Jefferson Middle School Newsletter
March 2021
Hello Jefferson Families -
When this newsletter reaches you on March 1st, your student should be working hard to successfully complete third quarter on March 19th. Please continue to work with your student to ensure that he/she has completed all of his/her assignments for third quarter, as third quarter is a tough one for students because curriculum review for the year is completed, and new concepts are introduced and worked with in every class. On Monday, March 22nd, your student will begin fourth quarter. While this year has been topsy turvy in many ways, I predict that fourth quarter will speed by just as it does every year. Your student will need your support even more during this last quarter of the year in order to have a successful completion of the school year. Please ask your student to show you his/her work; please reach out to your student’s teachers whenever you have questions or concerns; and please know that we look forward to continuing to support your child through the remainder of this school year.
The month of March should bring us more sunshine and the gift of spring, but as I write these words we are experiencing more snow and sub-zero weather than we have had all year. I am going to remain hopeful to see improvements in the weather department for all of us. Spring ushers in the opportunity to offer more sports’ camps this year, so you will see information coming about football, girls’ soccer, boys’ volleyball and boys’ and girls’ track and field. Although sports are non-competition events this year, due to COVID, these camps are still great ways to get your student involved in school. Both in-person and virtual students can participate in the sports camps as long as they have a current physical on file in the health office. No fees will be assessed this year for the camps.
Along with more athletics, we will also be working with our students to produce a virtual musical this year. Students are already working with Miss Tyler and Mrs. Johnson to try out for parts, so if your student is interested in participating please have him/her Schoology message either teacher immediately for information. Each student will record his/her own part for the musical, using his/her Chromebook, so both in-person and virtual students can participate. We are excited to be able to offer this opportunity to students and hope that many will take advantage of it and become involved in the performing arts.
As the days grow longer, and the sun shines a little brighter each day, it is my fervent wish for each of our Jefferson families that we can continue to work together as a community to aid those around us most affected by the pandemic. We have found that our students are reticent to speak up at times because over the past ten months they have felt very isolated and disconnected from school. Our goal is to continue to work with them and regain all of the
accomplishments that they had already achieved with dialogue and challenge in the classroom prior to March 2020. Jefferson students have proven time and again that they can persevere through tough times, but none of us has experienced a crisis, like the one that currently exists, so my wish is that we can all continue to support one another in order to make our Jefferson students as successful as possible by the time May 27, 2021 rolls around.
Sincerely,
Shawn M. Munos
Principal, Jefferson Middle School
Rowena Raymundo
Hello Jefferson Families! My name is Rowena Raymundo and I am the new Special Education Language Arts teacher with Mrs. Messick. Prior to coming to Jefferson, I served as a Transition Teacher at Blackhawk Academy and as a Middle School Teacher in an Autism Classroom at CORE Academy. I also served as a substitute teacher for West Aurora School District and East Aurora School district for K-12 for many years. Teaching is a second career for me. I left my corporate job to raise my children and began substituting. When my youngest started college, I went back to school to earn a Master’s Degree in Special Education to become a teacher! Being able to come back to teach at District 129 has always been a dream of mine and I am delighted to be teaching here at Jefferson. Being Filipino, I am excited to connect with the diverse student population that Jefferson has. In my spare time, I love to cook, sew, craft and make scrapbooks. I also love taking care of reptiles and small animals and have had over 45 of them living at my house at one time, I also have 2 cats and two large sulcata tortoises. I have been married for 28 years and have 3 children, now ages 27, 25 and 23 all who are West Aurora graduates.
Teaching and Learning
Hello Jefferson Families,
I hope this newsletter finds you staying warm! It has been a chilly and snowy couple of months. 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
No School- 3/29 -4/2 (Spring Break)
Virtual PTA Meeting 3/24 at 7pm.
Several Helpful Links:
Middle School Blended Calendar for 3rd Quarter
Middle School Blended Calendar for 4th Quarter
Middle School A/B Blended Learning Schedule for Quarters 2,3 and 4.
Jefferson activity and club offerings for the 2020-21 school year.
Last month we celebrated the following students as the December Students of the Month. Please click the link to view their accomplishments!
January Students of the Month SlideShow
6th Grade ELA “Evidence Collectors”
6th grade students in Mrs. Davies, Mrs. Buck, and Mr. Wolter’s class using their detective skills to collect and analyze evidence, as part of their work in understanding how to write argumentative essays.
