November Newsletter
Contents
1. 8th Grade 88 CONFERENCE DINNERS The middle school staff would like to thank all of the parents who put together the dinners for our parent teacher conferences The meals were great We appreciate all you do OSCAR S FAMILY NIGHT Please mark your calendars for Tuesday Nov 4 as a special Oscar s Pizza Night out for your family If you go to Oscar s between the hours of 5 00 9 00 on Nov 4 they will give back 10 of the sales made to ERMS This is good on carry out orders too However you must tell them that you are from ERMS when order ing for our school to get credit for the sale We know this is election night so please go vote and then treat your family and give back to ERMS all at the same time MAKE UP DAYS FOR MISSED SCHOOL DAYS SNOW DAYS As we approach the winter months it is important to note a change to the EPS calendar from past years The Elkhorn Board of Education has built in two makeup days to the calen dar in the event that school is canceled due to inclement weather snow days The first makeup day is scheduled for April 17 2015 This date will become a vacation day if there are no missed school days prior to April 1 If there are two or more missed school days prior to April 1 students will also have a makeup day on May 22 2015 This day will become a vacation day if there areone or fewer missed days prior to April 1 moving the last day of school to May 21 The first two missed2. Kay Crocker Booster Club President CHORUS Mr Ritter Long Term Sub ERMS Vo cal Music Instructor and Mrs Foley Accompa nist Congratulations to Connor Jenson Nathan Matulevicz Kole Rowan Tyler Schulz Samir Sedky Shae Wright and Henry Crocker for being selected to participate in the 2014 All State Jr High Barbershop Choir They will join over 260 other young men from across the state to perform for the Nebraska Music Educators Association Convention on Wednesday November 19 All of the students in the choral program have spent the last two months rigorously practicing for their fall concert which took place on October 28 All of the students worked very hard to prepare and we as a department could not be more proud of them In the coming months students of all grade levels will be working on composition projects a cappella singing and basic choral fundamental training We will also begin preparations for our annual winter sing a long and up coming spring concert music The show choir BRAVO is well under way as the group con tinues to prepare for its competitions in the spring BRAVO will perform again this year as a part of the Veteran s Day celebration at the 180 St Hv Vee at 10 AM on Tuesday Nov 11 Feel free to come and join in the event The BRAVO portion of the event will take place at approximately 10 15 The all girl show choir APPLAUSE will begin rehearsals in January Parents should watch their emails fo
3. Ms Billups Mrs Nelson and Mr Weber LANGUAGE ARTS Mrs Nelson The month of November will have students creating a maga zine on a topic of their choice Creativity with the magazine topic will allow students to experiment with different types of writing and will make the magazine a lasting piece to treasure and discuss Parts of speech will continue to be reviewed and practiced throughout the quarter Encourage your child to work on proofreading applications of grammar and studying for tests and quizzes READING Mrs Billups Seventh grade Reading students will begin second quarter breaking into reading groups to read Golden Sower award nomi nees The Golden Sower award is Nebraska s pick for children s literature each year and it is voted on by students Students will complete this unit by creating a book trailer Students will con tinue working on elements of fiction with an assessment at the beginning of December Vocabulary quizzes will continue on Mondays with words posted on quizlet com to study Just search jbillups7 to find the list with definitions Please encourage your child to unplug for awhile each night and READ SCIENCE Mr Miller The students have recently finished our Inquiry Unit and are now moving on into Astronomy It is an exciting time as our scientists explore the Sun our Moon and planets throughout the Milky Way There will be a group project over an assigned planet this month so be sure to a
4. next District Common Assessment Pre Algebra students are wrapping up with powers expo nents scientific notation and divisibility rules We have a District Common Assessment coming up followed by a re view and chapter test Then we will begin solving one step and two step equations would encourage all math stu dents to spend some time weekly on ALEKS which they can access online at www connected mcqraw hill com The login is the same as for MyeLearning ALEKS is aligned to our math books and measures each student s individual pro gress based on an initial assessment that we completed in class This is a great tool at home for extra practice on the math concepts we are currently learning SCIENCE Mr Breitkreutz During the first weeks of November students will be pre senting their science projects in class Scores will be re corded in PowerSchool and students will have the opportu nity to fix any mistakes to demonstrate learning and earn full credit back in the grade book The remainder of the month will be spent finishing our rocks and Earth s history unit Stu dents will be exploring how to use rock layers and fossils to play history detective and figure out what happened to Earth s surface millions of years ago This unit will end with a district common assessment by the end of the month AMERICAN HISTORY Mrs Hultman This month in 8th grade American History we will continue studying different aspects of the U S
