The BULLetin
November 21, 2019
Principal's Message
Thank You
I have tried to respond to all the emails and notes that I have received since announcing that I am leaving Murphy at the end of the semester. Each note, phone call and person stopping by the office has been appreciated. I look forward to serving the Murphy community for the next several weeks and I know Ms. Bingham and Ms Viall, as well as the rest of the school staff, will ensure things continue in the same positive direction.
Junior High Sports Survey
There are a group of concerned parents and students because removing junior high sports is once again up for discussion as a budget reduction item. I fundamentally believe that I have a responsibility to both the district and our school community. As such, I am including a link to their survey. If you're so inclined, please take a minute to complete the survey.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc0CozADE63N9tlh0pSlcx0r4y2sGDBK6t1utf-iQOWZOs_Wg/viewform
Please note, that my inclusion of this is not a endorsement of the cause, only their efforts. If you'd like my honest opinion, I will happily share it with you at some point in the future.
Battle of 127th Street
Heritage Grove currently has the trophy. They have our trophy, we want it back.
Please plan on coming out to Murphy, on Friday, December 6, 2019. The doors open at 5pm, to see the 7th grade square off against the Huskies at 5:30 and the 8th grade play for the trophy at 7pm.
Admission is $3 at the door for all spectators 5 and up. Concessions and 50/50 raffle will be available.
Murphy Art on Display
Artwork from Murphy Jr. High will be on display at the Montgomery Campus of the Oswego Public Library District (1111 Reading Dr., Montgomery). The artwork will be displayed for the month of November in the Young Adult Room. Don’t miss your chance to view our local young artists on display!
Murphy Toys for Tots
To help focus donations, we have theme weeks:
- Nov 18-22 Sports/Craft themed toys
- Nov 25-26 Games/Books (Shortened Week)
- Dec 2-6 Toy of choice
- Dec 9th- Wheel related or technology toy (this is a new raffle which is only for this day- one lucky winner just from this group of students will win the chance to attend the breakfast).
Congrats Mathletes!
PTO Concession - Still a Few Spots Open
The Murphy PTO is excited to run the concession stand for the Boy's Basketball home games this year! We are looking for volunteers to help us out. It's a lot of fun and helps the PTO raise funds to put toward student activities, classroom grants and much more! It's also a great way for your student to earn service hours. Please consider signing up for a shift (or two)!
We are looking for 2 people for each shift. Please note that student volunteers must be accompanied by an adult volunteer. We can't do this without you, so a big thanks in advance to everyone who signs up!
PTO
The Murphy PTO does not do any fundraising as a PTO. Instead we ask families to make an annual donation to the PTO. These donations help us to provide classroom grants, student events, staff appreciation, community awareness and much more. Please consider making a donation. In addition, any family who donates $25 or more will receive one free ticket to the Murphy Monster Mash!
The PTO can accept credit card payments for annual donations. You can also make your family’s annual donation via SignUp Genius by clicking on this link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0445aaaa22ab9-20192020 UPDATED LINK. If you prefer to send your donation in with your student, please print out the form below and send it to school with your student.
For more information on the Murphy PTO, upcoming PTO events or volunteer opportunities, please contact PTO President Missy Dziewiatkowski at missyd71@gmail.com or 630-999-3927. Please also follow us on Facebook for PTO events and updates (Murphy PTO-Home of the Mavericks).
Fall Play Shout Out
Congratulations to the cast and crew on two INCREDIBLE performances of Bestest Bedtime Stories (As Told by Grandpa) (He's Silly). Mrs. Tysiak and Mrs. Clausen are extremely proud of all the hard work you have put in over the last couple of months. It has been a pleasure working with all of you. Now, on to the musical!
-Tish & Clausen
Yearbooks are On Sale
LOOK FORWARD TO LOOKING BACK
Capture the good times with a yearbook that your student will hold on to forever.
Every Student. Every Day.
Ms. Alesia (Math) - Mrs. Alesia’s 6th grade math students used their problem solving skill to attack their word problems on their quiz. Students unpacked the problems by reading, rereading, highlighting numbers and circling verbs. Students also had to answer questions along to way to make sense of their problems. Students are becoming more confident in solving word problems and we are seeing success in their problem solving strategies!
