Office: 605-367-7643

Website: https://www.sf.k12.sd.us/edison/home

Email: SFSDEdisonOffice@k12.sd.us

Counseling Center: 605-367-8331

Fax: 605-367-8457

Edison is now on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Facebook: @WeAreTheCats

Twitter: @EdisonCats

Instagram: @sfsdedisoncats

Newsletter Date:

November 5, 2021

Volume 2, Issue 4

Attendance Matters

One of the most important things students can do to achieve success is also one of the most basic: attend school every day and on time! Students who attend school regularly achieve at higher levels than students who do not have
regular attendance

Please remember to call or email the office if your student will be absent for any reason. If your student needs to leave early for an appointment, let the office know before the school day if possible. The office will provide students with a pass before school begins to avoid classroom interruptions. You can email the Edison Attendance Office at SFSDEdisonAttendance@k12.sd.us

Lost and Found

Our lost and found is already full of items! Please have your student stop by and check for any missing items. The lost and found is located outside of the Art Room by the bus doors

Edison Middle School Families,

It is hard to believe we have wrapped up the first quarter of school! Time is going quickly! It is so great to have a mostly normal school year, although we remain cautious and diligent in our hygiene practices. Edison students have not experienced a “normal” school year for over a year and a half. It is nice to see things return to as normal as they can be as we continue the 2021-22 school year.

The month of October was a busy one at Edison! We enjoyed meeting with families at conferences, kicking off our bully prevention program, beginning our PTO catalog sales fundraiser, holding our 150th Sioux Falls School District tree ceremony, and celebrating and raising funds during our Student Council’s breast cancer awareness pink week! We thank everyone for your support throughout the month assisting with conference meals, raising money for our PTO, donating items for our pink week sales, and supporting Edison!

Prior to school beginning, the Edison Leadership Team met and made it a goal to build a strong positive school culture at Edison. All these events in October assisted in building that strong school culture. We want our Edison students to be engaged not just in classroom, but in their school community. That engagement includes getting involved in activities outside the classroom such as athletics, music, clubs, student activities, or special events at Edison. Research shows that students that are engaged in their school community both in and outside of the classroom have more success in school. Please encourage your student to get involved in activities happening at Edison!

As always, please reach out if we can assist in supporting your student at Edison. We are so fortunate to have a great school community, and your support is a part of what makes it all possible! Thanks for all you do!

Sincerely,

Amber Blume, Principal

8th Graders Thinking About High School Already?

8th grade students will be working on high school transition activities during pro! They will take an interest inventory assessment on SDMyLife.com. They will use the Welcome to High School handbook to answer questions about high school and help prepare them. Here are a few dates you should know about coming up:

Open-enrollment:

December 1st– 1st day to submit open enrollment forms for 2022-2023

All done on-line. http://www.sf.k12.sd.us/parents/school-registration-enrollment/open-enrollment-procedures-application

Kiosks available at IPC( 201 E 38th St, Sioux Falls, SD 57105) for those that do not have computer access.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

High School Parent Days – It is very important to attend a parent day/night at your prospective high school

WHS
1/7/2021, 6:30 - 8:00 pm

1/8/2021, 9:30 - 11:00 am

RHS

1/20/2021, 6:00 – 7:30 pm

1/22/2021, 9:30 - 11:00 am

LHS

1/8/2021, 9:00 - 10:00 am

1/10/2021, 6:30 - 7:30 pm

January 10th – HS counselors visit from 3-3:45 am to discuss High School Registration and classes.

HS registration!!

January 26th – 8th graders will register with their high school counselors during 8th period. High School registration sheets due no later than January 24th to their PRO teacher.

Counselors at Edison follow their students throughout middle school.

Mrs. Murphy – ALL 6th grade (pictured left)

Mr. Biteler – ALL 7th grade (pictured middle)

Mrs. Plaine – ALL 8th grade (pictured right)

Happy November from the PTO! We are so grateful for all the support we received from Edison families over the last month. There’s such a long list of “thank you’s” that this month’s newsletter feels a little bit like an acceptance speech at an awards ceremony!

A big THANK YOU to everyone who donated food items or money for the staff meals during conferences. We were able to provide a variety of soups, breads, and treats for the first night. And the second night, we were able to cater a meal from Honeybaked Ham.

