The Falcon Flash
November is here.
Principal's Message
I hope that everyone is safe and healthy. Here at Fox River we are moving forward, and teaching and learning is continuing onward. Obviously, this school year is a little different from years past. However, we still have a lot of great things happening inside of our new spaces. Students have spent the last month interacting with our new spaces. The new Fab Lab is now occupied with students working through the design process and trying out some fantastic new programming (check out the Elective Spotlight section below). Students will begin cooking in our new Family and Consumer Education space as early as this week. Already, many of our students are again experiencing face-to-face music lessons. It's great to hear music coming from our new music suite. Our Library is up and running and book circulation is on the rise. Also, we are helping shape young artists in our two new art studios. Overall, our spaces are making a difference in the daily life of our students.
What's Happening in the Grade Levels
8th Grade
The students in Science have now finished the density unit. We thankfully located Queen Bergman’s missing gold crown by calculating its density, and then also did a mini density lab. We are now starting the minerals unit. Students will understand how we use minerals and how they are classified and identified. If your child was here on Monday, ask them about the iron in the Total cereal demo we did!
7th Grade
The students in the ELA classroom have been focusing on writing an argumentative essay. We modeled it with the classes throughout the course of last week and this week. Coming up next week the students will be expected to create their own argumentative essay based on a bold action book they selected.
In Science students explored how the Earth’s atmosphere supports life and the three most important cycles that affect the atmosphere. For Halloween we presented the students with an engineering challenge of building a catapult that could fling a candy pumpkin the greatest distance. They all had great success and the winning distance was 740 cm. They had very impressive teamwork and creative designs. Please ask your child to share what they learned with you.
6th Grade
6th graders just finished up learning about algebraic expressions and exponents! They worked hard to learn these difficult math concepts!
In Science, the students are finishing up a unit on Forces and Motion! They focused on Newton’s Three Laws and how they affect movement, speed, acceleration, friction, velocity and inertia! They did a fantastic job on their Newton’s Law STEM projects! Creativity abounds!
In ELA, students just finished up their first reading unit on character, setting and theme. They enjoyed getting to know their characters in different settings in the short stories, as well as their choice books. They even learned some life lessons from their characters along the way. Additionally, all students are enjoying the mysterious read aloud, The Old Willis Place.
In Social Studies, students just finished up a unit on the 5 Themes of Geography. The students did a wonderful job choosing a place in either the US, Canada, or Latin America, to research and create a presentation showcasing their knowledge of the 5 Themes of Geography. Wonderful job, Researchers!
Elective Spotlights:
Spanish (La clase de español)
¡Hola! We are so excited to have our students back in class. We are Profe Riedel (Spanish 6th-8th) and Sra. Stoss (Spanish 3rd - 8th). As World Language teachers we are excited about and committed to providing learning opportunities for students that not only broaden their view of the world, but will also open doors for them in future endeavors. Perhaps our students will continue their studies in language and become bilingual in a career of their choice. We are passionate about learning empathy for others and creating meaningful opportunities to encourage acceptance of other cultures.
In “la clase de español” students come to class ready to create & read stories, listen to music, perform skits, illustrate and converse in español. Our students learn language through an input based method. We focus on stories, story activities, cultural information in Spanish, music and more. Students have many opportunities to work with vocabulary and practice in class.
Fab Lab
We are privileged to lead and adopt the Fab Lab area at Fox River. The level of excitement our students have when they come into the lab is remarkable. So far we have been able to develop some great programming and fabrication opportunities for our students. We are excited for the future and would like to enhance our program offerings in the Fab Lab. We are looking for some specific equipment that would bolster our program offerings and are looking for people willing to help fund these projects. We have listed the items on our FRMS Fab Lab website. If you, a family member, friend, or company is interested in helping us with funding these projects we would greatly appreciate it.
We have a special space and a program that stands out over others. With the addition of these purchases we can provide our students with more real world experiences that will continue to engage and excite students, staff, and community members.
Any questions or suggestions please feel free to contact us.
Brad Singer - singer@waterford.k12.wi.us
Connor Harris - harris@waterford.k12.wi.us
FRMS Fab Lab/PLTW teachers
Student Services
Monthly Community Resources
IMPACT 2-1-1
Website: https://www.impactinc.org/impact-2-1-1/promotional-materials/
Phone: 2-1-1
IMPACT provides the means for people to take the first step toward regaining stability.
