May 2011 - Middlebury Community Schools

May, 2011
Thoughts from Dr. Goodman
Parents often ask me, “What can I do to help my child progress educationally over the summer?” The best
answer is a very simple one: encourage your child to read. Finding quality books that are meant for middle
school students can sometimes be a challenge. Our school encourages our students to read the Young
Hoosier Books during the school year. The list for next year is found below. These would all be great summer
reads for your child ☺
The purpose of the Young Hoosier Book Award Program is to stimulate recreational reading among
elementary and middle school/junior high school children and to encourage cooperation between
administrators, school media specialists, teachers, public libraries, and the community in providing reading
experiences for Indiana school children.
2011-2012 Young Hoosier Book Award Nominees for Middle Grades
A Thousand Never Evers, by Shana Burg
Ain’t Nothing but a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry, by Scott Reynolds Nelson
All the Broken Pieces: A Novel in Verse, by Ann E. Burg
Beef Princess of Practical County, by Michelle Houts
Before Columbus: the Americas of 1491, by Charles C. Mann
Brooklyn Nine: A Novel in Nine Innings, by Alan Gratz
Bull Rider, by Suzanne Williams
Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice, by Phillip Hoose
The Compound, by Stephanie A. Bodeen
Crossing Stones, by Helen Frost
Found, by Margaret Peterson Haddix
The Girl Who Threw Butterflies, by Mick Cochrane
Gym Candy, by Carl Deuker
The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart
Notes from the Dog, by Gary Paulsen
Runaway Twin, by Peg Kehret
Scat!, by Carl Hiaasen
Schooled, by Gordan Korman
When the Whistle Blows, by Fran Cannon Slayton
Year of the Bomb, by Ronald Kidd
2011 – 2012
The first day of school is Wednesday, August 17.
Remember that Northridge Middle School classes start at 9:05 on Wednesday.
Registration for students already enrolled in our school will be
Wednesday & Thursday, August 10 & 11 from 12:00 – 4:00 and 5:30-7:30.
You will be receiving more information in a mailing late July.
Students new to the corporation should call for a registration appointment.
Athletics – Please check the athletic page on our website for fall sport/physical
information.
6th Grade Students of the Month
FOR APRIL
Sabers
Raptors
T-Rex
Lance Sprunger
Jessica Richardson
McKenzie Love
Blake Mawhorter
FOR MAY
T-Rex
Rylee Dahlman
Angela Troyer
Sasha Chapman
Ashton Miller
Sabers
Kyle Rink
Jamie Mast
Raptors
Zakk Pittman
Phil Serikow
MATH MASTERS
Math Masters final magic came through for the Honorable mention recipients; James Dugle,
Abigail Bache, Eryn Calfee, Madison Kenyon, Carson Neer, Derek Varner, Tyler Ponciroli, Blake
Mawhorter, Alyssa Hochstetler, and Lyndon Byler.
Runner up recipients of; Sam Grewe, Jacob Rebec, Jacob Poole were perfect in all of the
questions. Congratulation Nick Kieper who is this month’s Top Math Master. Congratulation to
all the participants this year and remember these types of questions will get you ready to join
Math Counts next year. Mr. Nisen is watching for you.
VIP Honor Tea
On Monday evening, May 23, 2011, one hundred and twenty students were honored at a V.I.P. Tea at
Northridge Middle School. The Honor Tea was held in the cafeteria from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. for
the students and their parents.
Northridge Middle School has established the V.I.P. award to recognize students for their citizenship
skills. The criteria in selecting these students for their citizenship includes qualities of: being
responsible, helpful, considerate, supporting Northridge in a positive manner, displaying leadership,
having a pleasant personality, having good attendance, being respectful of authority and other
students’ rights and properties. These students are selected by their grade level team and are voted for
by the entire staff at Northridge.
The V.I.P. luncheons are provided each quarter by Middlebury Dairy Queen, who has supported this
program for nineteen years. During the Dairy Queen lunch a speaker came and spoke to the quarterly
winners. At the luncheon each student receives a bumper sticker and a picture taken to display in the
entrance showcase. These are provided by American Legion Post #210 in Middlebury who have
supported this program for seventeen years.
Speaking to the students and parents at the V.I.P. Tea was Kent Bjurstrom of Goshen.
The V.I.P. Honor Tea also recognizes a Citizenship award and Most Improved Award to an 8th grade
student.
