The BULLetin
December 7, 2017
Principal's Message
Tomorrow night the Murphy Boys' Basketball teams will be taking on Heritage Grove in what has become an annual tradition, The Battle of 127th Street. This cross-district basketball game is a means to do two things, give students (both spectators and athletes) a great experience and 2) raise money for the Plainfield Police Shop With A Cop program.
I can say that each year the game has been been decided by a basket or two. And while I played junior high basketball, I don't think I ever played in front of a combined 800-1000 people, much less 800 to 1000 at one time. It's an experience unlike many will experience until playing varsity basketball at the high school level.
Please plan on attending. The 7th grade boys will tip off at 5:30 and 8th grade at 7:00. There will be concessions and raffles. ALL proceeds collected are donated to the Plainfield Police. We look forward to seeing you there.
Murphy Junior High - Scripps National Spelling Bee
Round 1: By December 21, all ELA classrooms will have had a verbal, single-elimination competition to determine a classroom winner.
Round 2: On Wednesday, January 17 classroom winners will compete to determine the 10-15 students who will advance to the school finals.
Round 3: Thursday, February 1 we will have the school finals and the winner will participate in the county-wide spelling bee on February 24.
Word list, additional information and suggestions for practice can be found here.
MAVS Kindness Project
Mavs Kindness Project
Mavs Kindness Project (MKP) is a club that focuses on kindness and positivity. If your student would like to participate, meetings are held Wednesdays before school at 7:45 in the ZAP room (across from the Multi-Purpose Room). We focus on ideas for spreading kindness here at Murphy as well as beyond our community. Please contact Mrs. Noll (snoll@sd308.org) or Mrs. Zawacki (bzawacki@sd308.org) if you have any questions or would like further information.
MKP Collecting Holiday Cards for Troops
Mavs Kindness Project is currently collecting holiday greeting cards to send to our troops who are deployed to help lift their morale and spirits during the holiday season. If you would like to contribute, students can drop off greeting cards with a message to our troops (store bought or home made) in a collection box located in Student Services by Mrs. Cooper. Thank you for your support!
Science Guest Speaker
Toys for Tots
It's that time of year again! Beginning on November 6th and running through December 12th, Murphy Junior High School in conjunction with the Oswego Fire Protection District will be participating in the Annual Toys for Tots Program.
Murphy Junior High will be collecting toys to donate to families in the community who are currently having financial difficulties. Gifts should be NEW, unwrapped and can be for children of all ages. Students should bring all toys to their homeroom student council rep in exchange for a raffle ticket. A raffle will take place on December 13th, where 6 lucky winners will have the chance to serve as Murphy’s "elves for the day". They will leave school and eat breakfast at the Oswego Fire Department with a friend of choice. These students will also have their picture taken with the local fire department, which will then be submitted to the local newspaper. In addition, family members of the elves can also join in on the fun and enjoy breakfast at the firehouse. This special event will take place on Thursday, December 14th during the first half of the school day.
In addition, students can receive double raffles tickets and win the chance to attend Murphy's Toys for Tots pizza party! The pizza party will take place on Friday, December 15th during lunch periods. Students will need to donate a "themed toy” from each one the four toy categories (Boy, Girl, Game, and Sport toy). In order to attend the pizza party, students must donate at least 4 toys, one from each category. The last day for toy turn in is Tuesday, December 12th. The more you donate the better chance you have to participate in this special event.
Themed Weeks
Dec 4 - Dec 8 (Games)
Dec 11 - Dec 12 (Toy of choice)- Shortened week
Mr. Zaininger's Science Class
Some of the things that students could be found working on in Mr. Zaininger's science classes are investigating static electricity using a Van de Graaff generator, incorporating power and energy in their Defined STEM wind turbine projects, sharing while learning more about their passions/interests during Genius Hour, and developing their science fair projects.
Drama Club
There is one more drama club dates before winter break! We will meet Tuesday, December 19. Meetings go from 3:00-4:30 with students having the option to leave at 4:15 to take the activity bus. If you have any questions about Drama Club, please talk to Mrs. Tysiak.
Ms. Fabere's Science
Murphy Yearbook
There's nothing like getting a yearbook. It is the limited edition collection of our school's stories for this year. Don't let your student miss out on sharing and reliving the big events that will make this year special.
Yearbooks are now on sale for the lowest price of the year. Order now for $25.00! Yearbook price will increase January 6th, 2018. Yearbook orders can be completed online at jostensyearbooks.com. Please contact Ms. Fell if you have any questions.
Ms. Miller's World History
Weekly JAM (Just Another Maverick)
Murphy PTO
If you haven’t already, please consider making your family’s annual donation to the PTO. Our focus this year will be on Student Events and Classroom Grants. Any contribution helps and is very much appreciated! Donation Form
New to the PTO this year! We are so happy to announce that the PTO will be running the Concession Stand for the Girl’s Basketball season and Boy’s Volleyball season (Winter/Spring sports). There will be volunteer opportunities available for this as well, so be on the lookout for details soon!
