MIDDLE SCHOOL NEWS

MIDDLE SCHOOL NEWS
MOC-FV CSD
Parent-Teacher Conferences
April
2015
Special points of
interest:
 President’s Education Awards
 Parent-Teacher
Conferences
 Thank you for
supporting the
book fair
 Spring Party
Night
I want to say “Thank You” for your participation in our ParentTeacher Conferences at the Middle School. Once again, we had a
wonderful turnout with 98% of students and parents attending our
conferences. Hopefully you were able to receive and share good information with your son/daughter’s STAR teacher. Parent support
and involvement is essential to student success and we appreciate
the work that you are doing to help your student!
President’s Education Awards
The MOC-Floyd Valley Middle School has recognized qualifying
8th graders with the President’s Educational Excellence Award for
the last 14 years. The award can be given only at grade levels
where the students are going to the next level of education, which
means from elementary to middle school, middle school to high
school, and graduating high school. The criteria for the award are:
1. A 3.5 or higher grade point average for the 8th grade year
(Cumulative GPA through the 3rd Qtr.)
2. An 85 percent or higher in national norms on the ITBS test
in either Math Total, Reading Comprehension, Reading Total
or the Language Total.
Eighth grade students meeting the criteria will receive a Department of Education Certificate and a lapel pin award at the Middle
School Awards Assembly on the last day of school, May 20. The list
of 8th graders will be announced prior to the assembly.
Inside this issue:
6th Grade
2-3
7th Grade
3-5
8th Grade
6-7
No School ~ Friday April 3 or Monday April 6 for
Easter Break. Classes will resume on Tuesday April 7.
Spring Party Night
The Middle School Spring Dance/Fun Night will be held on Friday,
April 10 from 7:00-10:00pm at the Middle School. Activities will include a dance area in the old gym, board games in the Library, basketball shooting in the New Gym, movies and snacks in the Cafeteria,
and Ping Pong in the Fitness Room. The expenses for this evening
are paid for from the profits of the magazine sales. The southwest
entrance door to the building will not be opened before 7:00pm. Student Senate members will assist with the cleanup after the event.
Page 2
Miedema News
By Mr. Miedema
In 6th Grade World History, students are wrapping up their unit on Ancient Arabia. We have
looked at the geography and how it shaped people's lives. Trade and travel were difficult across
the "Empty Quarter," which is the largest continuous body of sand in the entire world. Most of our
time has been spent on Islam and the Muslim Caliphate. What do Muslims believe? How does
this compare to Christianity, which was the other primary monotheistic religion at the time? We
have not only examined the history of Islam, but also some issues the world is experiencing today. ISIS has been a major topic of discussion, and we are learning about what they believe, why
they believe, and how we can and should respond to that threat. It's very engaging and the students have learned quite a bit! I appreciate the effort from everyone! In 8th Grade American History, students are learning about the start of American history postRevolutionary War. Presidents such as Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe have significantly
shaped the role and power of the United States government. Whether it's expanding out west
through the Louisiana Purchase, boldly proclaiming Europe to stay out of the Western Hemisphere, or making compromises to put a band-aid over the issue of slavery, America is changing
and growing drastically. As we continue forward for this final quarter, we will look at the issue of
slavery and its boiling point. 6th Grade Math
By: Mr. Boersma
The sixth graders are currently studying geometry. We are calculating area, perimeter, circumference, etc… for a variety of shapes. One of the changes to math
over the years has been the shift from “How do I find…..?” to “Why are we doing……?” We are not just memorizing formulas to find the circumference of a circle, we are trying
to understand why we multiply the diameter times Pi. It seems to me like we are moving much
slower than I’m used to, but we are really making some great strides in our understanding.
As always, I’d like to thank those parents who are helping their son or daughter to be successful by encouraging them to complete their homework well and studying for tests and quizzes.
