Jefferson Newsletter
JANUARY 2021
Dear Jefferson Families -
Hello 2021! School and Classes Resume on January 4th, 2021!
I hope that this newsletter finds you and your family doing well throughout the holidays. I also wanted to say thank you for all your support of the Jefferson staff during 2020, as we learned to teach in a very different manner from what we had learned in college. I am amazed at the manner in which our wonderful students have worked diligently to learn all the new processes as well. Nothing was easy during 2020, but our students and staff were resilient and got through each new hurdle. None of the successes would have been possible without the support your student and our staff received from each of you, so I thank you for all that you do every day to support your student and the Jefferson staff.
Now, we look forward to the weather being colder and the end of the second quarter arriving right around the corner on January 14, 2021. Please continue to check in with your student and make sure that he/she is making the progress necessary to be successful in each of his/her classes. Remember you can always access your student’s grade and progress on Schoology on a weekly basis. If you have any questions about accessing your student’s grades on Schoology or Home Access Center, please feel free to call the district office at 630-301-5067, and Pam Abdullah will help you with your questions.
As third quarter begins on January 19th, we look forward to welcoming back our in-person students to Jefferson. We also look forward to having all students, virtual and in-person, move into the second half of the school year. I will remind you that the second part of the school year becomes more intense in subject matter for all students because all subjects leave behind any form of review work and move into new knowledge acquisition. Please know that our goal is that each student begins and ends the third quarter in a strong fashion, so when you see your student struggling, please encourage your student to message his/her teachers for help. I also encourage each of you to message or call your student’s teachers if you have any questions about your student’s curriculum or how you can assist your student with his/her learning. You can find all of the teachers’ email addresses and phone numbers on the Jefferson Middle School website, which is located under the School District 129 website.
I would like to close this letter with my wish for each of you and your families that 2021 brings us all some peace on many fronts. May our nation, state, city and Jefferson community begin to find its equilibrium in these turbulent times. May we unite and assist each other and our students in finding comfort and understanding in all that they have experienced in the past 10 months. May each of you and your student feel valued in your student’s education. Finally, may each of you and your families find peace in 2021.
Sincerely,
Shawn Munos
Principal, Jefferson Middle School
BRIANA DOTY
Hello J-Hawk families! My name is Briana Doty and I am the new 8th grade Special Education/Language Arts co-teacher with Ms. Kink. I have spent the last 6 years teaching various grade levels but am so excited to be back teaching middle school and feel so lucky to be here at Jefferson. I started my teaching career in the West Aurora School District but left for a year to lead a Chicago Public School's intervention program. While in CPS I missed my West Aurora family and decided to move back to the area with my husband. When not at school, I'm out and about with family or walking my extremely small, but mighty, dog Duncan. 🙂 2020 is the weirdest year yet, but my goal is to support you and your student(s) to the best of my abilities. We can do it! If you ever have any questions for me, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Hello Jefferson Families,
I hope this newsletter finds you safe and healthy! In just a few weeks, we hope to welcome back all of the students who selected the blended learning model of instruction. Please know that we are working extremely hard to make the school as safe as it can be for both students and staff, while also engaging our students with challenging learning.
Upcoming Events
2nd Quarter Report Card grades go live on the Home Access Portal for parents and students- Friday, January 22nd
No School- 1/15 (School Improvement Day) -1/18 (Martin Luther King Day)
Several Helpful Links:
Middle School A/B Blended Learning Schedule for Quarters 2,3 and 4.
November Students of the Month SlideShow
Jefferson activity and club offerings for the 2020-21 school year.
Last month we delivered “Jefferson Scholar” T-shirts to all of our 1st quarter Honor Roll Students. We were so happy to see our students, even if for a few moments.
MATH DEPARTMENT
The math department continues to make the best of virtual learning. Students are being challenged within each of their selected courses and teachers are doing the best they can to make lessons interactive and engaging. Some highlights from the math department this month include:
The 6th grade ET students are working on 2-step equations. They are extending their knowledge of 1 step equations and applying it to multi-step processes. Math 1-1 finished the fractions unit! Those students have been working on fractions from the very start of the school year. They are now considered fraction Rockstars!
The 7th grade teachers are noticing an increase in student engagement over zoom. Math 2-2 students are learning about 1-step equations. Students are on their way to proficiency. Students are beginning to extend equations to be able to combine like terms and use the distributive property.
The 8th grade pre-algebra students are learning about slope and linear functions. Some students had an opportunity to go on a scavenger hunt in which they searched their house to find slope in everyday settings. Students took pictures of items with positive, negative, zero, and undefined slopes. The students got creative and enjoyed finding slopes in everyday life. Some of their pictures are below.
CTE
West Aurora Students in Virtual Woodshop classes made lanterns inspired by traditional Japanese shoji screens. The students upcycled pizza boxes and cereal boxes into beautiful and practical artistic creations.
Working from home with whatever tools and materials were available the students learned the essential lessons that one acquires in shop class: learning to see one's efficacy and growth through the acquisition of new skills, learning to confront and overcome the constraints imposed by the world around us and taking pride in one’s authentic accomplishments.
Drama Club
We are still looking for students interested in joining our Drama Club. Just because we can’t be together on a stage doesn’t mean we can’t perform! If you have been told you are funny, dramatic, or love to sing - send a message to Ms. Johnson to be added to the Club. We are looking at some fun options for productions this spring!
