In this Issue

December 8, 2017

Message Board 2 Calendar 6 After School Activities 8

Eagle Express

Horace Mann Middle School 3101 N. 13th Street Wausau WI 54403

horacemann.wausauschools.org

Main Telephone: 715-261-0725 Attendance: 715-261-0735 Guidance: 715-261-0740

Fax: 715-261-2035

Office Hours 7:30 am—4:00 pm

Principal

Dr. Rob Phelps

Associate Principals Tami Cummings Angela Rodgers

Wausau School District

wausauschools.org

Follow Horace Mann on Twitter @WausauHMann

Hello Parents and Guardians!

During the month of December, Horace Mann Middle School will be collecting food for the Eagle Pride Market!

The Eagle Pride Market stocks food, clothing, and hygiene items to send home to students and families who may need them. The Market strives to offer items that can make life easier, and provides additional nutrition after school and on weekends. This program is completely free and confidential.

During December, we are focusing on collecting snack and single serve items for children who will likely be spending more time at home over break without school lunches. Some suggestions are listed below, but include individual macaroni and cheese cups, single packs of oatmeal, ravioli, peanut butter, and canned soup. If you are interested in donating, you can simply drop off food in the main office. Thank you in advance for your support!

To receive items from the market, parents or guardians should contact their child's school counselor.

IMPORTANT!

School begins at 7:35 am.

Students are allowed in the building at

7:30 am and should be in homeroom

ready to listen to announcements at

7:35 am.

Breakfast is served from 7:10 - 7:30 am

If your child will be out of school for the day or late, please call our attendance line at

715.261.0735.

You can leave a message 24-hours a day.

Thank you!

NO SCHOOL DAYS

December 25 - January 1 - Winter Break

January 22-23 - Staff Inservice

February 19 - President’s Day

March 26-30 - Spring Break

May 25 - Staff Inservice

May 28 - Memorial Day

June 6 - Last Day, No PM Classes

Message Board

Are you interested in ordering Horace Mann gear?

horacemann.wausauschools.org

For Parents - Order Horace Mann gear.

Horace Mann gets a percentage of all sales.

Horace Mann is on Twitter! Follow us at @WausauHMann

Horace Mann Middle School Dear Parents and Guardians,

Many of the products you purchase can help support our school. We are looking for your family to

collect these various Box Tops and Caps and help make a difference at Horace Mann. Please drop

off the Box Tops and Caps in the main office. We continually save all year and hope you can be a

part of the movement to make a difference for our school! Start collecting!

Thank you for your efforts!

General Mills Box Tops for Education – Simply save your box tops from General Mills products and turn them in to the school office to help “Earn Cash for Our School”. For more information and a complete list of Box Tops products, please visit www.boxtops4education.com.

Kwik Trip Milk Moola Program – Horace Mann can earn 5¢ for every cap or bag top collected from Kwik Trip Nature’s Touch™, and Kwik Quencher® products. For every Glazers Dozen or Half-Dozen price oval CRSS turns in, they earn 10¢ each. Just bring in your cap, bag top or price oval to the school office. For more info please visit www.milkmoola.com or www.kwiktrip.com.

Upcoming Sports:

Girls Basketball starts Jan. 2, 2018

Boys/Girls Intramural Basketball starts Feb. 28, 2018

Message Board

The Art department is doing printmaking with students. We are in need of empty baby food jars to store the ink, and newspapers to dry the prints. Thank you!

To all 6th grade band students and parents,

We just started full band and I already know that it is going to be a great year. Our first concert is January 18

th and until then we will be working hard getting the best that we can be on our instruments.

If you feel like you need a little extra help in band, please contact me at jsteger@wausauschools.org and we can arrange some extra lessons for you! Please reserve this offer for the students who positively need it! How can you as parents help? Encouragement, encouragement, encouragement! Are they all practicing 10-15 minutes a day? Are they playing for you at home! Reminding them to practice and listening to what they have learned can make such a difference! Thank you all for your support – it’s going to be a great year! -Mr. Steger

New Horace Mann apparel has arrived at the School Store! Pick up your t-shirts, long sleeve shirts, hooded sweatshirts and winter hats while they last. We have a variety of sizes and several color choices. The School Store is open Tuesdays and Thursdays during 6th, 7th and 8th grade lunch.

Horace Mann 6th grade health students experience the power of their mind by moving erasers just with their thoughts. The power of staying positive!!

Message Board

Do you love to read out loud, tell stories, act out plays, share information or give speeches AND spend time with your friends? If you answered YES then forensics is for you. Forensics is an after-school program that helps students learn how to speak and perform in front of a group. The program runs for about twelve weeks and is open to all sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students. Practices are quite flexible, and the coaches are willing to work with all schedules. We will have two meets in February where students will compete against forensics participants from area schools. If your are interested in joining forensics, please pick up an informational packet in either Mrs. Austin's room 128 or Ms. Reimer's room 154. We hope to see you in forensics...bring a friend...it's a great time!

