The BULLetin
November 7, 2019
Principal's Message
On another note, I have visited with a few teachers and students recently who have talked about school or class being "hard." As I've heard that, I've wondered, "What's making it hard," "How is this different from previous school experiences," and "Is hard for the sake of being hard or is there something else there"? And I do not have an exact answer.
I can say that oftentimes the classes or rather the teachers of those classes that are considered hard are doing things that may be different from a student's previous school experience. In those classes I am seeing rigorous instruction. To some, rigorous means more work that is more complex. I would suggest that the work is more complex but there is scaffolding and support for students to find success and ultimately develop complex understanding and advanced skill. In order for that to happen the student needs to be doing that work. It is new. It is difficult. And research tells us that students are more likely to learn more and have a deeper understanding when they are engaged in learning like this. However, sometimes in a student's school history, when the work is challenging students are easily let off the hook.
These teachers are not doing that. Our goal is for students to expend huge amounts of cognitive energy developing questions, solving problems, developing knowledge and skills with support versus being told information to know in all of their classes. We know that cognitive work is exhausting. It is difficult. It is hard. But in the same manner that marathon runners need to develop the endurance to run 26 miles, our students need to develop the endurance and ability to persevere through difficult cognitive work.
So, I would encourage you to have conversations with your students when they talk about classes being hard. Dive deep. Find out where the challenge lies and help them develop the capacity to persevere.
Good Luck @ ILMEA
Good luck to the Murphy Music students participating in the ILMEA Festival at Huntley High School this Saturday!
Choir: Morgan Elliott, Brady Engler, Molly Gallagher, Jimmy Harrison, Udey Kohli, Josh Lopez, Soraya Tolefree, Olivia Van Denend, Vedanta Verma, Lindsey Watson, and Acintya Yoganath
Band: Diego Carrillo, Geet Gambhir, Aayan Mahmood, Gabbie Salazar, Jenna Tindall, Nathan Vanden Heuvel
Murphy LRC Book Fair
The Scholastic Book Fair in the LRC closes Friday, November 8th at 11am. You can still help support our school by shopping online. Access over 6,000 items! All orders will ship home. The online fair is available now through Friday November 15th.
Check out the online fair and see how you can help Murphy earn 25% in rewards!
Visit: https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bf/murphyjuniorhigh1
Ms. Phillips - ELA
NJHS Babysitting During P/T Conferences
Ms. Avignone - Spanish
Murphy Toys for Tots
To help focus donations, we have theme weeks:
- Nov 4-8 Toy for a boy
- Nov 11-15 Toy for a girl
- Nov 18-22 Sports/Craft themed toys
- Nov 25-26 Games/Books (Shortened Week)
- Dec 2-6 Toy of choice
- Dec 9th- Wheel related or technology toy (this is a new raffle which is only for this day- one lucky winner just from this group of students will win the chance to attend the breakfast).
PTO Concession Workers
The Murphy PTO is excited to run the concession stand for the Boy's Basketball home games this year! We are looking for volunteers to help us out. It's a lot of fun and helps the PTO raise funds to put toward student activities, classroom grants and much more! It's also a great way for your student to earn service hours. Please consider signing up for a shift (or two)!
We are looking for 2 people for each shift. Please note that student volunteers must be accompanied by an adult volunteer. We can't do this without you, so a big thanks in advance to everyone who signs up!
Murphy Music Boosters
PTO
The Murphy PTO does not do any fundraising as a PTO. Instead we ask families to make an annual donation to the PTO. These donations help us to provide classroom grants, student events, staff appreciation, community awareness and much more. Please consider making a donation. In addition, any family who donates $25 or more will receive one free ticket to the Murphy Monster Mash!
The PTO can accept credit card payments for annual donations. You can also make your family’s annual donation via SignUp Genius by clicking on this link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0445aaaa22ab9-20192020 UPDATED LINK. If you prefer to send your donation in with your student, please print out the form below and send it to school with your student.
For more information on the Murphy PTO, upcoming PTO events or volunteer opportunities, please contact PTO President Missy Dziewiatkowski at missyd71@gmail.com or 630-999-3927. Please also follow us on Facebook for PTO events and updates (Murphy PTO-Home of the Mavericks).
Yearbooks are On Sale
LOOK FORWARD TO LOOKING BACK
Capture the good times with a yearbook that your student will hold on to forever.
Every Student. Every Day.
Ms. Cari Miller (Science) - Students researched weather and climate information about a chosen region in the world. They summarized that information into a travel brochure.
Ms. Keicher - The students are reading Fahrenheit 451. This novel will be the source when writing a literary analysis essay for the embedded assessment. Using the prompt for the EA we developed a list of important information that needs to be annotated in order to successfully complete their essay. In addition, prior to reading we reviewed the Notice and Note Signposts and they received bookmarks with the signposts listed to use as a reference as they read.
The students are annotating the novel for character development, conflicts the character encounters as well as the Notice and Note signposts.
Mr. Zaininger (Science) - Students access digital information to evaluate information critically using online research while completing their genius hour projects for science class. Oftentimes this requires the students to read critically through questioning text and evaluating secondary sources. While students can collaborate with other students to complete their genius hour project, students may also choose to make it more about their own self interests.
