Regina Jr Sr High Newsletter
March 2024
From the Principal
We had a great weekend for activities. Awesome job to Dr. Richter and the cast and crew of Hello Dolly on their performance. It was a great mixture of humor, choreography, and strong vocals. While I was attending the Saturday night performance our boys basketball team qualified for the state tournament in a huge "upset" victory. Good luck at state!
This year we celebrate the Annunciation of the Lord (3/25) to start Holy week. Just as the Angel Gabriel informed the Virgin Mary about her mission to be the mother of God's only son, our mission becomes clear as we go from Lent to Easter. I offer this prayer on the Feast of the Annunciation this month:
O God, Who was pleased that the eternal Word,
according to the declaration of the angel,
should take flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary:
Give to our humble petitions; and grant that we,
who believe her to be truly the Mother of God, may be helped by her prayers.
Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son,
Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Ghost,
one God, world without end.
Amen.
Yours in Christ,
Glenn Plummer
Congratulations to our Boys Basketball Team!
Upcoming Events
Our Activities Calendar can be found at https://www.rivervalleyconference.org/public/genie/628/school/9/.
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.)
Mar. 1, 22
Apr. 5, 18
May 3, 17
Monthly Adoration
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F054DAFA72CA75-eucharistic
InQuizition
25. The Hebrew exclamation "Hosanna" means:
- save us, we pray
- joy to the world
- here he comes
- praise God
26. Who was the founder of the religious order known as the Salesians?
- St. John Bosco
- St. Francis de Sales
- Frank Sheed
- Fr. Edward Flanagan
Department Updates
Counseling
From the School Counselors’ Desks
Recent & Upcoming Highlights:
Mental Health Minute:
Look in your inbox for this new monthly resource. It provides ideas for strengthening student, family, and staff well-being. Here is February’s Mental Health minute.
Post-Secondary Opportunities:
College Visits to Regina:
Iowa State University–March 5th
St. Ambrose University–March 19th
Upper Iowa University–March 27th
Quincy University–March 28th
The FAFSA is open for the 24-25 school year. Step-by-Step Virtual Completion Assistance is still available through ICAN on Wednesday, Feb. 28th, 5:30 pm (register here), or Wednesday, March 27th, 5:30 pm (register here). Additional advising sessions can be scheduled here on the ICAN website.
Students of all ages, but especially Sophomores, Juniors, and Parents, are invited to participate in the ICR Future Career & College Fair on Sunday, March 24. Explore career pathways through colleges, apprenticeships, and the military. Information at www.icansucceed.org/icrfuture.
On March 27th, all Juniors will be invited to attend a field trip to West High, where there will be a college fair from 1-3 PM. More information will be emailed to Juniors soon.
Registration for the 2024/2025 school year
Student Services Staff visited each grade level to help students request classes for next year.
Here are some resources to assist you in the conversations with your student.
For rising 11th and 12th grade students: Kirkwood Academy course registration is going on now. View the Kirkwood Academy Plan of Study and complete the Kirkwood Registration steps. Students are accepted on a first come first serve basis.
For rising 11th and 12th grade students: the Kirkwood catalog for Summer and Fall 2024 is expected to open on March 1st. Students can view course options by logging in with their K# and password at www.kirkwood.dualenroll.com Registration opens on March 18th. A Kirkwood rep will visit on March 21st to help students with questions and registration.
For rising 11th and 12th grade students: University of Iowa PSEO courses are open for viewing here. Students must complete all steps by March 25th to register. Details can be found on pg 44 of the Course Description Guide.
English
ELA 7
I am happy to be returning March 1st from my surgery. It has been a long month of February. We will be starting in 7th grade English on "The Outsiders" and reading and doing exercises.
In Lang Arts, we will be working on Pronouns and Verbs, eventually. We also have a project on Family History in mind for the students to do until the month of May. They will do research on their own families. It should be fun for them. Thank you Mr McFerrin for all you did while I was out of school in February. You're the best and a Godsend. Mr. Kunz
ELA 8
In English 8 we are nearing the end of the book, The Hobbit. We are currently analyzing the book for use of common archetypes in literature, and students are working in groups to create an infographic of some of the archetypes in the book. In LA 8, we have just finished our rough drafts of a short research/comparison and contrast essay based on nonfiction chapters we read in Before Columbus. In the next several weeks, we will be tracing how an author develops an argument throughout a chapter of nonfiction. We have also just finished our tour of subjects and objects by learning how to identify objects of prepositions and how to differentiate between a direct object and a subject complement.
English 9
English 9 students will complete the drama unit prior to Spring Break. The unit will culminate with The Odyssey by Homer. We will move on to a short grammar unit on punctuation and capitalization, and an introduction to essay that will finish out the month of March. We are looking forward to the poetry unit that will follow in early April.
English 10
The students in English 10 are currently completing Socratic Seminar practice as they finish the drama unit. The plays that the sophomores are analyzing include Foibles and Folley; The Pink Panther Strikes Again; The Cherry Orchard; Medea; Sally Cotter and the Prisoner of Ala Katraz; Rebel Without a Cause; The Trial and Death of Socrates; and Hi, Ho, Robin hood. They will proceed through a short unit on grammar before they dig more deeply into APA formatting for essay development. We hope to complete the APA development unit and move on to the poetry unit close to the end of March.
