ABMS Weekly News
September 16, 2022
NEW - This Week's Tireless Teacher
This week's Tireless Teacher recognition goes to Mr. Wiest!
Mr. Wiest has gone above and beyond to help out his teammates over the past few weeks when others have been out sick or gone to appointments. He has continuously checked in on substitute teachers, covered classes, and made sure the 8th grade hall has run smoothly. He has done all this while continuing to be a wonderful teacher to his own ELA classes! We appreciate Mr. Wiest's hard work and dedication! Congratulations, Mr. Wiest!
NEW - Fall Parent Teacher Conferences and What to Ask at Your Conference
ABMS will have Fall Parent Teacher conferences at the end of this month. Here are the dates and format.
Wednesday, September 28 - Scheduled In Person Conferences from 3:40 p.m. - 7:10 p.m.
Thursday, September 29 - Scheduled Zoom Conferences from 7:30 a.m. - 3:15 p.m. Teachers will have an additional time of scheduled conferences past 3:15 but teachers can vary the start times of these conferences so parents will need to check individual teacher signups.
Reminders
Each conference is 10 minutes in length
Wednesday conferences are in person and are scheduled in advance.
Thursday conferences are all zoom and are scheduled in advance.
Your ABMS student can attend with you for the conference.
Information on how to sign up for conferences will be sent to all families around September 19.
The amount of time your child(ren) spends with our staff is significant and we value the partnership with our families in our school experience. We recognize that developing our students as learners and reinforcing positive habits takes a combined effort with families and educators. To maximize the opportunity to visit with the teachers at conferences, we encourage parents/guardians to review your child’s grades in Canvas prior to attending the conference. This will allow the conference time to focus the conversation on how your child is doing with the following areas: How well does my child work with others? How would you describe the work my child produces? Is it of high quality or does it seem to be rushed and not thoughtfully done? How well does my child communicate to his/her peers and teachers? How does my child handle challenging tasks and/or failure? Does my child need extra help in any areas ? What is an area my child struggles in (academic or social/emotional)? Any suggestions on how we can help our child at home? What is a strength of my child (academic or social/emotional)?
NEW - How do I Help My Child Handle Stress and Anxiety
The school year is extremely busy and students have many tasks on their plate including school, activities, friendships and more. At times, students may need help learning how to handle busy times that may cause some stress and anxious moments. ABMS wants to help our students learn these valuable strategies and can support families in this endeavor. We do encourage families to reach out to our Student Services team and counselors if you need specific strategies or more information. Here are some general practices or tips.
Reduce Your Child's Stress and Anxiety:
Encourage your child to face his/her fears, not run away from them.
When we are afraid of situations we avoid them. However, avoidance of anxiety-provoking situations maintains the anxiety. Instead, if a child faces his or her fears, the child will learn that the anxiety reduces naturally on its own over time.
Tell your child that it is okay to be imperfect.
Often we feel that it is necessary for our children to succeed in sports, school, and performance situations. But sometimes we forget that kids need to be kids. It is important to encourage your child to work hard but equally important to accept/embrace your child's mistakes.
Focus on the positives.
Many times anxious and stressed children can get lost in negative thoughts and self-criticism. They may focus on how the glass is half-empty instead of half-full and worry about future events. The more that you are able to focus on your child's positive attributes and the good aspects of a situation, the more that it will remind your child to focus on the positives.
Schedule relaxing activities.
Children need time to relax and be kids. Unfortunately, sometimes even fun activities, like sports, can become more about success than they are about fun. Instead, it is important to ensure that your child engages in something purely for the sake of fun and is an area of passion for them.
Model approach behavior, self-care, and positive thinking
A child will do what you do. So if you avoid anxiety-provoking situations, so will your child. If you face your fears, so will your child. If you take care of yourself and schedule time for your own needs, your child will learn that self-care is an important part of life. If you look for the positive in situations, so will your child.
Encourage good sleep hygiene.
Set a bedtime (they still need it in middle school) for your child and stick to that bed time even on weekends. Also have a 30-45 minute bedtime routine that is done every night. This helps your child to transition from the activities of the day to the relaxed state necessary to fall asleep.
Help your child to problem solve.
Once you have validated your child's emotions and demonstrated that you understand your child's experience and are listening to what your child has to say, help your child to problem solve. This does not mean solving the problem for your child. It means helping your child to identify possible solutions. If your child can generate solutions, that is great. If not, generate some potential solutions and have the child choose.
- Stay calm.
Children look to their parents to determine how to react in situations. If the parent seems concerned, the child is. This is because the child is looking to their parents for a signal of how to react to the situation. Children of all ages pick up on their parent's emotions and resonate with them. If you are anxious, your child will pick up on that anxiety and experience an increase in his/her own anxiety. So when you want to reduce your child's anxiety, you must manage your own anxiety.
NEW - From Student Services
NEW - From 6th Grade
ELA:
ELA classes read a short story titled, “The Tail” this week. Students are learning about characterization and how writers use this technique to develop the characters’ personality. Students are also making inferences about the characters and how this process impacts the plot and conflict, and also how characters change and grow throughout the story.
