May Newsletter
Sandwich Middle School
2016-2017 Last Day of School
Assuming emergency days will not be necessary; the last day of school for the 2016-2017 school year is May 26, 2017, 1:10 pm dismissal.
K-8 report cards will be issued on May 26th and high school report cards will be mailed the week after.
As a reminder, parents need to complete the online registration materials and fees regarding the 2017-2018 school year. Should you have questions regarding online registration, please contact the school’s office.
The first day of school for the 2017-2018 school year is August 18, 2017 – 1:10 pm dismissal.
6th Grade News
How this year has flown! Just under a month to go! Here’s what will be going on in sixth grade in this home stretch. Math will be finishing up integers and moving on to some data and statistics. Then finishing with an end-of-the- year project. AT math will be tackling the first chapter of the Pre-Algebra book. Instructional math will be working on data, graphs, and problem solving skills. Language will be continuing and finishing with the Lightning Thief. Instructional language will be doing their novel study with “Welcome Home Jellybean.” Social studies will be traveling through Mesoamerica and ending the year with a creat-a-culture project! Science is finishing up with forces of motion and ending with work and small machines. They will be creating a design of their own at the end of the year!
For those students who qualify, our second semester reward trip is on Tuesday, May 23rd. Permission slips will be coming out about 2 weeks in advance. Remember that students are responsible for meeting the assignment and behavior requirements until the day of the trip.
Congratulations to Amanda Skinner and Ewan Krisch for being chosen as students of the month for sixth grade! Keep up the great work!
7th Grade News
The end of the school year is coming soon. We are setting up for our end of the year field trip to either Shabbona Park or Enchanted Castle. Social Studies is finishing its study of the Civil War. They will be involved in creating a poster to convince people to take a side in this conflict. Next we will be entering our final chapter on the Reconstruction period. Students will identify how decisions made during this era had major impacts on our culture today.
In science, we are finishing up the Astronomy unit with designing a model in groups or partners over an aspect of space that we have learned about. The students will also do a presentation using their model to "teach" their aspect of space using the model. Then, we will be moving into the electronics unit. We will be learning about series and parallel circuits, resistance, and how to use a multimeter.
In math classes, we are just finishing up our second unit on geometry. During this unit, the students learned how to find the perimeter and area of squares, rectangles, parallelograms, triangles, trapezoid, and composite figures. They also learned how to find the circumference and area of circles. During the month of May, we will working on our last unit of the year, which is our third unit on geometry. During this unit, the students will learn how to find the surface area and volume of three-dimensional figures, including prisms, cylinders, pyramids, cones, and spheres. We will follow up this unit with a geometry collage project that will wrap up the year for us. It has been a great year with these students!
In Pre-Algebra, we are finishing up our final chapter on geometry. During this chapter, the students learned how to find the perimeter and area of squares, rectangles, parallelograms, triangles, and trapezoids. We also learned how to find the surface area and volume of prisms, pyramids, cones, cylinders, and spheres. We will follow this chapter up with a geometry collage project as well. After this chapter, we will start our last chapter of the year over sequences and functions. The students will learn about arithmetic, geometric, and other sequences. They will also learn about linear, exponential, and quadratic functions and inverse variation. This chapter will wrap it up for pre-algebra this year. It has been a wonderful year with these students!
The end is in sight, but language arts is still going strong! There is a lot to accomplish before we close the book on the 2016-2017 school year. Seventh grade will completing a novel unit before the end of the year. The last novel will be either And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie or The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. This is a very interactive novel that students will be reading and responding to individually and with a partner. They will be completing characterization charts or keeping a response booklet. It will be very important that they keep up with the work and not get behind. Please encourage your student to come prepared to do his or her best work possible.
Students of the month are Jacy Hernandez and Destiny Ortega.
8th Grade News
This is our last newsletter article for the school year. We would like to extend our thanks to the parents of our students for making this a successful year for our students. The 8th grade Promotion Ceremony has been scheduled for Tuesday, May 23, 2017, at Sandwich High School. The ceremony will begin at 7:00p.m. Additional information about the Promotion Night Ceremony will be sent home with your child in May.
In math, students are covering Pythagorean Theorem and its application with right triangles. Preparation for high school is in full swing so that our students have the skill set necessary to be successful in their high school math classes.
Our science classes are working on a physics unit. Our physics test will be on May 12th. We will be ending the year with a water rocket activity so please make sure your child brings in a two liter bottle soon by May 13th.
In language arts, we are finishing our poetry unit, independent novel unit, and will soon be reading the final novel of the year, The Cheat, by Amy Goldman Kloss. We’ll be ending the school year with our autobiography project.
Our American history classes are starting the Constitution Unit. We would like to remind parents that all 8th grade students are required by the Illinois State Board of Education to pass a test over the U.S. and Illinois Constitutions before moving on to the high school. All students received a workbook with all of the major testing dates for this unit. Please arrange your child’s schedule so that they will not miss their history classes during this time. This year’s Constitution testing dates are:
Thursday, April 27th: Quiz #1
Friday, May 5th: Quiz #2
Friday, May 12th: Quiz #3
Wednesday, May 17th: FINAL - Federal & State Constitutions
Our Students of the Month are Jaisie Devlet and Caleb Gomes. They are dedicated students who really shine. Their hard work, positive attitudes, and willingness to succeed are commendable.
News From The LRC
SMS SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR
Monday May 8th – Friday, May 12th
7:30-3:30 daily in the LRC
Shop online @ www.scholastic.com/bf/sandwichmiddleschool
The online shopping window is April29th – May 16th
Please visit the book fair. It is a chance to stock up on great reads for the summer and support the LRC’s book collection!