2nd Quarter High Honor Roll Achievement:
6th Grade:
Kiley Anderson, Dominic Arroyo, Richard Bell Jr., Dyanara Bustamante, Franco Castaneda, Brianna Favela, Aidan Gaskill, Andrew Ionutas, Jelissa Jackson, Nevaeh Keys, Chelsea Mendez, Sophia Miklosik, Owen Patino, Allayna Schroeder, Luis Sotuyo Reyes, Navaeh Tittle, Angelique Urbina, Arely Vizcarra ,Eleanor Mcmaken
7th Grade:
Casey Barajas, Sofia Carrillo, Javier Castaneda, Matei Chinde, Daniel Damian-Rodriguez, Isaias Juarez, Alexander Lopez, James Molitor, Aron Musonda, Zoey Peek, Samone Tucker, Suleyka Umana, Adian Concha, Yareli Garcia, Camren Hackerson, Abyell Uriostegui
8th Grade:
Zoe Gonzalez, Guadalupe Gonzalez-Mancha, Sumitra Gurung, Alejandro Hernandez, Dulce Hernandez Suarez, Jack Myers, Daniel Olson, Ashley Reyes-Hernandez, Carlos Romero-August, Kevin Soto-Gutierrez, Regina Sotuyo Reyes, Shanya Sutton-Bell, Alexandra Valladares-Gomez, Jessica Chavez, Emily Hernandez, Zackia Hughes, Avery Littlejohn
2nd Quarter Honor Roll Achievement:
6th Grade:
Wylbert Alvarez, Alixander Anaya , Nicole Augustine, Ashley Ayala Mendoza, Jenna Campos, Cielo Carrillo, Benjamin Elle, Jmoni Fleming-Plane, Amy Flores, Jimena Garcia, Rafael Gonzalez-Mancha, Mariah Langford, Analis Lares, Kiran Martinez, Evan Morataya, Dezire Nelson, Joel Orrala, Elijah Pacheco, Bryce Riley, Michael Rivera, Denise Rojas, Jaime Ruiz, Abigail Schmidt, Aniyah Stewart, Yurem Tavizon, Yandel Vega, Nathan Vitro, Ashley Zaragoza, Yazmine Castellanos, Lay Htoo, Justin Martinez
7th Grade:
Nathan Flores, Rafael Fuentes, Luis Garcia, Charlotte Hudson, Jeremiah Juarez, William Kelly, Sebastian Kline, Tabitha Kline, Bushra Marie, Valeria Morales Rivera, Jake Myers, Marier Nolasco Benitez, Angela Olivo, Victor Rivera, Amanda Rodriguez, Ashly Romero, Damian Ruiz, Adrian Sanchez-Castellanos, Alexander Soto, Leah Sparks, Efezino Uz-Ikelegbe, Jessica Zavala, Brandon Mancilla.
8th Grade:
Omareli Bucio, Gabriel Chaidez, Sofia Chavez, Jesus Chavez-Gallardo, Carolina Cisneros, Miguel Coronado, Zariah Cuevas, Samantha Gonzalez, Erika Hernandez, Eh Hser, Ju Htoo, Milana Khurshidova, Sofia Lara-Gutierrez, Irvin Lopez, Jireh Marcelo, Dominic May, Fatima Mogollon-Gallegos, Jared Monzon, Genesis Nolasco Benitez, Karisma Ontiveros, Juan Pacheco De La Cruz, Ruben Perez, Jazlyn Rivera, Rodolfo Rosales-Lumbreras, Andrea Sanchez, Joseandres Serrano, Sequoia Shepard, Thien Shwe, Kelly Suchil, Auriah Sylvester, Samiyah White, Saeed Alfaro, Giselle Robledo.
Football Camp-
Open to all 6th, 7th, and 8th graders
March 1st - March 25th
3:45 - 5:15PM
Free
Must have current physical on file and be registered on 8 to 18
Athletes will attend on their A/B in person day. If you are a virtual athlete, you will be assigned an A/B group based on numbers.
Football camp will consist of conditioning, player positioning, learning plays, skills/drills, and flag football (in-house).
No spectators. Camp will take place both inside and outside (if available).
3rd Quarter and lots of snow is keeping us indoors at this current time. In-person activities include the fitness room, badminton, jump rope, and sport stacking! Asynchronous days are still continuing with PLT4M lessons. This quarter we are focusing on YOGA!
The 9 benefits of YOGA by John Hopkins Medicine are:
increased flexibility.
increased muscle strength and tone.
improved respiration, energy and vitality.
maintaining a balanced metabolism.
weight reduction.
cardio and circulatory health.
improved athletic performance.
protection from injury.
Students are asked to complete 1 Lesson per week which takes roughly 23 - 28 minute
6th Grade and 7th Grade Newsletter Write Up for ELL -ELA - March 2020
It has been a very busy several weeks for our 6th and 7th graders. Our 6th graders have written their personal narratives and shared their stories with their classmates. As their teachers, it gave us the opportunity to see our students in a whole different light - and as we learned, many of them have a knack for writing comedy! Then we moved on to Author’s Purpose and the students learned about the many reasons why authors write and connected them to everyday life, from the fiction and nonfiction books we read, print and television advertisements, music, movies and social media. Currently, students are learning more about Claim, Evidence and Reasoning. 7th grade students on the other hand, have been working on Argumentative Writing and the different components of argumentative writing. They are reviewing texts and stating their claim, applying evidence and reasoning using texts on debates. The students did a slogan writing activity to tie in with our lesson on persuasive writing.