Winter 2 Athletics
Girls Basketball and POMS will run a 4 week camp. There are NO athletic competitions. Practices will focus on skills, drills, and fundamentals.
6th/7th/8th Girls Basketball & 6th/7th/8th POMS (Dance)
Start: January 19th - February 12th
3:45 - 5:15PM
Girls will attend the days that they are in the building or synchronous
POMS DOES NOT MEET ON FRIDAYS.
Basketball- Monday - Friday
POMS- Monday - Thursday
Must have a current physical on file in the nurse's office. (Can bring into main office)
Must be registered on 8 to 18
il.8to18.com/jefferson
Free to Join!!!!! (this year only)
Football will begin February 23rd. Look for more information to come out on schoology at the end of January!!!
PE
A few tips and suggestions from the PE Department:
Staying active is an important part of maintaining good health and wellness. Here are the CDC physical activity guidelines for children and adults. There are many websites that offer fun activities for the whole family! Darebee offers 1400+ workouts and monthly challenges. Youtube offers many fitness videos that require little to no equipment and space. All Jefferson Middle School students have access to PLT4M. PLT4M offers a complete approach to fitness education and athletic performance training, built exclusively for middle & high schools. There are 3 programs that the students have been working on. Families can all participate together in a great workout! Ask your child to show you! We know some parents have already started working out to these videos with their kids!
Looking for ways to eat better?
SCIENCE
6th graders are learning all about chemical reactions. We are observing reactants and products of chemical reactions to see that they are the same amount of materials before and after the reaction. Students will choose a chemical reaction to research and present to the class.
7th grade students were able to come into the building for a week in November and engineered towers using uncooked spaghetti noodles and marshmallows. We are continuing to learn about Newton’s laws of motion and students will be able to determine the way objects will move. Students have been working hard on taking Newton’s 3 laws of motion and applying them to real life.
8th graders are studying DNA. They will create codes and unlock codes all to simulate the process that DNA takes in order to copy itself. Students have made connections on real world reasons why we would study DNA. They have looked into careers that would analyze DNA and they were able to look into a similar process that a forensic scientist would by trying to solve an imaginary crime.
Pics below
SOCIAL STUDIES
6th grade has made its way through Ancient Egypt during the month of December. As the month went on, students continued to notice and wonder about the traits of the ancient civilization. 6th grade students have explored the impacts of the Nile River, The Old and New Kingdom, and the Egyptian Legacy. Students will begin 2021 by diving into Ancient India.
7th grade has had a very busy December. Students began their Country Project. Students were assigned a country and began using their knowledge of government, economy, religion and culture to explore their world from their Chromebooks. Students also were challenged with the task of presenting their Country Project to other 7th grade students at the other 3 middle schools in the district.
8th grade has been taking their civics knowledge from the last 1.5 quarters and seeing the results of civic engagement in the Civil Rights Unit. Students are learning about the inequalities that have existed in the USA and how several different minority groups have fought to bring justice. This unit has allowed students to make connections from the Civil Rights Movement to current events that unfolded this summer as well. We can’t wait until Unit 7, when students are able to take a stance on an issue, and reach out to our local representatives.
LA
Dear J-Hawk Newsletter,
Our Language Arts teachers expressed interest in breathing life back into a personal experience. I think it’s called a Personal Narrative. The expectation wasn’t just to simply summarize a personal life event, but to focus on a specific moment in time. We helped each other brainstorm titles to engage our audience, and hooks to create mystery. Initially, we described the characters, setting, and the basic situation, as part of the Exposition. We then were tasked with creating suspense in the Rising Action, leading up to the Climax, where we shocked our audience with an element of surprise! The Climax is where we really showed off our writing abilities. We recreated this moment to make the readers feel like they were present; right alongside us. Boy, I could have stayed in this moment forever! But, I had to digress, so I brought my story to a decline in the Falling Action, by describing the events bringing my story to closure in the Resolution. Here is where I reflected on what I learned through this personal experience. As a follow-up, the teachers will observe our writing abilities, and provide each student with individual feedback on what we did well, and how we may improve our writing. Some students who prefer to keep their narratives personal, may do so, but those of us who have a story to share with the whole world, can’t wait for the opportunity to sit in the narrator’s chair!
Sincerely,
An Eager 6th Grade Author
LMC NEWS
Welcome to 2021! We are anticipating the return of students to the building and the opportunity to get some physical books in the hands of students. As shared in last month’s newsletter, we will be extremely careful and quarantine books between checkouts as well as deliver the books to hybrid students for distribution in their ELA classrooms. Virtual students will have the option to place books on hold and come to our building during scheduled hours for pick up from Door 16 near the LMC.
We also anticipate having the Rebecca Caudill books processed and ready for check out in January. Like everything else, Covid has delayed shipments of books so we are patiently waiting to share those with the students. In the meantime, most titles are available online as ebooks and audiobooks so there are still sources for these titles. We have included the twenty titles here to make it easier to locate the titles and check them off as they are read. I encourage you to read them with your students at home - these are books that bring up great topics for discussion and encourage deeper learning about individuals from other backgrounds and countries.
Please remember - the more reading a student does the more they succeed in every aspect of learning!
Ms. Johnson, LMC Director