The end of the school year is right around the corner. Be sure to take advantage of the public libraries this summer. Free air-conditioning, a quiet atmosphere, possibly some summer programs that cover all of your ages and most importantly-BOOKS! Here are the websites for the three libraries in our area so you can check them out:
sandwichpld.org plano.lib.il.us somonauklibrary.org
Have a great summer and be sure to READ!
Explore News
Speech and Drama: One has finished its work on characterization and plot diagrams using Arsenic & Old Lace and has moved on to applying plot diagram knowledge to other plays and presenting monologues. Speech and Drama II completed Wait Until Dark and will be finishing the school year by presenting dialogues and acting scenes. Congratulations to Lucia Towne and Jamie Novak for being the Students of the Quarter for Speech and Drama! They both have shown exceptional talent by reading large parts in the in-class plays as well as working on scenes and monologues early in order to perform at the Fine Arts Festival the night of the last band and choir concert. Thank you for being such a great help to me and the class.
STEM:
During the last few month of the quarter, 6th grade students will use the engineering design process as they design, build and test a therapeutic toy for children. 7th grade students will apply what they’ve learned about design, technical drawing, and computer modeling as they complete their final project of the quarter, the Puzzle Cube Design. Finally, 8th grade students will learn to program robots using RobotC and will soon be designing, programming and testing the robots they build.
STEM Student of the Month
Thank you to Zach Bonneau for the excellent work you’ve done in Design & Modeling during the past month!
ART:
Students continue to work on various projects in Art Class and are doing some pretty amazing things. 6th graders have been working on their drawing skills, learning about shading and color theory, and started their first paintings. 7th grade is doing a variety of drawings and paintings, working in pencil, ink, and paint. 8th graders continue to express themselves creatively with more independent work and projects of their choice. I have had a great three years with 8th graders and wish them luck as they go to the high school.
Student of the Month for Art is 7th grader Yuki Chen.
We are all excited to show off our talents at the upcoming Fine Arts Fair on May 4th at 5:30 before the Band and Choir Concert.
Yuki Chen
Yuki Chen
Yuki Chen
SMS Students of the Month
6th Grade
7th Grade
8th Grade
Autism Awareness Walk
To celebrate Autism Awareness month students from the Sandwich
School District #430 held their 2nd annual Autism walk. Students from
Sandwich Middle School in Mrs. Turus’ room organized the event by
selling shirts throughout the district for their service project. Students
raised almost $1200 dollars in pledge money for the walk and sold 98
shirts. Zach Williams a 6th grader at Sandwich Middle School had the
most donation for the cause. He raised $500 dollars in donations. All
donations are being given to the non-profit organization Autism Speaks.
Thank you to all those that helped to make this event successful.
Sandwich Middle School Travels to Springfield
Last month 94 of the sixth and seventh graders from Sandwich Middle School had an opportunity to travel to Springfield, Illinois, our state capitol and the home of our 16th president. The Abraham Lincoln tour included a visit to the Old Illinois State Capital, the Current State Capital, the World War II, Korea, and Vietnam memorials, Lincoln’s Springfield home, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, and Abe Lincoln’s tomb, where everyone had a chance to rub Lincoln’s nose for good luck. Sandwich Middle School students have been enjoying this trip for over 15 consecutive years. A fun time was had by all!
Registration Information
Nurse Notes
8th grade students entering Sandwich High School next year:
A school physical and proof of up-to-date immunizations are required to be on file on or before the first day of school. This summer, a locked mailbox will be available at the high school to turn in all your health requirements as soon as you have completed them. No need to hang on to them all summer long! The locked mailbox will be located at the main entrance of the high school and the school nurse will check it weekly. Any student that does not meet this requirement on the first day of school will be subject to exclusion until it is met. Please contact Kim Gonzalez, school nurse, at 815-786-2157 or kgonzalez@kidsroe.org, if you have any questions or require further information.
Participation in Sports at SHS
In order to participate in any sport at the high school, each athlete must provide proof of a school physical or a sports physical to the office, not the coach. (Please note: a school physical WILL cover a student to participate in a sport/camp, but a sports physical will NOT cover entry into the 9th grade). Once all necessary paperwork has been turned in to the office (physical, concussion form, insurance waiver, IHSA drug form, & fees paid), an athlete may participate. Absolutely no forms will be accepted.
Attention all 6th grade parents:
May 15th is the deadline for turning in a dental exam for your student. If an exam is not submitted on or before this deadline, the final report card will be held. Please contact Kim Gonzalez, school nurse, at 815-786-2138 or kgonzalez@kidsroe.org should you have any questions or require further information.
Sports Physical Clinic
Once again this year, SMS will be offering sports physicals for all current 6th & 7th grade students. The clinic will take place during school hours on Friday, May 19th. Parents do not need to be present. The cost is $35, cash or check only, for each physical and payment must be received on or before the student’s appointment time. The exam will cover your student for the entire 2017-2018 school year and all sports he/she may participate in. Without an updated sports physical, students will not be able to participate in sports at Sandwich High School.
If you would like your student to participate in the clinic, please sign and return the permission form no later than Friday, May 12th. Once a permission form has been received, an appointment time will be assigned for your student.
Our goal is to assist parents and students in conveniently obtaining a sports physical by eliminating the need to make an outside appointment and/or take time off of work. Please contact Kim Gonzalez, school nurse, at (815) 786-2157 or at kgonzalez@kidsroe.org, should you have any questions or need more information.