English 11
We are reading The Great Gatsby, and analyzing the symbols and characters. Additionally, we are continuing to learn ACT vocabulary. After we finish the book we will be writing an essay on the American Dream.
English 12
We are starting 1984. We have been enjoying discussing the book and looking at ways our current environment utilizes forms of surveillance.
AP English Language and Comp.
We are continuing our review of argumentative analysis. We are also practicing our multiple choice skills every Wednesday. We will move into synthesis analysis, which is a document-based analysis. Additionally, we are continuing our bi-weekly evidence log of current events.
AP English Literature and Comp.
We are currently reviewing literary analysis and literary prompts from previous AP exams. We will begin March poetry ‘madness’ where we will complete brackets analyzing 32 poems to choose a ‘winner’ overall. Should be fun!
Math
PreAlgebra: The students have completed the graphing unit and created a stained glass project. They used y=mx+b to graph all types of lines and points, then colored their stained glass however they wanted.
Math7: In class the students have been working on Probability. To help them understand the difference between theoretical and experimental probability we did some experiments with rolling dice, flipping a coin or choosing items out of a bin at random. They then recorded their findings and compared what mathematically should happen in theory to what actually happened.
Math 7
Probability Activity
Math 7
Probability Activity
Prealgebra
Stained Glass Project
Science
The 7th grade scientists were using gummy bears to learn about osmosis. The lab included learning how to measure volume and reviewing how to use the triple beam balances.
Students in 8th Grade Integrated Science finished up studying the Periodic Table and then moved on to Chemical Compounds! This is when they really start to feel like chemists. Playing Periodic Table Battleship helped students review periodic trends. When introducing how compounds form, students worked on an Ionic Bonding Puzzle activity. Finally, students did their big lab which involved mixing various chemical compounds to see the types of products that were created!
The Earth and Space Science students have been making models of the parts of Earth. The model featured in this picture is a model of the layers of Earth's atmosphere. Many students were surprised at how little of the atmosphere we really live in. Currently the students are modeling the moving plates as we learn about plate tectonics.
Chemistry students have spent the month studying solutions! Below you will see photos of their Kool-Aid Chemistry Lab--students made various concentrations of this delicious drink, made calculations, and determined which concentration they preferred.
7th Grade Science
Gummy Bear Lab
8th Grade Science
Ionic Compounds
Chemistry
Kool-Aid Lab
8th Grade Science
Ionic Bonding Puzzle
8th Grade Science
Ionic Compounds
8th Grade Science
Periodic Table Battleship
Social Studies
Mrs. Wallace’s Classes
AP US History: In AP US History, the students have just started Period 7: Part I in which we will study and examine major events such as the Progressive Movement, WWI, Roaring 20s, and the Great Depression. The students have completed their first timed LEQ essay in class and we will be working towards completing their first timed DBQ essay very soon!
The picture shows the Progressive Movement - Speed Dating activity done in class. Students each selected to represent a Progressive movement figure and then had to decide which other Progressive Movement figures they would be the most compatible with after meeting one another through speed-dating
7th Grade Global Studies: The 7th graders have been studying the plight of refugees and migrants throughout the world with a focus on the current crisis in Syria and in the Gaza Strip. Throughout this unit, we have also listened to the audiobook of Refugee by Alan Gratz to understand the journey of a Syrian boy named Mahmoud.
AP Human Geography: In AP Human Geography, the students have just finished up their unit on agriculture and have now started their second to last unit on urbanization throughout the world. The students recently completed a lego activity in which they mapped out the history of megacities from the years of 1900, 1950, and with current date. We will analyze the major world trends regarding the rise of megacities and the implications.
Kahler’s 8th Grade History
We are moving into the Andrew Jackson era. Our current project is about immigrants, each student is researching a country and putting a presentation together. Just before spring break, we are going to be making history themed Monopoly boards, the 8th graders have always enjoyed this project.
Pohren’s General Psychology
Students just took an exam on Module 6 Sensation and will begin working on Module 7 Perception.
Pohren’s US History
Students just finished the second test on WWI.
The students will begin Monday with the early information about their Document Based Question - Prohibition: Why Did America Change Its Mind?
Pohren’s Leadership and Character
Students have been learning about different leadership and character traits. In the past four weeks the students learned about the advantage of a positive attitude and perception. This unit (3) is on perseverance. At the end of the unit, the students will watch selected clips from the movie, Rudy. The previous two movies were Cinderella Man and Stand and Deliver.
Spanish
Spanish I - Unit 5, Lesson 1
Students are learning the house and household vocabulary to tell and identify various rooms and household items in a house.
Spanish II - Unit 5, Lesson 1
Students are learning the vocabulary of various ingredients and food preparation. They are researching the gastronomy of various regions in Spain. They are learning the Usted and Ustedes commands of regular and irregular verbs to tell people to do various things politely. They are also learning the superlatives of adjectives.
Spanish III: Somos 2 Unit 2
Students are focusing on irregular preterite verb conjugations. Students are reading short stories and expressing and interpreting the difference between past and present tense actions. Unit aligns with the AP theme of Families and Communities.
Spanish IV: Huellas Unit 2
Students are using past, present and future tense verbs to communicate similarities and differences between things and people. Students are reading short stories and watching authentic videos and using them as opportunities to compare and contrast things and people. Unit aligns with the AP theme of Families and Communities.
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