Mavericks Make a Difference
We are continuing our Mavericks Make a Difference Volunteer Program this year. Students who acquire 25 volunteer hours per year (current 8th graders only need 50, 6th and 7th graders need 75) throughout their time at Murphy Junior High will be recognized at 8th grade promotion night. Below is a list of volunteer opportunities throughout the surrounding communities. Please fill out the following form to track your hours. Forms are due to Brian Falli on or before Friday, April 24.
Service Hour Verification Form
Oswego Lions Club Youth Service Awards Program- At the end of the Lions Club Service Year in June 2020, any District 308 student volunteers (ages 11-18) who have completed at least 25 hours of qualified and approved service work will receive an award from the Oswego Lions Club recognizing them as a Lions Young Leader in Service. See the flyer for more information.
Oswego Lions Club Flyer Oswego Lions Club Service Hour Tracking Sheet
November:
Gobbler Hobbler 10K - Oswego - 11/10 https://www.oswegolandparkdistrict.org/event/gobbler-hobbler-10k/
Make mats for dogs at Naperville Bank and Trust - 11/23 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/volunteer-to-make-snuffle-mats-for-dogs-tickets-69817585277?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
Ongoing events:
Giving DuPage - This website connects volunteers with volunteer opportunities in DuPage County https://givingdupage.org/volunteer-portal-2/
Project Linus
https://www.projectlinus.org/volunteer/volunteer.php?StateKey=IL#tgt
Arbor Day https://www.arborday.org/takeaction/
Oswego Natural Resources https://www.oswegolandparkdistrict.org/get-involved/volunteers/#1
Plainfield Public Library https://plainfieldpubliclibrary.org/about/volunteer-opportunities/
Feed My Starving Children https://www.fmsc.org/volunteer-listing/?chosen_mode=Site%20or%20Event%20Name&search_term=Aurora,%20IL&miles=25&minimum_spots=1&time=Any%20Time%20of%20Day&search_start=2019-08-19&search_end=2019-11-17
Fox Valley Park District (under 14 must have a parent) https://www.foxvalleyparkdistrict.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/VolunteerInterestForm_Fillable.pdf
Kendall County Forest Preserve https://www.co.kendall.il.us/forest-preserve/volunteer-opportunities/
Village of Montgomery https://ci.montgomery.il.us/201/Volunteer-Opportunities
Gigi’s Playhouse https://gigisplayhouse.org/foxvalley/fox-valley-volunteer-interest
Naperville Area Humane Society - must have adult https://www.naperhumane.org/volunteer
Habitat for Humanity https://www.habitat.org/volunteer/near-you/youth-programs
Oswego Senior Center http://oswegoseniorcenter.org/volunteer/day-to-day-volunteer-opportunities/
Kendall County Food Pantry https://www.kccfoodpantry.org/get-involved/
Weekly Cat Care at Aurora Petsmart/Naperville Petco https://www.volunteermatch.org/search/opp2902893.jsp
- Association for Individual Development https://www.aidcares.org/volunteer/
Student Services Spotlight
If your student is absent, please feel free to email teachers directly for missed homework. Counselors are willing to help facilitate homework collection; however, emailing teachers is often more expeditious. To find your child’s teachers, please use the staff list here: Teacher Directory.
The Maverick Way Outside of School
Murphy Junior High students are doing amazing things in the classroom as well as demonstrating “The Maverick Way” outside of school. If any student is demonstrating “The Maverick Way” outside of school we want to know about it! Please contact Brian Falli at bfalli@sd308.org or Brandi Zawacki at bzawacki@sd308.org.
*Don’t forget to include some pictures in your email.
Dance, Dance, Dance
Ryan Hyun was selected to join the company for Hollywood Vibe this season. The convention selects a handful of dancers each year at a national level so this is an amazing accomplishment. He will be joining the tour and is given an internship to work with industry professionals. He is officially on the company’s website under teens: http://www.hollywoodvibe.com/company/
Congratulations to Connor Griffin, Jameson Johansen, Dylan Koebele, Connor Konken, James Marzullo, and Jackson Miranda on winning the Bill George Super Bowl Championship in the 11U Gold football league. These boys played hard as the game went in to triple overtime.
Future Wolves Night
Upcoming Events
November 7
- 5 Hour Attendance (1:10 Dismisal)
- Parent/Teacher Conferences 4pm-8pm
November 8
- No Student Attendance
- Parent/Teacher Conferences 8am-1pm
November 9
- ILMEA Festival @ Huntley High School
November 11
- Veteran's Day
November 12
- 7th Boys' Bball @ Plank (4:30pm)
- 8th Boys' Bball v Plank (4:30pm)
- Wrestling @ Plank (4:30pm)
November 14
- 7th Boys' Bball v Traughber (4:30pm)
- 8th Boys' Bball @ Traughber (4:30pm)
- Wrestling v Traughber (4:30pm)
- Fall Play 7pm @ Cafeteria
November 15
- Fall Play 7pm @ Cafeteria
If you are looking for directions to AWAY events, this link will provide directions to many area schools.
Use the "Murphy Building Calendar" link below to see all the things going on at Murphy Junior High.
Contact Us
Mission Statement
Murphy Junior High School is an inclusive and supportive community that promotes student success by ensuring ALL students are college and career ready.
Vision Statement
Every student. Every day. Grow. Inspire. Empower.
Email: banderson@sd308.org
Website: www.sd308.org/murphy
Location: 26923 Grande Park Boulevard, Plainfield, IL, United States
Phone: (630) 608-5100
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/murphy308/
Twitter: @murphy308