Iroquois Middle School

Dear Iroquois families:

We return from our spring break this month and move right into the final quarter of the school year. This is a busy time of year during which we work to help students continue to master grade-level skills and understandings while also planning for their transition to the next grade level. We also have a full school calendar this month, including the administration of the NYS ELA assessments on April 19th and 20th, our school musical on April 28th and 29th, and our Parent-Principal Coffee Hour on April 28th.

We will also continue to conduct our safety and security emergency drills during the month of April. We complete 12 state-mandated drills throughout the school year – eight in the fall and the rest in the spring. While most are fire drills, we also practice lockdown drills, a Hold-in-Place drill and Shelter-in-Place drill. In addition, we continue to work to be prepared for any kind of relocation event. If we were ever to evacuate the building and relocate off-campus due to a flood, gas leak, or other emergency, we have a careful plan in place through which students and staff would walk off-campus to a designated reunification site. There we would enact our plan for reuniting students and families in a calm and organized fashion with the help of district and emergency personnel. During this process, families would be contacted via our Blackboard mass notification system with details regarding why the school needed to be evacuated and directions on how to pick up your child at the alternate location.

As part of West Irondequoit’s commitment to safety and security, our Leadership Team continues to collaborate with experts in the field to strengthen emergency protocols. Furthermore, we continue to work with our faculty and staff to consider various perspectives. As always, we hope that we never have to utilize our emergency response plans, but we continue to emphasize the planning process so that we are prepared. Please know that the safety of your children continues to be our top priority.

Finally, I also want to take this opportunity to introduce Mrs. Terri Sanger, who supports and staffs our security window at the main entrance. Mrs. Sanger was originally assigned to Iroquois through the District's contract with an outside security provider. However, Mrs. Sanger was recently hired formally by the District to fill the role of Youth Assistant here at Iroquois School. The position of Youth Assistant has been created at buildings throughout the District in order to provide for the security and safety of our students, staff, and visitors; help to monitor and control the use of our facilities; and to support the social and emotional development of our students by helping to maintain safe and secure settings within our buildings. A lifelong resident of Webster where she lives with her family, Mrs. Sanger joins us after having previously served as a Teacher's Aide and Security Guard at schools and other venues throughout the region, including Wayne Central Schools, Irondequoit High School, Dake Junior High School, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the Blue Cross Arena. Please join me in welcoming her to the Iroquois School family.

Sincerely,

Christian Zwahlen

Principal: Mr. Christian Zwahlen | christian_zwahlen@westiron.monroe.edu

Secretary: Ms. Susan Glastonbury | susan_glastonbury@westiron.monroe.edu

Main office: 585-336-0804

Fax: 585-336-3042

Website: https://irq.westirondequoit.org/

Health Office: 585-336-3091

• Nurse: 585-336-0816

Transportation: 585-336-2992 | Transportation website

District Office: 585-342-5500 | District website: westirondequoit.org

• Apr 3-7: NO SCHOOL - SPRING RECESS
• Apr 14: 4th Gr Half Day Parent-Teacher Conference Day
  
• Apr 19 & 20: NYS ELA Assessments
• Apr 19: Drama Club performance @ IHS 7:00 p.m.

• Apr 27: Spirit Day - Mismatch, crazy hair, inside-out day

• Apr 28: Parent/Principal Coffee 8:15 a.m.

• Apr 28: Drama Club performance @ Iroquois 7:00 p.m.
  

• Apr 29: Drama Club performance @ Iroquois 2:00 p.m.
  

• May 1-5: Staff Appreciation Week
• May 2: Jazz Band Concert @ IHS 7:00 p.m.
• May 2 & 3: NYS Math Assessments
• May 10: Dake Incoming 7th Grade Parent Orientation @ Dake 7:00 p.m.
• May 11: Spirit Day – Career Day
• May 16: District Budget Vote/BOE Election, 6 AM - 9 PM
  

• May 17: 5th & 6th Gr Orchestra & Chorus Concert @ IHS 7:00 p.m.

• May 19: 6th Grade Glow Party – new date

• May 25: Incoming Grade 4 Parent Orientation 6:00 p.m.

• May 25: Incoming Grade 5 Parent Orientation 6:45 p.m.

• May 29: NO SCHOOL – MEMORIAL DAY

• Jun 5: 5th and 6th Gr Band & Jazz Band Concert 7:00 p.m.
• Jun 8: Spirit Day – Irondequoit Day
• Jun 8: Student Showcase Night 6:00 p.m.
• Jun 14: 4th Gr Band/Chorus/Orchestra Concert @ IHS 7:00 p.m.
• Jun 14-15: 6th Grade Outdoor Education - date change
• Jun 19: NO SCHOOL – JUNETEETH
  
• Jun 21: Grade 6 Recognition Ceremony 9:15 a.m.
  
• Jun 22: LAST DAY OF SCHOOL

NYS mandates the Meningitis vaccine for entry into 7th grade along with an updated physical. Please send your child’s updated physical and Immunization record into the health office.

Students wanting to play fall sports need to have an updated physical on file to begin summer captain’s/preseason work out.