We would also like to thank everyone who volunteered and shopped at the Scholastic book fair. We raised just over $1000 in scholastic dollars which will allow us to purchase books for the Edison library and classrooms. Extra special thanks to Samantha Wescott and Chanda Fawcett for organizing the bookfair.

Edison spirit wear makes a great holiday gift! We are working on another online spirit wear store - we are trying a new company! The online store will be available soon to purchase Edison Spirit Wear for Fall/Winter & Basketball season. Watch for an email in the next couple weeks.

We do have quite a bit of spirit wear in inventory. We currently have t-shirts (maroon, gray and tie dyed), hooded sweatshirts (gray and maroon), stocking hats (maroon & gray stripe) If you would like to purchase any in stock Spirit Wear or have questions, email EdisonMS.SpiritWear@gmail.com or text Angela at 605-376-8859.

Another giant ‘thank you’ to all our Color Run participants and volunteers. The event was a blast, and we raised just over $6000 for Edison! If you have any photos or videos from the Color Run that you'd like to share for the yearbook, you can email them to the PTO at edisonsiouxfalls@gmail.com.

Finally, we want to thank everyone who supported the catalog sales fundraiser. We know it's a lot to have two fundraisers back to back, so we appreciate those of you who took the time to participate. If you have orders and have not returned your order forms, please turn them in to the office ASAP. Online orders will still be accepted for this shipment until November 10th. Any orders that were shipped to the school will arrive and need to be picked up on December 14th. More details will be sent out in early December. Also, you can continue to place orders to earn money for our school for the next six months. The items have to be shipped to your home. So, if you love the cookies, pizza, popcorn, etc - you can order more any time!

We hope you can join us for our next PTO meeting on Wednesday, November 17th at noon via zoom. Look for an email with the zoom link, or you can find it on our website www.edisonsf.org.

As you do your online holiday shopping, don't forget about AmazonSmile! Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your purchase to the charitable organization of your choice. Just start your shopping at Amazon Smile and choose Edison Middle School of Sioux Falls.

www.smile.amazon.com

Go Cats!

LeAnn Minister and Nikki Schmaltz

2021-22 PTO Co-Presidents

Contact us

edisonsiouxfalls@gmail.com

www.edisonsf.org

edisonsiouxfalls@gmail.com

November Music Notes

Important Dates for First Semester~

Make sure your child’s concert dates are on your calendar. High school concert information will be communicated with your child if they are an 8th grader in band or chorus.

MAIN CONCERTS -

Nov. 18 Edison Orchestra Concerts 6th grade–6:00 p.m., 7th grade–6:45 p.m. & 8th grade–7:30 p.m.

Dec. 7 Edison Band Concerts 6th grade–6:00 p.m., 7th grade–6:45 p.m. & 8th grade–7:30 p.m.

Dec. 14 Edison Chorus Concerts 6th grade – 6:30 p.m. & 7th/8th grade – 7:45 p.m.

OTHER IMPORTANT DATES -

Nov. 8 RHS Fall Choir Concert w/8th graders 7:00 p.m. @ RHS

Nov. 16 WHS Band Concert w/8th graders (6:00 rehearsal) 7:00 p.m @ WHS

Nov. 18 LHS Band Concert w/8th graders (rehearsal on 11/17 at 7:30 a.m.) 7:00 p.m. @ LHS

Dec. 9 & 10 Variety show performance in auditorium 7:00 p.m.

Dec. 16 RHS Band Concert w/8th graders (7:30 am rehearsal) 7:00 p.m. @ RHS

Musician of the Month~

Each month the band, orchestra, and chorus areas will each recognize a 6th, 7th, and 8th grader that shows exceptional dedication, responsibility, and character each and every day.

Musicians of the month for October are:

Band: Sophia Pascoe (8) Ahna Braden (7) Cristopher Navarro Herrera (6)

Chorus: Anya Klemme (8) Brielle Kolling (7) Evelyn Glover (6)

Orchestra: Reid Atkinson (8) Angelina Fuentes (7) Eva Hernandez (6)

The Edison music department wishes to thank Lewis Drug for supporting our Musician of the Month program!