5. 7 grade and 91 for 8 grade Upcoming testing includes the ACT Aspire test for 8 graders previously ACT Explore to be given 10 29 10 30 Fall MAP test results for 6 and 7 grade are available and will be shared in the spring with final report cards If parents would like to see their child s score prior to then please contact the office Up coming events include an all band chorus concert on 10 28 health screenings for 7 graders and new students on 10 30 and election day on 11 4 including a vote on the Elkhorn Bond Issue and Elkhorn Board of Education Social Media Presentation The Booster Club is in the process of scheduling a speaker to come talk with ERMS stu dents about how to safely navigate social media a particularly relevant topic with current incidences that have taken place in the district Proposed Expenses Amy Parks moved and Lynn VanDenBroeke seconded a motion to fund up to 2 700 to Mr Ever ingham for the purchase of a new scores table This table would be paid for by funds that had previously been set aside for the marquee Mr Riggert is looking into getting the library paint updated with more attractive fun colors per the re quest of the new librarian The Booster Club may be asked to pay for part of the expense Committee Reports Box Tops HyVee Receipts Chair Kelli Steidle reported HyVee receipt collection runs September 1 December 31 Box Tops collection has netted around 500 600 Kindness Committee Chair R
6. Constitution We ll fo cus on the different branches of government checks and bal ances the Bill of Rights other amendments and the amend ing process Next we ll begin looking at the first three presi dents and their accomplishments and struggles As always don t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions SPANISH 1 Mrs Thomas and Mrs Segrist Students are currently studying chapter 4B which includes sports and accepting refusing invitations Students will work with the irregular verbs called boot verbs this chapter Your student should be studying his her flashcards about 10 minutes each night Also please have them study their questions in their spirals You can ask these questions to your student because they should have the question trans lation and how to answer it in their notes How to Improve Spanish Grade Flashcards Students should know how to pronounce the word spell it correctly and practice putting the cards to gether to make sentences On line book sent home a paper the first week of school for parents on how to access the on line textbook Stu dents also have a copy for themselves We have used the on line activities in class twice this year so your student should know how to get to the correct book and chapter www phschool com foreign_languages If your student is struggling he she needs to listen to the audio activities and do the practice vocab work MyElearning have a folder Thom
7. ELKHORN RIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL 17880 Marcy Street Omaha NE 68118 402 334 9302 November 2014 PARENT COMMUNICATION BOOSTER MEETING Our next Parent Communication Booster meeting is scheduled for Tuesday November 11th at 1 30 p m Time is set aside during these meetings for parents to address concerns and ask questions about our programs If this time does not work into your schedule and you have questions or concerns please call Mr Riggert to discuss those issues The Parent Booster group is open to all middle school parents We believe parent involvement is critical to the success of our children s education and invite all of you to become involved WEATHER ANNOUNCEMENTS When weather conditions exist that would jeopardize the safety of students traveling to or from school information about clos ing will be broadcast over stations KFAB AM 1110 KETV KMTV WOWT and KPTM If school is to have a delayed start or be cancelled announcements will begin on those stations at approximately 6 00 a m regarding early dismissals due to bad weather The district has adopted the Alert Now Notification Service which will also be used to notify parents of school clos ings and cancellations PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES Parent Teacher conferences were held on Tuesday October 14th and Wednesday October 15th We had a great turnout Thanks for being involved in your child s life ATTENDANCE BY GRADE 6th Grade 100 7th Grade 95