The math department continues to make their way through the year while engaging students in as many fun and exciting experiences as possible. Some highlights from this month include:
The 8th grade pre-algebra are learning about how to transform figures on a graph. They just explored reflections. Some classes used hamburger patty paper to transform images on a graph. The paper is see-through and they were able to adequately understand how a reflection of a figure works.
The 7th grade 2-2 students have been working on number talks. The students begin class by dialoguing and discussing a selected topic. They then generate conversation on their thoughts and ideas. They have been using the activity called “Odd One Out” to enhance dialogue.
The 6th grade 1-2 students have been utilizing a foldable number line to find differences between positive and negative values. Each student has been allowed to use this manipulative to get a better visual of opposite values. This has been proven helpful for students to really begin making connections and drawing conclusions about numbers greater than zero and numbers less than zero.
As a department, performance series testing is finishing up and those scores are being discussed with students.
Wow!!! It has been wonderful to have students back in our classrooms over the last few weeks. Our social studies students have been working very hard these past few weeks. We are so happy to see our students faces and engage in classroom discussions since returning back to in-person learning.
Sixth grade will be exploring the amazing ancient civilizations of China over the course of February and beginning of March. Students will have a renewed interest in Ancient China. Sixth grade is using their Challenging learning strategies of Odd Man Out, during their Ancient China Unit.
Seventh grade is exploring global conflicts of the world. We are exploring the many types of global conflict that is occuring in the world today. We will also continue to incorporate current events into our classrooms.
Eight grade students have gone back in history to the American Civil War. Students are exploring the main causes of the Civil War. Students are exploring how the civil war was fought, through key battles and military strategies used by both sides. Eighth grade will be wrapping up our unit with the effects that the Civil War had on the United States.
As a department we want to encourage our students to ignite their curiosity for learning. We want to see them asking those big questions and seeking out the answers to those questions in school and while at home. This will help students to build on their knowledge that can be used in their social studies classrooms.
Science
6th grade - Students are enjoying working with the microscopes to look at cells more closely. In person students were able to make their own slides with elodea plants, onion, and examine hair all under the microscope. Next, the students are using their knowledge of cells and cell organelles to create a cell analogy project. In this project, they compare a cell to another real life or imaginary system.
7th grade - Students have a strong understanding of wave characteristics, properties, and the way they operate. They are studying specifics of sound waves through speakers, instruments, and analyzing different pitches of sound. This is a fun hands-on unit with feeling different vibrations from different sounds. Students are also exploring the ways that light waves move and can be reflected. Students are using laser pointers and mirrors to create a troll security system.
8th grade - Students have been focused on genetics and are using their knowledge to analyze Punnett Squares. There was a fun assignment in which students created emoji faces based on the results of Punnett Squares. They can then take their data and decide if a trait is genetically passed down from parents or a mutation. Then, students will be able to explain if a mutation is beneficial, harmful, or neutral. Students will be using their imaginations to create different mutation possibilities with explanations.
Hello Jefferson Fine Arts students. We are excited to be putting together some of the work we are doing across the district in our Music and Art Classes. Check out this link (insert link) for more information on our Virtual Fine Arts Festival that we will be sharing in March.
LMC News
We are steadily seeing a new “normal” for our LMC! Students have been taking advantage of our “LMC Prime/Door Dash Delivery” and checking books out from our physical library through their Chromebooks. The upside is that students under pre-Covid conditions would have only had book checkouts once every two weeks. Now they can access them 24/7 and usually see them delivered to their ELA classroom within a few days. Ask your student to show them our virtual library in Schoology where they can do most library related activities online and reach out to us with just a click!
Virtual students can also check out books, they just need email to reserve a pick up time outside Door 16 at Jefferson.
Please also take a moment to look around the home and see if there are any library books from Jefferson, or any other District 129 school, and have your student return them to the bin in their ELA class. We are still trying to reclaim the books from the abrupt switch to remote and could use your help in getting them back!
Please keep encouraging reading at home - it pays off in vocabulary growth as well as instilling a lifelong interest in reading. If you ever have any questions about the library, please feel free to reach out to me at jejohnson@sd129.org .
Ms. Johnson
LMC Director
DRAMA CLUB
We have started virtual rehearsals for the spring musical but still have room for more students! If you have any interest in singing or acting from the comfort of your own home! It will be online but definitely a lot of fun. If you are interested, send a message or email to jejohnson@sd129.org .
Ms. Johnson, Director
Ms. Tyler, Music Director