JOHN ADAMS ADVISOR

Spring 2008 Newsletter

 

For Incoming 6th Grade Students and Parents

Because you are going to be a John Adams Middle School student or the parent of a student entering the sixth grade next fall, we are providing you with a copy of this year’s final edition of the John Adams Advisor Newsletter.  The newsletter is published and mailed to parents three times each year in an effort to provide information, which we feel would be of interest.  Mr. Jumper, Principal, and Mr. Johnson, Associate Principal, will be visiting elementary buildings after spring break to register students and explain the middle school program.  There will also be Student/Parent meeting for incoming John Adams 6th graders at 6:30 P.M. on April 3 at John Adams.

 

 

END OF YEAR PROCEDURES

The last day of school will be on Thursday, May 29 (at this point).  Dismissal time has not yet been determined.  Report cards will be mailed to students on Thursday, June 5.  To facilitate distribution, it is important that the student takes care of any obligations he/she might have such as payment of regular school fees, library fines, lost books, lost padlocks, and any other obligations.

 

 

 

Parent -Teacher Conferences

The next Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) meeting will be held on April 8, 2008, starting at 7 P.M.  in the John Adams Information Center (IC).  Decisions concerning the organization will occur at this meeting; examples would include the election of PTO officers and dates of meetings.  Also, you should attend to hear what is happening at your son or daughter’s school.

 

 

Genesis, PTO Fundraiser 2008-2009

We will continue with this fundraiser for the next

school year.  It will be at the beginning of the next school year.  Please keep this in mind as you plan for your magazine renewals.  We will be purchasing books for the Information Center and saving for future technology needs.

 

Registration        

Fall registration for the 2008-2009 school year for all grade levels will be held at John Adams on the following dates:

 

Tuesday, August 5                 12:00 P.M. - 7:00 P.M.

Wednesday, August 6            8:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M.

JAMS make-up day:

Thursday, August 14                8:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M.

 

We encourage parents to register their children during these sessions when possible due to the limited number of staff available to register students at a later time.  If you have any questions, please call the John Adams Middle School Office at 421-4420.

 

 

Athletic Physicals

For those who wish to participate in the various interschool athletic programs, a physical examination is required before you may take part.  Physical exams are good for 13 months from the date of the exam.  They must be turned into the office before the season starts for the sport you wish to participate in.

 

 

Extra, Extra

Read All About It!

If your middle schooler is involved in non-school activities, please keep us informed about

their successes.  We would be proud to post a note about them on our Special Recognition Bulletin Board.

 

District & Building

Web Site                                             

You may access district and building information through a WEB site.  Building information is provided as follows:                                                                                                                                                                  

Newsletter

Calendar      

Activities

Staff

Message from the Principal

      PTO Minutes

 

The address for the web site is: www.masoncityschools.org.  The John Adams daily announcements can be viewed on Power School by clicking on the bulletin icon.

 

 

 

Moving?

Moving requires a great deal of planning.  Please include the school in your plans.  Please let us know if you are leaving the Mason City area.  Accurate grade level counts assist us in our scheduling plans.  If you move to a new Mason City address, please call us at 421-4420 to share your new address.  This will guarantee your receiving communication from school.

 

 

PARKING                  

Please remember the drive on the west side of John Adams is a one-way drive.  We have enough room to park and pick-up and drop-off students on the east and west sides of the drive in front of school.  Please require your middle school youngster to get into the vehicle from the sidewalk side.  Opening doors and getting into vehicles on the traffic side of your car may result in serious injury to your child.  The center lane is designed to allow for traffic to enter and exit the front of the building in a timely manner.  Please do not double park in the staff parking lot when picking your youngster up.

 

Also, with the thaw, we would ask that you not park on the school lawn.  Thank you.  Please note that we have had a yellow pedestrian crossing painted the width of our exit walk at the main entrance.  Students are being urged to cross at this location.

                                                                              

8th Grade Benchmark Assessment

From April 1-18, the 8th grade classes will be completing the benchmark assessment for language arts.  This will involve all students in the 8th grade language arts classes.  The main objective of the assessment is to evaluate the student’s ability to communicate effectively in an oral presentation.

 

We would like to stress the importance of having your child be in school for the entire time.  Since all the work needs to be completed in the time blocks allowed, it becomes critical for your child to be in attendance.  It is also important for your child to be in attendance for the presentations since this is the only time the district evaluators will be listening to presentations.

 

All 8th grade students will be presenting on Thursday, April 17 and Friday, April 18.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to call John Adams and ask for Kelly Penn, Beth Rozen or Mary Jo Urbatsch.  They are members of the Benchmark Assessment Team and will help you with your questions.

 

 

Test Retake Policy

Only those students who have an overall quarter grade of a D or F in the particular test subject will be able to retake a quiz or test grade that was D or F within the six-cycle day period.  This is a change from past implementation in which any student receiving a D or F on a test was granted a test retake within the six-cycle day period.  We hope that this places more of an emphasis on studying and increases the awareness of being prepared.

 

    

 

Band/Orchestra/Chorus Performances

 

The bands of John Adams Middle School will have the following performances:

· April 15 – John Adams Spring Band Concert – JAMS Gymnasium for all band students – 7:30 P.M.

· April 22 – Middle School and Elementary Orchestra Concert JAMS/RMS– RMS Gymnasium 7:30 P.M.

· April 28 – John Adams Spring Vocal Concert – North Iowa Area Community College Auditorium – 7:30 P.M.