Citizenship Award recipient: Eva Dwyer
Most Improved Award: * name omitted due to “denial to publish” request”
Best All-Around Student Award in each grade level: one boy and one girl
6th grade: Sam Grewe, Marci Miller
7th grade: Megan Campbell, Kurtis Hochstetler
8th Grade: James Bradberry, Leah Bontreger
4th Quarter VIP Luncheon
The VIP program at Northridge Middle School recognizes good citizenship qualities. Ten
students are selected from each grade level. Each quarter, VIPs will be honored with a Middlebury
Dairy Queen luncheon with a speaker from the community They also receive a bumper sticker
provided by American Legion Post #210 in Middlebury.
The criteria considered for selecting these students are; they help and care for others, take care of
school responsibilities (grades, detentions, over due books etc.) in a positive way, display leadership,
actively involved in school, has good attendance, pleasant personality, respects authority and other
students’ rights and property,
The featured speaker for the fourth quarter was Alicia Burns of Goshen. The luncheon was held
April 21, 2011 in the Family and Consumer Science room. The students selected for the fourth
quarter were:
6th grade: Taryn Curie, Kaylee Doster, Juan Gomez, Tevin Jordan, Laura Miller, Lillianne Rissot,
Reiley Schwartz, Joe Smith, Lance Sprunger and Abigail Zook.
7th grade: Jesse Drake, Mallory Fletcher, Aaron Hochstetler, Hunter Lawson, Rachel Pladson, Molly
Romero, Mary Seddon, Grace VanOrman and Serena VanOrman.
* name omitted due to “denial to publish” request”
8th grade: Shae Dirks, Mckayla Friskney, Sam Hoover, Karissa Klemm, Regina Miller, Megan
Robbins, Adolfo Sigala, Shana Wengerd, and Jordan Yoder.
* name omitted due to “denial to publish” request”
Congratulations to these students!
Quartoseptcentennial of Middlebury and the Seven Wonders
What a great year to take a look at our town and celebrate the Wonders of Middlebury, 175
years and still growing!
Pumpkin Vine
Krider Gardens
Loveway
Essenhaus
Yup’s
Bonneyville Cemetery (with a burial plot and Memorial to a Revolutionary soldier)
Middlebury Museum
These are all sites of interest within our school district, sites that our seventh grade students
have researched and voted on to be a part of their field trip in past years. The initial list is
much longer, with students naming close to one hundred places of interest and then voting
for the ones that they think should be named “the seven wonders of Middlebury.” That is
what makes this field trip unique; the students have direct input into the field trip. They
decide where they will go.
The idea came several years ago from reading the book The Seven Wonders of Sassafras
Springs by Betty Birney. In this novel, Eben is challenged to find seven wonders in his small
town in Missouri. The town of Middlebury has just as many wonders, probably more than
Sassafras Springs, yet many people from our area do not know what our town has to offer.
This gives an opportunity for students and their families to become aware of their immediate
surroundings and history.
Students are divided into six groups and rotate to the seven different sites. They have the
opportunity to explore and hear about each place. We have someone play a saw for us,
hear a little reenactment from a Revolutionary soldier, and eat Yup’s ice cream and an
Essenhaus cookie. A picnic is then held at Bonnyville Park with parents helping with the
grilling, set up, and other needs that happen with feeding over three hundred people.
Middlebury has much to offer and our seventh grade students are sharing in that
experience.
JUNIOR ACADEMIC SUPER BOWL
The Junior Academic Super Bowl teams traveled to Wawasee Middle School on April 30th for their
annual competition. The social studies team placed third in their division at the area competition.
This year’s coaches were Mrs. R. Miller (Social Studies & L.A.), Mr. Nisen (Math), and Mrs. Stacey
(Science). Congratulations to all of the participants this year. In order to be invited to participate on
this team, the student had to have been nominated by one of their teachers. All of the kids worked
really hard and should be proud of their effort!
NMS Academic Super Bowl 2011
Leah Bontreger
Hannah Miller
Eryn Calfee
Micah Miller
Hez Carlstrom
Vanessa Raber
Alex Choate
Hannah Ritchie
Everett Eby
Aria Salisbury
Hannah Fizer
Carolyn Saylor
Jennifer Hartman
Zach Serikow
Alexis Hochstetler
Maddie Sorg
Mason Lehman
Brianna White
Aaron Maas
Nate Whitehead
Andrew Maas
Hanna Zook
Madison McKibbin
* name omitted due to “denial to publish” request”
MEALTIME ONLINE
Mealtime Online now offers low balance alert. For those that use Mealtime Online you can check the
appropriate box and will start receiving emails when your student has a low balance. You can access
Mealtime Online through the mcsin-k12.org website under parent links.
