mrs. Hauptmann (Japanese), Mr. Parr (Computer Science), Mrs. Leonard (Art), Mrs. Gleissner (FACS), Mr. Hamsley (Engineering and Technology), Mr. Wolf (Robotics) and Mrs. Snyder (Flight & Space and Medical Detectives)
Spanish
Next week we will be learning numbers and students will have a spelling quiz over number 0-20 towards the end of the week.
Japanese
This week in Japanese, students will be learning about countries nationalities and languages.
Computer Science
7th grade - Classes will be starting the create a captioned scene project.
8th grade - Students will be starting the “Blink” project.
7th & 8th grade FACS
7th grade: Students will wrap up the Interpersonal Relationships Unit and begin Nutrition and Cooking. Students will begin to learn about food and kitchen safety and sanitation practices.
8th grade: Students will wrap up the Financial Literacy Unit and begin the Machine Sewing Unit. Students will begin to learn the parts of a sewing machine and how to use the machine safely and properly.
7th grade Engineering and Design
Students will be begin building their 3 piece puzzles in the lab.
8th grade Gateway to Technology
Students will begin construction on their phone charging stands.
Flight & Space
Students will be learning about Flight Management-creating Gnatt Chart to help schedule crew members.
Medical Detectives
Students will continue reading medical files and diagnosing patients based on their symptoms and the disease dictionary.
Robotics
Students will continue building different gear mechanisms. We will end the week by reviewing the functions of each type of gear.
Art
7th grade: Next week students are drawing a portrait while focusing on defining forms with a wide value range.
8th grade: Next week students are finishing up their sculptural pinch pot animal with clay and we will move into the coil building lidded vessel.
Please enjoy a few pictures from Mrs. Leonard's art class below.
PE/Wellness News
Mrs. Fair, Mrs. Lucas & Mr. Jackson
PE students will continue their units of soccer, flag football, and fitness. The rules and information for each rotation is posted on Schoology. The first unit assessments will be on Friday, August 26. As a reminder, we ask that all students take their clothes home on Friday and return on Monday with clean uniforms.
PE students got to enjoy some time outside this week, enjoy a few pictures of them below.
Music Department News
Mr. Abbey (Band), Ms. Szymkow (Band), Mr. Zimmerman (Choir) & Mr. Miller (Orchestra)
Band
Band students are reminded that they need to bring all rehearsal materials to class every day, including reeds, valve oil, and TWO pencils. Next week we will be doing more book work and sight reading, please make sure to have your method books at school and ready for rehearsal.
Choir
Auditions for the musical, Junie B Jones, will be Tuesday & Wednesday August 16 & 17 from 4:15-5:30 PM after school. Auditions for show choir will be Thursday & Friday August 25 & 26 from 8:10-9:10 before school. Sign-up sheets for both can be found outside of Mr. Zimmerman’s room (B124).
Orchestra
Classes are going well this week. The 8th grade classes have sight-read through all of their music and are now rehearsing. The 7th grade classes have been working on daily procedures, guidelines and review orchestra concepts from last year. We hope to start sight-reading their second piece this week. All students should have received an orchestra method book by the end of this week. Keep encouraging your students to practice at home!
Parents of cello and bass students, you will be receiving a letter from the corporation about the $100 school instrument rental/maintenance fee. That money can be turned into the office and needs to be paid as soon as you receive the letter home.
Chamber Orchestra audition packets went out last week. That audition video is due on Thursday, September 1st by 9pm. Students will send a Schoology message to Mr. Miller with their video. Accepted members will know by September 6th. The first rehearsal will be on September 15th.
Media Moments with Ms. Sever
Media Center
Ms. Sever
Students have begun reading the books they checked out last week during SSR time in homeroom. Several students have already finished and been down to check out new ones! We will begin scheduling book exchanges in the library for both 7th and 8th grade ELA classes in the coming weeks.
OFFICE PROCEDURES
AMS South Visitors Policy
For Visitors to our Building
Avon Schools require all visitors to check-in at the front office using our visitor management system, Safe Visitor. This system requires visitors to scan their driver's license or state identification card for a check of their record. A temporary badge is provided to all visitors to wear while in our buildings. As our visitors leave school, they scan and return that badge to front office staff.
Entering the Building
Anyone entering our building beyond the front office will need to have a valid photo ID with them so that they can be checked in through our Safe Visitor Solutions system. You will be given a badge to wear while in the building so that you are identified as a visitor. When leaving you will return to the front office so that we can check you out of Safe Visitor Solutions and take your badge.
Visiting Students during Lunch
At this time, we are allowing parents/guardians to have lunch with their child during their specified lunch time in our commons area outside of the cafeteria. Parents must follow our policy for entering our building listed above; present a valid photo ID and be checked into our Safe Visitor system. Please take note that this process may take a few minutes to get you checked into our system so please allow for a few extra minutes for that process.
**If someone other than a parent/guardian would like to have lunch with your student, we MUST have that information in writing in advance from a parent/guardian. You can either send a note in with your student to bring to the office when they arrive at school in the morning, or you can email our attendance line with the information at msattendance@avon-schools.org
BUILDING ACCESS
Please be prepared to identify yourself, provide a valid photo ID, and provide a reason for your visit when you arrive.
21st CENTURY SCHOLARS
7th and 8th grade parents: Your children may be eligible for a college scholarship!
View the form below for more information.
STUDENT LAPTOP RENTAL INSURANCE
Worth Ave. Group Laptop Insurance
Avon Community Schools has chosen Worth Ave. Group as the vendor of choice to insure school-issued laptops rented by students. Insurance with Worth Ave. Group will protect the device against: Accidental Damage, Theft, Fire, Flood, Natural Disasters, Power Surge and Vandalism. This insurance policy will provide full replacement cost coverage and will protect the item worldwide (on and off school grounds). The policy is also transferable to a replacement unit. Insurance plans may be purchased online.
- Coverage Term: July 18, 2022 - July 18, 2023
- It is up to you to renew yearly.
- Deadline to Purchase Coverage: September 5, 2022
- Yearly Insurance Rates:
- 6th-12 Grade: Lenovo 11e Laptop $45.00
- Costs are prorated for enrollment after September 5.
STUDENT HANDBOOK
COMMUNITY NEWS
Homework Hotline
Need help with Math and Science homework?
Call the Homework Hotline
1-877-ASK-ROSE
Click below to visit their website
Mary Lee Maier Community Pantry Information
The Mary Lee Maier Community Pantry is available to Avon school families and employees.
Every Thursday from 5:00 - 6:00PM (when school is in session)
at Avon Intermediate School East
Please do not arrive before 4:30PM due to AIS bus/school traffic
Enrollment is simple. Please complete your 2020-2021 enrollment before you shop. Below you will find more information for enrollment, please click the link below.