The Cyclone Watch
February 2020
Principal Updates
Second semester is off to an excellent start. However, the winter months can be more difficult for students academically as many often struggle with the long stretch until spring break. Please help us foster student success by ensuring your child has strong school attendance during this critical period of the school year. As always, you know your child the best. If there are concerns, needs, or questions that will help us to assist your child, please communicate with your child’s teachers or guidance counselor, so we may assist him/her in having a successful second semester.
We are challenging each individual student to have 95% attendance for the school year. If your child meets this goal, they will receive an attendance party at the end of the school year. We appreciate your help in maintaining that standard for the rest of the school year. If there are issues impacting your child’s attendance that you need assistance with, please contact our Home School Communicator, Mr. Onwulata, and he will be happy to work with you in meeting your child’s needs.
JMS will be hosting an Open House on February 11, from 6:00-7:15p.m. The event is for all incoming 6th grade students and lottery students at all grades for next year. We will be enrolling students in STEAM electives for the 2020-2021 school year. Students currently attending JMS students that are returning, will enroll during the school day and do not need to attend.
IPRs (Progress Reports), will be going out February 6. Please make sure to review the IPR for your student and communicate with teachers if you have any questions or concerns.
Parent Teacher Conferences will be held February 25 and 27 from 3:00-6:30p.m. We hope that all of you will be able to attend and meet with teachers regarding your student’s progress. Teachers and/or teams will be communicating specifics about meetings as we get closer to conferences. If you have any special needs or considerations for conferences, please communicate with your student’s teacher or contact the main office at 214-3210 for assistance.
As we have already seen, this time of year can have some challenging weather. CPS takes the safety of all of our students very seriously, and as such, we may have some days we do not have school or have an altered day to foster safety. Please monitor local broadcasts, sign up for electronic notifications on the district website, and follow the JMS website for regular updates regarding the weather.
Candy Grams Are Back!
Valentine Candy Grams will be on sale before school on February 3-7 for $1 each. Candy Grams are a great way to send a sweet treat and message to a friend or teacher. You’ll need to know your friend’s first and last name, so you can look up their 8th period teacher and room number. Candy Grams will be distributed on Thursday, February 13th in 8th period. Make someone’s day special and send them a Valentine Candy Gram!
Save The Date - JMS Spelling Bee
SAVE THE DATE: Jefferson Middle School will be participating in the Scripps National Spelling Bee this school year on Wednesday, February 5, 2020, at 2:45 in the Media Center. All students will have the opportunity to participate in Spelling Bees in their English Core classes sometime in December or January. The winner from each English Core class in grades 6, 7, and 8 will advance to the JMS All-School Spelling Bee on Wednesday, Feb. 5. Students will be able to get the School Spelling Bee Study List from their English Core Teachers. (In case of inclement weather or a snow day on Feb. 5, then the Spelling Bee will occur the first day students return to school.)
The winner of the JMS Spelling Bee will advance to:
The Columbia Missourian Regional Spelling Bee
Location: University of Missouri
Date & Time: 03-10-2020 4 p.m.
Registration is from 4 p.m. to 4:25 p.m. Refreshments will be served and champion photos taken during the registration period. The Bee will begin at 4:30 p.m. and end around 6:30 p.m., depending on the number of rounds necessary to determine a winner. The champion of the Columbia Missourian Regional Spelling Bee will receive an all-expense paid trip to represent our area in the 2018 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC.
Contact Mrs. Sutherland msutherland@cpsk12.org if you have questions about the Spelling Bee.
Media Center News
Puzzles are taking over the media center. The morning crew, student workers and students who pop in randomly throughout the day are crazy about puzzles. During the month of December three puzzles were completed and framed. That’s 2000 puzzle pieces. In our first week back from winter break students are hard at work on our newest 1000 piece puzzle. The puzzle is all about donuts. The walls in the media center are filling up with our colorful masterpieces.
The media center purchased new books before break. These books are displayed and ready for student checkout. As we enter cooler weather, please encourage your student to visit our selections here in the media center. Those iPads are great reading tools as well. The JMS iPads can give your student access to many ebooks both through JMS and CPS as well as the DBRL with their library card. If your student is interested in digital books and are confused, the media center is here to help.
The media center is looking to create a Legos table for our students and we need more Legos. If you have Legos sitting around and they need a new home, please consider donating them to a worthy cause here at JMS. Our students find our puzzle table a treat and we hope to have the same results with a Legos table as well.
iPad News
Cyclone Book Club Updates
With the short week before break and illness, our December book club meeting was canceled. We will have our next meeting in the media center on January 30 right after school. Our group enjoys visiting about books, having a snack, reading as well as picking out our next book. We welcome new friends each month. Bring your book and read with us.
Mrs. Kiley is the sponsor. See her with questions you might have.
Sixth Grade News
A BIG SHOUT OUT to parents and students for making our Food Day Celebration a huge success! Thank you to those who brought paper products and took the time to make all that wonderful food! It was yummy and the kids (and teachers) really enjoyed it.
