1700 Woodside Road
SAILOR P.R.I.D.E.
Muskegon, MI 49441
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILTY RESPECT
231-759-8506 www.monashores.net
INTEGRITY
December 2016
Mona Shores Middle School
DISCIPLINED ENGAGEMENT SAILOR P.R.I.D.E.
News
Middle School Parents,
CALENDAR
It’s hard to believe that we have wrapped up Thanksgiving, finished the first three months of school, and are now looking towards only a couple of weeks before Christmas break! The first three months of school have been phenomenal! In classrooms, teaching and learning has been exceptional high levels of engagement, high expectations, and high focus on learning. Classes like Leadership and Wellness, STEM, and Robotics are challenging our students in new and different ways. Discipline referrals remain a bit high (tardiness having the highest numbers), however, the majority of our students continue to make positive choices and demonstrate PRIDE on a daily basis. Our building has intentionally focused on personal responsibility, integrity, and gratitude with our students and staff; we are growing together in our character. The first three months of school have truly been successful!
TOYS FOR TOTS Dec. 1st (Thur.) - Dec. 8th (Thur.)
As we finish our first trimester and kickoff a new month, we will begin a focus on service with our students. Our challenge to the students of MSMS, will be to think outside of themselves, to do something positive for someone else. We have students with big hearts, who care about others; I believe this is naturally inside of us all. Throughout the month, we will remind our students and challenge them to serve others. It is in serving others that we reach our fullest potential and can impact the life of someone else. I believe Martin Luther King Jr. says it perfectly, “Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” As we begin a new month, one that lends itself to giving and service, we will remind, teach, and inspire this within our students and ourselves. Please do the same at home, talking about and recognizing service within your family, friends, and society. Have a great start to the new month, a month focused on service. Please continue to encourage your students, support them and communicate with their teachers when you need help, clarification, or simply an update on their progress towards success. Doug Ammeraal - Principal Phone: 231-759-8506, ext: 8599 Email: ammeraad@monashores.net
END OF 1ST TRIMESTER Dec. 2nd (Fri.) MSBOA S/E - COOPERSVILLE Dec. 3rd (Sat.) 6TH GR. CHOIR CONCERT Dec. 6th (Tues.) 7:00pm - 8:00pm LATE START DATES (9:40am) Dec. 7th (Wed.) Dec. 14th (Wed.) MS & HS ORCHESTRA CONCERT Dec. 7th (Wed.) 7:00pm - 9:00pm @ HS 7TH GR. BAND REHEARSAL Dec. 8th (Thur.) 3:00pm - 3:45pm 6TH GR. BAND PREMIER CONCERT Dec. 9th (Fri.) 12:05pm 7TH GR. BAND REHEARSAL Dec. 12th (Mon.) 3:00pm - 3:45pm 7TH/8TH GR. BAND CONCERT @ H.S. Dec. 13th (Tues.) 7:30pm - 8:30pm 7TH/8TH GR. CHOIR REHEARSAL Dec. 14th (Wed.) 3:00pm - 4:00pm 7TH/8TH GR. CHOIR CONCERT Dec. 14th (Wed.) 7:30pm MSMS COLLAGE CONCERTS Dec. 16th (Fri.) 3rd & 5th Hour WINTER BREAK - NO SCHOOL Dec. 19th (Mon.) - Jan. 2nd (Mon.)
Sailors have personal responsibility, engagement, gratitude, service, respect, compassion, attitude, disciplined, integrity & success.
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The science department is collecting Box Tops for Education. Please have your student give their box tops to their science teacher to be entered into a contest. Rewards are as follows: 10=one ticket into drawing for pizza party. 100=candy bar (+10 tickets into pizza party drawing) 500=$10 gift card to Cinema Carousel Theater (+5 candy bars and 50 tickets into pizza party drawing). Tickets accumulate throughout the year so you have until the end of the year to collect 500. If you ask neighbors, grandparents, and other relatives to collect them for you, you will have no trouble collecting 500! CAMPBELL SOUP LABELS and Tyson Chicken Project A Labels are collected in the front office.
MMLI, one of MSMS student leadership teams, made its annual leadership camp trip to Camp Miniwanca at the end of October. Twelve of MSMS' incredible student leaders developed a project to change the world, or their world at the very least. After brainstorming ideas, they came to a consensus and developed a plan for a health initiative here at the middle school. They saw the need to promote healthy living among students and staff. MMLI has a mission and a plan, and there is no telling what these leaders will accomplish!
Seventh grade math students completed a study of percent's in the real world. They now know how to compute discounts, sale prices, markups, tips, interest, and tax. Students learned how to use percent proportions, equations, and formulas to solve problems. Currently, students are learning about integers in the real world. They are adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing integers, as well.
In 7th grade science, we are wrapping up our chemistry unit. Students have learned about the elements on the Periodic Table as well as the different types and properties of matter. Our next unit will cover waves and energy.
