Regina Jr Sr High Newsletter
April 2022
From the Principal
April is here, but you wouldn't be able to tell it by the weather. I always like to think that the weather always evens itself out so this cold spell just means we will be having some great weather at some point.
We kickoff April with our senior trip and ISASP testing (more info. below). Our senior trip returns to Gettysburg and Washington D.C. this year. This momentous trip includes visits to the Flight 93 Memorial, Gettysburg Battlefield, Smithsonian Museums, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Arlington Cemetery, and other incredible sites. Mr. Foley has done a tremendous job in making sure this trip will happen.
This month's newsletter includes:
- ISASP Information
- Class of 2023 Fundraiser
- Italy Trip
- Innovation in Education Awards
- Department Updates
Pope Francis's intentions for the month of April are for health care workers. The efforts, sacrifice, caring, and extra hours taken on by our health care workers always, but especially these past two years, should not go unnoticed. We are all indebted to our health care professionals for helping and caring for us through the pandemic. The intentions are:
We pray for health care workers who serve the sick and the elderly, especially the poorest countries; may they be adequately supported by governments and local communities.
I continue to prayer for all of you on your Lenten journey as we near the end of this season. I look forward to the renewal of the Easter season and the opportunities it provides.
Yours in Christ,
Glenn Plummer
Upcoming Events
April 2: ACT (building closed), JV/V Boys Soccer @ North Scott (10:00), V Girls Soccer @ West Liberty (3:30)
April 4: Girls Golf @ PV (IC) Golf Course (4:00), Boys Golf @ Tipton (4:00), V Girls Soccer @ Anamosa (4:30)
April 5: Girls & Boys Track @ Williamsburg (4:15)
April 6: Rosary in the Chapel @ 7:30, 7-12 Mass @ 2:15
April 7: JH Girls Track @ Mid-Prairie (4:30), V Boys Soccer @ Prairie (5:30)
April 8: Boys Golf @ Lake MacBride (12:00), Boys Soccer @ Hillcrest (6:00), Fish Fry (5-8), JH Dance (7-9)
April 9: Girls & Boys Track @ Assumption (12:00)
April 11: Girls & Boys Golf @ West Liberty (4:00), JH Boys Track @ Solon (4:15), Girls & Boys Track @ Wilton (4:30), Boys Soccer vs. Monticello (5:30)
April 12: Boys Golf @ Kalona (12:30), JH Girls Track @ Solon (4:15), JH Boys Track @ Mid-Prairie (4:30), Girls Soccer vs. Nevada (5:00)
April 13: Rosary in the Chapel (7:30), PISA meeting @ 5:30, Boosters meeting @ 6:00, Boys Soccer vs. Dav. Central (5:30)
April 14: Holy Thursday, Boys Golf @ Tipton (12:00)
April 15: Good Friday, Prayer Service (11:00), Noon dismissal
April 16: Holy Saturday
April 17: Easter Sunday
April 18: Girls Golf @ Wahkonsa (4:00), Boys Golf @ Brown Deer (4:00), Girls Soccer @ Cedar Valley Christian (5:00)
April 19: Boys Golf @ Wahkonsa (12:00), JH Girls & Boys Track @ West Liberty (4:00), Girls & Boys Track @ Solon (4:15), Boys Soccer vs. Columbus Catholic (5:30)
April 20: Rosary in the Chapel (7:30), Girls Golf @ Maquoketa (12:00)
April 21: Girls Golf @ Kalona (12:30), Girls & Boys Track @ Assumption (4:00), Girls Soccer vs. Dav. North (5:00)
April 22: Boys Soccer (4:30)
April 25: Girls Golf @ Finkbine (11:00), JH Boys Track @ Regina (4:15), Girls Soccer vs. Clear Creek Amana (5:00)
April 26: 8th Grade Retreat, Boys Golf @ West Liberty (12:00), JH Girls Track @ Regina (4:15), Girls & Boys Track @ Xavier (4:30), Boys Soccer vs. Bettendorf (5:30), Board of Education meeting (6:30)
April 27: Rosary in the Chapel (7:30), 6-12 Vocal Concert (HS Gym @ 7:00)
April 28: JH Girls & Boys Track @ Wilton (4:15), Girls & Boys Track @ Clear Creek Amana (4:45), Boys Soccer @ West Liberty (5:00)
April 29: Girls Golf @ Wahkonsa (12:00), Girls Soccer @ CR Wash (5:00)
April 30: Boys Soccer @ Assumption (9:00)
ISASP Information
Students in grades 7, 9, and 11 may arrive to school late on Thursday. They must be at school in time for the first instructional period of the day. There will be a place for students to meet if they must be at school during the testing time.
This assessment is important for Regina as we use the data to assess our teaching practices, curriculum, and student growth.