~ Curriculum Update ~
Math 6:
In Math 6 with Ms. Urie, Ms. Cooper, and Mrs. Boggs, students have been working through their Expressions Unit. Throughout this unit students are combining like terms, learning how to distribute, evaluating expressions, and solving with order of operations. They’re test will be on Friday, Feb. 7th. Prior to the test, the students will work on a project to practice skills from the Expressions Unit. Next unit we will be learning about Equations. Students will learn how to write, solve, and graph one-step equations and inequalities.
Advanced Math 6:
In Advanced Math 6 with Ms. Urie and Mrs. Boggs, students have been working through their Variables and Patterns unit. During this unit, students are learning how to distribute, evaluate expressions, combine like terms, analyze tables and graphs, find the rate of change, and make line graphs. Students will also complete a project. This project assesses their skills on this unit. Next unit we will be learning about scale drawings of real objects and geometric figures, including computing actual lengths and areas from a scale drawing and reproducing the drawing at a different scale in our Stretching and Shrinking unit.
Science:
In Science class, students are finishing up their rollercoasters the week after Martin Luther King Day. The students will be using these rollercoasters to connect their force and motion unit and energy unit looking at how outside forces affect their rollercoaster and how potential/kinetic energy is shown in rollercoasters. The students will continue studying energy and participating in multiple labs: Solar Ovens, Columbia Water and Light visit, and more. The sixth-grade energy test will occur in Early March.
Social Studies:
In 6th Grade Social Studies we have begun our Egyptian unit. During this unit we will discuss Egypt’s geography, political structure, ancient gods and goddesses, pyramids, and contributions / inventions to the world. In addition, this unit will include our Egypt Museum Project. This project will challenge students to come up with an interesting Egyptian artifact that will “save the museum”. This project will be completed outside of class (meaning no class time will be used for students to work on this project). Teachers will be willing to stay after school to provide a resource room if requested. More information will be coming home soon regarding the project. Thank you.
English:
Lots of learning going on in English. We have just started a new nonfiction unit and students are currently learning about Text Features. Understanding text features will help students when they read nonfiction books. After learning the many types of text features, students are currently getting the opportunity to practice identifying text features, by cutting out text features from magazines and making a text features booklet. This practice will help them remember what they have learned and help them ready for the quiz we are giving either this, or next week on text features.
The writing component of this unit consists of students writing an essay. Students may choose a topic of their choice and will most likely begin researching next week. We will guide them through this process, introducing reliable websites and teaching them how to paraphrase the information they find. Once they have enough information, regarding their topic, students will begin the process of writing their essay.
Finally, once the essay has been completed, students will take their essay and create a picture book, presenting their information using many text features. Their picture book will explode with color, diagrams, pictures, captions and many more features. They always do a wonderful job and I’m sure this year will be no different.
Builders Club News
The JMS Builders Club has had to be canceled the past few months due to weather as other surprises. However we are starting the new year with a bang. We met on January 7 and decided we wanted to get out and help COMO. We will be working at the Central MO Food Pantry on January 23. We will meet at Vandiver from 5:30-7:30. If your student missed our meeting and is interested in joining this worthwhile cause, please send them to Mrs. Kiley in the media center so we can get them signed up with the Food Bank. Students will arrange their own transportation and will need to be picked at the Food Bank at 7:30. This is a great chance to give back. The Builders Club will have our next regular meeting on February 4. We meet in the media center. See Mrs. Kiley with questions.
Notes From The School Nurse
IMMUNIZATION REQUIREMENTS FOR
CURRENT 7TH GRADE STUDENTS
*AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE NURSE*
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services recently revised the Missouri School Immunization Requirements, specifically for current 7th grade students.
· For all incoming 8th grade students, one Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis) vaccine will be required. In addition, one meningococcal vaccine (meningitis) will be required.
If your child has received a recent Tdap and/or meningitis vaccine, please send proof of the immunization to your school nurse or have the health care provider fax the immunization record to the school nurse at 573-214-3399 (FAX).
If your child has not received these vaccines, the immunizations need to be completed before they can attend 2020 summer school and /or receive schedules for the 2020-2021 school year next August.
Immunizations are available from:
· Local health care providers
· Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services, 1005 W. Worley, no appointment necessary; M-F 8-4:30.
For questions regarding your child’s vaccination history, please call your school nurse at 573-214-3213.
If your 7th grade student has a physical examination scheduled any time in 2019, please ask their physician to give these two vaccinations. A student who is 10 years of age or older may be given these vaccines.
Please remember that your middle school student can and should carry a single dose of an over the counter pain reliever in a manufacturer’s labeled container. The main complaints we have from students coming to the school nurse are headaches and other types of discomfort. Save a trip to school during the work day by having your student carry a pain reliever. We are not allowed to dispense any pain reliever unless we have a written order from the physician and the parent provides the medication to the health room. They may also carry cough drops and over the counter allergy medicine.
Please notify the main office if your contact information has changed. If the New Year started with a new phone number, the school should be made aware.