Some students really need that extra push while others are very self-motivated and driven. Ideally, every student should give 100% effort 100% of the time. Until that happens, thanks for the
continued motivation!
6th Grade Science
By: Mr. Mozer
The next unit that we will cover in class will introduce the students to the concept of energy.
During this time we will be looking at different energy forms while also trying to understand how
they are connected. In other words, students will be working on identifying energy forms and examining how they change from one form to another. This unit will also introduce the students to
the Scratch program. This program is a free download from MIT that enables students to create
their own comic strips. Students will utilize the program during the course of this unit to create a
comic strip while also identifying different energy forms and transformations present within their
story.
Students will participate in many hands-on labs throughout the course of the unit. This will
allow students to directly observe different energy forms that are present and affecting them on
a daily basis. Students will also be able to manipulate different machines in an effort to convert
energy from one form to another. The entire unit will conclude with a unit test. Putting It All Together in 6th Grade English
Page 3
By: Mrs. Jacobsma
Thanks to you and your student for the work you have put in this year. The students’ writing
has come so far it amazes me. Take some time to read what they are writing—it might impress
you, too.
Right now we are bouncing around in a writing unit focusing on ideas and content. We are talking about the development of writing packed full of details and description. The students have finished their research on a current issue and have begun the intense process of writing a persuasive essay. This will undoubtedly be the longest and most in depth piece of writing for the year.
Following the drafting, we will look at how to make give a sound oral presentation. The kids will
not create a final draft of this writing; instead, they will present the persuasive essay in a speech
to their peers. Intermittently, we will also discuss the last couple parts of speech as they apply to
writing. We have learned about powerful verbs, ranges of nouns, and complex sentence structure.
We will hit adjectives and adverbs next—which also add detail to your writing.
Be looking for the continuation of spelling. There will also be some more writing for parents to
help revise and edit. Relish a little in the advancement of your student’s writing. It is delightful.
Read All About It . . . 6th Grade Reading
By: Mrs. TeGrotenhuis
During the month of April, we will finish up our legends unit as we read a few different pieces
of literature set in the Middle Ages, including Robin Hood. Right now we are working with vocabulary words that are common in literature about that time period.
After we complete our legends unit, I will be teaching a short unit from Scholastic Scope magazine focusing on reading strategies. We will read from a variety of fiction and non-fiction articles as we continue to work on our reading skills. Many of the articles we read are quite interesting, thought-provoking, and a good challenge for the students’ comprehension skills.
Students recently completed their 3rd quarter book presentations, and I was very
pleased with their book choices as well as the research they completed over the authors and awards the books received. Their research skills have certainly improved
throughout the school year which is great to see!
Please continue to encourage your child to read daily. Students have set their
reading goals and still need to meet our weekly class goal. Thanks for all you do to help!
7th Grade Math
By: Mr. Baker
The school year has gone extremely fast, and it’s hard to believe that we are in the final quarter of the school year. In March the students had the opportunity to design a game that would
have a theoretical probability of winning. We then were able to get everyone into the gym and
play each other’s games. This was not only fun for the students, but interesting to see if their experimental probability matched up with their theoretical probability. Be sure to ask your son or
daughter about this experience as there were some very creative and fun games developed.
I look forward to a fun finish to the school year, and I thank you for your continued efforts in
helping along your children with homework completion and for holding them accountable. This
seventh grade class has been a fun group to work with. We will finish out the year learning about
volume and surface area of three dimensional objects. It will entail a little memorization of formulas, but should be a fun last unit. We will then review everything we have learned so far this year
and touch on a few topics from different chapters we have not gotten to. Thanks!!!
Page 4
Niehus News
By: Mrs. Niehus
th
In 7 grade literature we have wrapped up our drama unit where we compared
the movie version of The Giver to the book. This was a great lesson for students
about how watching a movie based on a book is not the same thing as reading the
book. While the movie was quite fun and the way it visually created the images of
the book was pretty cool, many things were changed to make it more appealing to movie goers,
including changing the main message. While most of the students liked the movie, I hope most
gained an appreciation of what books have to offer at the same time.