 

 

 

 

Calling Parents to Perform with Band

If you are a parent of a 7th/8th grade band member and would like to perform with the band during the April 15 concert, please give Mr. Anderson a call at school.  We are going to have parents join the band for one selection during the Spring Concert.  Mr. Anderson will send you the music so that you may practice ahead of time.  There will be a rehearsal the evening of the April 15 concert at 7:00 P.M.  I hope if you have played an instrument in the past, or currently play an instrument, that you will be able to join us.  Thanks!

 

 

 

MATHCOUNTS: What is it?

Each year the MATHCOUNTS Foundation sponsors a nationwide math coaching and

competition program to help increase enthusiasm and achievement in middle school mathematics programs.  John Adams Middle School has participated for the last several years in this competition.  The North Iowa Chapter of the Iowa Engineering Society sponsors this event. 

 

Practice sessions started in October with over 20 students participating from grades 6, 7, and 8.  In January, the students participated in the school competition, which consisted of a Sprint Round of 30 questions testing accuracy.  They were not allowed to use calculators for these questions.  They also worked problems in a Target Round of 8 questions testing math reasoning skills and problem-solving processes.  Calculators were allowed for the Target Round.  At the regional competition, teams of four students also compete in a Team Problem Solving Round where team members work together to solve ten problems. 

 

From the school competition, eight students were chosen in January to participate in the North Iowa MATHCOUNTS competition on Saturday, February 2, at NIACC.  Students representing John Adams were Ethan Juhnke, Sheila Evans, Alexandra Dunlay, Andrew Sloan, David Alscher, Matthew Tornquist, Nathan Betz and Clay Penca.

 

In individual competition, Ethan Juhnke finished in first place, Sheila Evans finished second, and Andrew Sloan finished third.  The team of Ethan Juhnke, Sheila Evans, Alexandra Dunlay, and Andrew Sloan finished in first place in the team competition and advance to state competition in March. 

 

If you have any questions about MATHCOUNTS, please contact John Bowman at John Adams.  He would be glad to supply you with additional information.

 

 

LATE WORK POLICY

Academic assignments and/or projects are due on the due date set by the teacher.  If handed in within a six-day cycle period from that due date, full academic credit will be given.  Teachers may deduct productivity points for an assignment not handed in on the exact due date.  An assignment handed in after this six-day cycle period will result in the grade receiving zero points.  The intention of this policy is to help students meet deadlines, develop responsible habits, and improve preparation practices before they enter the high school.

 

 

 

FUTURE PROBLEM SOLVERS

Extracurricular opportunities are available for students at John Adams.  Future Problem Solvers is a program to help students develop future leadership skills and is available for all 6-8th grade students to participate.  Students will work in groups of four using a six-step model, focusing on research, creativity, problem-solving, communicating and cooperative group work. All students need these skills for success in school and in life.  If they are interested in joining FPS, please contact Mrs. Urbatsch for additional information. 

 

Congratulations to the following students who will participate in the State Future Problem Solving bowl.

 

Emily Hackman

Sahan Jayawardena

Payton Mellman

Nathan Betz

Claire Pennington

Keely Hertzel

Hannah Lassise

Andrew Sloan

Sheila Evans

Alyssa Colville

Matt Tornquist

Katelyn Corcoran

Abby Morgan

Netta Peters

Myah Mellman

Kristina Daoud

Tricia Notermann

Kyle Anderson

Lexy Pederson

Ian Sloan

 

 

Professional Development

 

The staff at John Adams has been working on the philosophy of differentiation most of the year.  At the start of next year, professional development will focus on the implementation of differentiation in classrooms.  As a building we have also implemented co-teaching this school year.  We look for some of the 7th grade staff to attend this training over the summer and into next school year.

 

The rest of this school year we will focus on our affective goal which is to “Increase the percentage of students who report feeling safe and connected to school.”  In professional development time we will work on improving transitioning as students move from 5th to 6th grade as well as when students progress from 8th to 9th grade.  The staff will also start making plans to implement Positive Behavior Supports (PBS).  As parents of John Adams students you will hear more about this program at the beginning of next school year.

 

 

PBS POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT

Positive Behavior Support:  A comprehensive set of strategies that are meant to redesign school environments in such a way that problem behaviors are prevented or inconsequential, and to teach students new skills, making problem behaviors unnecessary.

 

What are the four “Core Elements” of PBS?

 

  1. Clearly defined outcomes
  2. Research-validated practices
  3. Supportive administrative systems
  4. Use of information for problem solving

 

 

How does PBS work?

 

  1. Student expectations are defined
  2. Student expectations are taught
  3. Student expectations are acknowledged
  4. Student behavioral errors have immediate and consistent consequences
  5. Faculty and staff behavior is positive, predictable and consistent
  6. Data are gathered, summarized and used for decision-making on a regular cycle.

 

 

6TH GRADE UPDATE

Sixth-graders are working hard in language arts to prepare for the writing assessment in April.  In social studies, the students will be learning state capitals and researching a state for a presentation.  Students in math are finishing up with a measurement unit, and will be learning about order of operations next.  Science students will be piloting a new chemistry unit, so we are excited to see what is in store for us.  Finally, students have reported that the new modules in industrial technology are hard, but very enjoyable.

 

6TH GRADE PLANNER POLICY  

 

The sixth grade team will be requiring sixth grade students to have their planners filled out with each subject’s homework for the fourth quarter.  Teachers will be checking student’s planners in class and/or during study hall.  If a student does not have planner because he/she has lost the school issued one, he/she is encouraged to get a new one at a local store, use a notebook, or at the very least, fill-out a sheet of paper. 

This policy is vital to help teach and encourage self-responsibility and being prepared.