George McGovern Middle School

6221 W. Maple St., Sioux Falls, SD 57107

Where attitude is everything, and the attitude is one of respect.

December 2018 Principal Mr. Tim Koehler Assistant Principal Mr. Richie Hutchinson Intern Asst. Principal Ms. Beckie VanDrongelen

Important Phone Numbers

Main Office 367-4440 Office Hours 7:45-5:00 Attendance 367-4438 and Health 24 hr voicemail Counseling 367-4435 and Registration Kitchen Manager 367-4492 Fax 367-4434 IEP Facilitator 367-4481

Facebook Page: George McGovern Middle

School PTA

Publ ished Monthly

Issue No.0040

Important Dates

Dec 6: Chorus Concerts 6th Graders: 6:30-7:00 pm 7th & 8th Gr: 7:30-8:00 pm December 13, 6:00 pm Orchestra Concert December 17: Band Concert 6:30pm: 6th Grade and 7th Grade Concert 7:30 pm: 8th Grade and Jazz Band GMMS Annuals for Sale $15.00 each Order forms at room H606

Principal Koehler’s News

Sincerely, Tim Koehler GMMS Principal

Dear GMMS Families,

We hope all our students and families had the opportunity to enjoy Thanksgiving break.

For many students, life outside of school can become quite busy during this time of year.

As we spend the upcoming season reflecting on our accomplishments and adventures during

the year of 2018, it may become challenging for students to stay focused the last few weeks of

the semester. Over the next few weeks, please take time to reinforce with your students the

importance of having a strong end to the semester. Our students and staff have been working

hard this year, and I'm looking forward to a positive finish to the quarter and semester.

As a reminder, we will have no school on December 21 – January 1.

School resumes on January 2.

On behalf of our staff, we hope you have a great winter break! We look forward to continuing

to work together as a team with you to provide your child with the best educational experience

here at George McGovern Middle School. There is no greater gift than to have a positive impact

on a child’s life. This holiday season, I’m reminded how fortunate we all are with the

opportunity to share in this gift.

School Related Cancellations and Postponements It is important to be prepared for the winter storms and extreme cold that every South Dakota winter brings. Please read the following information so you are aware of the procedures for school related cancellations and postponements. District leaders rely on experts from the National Weather Service and city/county officials when we make decisions on school cancellations, late starts or early dismissals. Cancelling School/Late Start When a severe storm hits the area, or is forecast, we start contacting local officials as early as 3:00 a.m. We communicate with our Operational Services Department, the Weather Bureau, the City Street Department, Sioux Falls Transit, and our transportation contractors. It is our goal to decide whether or not to cancel school by 5 a.m. to allow time for parking lots and sidewalks to be cleared, food services to prepare meals and the bus company to begin operations. In the event that school needs to be cancelled or delayed, families will be alerted via a ParentLink phone call. These calls will generally be sent between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. to accommodate families whose children are picked up by buses at 6:45 a.m. Announcements are also made on the District’s website, the app and over the local radio and television stations. Because the public schools have a limited rural area, it is often possible for Sioux Falls to have school when nearby towns may not. Early Dismissal Storms occasionally move in during the day, making it necessary to assess whether or not to dismiss school early. We choose early dismissal only under the most extreme circumstances. In most cases, it is safer for students to remain at school due to the need for transportation and proper supervision. In the rare instances when schools are dismissed early, families will receive a ParentLink phone call and the information will appear on the District’s website at www.sf.k12.sd.us. Announcements are also made over the local radio and television stations. Notifications refer to dismissal “one hour early” or “two hours early” because of the number of different building schedules. In addition to noting the early dismissal, announcements about evening activities are normally included.

It is very important that every family has a plan for early dismissal. Be sure your student knows where to go in case no one is at home. Parents/Guardians are urged to talk with their student about his/her safety during winter weather emergencies. Be Safe This Winter The school system offers these suggestions concerning cold weather and emergency situations: 1. Listen for a ParentLink phone call regarding school closings, late starts, or early dismissals. Check the District’s website at www.sf.k12.sd.us for updated information. Announcements will also be made on local radio and television stations. (Please avoid calling schools or the Instructional Planning Center. Phone lines are needed for emergency communications.)

We will be working on reading and writing informational texts with our unit Animal Allies. We will begin the unit by reading an excerpt from Jane Goodall’s memoir, My Life with Chimpanzees.

We are finishing our current area of study with unit rates and comparisons. Then we will be working with integers (positive and negative numbers), and we will find ways to write equivalent fractions, decimals and percent’s.