From there we have moved into a short unit centered on the idea of point of view (POV).
POV is the perspective from which a story is told. We read a fun short story about a very
naughty little boy written from the perspective of his rather clueless mother. Students then have
to rewrite a short section of the story from a different character’s POV in order to understand
how an author’s choice of POV affects everything included in the story. This unit will wrap up
right before we leave for Easter break, and then we will return and begin our poetry unit.
Along with these units, students will continue reading log work. We started a new book log
with the start of the 4th quarter. The requirements remain the same. In order to earn an A, students need to read 4 books; 3 books equal a B; 2 equals a C, and so on. Students will need to
read outside of class time to complete this requirement, so look for your student to have a free
reading book with them each night.
We are also continuing our bi-weekly vocabulary units with vocabulary mini-lessons each
Tuesday and Thursday. The units focus on Greek and Latin roots that students can use later to
understand many other words just by piecing together the meaning of the roots. Please help
your students study for these vocabulary tests, and especially remind them to know their roots.
Thanks for all you do to help your student be successful here at school!
7th Grade English By: Mrs. VanRegenmorter (a.k.a. Mrs. VR)
The seventh grade English classes recently started “The Name Unit.” This is a
research unit, and the seventh grade students have been researching their first,
middle, and last names. During research, they have found what each of their
names mean, the countries and languages from which their names originated,
and some historical background about the family name. In addition to the research done in
school, students did an interview. Thank you very much for taking the time to talk with your seventh grader and share some information about their names with them.
As I’m writing this, we are close to completing our research. Next, we will begin the “Name
Story.” For the “Name Story” students will develop a creative, fictional plot that incorporates the
information they have researched about their names. This can be challenging, so they need to
be creative and use their imaginations. Plus, they need to work through the writing process, focus on the traits of good writing, and continue improving their writing skills. In a few weeks ask
your child to share their “Name Story” with you!
7th grade Science
Page 5
By: Mrs. Vande Kieft
Spring is here, and the 7th graders have been busy exploring the various systems of the
body. So far this year, they have studied the Nervous, Immune, Skeletal, Muscular, Circulatory,
and Respiratory Systems and how each system is interconnected to the others. Each Team has
just finished up the Respiratory System where we examined how it supplies oxygen to the rest
of the body. Next stop on our tour throughout the systems of the body, the students will examine
the Digestive and Excretory Systems. During the Digestive System Unit, each Team will take a
closer look into the effects of malnutrition and starvation. This will provide us with a better understanding of how our efforts during the Then Feed Just One project truly makes a difference
in the overall health of those we are trying to help.
To conclude our tour through the body systems, the final activity will include a hands on investigation. As an extension of the systems of the body, the 7th graders will examine different
body structures and organization for both simplistic and complex organisms. In order to view
these body systems first hand, each Team will dissect earthworms and fetal pigs in small
groups to examine the similarities and differences between organisms with simple and complex
organ systems. By investigating these organisms, the 7th graders will gain a greater understanding of the complexity and cooperation of the various body systems and compare them to
their own.
On a side note I would like to congratulate all of the 7th graders on the outstanding amount
of effort that they exhibited while raising donations for the Then Feed Just One project. Their
generosity, pride, and hard-work allowed them to truly make a difference in the lives of starving
people globally. Their determination and compassion has been an inspiration to their peers in
the Middle School. Thank you to all of the parents and community members who participated in
this event!
Wieking’s World
By: Mr. Wieking
The 7th graders are continuing our exploration of Europe. We’ve laid a good foundation of early European and modern European History. As we continue our journey
through Europe the students will engage in a research project about specific countries of Europe.
I am especially excited to study the Cold War and the breakup of the Soviet Empire, most of what
is happening today in Eastern Europe is closely related to this time in history.
