Maple Avenue Middle School
March 2019 Newsletter
Student of the Month: 6th Grader, Tanner Rock
The 6th grade team is proud to present Tanner Rock as the March student of the month. Tanner is the son of Adam and Kathryn Rock. He has a brother Tyler who is a junior, a sister Makayla who is a freshman, a sister Madelyn who is in 8th grade, a sister Melanie who is in 5th grade, a sister Megan who is in 3rd grade, a sister Maya who is in 1st grade, and a brother Thomas who is in preschool.
This school year Tanner has been on gold honor roll both semesters. The subjects he most enjoys are science and phys ed. As a student he is kind to his peers, a hard worker, collaborates well within group settings, and always strives to do his best. He can always be counted on to help and support others.
Tanner’s school activities include 6th grade band and honor band. This is his third year playing the tuba. Outside of school he likes to play baseball. The positions he plays are first base and pitcher. When he has free time, he collects and builds Legos, and the Star Wars Lego sets are his favorite. In the future he would like to be either an aerospace or mechanical engineer.
Safe to Say Something
As a school system, we are committed to creating and sustaining a comprehensive, coordinated effort to improve the overall safety and well-being of our students, educators and administrators.
To do this, we believe this must involve community-wide programs and initiatives involving parents, teachers, administrators, local law enforcement, mental health & wellness professionals and elected officials to take meaningful action to protect our students.
We are happy announce the launch of the “Safe2Say Something” (S2SS) anonymous reporting system. This program, which is mandated under PA state law/Act 44, teaches students, teachers, and administrators how to recognize warning signs and signals, especially within social media, of individuals who may be a threat to themselves or others and Say Something to a trusted adult OR use its anonymous reporting system. Specifically, the program educates participants to:
Recognize the signs and signals of at-risk behaviors – especially within social media
Take every sign and signal seriously; act quickly to get help by talking to a trusted adult OR
Report it anonymously through the S2SS Office of the Attorney General 24/7 Crisis Center, mobile app, or website
Respond to and manage the submitted tip via a school-based multi-disciplinary educator and administrator teams
Sustain the curriculum and awareness via student clubs, in-school activities and call-to-action weeks
Our students often are aware of the problems their peers are facing, so we must empower them to know the danger signs and give them the tools to help each other with the assistance of trained and caring adults. As you know, most conversations are taking place on social media, therefore it is critical that we teach our students to be looking out for one another as these digital conversations are taking place. S2SS teaches them what to look for in text, video and photos while empowering them to act quickly to help a fellow student.
The S2SS program is being provided through Sandy Hook Promise (SHP), a nation-wide non-profit organization. SHP’s programs are in 50 states – with 10,000+ schools and over 5.5 million students
and adults trained. They have a track record, reputation, and knowledge of how to work effectively with kids, parents, and teachers to improve school safety and culture. The program is age-appropriate and research-based. They also have funding to provide and sustain the program at NO COST to our school (and all schools statewide).
We anticipate that S2SS will help stop school shootings, suicides, and gun threats; it will help reduce bullying and cyberbullying; help intervene upon cutting, drug use, racial conflicts, and other violent and victimization acts.
Partnering with Parents
If you have not already, please be sure to sign up for a parent account for our Student Information System, called Sapphire. Follow this link to sign up: https://www.lasd.k12.pa.us/parents/sapphire-parent-portal
Sapphire will allow you access to your student's current grades and report cards, attendance record, and discipline infractions. Emergency contact information is updated here as well.
Additionally, your students are each enrolled in Schoology courses. You may gain access via a join code. (Ask your student or his/her teacher) Class work and resources are all housed there.
Please call the school if you have any questions or difficulty signing up for these tools!
SNOW MAKE UP DAYS: CHANGE TO CALENDAR
To date, we have used 4 snow days. Thus, school will be in session for the following 4 days:
March 20
March 21
March 22 (This was originally a Spring Break day)
April 17
If we have a 5th snow day, April 18 will be used as the make up day.
