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FOREST CITY
MIDDLE SCHOOL
April 2017 Newsletter
Win the Day!
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Middle School Principal
zdillavou@forestcity.k12.ia.us
641-585-4772
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Issue note: Different email clients have different displays. If you see a small box with dots in it, please click it and it will expand to view all of the articles
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The 2016-2017 school year is quickly moving into our final two months. It is amazing to see how much growth the students make during the course of one school year. I am looking forward to the excitement that is always a part of the last months of the school year. We will all continue to work hard as our students prepare to transition forward. It is a pleasure to be a part of your students’ development.
We are now entering the time of year where the weather gets nice and students have a tougher time than usual staying focused on their academic responsibilities. Please continue to stress to your child the importance of taking responsibility for their academic achievement. The staff at FCMS will continue to work hard to provide your student with challenging and enjoyable learning experiences through the final days of the school year.
The mid term date for the 3rd Trimester is April 13th. You can expect your students’ midterm report cards shortly after that date. Please take the time to look over this progress report and discuss your student’s report card with them. If you have any questions, please contact the teacher or myself by either telephone or email. There will be no scheduled Parent-Teacher Conferences during the third trimester, but your child’s teachers are always available to you via phone, 585-4772 or email to schedule a conference as needed.
With the continued increase in social media use I want to strongly encourage you to take an active role in monitoring your child’s usage and interactions with others. As a school we want to provide and support materials that support digital citizenship. Please see the information in this newsletter and in past newsletters. One excellent resource is the www.commonsensemedia.org, web site. This includes information around internet safety, sexting, setting online limits and much more information. We all have the same common goal, let’s keep our kids safe online.
I want to encourage you to be involved with your student and our school. With the students, parents, and school staff working together the Forest City Middle School will continue to be a positive and caring learning community.
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Last week, students and staff participated in FC P.R.O.S. (People Representing Our School). A series of events took place with the purpose of combatting bullying and promoting healthy relationships. This was the middle school's 4th year doing this program. Here are a couple of highlights:
- A motivational message about character from former FC student and now University of Iowa All-American swimmer Emma Sougstad.
- Tuesday was 3-2-1 Day. Students were challenged to give 3 compliments, have 2 meaningful conversations, and do 1 random act of kindness.
- Wednesday, each grade showed they are united against bullying and committed to not be bystanders but be upstanders.
- On Thursday, the classes read short stories about being the best version of themselves and to overcome obstacles in life.
- The week ended with "hats off to end bullying." Students were allowed to wear hats to signify they weren't going to let negative actions or words be apart of their school day.
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Life Skills Class Creates Volunteer Directory
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Mrs. Park's 7th grade Life Skills class hopes they have created a useful directory that will benefit all community members who wish to volunteer.
The class was learning about financial literacy. One of the foundations they were studying from Dave Ramsey's
Foundations in Personal Finance, Middle School Edition, was to "Build Wealth and Give to Others."
With Mrs. Parks direction, the students created a directory for people to volunteer locally for community service projects. The idea is for people to have a resource for ideas that fit them, certain age groups or a number of people.
Students helped contact the different organizations to learn about volunteer opportunities.
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We are excited to announce that parents will be able to register students for the upcoming school year online!
Enhancements are being made to the web-based parent portal called Infinite Campus. Infinite Campus provides families with access to student records, attendance, announcements and lunch account balances. Schedules and grades are also posted for middle and high school students.
Beginning in August, parents will also be able to register for school, complete authorization forms and make payments for registration fees and lunch accounts within Infinite Campus.
Watch for more information this summer.
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From the Student Contributing Writers...
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The Play
By Kailyn Corey
One Act Play to be precise! This year the FCMS held a speech night on March 20th instead of a play.
A one act play has one act and usually runs from 15 to 60 minutes. This years one act was about three mice who work at a TV station. The ratings are low so they come up with a new show-they’ll tell their favorite stories from their childhood, but with a twist!
Mrs. Linder & Mrs. Olson helped the kids to put on the One Act. When asked what made them want to do speech and or theater, Mrs. Linder said, “Being in theater is awesome because you can become someone totally different from yourself for awhile and then another someone else when that part is over and you've moved to the next. What I love most about coaching speech and drama is watching others interpretation of a role and helping them grow the character. Plus, you're all just amazing kids!”
While Mrs. Olson said, “What interests me about theater/speech...I believe that fine arts play an important role in a student's life. I love working with 6th, 7th, and 8th graders and helping them showcase their talents. There are many opportunities for speech and drama in high school. I hope that middle school speech and drama will spark an interest in kids and encourage them to participate once they get to high school as well.”
Along with the One Act Play, the speech night had other groups performing as well. They all worked hard and we hope you enjoyed speech night!
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Science Teachers' Work on Curriculum Showcased
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Justin Uhlenhopp and Tyler Wedemeier were asked to write about their journey in implementing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) which are the basis of the new Iowa Science Standards.
Check out their blog, published on iowacore.gov, where they share what they have learned over the past three years.
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It is increasing difficult for parents and educators to keep up with the ways our children are using new and ever changing technologies. In each newsletter issue, Forest City Schools Technology Director, Mike Van Oort, will share information on important digital citizenship topics. Contact Mike with any questions at 585-2324 or mvanoort@forestcity.k12.ia.us.
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Excerpt from www.commonsensemedia.org
Why Device- Free Dinners are a Healthy Choice!
Technology offers plenty of benefits and opportunities for families, but nothing replaces face-to-face time with the ones we love.
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On
Wednesday, May 3, the Relay Rainbow Run and Rainbow Tot Trot will be held at the Middle School.
These events are brought to the community by the FCMS Student Council and the proceeds benefit Winnebago County Relay for Life.
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Follow us @ ForestCityMS
Teacher Twitter accounts:
@fcms_read_gal
@zdillavou
@FCMSOlsonK
@
WedemeierMr
@Uhlenhopp15
@ELPFC
@helgesont
@dcbang
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Forest City Middle School
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We use SchoolWay to notify our community about weather related changes to our schedules. Share this with family and friends. More information at SchoolWay
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