VCMS News and Notes
June 2023
Dear Families,
As we are closing out our school year, we wanted to remind everyone of some important dates that coming up quickly in June.
June 9 - Emerging Leaders Conference for all 8th grade students.
June 19 - NO SCHOOL FOR JUNETEENTH HOLIDAY.
June 20 - Full day of School for grades 6, 7, 8.
June 21 - Last Day and half day of School for grades 6, 7, 8. Again, it will be a half day of school and dismissal will be at 10:00 am.
June 21 - 8th Grade Awards/Moving Up Ceremony will take place promptly at 8:00 am in the High School Auditorium. All are invited to attend and the event will be streamed live on LocalLive.
If you have any questions, please contact the middle main office at 716-773-8830.
On behalf of the entire faculty and staff of our middle school, it is a pleasure to teach and work with your children. We wish you all a safe and happy summer.
Respectfully,
Your Middle School Leadership Team.
(John Fitzpatrick and Adam Buffomante)
VCMS Highlights
VIKING OLYMPICS!
Our Viking Olympics was a gigantic success this year. Our students raised over $13,000 this year, making a grand total of $50,000 raised for Special Olympics of WNY in over 5 years. The event took place on May 19 and hosted representatives from Special Olympics as well as the Grand Island community to enjoy food trucks, games, basket raffle, bounce houses, fire trucks, and more. The highest fundraising team was Tom Turkeys, who helped to bring the torch in for the competition. Student teams competed against each other in various activities and games. "Shy Guy Shawn" from KISS 98.5 was the DJ and was a student favorite.
We extend our thanks to Ms. Tracy Shores and Mrs. Deanna Przepiora, event coordinators, as well as the many other volunteers who made this a great evening for our school community.
VCMS Welcomes 5th Graders
Our 5th grade students from Kaegebein Elementary and Huth Rd. Elementary for tours sponsored by our counseling staff, teachers, and our current WEB leaders. Our students were greeted by our WEB Leaders, taken on a tour of the classes and building, and then were met by Mrs. Paige, the 2023-2024 sixth grade counselor for a brief presentation all about our middle school. Thank you to Mrs. Paige, our WEB coordinators, Mrs. Stapleton and Mrs. Przepiora, WEB Leaders, and the 5th grade teachers for coordinating this showcase.
SAVE THE DATE: Our 6th Grade Orientation will held on August 31, 2023 for students only. More information will be mailed over the summer.
Grand Island Chess Club Receives Hand Carved Chess Set
On May 8, at the Board of Education Meeting, Mr. Gary Dahlstrom generously donated his hand carved wooden chess set to the Grand Island Scholastic Chess Club.
This chess set was created from a fallen basswood tree from Boston, NY. Basswood is a wood carvers' favorite wood due to its tight grain and relative softness. After this tree was removed from the woods, it was milled into boards at a sawmill in Holland NY. It then spent 2 years drying in a garage in Grand Island. After the moisture content was dry enough, the rough cut boards were then cut down to approximate chess piece size. After that, sharp knives were used to carve each piece. Carving each piece is a slow meticulous process.
The castle was created from the same basswood tree. The four sides are each one piece, with grooves cut with a V-gouge to resemble bricks. The four corners were made using woodworking tools including a table saw, band saw, and a router.
The chess board was made using maple and walnut. The wood was cut into strips, and then glued together alternating light and dark colors. They were cut into strips again, perpendicular to the first cut. After realigning the strips in a checkerboard pattern, it was glued again. A border was then created and glued into place outlining the squares.
The carving time for the pieces, chess board creation and castle creation took over a year.
After it was finished, it won a ribbon at the 2018 Erie County Fair Wood Carving competition, and was on display at the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University in 2019, and the Herschell Carousel Factory Museum North Tonawanda in 2021.
About the Creator
Gary Dahlstrom is a local Grand Islander who grew up here and raised 3 children, all of whom passed through the Grand Island School System. Gary got his start in wood carving on a Boy Scout weekend in 2004 after being given a knife and a piece of wood from another carver on the trip. He continues to work with the Boy Scout Troops on Grand Island, teaching their scouts wood carving.
Thank you Mr. Dahlstrom!
Chess Champions
On April 29, 2023, the Grand Island Chess Club took FIRST place in the USCF rated section and SECOND place in the unrated section at the WNY Springtime Scholastic Chess Tournament held at the Grand Island High School. 67 players from 16 different teams competed from various schools throughout Western New York. Special congratulations go out to the following VCMS players: Beau Bergeron, Lucas Mondoux, Grayson Shelp, Emilio Nelson, Abraham Tudor, Alex Godlove, Max Carpenter, Brayden Best, and Ryan Byrnes. Way to go GI Vikings!
