Illing Insider
October 13, 2020
Greetings Illing Families!
I hope you are all doing well and staying healthy during this time and have settled into the "new" routine one month into the school year!
This is our first installment of the Illing Insider, a newsletter aimed at giving families a glimpse of what's happening at IMS! The newsletter will be emailed every other week. You may also visit our website at https://www.mpspride.org/illing to learn more about our school.
We are excited to announce that we will be holding our first Virtual Open House next Thursday, October 22nd at 6:00pm! We will be sending additional information on the format of the open house and how to join virtually early next week.
Please submit questions you would like us to address in advanced using the following form.
We look forward to seeing you all on the 22nd!
Have a great week!
Iris Gomero, Principal
IMS Virtual Open House
We will hold our Virtual Open House on Thursday, October 22nd at 6:00pm.
More information will follow early next week.
Thursday, Oct 22, 2020, 06:00 PM
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Thank you Silk City!
Tammy Gerhard (left) from Silk City Coffee hands Illing Middle School Principal Iris Gomero a check for $1000 to cover the cost of 1030 water bottles for Illing students, teachers, and staff.
The money was raised on Friday, Sept. 4 with 20% of all sales from noon to 5 p.m. going toward the purchase of the water bottles, which are being used as part of COVID-related precautions.
Thank you so much Silk City Coffee for your generous donation!
Remote Learners Supply Distribution
Wednesday October 14th from 10:30am - 3:30pm
Thursday, 10/15 from 1:30pm - 3:30pm
Distribution will be done via curbside pickup, so parents/guardians will be able to drive up to the front of the school during the above times and dates, give your students' name to our staff out front, and they will deliver their bag right to your car.
From our Library Media Team
Need technology assistance?
The Library Media Center and the IT department are here to help!
For technology assistance, email infosys@mpspride.org or call or text 860-682-0607,
Monday - Friday from 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
For all other questions, email support@mpspride.org or call 860-647-5041,
Monday - Friday from 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Please refrain from calling individual schools.
✅ Google 101 for Students + Families Google Drawing (Fall 2020) This is a collection of videos and resources for navigating digital learning. Click here!
Online Book Fair
Illing's Library Media Center is hosting an online book fair through Follett Books. The fair starts September 28 and runs until December 4. Students, families, and staff can browse and purchase books. These are ‘real’ books, not digital books. There is a wonderful selection of new books, graphic novels, fiction, nonfiction, series, and books in Spanish. Please help support our literacy goals! You can access the book fair from the Illing website, or by using this direct link: https://efairs.follettbookfairs.com/guest/home?classCode=ZWPX6
Math department
8th Grade Math:
PLEASE MAKE SURE TO CHECK IN WITH YOUR CHILD ABOUT THEIR ASSIGNMENTS ON GOOGLE CLASSROOM AND MAKE SURE THEY HAVE TURNED THEM IN!
Algebra 1: Students just started the Foundations of Algebra unit last week. Topics you can expect your child to be working on are translating expressions, operations with rational numbers, order of operations, and evaluating expressions. We should be done with this unit by the middle of October.
Algebra 2: Students just started the Systems unit last week. Topics you can expect your child to be working on are: graphing lines, finding solutions to linear systems graphically or algebraically, applications of systems (word problems), and systems of inequalities. This unit should be done in about 3-4 weeks.
7TH Grade Math:
Algebra 1: Students will continue working on Unit 1 material. The test out date will be the week of October 13th. Students can work on and review any of the following topics by Googling games or review materials to help them: order of operation, translating and writing algebraic expressions, and solving equations.
ELA & Acceleration
ELA
Below are some samples of some 7th grade Book Buzz where students describe the book they're reading and tell everyone why they like it.
Read 180
Students have completed their Reading Inventory and are working online using the Read 180 program. Teachers and students are also focusing on completing the Fountas and Pinnell Reading Assessment.
Dartmouth
Math - We are Growth- Students are developing better work habits and, as a result, are becoming better mathematicians The addition and subtraction of fractions close out our launch week. I am happy to report continued courage and academic growth for this often challenging topic. Students, Keep Shinin’!
Holler! (but not limited to)
Sarabi Nyarko, Jonah Oquendo, Lisette Boahen, Shane Dagon, Molly Hazlet & Makayla Motowidlak
Science - Students are putting awesome effort into creating portfolio folders to put their work in for the year.
Shout Out to Vianna Quddus and Nadia Milewski for completing their Portfolios!