Ms Rerych - Ms. Rerych's ELA worked collaboratively to apply the knowledge gained from the jigsaw discussion and marking of the nonfiction text to provide textual support plus rich analysis on the SOAPSTone organizer. Students engaged in skilled questioning techniques throughout the collaborative work to challenge each other's thinking throughout the task. Finally, students are now ready to craft their first extended response for nonfiction text using SOAPSTone.
Ms. Walsh - Mrs. Walsh's 6th grade students are working with a collaborative writing group to enhance their short stories. They read someone else's paper aloud and work together to improve sentence structure and overall organization of writing. Group members ask the author questions about how s/he/they can have better developed sentences by asking him/her/them what s/he/they know about sentences.
Ms. Waldron - Students read a Greek myth with a partner and created a one pager that required vocabulary & definitions, higher level questions, symbolism, characterization, border that res presents an important aspect of the myth and visuals. The students then shared out and the class could ask questions for clarification.
Ms. Clausen - My classes participated in a Socratic seminar to discuss the ending of Fahrenheit 451 and prepare for the test and the upcoming embedded assessment. Students created and answered level 2 and level 3 questions which required high level critical thinking skills and literary analysis.
Mr. Gerl - Students used a graphic organizer to write a CER for their Boat Lab. Where they read an article and used the information to create a boat which would hold the most weight. They then critiqued the CER using the graphic organizer and wrote a CER in paragraph forms.
Ms. Fell - During our AVID grade check, students wrote a reflection that helped identify areas of need for tutorials
Mavericks Make a Difference
We are continuing our Mavericks Make a Difference Volunteer Program this year. Students who acquire 25 volunteer hours per year (current 8th graders only need 50, 6th and 7th graders need 75) throughout their time at Murphy Junior High will be recognized at 8th grade promotion night. Below is a list of volunteer opportunities throughout the surrounding communities. Please fill out the following form to track your hours. Forms are due to Brian Falli on or before Friday, April 24.
Service Hour Verification Form
Oswego Lions Club Youth Service Awards Program- At the end of the Lions Club Service Year in June 2020, any District 308 student volunteers (ages 11-18) who have completed at least 25 hours of qualified and approved service work will receive an award from the Oswego Lions Club recognizing them as a Lions Young Leader in Service. See the flyer for more information.
Oswego Lions Club Flyer Oswego Lions Club Service Hour Tracking Sheet
November:
Make mats for dogs at Naperville Bank and Trust - 11/23 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/volunteer-to-make-snuffle-mats-for-dogs-tickets-69817585277?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
Ongoing events:
Marklund - Serving people with autism spectrum disorder and other special needs https://www.marklund.org/volunteer/
Giving DuPage - This website connects volunteers with volunteer opportunities in DuPage County https://givingdupage.org/volunteer-portal-2/
Project Linus
https://www.projectlinus.org/volunteer/volunteer.php?StateKey=IL#tgt
Arbor Day https://www.arborday.org/takeaction/
Oswego Natural Resources https://www.oswegolandparkdistrict.org/get-involved/volunteers/#1
Plainfield Public Library https://plainfieldpubliclibrary.org/about/volunteer-opportunities/
Feed My Starving Children https://www.fmsc.org/volunteer-listing/?chosen_mode=Site%20or%20Event%20Name&search_term=Aurora,%20IL&miles=25&minimum_spots=1&time=Any%20Time%20of%20Day&search_start=2019-08-19&search_end=2019-11-17
Fox Valley Park District (under 14 must have a parent) https://www.foxvalleyparkdistrict.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/VolunteerInterestForm_Fillable.pdf
Kendall County Forest Preserve https://www.co.kendall.il.us/forest-preserve/volunteer-opportunities/
Village of Montgomery https://ci.montgomery.il.us/201/Volunteer-Opportunities
Gigi’s Playhouse https://gigisplayhouse.org/foxvalley/fox-valley-volunteer-interest
Naperville Area Humane Society - must have adult https://www.naperhumane.org/volunteer
Habitat for Humanity https://www.habitat.org/volunteer/near-you/youth-programs
Oswego Senior Center http://oswegoseniorcenter.org/volunteer/day-to-day-volunteer-opportunities/
Kendall County Food Pantry https://www.kccfoodpantry.org/get-involved/
Weekly Cat Care at Aurora Petsmart/Naperville Petco https://www.volunteermatch.org/search/opp2902893.jsp
- Association for Individual Development https://www.aidcares.org/volunteer/
Student Services Spotlight
8th Graders - High School Course Selection for 2020-2021
Murphy counselors presented to 8th graders on 11/21 about elective selection for high school. Students received a sheet of freshmen electives at Oswego East, and directions for inputting electives into TylerSIS were reviewed.
