Norris News
April 2024
What's Happening at Norris?
March was bustling with activity here at Norris Academy, with spring break and testing keeping us on our toes. Despite the busy schedule, we made sure to include some fun into our routine with events like an all-school soup cook-off, a paper airplane contest, and the excitement of caring for our newly hatched chickens.
As we move into April, we'll be wrapping up our testing sessions and shifting our focus towards preparing for the graduation of the Class of 2024. Seniors (and guardians), please keep an eye on your email and make sure to complete the attached Google Form by Wednesday, April 24th.
In the spirit of Environmental Awareness month, our Week of Service project will involve learners and staff coming together for a campus clean-up from April 15th to 19th. We'll be working to collect garbage and enhance the beauty of the Norris grounds. Let's make a positive impact on our environment together!
Reminders
June's Journal
Greeting Norris Families,
I hope everyone enjoyed their spring break. We are in the home stretch of the school year. Mark your calendars, our last day of school is May 25th.
As a reminder, changes in learner's school placement always comes from their home district. If you have any questions about whether or not your child will be enrolled at Norris for the 24-25 school year, please reach out to your home district.
Thank you!
High School Lab Gab
ELA: April is poetry month! In ELA, learners will explore and analyze a variety of poems and musical lyrics. They will be writing some poems and lyrics of their own to add to the “poet tree” they will be creating. Along with poetry writing, learners will be writing an opinion/debate piece by making a claim, providing evidence and support for their claim, and addressing counterclaims. Earth day is in April. Therefore, one of the suggested topics for their writing is the effect that plastic and styrofoam have on the earth. Learners will research possible alternatives to plastic and styrofoam including some of their own ideas to solve this problem. Some learners will be presenting their findings to show support for their claim and will address counterclaims in a debate-style conversation.
Mathematics: Learners in algebra are continuing to use the quadratic equation to factor equations. This is a tough concept and I am proud of our learners for sticking with it!
Geometry learners are learning how to calculate volume and surface area on various shapes.
Learners who are currently enrolled in our consumer math lab are learning about credit, credit cards, and loans. Next, these learners will be exploring how to use credit appropriately by developing good skills as a consumer.
Social Studies: In Social Studies lab most of our learners are working on individual National Parks projects. They are researching a National Park of their choice in depth and making slide shows showcasing what they have learned. Other learners have chosen different project topics to work on and are also creating slide shows to showcase their interest.
Science: It's been an exciting month in Science Labs! In late February we started incubating a dozen chicken eggs and on March 12th we had 8 baby chicks hatch. Students learned about the development of chicken eggs and how to care for baby chicks. We also tracked the weight and behaviors of the chicks for their first week. Additionally, all Norris Learners were invited to come to the science room to hold and play with the baby chicks. After about a week at school the chicks were adopted by local community members.
Outside of our chicken project science labs have been very busy working through academic content. Biology learners just wrapped up studying genetics and are now moving on to the topic of evolution. Chemistry learners just finished learning about the mole (not the animal but the number 6.02x10^23) and will soon be starting to learn about stoichiometric calculations. Earth/Space learners are wrapping up their investigation of weather & climate. They will soon be starting a project on climate change where they will be asked to design and construct a greenhouse to measure how trapping solar energy affects temperature.
Academy Orientation: We have several new learners in Orientation, both in person and online, and are very excited to get to know them.
We would like to congratulate Jade, Jayden, and Matthew on completing their Who Am I Interviews this month. Also, Matthew is the first learner this year to fully complete all the Orientation tasks in LESS than 10 days! Congratulations, Matthew! We are super impressed with your work ethic.
IBL
Paper Airplanes
Science
K-8 Lab Gab
K-8 Labs
ELA: As we begin to read and study the novel "The Crossover" by Kwame Alexander learners will examine poetry and engage in vocabulary recognition along with reading comprehension. It's our hope that learners will enjoy this Newberry Award winning book as it centers around two 13 year old brothers navigating through life, love, and basketball.
Math: Our mathematicians have completed their study of data analysis and are moving on to geometry. Learners will be studying area, volume, nets, and surface area in 2 and 3 dimensional figures.
Science/Social Studies: Learners have been continuing their learning of ancient Greece and Greek mythology. They have been creating stop motion animation videos to demonstrate understanding of space topics and they have been preparing for the solar eclipse on April 8th by learning about the differences between eclipses and the importance of viewing them correctly.
Artventure
Learners created clay projects including pinch pots during art.
WINNERS
Adventure Ed
Julian was soaring high in the gym during our indoor ropes course.
IBL
March was another great month for IBL opportunities. Learners were able to learn how to repair instruments, make drum beats, and identify plants and animals on nature walks. In the shop, several learners have been working on woodworking projects, refining their techniques and skills with tools and machines. There was a soup competition, and rumor has it that some of the soup entries were too hot to handle. As we get closer to the end of the school year, learners and staff are already hard at work planning on all the amazing IBL activities that will take place this summer and next school year. So get excited!