Mary Poppins
MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) Assessment: Mid-Year Goal Setting
In the first few weeks of school, your student took tests called Measures of Academic Progress® (MAP®). Again, the students took the MAP in the middle of the year. We give students MAP tests to determine your child’s instructional level and to measure academic growth throughout the school year, and from year to year in the areas of Reading and Math.
MAP tests are unique in that they adapt to be appropriate for your student’s level of learning. As a result, each student has the same opportunity to succeed and maintain a positive attitude toward testing. And with MAP tests, we can administer shorter tests and use less class time while still receiving detailed, accurate information about your child’s growth.
We are truly excited to begin a new era that focuses on every child’s individual growth and achievement. Partnering to help all kids learn, parents and teachers can have a profound positive effect on the lives of our children. Within the next few weeks, be on the look out for your student's score report and goal-setting sheet. We are asking that parents partner with us to support your child in reaching his/her academic and learning goals!...Stay tuned!
MAMS @ The K'Nex Challenge
ASPCA Donation Update
Success for the SPCA
A competition between homerooms brought close to 1,000 items for the Adams County SPCA. This fundraiser was designed and operated by three eighth graders: Makenzie Hafer, Elyse Wroten and Jenna Young. These girls worked with Ms. Enoff to advertise, collect items and organize things for the fundraiser.The top class for each grade was: Ms. Collins for sixth grade, Ms. Enoff for seventh grade and a tie of Mr. Popoff and Mr. Myers for eighth grade.
Help find Tina a home!
Tina is currently at the ASPCA looking for her forever home. She is about eight years old, but is young at heart! She is fixed and is current on all her vaccination. She does have arthritis, but it does not hold her back from being a loving dog! If you would like to meet Tina and to possibly adopt her please contact the ASPCA!
6th Grade: Team Bolts
Core 1-
Mrs. Koontz and Mrs. Raubenstine’s Core 1 Math classes are currently working through Unit 3: Expressions & Equations. We have been exploring variables, writing and evaluating expressions, and have integrated the distributive property. We will be extending our thinking to equations and inequalities. Students will be solving one- step equations, writing equations from word problems and applying this knowledge to inequalities. Solutions to inequalities will be written out as well as graphed on a number line. It is important students are showing their work when simplifying expressions and solving equations in order to see the steps they are taking to problem solve. This also helps students with accuracy and less mistakes will be made.
Also, a reminder that math homework is assigned weekly along with Edgenuity. It is important that students are continuing to complete their homework as well as check their answers every Friday. Homework should be organized within their binders and homework can always be used as a study tool. Remember--homework can always be turned in for late credit!
Core 2-
Mrs. Koontz’s Core 2 math class is quickly approaching the conclusion of Unit 3: Proportional Relationships and Percents which focused on scale factor, distance, rate, and time, rates and proportions, graphing equations, and percents. Students are currently determining the percent increase and decrease as well as calculating tip, discount, and interest. It is important students are showing their work when problem solving in order to see the steps they are taking to problem solve. This also helps them with accuracy and less mistakes will be made. Also, a reminder that math homework is due twice a week, and they also have Edgenuity weekly. It is important that students are continuing to complete their homework as well as check their answers every Wednesday and Friday. Homework should be organized within their binders and homework can always be used as a study tool. Remember--homework can always be turned in for late credit!
ELA-
Miss Collins-
We are currently working on our Civil Rights unit. We are reading different types of texts about inspirational people such as Ruby Bridges. Throughout this unit we are improving our ability to identify theme, cite evidence to support our analysis, and to compare and contrast texts from one another. We are also reviewing our poetry skills from the second marking period in this unit. The students seem to be enjoying the connection to our geography class where we are currently studying Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. In addition, students should be completing thirty minutes of Edgenuity a week for ELA. Similar to math, Edgenuity is due every Saturday by midnight. Students are encouraged to complete it during their ACE time.