For more information on the Murphy PTO, upcoming PTO events or volunteer opportunities, please contact PTO President Missy Dziewiatkowski at missyd71@gmail.com. Please also follow us on Facebook for PTO events and updates (Murphy PTO-Home of the Mavericks).
Ms. Gabehart's Math
Students have been working diligently on our cooktiles activity this week which involves evaluating expressions using order of operations.
Student Services Spotlight
Connor Bailey, Jayden Pagan, Taylor Ziman, Paola Soto, Reggie McComb, Paul Bailey, Jailene Diaz, Sophia Nguyen, Uma Nagarathnam, Skyler Myers
Faculty Winner
Ms. Youngwith
Maverick Teacher Shout Outs!
We think our entire MJHS staff is amazing and deserves to be acknowledged for the great work they do on a daily basis! Please use this form to recognize any member of our staff. Remember, staff includes teachers, secretaries, nurses, teaching assistants, and custodians!
We take ALL the shout outs that we receive from teachers, students and parents and share them. But we also then put those teachers in a drawing. Thanks to our friends at Horace Mann, we have a travelling Crystal Apple trophy. The selected teacher gets the trophy to display in their classroom for a month and they also receive a $25 gift card, all courtesy of Horace Mann.
Our inaugural winner is Mr. Orr! Congratulations!
8th Grade Course Selection
Reminder: OE Counselors will be at Murphy on December 14th to meet with students 1:1 to review elective selections through History classes
Oswego East counselors and 3 senior AVID students (former Mavericks!) visited Murphy on Thursday, November 9th during Science classes. They presented on High School electives, 2-year course plans, and what to expect at Oswego East. Students received copies of available electives and 2-year plan worksheets. Home Access (HAC) will open on Monday, November 13th for our 8th graders to select electives. Please use the 2-Year Plan worksheets and HAC Directions for reference. If your student has questions, please have them see their counselor in Student Services for further assistance.
Important Dates:
November 13th – December 3rd
Course selection will open in Home Access Center (elective course selection is done through Home Access; if you do not know your login information, please contact Murphy’s front office at 630-608-5100.)
November 16th
Future Wolves Night @ Oswego East, 5-8pm
December 14th
OE Counselors will have 1:1 meetings with 8th graders at Murphy to review elective selections
Oswego East has an Incoming Freshman page on OE’s website that will include important dates and a link to the presentation that 8th grade students viewed with the OE counselors. To visit this page, please use the following link:
“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 Karen Whited at kwhited@sd308.org or Brandi Zawacki at bzawacki@sd308.org.
*Don’t forget to include some pictures in your email.
Mavericks Attending Pop Warner Football Nationals
The Naperville Patriots are playing in the American Youth Football nationals (Last week I incorrectly identified it as Pop Warner). Braeden Clark and Anthony Kuceba are Mavericks who are competing for the Patriots.
Their team won their first game Sunday against the Harlem Jets 53-6. Yesterday they won their game against the Westlake Bulldogs (from Maryland) 37-25. It was a rough game, very hot lots of cramping and penalties. But they pulled it out! They will played today Thursday at 2pm eastern for the AYF National Championship 13U Division.
ZAP-Zeros Aren't Permitted
ZAP is an intervention implemented to develop good homework habits. This program helps students self-correct without a penalty. Getting into the habit of doing homework and realizing that it counts is tough for many students. ZAP helps reinforce the importance of homework completion and provides an opportunity for intrinsic growth through self-correction.
What to do when your student is ZAPPED?
If a student does not complete a homework assignment he/she will receive a ZAP. Students have until 8:00am, the following morning, to turn the assignment into Student Services for full credit. If the student chooses not to complete or submit the assignment, then the student will be required to attend the ZAP classroom (D126) during his/her lunch to complete the homework, also for full credit. It is your student's responsibility to know what is missing and bring the necessary materials home. Students will be allowed 5 visits (every 9 weeks) to the ZAP classroom to complete their work. After 5 visits, students are no longer eligible for the ZAP intervention.
If you have questions, please contact your child’s teacher and/or counselor.
PBIS @ Murphy
Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a proactive approach to establishing the behavioral supports and social culture needed for all students in a school to achieve social, emotional and academic success.
One aspect of PBIS includes positive acknowledgement of student behavior. When students display the expected behaviors outlined in our MAVS Matrix, they may be acknowledged with verbal praise or tangible rewards (Bullseye Tickets) from their teachers. This makes the expected behaviors more likely to occur in the future and creates positive interactions, rapport, and relationships with students.
When students earn Bullseyes, they are able to collect them to enter weekly prize drawings and shop at the Maverick Mini Mall. This year, our Mini Mall will be on a cart, and students will have an opportunity to shop with their Bullseyes during homeroom each week.