SS:
Social studies classes participated in our Mesopotamia simulation. Groups have been busy purchasing ziggurats, warehouses, irrigation systems, city walls, and new armies. Ask your child how their group is doing in the simulation. This week students started working on their tribe tasks. They had all of class time on Friday to work on it. The tribe task is due Monday, September 19th.
Math:
Math classes will be finishing our Key Learning Experiences for Unit 1-Geometry next week. We will also set goals based on our MAP scores.
Science:
Science classes finished up our models for our solar system on Friday. Next week we will be continuing our journey through space by examining other objects in space and how they affect our universe. Students will complete a lab and start working out of their new Astronomy digital notebook.
NEW - From 7th Grade
ELA: Students are going to visit the library in order to research for an informational paper they will write. They will be researching an environmental issue as we focus on our overarching theme of “How Do Humans Impact the World?”
SS:
This week our students learned about our Earth’s many land forms and different climate regions. They performed a series of “act it outs” to demonstrate their knowledge. They also created weather reports about a climate zone.
Parents, we still need large unused pizza boxes for our project next week! Most restaurants are willing to donate these to schools.
Math:
Math classes will be taking an assessment over adding integers at the end of the week. Next week we will be exploring and assessing a similar concept, subtraction with integers.
Science:
Students spent this week learning about the characteristics of life, specifically the differences between biotic and abiotic factors in the environment. They also explored cell theory, structure, and function. This foundation will prepare them for a series of upcoming microscope labs! We ended the week wandering around the school and collecting bacteria samples! Students chose locations they felt would be “dirty” and “clean”. In a week, we will see if they were right! #battleofthebacteria
NEW - From 8th Grade
ELA:
Students will begin writing their narrative essays with a visit to the library on Monday to learn how to format and write effective dialogue that propels the action, plot, and development of characters. There will be a quiz over The Outsiders on Tuesday - Beechner Holmes; Wednesday - Knight and Wiest.
SS:
We are continuing with the Mock Constitutional Convention. Where students are simulating the writing of the Constitution. We will move into learning about the Bill of Rights and how it was necessary for the development of our new nation
Algebra:
Unit 1 Summative Test will be Wednesday Sept 21st for Willson and Cook’s classes.
Science:
Continued study on Energy and Energy Transformations.
NEW - From Elective Classes
7/8 Choir
Sopranos and Altos have our Treble Clef Choir Festival at BVSW the morning of Tuesday, September 20. Students DO NOT need to wear choir uniforms. Please wear a jersey or shirt that represents an activity that you participate in besides choir. (sports, dance, musicals, scouts, etc). If you do not have a shirt from an activity, please wear an ABMS shirt or a green shirt. Wear whatever bottoms you like. Families are welcome to attend an informal performance at 10:00am.
REVIEW - Halfway Point of Quarter 1
REVIEW - School Picture Retake Date
Aubry Bend Middle School Fall Portraits 2022
Makeup/Retake Picture day: Monday September 19, 2022
Passcode : 3585
This session is for:
• Students who were not photographed this school year.
• Retakes of any students who received unsatisfactory pictures
• Any students who want to be photographed and place an order
You may have pictures retaken. To be retaken, please return your portrait package to the photographer on Makeup/Retake day. Fill out the retake form on the back side of your picture envelope, and give it to the photographer.
REVIEW - MUSICAL Update
We are off and running on Shrek The Musical Jr! Please have your student show you the Shrek CANVAS page with lots of information. Mrs. Vail also emailed out important information for families this week.
Important things to know:
- We are asking for $40 costume rental fee to ABMS (cash or check) for each performer. If you need scholarship for this, please contact KSVail@bluevalleyk12.org - no questions asked
- Show shirts are on sale now: https://mccwebstores.com/8266/shop/home
- Tickets will go on sale on October 12
- CREW: all info is posted on the SHREK Canvas page. You can also find your crew assignment and crew calendar here: https://sites.google.com/view/abmsmusical/products-services?authuser=0
All questions - please contact Kim Vail, the director, at KSVail@bluevalleyk12.org
REVIEW - ABMS Clubs
REVIEW - Science Olympiad
If someone is a part of the musical and cannot make it to this meeting, please email Mr. Gooden at aegooden@bluevalleyk12.org or go see him before/after school in his room to get on the email list.
REVIEW - Sports Schedules for ABMS
REVIEW - PTO Conference Sign Up
REVIEW - PTO Concessions Sign Up
REVIEW - PTO Website
Be in the KNOW with ABMS PTO! Check out our UPDATED PTO website for more information about meetings, events, and PTO Board and Committees.
While you are there, you can sign up to for a PTO position. We have lots of different options available!
Remember to INVEST IN ABMS (you can use the square above).
REVIEW - PTO Social Media
Please follow ABMS PTO on:
ABMS PTO FACEBOOK PAGE - @AubryBendMSPTO
ABMS PTO INSTAGRAM PAGE. @ABMSPTO
ABMS PTO TWITTER PAGE @AbmsPto