Jaguar Junction
March 2021 - Welcome back to Hybrid!!
A Note from the Principal - Mr. Haire
It has been such a unique year on so many levels. As we head into the final stretch of the year, I want to again thank you for your patience, your support, your flexibility, and your grace. Without your support, we could not have made this such a successful year for our students and teachers. As you are aware, staff had the first round of the vaccine a couple weeks ago and will be getting their second dose over Spring Break. So we are excited to move forward in the journey to someday soon return to full normalcy. Until then, we will continue to keep students and staff safe with our Covid Protocols that we have followed this school year. Students continue to follow protocols and continue to wear masks. We have appreciated their maturity and attention to follow our procedures.
We recently had a wonderful family engagement night with a Virtual Art Coil Pot lesson provided by Ms. Latham. Students and families had the opportunity to spend time together creating coil pots together. Soon, they will be dry and families will glaze them with students returning the pots to school to be "fired" in the kiln. It was an amazing night and we hope to have more opportunities such as this in the future and have our events grow.
We look forward to a wonderful Spring time with our amazing scholars. Spring can be tough on students as we begin to have our minds set to summer. Please help us keep the stamina of our students moving forward and persevering to the end of this school year.
A Note from the Assistant Principal - Mr. Haag
Parents, Guardians, and Students -
With the Kansas Reading, Math, and Science state assessments coming up I thought it would be a good idea to remind everyone on some strategies you can use to do your very best job on these assessments. Outside of their regular studies, here are a few things students can do to make sure they are best prepared:
GET PLENTY OF SLEEP!!! - Studies show that teens do their best work when they get more that 7 hours of sleep each night. They have more energy and are better able to focus during the day.
EAT A GOOD BREAKFAST/LUNCH - a good meal, before your student comes to school, with all of the food groups represented, help students to maintain energy throughout the day.
BE ON TIME - Coming in late could affect the amount of time students have to work on the assessments. This may create undue stress and thinking they have to rush to finish. When we rush through things, we tend to make careless mistakes.
HAVE YOUR CHROMEBOOK FULLY CHARGED AND READY BEFORE COMING TO SCHOOL!!!!
These are just a few strategies to help your students be successful.
Counselor Corner - Mr. Falk
We would like to thank all the parents that participated in the Parent/Teacher Conferences on February 17th and 18th. It was great to be able to visit with you regarding your student.
9th Grade Pre-Enrollment is now complete. During the second semester, Mr. Falk will be working with the 8th grade students to complete a 4 Year Course Planner for classes throughout high school. While creating the course planner, students will consider their plan for one year after high school.
Mr. Falk will begin working with 6th and 7th grade students on plans for next year. Related Arts classes available include the following:
7th Grade 8th Grade
Band Band
Orchestra Orchestra
Full Year Choir Full Year Choir
PE PE
FACS Career & Life Planning (High School Credit)
Art Design (High School Credit)
Computer Applications Integrated Computer App. (High School Credit)
At this time in the year, we feel it is a good time to review our attendance policy. All contacts to excuse absences must be made within 24 hours of the absence. Please refer to the state and school policies below in regards to student attendance.
ATTENDANCE/TRUANCY
Regular attendance is required by law. Please refer to the District Student Handbook for further guidelines. It is necessary that a parent/guardian notify the school within 24 hours whenever a student is absent.
Truancy is defined by Kansas state statute (K.S. 72-1106) as a student under age 18 who has been absent unexcused from school on three (3) consecutive days or five (5) days absent within a semester or seven (7) days within a school year.
Parents will be notified for the following attendance issues:
Multiple unexcused absences
Excessive lateness to school
Excessive (10 or more) absences
At truant status: Home visits are made by our district truancy officer prior to truancy being filed.
Additional Jardine Middle School policies regarding attendance:
After 10 absences, doctor’s documentation will be required for any further absences.
Family vacations or family trips will need prior administrative approval. If approved, the absence will only be excused up to 3 school days.