We will be learning about the ancient Israel-ites and will have a guest speaker. Then we will be starting to learn about an-cient India’s civilization (including infor-mation on Hinduism and Buddhism).

We will begin the month finishing up our unit on weathering, erosion, deposition and will then move into studying soil and then geologic time.

LANGUAGE ARTS/

READING: brigid.berger@k12/sd/us

lance.cowan@k12.sd.us marissa.larson@k12.sd.us

MATH:

amy.booth@k12.sd.us geoff.smith@k12.sd.us

cassey.penney@k12.sd.us patti.hancock@k12.sd.us

SCIENCE:

shayla.seiler@k12.sd.us amy.miller@k12.sd.us

danielle.schntker@k12.sd.us

SOCIAL STUDIES:

eric.hettinger@k12.sd.us olivia.liesinger@k12.sd.us

blake.miller@k12.sd.us

C O U G A R

V I K I N G

Science Terry Helget and Tim Josephson

During the month of November the students studied the topic of Resources and Living

Things. A technology tool that was instroduced to the students was Padlet.

The students created a presentation using Padlet that looked to inform others on an endangered species of their choosing and allowed them to develop research skills while

learning about the new technology tool. Students also participated in Quizlet Live and Gimkit to further develop their vocabulary.

The last part of the month focused on land, air and water resources along with

a look at alternative energy resources. The month of December will have the students taking a closer look at cells. They will have the opportunity to learn about the parts of a

cell and design their own cell model based on their knowledge of those cell parts. Once they have gained knowledge of the cell parts they will then learn

about some of the different cell processes.

Math Pam Hieronimus, Ms. Wenzel and Mrs. Hancock

Students have almost completed their unit called Stretching and Shrinking. This unit has included topics related to similar figures and scale factors. Students have explored

reliable ways to determine if different sized shapes are similar, and then they have discovered effective ways to find the scale factor between the shapes. We will complete

this unit during the last week of November. We have our unit assessment the first week of

December. Our next unit is called Comparing and Scaling. This unit continues our work with ratios and proportions when comparing quantities.

Students will also work with markups, mark downs and percentages.

Geography (Social Studies) Mr. Flock and Mr. Moulton

Students will be learning about the 8 Elements of Cultures:

-Social/Ethnic Groups -Language -Religion

-History -Daily Life -Arts -Government -Economy

We want students to be proud of their own culture and recognize that many cultures do things differently. Each student will be researching and

preparing a presentation about a country.

Language Arts (ELA) Mrs. Dossett, Mrs. Huwe, Ms. DeRoos and Ms. Merritt

The students are diving headfirst into Unit 1 and we are currently learning about small acts of kindness and how they can snowball and make a large impact on someone’s life. Even more

important is the change that it makes on the life of the giver! We encourage our students to watch for and to commit acts of kindness on a daily basis and for

parents to discuss this with their children. The students need to remember to read, ReAd, READ as they will soon be working on a project that

will showcase a book they have read from cover to cover. They are given time in school to read during Free Choice Time but have been told that they need to prioritize and

read outside of school also. Please ask your son or daughter about their book choice, why they chose it and what they like about it so far. The better reader, the better writer, the better

life...thanks for sharing your children with us! Map Testing will be coming up soon so remind your children to get a good night’s sleep the week of

December 10th-14th. They will test during the mornings of the 11th, 12th and the 14th. Again, thank you so much for your assistance and have a

GREAT HOLIDAY BREAK IN DECEMBER! ENJOY LIFE & SHARE A SMILE :-)

Greetings from the Coyote/Jackrabbit Eighth Grade Teams

The eighth grade teams have been very busy. Time moves so quickly during the holiday seasons of November and December. Students have begun activities in South Dakota My Life materials. These materials help students identify possible career interests and guide them to coursework in high school that prepares them to achieve those careers. During the week of Decf. 10-14 the students will be taking the MAP tests in Math, Reading, and Language Arts. Please make sure your child is well rested and motivated for these important tests. On a more fun and festive note the students will be decorating doors and team house areas for the holidays. Each grade or team will pick a theme and decorate. There will be a judging and the best theme will be selected.

We on the 8th grade teams, wish you and your families a

Merry Christmas and happy holiday season!

Here is the news from the core courses:

Social Studies—Mrs. Case & Mr. McIntyre--Our focus for second quarter will be the Constitu-tion. Students will discover the role of government. They will study the writing of the Constitution, and will learn how their individual rights are protected through the Bill of Rights.