As a reminder students may not return to school until they are free from fever, diarrhea and vomiting, without the use of medications, for a full day after being sick.

Please call ALL absences and time out of school for vacations or other commitments, to the health office at 336-3091 or email to jill_bellanca@westiron.monroe.edu

For your student’s safety, sneakers MUST be worn to participate in PE AND recess. Please let your child know they can not participate in recess without proper footwear, that includes outside on the fields and basketball courts.

Dear 6th grade parents & guardians,

I am excited to introduce myself to you as your child’s future principal. As the leader of Dake, I think it is very important to make myself available to you even at this early juncture. Transitions can be nerve racking for both students and parents. I am incredibly excited to meet both your child and you, and look forward to partnering to ensure the best possible education and experience for every incoming Daker. To that end, I would like to invite you to Dake 6 go 7 Parent Night on May 10th at 7 PM. This event will include a brief presentation, time for Q & A, light refreshments, and tours of our building. Students will have an opportunity to visit and tour Dake later in the summer. We sincerely hope you will attend this important event for parents and guardians. My team and I look forward to welcoming your child and your family to the Dake community. It won’t take you long to realize that it is a special place.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Troy R. Bajardi

Proud Dake Principal

The artistic process produces a mindset that encourages life-long aptitudes that will prepare a learner for real-world challenges. Developing and manifesting concepts requires original thinking, tenacity and discipline as students research, refine and problem-solve to create meaningful work. The arts employ the concept of “adaptive cognition,” which is the ability to respond effectively to the unanticipated. This is what how we approach art in West Irondequoit.

Third-graders in Mrs. King’s classes have been busy creating gnomes with model magic (see picture). The process develops foundational learning about armatures, additive sculpture, pinch, coil and slab techniques that will expand as they move through the art program.

John Perry’s sixth-grade students are creating tempera paintings (see picture) where students work from dark to light and layer colors to create an image of a tree that gives the illusion of three-dimensional form. Students are working on their ability to manipulate brushes and develop better control when painting.

Dake students in seventh and eighth grades extend their use monochromatic values by using oil pastels to create the illusion of depth on their Op Art Vector Value drawings (see picture).

Throughout the art program students create, present, respond, and connect to the arts. This is achieved through exploration into the connections between art, art history, interdisciplinary learning, and direct observation of the world. Knowing how to both create and understand visual communication is a skill that extends beyond the art room and into every area of our lives. New research documented in the book, Your Brain on Art (Magsamen and Ross), claims that engaging in an art project for as little as 45 minutes reduces the stress hormone cortisol, no matter your skill level, and just one art experience per month can extend your life by 10 years. So why not skip the gym tomorrow, and go make some art?

A goal of our district during Disabilities Awareness Month has been to give students a general understanding of various disabilities that exist in our world and our schools and promote inclusion. Each week has had a focus, such as Down Syndrome, Neurodiversity, Vision, Hearing & Speech and this is Autism Awareness Week. This video is one example. It shows the beginning of a presentation by Rogers/Southlawn Library Media Specialist, Katie DeNoto, to start Vision, Hearing and Speech Week. "We talked about different topics (non-verbal communication, lip reading, reading and mobility) and the students had to do various exercises and activities that helped to show perspective of someone with a disability," Ms. DeNoto said. "We talked about how when we do this, it's not to make fun or light of disabilities, but rather to understand various perspectives."

Exercises included conveying a simple sentence to the class without talking, mouthing a word for the class to lip read, reading sentences that were backwards with no prior instruction. Students talked about how disability and intelligence are not automatically linked, but rather that people with different abilities just have to find the path or tool that works for them to be successful.

In addition to March being Disabilities Awareness Month, another West Irondequoit Heritage Month theme is Women’s History Month. We have celebrated it with various learning opportunities. For example, Ms. Totsline’s class at Southlawn read a book and watched a video on Ruth Bader Ginsburg (see picture). Mrs. Ferrari’s second-graders at Colebrook researched and then spoke via Zoom video conferencing with Shannon Huffman Polson. She is the first woman to fly Apache helicopters, serving in the U.S. Army on three continents.

Zuzu African Acrobats kept our us enthralled and entertained with music, dancing and gravity defying stunts at our special assembly on Wednesday.

Service Club would like to thank everyone who donated items to our Lollypop Farm service project. We appreciate your support and generosity!

Iroquois PTSA has a new spiritwear T-Shirt for sale that we cannot wait to see everyone wearing. Please click the link below to our online store and place your order. All orders are due April 7, 2023. When orders have been completed they will be delivered to your students' school/classroom. Any questions please contact PTSA Building Rep. Leslie Murphy at lmurphy545@me.com.

Parents/guardians,

Do you:

• Have a new cell phone number or email address?

• Have a new work phone number?

• Need to update your emergency contacts?

Be sure to keep your child's school informed of any changes to your phone numbers or emergency contact information. Update info directly parent portal or send in a note with your child. Thank you!

The West Irondequoit CSD has a TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT KNOWLEDGE BASE that features a plethora of helpful information, including items such as Frequently Asked Questions, tips on solving issues and user guides on Infinite Campus and learning platforms such as Seesaw and Schoology.