Activities - Mr. Snyder
John Wooden once said, “Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”
Our spring sports season will begin after spring break. I will send out a google form to see who is interested in boys/girls track, boys tennis and girls soccer. At this time, we will not compete against any outside schools. You must have a physical on file, Covid questionnaire completed in order to participate. We will also follow the KSHSAA guidelines for eligibility.
We plan to begin on March 29th.
Mrs. Rowe will have information for a spring musical revue presentation on May 25th. Once we have who is interested we will send out procedures for this event. Any questions please email me ay bsnyder@tps501.org.
I would like to remind all students that want to participate in athletics that KSHSAA has a rule that you must pass five of your seven classes before you can participate. This rule applies to the semester before the season begins. For example, the boy’s basketball season will be based on the 2nd quarter grades. For the sixth graders who want to participate next year, your eligibility will be based on your fourth quarter grades. The district has an eligibility rule that you must pass all classes in order to play during your season. We run weekly grade checks and if you are failing a class you have until the day of the game to pass that class. This does not mean waiting until 1pm that day of the game to turn in late work. Please be a student first and the rest will take care of its self. KSHSAA also has a rule on physicals, if you want to participate for the 2021-2022 season. You must have a physical on file dated after May 2021.
Spring Musical Review - May 2021 - A Song & Dance Extravaganza !!
Audition information will be announced soon!!
Social Work - Ms. Sparks
We are back!! It has been an interesting start to 2021 and now that we are thawed we get to see students in a hybrid setting. Hopefully we are here to stay as we know the remote learning process can be difficult for some students. If your student’s need assistance with catching up on missing work or just need help processing our current world as we know it---Please contact us.
Social work Services are available for anyone who needs help at Jardine. Please contact me with questions or concerns. 785-235-7189
Library News - Chromebooks! - Ms. Gilliland
Thank you to all the families that supported our online Book Fair during the last of February. We are grateful that we were able to reach out with this opportunity amidst the pandemic.
If you are experiencing chromebook issues, please come see me or email me at agilliland@tps501.org and we can troubleshoot.
Please return all library materials that you may have. We have over 700 books still checked out from last March when COVID hit. We would really appreciate those materials being returned.
An after school book club is starting February 25th. We are excited to offer 3 different books through a zoom meeting after school on Mondays and Thursdays. If you would be interested in this club, talk to Ms. G in the library. A big thanks to Beth Toland and PTO for organizing and sponsoring this club.
Big Brothers Big Sisters Information
Bigs are one-to-one adult mentors. They're an extra person outside the household ready to invest their time in youth enrolled in our programs. Bigs encourage youth in their education, healthy behaviors and choices.
Kansas Big Brothers Big Sisters (KSBBBS) matches youth facing adversity with caring,
adult mentors outside of their home. We believe that all youth - regardless of race,
socioeconomic status, or family background - can achieve success in life, especially with
the guidance and support of a caring adult mentor. These one-to-one professionally
supported, case-managed friendships last a minimum of one year. However, the effects of these friendships last a lifetime.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1urREEiXDoXQfzbLwgxtnHLmocJbbJxyc/view?usp=sharing
Do you know a youth that could benefit from having a Big in their life?
Please visit: www.kansasbigs.org
Or contact your local
office at:
KSBBBS Serving Shawnee County
(785) 234-5524
Math
In 6th grade math, students are learning about integers, opposites, absolute value and rational numbers. They will locate and identify integers, opposites and rational numbers on a number line and determine the greatest value given a set of numbers. They will also learn to graph inequalities and write equations.
In 7th grade math, we are finishing up our unit over “Expressions and Equations”. During the week of March 8th we will be taking the Module 3: Unit Test. After taking the unit test, we will be transitioning to our 4th Module, “Percent and Proportional Relationships”. Module 4 parallels Module 1’s coverage of ratios and proportions, but this time with a concentration on percent.
Problems in this module include:
-simple interest
-tax
-markups and markdowns
-gratuities and commissions
-fees
-percent increase and decrease
-percent error
Additionally, this module includes percent problems about populations, which prepare students for probability models about populations covered in Module 5. If your child needs additional support in math, please consider after school tutoring.
