Kasson-Mantorville Middle School
March 2020 Newsletter
A Message From The Principal
Monday, March 2, 2020
Dear Kasson-Mantorville Middle School Families,
As many of you are aware, this past week has been very difficult for our KMMS family. I would like to personally thank those that have reached out to share their heartfelt support as well as their generosity for the students of KMMS. I would also like to thank the communities of Byron, Owatonna, Stewartville, and Triton for their continued generosity and support while KMMS grieves the loss of Kaylee Lambright.
The coming days and weeks will likely bring continued hardships as students navigate the loss of Kaylee. Personal loss is very traumatic, and your child may experience mixed emotions which range from sadness, fear, or anger. As your child works through the stages of grief, please know that KMMS staff will be ready and willing to assist. If at any time, you feel your child needs additional support, please reach out to us at 507-634-4030.
I would also like to extend gratitude to our KMMS students and their performance of “I Hate Shakespeare.” Our students are so talented and it shined through on stage. It is wonderful seeing students outside of school and watching them perform in front of an audience of friends and families. I cannot state how impressed I was with their performance. Thank you for sharing your children with us over the past several weeks as they rehearsed.
Thank you for your continued partnership with Kasson-Mantorville Middle School. I am excited as we begin the month of March and take every opportunity to reflect on our students and their growth at KMMS. Have a wonderful month of March.
Together in KoMet Pride,
Josh Larsen
Principal
Kasson-Mantorville Middle School
LOOKING BACK
During the week of February 3rd - Friday, February 7th Student Council sold a "Crush for your Crush" or "Sweethearts for your Sweetheart" for $1. The KMMS office also had slips available for parents to purchase in the office. We raised a total of $144 that went towards our student council fund, which is used toward supporting our students.
On Tuesday, February 4th, our 8th grade students attended the Courage Retreat with Youth Frontiers. The goal of Youth Frontiers is to empower kids to be themselves and take positive risks to make a healthy difference for themselves, their peers and their school. The key goals of the Courage Retreat include:
Identify personal fears and understand that everyone has them.
Commit to acting with courage to make your school a better place.
Deepen relationships with classmates to break down social barriers.
The KMMS 8th grade choir hosted the Middle School Choir Festival in the KMHS Performing Arts Center on February 5th. Visiting choirs represented seven other schools including Triton, Blooming Prairie, Goodhue, Hayfield, Byron, Kenyon-Wanamingo, and Zumbrota-Mazeppa. All choirs gathered in the PAC and took turns performing two pieces of music for the others. At the end of the concert, the choirs rearranged and sang a combined piece that each choir had learned. KMMS 8th grade represented Kasson-Mantorville music well, and was accompanied by Mr. Faller, the KMHS choir director.
The middle school had its third Excellence Assembly of the year on February 7th. Excellence assemblies are a time to recognize the great things our students and staff are doing at KM. This midwinter excellence assembly was loaded with student recognition as each winter activity, Knowledge Bowl, spelling bee finalists, and Geography Bee winners were given a KoMet clap. Students who earned an honorable mention for the ZED writing contest were awarded their prize and one special 7th grader, Lily Scripture, earned the highest prize as the exemplary in prose winner for the 7th and 8th grade division. Academics were also honored as the quarterly Academic Advisory Award (AAA) was awarded to the advisory with the highest GPA for 2nd quarter and a new academic award for highest GPA growth was awarded. Student council announced some of their upcoming events and handed out eight t-shirts and sweatshirts to randomly drawn students. A few of the chaperones from this past summer's 8th grade trip to Washington D.C. dedicated an American flag that was flown over our nation's capital to Mr. Fague. The excellence assembly wrapped up with twenty middle school students receiving the excellence award for the great things they are doing every day to meet our expectations of being safe, responsible, respectful, and engaged. The next excellence assembly will be Friday, April 3rd.
The regional Spelling Bee for Middle School was held on February 11th . The Middle School sent four students: Aaliyah Levos Espinoza, Annaka Binner, Joshua Mata and Norah Ness. Congratulations to Annaka Binner who took 2nd place! The top twelve spellers (six from each Spelling Bee) now advance to the Final Spelling Bee on Tuesday, February 25, at 9:00 AM at the Wood Lake Meeting Center (210 Wood Lake Dr SE, Rochester, MN, 55904). The event is anticipated to be done before 12:00 noon. The Grand Champion of the Final will advance to the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. on May 24‐May 29, 2020.
EXCELLENCE ASSEMBLY
LOOKING FORWARD
March 11th: Engineer Day for Grade 7 in the Middle School Commons.
March 12th: 7/8 Choir Concert, 7:00-9:00 PM in the PAC.
March 13th: Engineer Day for Grade 6 in the Middle School Commons.
March 19th: Grade 6 Math Masters Meet at Austin High School.
March 20th: DARE Graduation, 2:00-3:00 PM in the Middle School Gym. Parent's welcome. If you would like to attend please bring your drivers license so the office staff can check you in.
March 25th: KM Science Fair, grade 5 & 6, 3:00-6:30 PM in the elementary school Media Center and Green Pod.
March 26th: 7/8 Dance in the Middle School Gym/Commons, 7:00-9:00 PM. Bring $5 for admission and Concessions.
April 3rd: KMMS 4th Excellence Assembly
THINGS TO KNOW
- Thursday, March 5th- Middle School Conferences, 3:30-6:30 PM in teacher's classrooms.
- Monday, March 16th- School Board Meeting, 7:00-8:30 PM in the HS Community Forum Room.
- Thursday, March 19th- Early Dismissal (12:50 PM)- PLC's
- Friday, March 27th- Teacher Work Day- No school for students
- Tuesday, March 31st- Q.3 grades post to portal.
KMMS has a "Wellness Wall" located in the Commons. The Wellness Wall includes resources for helping friends in need, coping strategies, and information on stress, anxiety and depression.
Kasson-Mantorville Lions Club is doing a Soles4Souls drive through the end of March, please click on the following link to read more about this. Click here for the Soles4Souls parent letter.
ATTENTION: We are looking for a few good pictures! If you have any photos (team pics and/or action shots) from KMMS athletics or activities (football, hockey, gymnastics, plays, wrestling, cheet, volleyball, basketball, etc.) that you think are yearbook-worthy, please e-mail them as soon as possible to Mr. Zahn at: m.zahn@komets.k12.mn.us. We want to make sure our student athletes, actors and academics are represented in nother great Josten's yearbook!
Need to order your Yearbook: Visit www.jostensyearbooks.com and search "Kasson Mantorville" in the GET Started search bar. Make sure you select MIDDLE SCHOOL, Click on the '2020 Yearbook' box, then click 'Order Now' ($25).
Make sure to check out KMMS Things to Know on our middle school website under office tab>Daily Bulletin, for updates on events going on at the middle school.
TOP 20 QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Today communicate "you matter" to your teacher and classmates by listening to them.