8. S as School at the exit doors of Hy Vee on 180th Street your school when using your TARGET CARD Don t forget HyVee gas receipts count too Box Tops Fall Collection Contest is closed Results will be posted 3 Save your HYVEE RECEIPTS soon Keep saving those box tops as the spring con These are all easy ways for us to test will start in mid February fundraise for our school Thank you so much for you help Kelli Steidle and Raina Consdorf ERMS Booster Chairs
9. as that has more com puter activities for students to do to practice the current Spanish material Manila envelopes Students have had this envelope signed three times The object is for the parents to sign the enve lope once they know their student knows the vocab Homework Constantly updated on PowerSchool Notebook Students should have a single subject notebook in which they take notes and have review questions from last year Again students should study these notes a little bit each night READING Mrs Marion Long Term Substitute have had a great time meeting and getting to know your children throughout first quarter and the start of second quarter Ms Christie will be back full time in the classroom on November 10 During second quarter we will be read ing our whole class science fiction novel The City of Em ber through Literature Circles and whole class reads Dur ing this unit students will practice using the elements of fiction introduced during Unit 1 for literary analysis In addi tion we will also complete a nonfiction unit Finally in AR this quarter students will be required to read a nonfiction text LANGUAGE ARTS Mr Schutt The month of November will be a nice change of pace We will begin focusing once again on becoming better writers The District Wide Writing Assessment will be taking place this month as well Please check MyElearning for dates and be sure to ask your student when he or
10. days will be made up in the event of three or more snow days the administration will reevaluate the calendar at that time Early Dismissal Wednesday Nov 26 School will be dismissed on e hour early at all Elkhorn Schools on Wednesday Nov 26 This is an update from the printed District calendars Need financial assistance with holiday season Do you need financial assistance with the holiday season approaching Have you encountered medical or financial hardship recently If so please contact Jodi Klein Guidance Counselor or Kevin Riggert Principal at 334 9302 When organizations reach out to our school we need to know who needs assistance 6th Grade News Mrs Bradford Mr Ebers Ms Niebaum Ms Oberembt and Mr Phelps READING Ms Oberembt In Reading during the month of November students will continue studying Greek and Latin roots with vocabulary word lists All students will also be reading a verse novel and completing a figurative language flip book project At the end of the month students will choose a book to read as part of a literature circle during the month of December LANGUAGE ARTS Mrs Bradford Sixth grade Language Arts students will continue working on paragraph writing covering descriptive narrative and persuasive genres We will also be preparing to take a district assessment over these three genres of writing and their key components We will continue working on key vocabulary and gram
11. e BBB vs Gretna Monday November 18 7 Grade BBB Gretna Thursday November 20 7 Grade BBB vs NE City Thursday November 20 8 Grade BBB NE City Monday November 24 7 Grade BBB Norris Monday November 24 8 Grade BBB vs Norris Home games are in bold and all games start at 4 15 Schedules can also be found at www easternmidconference org Mr Everingham AD ERMS H A L E Mrs Thoreen HALE It s hard to believe that the winter winds are upon us and the skies are turning gray However the gray skies don t seem to interfere with all the colorful learning the HALE kids have been a part of this month The books completed this month by HALE reading lunch groups are plentiful Allegiant 2 in Divergent Trilogy Conquest and Sarah s Key The kids have been covering a wide range of subject matters by attend ing several seminars and workshops such as Herbal Garden ing Technology Academy Photography 101 Environmental Engineering and Amphibian Sampling Two interesting trips to mention were the Douglas County Courthouse and Youth De tention Center day Several 8 graders interested in law and corrections attended an open court session and then went on to discuss the judicial system with Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine and Assistant Attorney Brenda Beadle A different group made up of 6 8 graders interested in the fine arts at tended a day at the Joslyn while they Celebrated Creativity with schools from all over t