Please remind your student to have their Chromebooks fully charged each morning and to bring their headphones, ear buds,... in the event they need to listen to any portion of the assessments.
Monday: Reading (8:20-9:30)
Tuesday: Mathematics (8:20-9:30)
Wednesday: Language & Writing (8:20-9:45)
Thursday: Science - 8th & 10th grades only (8:20-9:30)
Class of 2023 Regal Spirit Wear Fundraiser
This is a one-time, special edition sale. These items will not be available in the Spirit Store.
Great items for those REGAL SPIRIT days at school!
https://www.mcscreenprint.com/online-store/IOWA-CITY-REGINA-CLASS-OF-23-FUNDRAISER-c130160004
Items will be delivered on 4/22 and/or 4/23. Please reach out to Sarah Tierney at sbtierney@gmail.com with questions.
Regina Fish Fry
The Fish Fry will be back in the Regina Cafeteria this year from 5-8 pm with both in-person and carry out options. Fish Frys will be on Fridays starting March 4th and going through April 8.
As always volunteers are needed to help make this a successful event. Many hands make light work! Click HERE to sign up!
Questions? Please feel free to contact the Fish Fry chairpersons
Molly Joss: mojoss@aegonam.com 319-621-6655
Brett Hoffman: bretthoffman@yahoo.com 319-981-1221
Regina Spirit Days
We will have Regina Spirit days throughout the year. The dates below will be Regina Spirit Days.
Students are allowed to wear Regina Activities, Club, or other Regina clothing on these days. Bottoms can be jeans or any dress code bottom. (No sweatpants, yoga pants, or athletic shorts.)
April 8
April 29
May 6
May 20
2022 Italy Trip
Monthly Adoration
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F054DAFA72CA75-eucharistic
Innovation in Education Awards
Innovation in Education is an awards ceremony presented by the Iowa City Area Business Partnership (formerly the Chamber of Commerce) and the Iowa City Area Development Group. Each year, these organizations present awards to outstanding and innovative teachers, students, programs, and school staff in Johnson County, recognizing those who are helping to develop the informed, highly skilled graduates we need to keep our region thriving.
They are requesting nominations in 7 categories. The categories are:
- Student Innovation Award (Recognizes a student for their achievements and efforts to exceed expectations, exemplified by starting a new creative or entrepreneurial endeavor or program)
- Impact Award (recognizes outstanding achievement by a student team or group. )
- Inspire Award (recognizes an outstanding teacher)
- Spark Award (recognizes an administrator that facilitates an innovative school culture)
- Ed Tech Company of the Year (Recognizes an Iowa City area-based education technology company that has demonstrated or facilitated classroom innovation, has supported the growth of the Iowa City area as an education technology hub, and has given back to our community.)
- Administrative or Support Staff Excellence
- STEM Innovator Award (given to someone who has completed and implemented STEM Innovator training through the University of Iowa)
The link to the online nomination form is here. All you have to do is download, fill it in and email to Bianca Rodriguez (bianca@iowacityarea.com).
Feel free to nominate for as many awards as you like, just be sure to submit a separate form for each.
Nominations are due no later than 4:30 pm, Friday, April 8.
Math Club
High School Math Club meets Wednesday mornings at 7:30 am in Mrs. Hill's room. Students work together on problem-solving and participate in contests. Many students have already qualified for the State Math League contest.
If there are junior high students interested in meeting for a Junior High Math Club, please email Mrs. Hill (beth.hill@icregina.com).
Department Updates
Counseling
English
Language Arts 7: We are in the middle of our Adjectives/Adverbs unit, adding to the things we’ve learned already with Nouns and Verbs.
HS Creative Writing: Finishing up our Dialogue/Play script unit with an in class reading of the scenes the class has been working on. We will move into review writing next, focusing on the more Nonfiction styles of writing.
JH Speech: Moving from Informational speeches, we will have a midway unit with Tv show/Movie speeches, practicing combining both facts and opinions before we go into Persuasive speech where students must use their opinions to persuade the audience to their side.
English 7: We wrapped on The Outsiders with a final group project of Visual Character Autobiographies. THese will be feature in the hallway by the Activities Office next week. We bagan our final novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven. We will be exploring the use of color, themes, religious connections, and the concept of Heaven presented to us from Albom. This unit will culminate in an essay of our own five people we may meet in Heaven.
ELA 8: We wrapped up our poetry unit featuring famous African American poets just before spring break. After break, we began the novel To Kill a Mockingbird after learning some background information on Harper Lee, the Great Depression, and civil rights. In LA 8, we have been studying verb moods and passive and active voice. These grammar skills are building blocks for essay writing and for studying many foreign languages. We have also begun our research project in language arts. We have just finished choosing topics and writing our research questions and will begin searching for sources and taking notes on our research cards in the first weeks of April.