IMPACT 2-1-1 is a central access point for people in need. During times of personal crisis or community disaster, the free, confidential helpline and online resource directory make it easy for residents to get connected to information and assistance. IMPACT can help in a variety of ways:
Search for Community Resources
Find a COVID-19 testing location
Homeless Services
Health Insurance Help
Volunteer
In Milwaukee, Waukesha, Kenosha, Racine, Ozaukee, Washington, Dodge, Jefferson and Walworth counties simply dial 2-1-1.
Love Inc.
Website: https://www.love-inc.net/
Address: 480 S. Pine Street, Burlington, WI 53105
Phone Number: 262-763-6226
Love Inc. is a non-profit organization that services families in the western part of Racine County. All programs are located at the address above. Love Inc. can help area families in the following ways:
Food Pantry
Meal Site (starting Oct. 12th, will be brown bag style)
Students in Need (shoes and school supplies)
Clothing Store and Home Store (both adult and kids clothing sizes available)
Winter Warmth Program (cold weather coats, hats, snow pants, and mittens)
Time: Monday-Friday 9:00am-4:00pm
No need to call ahead, just stop on in.
Adopt-A-Family Christmas program
Interested in receiving gifts for the holidays? Low-income families are provided with Christmas gifts.
Please call Love Inc. at at 262-763-6226 and dial ext. 105 for Kristina Krueger, Program Director
Interested in adopting a family?
Please email Sherry Hartog at sherryhartog@love-inc.net .
Thanksgiving Meal Box
Qualifying families can celebrate a special Thanksgiving tradition through this annual program that provides items for a complete Thanksgiving meal. Please call Love Inc. at 262-763-6226 and dial ext. 105 for Kristina Krueger, Program Director
Deadline to sign-up: November 10th, 2020
** During this time, please call Love Inc. ahead to verify times for specific programming or to schedule an appointment. Like Waterford Graded School District and the surrounding community, Love Inc. is doing their best to stop the spread of COVID-19 by following the Central Racine County Health Department guidelines.
If you have any questions or are in need of additional community resources, please contact Karlie Francour, School Social Worker at francour@waterford.k12.wi.us or 262-210-8966 (work cell).
Annual Notice of Homelessness Students
Is your family currently experiencing loss of housing or living doubled up due to economic hardship? Do you know of a student who is not living with a parent or guardian? These families or students may qualify for additional benefits through the McKinney-Vento program. Please take a moment to view the Annual Notice.
Library Media Center
The Falcons' Nest aka the Library has finally unpacked its last moving box and has put the last books on the shelf in their new home at Fox River Middle School. We also started circulating books to students in October, although use of the Library space and circulation of our materials is very different this year. In the 2 ½ weeks that we have been open, we have circulated almost 600 books to students! Way to start reading Falcons! Students are using our Destiny Discover program to look at books that are available and then they choose one they would like to have delivered by putting it on hold in Destiny. Mrs. Cramer then works very hard to get students their book within 24 hours of their request. Students are limited to 1 free choice check out at this time and may have a second book checked out if it is part of a classroom project. Free choice books are checked out for a maximum of 2 weeks. Students must return their book to check out a new free choice book.
We have also added some new titles to our Library late this summer and a second order of new, popular titles will be arriving in the next few weeks. We are also working on unveiling an additional “virtual” part of our Fox River “Falcon’s Nest”. Students …. Watch for that to be coming this week. This virtual Falcon’s Nest will give students more ways to explore the new library virtually, see new books that have arrived, and participate in virtual library programs and happenings.
Keep reading and learning and finding your next favorite book!
PBIS
On Tuesday of last week, the students earned a Halloween costume party as a school. All of the students have earned Class Dojo points throughout the course of the school day by being prepared, being responsible, and being respectful. We will continue to use Class Dojo en lieu of falcon feathers this year to positively reward the students. The students will have a cash in system to buy rewards with their Class Dojo points within the next couple of weeks.
Fox River Middle School
Mission: Fox River Middle School will grow all learners by continuously building relationships and improving instruction.
Email: BakerL@waterford.k12.wi.us
Website: https://www.waterford.k12.wi.us/o/fox-river-middle
Location: 921 West Main Street, Waterford, WI, USA
Phone: 262-514-8240