Gary Barnard, FSD, Middlebury Community Schools
NORTHRIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL WINS AWARDS AT STATE
MATHEMATICS CONTEST
Northridge Middle School seventh and eighth graders competed at the Indiana State High
School Mathematics Contest held at St. Mary’s College on Saturday, April 23rd. The NMS
students came home with many top awards.
At the Pre-Algebra level, Site Awards for obtaining the highest scores at St. Mary’s were
given to: tied for lst Place were Leslie Mullet and Angeline Donahue, and 3rd Place to Alexandra
Tribble. Thirteen other NMS seventh graders also won Scholar Awards. They were Bailey
O’Dell, Girish Sivakanthan, Megan Campbell, Shelby Joslin, Mackenzie Diaz, Sidney Duong,
Kurtis Hochstetler, Andrea Keyser, Jake Odebrecht, Grace VanOrman, Arielle Hickman, and
Serena VanOrman. This means that they scored 75% or higher on the challenging contest given
around the state.
At the Algebra level, the NMS eighth graders also received awards. Caleb Belmont and
J.J. Weber tied for 1st Place Site Award. The 3rd Place award went to Kiersten Troyer.
Receiving eighth grade Scholar Awards were: Matthew Haskins, Emily Hughes, Kasey Kirchner,
Zach Kovalenko, Austin Miller, and Brandon Plummer.
MATH AWARDS AT HUNTINGTON UNIVERSITY
The Math Counts team traveled to Huntington University on April 30th and returned
carrying the 1st Place Team Trophy. There were 19 teams from all over Northern Indian and
there were 76 individuals involved.
The 1st Place individual winner for the entire contest was Austin Miller after competing
in a tie-breaking finish. 3rd Place went to Brandon Plummer and 4th Place was won by J.J.
Weber. Additional team members included Girish Sivakanthan, Caleb Belmont, Alexa Troyer,
Emily Hughes, Ted Field, and Grant Miller. What an outstanding job, students!!
It’s been a busy and exciting year for us in the N.M.S. library, and it’s hard to believe that
it’s coming to an end already. We were thrilled with the participation we had this year in
our “Battle of the Books” contest with over 300 students involved. We’d like to
congratulate our winning teams:
Eighth Grade Team—Heroes without
Capes (Alexa Taylor, Mollie Carrison,
Leah Bontreger, and Maddie Sorg),
Seventh Grade Team—The Gym
Socks (Christian Bach, Grace
VanOrman, Bailey O’Dell, and Curtis
Hostetler), and Sixth Grade Team—
The JJJT’s (Jacob Rebec, Tristan
Swihart, Jacob Poole, and Julie
Steele). We had some fierce “battles”
and a lot of fun as teachers also got
into the competitive spirit. We also
had 22 students who read over 10 of
the Young Hoosier Books, and 6 students (Kurtis Hochstetler, Hannah Miller, Mackenzie
Kauffman, Sarah Gingerich, Maddie Sorg, and Leah Bontrager) who read all 20 of the
books. These students did an outstanding job and were recognized with awards and gift
certificates at our YHBA party in May. Students who read more than 5 of the Young
Hoosier’s were eligible to vote for their favorite title, and The Hunger Games by Suzanne
Collins was their top pick. We’d like to thank Krispy Kreme, JoJo’s Pretzels, Hacienda,
Linway Cinema, Texas Road House,
and Subway for donating some of our
prizes, and express our deepest
gratitude to Mrs. Golebiewski, Mrs.
Fought, Mrs. Cammenga’s Candy
Committee, Mrs. Rowena Miller, and
Mrs. Baldini for their support of this
program. For those interested in
getting a jump-start for next year,
following is the link for a list of the
“Young Hoosier Books” for 20112012:
http://www.ilfonline.org/clientuploads/YHBA/2011-12YHBANominees_w.logos.pdf
Our spring book fair was a big success thanks to our co-chairs Stephanie Dance and
Velma Hardman. We were able to get a lot of free books for our library and order the
Young Hoosier books for next
year. We would like to thank all
the parents who volunteered
their time to lend us a hand and
our student crew who helped to
make our fair run smoothly.
Don’t forget, the
Middlebury Community Library
has a summer reading program
for kids of all ages. The theme
this year for the younger group
is “One World Many Stories,”
and the teen theme is “You Are
Here” with sign-ups beginning
June 6th. They are starting a
program using VolunTeens to help out with various activities at the library. If you are
interested, please contact Mrs. Schmidt. Make a Splash—Read” and sign-up begins June
7th. For a list of recommended reading in addition to the Young Hoosier’s, check out the
following links. We hope you all have a great summer and lots of time to RELAX AND
READ!
http://ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/notalists/ncb/index.cfm