Middle School News
November - 2018
Sisseton Middle School
Important Dates
- Jr. High Girls Basketball - Starts November 1st
- Gymnastic Practice Starts November 5th
- Jr. High Boys Basketball - TBA
- Veterans Day Program - November 9th
- World Kindness Day November 13th
- Midterm - November 16th
- Early Dismissal-12:45 - November 21st
- No School - November 22nd & 23rd - Happy Thanksgiving!
(Sports Physical Form at bottom of page)
Website: http://sisseton.k12.sd.us/sms/SitePages/Home.aspx
Location: Sisseton School District 54-2, 8th Avenue West, Sisseton, SD, USA
Phone: 605-698-7613
Facebook: facebook.com/sissetonms
Veterans Day Program
Friday, Nov 9, 2018, 02:15 PM
Sisseton, SD, USA
Essay Contest - "What Makes You Proud of America"
Awards:
Plaques will be awarded by the Grand Lodge for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for national winning essays in Division I and Division II. Winners will be announced at the Grand Lodge Session in St. Louis, Missouri, June 30- July 3, 2019
Entry Date:
Submitted to local Elks Lodge before December 15th
Rules:
- Student must be in 5th, 6th 7th or 8th.
- Essay cannot exceed 300 words
- Essay must be typed or legibly printed in ink.
- Essay Must be submitted for judging to the Elks Lodge nearest to the address of the entrant.
- Students must be identified by name, grade, school and sponsoring Elks Lodge on the Essay
Sponsoring Elks Lodge: Watertown Elks Lodge No. 838
SADD - Students Against Destructive Decisions
SADD Training at LATI
October 11th, 8 Middle School students attended SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) training in Watertown. Students attending were Cee Jay Bissonette, Julius Cloud, Rylee Fillingham, Chesney Greseth, Katie Karst, Ashlynn La Fromboise, Michael Schmidt and Linnea Silk.
These students were joined by 11 Sisseton High School SADD Members and another 130 students from this area of the state to learn more about Students Against Destructive Decisions. A few Presentations for the entire audience and smaller group activities were aimed at helping make good choices and being a good role model for fellow students.
Red Ribbon Week
The last full week in October was Red Ribbon Week. Red Ribbon Week began over 30 years ago when DEA Special Agent Kiki Camarena was kidnaped, tortured and murdered in Mexico. Kiki’s death led to the creation of the Red Ribbon Campaign which is the oldest and largest Drug Prevention Program in the United States.
Red Ribbon Week at SMS was noted by having Dress Up Days: To kick off the week staff and students wore red on Monday, Tuesday was wear crazy socks for “Sock it to Drugs”, Wednesday students wore slippers and pajamas for “Give Drugs the Slip”, and Thursday students could wear caps or hats for “Put a Cap on Drugs”. Johnny’s Gym donated Free tickets to Fright Nights.
8th Graders Visit Northern State University
On Thursday, October 25th, 8th Grade students had the opportunity to visit Northern State University after a postponement from Oct. 11th due to an early snowfall.
A tour of Northern’s Campus was first on the agenda. Students and Chaperones were given a walking tour of campus, including the newly renovated Johnson Fine Arts Center and one of the new Dormitory Suites. A new Regional Science Educational Center is nearing completion and 2 more new residence halls are in the works along with an on campus Regional Sports Complex as well as Athletic and Recreational Fields. Once the Educational Impact Campaign is complete, NSU will be the recipient of more than 100 Million in privately funded building Projects and scholarships within a decade.
Students worked up an appetite during the tour and were then treated to lunch with many options to choose from, including home cooked beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, pizza, burgers, or waffles. These were just a few things on the menu topped off with soft serve ice cream.
After lunch the 8th Graders gathered together for a presentation from Northern’s admissions staff about life at NSU and things that they can be doing now to prepare for college life, like working towards good grades now and through H.S.
Two students from Northern’s Native American Student Association also shared their stories and life at N.S.U.
A Word from Student Council
Student Council helped decide homecoming dress up days. We also served food during conferences. During the winter and spring Student Council will put on a Middle School Dance. We had many students sign up for Student Council, but unfortunately, we could only have three or four representatives from each grade. Being a part of Student Council is fun because we get to help others and our school community. We get to make important and fun decisions for the students.