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In 8th grade math, we have had a great transition back to hybrid learning. The 8th graders have really done a nice job with going from remote to hybrid. Lets keep up this good work. Math is now working on Pythagorean Theorem. We are working with right triangles and solving for the hypotenuse and the legs. Ask your student about squaring numbers and finding square roots of numbers. They are really getting good at these skills.
PE - Ms. Remer & Mr. Coffman
Words cannot express how elated we are to have students
returning to the lonely Jardine gymnasium.
Here are the tentative activities March-May:
March 1-5 Spike Ball
March 8-12 Spring Break
March 15-19 Walton Ball
March 22-26 Pickleball
March 29-April 2 Volleyball Skills
Aroil 5-9 Volleyball Tournament
April 12-16 Badminton
April 19-23 Basketball Skill and Relays
April 26-30 Basketball Tournament 1/2 court
May 3-7 Line Games-Basketball, Frisbee & Football
May 10-14 Tennis Skills
May 17-21 Tennis Games
May 24-28 Kickball
Other activities might include:
Weights, Fitness Testing, Koosh Ball, Ball Tag, Steal the Stuff, Pinball, Football,
Our ultimate goal is to get classes outside so we can remove our masks, absorb the sunshine and
enjoy our classmates.
Reminder four items needed each day in class:
Tennis shoes, water, deodorant and loose fitting clothes.
Band News- Ms. Rowe
6th Grade Band
May 10, 2021
6:30 pm
JMS Football Field
*****
7th & 8th Grade Band
May 17, 2021
6:30 pm
JMS Football Field
Language Arts
One of the best ways to improve your writing and reading skills is to build your vocabulary. Here are some ways to help your child build his/her vocabulary while outside of school:
Read, read, read!! Read anything: novels, newspapers, magazines, even the back of a cereal box!
Keep a dictionary and thesaurus handy in your house where your child has access to it.
Using a journal is a great way to build vocabulary by keeping a list of new words and their meaning.
Learn a new word each day or week – such as perhaps a “Family Word of the Week”
Go back to your “roots” by learning new prefixes and suffixes and the origin of specific words.
Play word games such as Scrabble, Words with Friends, Scattergories etc…
Engage in conversations at home instead of “tuning out” to the TV, cell phones, or computer.
What’s Happening in Language Arts
6th Grade: du Bois, Wooten: still in Unit 3; finishing Joey Pigza novel; cause/effect, context clues, simile/metaphor, and vocabulary
7th Grade: Bisconer, Martin: Assessing word parts and elements of figurative language during the month of March. Lessons will include poetry and literature texts through our HMH collections resource. We are excited to see our students back for hybrid learning!
8th Grade: Pumford, Watson: Unit 3 – Move Toward Freedom + Novel, “Mississippi Trial: 1955”
ELL: Shelton – Newcomer 1: In March we will be taking the KELPA and also learn about clothing and weather. Newcomer 2: In March we will be taking the KELPA and also learn about sports, health, and spelling words with soft and hard letter "c", and soft and hard letter "g".
Scott - The KELPA testing window is open Feb 15 - March 31. When testing is complete, we will continue with Unit 6 where we explore the guiding question, “How do people overcome conflict?” Our vocabulary focus will be identifying figurative language. We will also focus on conventions in writing.
Reading Intervention: Appelhanz – nonfiction reading skills; cause/effect; fact/opinion
History Happenings
6th Grade Ancient World History - We are moving along with our study of the civilizations that developed in Ancient Greece. We are currently finishing up four forms of government that developed in the Greek city-states: monarchy, oligarchy, tyranny, and democracy. We will then be learning about the Greco/Persian war to analyze how the city-states of Greece come together to defend their home lands from the expanding Persian empire. We also are learning about the stories of Greek mythology. Lastly, we will look at the Classical Age of Athens and the spread of Hellenistic culture through the expeditions of Alexander the Great.
**
7th grade Kansas History will be exploring the causes and effects of The Indian Removal Act. We will delve into the hardships and injustice of The Trail of Tears, the legislation that allowed it to happen, and the aftermath. We will do this through film, historical documents and many other sources. Students will then begin to look at legislation that led to Bleeding Kansas.