Rated Division Champions
Spring WNY Scholastic Chess Tournament
2nd Place Unrated Division
KidsBiz
Mr. Eric Fiebelkorn and Mr. Jim Sharpe presented to our 6th and 7th grade classes about KidBiz. KidBiz, in its 25th year on Grand Island, invites young entrepreneurs to learn various aspects of running a business. Topics include pricing, marketing, and customer service. Students create a business and sell their items at the Grand Island Town Commons on Saturday June 17 from 10 am to 2 pm. All the businesses are created by students and are student operated. All are welcome to attend this event and shop at their businesses.
KidBiz, developed by the Small Business Development Center at Buffalo State College and Forever Elmwood, was launched in 1996.
Please see the attached flyer for registration details.
STEM Fair
Tina Arslan, grade 8, took home the first place ribbon for middle school entries at the school district's first ever STEM Fair on Friday May 26. Representatives from Thermo-Fisher provided the judges. Congratulations Tina!
6th Grade
Team D
In ELA we are finishing the year with a study and fundraiser about the water shortage around the world. Students will also practice writing appropriate emails.
In Spanish we are completing a unit on Travel and then will begin to start reviewing for the Final Assessment.
Team E
8th Grade
‘Tis the last newsletter of the ’22-’23 season and, as usual, June is a busy month!
After a very successful Honors Breakfast that recognized the exceptional work of over 100 eighth grade students, we began to prepare for these notable culminating events:
The Emerging Leaders Conference on June 9 th will take the eighth grade students to Niagara Riverside Resort to study career choices with experts in their chosen interest/field. Dressing appropriately for this great opportunity is encouraged as these community members are sacrificing their time to speak to our students. This forward-focused event will hopefully engage the students to begin their high school years with a renewed purpose.
On the 20th of June, the eighth grade class will have its annual Field Day! Please dress appropriately for this as well! Hopefully there will be a need for sunblock as everyone enjoys various picnic sports such as corn hole, kickball, and Tug-O’-War, among other activities!
And finally, appropriately enough, the eighth grade will be celebrated on June 21 st , the first day of summer, during the Moving Up Day/Awards Assembly. This event is open to parents live or through streaming and visitors are encouraged to be in their seats by 8:00am sharp so as not to miss a moment of the festivities. This is another event that is dress sensitive and participants are encouraged to come in a manner that befits the event’s gravity.
Looking back, these middle school “seniors” have survived quite a run here at Connor Middle School. Sixth grade was a tumultuous mix of hybrid and virtual with Plexiglas barriers and masks, but things improved and they grew into young adults ready to enter their high school years. We wish them well and are not concerned about their ability to face any challenges ahead as they’ve already proven their mettle. Best of luck, Class of 2027 ~ we look forward to seeing all of the great accomplishments about which you are about to embark!
Health/Physical Education
Music
Art
In Studio in Art, the students are finishing up their charcoal toilet paper drawing. Yes, toilet
paper! A still-life of three rolls of toilet paper in various stages of unraveling was provided and
the students were required to draw the contour of the composition and then use white and black
charcoal to capture the values within the image. This project challenged them to render folds
and wrinkles in different positions using a new medium which can be tricky and certainly messy.
This lesson also prepares the students for the Final Exam Assessment which will take place at
the beginning of June in which they will spend six days using the necessary art tools to fully
complete an 18”x24” still-life drawing without the assistance of the art teacher.
Art-8 is currently working on a colored pencil rendering of fruit that the students were first
introduced to in the beginning of the course. At that point, they just needed to draw the image in
front of them with a regular pencil without any guidance to help indicate what art skills were
present or needed more attention and the grade was not recorded in the portal. Now, the
students are exploring values and color to produce a more elaborate and detailed composition
with help from the teacher. This time the grade will count and be recorded to help illustrate
individual growth.
Art Club members are using the time to finish up any outstanding art projects along with
sewing sock animals using patterns provided and following the written directions step by step.
Mr. Dulak's 6th grade art classes are studying color! Building off what they learned in elementary school they are adding a deeper knowledge of color and how to use color in a meaningful way. Mr. Dulak's 7th grade classes are learning how to "Draw from the Right-Side of the Brain", which is the combining of Art & Science to understand how we think while we draw will help us to develop a more realistic drawing.
Career and Technical Education (CTE)
8th Grade
Eighth graders are learning how to budget and balance their needs and wants. Google Sheets is an excellent tool for budgeting and the eight graders are seeing this for themselves with a hands-on “budgeting for their future” activity. In this activity, students will find out if they can afford to live out on their own with the income and expenses needed to do so!
Reminder to all eight grade parents! The Emerging Leaders Conference is about two weeks away! Now would be a great time to start planning a professional outfit for your eighth grader attending the event. If you have any questions on what they should be wearing, check out the Emerging Leaders Conference Google Classroom for more information.
7th Grade
We have completed the keyboard and our hope is that 7th graders feel confident to be able to type for extended periods of time while also always practicing proper keyboarding techniques. Going forward, we also hope they find this to be a very valuable life skill they have mastered.