Math—Mr. Knapp & Ms.Schrier— We are diving into our second unit “Looking for Pythagoras.” In this unit students will explore irrational and rational numbers. Students will learn about square roots and cube roots of numbers. Ask your student to list off the perfect squares to test their knowledge! The unit will conclude with learning the pythagorean theorem and how we can use it to find the missing side lengths of right triangles! We will hopefully finish this unit before leaving for Christmas break. Happy Holi-days :)

Science—Mrs. Schroeder & Mrs. Kruger-- This month we will begin to talk about Chemical Re-actions! We will learn how to balance chemical equations and do a lot of fun labs. One lab in particular called ‘Elephant Toothpaste’ creates a reaction that foams up and out of the graduated cylinder and you can even feel that the reaction is exothermic! After break we will begin to talk about magnetism.

English Language Arts— Mrs. VanMaanen & Mrs. Freese - The language arts classes continue to read the book Harry Potter. Ask your student what house Harry has been sorted into. We just started a new unit called “What Matters”. We will spend some time looking at different issues that matter to different people. We ask that students continue to read and try different authors. Have a won-derful holiday season!

If you would like to get in touch with your child’s core teachers, you can find our email addresses on the eighth grade home page. To access the page go to the link below. https://sites.google.com/k12.sd.us/gmms8thgrade/home.

Stay Connected:

All schedules and information (Including team photos orders) can be found on the GMMS bogspot http://sfgmms.blogspot.com/

Click on the Athletics Information Tab.

Our Girls’ Basketball teams are working hard and having fun. Keep up the great work.

Our Boys Basketball season will start off with the first practices on Monday, January 14th.

Important Transportation Reminder for After Games and Practices Players and Fans should have transportation by 6:00 pm after a game.

Players should have transportation by 5:20 pm after a practice.

“FLASHING RED means KIDS AHEAD” Help us keep buses safe by following the law and do not pass a school bus with red lights flashing. Pre-warning “amber” lights are activated at least 300 to 500 feet be-fore stopping. When the “amber” lights flash, you should immediate-ly prepare to stop your vehicle. Remember these rules for the “type of road” you meet a bus on: 1. Any 3 lane or less road, drivers from all directions “must STOP” when the

bus has the red lights flashing. 2. Any 4 lane or more road, drivers traveling in the SAME direction as the bus NEED TO STOP behind the bus, when you see the red lights flashing. 3. Any 4 lane or more road, drivers traveling in the OPPOSITE direction as the bus do not need to stop when you see the red lights flashing.

We need your help to keep students safe when they cross streets. Leave plenty

During the month of November students finished up the basketball unit.

During the month of December we will start the volleyball unit.

Please, make sure your child is bringing a change of clothes and appropriate shoes for class. If you have any questions or concerns,

please contact your child’s teacher.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to email your child’s teacher:

Mr. Nugteren - perry.nugteren@k12.sd.us Mr. Sannes - jon.sannes@k12.sd.us Mrs. Smith - Julie.smith@k12.sd.us

G Y M

C L A S S E S

GMMS MUSIC

Orchestra:

What is the one thing your child can do to improve everything about their musicianship in orchestra? Practice scales? Listen to great orchestras? While those things are excellent ideas, the very best thing that your musi-cian can do to improve their ability in orchestra is to open the case. En-courage your student to open the case daily- more than once would be great! We are eagerly preparing for the December 13th Orchestra Concert at 6 PM. Please encourage your musician to perform selections from our method book and concert music for home performances often. Even when progress is challenging please encourage your student by saying, "I enjoy hearing you practice!" or "I love to hear you play." Here are some other helpful hints: http://www.musicparentsguide.com/2017/02/09/parents-guide-music-practicing/

Music Staff

──── Band – Rick Jensen

Rick.Jensen@k12.sd.us

────

Band – Marian Beck Marian.Beck@k12.sd.us

──── Chorus - Barb Wasberg Barbara.Wasberg@k12.sd.us

──── Chorus – Erin McFarland

Erin.McFarland@k12.sd.us

──── Orchestra–Andrew Travers

Andrew.Travers@k12.sd.us

MUSIC DEPT WEBSITE

(click below!) https://sites.google.com/site/

mcgovmus

Chorus:

We are preparing for some enjoyable winter concerts! Please come see the choruses on Thursday, December 6. The 6th Grade Concert is 6:30-7:00 PM. The 7-8th Grade concert is 7:30- 8:00 PM. Concerts are a large part of students’ grades so please arrange to have students in attendance! A couple of notes about the concert:

-Students must go home before coming back for the concert. There is no supervision for them between the time school ends and the concert begins!