Thank you and Happy New Year from the
Health Room Staff
AVID News
AVID (Advancement via Individual Determination) is a program that prepares students for High School and College. Students must be self-motivated (as the title of AVID indicates) and be prepared to learn skills that will help them be academically successful. There is a focus on note-taking skills, organization, and study skills. Classes will also do pre-ACT lessons, visit colleges and have guest speakers from high school members and community members.
This is a program for students who have average grades (but want to improve them!), good attendance, and no behavior incidents. Is this the program for your child to help him/her prepare for high school and college?
If you think your child would be a good fit for AVID complete the Interest Survey OR fill out the application! We will be scheduling interviews within the next few weeks, so don’t delay!
The AVID Program is for students who will be in 7th-12th grades, next year.
Interest Survey link: https://forms.gle/hyZcMRdmNbwb7Q2v9
Application link: https://forms.gle/vPi8bNCppmwQ1pSE9 This is for next year JMS students.
Application link: https://forms.gle/WhZZ1mwhGm7Bjm4s8 This is for students going to any other Middle School or High School (any) next year.
Do you have questions? If so, contact Kym Armontrout (AVID Coordinator) at 573-214-3210 ex. 601 or email: Kyarmontrout@cpsk12.org
More AVID News
Hello AVID Families!
Our second semester is starting strong. Here are a few dates to keep in mind:
January 28th: AVID Parent Night. Bring a dish to share and be ready to play games!
Time: 6:00-7:30
Location: JMS Media Center
February 7th: AVID College Field Trip to Columbia College.
Please return permission slips by January 24th.
Please send 2.50 for your child’s lunch at the college.
FUTURE BATTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS 2020-2021
For students interested in applying for the AVID Elective and will be attending Battle High School this fall, please go to [AVID OFFICE 143b] to pick up a paper application. This year all applications are on paper and are due to [Mrs. Armontrout ]the by the end of the school day on Wednesday, January 29th. Be sure to stop by the AVID table at the Enrollment Fair on January 22nd to meet Mrs. Aguilar and to ask questions.
JMS Athletics
THANK YOU TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATED IN AND DONATED TO OUR ANNUAL CHILI SUPPER - WE HAD A GREAT EVENT AND CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS!!
Important Upcoming Events:
6th Grade WINTER BASKETBALL INTRAMURALS – We will begin the week of February 3rd. Coach Cleppe and I will finalize dates soon and get out the form to all interested 6th graders.
6th and 7th Grade Volleyball – I will be starting volleyball pre-season work with any 6th and 7th grader attending JMS next year during the 2nd week of February. Exact dates and times will be coming in the next week so stay tuned.
TRACK STARTS MARCH 2ND – MUST HAVE A CURRENT PHSYICAL AND PASSING GRADES TO PARTICIPATE. SEE COACH CLOWE FOR ANY QUESTIONS JCLOWE@CPSK12.ORG
CLUB COMO VOLLEYBALL INFORMATION
The Club CoMo Volleyball Academy is for Girls & Boys grades 3rd -7th that are interested learning the sport and developing their volleyball skills. Our coaches come from a variety of coaching and playing backgrounds. The sessions will include basic drills, positional instruction, as well as game-like situations. The Academy is for players who are NOT currently playing on a club volleyball team.
When: The Academy will be held on Sunday’s from 3:00-4:30pm for 8 weeks, starting on Sunday, January 26th and running through Sunday, March 15th. All sessions will held at the Armory. Space is limited so sign up NOW! Registration is timestamped, and the first 16 Girls or Boys grades 3rd – 5th, and the first 16 Girls or Boys grades 6th – 7th will be accepted.
Cost: $100 for 8 – 1.5 hour sessions of instruction and a FREE Club CoMo T-shirt
Location: The Armory – 701 E. Ash Street, Columbia MO 65201
Academy Coaches: Lei Francisco, Mike Pasternock, Payton Bledsoe
*Girls should bring a water bottle and knee pads to all sessions.
*At the first session please bring $100, checks made out to Club CoMo Volleyball
*You will receive an email within a couple of days to confirm registration.
If you have any questions, please email: clubcomo@gmail.com
Here is the link to register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfi21yMvViYEIWGh6W9Mps5VMcXPcGw_Oc5odQo-e2wFzOSBQ/viewform
JMS CYCLONE SCRAMBLE – DATE AND LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON!
We are looking for hole sponsors, OR Donations to help raise money for the tournament and to support our athletic programs. Please contact Jodi Rowe at jrowe@cpsk12.org for further details.
* If you have an 8th grader interested in a fall sport at all the high schools: Be sure to pay attention to the student bulletin for all information coming in from the high school coaches.
*See JMS sports webpage for start and end times for all sports and intramurals*
Email questions to Jodi Rowe (JMS Athletic Director) jrowe@cpsk12.org or call 573-214-3219.
CYCLONE NATION!
Jefferson Middle School
Email: gcaine@cpsk12.org
Website: https://www.cpsk12.org/jms
Location: 713 Rogers Street, Columbia, MO, USA
Phone: 573-214-3210