March Newsletter
Donald H. Eichhorn Middle School
Important Dates
Please note the following important dates in March and early-April:
- Monday, March 4: 8th grade visit to high school
- Tuesday, March 5 (6:30 PM): 8th grade parent information meeting at high school
- Friday, March 8: Snow make up day - School is in session!
- Friday March 8 & Saturday March 9 (7:30 PM): Bucknell/DHEMS Spring Play
- Tuesday, March 26: End of third marking period
- Wednesday, March 27: No school for students - Teacher in-service
- Thursday, March 28: No school - Spring break
- Friday, March 29: No school - Spring break
- Monday, April 1: No school - Spring break
Blues Artist Visits Chorus
Blues artist Jonatvious Willis visited DHEMS 7th and 8th grade chorus students for a music workshop. Mr. Willis brought Blues music to life with shared stories of his childhood, telling students of his musical influences, and performing some of his original music. His visit was part of the world culture in context program (more information here). Students interacted in the workshop by creating a song with Mr. Willis, preparing questions for him, and singing along with his performance.
Camp Cadet Presentation
Trooper Barrett of the Pennsylvania State Police recently visited DHEMS to provide students with information on Camp Cadet. The meeting was well attended with approximately 40 students sitting in to learn more about the week-long camp that will take place in June. If your child is interested in attending Camp Cadet, please review the attached application. Students can speak to Mr. Mowrey, Mrs. Ulrich, or Officer Shipman for more information.
Clubs at DHEMS
Engaging Class Activities
8th grade students in Mr. Lepovetsky's BCIT classes played a matching game to learn more about purchaser bias and understand how this impacts purchasing habits.
Mr. Haussener and Mrs. Smith's 6th grade ELA students recently visited the library to complete a 'Speed Dating' book activity.
Students in Mr. Cicoria's science classes recently learned about rocks, minerals, and fossils.
Every morning, 8th grade students present announcements and news through "Dragon Television (DTV)". Here is a behind the scenes look at the students preparing for the newscast in the studio.
Students in Mrs. Sample's classes were engaged in a team-building challenge where they had to stack cups without physically touching them.
Mrs. Tiede's 7th grade music students have been finding unique ways to create music, with this group using the sounds of basketballs bouncing on the floor and lockers opening and closing.
Haven to Home Visits Student Council
Haven to Home, an organization dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating, and re-homing dogs, recently visited DHEMS student council. The organization brought a few of their rescued pups along for the visit. Our student council presented Haven to Home with upcycled dog toys and a monetary donation.
Health Updates
Attention all parents/guardians! Recently, we have had an uptick in students using their cell phones to call/text home that they need picked up due to illness. Not only does this create confusion in the office for our attendance tracking, but it also circumvents the appropriate step of having students visit the school nurse. If you receive a call or text from your child asking to be picked up, please call the front office at 570-522-3213 and ask to speak to the school nurse.
6th grade students need to have a physical exam done and submitted to the school nurse by the end of the school year. If your child has had this completed already, between 8/24/22 and now, please have the form faxed to 522-3331 or send it in with your child. If he/she hasn’t had it done yet, please send it in after the appointment. The school physician is coming in April, and the requirement can be met for this if parental permission is given for the physician to do a physical exam at school that day. Please let Mrs. Smouse know if you want your child to have a physical exam at school, or if you have any questions: Smouse_h@dragon.k12.pa.us.
7th grade students need to have a dental exam done and a completed form dated between 8/24/22 and now can be accepted. If this has already been done, please have the form faxed to 522-3331 or send it in with your child. If he/she hasn’t had it done yet, please send it in after the appointment. The school dentist will be coming April 5th, and the requirement can be met by having the school dentist do an inspection that day. If there are any concerns from the school dentist, you will be notified. Please let Mrs. Smouse know if you want your child seen at school, or if you have any questions: Smouse_h@dragon.k12.pa.us
Music Spiritwear Sale
The Lewisburg music department is holding a spirit-wear sale. All proceeds directly benefit LASD music programs. Click here to access the online sale.
Order Your Yearbook!
The Yearbook Club has been working hard to help ensure memories at DHEMS will last a lifetime! Yearbooks can be ordered by visiting https://www.yearbookordercenter.com/ and entering code 21654. If you have any questions, please email Mrs. Gaugler at gaugler_e@dragon.k12.pa.us.
The deadline to order a yearbook is April 5, 2024.
PSSA Testing Reminder
PSSA testing is right around the corner! Dates for testing are as follows:
- April 23 - April 25: ELA testing
- April 29 - April 30: Mathematics testing
- May 1 - May 2: Science testing (8th grade only)
As a reminder, educational travel requests cannot be permitted during state testing windows. Please ensure educational travel is planned outside of state testing windows.
RAPS Valentine's Breakfast
Some of our Dragon RAPS winners from February earned a Valentine's breakfast served by our 7th grade team. The students earned this opportunity through meeting and exceeding our school-wide expectations of being Respectful, Accountable, Prepared, and Safe. Each winner was able to bring one guest, and students seemed to genuinely enjoy being served by their teachers!
Spring Play
Maddie Buckley, a student at Bucknell University, has been working with DHEMS students since January to prepare a performance of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. This community-based collaboration allows DHEMS students to enjoy taking numerous roles, such as acting, sound crew, and stage crew. Performances will be at DHEMS on Friday, March 8 and Saturday, March 9 at 7:30 PM.
Students of the Month
Congratulations to our January and February students of the month! These students were selected by the 6th, 7th, 8th, and Related Arts teams for consistently following school expectations of being Respectful, Accountable, Prepared, and Safe.
January Students of the Month
February Students of the Month
TSA Competes at Regional Competition
The DHEMS middle school TSA chapter attended the Regional Conference at Selinsgrove Area High School. DHEMS had 21 students participate in the conference in 17 different events. DHEMS brought home first place in 10 of 17 events. Overall, DHEMS students captured 21 Top-3 finishes at the conference. We will have 10 students moving onto the state competition in April. Congratulations to Mr. Morgan, our TSA advisor, and all of our students in TSA!
DHEMS Ranked Top 20 Middle School in PA
DHEMS was recently ranked 17th out of over 2,000 schools in Pennsylvania by US News & World Report. We are extremely proud of our students, staff, parents, and community members who make our middle school so special.
The methodology focuses on state assessments of students who were proficient or above proficient in mathematics and reading/language arts while accounting for student backgrounds, achievement in core subjects, and how well schools are educating their students. Student-teacher ratios are applied to break ties in the overall score. The 2024 Best Elementary and Best Middle Schools rankings are based on publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Education.
“The 2024 Best Elementary and Middle Schools rankings offer a way for parents to get a snapshot of their child’s school and how well it is doing compared with other schools in their community," said LaMont Jones, managing editor for education at U.S. News. “In addition, U.S. News provides easily accessible data on student-teacher ratios, district spending, and the number of counselors a school makes available to its students.”
Parents, educators and students can see how DHEMS compares to other institutions and how the rankings are calculated on USNews.com.
Past Newsletters
Catch up on our past newsletters by clicking the links below.
Donald H. Eichhorn Middle School
Website: dhems.lasd.us
Location: 2057 Washington Avenue, Lewisburg, PA, USA
Phone: 570-522-3213
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DonaldEichhornMS/