Mr. Baumgardner’s ELA has just started reading the novel Wonder. While reading, we are focusing on trying to become better readers by trying to think while we read. We are looking for signposts that the author put in the book. If you are “wonder”ing what they are, ask your child. They should be able to name all four signposts that we are looking for. We are having daily discussions about these signposts with our classmates.
In Social Studies we are exploring North Africa and Southwest Asia. Religion, desalination, and refugees are just a few of the topics that we are covering while in this region of the world. The next region will be just south of North Africa in Sub-Sahara Africa.
Ms. Willet’s ELA/SS classes are finishing our Civil Rights poetry and theme unit and are beginning to read the novel Peak, by Roland Smith. The setting of the novel ties in with our geography unit on South Asia. Students are exploring the geography of this region and how it influences life there. We will be digging deeper into Nepal, the Himalayas, and specifically Mount Everest, as the unit progresses, as well as honing our literature skills. Students will be assigned reading and fiction activities everyday, most of which can be completed during class time. In addition, students should be completing thirty minutes of Edgenuity a week for ELA (beginning the week of 2/11).
Science-
In Science, all classes will be exploring living things, how living things are classified, and cells. Students will be learning about plant and animal cells as we explore the concept of all living things being made up of cells. As part of the unit, students will be creating a book, either digital or paper to demonstrate what they have learned. This book will be a great tool to take to 7th grade and continue building upon it. Students should be accessing schoology for assignments and using their online text to study at home. LearnSmart is a great tool to use to study the concepts taught in each chapter.
7th Grade: Team Aviators
Aviator Team Announcement: Please advise students to wear appropriate winter weather outfits. We would like to take students outside during our free ACE Friday rewards if the temperature allows us to. Please make sure students are coming to school with winter jackets, gloves, hats, etc.
ELA
This month we will be reading Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Students will have specific MAP focus assignments in the literature, informational, and vocabulary categories. Students will be working on one specific category to improve their skills. Students will be given assignments and checklists weekly. Independent novel projects are due March 11. Project choice sheets and rubrics are on Schoology. Students will have Edgenuity in language arts for 30 minutes per week.
SCIENCE
What does IPMATC stand for? Ask your student when they get home, and see if they can tell you what it means and what they are learning in class. Create a dialogue that goes beyond the “How was your day?” Students should be focusing on vocabulary at home so that we can “talk science” in class and apply our concepts more easily in the classroom. Next up - Genetics!
MATH
In math class students are learning how to solve proportions and proportional relationships using a variety of methods. They will apply these strategies to help them solve percent increase and decrease. Students will make real-life connections as we look at various proportional relationships like tax, mark-ups, discounts, and simple interest. Students will continue to work on their Edgenuity learning paths to help them with any weaknesses they may have or extend their learning beyond the concepts we learn in seventh grade.
In social studies we are diving into Julius Caesar and decking whether or not he was a dictator or leader. We are using a book to find evidence to then support our Text Dependent Writing.
7th & 8th Grades: Team Lightning
SCIENCE Mr. Decker and Ms. Enoff
7th Grade Science:
7th graders have finished evolution and now we are moving into the classification of organisms. Students will study the system used to classify living things, as well as learn how to develop their own classification system. The use of dichotomous keys will be a focus of the classification, which will link back to evolutionary relationships. Once we have completed the classification section students will be studying bacteria, viruses, fungi, and Protista.
8th Grade Science:
8th graders have been applying Newton’s laws of motion and simple physics concepts to develop balloon powered cars to enter into the Flour Engineering competition. This requires the students to use a limited list of materials to build a craft that can carry as many pennies as possible across a 30 in course. When these tests have finished students will be studying gravity, centripetal force, and momentum.
MATHEMATICS Ms. Enoff and Mr. Heller
7th Grade Math:
All classes are quickly approaching the testing window for the PSSA. Along with continuing to work through the regular book lessons, all students are assigned a weekly “mathgame” to help them prepare for the PSSA. They should be completing this during any extra class time or at home. It is turned in each Friday and graded. This allows me to discover strengths and weaknesses overall. Please encourage students to complete all problems to the best of their ability.