12. enee Black reported that she had received a fair amount of donations for conference meals for teachers Food for both Fall Winter conferences tends to run around 1 000 year This year we were able to provide some gluten free and vegetarian options as requested by the staff Renee will be asking for donations again for Staff Appreciation Business Liaison Chair Cheri Stevens reported upcoming ERMS events at Oscar s on 11 4 from 5 9pm Barnes and Noble shopping day on 12 1 and a Chik Fil A date TBD Volunteers Parents of students participating in winter sports will be asked to sign up for at least one spot to sell con cessions Any parent who does not sign up will be contacted by Mr Everingham The September meeting of the ERMS Booster Club was adjourned at 2 44pm A motion for adjournment was made by Amy Parks and seconded by Lynn VanDenBroeke The next Booster Club meeting is November 11 2014 at 1 30pm BOX TOPS TARGET CARD AND HYVEE SAVE THOSE HY VEE RECEIPTS Your school needs your help rounding up Hy Vee re RECEIPTS ceipts and Box Tops F Hy Vee s Cash 4 Students program runs from Sep Helping our school is as easy as 1 2 3 tember 1 2014 to December 31 2014 At the end of 1 Save your BOX TOPS spring con the program a donation will be made from Hy Vee to test begins in February 2015 ERMS based on the receipt total Hy Vee receipts can be dropped off in the box labeled Elkhorn Ridge Middle 2 Remember to designate ERM
13. he metro Kids took drama art Tae Kwon Do music and several other classes to complete a color ful day of the arts Finally lunches are brimming with weekly Quiz Bowl Mental Lunch Crunch and Random Knows con tests The ERMS HALE kids are simply not letting any gray clouds affect their learning MYeLEARNING INSTRUCTIONS Steps to MyeLearning Log onto the Elkhorn Web site http Awww elkhornweb org Place the cursor over the Parent Student Login button on the right side of the page A drop down menu will appear Click on ANGEL MyeLearning This takes you to the ANGEL Learning Myelearning page Enter username and password This can be found inside the front cover of your student s agenda Under Courses click 8th Grade this will say 7th Grade for stu dents in 7th Grade and 6 Grade for students in the 6th Grade On the top of the page click the Calendar tab Then look at the date that you would like to see and click the teacher s name for class assignments Powerschool requires a different password and is a way for you to monitor grades If you do not have a password contact Becky Vinchur at the front office Powerschool became live on August 27th TECH SAVVY PARENT TIPS Why ICE Your Cell Phone Adding ICE contacts to your cell phone can provide important information for first responders in the event of an emergency ICE stands for In Case of Emergency Many mobile devices now have specia
14. his envelope signed three times The object is for the parents to sign the enve lope once they know their student knows the vocab Homework Constantly updated on PowerSchool Notebook Students should have a single subject notebook in which they take notes and have review questions from last year Again students should study these notes a little bit each night MATH 7 Mr Weber We are finishing up solving percents tips and tax Please ask your students to calculate how much the tax and tip is when you are out Next we will be calculating inte gers Please ask your students about integers After we learn everything there is about integers we will be working with ra tional numbers Integers and rational numbers are the basis of the numbers your student will be using for the rest of their lives PRE ALGEBRA Mr Weber We are partially through Chapter 2 which is writing and solv ing equations The students will be able to solve these in their sleep We should be able to finish up equations by Thanksgiving Then we will solve more complex equations 8th Grade News Mr Breikreutz Ms Christie Mrs Hultman Mr Schutt and Mrs Klein MATH Mrs Klein Algebra students recently completed their quest to master the Chapter 3 material on linear functions graphing slope and direct variation We will continue with slope in Chapter 4 and learn about more ways to write and graph linear equa tions before our
15. l functions for adding ICE contacts For other devices you can simply add ICE in front of a contact s name in your phone book Check your user manual for specific in structions on adding emergency contacts to your phone What is Snapchat Snapchat is an app that allows users to send pictures videos and short captions to friends 10 times faster than mms text messaging The app allows the sender to determine when the message will expire Users have the option to send a snap to one person or a group of people Once a message is viewed it will disappear and cannot be retrieved again However the person receiving the snap has the ability to take a screenshot of the photo and save it directly to their device It is important to understand that even though a message may expire there is no guarantee a photo will not be re distributed by the receiver BOOSTER CLUB We held our second Booster Club meeting on October 21st at 1 30 pm Thank you to everyone that was able to take time to come to the meeting Thanksgiving is just around the cor ner and it is a great time to thank our many generous volun teers Thank you to Amy Parks and Nikki Kirshenbaum for all of their hard work on the ERMS directory It looks awe some Also a big thank you to Kristin Lundgren for all of her hours stocking the concessions closet Thank you to Cheri Stevens and Kim Lortz for helping set up all of our home VB concession stands Thank you to the nu
