March 2023 Newsletter

Principal's Message

Dear EMS Families:

Students and staff at EMS continue to focus on building our academic knowledge and social skills while managing all of the “energy” building up to spring break. Our students are visiting the LMC book fair which began today, they participated in our annual Pennies for Patients campaign, and our Student Council will host our second semester Blood Drive next week. We are very proud of how our students are contributing to our EMS and OC community!

During the month of March, our Cougar Code goal is to show expected behaviors in the hallway. We have asked our EMS students for their feedback and input on how we can improve passing time. As a staff we are continuing to support and celebrate last quarter's goal of getting to class on time by asking teachers to recognize students who practice responsibility. We appreciate your continued support in reinforcing the importance of being safe, engaged, respectful and responsible with your students!

Thank you to our parents and guardians who attended our Virtual Spring Conferences last night. We appreciate your partnership in engaging in meaningful conversations regarding learning. We encourage you to connect with your child's teachers to follow-up on any goals that were set and to make sure that students are on track for the remainder of this school year.

Finally, as we look ahead to April and the WI FORWARD assessment, our student services and teacher teams are finalizing our WI FORWARD testing schedule. Click here to view our first of several parent communications to help you and your student prepare for the WI FORWARD assessment. East students will complete the WI FORWARD Assessment the week of April 17-21, 2023. We kindly ask that you ensure your child is in attendance during FORWARD testing week.

We wish everyone an enjoyable spring break!

Sue Thompson, Principal

Jodi Newell Associate Principal (A-L)

Casey Milroy, Associate Principal (M-Z)

UPCOMING EVENTS

Click HERE to see a full list of upcoming events!

March

Mar 2 - Parent/ Teacher Conferences

Mar 3-10 - Book Fair - Open during school hours.

Mar 7 - Blood Drive 11am - 4pm

Mar 27-31 - Spring Break - No School

April

Apr 7 - No School

Apr 10 - No School

BLOOD DRIVE - MARCH 7

BOOK FAIR

The Scholastic Book Fair will be set up in the Library Friday, March 3 - Friday, March 10. Book Fair will be open during school hours.

COUGAR CODE AWARD WINNERS

COUNSELOR'S CORNER

Daylight Savings is March 12th! Below are helpful tips for creating healthy sleep habits:

Getting enough sleep is critical for a child to be successful in school. Children who do not get enough sleep have difficulty concentrating and learning as well as they can.
Set a consistent bedtime for your child and stick with it every night. Having a bedtime routine that is consistent will help your child settle down and fall asleep. Components of a calming pre-bedtime routine may involve a bath/shower, reading with them, and tucking them in and saying good-night to them.
Have your child turn off electronic devices well before bedtime.
Try to have the home as quiet and calm as possible when younger children are trying to fall asleep.
Insufficient sleep is associated with lower academic achievement in middle school, high school and college, as well as higher rates of absenteeism and tardiness. The optimal amount of sleep for most younger children is 10-12 hours per night and for adolescents (13-18 year of age) is in the range of 8-10 hours per night

To learn more about sleep and healthy sleeping habits, click the articles below:

HAPPENING AT EAST

"Danger Town" by Yazan Qabaha, 7th Grade

March Madness in the Library

Starting March 1 in the LMC, we will be having a March Madness Bracket contest. This contest will help us determine the best book in East Middle Schools Library. Staff and students will fill out their bracket with their guess of what is the best book in our library. Then each week, everyone will vote to see which books move on to the next level. At the end of March, we will find out what was voted best book. We can't wait to see the results!

AMBASSADOR CLUB

During February, our East Middle School Ambassador club hosted our 2nd Annual Penny Wars! In total, our students and staff raised approximately $615.

These funds will be going directly toward supporting DIBBS17 and the American Heart Association. Because of our school community, change has made a difference, change for life and change is how WE are keeping happy hearts beating.

CELEBRATING CHINESE NEW YEAR

7th and 8th graders this year have been celebrating Chinese New Year by practicing typical Chinese customs such as Chinese paper-cutting(Chinese character: chun, ji), introducing the Chinese national flower: Plum Blossom( méihuā), and its spirit. Using traditional Chinese ink & a plate to draw the flower. Writing Chinese characters on spring couplets for good wishes, and creating paper cutout rabbits (This year’s zodiac animal). Of course, the most fun part is learning how to make dumplings and wontons. We cooked in the classroom and everyone had an opportunity to try them. Some students even brought dumplings home to share with their families.

In addition to performing activities for the new year, students learned Chinese New Year sayings they can use to greet and wish people good luck. The students not only practiced traditional customs during Chinese New Year, but also learned the cultural significance behind these ancient traditions.

DISTRICT NEWS

District Spelling Bee

Congratulations to Molly Maggard, sixth grader, who represented Oak Creek East Middle School in the Regional Spelling Bee held on Thursday, February 23 at Cesa #1 in Pewaukee. Molly spelled correctly through the third to last round of the competition. We congratulate Molly for representing Oak Creek East in such a positive manner!

OAK CREEK PAEC EVENTS

PARENT REMINDERS

GOLD SLIPS

Students who will be staying before or after school for clubs, extracurricular activities, tutoring sessions, etc... will need to have a signed Gold Slip until the activity coach or club advisor has the student fill out a code of conduct that is signed by both the student and parent/guardian (if applicable).

Gold Slips can be found in the office or on the Forms section of the EMS website under the Parents tab.

Click HERE to print and fill out a slip to return to the front office.

Cell Phone Free School

Click HERE to view our cell phone and headphones procedure

If you allow your student to bring a phone to school, it will need to be locked in the locker from 8:30 am until 3:45 pm.

As in the “olden days,” you can contact the office if you need to speak to or get a message to your child.

Absence Reporting

Please call the attendance line at (414) 768-6260 option “1” to report student absences and tardies. When leaving a message, please include the date, first and last name of your student, the spelling and grade.

Additionally you may email attendance information to our general office email address at office.eastmiddle@ocfsd.org

Virtual Backpack

Don’t forget to check your student’s Virtual Backpack! The Virtual Backpack is our "eco-friendly" approach to distributing information supporting our district's educational goals and mission.

Virtual Backpack Link: ocfsd.org/parents/virtual-backpack

Background Checks

The District Volunteer Background Check Application is now online! We will no longer be accepting paper applications. Every volunteer must complete an online volunteer application form even if you were previously approved and are on the Volunteer Database. You will still need to submit an online volunteer application every five years after the initial online application. This new process will have results within 1-2 days!

The link can be found under the Parents tab on the district website.