The BULLetin
January 23, 2020
Upcoming Events
- Support the Murphy Music Department TONIGHT at McDonald's on Eola
- The Great Kindness Challenge Week 01/27-01/31
- Geo Bee Final 01/31
- Spelling Bee Final 02/04
- Murphy Trivia Night 02/22
- The Music Man Jr. performances 03/12 and 03/13
Principal's Message
Good evening!
I hope this Bulletin finds everyone well...January is a very busy month.
We'd like to warmly welcome Jenna Borg, who will be taking over Heather Viall's position in the classroom. She comes with an extensive background that will benefit her students and our school. We're lucky to have her!
As a reminder, for the last several weeks, we've been discussing and planning for the ISA (8th grade only) and IAR (all grade levels) in March/April. More information on this will be forthcoming. Please encourage your students to put forth their best effort on the test...it is a great practice for a high stakes test.
We've gotten a few tables for Trivia Night already...we're really looking forward to it! Be sure to get your table soon!
We would truly appreciate your completion of the 5-Essentials parent survey (information below). We need at least 20% of parents to complete the survey in order to receive a report to help guide our school improvement planning. Remember, your identity and survey responses are confidential and will never be connected to your child. This survey helps us understand your thoughts about the school and helps us develop initiatives and plans to improve.
Enjoy the rest of your week and weekend,
Laura Bingham
5-Essentials Survey for Parents
- Parents--we're only at a 7% completion for our families...we'd would truly appreciate your time in completing the 5 Essentials parent survey. Your participation in the parent portion of the survey will help us understand the conditions at your child’s school and guide improvement. Your identity and survey responses will be kept completely confidential and will never be connected to you or your child. To participate as a parent, please visit http://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/survey/parent/ and enter Kendall county, then the appropriate school to begin.
Support the Murphy Music Department
Maverick Sewing Club
NEW! Positive Office Referrals
Next week, from January 27th through January 31st, Murphy will be celebrating and partaking in the Great Kindness Challenge. To kick off the week, staff and students will be introduced to Positive Office Referrals! Positive Office Referrals provide staff members with the opportunity to recognize those students who need a boost or are needing extra motivation to get through the 3rd quarter slump. Staff will be looking for students who have exhibited the following behaviors:
- Worked through a problem/showed grit
- Managed emotions during a difficult time
- Committed to excellence
- Set a goal and achieved it
- Reached out for help when needed
Students who receive a positive referral will be called down to student services to receive it and will have the opportunity to hang it on a bulletin board. Be watching for weekly announcements in the Bulletin, as well! Lastly, students will also have their positive referral scanned and sent home for their family to see and celebrate!
We look forward to celebrating your student's success!
Murphy PTO Volunteer Opportunity
The Murphy PTO is excited to run the concession stand for the Girl'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 (if signing up yourself and your student, you may take both available slots on the sign-up page). 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).
Murphy Trivia Night!
Murphy Musical
Murphy Spelling Bee Finalists
Congratulations to the following students who advanced to the Murphy Spelling Bee Final that will be held Tuesday, February 4th.
Olivia Schwab
Ahmed Faisal
Ria Cherukuri
Sneha Ganesan
Emila Busuioc
Acintya Sai Yoganth
Josh Betito
Niraj Viju Sulaja
Mustafa Siddiqui
Swara Patil
Good luck to all of our finalists!
Service Hour Opportunity
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.
Mrs. Schultz
Mrs. Miller (Social Studies)
Ms. Rerych
- Literary luminaries in Ms. Rerych’s 6th honors and 7th ELA applied their understanding of simple, compound, and complex sentences by playing a BINGO-like game titled “you got grammar GAME?” The sentences were brand new examples, so students were allowed to use their notes in the first few rounds of the game before being asked to tuck them away. Students had a chance to have academic discourse regarding the simple, compound, and complex sentences included in the game.
- The literary luminaries in Ms. Rerych’s ELA conducted their first round of presentations this semester using their biographical timeline analysis as the visual aide. Students had to present without the use of notecards to help them get used to maximizing their eye contact with peers. Students had practice sessions within the classroom before they presented in front of the whole group. Lastly, students wrote a reflection using their scored rubric as a way to celebrate the standards they mastered, while outlining a specific plan for the areas of future focus.
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
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 - Join OEHS Class of 2024 Google Classroom
Current 8th graders - OEHS has a google classroom for you to join! This will include important high school information such as Naviance directions and tips, upcoming High School events and other relevant high school information. To join, use the course code below.
Course code - 5a374fr
6th/7th Grade Course Selection Information
Students selected electives for the 2020-2021 school year before winter break. This process was done through TylerSIS. Students met with counselors to verify elective selections and to select back-up electives.
Course Recommendations for 2020-2021
Teachers have made recommendations for core courses (ELA, Math, Social Studies, Science) for next year. They will have discussions with students who are recommended for honors courses. If you have questions regarding a recommendation, please contact your student’s teacher directly.
Practice SAT - Score Interpretation 2/10/20
We had 92 Mavericks participate in the practice SAT on 1/17/20! This test is an excellent way for our students to get exposure to the SAT. A representative from Huntington Learning Center will hold a Practice SAT Score Interpretation meeting on Monday, February 10th from 7-8pm at Murphy. You will receive a copy of your student's test scores that evening and the test and interpretation of scores will be explained.
Thank you to Huntington Learning Center in Oswego for partnering with us to bring this opportunity to our students!
Student Absences
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 contact information for your child’s teachers, please use the staff list here: Teacher Directory. You can also check teacher websites and/or Google Classroom for homework.
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 pictures in your email.
Upcoming Events
01/27
- Winter sports pictures
01/28
- 7th grade girls BB vs. Bednarcik
- 8th grade girls BB @ Bednarcik
01/30
- 7th grade girls BB @ Plank
- 8th grade girls BB vs. Plank
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: lbingham@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