8th grade core course teachers entered HS course placement recommendations, and they will be viewable on TylerSIS on November 22. If you have questions about these recommendations, please contact your student's teacher.
11/22 - 12/3 8th graders are expected to use TylerSIS to choose their electives. This can only be done on a desktop; it will not work on the Tyler app.
12/17 - OE counselors will be meeting with Murphy students to verify selections. 2 year/4 year Plan Document
Instructions on how to select classes on TylerSIS and freshmen elective sheets that include graduation requirements can be found, here
Course fees are applicable to certain classes. Course fee information can be found in the course catalog located on the Oswego East website.
Oswego East School Counselors contact information: OE Student Services
6th/7th Graders - Elective Course Selection for 2020-2021
12/3 - Counselors will present to 6th grade science classes on electives and the selection process/timeline
12/5 - Counselors will present to 7th grade science classes on electives and the selection process/timeline
If your student is absent, please feel free to email teachers directly for missed homework. Counselors are willing to help facilitate homework collection; however, emailing teachers is often more expeditious. To find your child’s teachers, please use the staff list here: Teacher Directory.
The Maverick Way Outside of School
Murphy Junior High students are doing amazing things in the classroom as well as demonstrating “The Maverick Way” outside of school. If any student is demonstrating “The Maverick Way” outside of school we want to know about it! Please contact Brian Falli at bfalli@sd308.org or Brandi Zawacki at bzawacki@sd308.org.
*Don’t forget to include some pictures in your email.
OYTF Champions
Joey Abdallah, Maverick 8th grader, plays offensive/defensive lineman for the Panthers in the Oswego Youth Football League. Joey and his team recently won the championship football game in the Bill George youth football league as a Varsity Gold. Joey started playing football as a first grader and is planning to continue in high school.
Murphy Scripps National Spelling Bee
Future Wolves Night Presentations
Upcoming Events
November 21
- 7th Boys' Bball @ Thompson (4:30pm)
- 8th Boys' Bball v Thompson (4:30pm)
- Wrestling @ Thompson (4:30pm)
November 23
- Jazz ILMEA Festival @ OHS
November 25
- 7th Boys' Bball @ Bednarcik (4:30pm)
- 8th Boys' Bball v Bednarcik (4:30pm)
- Wrestling @ Bednarcik (4:30pm)
November 27
- School Closed Thanksgiving Break
November 28
- School Closed Thanksgiving Break
November 29
- School Closed Thanksgiving Break
December 2
- Musical Information Posted
December 3
- 7th Boys' Bball v Plank (4:30pm)
- 8th Boys' Bball @ Plank (4:30pm)
- Wrestling v Plank (4:30pm)
December 5
- 7th Boys' Bball @ Traughber (4:30pm)
- 8th Boys' Bball v Traughber (4:30pm)
- Wrestling @ Traughber (4:30pm)
December 6
- Battle of 127th Street (7th grade @ 5:30/8th grade @ 7:00)
If you are looking for directions to AWAY events, this link will provide directions to many area schools.
Use the "Murphy Building Calendar" link below to see all the things going on at Murphy Junior High.
Contact Us
Mission Statement
Murphy Junior High School is an inclusive and supportive community that promotes student success by ensuring ALL students are college and career ready.
Vision Statement
Every student. Every day. Grow. Inspire. Empower.
Email: banderson@sd308.org
Website: www.sd308.org/murphy
Location: 26923 Grande Park Boulevard, Plainfield, IL, United States
Phone: (630) 608-5100
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/murphy308/
Twitter: @murphy308