16. lating simple interest learning about principal and mort gage times Next we dove into integers The students used and justified the rules for adding subtracting multiplying and dividing integers LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE Mrs Thomas and Mrs Segrist Students are learning French as the second quarter begins They will focus on basic greetings and questions numbers and colors Many of their assignments will require a signature from home that has the students practicing vocabulary or dialogues Please double check that your student has a single subject note book and a folder for use in Language Experience only SOCIAL STUDIES Mr Ebers Social Studies students have been learning about the 3 branches of the federal government as well as how the government works at the state and local levels In November we will start an intro to economics unit where we will focus on needs wants sup ply demand and economic decisions in our society On Wednes day November 26th we will have our Travelmate send off party More information will be sent home with your child in the month of November SCIENCE Mr Phelps Who eats whom We ll soon find out Sixth graders will ex amine how organisms are connected to each other and to the environment They will discuss the way the environment is or ganized how energy moves through an ecosystem and how an ecosystem is changed by the disappearance of organisms 7th Grade News Mr Bischof Mr Miller
17. mar skills as well MATH Ms Niebaum It was a pleasure getting to meet parents at student led conferences and see the great support the students have at home In math we have completed Chapter 2 and are well on our way with Chapter 3 The students did an ex cellent job on converting between fractions decimals and percents They can tell you how much an item on sale at the store will cost Next we reviewed finding least com mon multiple with a set of whole numbers The whole numbers then changed to fractions and we learned to find the least common denominator so we could then compare and order the fractions Comparing and ordering decimals was found to be easier for the students to do Now they can compare fractions decimals and percents We are now working with all the operations with decimals A re view of adding and subtracting fractions was done before multiplying and dividing Next students will use integers absolute value and graphing on the coordinate plane to solve real world problems PRE CONCEPTS Ms Niebaum was happy to share in your conferences with your child They are eager to learn and continue to work hard We finished the unit on converting between fractions decimals and percents The students can also tell you what an item on sale with a certain percentage off will cost Cal culating a tip on your dinner out can also be done by your child We had a lively discussion on financial literacy while calcu
18. merous volunteers that worked VB and FB concession stands We couldn t have them without you Thank you to Erica Seipold and all the vol unteers that helped with the Great American Fundraiser You are all amazing Thanks to Tina Dunham and Jen Goble for working on the fall apparel sale Thank you to the Booster Club Executive Board for all of your efforts so far this year Nikki Kirshenbaum Lucy Newman and Amy Parks Also a huge thank you to Renee Black for heading up the Kindness Committee Thank you to everyone who donated money for teacher meals during parent teacher conferences know the staff really appreciates having the food available on confer ence evenings And of course we need to thank our teachers and administrators for all their work each and every day with our children We are fortunate to have such a great staff at ERMS Basketball season will soon be underway with the first games scheduled for November 6th Again we will be looking for assistance with concessions at these events Remember the Booster Club will share the profits made from any 8th grade concession stand with the 8th grade class for their 8th grade celebration at the end of the year Please watch for e mail volunteer requests and choose a time to help We need everyone s help to make sure that we can operate a conces sion stand at each of the home basketball games Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday November 11th at 1 30 p m Hope to see you there