Core 3 Math:
Students are just finishing up Chapter 7 where they learned the multiple ways to represent slope of a line. At this time the slope intercept equation (y=mx+b) should be very familiar with them. Next we will be working through the process of simplifying exponential expressions. It is important that as the work becomes more abstract and increases in difficulty that students are making sense of problems and persevere in solving them (which is a mathematical practice we have been focusing on). In the upcoming unit we will be utilizing an Augmented Reality technology to enhance students learning, known as HP Reveal (Formally Known as Aurasma). Students will also be receiving a consent form to participate in a graduate research study of mine. In this study we will be examining how AR can enhance deeper learning and increase student engagement in the math classroom. Participation in this study is optional, and the consent form your child brings home will explain this project in more detail.
Algebra
Students have been doing a great job working with radical (square root) expressions and absolute value equations. We are transitioning to the last unit which include graphing, solving, and evaluating inequalities. This chapter will be very similar to our systems of equations chapter. Following this section we will spend time before the Keystones to review all of the topics we have covered throughout the year. Students will continue to complete GoFormative activities to help prepare for the Keystones in May.
ENGLISH: Mr. Peglow and Mrs. Trout
7th Grade:
PEGLOW’S Class: In the month of March seventh graders will finish Black Ships & begin The Giver (the Utopian/Dystopian unit) and our discussions of the “-isms” like individualism, nationalism, symbolism, and extremism and how all of these ideals impact our views of what is right and what is wrong in society. Students continue to apply reading and writing strategies in preparation for the PSSA that arrives in April as well as reading their independent novel. Be sure to check in with your child nightly to learn what topics we are discussing in class and what is happening in his or her novel.
Mrs. Trout’s class: This month we are reading Black Ships Before Troy, the story of the Trojan war. We will review story elements, identify and interpret figurative language and word choice and continue using NoRedInk for grammar and writing support. We are evaluating our Text Dependent Analysis writing and learning ways to extend our thinking.
8th Grade:
In the month of March eighth graders will finish up The Giver and begin focusing on persuasion and how to support opinions with facts and evidence. Students continue to apply reading and writing strategies in preparation for the PSSA that arrives in April as well as reading their independent novel. Be sure to check in with your child nightly to learn what topics we are discussing in class and what is happening in his or her novel.
SOCIAL STUDIES Mr. Popoff and Mrs. Trout
7th Grade Ancient Civilizations
Following our study of Ancient Rome and Christianity, students in seventh grade will focus on another major world religion, Islam. Throughout the year students scrutinized many major world religions; those religions included Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity. While Islam is similar to other religions, there are also some vast differences. Upon our completion of examining the religion of Islam, students will begin a study of the Middle Ages.
8th Grade U.S. History
As the third quarter draws near an end, students in eighth grade will see the United States disintegrate before their very eyes. During the last few weeks of the third quarter students will focus on the primary causes of the American Civil War; some of the causes include: Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the election of our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. As we progress into the fourth quarter, students will begin to examine perhaps the worst time period in American history, the Civil War.
8th Grade: Team Sky Pilots
Students will have an opportunity to participate in the RunRichRun fundraiser. Each year Rich Eisen runs the 40 at the Combine in his suit to help raise funds for St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Students will be asked to run the 40 and post their video to social media using #RunRichRun and #StJude. The NFL will donate $1 for each video. Time for students to record their runs will be provided by teachers and during PE. Students may record at home or outside of school. Students will be encouraged to get individual sponsors. Anyone may participate See Terms and Conditions. You may donate directly to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Follow #MAMSLearning for MAMS staff 40’s. Videos should be posted March 1 thru March 4 in Twitter.
Science
Science classes have been working through Chemistry and wrapping it up with bonding. Students will then investigate Earth Science, Ecology, and Biology. Please help your student stay caught up in their assignments as we move through this unit. Everything we do can be accessed through schoology.