Ensemble Schedule~

Jazz Band meets on Monday and Wednesday mornings from 7:45 – 8:45 a.m.

Brio meets on Wednesday and Friday mornings from 8:10 – 8:45 a.m.

Inventions meets on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 7:45 - 8:45 a.m.

All-State Band~

The South Dakota Middle School All-State Band is a special event designed to inspire and encourage top band students from across the state. Tryouts are held in December, but interested students need to start practicing the required music now. For more information, please contact Mr. Jensen or visit http://sdmea.net/ and look under the Events list and MSASB (Middle School All-State Band). We encourage you to give it a try!

Sign Language Interpreter~

Please notify your child’s director if you need a sign language interpreter for either the winter or spring concert. Notify the director at least ONE MONTH before the concert date.

Edison Music Department Website~

The Edison Music Department has a website! Refer to this website for information and dates.

http://emsmusicdept.weebly.com/

“Like” us on Facebook!~

Edison Music Department has a Facebook page! This page will be used for informational purposes only. You can check concert dates, rehearsal dates, practicing tips, etc. on our page. We will NOT have any pictures of students posted, it will strictly be used for getting information out to you!

The page is: www.facebook.com/EMSMusicDept

There are other Edison schools out there so check before you “like” our site!

• Band directors – Rick Jensen - Rick.T.Jensen@k12.sd.us & Emily Deinken – Emily.Deinken@k12.sd.us

• Chorus directors – Amber Sundvold – Amber.Sundvold@k12.sd.us & Mollie Weflen – Mollie.Weflen@k12.sd.us

• Orchestra directors – Stacy Sip – Stacy.Sip@k12.sd.us & Shannon Abels – Shannon.Abels@k12.sd.us

“A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their picture on silence.” – Leopold Stokowski

SD Teen Choice @your EMS Library

Each year the South Dakota Teen Read Book Award Committee of the South Dakota Library Association publishes a list of books to promote quality literature and to help South Dakota teachers and librarians in selecting and promoting books for adolescents. Students across South Dakota read books from the list and give it a star rating of 1 to 5, 5 being best. One book is selected as the winner from the Middle School List and another winner is chosen from the High School list.

At Edison, students can be involved in our Edison challenge. Each time a student finishes one of the SD Teen Choice books (formerly known as YARP), they can rate the book on the official form The forms are found on www.catsread.com and on the library home page which can be found at libcat.sf.k12.sd.us (choose Edison).

Students that fill out at least one form are eligible for prizes, including the Big Kahuna (the grand prize), which includes lunch and trip to Barnes and Noble with a friend during the school day. Please encourage your child to read any of the books listed below.

24 Hours in Nowhere Bowling

96 Miles Esplin

Before the Ever After Woodson

Black Brother, Black Brother Rhodes

Dog Driven Johnson

Fighting Words Bradley

Inheritance Games Barnes

It’s the End of the World as I Know It Landis

Reaching for the Moon Johnson

Superman Smashes the Klan Yang

When Stars are Scattered Jamieson

White Rose Wilson

Edison Families,

The fall athletic season has come to a close. Wow! did that go fast. I witnessed some excellent performances in all three sports this past fall and hope that continues into our winter season. With that said, Athletic opportunities keep coming. Girls’ basketball begins November 8th. Girls are required to have a sports physical and parent permission packet completed in order to participate. If a student participated in a fall sport, they already have all the required paperwork completed. In addition, Wrestling and gymnastics for 7th and 8th graders will begin at the high schools later this month as well. Please check with your child's attendance area high school for more information about those opportunities.

All students are welcome to attend, and I hope we fill the stands with cheering and supportive fans. A couple of reminders for students who do attend these sporting events after school. All school rules still apply. Here are a few expectation reminders:

1) Students are expected to sit in the stands during the athletic contest and watch the game. Students are not to be “hanging out” in the hallways, or in the cafeteria.

2) Students are not to be on the playing court or field at any time. These areas are only for competitors, coaches, and officials.

3) Students are expected to show good sportsmanship to everyone that is involved in the competition including: officials, coaches, and athletes of both teams.

David Christian

David.christian@k12.sd.us

Go Cats!

“In purrsuit of Excellence”