- Katie Karst 8th Grade Student Representative
Jr. High Football - Coach Bestland
The Sisseton Junior High football team had a very successful season this year. Over 30 players participated in football, and all of them improved immensely as the year progressed. The team had hard fought victories as well as some very tough defeats. Most of the games were combined 7th and 8th grades with some younger players going against opponents twice their size. Each game was tightly contested, and the players never gave up. We wish nothing but success in the future to the 8th grade football players who will be joining the varsity team next season. The coaches wish to thank the players for a great season as well as the parents of the Junior High football team for their support. We would also encourage all student-athletes to be involved in school related activities as much as possible the rest of the school year.
Jr. High Volleyball - Coach Karst & Coach Lincoln
Practicum Students
Sisseton Middle School has been hosting two practicum students from University of Minnesota, Morris since the school year started. Hunter Salathe, majoring in Middle & Secondary Math Education, has been in Mrs. DeSpiegler’s classroom teaching 6th and 7th grade students while Katie Brown, who is majoring in Art Education, has been in Mrs. Monroe’s classroom teaching 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students.
Tasks that Katie has been doing include preparing and presenting lessons, preparing supplies, showing students different ways to use watercolor paint, building monsters out of clay with 6th grade, and t-shirt dyeing and designing with 7th/8th graders. Katie enjoyed spending time with the students and liked their willingness to think creatively, try new things and get excited about Art class. The Art students will miss Katie as leaves to return to Morris to finish school and student teach during the spring semester at Minnewaska Area High School.
Hunter has been working with the 6th and 7th grade math students in Mrs. DeSpiegler’s room. He has spent the last 2 weeks teaching the 6th graders about exponents, order of operations and long division. He enjoyed his experience at Sisseton Middle School and has especially liked building relationships with the students and getting to know them as people, not just math students. Hunter also enjoyed how friendly and helpful the staff at SMS were and getting to know them as well. He will be graduating from the U of M, Morris in the spring, and along with teaching, he would like to coach basketball, cross country and/or track.
A word from the Teachers
Mrs. Curran
Mrs. Curran's 8th grade math students have been working on graphing and writing linear equations. They have learned about slope and the x and y intercepts. The students solved real-life problems involving car depreciation, grocery shopping, lunch accounts, and fertilizing lawns with linear equations. (Who said you don't use algebra every day?) Students have participated in activities such as Slope Stations to master their skills. By the end of the unit, they will be able to graph and write linear equations using standard form, slope-intercept form, and point slope form. Their final project will include making a flip book about linear equations.
Mrs. Groos
10 Benefits of Reading
1. Children who read often and widely get better at it.
- After all, practice makes perfect in almost everything humans do, and reading in no different.
2. Reading exercises our brain.
- Reading is a much more complex task for the human brain rather than watching TV, for example. Reading strengthens brains connections and builds NEW connections.
3. Reading improves concentration.
- Children have to sit still and quietly so that they can focus on the story when they are reading. If the read often, they will develop the skill to do this for longer.
4. Reading teaches children about the world around them.
- Through reading a variety of books children learn about people, places, and events outside of their own experience.
5. Reading improves vocabulary and language skills.
- Children learn new words as they read. Subconsciously, they absorb information on how to structure sentences and how to use words and other language features effectively in their writing and speaking.
6. Reading develops a child's imagination.
- As we read our brains translate the descriptions we read of people, places and things into pictures. While we are engaged in a story we are also imagining how a character is feeling. Young children then bring this knowledge into their everyday play.
7. Reading helps children to develop empathy.
- As children develop they begin to imagine how they would feel in that situation.
8. Reading is a fun.
- A book or an e-reader doesn't take up much space and is light to carry, so you take it anywhere so you can never be bored if you have a book in your bag.
9. Reading is a great way to spend time together.
- Reading together on the sofa, bedtimes stories and visiting the library are just some ways of spending time together.
10. Children who read achieve better in school.
- Reading promotes achievement in all subjects, not just English. Children who are good readers tend to achieve better across the curriculum.