- If you arrive early for the 7-8th grade concert, you will be asked to wait in the hallway outside the auditorium until the 6th grade concert is dismissed. The opening and closing of the auditorium doors is a distraction to our 6th grade performers and their audience. Thank you for your consideration in observing this courtesy!

- After the concert, please have a ride arranged for your child. All students must be off school property by 8:15 pm.

Band: ‘Tis the season for Winter Concerts!

8th Grade Concert with RHS Bands: Thursday, December 13, 7:00 pm In the RHS Auditorium

Flyers have gone home or check your email for details. This is a great event for our RHS-bound students or any 8th grade band student.

NOTE: GMMS Orchestra students have a concert that night so they are expected to miss the RHS concert and be at their GMMS Orchestra concert instead.

GMMS band concerts: Monday, December 17 are the GMMS Band Concerts, please attend as follows for your student(s): 6:30-7:00 pm in GMMS Auditor ium is 6th Grade Band Concer t and then the 7th Grade Band Concer t. 7:30 to 8:00 pm: 8th Grade Band Concer t and then the Jazz Band Students should report to the band room 30 minutes before the start of their concert (6:00 pm for 6th & 7th Graders, 7:00 pm for 8th Graders and Jazz Band) for warm-ups. These performances are meant to be a bit more of a formal event, so nice clothes are appreciated if possible. Guys can wear a shirt and tie with dress pants if they wish, ladies could wear a skirt, dress or dress pants, etc.

*We are so excited to start the school year with our new kind, helpful, and caring WEB leaders!

Mandatory WEB training will be on Wednesday, August 15th from 8:30am to 3:00pm.

The list of WEB leaders for this school year are listed below.

Pizza will be provided for lunch and Students are

encouraged to bring snacks to share and their own drink.

Fundraising for WEB: We are selling BIG SOO coupon books this year for $42. WEB will

make $10 for each coupon book sold! BIG SOO coupon books will be available during

training and open house.

If you know that your family will be out of town during our mandatory WEB training please

contact us via email:

Shayla Seiler shayla.seiler@k12.sd.us

Erin Mcfarland erin.mcfarland@k12.sd.us

Megan Schroeder megan.schroeder@k12.sd.us

Jamie Cota jamie.cota@k12.sd.us

2018 - 2019 WEB Leaders: Jayme Allen

Rahel Bekele

Tayvian Benson

Sarah Berhane

Mapenzi Bukuru

Aimee Burgess

Finah Davies

Yahir Diaz

Anoah DogSoldier

Josh Erdman

Joshua Feiock

Jesse FrancisoAndres

Arrionna Gamrak

Aidan Greenland

Grace Jepson

Chloe Juranek

James Kruid

Maya Madson

Zouhera Mahamed

Elizabeth Marks

Jackie Mateo

Caitlyn McKee

Karl Meinberg

Madison Morgan

Naima Musa

Nurisha Mustafa

Shalumith Navarro

Odeil Oman

Fathia Omar

Daisy Pascual

Lily Perry

Jasmine Quineaez

Victoria Quiroz

Lea Rivera

Alex Rodriquez

Angelina Salinas

Michael Schuette

Alyssah Scott

Bailey Scott

Ashirvad Sharma

Catie Simmons

Trista Snapper

Joselyn SortoBenitez

Cole Terry

Sarah Thorstenson

Kaitlyn VanLenning

Joe Webber

Alexis White

Daysha Wyant

COUNSELOR’S CORNER To contact the counseling office

Please call 367-4435

COUNSELORS’ CORNER To contact the counseling office, please call 367-4435

Counselor Assignments:

6th Grade: Mr. Fisher

7th Grade: Last Name A-I: Mr. Fisher

Last Name J-Z: Mrs. Hawkins

8th Grade: Mrs. Hawkins

Kids’ Closet

At George McGovern Middle School we have a “Kids’ Closet”. In there we have winter coats,

hats, gloves and other articles of clothing. If your child needs winter clothing, please call the

counseling office or have him/her stop by the counseling office.

Important Dates for 8th Graders

Dec – Jan: Students will complete career related activities and begin to learn more

about high School during Pro-Time.

December 3, 2018: Open enrollment application submission begins.