English 9: As the first week of April is ISASP testing, we will be reviewing fundamental skills that will target the state test. We just finished The Odyssey, and during the second week of the month, we will return to our grammar, mechanics, and usage review. Our next novel is Lord of the Flies, which we will begin mid-month after some background information on dystopian societies.
English 10: The students just finished publishing their vignettes modeled after Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street. There is quite a bit of powerful writing. I suggest you as k your student to share their work with you. We are starting Of Mice and Men this week. We will be discussing the narrative form of Steinbeck, motif and theme, as well as the intense imagery through the novella. This unit will culminate in a literary analysis essay.
English 11: We are in the midst of the roaring twenties reading The Great Gatsby! As the American Dream has been the focus of our junior year, we are examining the excessive lifestyles of this time period and society’s values. Additionally, we will finish our Strunk and White mechanics and usage review as we prepare for the ISASP testing. Following The Great Gatsby, we will read works from the Harlem Renaissance as we prepare to read A Raisin in the Sun, our final literary work.
AP English Language and Composition: We are only five weeks out from the AP test, which for this class is May 10th. Our test preparation is in full swing as we review rhetorical analysis, elements of argument, synthesis, and practice multiple choice strategies. We are beginning The Catcher in the Rye, which is our final literary work before the exam. The students have been presenting ‘Voice Lessons’ presentations, where they teach a lesson on rhetorical strategies. I’ve been very impressed with their preparation and insight!
English 12: We are in the middle of Hamlet and will end the year in Hell (Dante’s Inferno).
AP Lit: We are currently in the middle of the Inferno and having a hot time. If we ever get out of it, we will prepare for the AP exam.
Mathematics
Algebra 2: We will be introducing Unit Circle while the seniors are gone. This is a very important concept that will be used in math classes going forward. We'll have a Unit Circle quiz at the end of the week and then a really short Unit Circle quiz every week until the end of the year. When seniors return, we'll start in on Chapter 6. I think students will enjoy working with functions in this chapter.
Statistics: We're finishing up Chapter 6 today. The students who aren't on the senior trip will work with applications of Pascal's Triangle to binomial expansion and probability. When seniors return, we'll start in on Chapter 7 - Inference for Numerical Data. We'll work with t-scores and analyze my Wordle data to see if the difficulty from the original Wordle to the New York Times Wordle changed for me.
AP Calculus AB: They finished up their second-to-last unit today. We'll work on Unit 8 while people are gone on the senior trip, as well as starting some of the AP Central reviews for the units from the beginning of the year. We'll be looking for dates where we can come in on the weekend and do full practice tests (3 hours and 15 minutes of testing plus breaks).
AP Calculus BC: They also finished up their second-to-last unit today. While the seniors are on the senior trip, we'll start reviewing all the way back to the beginning of AB. Next week, we'll start in on the last unit (just 5 sections). We will also be looking for times for practice tests.
Religion
Welter Via: We are learning about the Middle Ages. We also continue to analyze the Gospel and do some Lenten activities. The students have learned about St. Francis and St. Clare, both of Assisi. Also, we have discussed the Crusades and the significance of them in Church History. The students will continue to learn about Saint Catherine of Siena, Joan of Arc, the Protestant Reformation, and the church in the modern world. After we complete Church History, we will go over the Mental Health Unit and watch Inside Out. We will finish the year with Sacraments.
Theology 11: We are focusing on the vocation of Marriage. The students are exploring some questions about how they live their life today, which can affect their future vocation, especially marriage. The students will also look at the specifics of the Sacrament of Marriage in the Catholic Church. The projects for the Marriage Unit include looking at a different culture to learn about their wedding traditions, and interviewing a married couple to see what their preparation for marriage was, what their wedding was like, and learn about some challenges or transitions they have faced. We continue to analyze the Gospel and do some Lenten activities.
Science
7th grade science - Mrs. Coffin
We are looking at DNA. What a great spring time activity. The 7th graders are collecting and looking at strawberry DNA as a way to wrap up the unit on Genetics. They will be introduced to the Human Body Corporation next week. The students will be required to nominate a human body system “division” as employees of the month. From there, they will face a shortage of funds and have to determine which organs can be eliminated without causing the departments to fail. Great way to learn about human body systems. We will finish the year with a unit on ecology.
8th Grade Science - Mrs. Goldsmith
Students did a great job with our unit about the human reproductive system and pregnancy, growth, and development. They asked a lot of great questions which led to wonderful discussions about how the human body works. We have now moved on to our last portion of the year--Earth and Space Science. We are starting with waves, sound, and light, and then moving on to space, Earth and weather. April 1 kicks off with a fun analysis of different types of waves and their behaviors with Slinkys! There are so many great activities coming up with light, sound, space, and weather!