8th Grade Science - below is a screen shot from our seismograph of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake, in the South Island of New Zealand, on November 14th, 2016.
Mrs. Hawes's Wellness and Leadership Class enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving themed meal, with homemade recipes and centerpieces, to help get us in the Thanksgiving spirit. Students signed up to bring a dish to pass, plates, silverware and centerpieces. After tasting the various foods, they had to critique three dishes of their choice on the food's presentation, flavor and overall likelihood they would attempt to make this recipe as well.
Sailors have personal responsibility, engagement, gratitude, service, respect, compassion, attitude, disciplined, integrity & success.
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8th graders will be wrapping up The Outsiders unit with an argumentative essay and newspaper project. Students will also be taking the high school placement testing after Thanksgiving break. Students will complete their second book review, and are expected to continue reading every night so they can wrap up book number three by the time we return from winter break! For 7th grade language arts students, December brings an engaging literature study of Dickens' classic; A Christmas Carol. Students will practice a variety of reading strategies and will have a character's role to play, making the drama come to life! Understanding the author's use of symbolism, characterization, and theme will be at the heart of this literature study. In 6th grade ELA, December will be spent getting to know the Watson family as we read Watson's Go to Birmingham 1963. This charming family lives in Flint, Michigan, but learns about the harsh realities of prejudice and discrimination in the South when they travel to Birmingham to visit family. As we read, we will be analyzing characters and how they interact with each other, identifying story elements, and using our writing process to express our ideas and opinions. We are sure to share a few laughs along the way.
Mr. Cain’s Choir classes are busy preparing for their Holiday concerts! The 6th grade has their concert on Dec. 6th, and the 7th/8th Choir has their concert on Dec. 14th. The 7th/8th grade chamber choir is practicing in preparation for caroling performances, at the Singing Christmas Tree and at Grand Traverse Pie Company, in support of the Hope Scarves organization. Mrs. Helsen’s Art classes just received the MSEF mini grant for a mosaic tiling project, and they are finishing up those mosaics now; they are looking beautiful! The Sports Skills classes are wrapping up a Tennis unit. 21st Century kids are completing physical testing, and they are seeing lots of improvements. 6th grade Physical Education is finishing up a disc sports unit and having lots of fun. Mrs. Hawes’ classes are finishing the 1st trimester of PE with a volleyball unit and final exam. She’s excited to see how kids do on their fitness testing and how their progress has been. Also, the Wellness class did a great job creating and enjoying a Thanksgiving feast, and will do this again for Christmas with a bingo vocab review game. Mr. Mosley’s Holiday Concert will be on Dec. 7th, at 7:00 PM, in the High School Performing Arts Center (PAC). The Holiday Band concerts are coming up in the month of December. The 6th Grade Band will give its Premier Performance in the MSMS Auditorium, on Dec. 9th, at 12:05 PM. The 7th & 8th Grade Bands will be giving their Holiday Band Concert, in the High School PAC, on December 13th, at 7:30 PM. And the MSMS 8th Grade Band, Orchestra and Choir will provide two Holiday Collage Concerts, on Dec. 16th, during 3rd & 5th hours. Mr. Lorenz’s classes wrapped up the second part of robotics learning about automation in cars, and being able to detect and make decisions based on what is around. They made robots that follow a track and pause when there is something in their way. Señora Schiller’s Spanish students are completing description writings of a person/character in Spanish 1. Mr. Volkmann’s 21st Century Health and Fitness will be completing the 1st trimester post tests. Mrs. Hansen’s LMC, for the month of November, is featuring war hero/veteran books. This is done in conjunction with the ELA emphasis on independent reading. And finally, Mr. Whalen’s Technology students are using spreadsheets to analyze how education level is related to income level based on a variety of career preparation decisions and choices.
Sailors have personal responsibility, engagement, gratitude, service, respect, compassion, attitude, disciplined, integrity & success.
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LMC News The Library Media Center (LMC) is excited about our new Huddle Spaces. We have five stations for students and teachers to work collaboratively on projects. Each station has a display monitor, a plug-in hub for six chromebooks, and a table with chairs. These small meeting spaces make each person in the group more involved, attentive, and on task. We can’t wait to see the creativity that emerges as students and staff share ideas! Check out this link to see a huddle station in use: https://youtu.be/nlwwacHS4MY
SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING PREVIEW SUMMER CAMP FOR GIRLS This is a Monday - Thursday day camp introduction to the world of science, technology and engineering. Campers participate in activities that give them hands-on experience with high-tech engineering equipment and processes.
CAMP DATES: Week 1: June 19-22, 2017 Week 2: June 26-29, 2017
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Call: (616) 331-6025 Or Click this Link: https://www.gvsu.edu/cms4/asset/84121ECC-B7E0-024BC851F564B9DE7D47/2017stepsbrochure.pdf
Sailors have personal responsibility, engagement, gratitude, service, respect, compassion, attitude, disciplined, integrity & success.