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November 2022 Newsletter

A Message from Principal Thompson

Hello, Oak Creek East Middle School Families,


It’s hard to believe that next week we transition from first quarter to second quarter! At East, we continue to work as a school in helping our students build strong academic routines and habits of being respectful, safe, engaged and responsible, our Cougar Code. In addition, we look forward to recognzing our students who demonstrated high acadmic achievement on honor roll and/or our student who earned Middle School Outstanding Knights for their positive behavior, attendance and academic accomplishments. Click here to view recognition criteria.


Thank you EMS families for working collaboratively with our teachers and staff members during our fall Parent Teacher Conferences and keeping up-to-date through our weekly House communications. We value the support we receive from you, our parents/guardians, so please don't hesitate to contact your student's teacher, or counselor, to continue to work together to make this a successful school year. 


Our students and staff will recognize Veterans Day during their advisory class on November 11, in which they will learn about the meaning of Veterans Day and reflect on ways to honor and show gratitude to our veterans. This school-wide activity will be led by our 8th grade student council members.


As we enter the holiday season, it is a perfect time to reflect and be thankful for all our gifts. We, the Oak Creek East Middle School administration and staff, would like to take this opportunity to thank you, the parents/guardians, students, and all those who help make our school an engaging, challenging and inspiring place to learn for all of our students. Thank you for the gift of time with your child(ren) and the opportunity to educate them.


Sincerely,


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!


NOVEMBER

Nov 3, Thursday, Festival of Choirs -

Oak Creek Performing Arts Center

Nov 4, Friday - No School

Nov 8, Tuesday - 2nd Quarter Begins

Nov 8, Tuesday - Fall Blood Drive: 1:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Nov 18, Friday - 7th & 8th Grade Band/Jazz Concert 7:00pm

Nov 23-25, (Wednesday - Friday) - No School

EMS Student Council Community Blood Drive

Student Trip to Washington DC - Spring Break 2024


If anyone missed the informational meeting on Wednesday, 10/26 for the 2024 student trip to Washington DC, here are the parent presentation  and video we shared. There is a $100 discount if you enroll by November 11. It is an outstanding trip, and early enrollment will allow for lower monthly payments. 

If you have any questions, please contact Steve Hein at s.hein@ocfsd.org. Remember, this is a school approved, but not school sponsored trip so contact Mr. Hein, not the office, with any questions. East's trip number is 206415.

COUNSELOR CONNECTION


Did you know that November is College and Career Development month? In honor of this month, we wanted to share a little about what our students at East receive regarding Academic and Career Planning (ACP) via the Xello platform. Throughout the school year, all East students will receive quarterly lessons on career and college exploration and readiness. This quarter, students worked through three interest inventories broken down into three phases. Phase 1 is called Matchmaker. This inventory gives students a set of career matches aligned with their interests that relate most strongly to central aspects of careers. Personality Style is the Phase 2 inventory. This assessment uses the Holland Model and combines student interests with responses related to personality and identifies careers that align with their interests and personality style. Phase 3 of the inventories is called Mission Complete. The purpose of this inventory is to further fine-tune and narrow careers and professions that align with your student’s responses.


To watch a short video about the Xello inventories, click here.


To read more from Xello about “The Benefits of College and Career Readiness for Middle School Students” click here.

World Kindness Day

November 13th, 2022



Wear blue or a kindness t-shirt or sweatshirt to show support on the 13th. Blue was selected as the color paired with Kindness Day because it is often associated with peace. On November 13th, make a point to perform random acts of kindness.

Counseling Resources for

World Kindness Day



Counseling Resources for

World Kindness Day


Random Acts of Kindness Foundation

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation is a small nonprofit that invests resources into making kindness the norm. 


Kindness Calendar


Kindness Ideas


STUDENT NEWS

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Alicia Solano

Grade 8


Alicia created this masterful composition to show anger through the use of color and expression. This project was about showing different types of emotions and their connections to color. The use of warm colors (red, yellow & orange) help express the emotion of anger.

Alicia is a hard worker and a budding artist. I cannot wait to see what her future holds and hope to see her continue building her skills in art.

  • Ms. Tupa




Cougar Gratitude Award



Hello Cougar community! This year at EMS we are introducing the Cougar Gratitude Award. This award allows teachers/staff, students and parents to nominate an EMS staff member for being awesome! We created this award to give all of our school community members a chance to shout out an EMS staff member :) 


Please complete this Google Form for every nomination you submit. You can submit this form as many times as you wish this year to express your gratitude!


Thanks!

SEL Team

SEEKING FEEDBACK


At this time, we have been using the SmartPass digital hall pass system for one quarter at East Middle School, and we are seeking feedback from students, staff, and families about its implementation. To help us best support our students, their learning, and the safety of our school community, we appreciate families’ time with this brief, four-question survey about SmartPass.

Festival of Choirs Concert


The 8th grade choir performed with the West Middle School and Oak Creek High School choirs at the annual Festival of Choirs concert on November 3 at the Oak Creek Performing Arts and Education Center. Each choir performed separately and several songs were sung by some or all of the members of the three schools' choirs.


Fun at the Student Read In Night

REMINDERS

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NO CELL PHONE POLICY


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.

Haven't ordered a yearbook for this school year? Don't sweat it, we have you covered! Online sales can be made by visiting the Jostens website.


They are on sale right now for $35.


Click HERE to order your yearbook today!


Internet Safety and Security


For the past several years, Helen Wasmer has been coming to Oak Creek East Middle School to present a detailed and frank message to 6th grade students.  That message is: The internet is a very powerful tool.  This power can be wielded for great educational and social good, or for troubling or even dangerous reasons.  As citizens of the technology universe, safe and effective internet users have a responsibility to put protections in place for the safety and security of their personal data, reputation, and unfortunately in some cases physical safety.

  

She suggests taking at least the following steps to increase your internet safety and security:

 

  • Remove ANY and ALL identifying information from your profiles (no real name, email address, home address, school affiliation, teams or groups you belong to, etc)

 

  • Check your “Privacy Settings” on ALL apps/games you use, and make sure it is set so you must approve anyone who wants to see your profile/content (on Instagram, simply set to Private Account)

 

  • Geotagging – turn off the GPS access for the camera

 

iPhone: Settings – Privacy and Security – Location Services – toggle to “never” any app asking to use GPS  EXCEPT family-sharing apps like Life360

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. 

Oak Creek-Franklin

East Middle School Contact Info



Website: ocfsd.org/east-middle-school

Main Office: (414) 768-6260

Attendance Line: (414) 768-6260; Option “1”

Attendance Email: office.eastmiddle@ocfsd.org

Food Service: (414) 768-6120

Lunch Menus: ocfsd.org/breakfastlunch



Sue Thompson, Principal

s.thompson@ocfsd.org

 

Jodi Newell, Associate Principal j.newell@ocfsd.org

(Last name A-L)


Casey Milroy, Associate Principal

c.milroy@ocfsd.org 

 (Last name M-Z)


Jamie Davis, Administrative Assistant (Attendance)

j.davis@ocfsd.org

 

Jill Hanel, Administrative Assistant

j.hanel@ocfsd.org


Kathy Veit, Administrative Assistant

k.veit@ocfsd.org 


Emily Splan, School Counselor 

(Last name A-L)

e.splan@ocfsd.org 


Christine Ruz, School Counselor 

(Last name M-Z)

c.ruz@ocfsd.org


Wendy Wright-Kisting, Administrative Assistant , Guidance

w.wrightkisting@ocfsd.org

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