**8th grade US History students have been learning about Manifest Destiny and how the nation became what it is now. We will now begin exploring the people who helped settle the West and their impact on it. We will then move on to discussing the difference between the northern and southern states which will lead us into the causes of the American Civil War.
Science
6th Grade Science - We will be working on the natural laws that govern the motion of matter. A study of Newton’s Laws of motion will include some explorations into how objects interact with each other and how we can use these properties to do things like launching rockets.
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Seventh graders are done with our Energy Units and have moved on to all about Waves. Students will be doing classwork, completing computer simulations, investigations and labs to help them understand how Waves work in our every day lives.
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The 8th graders are in the middle of chemistry, which is usually a more lab heavy unit. However, due to less available time in class, not being able to work in groups, and limited resources there will be less labs than normal. I am trying really hard to make sure that I have some short labs for them to do in class. Remote students will be doing most of them through observation of a lab video. If I can locate a lab that can easily be done at home, I will offer it to remote students as an option. Not ideal, but in a year with so many changes and struggles it will be the best we can do at this time. The last lab will be one that I know students can do at home and is very interesting. Chemistry ends with looking at synthetic materials and that always leads us into talking about plastics. There are some simple ways to create bio-plastics which actually can be made using products most homes already have available. It will be a fun way to end our chemistry unit!Para Spotlight - Mr. Brown
Mr. Brown has been a paraprofessional for 21 years, 14 of those years here at Jardine Middle School. Mr. Brown has been a coach for sports at Jardine Middle School for 21 years. He loves baseball and the Kansas Jayhawks. Mr. Brown also enjoys watching the KC Royals, KC Chiefs, and also cooking shows. Mr. Brown says, “I absolutely love being a Jaguar. I can't think of any other place I would want to be. I feel extremely lucky to be able to do what I do.”
Gifted - Dr. Spero
Gifted Language Arts students are participating in Topeka Model United Nations the weeks of February 22nd and March 1st. The schedules for the initial week follow:
Daily Sessions are 9:00 am to 11:00 am and then 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm--
WCA Delegates: Oliver Schumacher, Francisco Duenas, Coalton Zoch; -- Wednesday, February 24
WCB Delegates: Puji Gaddam, Ian Martin, DJ Blount-Woods;
-- Monday, February 22
WCC Delegates: Sevin Davis, Landon Snyder -- Thursday, February 25
WCI Delegate: Larry Dougan -- Friday, February 26
WCII Delegate: Caroline Toland -- Monday, February 22
WCIII Delegates: Akkina Johnson and Madelyn Kern -- Tuesday, February 23
Students are debating various resolutions as delegates on behalf of their assigned countries.
Congratulations to Larry Dougan, Madelyn Kern, and Ian Martin for having been chosen to give authorship speeches in support of their resolutions.
7th and 8th grade gifted students have submitted a proposed bibliography and title page for a college-type research paper they will be writing during spring break.. Students are searching digital library databases for sources to use in writing their paper. Students have learned to use in-text citations and how to write a bibliography or works cited page in MLA (Modern Language Association) format. Students also learned how to avoid plagiarism by giving credit to their sources.
6th grade gifted students have been studying Collection 5 of their text and learning to: identify cause-and-effect patterns of organization in an informational text and draw conclusions from the text and graphs; identify features of an author’s style and make inferences using textual details and prior knowledge; and analyze a poem’s form and identify theme and irony. Students are also learning to use the relationship between particular words to understand analogies and words in context.
Art - Ms. Latham
PARA SPOTLIGHT - MS. WARREN
PTO News
March 18 at 7pm is our monthly PTO Meeting.
Join Zoom Meeting https://tps501.zoom.us/j/89289308867
Meeting ID: 892 8930 8867
Passcode: jaguars
PTO Fundraisers-
Wednesday, March 10 at LaRocca's Pizza at 3100 SW Gage Blvd, 4-9 pm. Don't forget to mention Jardine Middle School.
Wednesday, March 24 at Wendy's at 32nd & Topeka Blvd. It is taking place all day long, just make sure you say that you are with Jardine Middle School.