8th Grade Literature
By: Mr. Boone
The 8th grade class is wrapping up the poetry unit, and I have enjoyed reading parts of their
projects and watching their imaginations come alive in their creative writing. Creative poetry project themes included smoking meat, American soldiers, interior design, and genealogy.
Following the poetry unit, we will be entering a Black History unit. Students will be reading
two texts, “Emancipation” by Russell Freedman and “Brown vs. Board of Education” by Walter
Dean Myers. Throughout these texts they will identify the author’s tone and evidence to support
the author’s purpose of the text. We will then conclude the unit by reading a variety of speeches
on racial inequality. Students will present to their classmates an analysis of the tone and purpose
of the speech including background information and a short biographical of the speaker. This
unit will be a great way for students to discover racial inequality throughout the course of history
and recognize the effects of stereotyping and racism.
Page 6
8th Grade English
By: Mrs. Oolman
The students are culminating the poetry unit as I write this. Projects were turned in on March
23. It has been a pleasure to read their poems and watch them make connections to a theme of
their choosing. Their poetry unit tests were taken in two parts. The first part was general
knowledge (an objective test). The kids did awesome! The second part consisted of five essay
questions. The students worked well on Moodle for this portion. In the future, they could prepare a bit better for essay tests.
Mr. Todd McDonald (HS Guidance Counselor) visited our classroom to work with students on
long-range planning of classes to take at the HS level and to plan freshmen year’s courses. You
no doubt saw a tentative schedule for freshmen year at your son or daughter’s parent / teacher
conference?
The poetry unit ended with a review of two pieces of literature we had looked at as part of the
poetry unit. One was a historical piece (Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, “I have a dream” speech), and
the second was a piece of literature (Langston Hughes’s poem “Dream Deferred”). This culmination will also serve as an introduction, or bridge, to our next unit. The unit will be coordinated
with Mr. Boone. We will do an activity to get ready for our unit by reading and discussing five
topics from the time period of Civil Rights. The five topics include the following: Martin Luther
King, Jr., Langston Hughes, Brown vs. Board of Education, Medgar Evers, and Jim Crow Laws.
Students will be divided into teams, become experts on their subjects, and use their laptops to
prepare a brief presentation for their peers. Following this introductory study, we will view the
movie, The Help. We will study four themes from The Help. They are as follows:
Social expectations
Family expectations
Racism
Ambition vs. Fear
In addition to viewing the movie, students will be reading excerpts from the novel that match
their chosen theme. This is an exciting unit filled with lots of challenges about our roles, our society, our attitudes, and our own lives.
8th Grade Math
By: Jon Mouw
The warm weather has certainly been welcome! Getting outside and breathing fresh air has
certainly been a priority for just about everybody, I think. Things have been getting done in the
classroom as well. In Pre-Algebra the students have been learning from a student teacher for a
little bit. Zach Schaver is here and comes from Dordt. It has been good for the kids to get to
know him since he has accepted a teaching job at the high school next year! Zach has been
teaching mainly some introductory probability concepts such as Permutations and Combinations.
In Algebra 1 the students are still putting up with me and we are really getting into quadratic
functions. Ask them about one of my favorite math words: parabola! Both Pre-Algebra and
Algebra 1 are working hard, please keep encouraging your students to work
hard all the way through the end of the year and finish strong!
The 8th graders will weather the weather
Page 7
By: Mrs. Hoogeveen
March is our meteorology month. The 8th graders have spent time learning the basics of
the layers of our atmosphere, ozone, wind belts and heat transfer in the atmosphere. We investigated atmospheric pressure through a variety of demonstrations and discussions. The students “swirled” into the Coriolis Effect and how it affects our wind patterns. The Coriolis Effect is
the reason our weather systems in Iowa basically move west to east in the middle latitudes.
This chapter helped us understand the basic principals which determine our local
weather.