There will be a monthly behavior focus, and teachers will be on the look out to catch students displaying these positive behaviors.
PBIS Maverick Movie Celebration
In addition to acknowledging students for displaying expected behaviors with Bullseyes, we are preparing for our First Semester PBIS Celebration.
Students who are eligible for the Maverick Movie Celebration will receive their ticket the day before their movie Celebration.
The celebrations are on the following dates during periods 1 and 2:
- Friday, December 15th - 7th Grade
- Monday, December 18th - 6th Grade
- Tuesday, December 19th - 8th Grade
Between the dates of October 2 – December 8th, students will need to:
- M - make good decisions by receiving ZERO tardies to class,
- A - accept responsibility by receiving ZERO ZAPs,
- V - value and respect each other and our school and
- S - be safe by receiving ZERO disciplinary actions! This includes suspensions, detentions and office referrals through December 15th
Parent Article – Social/Emotional Learning Strategies
Here are some specific steps you can take to nurture an emotionally intelligent child, and additional resources you can use to learn more about social and emotional learning.
https://www.edutopia.org/social-emotional-learning-parent-resources
College Planning from myOWN.edu - December Edition
When was the last time your child came to your work? You may think they are getting too old but don't count out the impact that your work experience can have on their future! Continue reading...
8th Grade:
Thinking about high school classes? Having trouble understanding the many options? Learn how to help your student pick the right classes for their success! Continue reading...
Boys' Basketball & Wrestling
7th Grade
The 7th grade basketball team began the conference tournament with a win against Washington. The game started out slow for the Mavericks and the game was tied at 7 points after the first quarter. The Mavericks were able to get some shots to fall to build a 10 point halftime lead. The Mavericks toughened their defense in the second half to hold Washington to only 8 points. The Mavericks easily pulled away for a 42 to 19 victory. Matt led the scoring with 12 points, Robert was good for 8 and Reif added 7 points.
In the 2nd round the 7th grade basketball team suffered a tough defeat to Bednarcik. With Bednarcik taking an early lead, the Mavericks didn't play well as a team and could not ever take the lead. The Mavericks played hard throughout the game, but fell to the Bulldogs 28 to 35. Christian led the scoring with 13 points, while Caden added 7 and Zack scored 4 points.
The 7th grade basketball team faced a tough Traughber team in the Consolation Round of the tournament. The Mavericks struggled to score in the first quarter and were down 2 to 10. They came out and played an excellent 2nd quarter to take a 18 to 13 lead at halftime. In the second half, the Mavericks committed several turnovers against Traughber's full court pressure and allowed them to take a 7 point lead after 3 quarters. The Mavericks battled back in the 4th quarter but came up short in the 40 to 35 loss. Robert led the scoring with 9 points, while Caden added 7 and Matt was good for 6.
8th Grade
Friday night the 8th grade basketball team took on Thompson in the first round of the conference tournament. They started off slow but held on to the lead but by halftime the Mavericks held a 10 point lead and never looked back. Murphy ended up winning 40 to 24. Leading scores where Rehan and Chris had 11, Vern had 9 and Nate put in 6.
The 8th grade boys took on Herget in the semifinals of our conference tournament. We took an early lead 8 to 0 and never looked back from that point on. We led at half by 15 and countined to pull away and won 52 to 28. Leading scores where Rehan with 16, Nate had 15 Chris had 7 and Ashton had 6.
The 8th Grade boys played Bednarcik in the conference championship game. The first quarter was back and forth with Murphy always holding on to the lead. During the second quarter the boys picked it up and took a 9 point lead going into half. After half we held on to the lead and slowly built on it and ended up winning 56 to 34. Leading scores where Rehan with 16, Chris with 14 Nate with 12 and Vern with 9. Great job of bringing the 1st place trophy to MURPHY.
Wrestling
Thank you for a great season Murphy's wrestling Mavericks! While we didn't place as a team at conference over the weekend, Coaches Kiefert and Zaininger are very proud of your efforts. Congratulations to David Allen who medaled at conference coming in 3rd for his weight division!
Maverick Makers Club
Maverick Makers Club meeting dates from 3:00-4:00 Art Classroom
December 4, 11
January 22, 29
February 5, 12, 36
March 5, 12, 19
Any student who is wanting to explore the visual arts should join this club. Experimentation with glass, ceramics and fibers will be introduced.
Additional information and sign up sheet can be found here.
Community Events
Upcoming Events
December 7
- City of Lights 7th Boys' Basketball Tournament
- City of Lights 8th Boys' Basketball Tournament
December 8
- Battle of 127th Street v. Heritage Grove (5:30 and 7:00pm)
December 11
- Musical Auditions
December 12
- Musical Auditions
December 14
- Winter Music Concert (7pm)
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
Murphy Junior High School is an inclusive and supportive community that promotes student success by ensuring ALL students are college and career ready.
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