19. r more informa tion Mr Jacob Ritter will be filling for Lauren Ballou until Decem ber 19 He can be contacted at Itjritter epsne org INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC Mr Dreessen Congratulations to Alice Guo Grace Vollmuth Carson Scott Alex Sick Noble Rai and Riley King for auditioning for the 8 Grade All State Band We should know results by mid November Congratulations and respect earned Jazz Band started October 31 for Contemporary and November 3rd for Traditional Traditional Jazz Ensem ble is set Contemporary is still setting numbers so please ask Mr D for a contract and we can get your student signed up We hope you enjoyed our first concert Elkhorn Ridge Middle School Booster Club Meeting October 21 2014 President Kay Crocker called the meeting to order at 1 30pm Secretary Amy Parks asked for a motion to approve the September 2014 minutes as distributed Lynn VanDenBroeke made the motion Cheri Stevens seconded Treasurer s Report Treasurer Lucy Newman handed out a copy of the current financials Old Business The Booster Club will continue to look into options for an ice water machine for the teacher s lounge a permanent solution to the ongoing expense for the Culligan water system This system would be paid for by funds that had previously been set aside for the marquee New Business Parent Communication Mr Riggert reported that ERMS had excellent attendance at Conferences 100 for 6 grade 94 for
20. she will be taking it To prepare for the assessment we will be using creative ways to help sharpen our skills with using sensory details Also students will begin gaining more knowledge about verbs ad verbs conjunctions and interjections As always please re mind students to continually study for the weekly spelling tests The words they are learning will only help broaden their vocabulary in their writing and every day life STUDENT COUNCIL Mrs Bradford Student Council has been working on several fundraiser ideas and ways to encourage school spirit Be sure to watch the TVs listen to announcements and keep an eye out for posters de scribing our various events YEARBOOK Mr Phelps Taking photos this year At the game the musical Share them by using Community Upload When you submit your amazing photos to the yearbook staff via Community Upload your pictures have a chance to be featured in the yearbook Submit your photos now with Community Upload Go to yearbookforever com Enter our school s name it will populate select our school Under Community Upload enter access code ERM 201 5yearbook and click Enter Click Upload Photo to begin uploading your photos We are also accepting videos that you d like us to attach to your student s portrait Compile a video movie shorter than 100 MB and we will attach it to their class photo Email us your video using elkhornridgeyb gmail com and we will view it to make
21. sk your child about that Have a happy Thanksgiving WORLD HISTORY Mr Bischof In 7th grade World History we will be studying the Roman Empire and the European Middle Ages SPANISH 1 Mrs Thomas and Mrs Segrist Students are currently studying chapter 1B which includes adjectives that describe people They are creating sen tences about themselves and other people Your student should be able to complete these sentences Yo soy y i No soy ni ni Mi amiga es y mi amigo es Please have them study their questions in their spirals You can ask these questions to your student because they should have the question translation and how to answer it in their notes How to Improve Spanish Grade Flashcards Students should know how to pronounce the word spell it correctly and practice putting the cards to gether to make sentences On line book sent home a paper the first week of school for parents on how to access the on line textbook Stu dents also have a copy for themselves We used the on line activities in class twice this year so your student should know how to get to the correct book and chapter www phschool com foreign_languages If your student is struggling he she needs to listen to the audio activities and do the practice vocab work MyElearning have a folder Thomas that has more com puter activities for students to do to practice the current Spanish materials Manila envelopes Students have had t
22. sure it is appropriate Remember everyone can view your video As an adult you know how important school memories be come Don t let your student s memories fade make sure they get a yearbook For only 47 your student will have a book that will be enjoyed now and 20 30 or even 50 years from now Contact Mr Phelps at robhelos epsne org to order a book If you are not sure if you ordered a book have a list on my door room 610 that you can check Just a couple of PE reminders Every student needs to have a change of clothes to wear during class A T shirt shorts and tennis shoes are all they need They are issued a locker in the gym to put their clothes in If your student misses a day of PE you will see a 0 in Powerschool All they need to do is come get a PE Home work slip from me complete the exercises turn the form back into me within 7 school days of the absence and they will get their full points talked to the students at the be ginning of school and they know where the slips are lo cated ERMS Athletic News Following are our event dates for November Thursday November 6 7 Grade Boys Basketball BBB vs Bennington Thursday November 6 8 Grade BBB Bennington Monday November 10 7th Grade BBB vs Platteview Monday November 10 8 Grade BBB Platteview Thursday November 13 8 Grade BBB Grandview Thursday November 13 7 Grade BBB vs Grandview Monday November 17 8 Grad
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