Earth & Space Science - Mrs. Coffin
The Earth and Space Science students are being engineers this week and next. They are researching, designing and building earthquake-resistant structures that are five stories tall and can withstand a long-duration earthquake. The young scientists are excited! We will finish our year with a short unit on biogeochemical cycles and a very special unit called: The Secret Life of Stuff! Watch for more details.
Biology - Mr. LaKose
Biology students have finished up their investigations on the diversity of Kingdom Protista. We are transitioning into our investigations of the higher eukaryotic kingdoms, starting with Fungi and then Plantae. A student favorite lab is making homemade root beer using yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and their products of fermentation!
Chemistry - Mrs. Goldsmith
No fooling! Chemistry students finished up their unit covering Stoichiometry with a test on April 1. The labs we did for the unit went a long way in helping them understand how stoichiometry is useful in chemistry. We will move on to Solutions next, followed up by Acids & Bases. These two topics have a lot of pertinence to everyday life, which students find interesting to learn! There are several wonderful labs and activities that we will complete, culminating with a Titration lab. Students will compete to see who can get the palest pink result, earning them the title of Master Titrator!
Anatomy & Physiology - Mr. LaKose
Still plugging away at the nervous system, students will be testing over the central nervous system and transitioning into the peripheral nervous system. We will perform labs on observation & dissection of the brain and spinal cord, as well as learning each of the cranial nerves!
AP Biology - Mr. LaKose
Students are testing over unit 6 this week, covering Mendelian inheritance, human genetics, as well as linkage. We have two units to go, Evolution and Ecology, then much review before our AP exam on May 11th!
Principles of Biomedical Science - Mr. LaKose
We are wrapping up Unit 2 (Clinical Care) and transitioning to Unit 3 (Outbreaks & Emergencies). In unit 2 we walked through a typical day of a medical care provider (see below). We have seen various medical issues such as diabetes, neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), and Turner Syndrome. Our last case of the day is Indie Stewart, who just gave birth to a 3 week early preterm baby. Students are using their knowledge of the previous cases to apply it to an overall patient history report for Indie’s baby!
Physics - Mrs. Goldsmith
Physics students are currently working with momentum. We will learn about collisions and relate what we know to everyday life--there are many safe driving tips to be shared. The lab we started on April 1 was no joke! We will be looking at collisions involving different masses moving different velocities. After momentum, we will move on to light & sound and then electricity & magnetism. For some extra physics fun, we will throw in some space information.
Social Studies
Over the past month or so, the 7th graders have been studying the conflict in Syria and the overall global refugee crisis. They listened to audiobook excerpts from the book Refugee as well in class while writing reflections. In addition, each day, we have been following the events in Ukraine closely and making connections from the crisis in Ukraine to that in Syria as related to refugees. The students will be completing one final assessment activity in which they will research various topics such as local/statewide resources within Iowa to aid refugees, the ongoing Ukrainian refugee crisis, and refugee resettlement within the United States.
8th Grade U.S. History
We finished our Monopoly themed History boards. The students designed a board, then had to make "deed" cards with 3 facts about the place on the board. Some themes were president, decades, Civil War, and national parks. Kids enjoyed this project. We completed the US vs Mexico War and did a DBQ on the subject. Our practicum student will be teaching his lesson, most likely about John Brown.
World History
Students are knee-deep in revolutions. They will be spending the next two weeks of April learning about the French, Latin, and Haitian revolutions. The rest of April will be dedicated to the Industrial Revolution as well as Imperialism.
Government
Students are about to finish up with Unit 3 on the Legislative Branch. They have been learning about their representative and senators. They are also learning about how a bill becomes a law with all the hurdles and complications that go with the process. After the legislative branch, students will be focused on the Executive branch. This will take us all the way to the end of April.
AP US History
In APUSH, the students are just finishing up Period 7 in which we covered important topics such as the Great Depression, New Deal policies, and the US involvement in WWII. In the short amount of time of the next three weeks, we will wrap up our final units, Periods 8 & 9, before we begin the final exam review. An important reminder- the AP US History exam is on Friday, May 6th at 8 am. I will be sending out exam information as the date approaches!
AP World History
Students are learning about the effects of WW2. Our main focus is on decolonization and what caused the Cold War. Students are learning about proxy wars, containment, the space race, and so much more. We should finish up this unit by the middle of April and then start our final Unit on globalization.
Vocal Music
Regina Junior Senior High School
Email: glenn.plummer@regina.org
Website: www.regina.org
Location: 2150 Rochester Avenue, Iowa City, IA, United States
Phone: (319)-338-5436