We have finished our second part of our meteorology unit at the end of
March. The 8th graders had their “heads up in the clouds” for a short time; exploring different types of clouds and the type of storms they indicate. We took the
next logical step and investigated lightning / thunder, tornados, and hurricane systems. Our amateur meteorologists explored the basic safety associated with each type of severe weather. We then put our skills to the test by applying what we learned. Periodically we
have been watching weather reports that were taken from the internet so that we became aware
of what the symbols mean and how everything ties in to our daily lives.
In April we started exploring a very “deep” subject----Oceans!! What’s in seawater? Are
there 4 or 5 oceans? How do ocean currents form? Where do tides come from? How can wind
generate waves? Why do waves break near the shore? These are a few questions we will be
investigating in our upcoming unit.
8th Grade American History
By: Mrs. Oolman, Mr. Boone, Mrs. Hoogeveen, Mr. Mouw and Mr. Miedema
Following the study of Industrial Revolution, 8th graders will begin a “traveling rotation” study.
This means that the kids get to experience the teaching styles of each of the instructors by
spending one day in each teacher’s classroom. This is a fun, different approach that also lends
itself well to some creative teaching techniques---like Mrs. Hoogeveen being a “Miner-49er” and
Mrs. Oolman posing as “Nancy Robbins”---the woman heading to Oregon from Independence,
MO, on the famous Oregon Trail!
Following this study of westward expansion, students will be approaching the study of the
Civil War!
After the Civil War study, we’ll take a look at Reconstruction of the country and some issues
that give the students some background information about a number of topics like the Cold War,
Nixon, Watergate, Vietnam, and Korea.
Thank you to everyone that stopped by and
supported the Spring Book Fair!
Happy Reading!
MOC-Floyd Valley School
District
MOC-Floyd Valley Middle School
1104 5th Ave.
Alton, IA. 51003
Phone:712-756-4128
Email:moc-fv.k12.ia.us
Upcoming Events
April 3 - No School
April 6 - No School
April 7 - 6th & 7th grade cycle 5 Exploratory Ends
April 8 - 6th & 7th grade cycle 6 Exploratory Starts
April 8 - 2:15pm Early Dismissal
April 10 - Middle School Party Night
April 11 - HS & MS Jazz Band Dance Night
April 15 - 2:15pm Early Dismissal
April 21 - NWICDA Honor Choir @ LeMars
April 21 - MS Track Meet @ Korver Field
April 22 - 2:15pm Early Dismissal
April 24 - PLUS Carnival @ Hospers Elementary
April 24 - 6th week grades check
April 28 - MS Track @ Sheldon
April 30 - MS Track @ Sioux Center
April 2015
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
1
2:15pm Early
Dismissal
Fri
2
Sat
3
4
10
11
Jazz Band Dance
Night - MS & HS
16
17
18
23
24
Plus
Carnival-Hospers
Elementary
25
Then Feed Just
One Packaging
Day @ Middle
School
No School
Good Friday
7am My Choice
5
6
7
No School
No School
8
2:15pm Early
Dismissal
9
7am My Choice
7pm. – 10pm.
Middle School
Party
Easter
12
13
14
15
2:15pm Early
Dismissal
19
20
21
NWICDA Honor
2:15pm Early
Choir at
Dismissal
LeMars-5th, 6th,
7th Grades
Earth Day
7am My Choice
22
7am My Choice
Arbor Day
26
27
28
29
30
May 2015
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
2
8
9
15
16
Jr-Sr Prom
1:15pm Early
Dismissal
3
4
5
6
MS String
Recitals
10
7
7am My Choice
11
12
13
MS BSB & SB
Practice Begins
14
11:15am Early
Dismissal
No School
7am My Choice
Tulip Festival
17
18
19
7:30pm Middle
School Concert
20
21
22
23
27
28
29
30
End of 4th Qtr
1:15pm Early
Dismissal
Baccalaureate
24
2:00pm
Commencement
31
25
26