SEM-R Reading - We are Remote and Growing Stronger: Students are selecting independent “Just Right” books that will challenge their reading, while monitoring their reading growth through Weekly Reading Logs and mindful self regulation. Building reading FOCUS and STAMINA are being practiced through daily reading. Initial reading goals are to read 20 plus minutes a day and better their individual best each week. Kudos to those students who have started their “Just Right” books and submitted their completed reading logs last week. Visualizing and Summarizing are our first 2 reading units of study.
Special SHOUT OUTS to those students who have shared their technology knowledge getting us through some glitches, and those who have shown patience and perseverance while struggling with technology challenges in our SEM-R class. You are all amazing and you are appreciated!
Social Studies - SHOUTS OUT to the great attendance and all the brave students who have participated through NOD, the chat, cameras on and or presenting in class!!!!!!!!
Cornell
Welcome Back!
Dream Street
This sugar skull mask is by Alyssa Arroyo
This sugar skull mask is by Taymarie Cruz
URI
While the beginning of this school year is like no other, students on team URI have handled the challenges like champs! So far we have focused on students learning the basics; how to locate and read their schedules, and how to access and use technology (i.e. classroom, meet, etc.)
Mr. Lee, the team science teacher reinforced the use of technology through his initial “getting to know you activities” and teaching students how they could use the different tech tools in science.
In Mr. Dolphin’s math class students have also learned to use Whiteboard.fi and Dream-Box. The young mathematicians finished their review unit which covered adding and subtracting of decimals, multiplying decimals, and dividing decimals.
Mr. Kienle’s reading classes just finished their unit on visualization and summarizing. Mrs. Gabbai’s language arts classes also focused on summarizing this week as they completed their book buzzes using Padlet. Additionally, students focused on author's word choice and annotation. The next unit will focus on reading realistic fiction and understanding character perspective.Mr. Patton and Ms. Hilton, teachers of music theory, introduced their students to Soundtrap. The students focused on performing a backbeat, (reinforcing their rhythmic knowledge) distinguishing melodies, and building their musical vocabulary and repertoire.
Mr. E-M’s social studies classes completed their launch unit which focused on some basic geographical skills such as locating places on a map, understanding perspectives, identifying primary and secondary sources and identifying what culture is. They will begin their Middle East unit soon.
Below are some Book Buzzes from Mrs. Gabbai's Language Arts classes:
Princeton
Team Princeton has been working hard, both in school and online. Our students are doing a wonderful job of wearing masks and following safety protocols, while at the same time getting to know each other and our teachers.
We started off the year strong studying independent reading in ELA, integer operations in Math, sound waves in Science, typography in Art, “Who are we?” in Spanish, and skills of historians & Columbus in Social Studies. We are looking forward to a fun and rewarding year, no matter what it looks like!
Below is a sample of a get-to-know-you web from ELA class, created by Paige Basquait
A Message from your Counselors:
PBIS/Crew News
Illing Middle School works to ensure that student’s behaviors are regularly reinforced. Students are expected to uphold R.A.M.S. behaviors and in typical years would be issued R.A.M.S. bucks that could be used at the school store. This year, to ensure safety, we will not be using R.A.M.S. bucks.
We still want to reinforce positive behaviors, so four students from each team will be acknowledged each week for upholding R.A.M.S. behaviors. Students who are nominated will each receive a certificate and be able to choose something from the school store. At the end of each month, those who were nominated will automatically be entered into a raffle for a gift certificate from a local restaurant. Please see the chart below for some examples of what it means to be a R.A.M.S. student.
If there are any questions, please reach out to Jasmine Waterman at jwaterman@mpspride.org.
Attention 7th grade students!
Click on the flyer below for more information about a fun, virtual, after school activity beginning October 15th! Husky Star Kids is open to any 7th grade student interested, and will be run by UConn student Athletes, and staff as well as IMS staff members.
Click on the flyer, or RIGHT HERE to sign up!
What's for Lunch?
The Cafeteria has added a Halal option for any student that requests one.
Important Dates
10/22 - Virtual Open House
Did you know you could take a virtual tour of Illing Middle School? Check it out by clicking the button below!
Contact Us
Email: igomero@mpspride.org
Website: www.mpspride.org/illing
Location: 227 Middle Turnpike East, Manchester, CT, USA
Phone: (860) 647-3400
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Illing-Middle-School/802258026499553
Twitter: @MPS_Illing