December 20, 2018: Initial HS open enrollment decisions made by school district. For those

wanting to open enroll, please apply for open enrollment as soon as possible. Applications are

to be turned into the Instructional Planning Center. Open enrollment forms are available in the

Counselor’s office at George McGovern.

January 14, 2019: GMMS Counselors visit ELA classes to give Introduction to High School.

January 21, 2019: High School Counselors visit Science classes to work with students making

class choices.

January 28, 2019: GMMS Counselors visit Science classes to work with students finalizing class

choices.

January/February 2019: High Schools host information/registration meetings for parents and

students. (Please see below for High School Open House Information)

February 4, 2019: Online High School Registration with High School Counselors

Please contact your high school for additional information.

High School Open Houses

WHS: January 29, 2019 6:30-8:00 pm

February 2, 2019 9:00-11:00 am

RHS: January 31, 2019 6:30–8:00 pm

February 2, 2019 9:30-11:00 am

LHS: January 5, 2019 9:00-10:30 am

January 7, 2019 7:00-8:30 pm

NTH: January 24, 2019 6:00-7:00 pm

Holiday Assistance for George McGovern Families

The holiday season is approaching and there are several Sioux Falls organizations that provide extra assistance

to families during the holidays. The best resource to call is the “Helpline Center” for a list of resources and

information. Their phone number is 339-4357. You can also reach them by dialing 211. Their website is:

http://helplinecenter.org/.

Information from the Committee for a Caring Community……

The staff at George McGovern Middle School cares about the safety and well-being of our students. We want to

make sure our school is a safe and comfortable learning environment. One of the ways we do this is through a

program called the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. The Olweus program is one of the best-known bullying

prevention programs and has been proven to prevent or reduce bullying.

The goals of OBPP are to reduce bullying problems and prevent new bullying problems from happening. The

program also works to make relationships better among students. The program is for all students, not just those

who are being bullied or who are bullying others.

Parents and guardians play a key role in this program. Your child will be asked to tell an adult at school and at

home if he or she is bullied or sees bullying happening at school. It is very important that you take any bullying

seriously and tell our school staff. Our staff has been trained to deal with bullying situations when we are told

about them.

Bullying should not be seen as “kids being kids” or something that students just need to deal with. Having a safe

school experience is something that all students should be able to enjoy.

These are the anti-bullying rules at George McGovern. Please review them with your child.

We will not bully others.

We will try to help students who are bullied.

We will try to include students who are left out.

If we know that someone is being bullied, we will tell an adult at school and at home.

Our Bully Reporting Form is located on the George McGovern Blog Spot at: http://www.sfgmms.blogspot.com/

We take clothing orders at all times by emailing

order to: gmmssfpta@gmail.com

PTA MEETING WILL BE December 4 or 11, 2018, 6:30 pm

HyVee at 10th St. and Kiwanis Ave.

HyVee Market Grill 10th St. and Kiwanis Ave.

Join us at HyVee Market Grille

JOIN GEORGE MCGOVERN FACEBOOK PAGE:

George McGovern Middle School PTA

PTA Board 2018-19

President: Randi Baker

Vice President: tbd

Secretary: Lisa Teas

Treasurer: Nichole Schlueter

Items to be purchased for Christmas Gifts are:

Sweatshirts

Sweatpants

T Shirts (long and short sleeved)

Lanyards

Shorts

2018-2019 IEP INFORMATION SESSIONS

Session 1

Transition Between Levels

When your child is ready to transition to another level, you may

feel like you need more information. Come to this session to ask

questions and get some reassurance to ease your mind.

Early Childhood to Kindergarten

5th grade to 6th grade

8th grade to 9th grade

Session 2

Guardianship for Youth Preparing to turn 18 years old

You’ve heard about it at IEP meetings and just when you thought

you had it all figured out, you start to try to make sense of what

guardianship really means as your child moves forward.

Session 3

Determining Eligibility for Special Education

It can be difficult to understand all the evaluation documents and

the “jargon” that goes with them. This session will answer your

questions and will help define what happens when there is a

dismissal or a change in related services your child receives.

────

Session 1

October 16, 2018

6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

At the Instructional

Planning Center

────

Session 2

January 15, 2019

6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

At the Instructional

Planning Center

────

Session 3

April 16, 2019

6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

At the Instructional

Planning Center

────

INSTRUCTIONAL

PLANNING CENTER

201 East 38th Street

Sioux Falls, SD 57105

605.367.7689