🟧 The Navigator's Corner
Great news! Travis has been putting in a lot of effort to launch our Norris School District Etsy online store, and after overcoming numerous obstacles, we're thrilled to announce that the NeilNorrisSocialClub on Etsy is now LIVE! Yes, we're officially OPEN for business! Be sure to visit NeilNorrisSocialClub on Etsy to see what we have to offer. While our learners are busy creating merchandise to fill our inventory, don't miss out on our vintage-inspired T-shirts designed by both learners and staff. Stay tuned for updates on new items, including jewelry, paintings, wood projects, pottery, resin creations, and much more!
In our elective courses, learners have been actively engaging with the Shop, working on various projects such as constructing toolboxes. We have several other exciting projects in progress and a few more waiting in the wings, ready to kick off after thorough planning.
Additionally, Travis is actively involved in the restoration of musical instruments in the auditorium, ensuring that our learners have the opportunity to explore their interests and passions in music. It's an exciting time at Norris, and we can't wait to see what else is in store!
Norris Academy Virtual School (NAVS)
Greeting NAVs Families, we are firmly into Trimester 3 and it is once again that time to show off your skills, parade your progress and grandstand your growth! That’s right once again we have entered the diagnostic window. The i-Ready adaptive diagnostic is an assessment in both reading and math that we use as one of our success metrics. We ask that our home coaches become cheerleaders for these assessments and really try to build up the confidence of their learners. These assessments adapt to the responses of the learners, if learners get a streak of questions correct the assessment will begin to provide more challenging questions. So if your learner starts getting questions that they haven’t seen before, rather than getting frustrated they should be excited. This means that they have been getting the previous questions correct. When questions are answered incorrectly the test will similarly reduce the level.
Please note that while the test is designed to be completed in one sitting (about 45 mins) it is not timed and learners can log out of the assessment if they are feeling frustrated. We encourage them to pause if they need the break. The goal is to get an accurate picture of the learners current levels.
I want to congratulate the NAVS community as a whole over the past couple of diagnostics we have demonstrated growth far and above the district average. Some of our learners have already demonstrated more than a full year’s growth! I am excited to see what our learners will do with this final diagnostic of the year. Good luck!
Bakari
Mindful Minute
What is Boost?
Boost is an after school program set up for K-12 learners from Oak and Spruce Hall. Currently the Boost program is offering an Art focused program, Artventure, taught by Sam Dickey. This after school program provides additional opportunities for learners to explore their interests, hobbies, and talents which expand their learning network and increases their confidence, boosting learner agency and hope for the future.
Artventure
Learners continue working with clay. They have been creating beautiful works through relief creations, taking a slab of clay and creating a 3-D effect off a flat surface. Along with molds made from slip clay and glazing them in a variety of glaze colors. Next step to their clay works will be taking on the wheel.
Outside of Boost: Artventure in the Art room, learners have been working on individual paint works, clay, and even making tea!
Achieve MKE
Things are really starting to take shape and we are looking for the perfect individuals to complete our team! We are excited to begin onboarding staff once we wrap up the interviewing process.
We want to hear feedback. Do you know someone who lives or works on the southside of Milwaukee? Please share our information and attached flyer to help us build a program that keeps youth and young adults at the center of our mission.
Lastly we are collecting slightly used, mostly new business/dress shoes-Mens for Partners in Hope, a re-entry program for individuals in Milwaukee. Each participant, upon seminar completion receives a suit and business shoes for interviews. All donations can be dropped off at Norris Academy.
Norris Beyond Fostering
The foster care program at Norris is offering a FREE virtual training, Foster Care in Our Community. Learn about what is happening right here in our community…foster parents and social work professionals will share their experiences and answer questions. This virtual meeting is FREE and there is no obligation other than listening and asking questions! Link to register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1AfaUuc03SiaeqQD3i4Yc3COWLhY0NMgbC9wXWmfkVvg/edit
Free E-book: https://www.norriscenter.org/become-a-foster-parent-4/e-book/
Mark Your Calendar
4/15-19 Week of Service: Environmental Awareness Campus Clean-Up
Learners will assist in cleaning up the campus by collecting garbage on school grounds.
4/17 Spirit Day: Sports Day
Learners are encouraged to wear sports related clothing.
Norris Cares
Norris Academy is introducing a new program called, Norris Cares. Norris Cares will accept monetary and physical donations in support of those of our learners who may be experiencing food, housing, or other basic need insecurities. We have noticed a great need within our community that we would like to help support but we cannot do it alone. All donations to Norris Cares will be used only for this purpose and delivered equitably on a needs determined basis.
Please contact Amber Ehrmann, the Community Liaison at aehrmann@norrisacademywi.org for questions or donations.
Thank you.
Online Absence Form
Click Here: https://tinyurl.com/onlineabsenceform
Norris School District
Email: hello@norrisacademywi.org
Website: https://norrisacademywi.org/
Location: W247 S10395 Center Drive Mukwonago, WI 53149
Phone: (262) 662-5911
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/norrisacademywi/
Twitter: @NorrisAcademyWi