Patriot's Pen Essay Contest Winners: This VFW-sponsored youth essay competition gives students an opportunity to write essays expressing their views on an annual patriotic theme. This year's theme is: "American History - Our Hope for the Future." Several students from Horace Mann entered the contest. Sydney Crawford, a Team 6-2 stu-dent, received first place at the local VFW Post level and will be entered at the VFW Department (state) level. Logan Fike, a Team 7-1 student, was awarded honorable mention Congratulations to both Sydney and Logan for their writing talents.

Luckily, they are still available to purchase in the main office.

The cost is $23.

After January, the cost will go up to $25, and after February,

you will no longer be able to buy a yearbook.

Don’t wait! The time will go by really fast! Get yours today!

Parents/Guardians: Please know that Progress Reports will no longer be mailed at the halfway point of each quarter. Instead, a message will be sent through School Messenger (email and phone) to alert you that progress grades and comments have been posted in Infinite Campus (Parent Portal). Parent Portal information can be found under the "Parents" tab at http://horacemann.wausauschools.org/

Sydney Crawford Logan Fike

Student Council News: The Horace Mann student council students have been busy running the school store and Eagle Pride Cart. The school store has many new HM clothing items. If you get a chance, stop in and take a look. The Eagle Pride Cart offers students who have earned positive behavior slips to cash them in for prizes. These prizes range include everything from free cookie passes to local store gift cards. Both of the entities are open Tuesdays and Thursdays during lunch. This year HM student council, along with East student council is promoting kindness. Recently, students and staff were given the opportunity to join the nationwide "Dude, Be Nice" campaign by purchasing t-shirts. Students also had the opportunity to join Mrs. Tourtillot's "Kindness Rocks" after-school club. Here, students painted kindness quotes on rocks and brainstormed places where they could place them. The idea is to spread kindness within our community and hope it becomes contagious. The students will continue to promote acts of kindness throughout the year. December 18th - 21st HM students will be selling candy-grams during homerooms (6th grade) and lunch for 7th and 8th graders. The candy-gram consists of a candy cane and positive message card. Students can purchase these for their friends for a quarter. The sale is usually a big hit. Lastly, the next HM spirit day will take place on Friday, December 15th. Students and HM staff may participate and show off their school pride by donating a dollar and wearing their favorite hat. The money from both sales will be donated to a local charity.

Why should I cover my cough?

“Colds” and serious respiratory illnesses like influenza (“the flu”) and whooping cough are

spread by:

-Coughing and sneezing

-Unclean hands

These illnesses spread easily in crowded places where people are in close contact, like SCHOOLS!

When you cough or sneeze, it’s best to cover your mouth and nose so the germs aren’t sprayed into the room for

other people to breathe. Everyone used to cover with their hands, but then, if hands weren’t washed right away,

the germs got passed from hands to other people and still made them sick.

How do I stop the spread of germs?

Cough or sneeze into your elbow! Hold your arm up even with your shoulder, then bring your hand in toward your chest. Bring your elbow

up to your mouth and nose, and cough or sneeze.

It’s true, germs can land on your elbow, too, but you don’t use your elbow to hold food, pencils or toys,

and you don’t use it to touch other people as you do with your hands.

How else can I stay healthy?

Clean your hands often with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.

COVER YOUR COUGH!

December 12 8th Grade Band, Orchestra & Choir Concert, 7:00 pm

December 15 Hat Spirit Day - $1 Donation

December 25-January 1

NO SCHOOL—Winter Break

January 2 School Resumes

January 18 Think College Day for all 7th Graders

January 19 Second Quarter Ends

January 22-23 NO SCHOOL - Staff Inservice

January 26 Favorite Sports Team Spirit Day

February 3 Wisconsin Valley Honors Band - All Day

February 9 Red or Pink Spirit Day

February 9 7th & 8th Grade Valentine’s Dance

February 19 NO SCHOOL - President’s Day

February 24 Solo Ensemble at DC Everest Middle School

February 26 CD to School Forest

March 8 Spring Parent Teacher Conferences, 3:30 - 6:30 pm

March 8 Instrumental Solo Ensemble Concert, 7:00 pm

Just a reminder, volunteer opportunities will be posted online throughout the year. If you already have a volunteer account, log in at myvolunteerpage.com, select the opportunity you are interested in and sign up. (If it is full/locked, you have the option of being put on a back up list.) If you haven't created an account yet, visit tiny.cc/WSDONE and click the “For Volunteers” tab on the left.

Complete Step 1 and Step 2 (if the opportunity requires a criminal background check)

Remember, volunteering in the classroom and going on field trips requires a criminal background check. They do take time to process so please PLAN AHEAD. For questions or to learn more contact Roxane Hagedorn, rhagedor@wausauschools.org (preferred) or 715.261.0584.

Join us every week for Craft Club. We will be working on fun crafts each meeting. We will try new things and create!

We will meet from 3:00 - 4:00 pm every Tuesday. Join us for all or

some. We will meet in room 228.

Permission slips are available on the G2M bulletin board next to the Health Office.

See Mrs. Gajewski with questions.