Math
Geometry students will complete Chapter 7 assessment on “Proofs”and begin Chapter 8. “Polygons and circles”.
Core Connections 3 students are gearing up for content for the upcoming Math PSSA. Students will complete Chapter 8 “ Exponents and Functions” and Chapter 9 “Angles and Polygons”
Reminders: Students are required to complete assigned PSSA remediation assignments. We’ll begin PSSA math review a week prior to the Math PSSAs
Additional Information: All math students be using using Augmented Reality applications to increase engagement and learn geometric concepts such as Surface Area and Volume of 3 dimensional prisms. (HP Reveal) AR is an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real-world are "augmented" by computer-generated perceptual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities.
Social Studies
Social Studies classes will examine the different economies of the North and South and discusses failed compromises that led to the American Civil War. They will also write slave diaries and convert them into Movie trailers. They will soon be preparing for the annual Gettysburg field trip.
ELA
Students are finalizing their inventions and preparing to market their work for our Shark Tank production in early March. Students will use their blog reflections to write a final informative paper. They have been working hard this marking period researching creations, materials, and existing practice as part of their nonfiction and entrepreneurship unit. Student work will be displayed for the public at the end of the month.
School Counselor's Corner
Think about your time in middle school to relate to your student
Do you remember being 13 and going through difficult times? You might have felt clumsy, nervous, misunderstood or unpopular. It’s important that you talk about those experiences with your child.
Many college professors ask students who are studying to become teachers to write about how they felt as middle school students. Why bring up these old feelings? Reliving them actually helps soon-to-be teachers see into the hearts and minds of the students they will be teaching. They agree that this helps them find common ground with middle schoolers.
This same strategy can work for parents, too. It’s likely you will be more understanding if you can remember having had experiences similar to your child’s. So the next time your child seems upset, share a story from your middle school years. Your child may be more willing to open up if she thinks you can relate to what she is saying.
Open communication plays a critical role in school safety
Schools today take extra steps to keep students safe. But they can’t do it alone—they need parents’ help. One of the most effective ways you can contribute to a safe school environment is to talk with your child every day about what’s going on in her life and at school.
Have an open discussion about:
The school discipline policy. Talk about the reasons for certain rules. Review the consequences for breaking the rules.
The school’s safety and security procedures. If you don’t know what they are, find out!
Personal safety issues, such as ways to keep safe when traveling to and from school.
Your own family values, rules and expectations for your child.
The impact of violence in the media—TV, books, video games, music and movies.
Strategies for solving problems peacefully and diffusing tense situations.
Concerns about friends or classmates who may be dangerous to themselves or others.
Social media and the need to use it responsibly.
The importance of telling a trusted adult if your child sees something that doesn’t seem right.
And remember: If you hear something that concerns you, inform the school immediately. Schools are safest when parents, students and educators work together.
Reprinted with permission from the March 2019 issue of Parents Still make the difference!® (Middle School Edition) newsletter. Copyright © 2019 The Parent Institute®, a division of PaperClip Media, Inc.
News from the Nurse
Reminders from the nurse’s office:
If your 6th grader has not had a physical yet please schedule their appointment and have the form returned to school. Per the Pennsylvania school health law 6th graders are to have a physical. Also please make sure that you get their vaccinations updated while they are at their visit and send a copy along in with their completed physical form. If you have visited the dentist with your 6th grader please have the dentist fill out the dent al form and return it to school.
All 7th graders are required by Pennsylvania school health law to have a dental exam for seventh grade. If you have not already done so please return completed dental form as soon as possible.
The best way to prevent the spread of colds and flu is to wash your hands (or use hand sanitizer) frequently when in contact with others.
If your student is running a fever, has diarrhea or vomiting please do not send them to school. It is recommended that the student be fever free, no diarrhea and not vomiting for 24 hours before returning to school.
Spring begins on March 20th.
PSSA: Coming in April
ELA the week of April 15
Math the week of April 29
Science the week of April 29
*Please note that family trip requests will not be approved during the testing window.