It is almost summer time…what better way to cool off than teaching 7th graders how to do a simple lemonade stand budget with Google Sheets. We will soon be formatting a spreadsheet, calculating sums, profit/loss and average data analysis based on the expense and sales receipts information gathered for the first week the stand opens.
6th Grade
Sixth graders are finishing up their STEM project and will be bringing home their LED robot projects. This project required strong listening skills, paying attention to details and learning what supplies they needed to be working with in their STEM kits for Parts A through D of the project. The newly mastered overcast stitch and knotting technique they learned before the start of the project, will find them "sewing solo" to finish the project up. This will be 100% independent as they know exactly how to measure, cut, know and sew the outside of their Robots.
Technology
8th Grade Technology: Students are researching alternative modes of transportation as they design, build, and test magnetic levitation vehicles.
6th Grade Technology just completed exploring the principles of flight by building their own Model Rockets. We were able to get outside and have a great day of launching these Rockets. We are now finishing out the year by exploring the 7 Resources of Technology by creating logos representing these Resources.
Library Media Center
VCMS students will have the opportunity to get their hands on some hot summer reads at the, Buy One Get One Free Book Fair in the middle school library on June 6-June 9. Payment can be made by cash, credit card, or by setting up an eWallet @ https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bf/vcms
Parents who are interested in volunteering at the book fair can sign-up @ https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0F4FAFAD2AA6F94-scholastic4
Please contact sharynmudd@gicsd.org for any questions.
2023 Battle of the Books
Congratulations to the Word Wizards! The Word Wizards won the regional Battle of the Books championships held this year at Hamburg Middle School on May 11, 2023.
The Word Wizards competed against eleven other middle schools in a book battle trivia contest to bring the trophy home to VCMS for the first time in school history! Next year, VCMS will be hosting the regional Battle of the Books competition in the spring of 2024.
The Word Wizards team members are from 6th grade, Madelyn Lehman, Hadley Dahlgren, and Elizabeth Lehman.
Important Information for all Students/Parents/Families
Student Attire and Dress Code
It remains necessary to remind all students that they must consider the clothing choices they make when coming to school. Students should dress casually and appropriate for school and learning.
Some examples of clothing that is NOT permitted in school are crop tops, extremely brief garments, halter tops, cutoffs, spaghetti straps, muscle shirts/tank tops, see-through garments, footwear that is deemed inappropriate or a potential safety hazard (such as slippers), any clothing that includes vulgar, obscene and or libelous language or images to denigrate and or offend others, any clothing that promotes any illegal activity and or endorses drugs and or alcohol.
Please ensure that your child's undergarments are covered at all times.
Finally, middle school students do plenty of moving throughout their day. In some regards, they may move just as much as an elementary student. A middle school student may often forget how to maneuver his/her body to protect their dignity. When a student chooses clothing for school, it is important to keep this in mind.
Summer School/Homework Club
As we have moved back to a typical school year, summer school will be required for students who have failed two or more core (ELA, math, science, social studies) subjects. All students should be keeping up with their school work. So everyone can have an ample opportunity for success, all questions regarding school work, assignments, and grades should be directed to your child's teacher.
The Homework Club has operated since November. The club runs on Mondays through Thursdays and students can ride the late bus home. All students should contact their teacher for more information.
Updating Contact Information in the Parent Portal
Important Dates to note...
June
1. 6th Grade Field Trip to Bison's Game.
1. VCMS Spring Chorus Concert @ 7:00 pm in the HS Aud.
2. WEB Day.
5. 8th Grade NYS Science Written Assessment.
8. 5th Grade Parent Orientation @ 6:00 pm in the HS Auditorium.
9. 8th Grade Emerging Leaders Conference @ 9:30 at the Niagara Riverside Resort.
15. Algebra I Regents Exam @ 12:00 pm.
16. Earth Science Regents Exam @ 12:00 pm.
17. KidBiz Event @ 10:00 am at the Grand Island Commons.
19. NO SCHOOL - Juneteenth
20. 8th Grade Picnic @ 12:15 pm.
21. Last Day for Students - Dismissal at 10:00 am.
21. 8th Grade Awards Assembly/Moving Up Ceremony @ 8:00 am in the HS Aud.
GICSD Featured Podcasts
Grand Island Community Education
VCMS PTA
The VCMS PTA is asking for your support through membership and donations. The PTA helps our school community by furthering the educational needs of our faculty and students in a variety of ways. However, the PTA requires the support of our parents and community in order to gather the resources necessary to do so. Please consider joining or renewing your VCMS PTA membership in order to help them support our school. PTA membership can be completely online. When you click on the link below, you can choose your membership preference, and additional donations to the VCMS PTA can also be made using this site. Joining online is only $5.68. (there is a $0.68 processing fee).
It is super easy, just have your credit card ready and click on the link below:
Family Support Services
Veronica E. Connor Middle School
Website: https://www.grandislandschools.org/Domain/244
Location: 1300 Ransom Road, Grand Island, NY, USA
Phone: 716-773-8830