Weekly News
February 5, 2021
Calendar Items
Monday, February 8 - Boys basketball games
Tuesday, February 9 - Silver Day M-Z at school
Wednesday, February 10 - Green Day A-L at school
Thursday, February 11 - Silver Day A-L at school
Thursday, February 11 - Boys basketball games
Friday, February 12 - Green day M-Z at school
6th grade Bell Schedule
7th grade Bell Schedule
8th grade Bell Schedule
School Play Information
PLAY PARTICIPANTS, Please remember that next week, February 8th – 12th, there will be NO REHEARSAL. No cast nor crew should show up! There is also NO REHEARSAL on the 15th. Check the Canvas course for updates!
Blue Valley Ed Foundation
The Blue Valley Ed Foundation is launching Raffle for a Reason to support our teachers, building, and district-wide grants, as well as a BV Cares program to help our school families with essential needs! Click here to take a look at FOUR amazing raffle packages! Tickets are ONLY $50 each and you can pick which packages you want to enter for a chance to win! There is something for EVERYONE! GOOD LUCK!
Club News
Good news! Improv Club returns to the Bend next Tuesday, February 9th! If you enjoy theatre and are looking for a fun way to develop your stage presence and practice creating characters and scenes on the spot, then Improv Club is just the place for you! Come meet new friends and have fun with us. All grades are welcome. No experience necessary. Medical grade single-use masks will be provided for each student to be worn during the club. We will start in Mrs. Beechner-Holmes' classroom (110) in the 8th-grade pod. After 30 minutes we will relocate to enjoy some fresh air. We will meet each Tuesday from 3:15-4:15 p.m. Questions? Email Mrs. Beechner-Holmes at mbeechnerholmes@bluevalleyk12.org.
Volunteer Service Hours Due March 31
Please click the links below to access an overview of the Blue Valley Volunteer Service Award, suggested volunteer activities, and the Volunteer Service Log.
· Invest in ABMS/PTO membership - Make your tax-deductible donation! Any and all support is very much appreciated!! Log into ParentVue to donate.
· DONATION LETTERS - Have been emailed and/or mailed!
· AMAZON SMILE - Did you know you can support ABMS by shopping through Amazon Smile? It's an easy way to help, but you must shop through our link.
· "BE IN THE KNOW WITH ABMS PTO"- Be sure to follow us on FB (@AubryBendMSPTO) and twitter (@AbmsPto).
· CONFERENCE SNACKS - Conferences look a bit different this year, but we still want to spoil the staff with some snacks and fund drinks to enjoy throughout the week. Please sign up to help if you can! SIGNUP
· TRIVIA NIGHT - NEXT Friday, February 12, PTO will be sponsoring a Trivia Night! See flyer below for details. Parents - the zoom link to join will be sent to your child's school email address; no registration necessary.
This week students from Mrs. Freeman’s music classes spent time discussing the connection between music and poetry. Students were also introduced to resources that will help them with their composition assignments.
We’ve enjoyed hosting Mr. Farris’s classes as they begin their Marble Maze projects. They will attend class in the library from now until early March!
🖤 Blind Date with a Book 🖤
Blind Date with a book is back! Students willing to take a chance can choose a book that is wrapped with a small clue of what the book is about. After reading, they may fill out a small book review and turn it into the library. At the end of February, there will be a small prize drawing for students who completed the book and review!
ELA
ELA students continued working on the Cell Phone Argumentative Essay this week. As part of the pre-writing step, students filled out a “Writing Frame” graphic organizer to outline their ideas before drafting. They also created a “Hook” and “Three-prong Thesis Statement” for the introductory paragraph.
Math
All math classes are working on the Taco Truck Project to wrap up ratios and percentages. Ask your student what their Taco Truck’s name and slogan are.
Science
Science classes are wrapping up Inside Earth and will begin Rocks and Minerals in the coming weeks.
Social Studies
We are studying inventions and achievements from Ancient Greece. We most recently studied types of governments (monarchy, oligarchy, tyranny, and democracy) - all tried out in ancient Greece. Ask your student which they preferred from our in-class simulation.
Science
Students had fun this week finishing up sheep eye dissections and practicing more at home with our new genetics vocabulary. Next week, we are putting that vocabulary to use in person as we navigate through Punnett squares! Special thanks to Dr. Justin Davis for speaking to our 8th hour class over Zoom!
VirtualED math
Students reviewed the 6th grade concept of unit rate, and we further explored how to find unit rates two ways to make comparisons. Next week we will focus on proportional relationships, scale factor, and introduce a project!
Math
We are finishing up 2-step inequalities, and switching gears into our unit on proportional relationships!
Social Studies
We are starting our Kansas History course. The students are learning how to think like a historian and the differences between primary and secondary sources.
ELA
Students are reading Where the Red Fern Grows and searching for deeper aspects of the plot. They've focused on character development, setting, and symbols. Ask them to tell you what a symbol in literature is and which one they chose to represent the novel thus far.
Enrollment information regarding the 2021-2022 school year will be communicated early next week via email. Parents will have the opportunity for a Zoom question and answer session on the morning and afternoon of Wednesday, Feb. 10th. Please look forward to an email from Blue Valley Southwest early next week!
Math
Finishing Linear Equations. Quiz this week.
ELA
Continuing to read the novel Night by Elie Wiesel. Students should read through Chapter 3 by their next in-person day.
Science (Farris)
Continue Rollercoaster Project
Science (Moss & McDaniel)
Motion Unit
Social Studies
Beginning “Can Words Lead to War?” Unit Project
Happy Super Bowl Week! This has been a fun week filled with spirit and excitement for this week’s big game. It has been one of the most “normal” things we’ve done all school year.
Speaking of normal, next week we begin the process of enrolling for next school year. We have a 5th grade parent/guardian Zoom night on Tuesday, Feb. 9 to welcome our newest Wolverine families and answer questions they may have about ABMS. Later that week and the following week, our counselors will visit with current 6th and 7th grade students to discuss their enrollment options for 21-22.
As we enter this season of enrollment, I come to you with a BIG ask. Families will get emails from ABMS and from the district outlining important information about this fall’s plans for school. Please review these emails carefully and reach out if you have questions.
I have received lots of feedback regarding the ways we send information – too many links, not enough links, too many clicks, too much scrolling – please understand that we’re doing our very best to make the information as accessible, complete and accurate as possible. We try to be responsive to the feedback and make our information as easy to access and understand as possible.
I appreciate your patience and understanding as we continue to navigate the by-products of teaching, learning, leading and enrolling during a pandemic.
As if enrollment isn’t enough, we’ll also begin to communicate information about our spring semester conferences next week. We’ll use the same sign-up and Zoom format we used last semester. This semester, instead of getting confirmation emails from each teacher, we will send one list of Zoom links and passwords out to the whole community right before conferences. This will eliminate the many different places from which the Zoom links were sent and provide a centralized list instead.
Look for the conference sign-up email on Monday.
Thank you for your continued support of ABMS! We love our community and want you to know that you can count on us.
GO CHIEFS!
Sincerely,
Diana Tate, Principal
Aubry Bend Middle School
Email: AubryBendMiddle@bluevalleyk12.org
Website: www.bluevalleyk12.org/ABM
Location: 12501 West 175th Street, Overland Park, KS, USA
Phone: 913-624-2300
Facebook: facebook.com/Smore
Twitter: @smorenewsletter