August 2013

November 2016

Katie Towler, Principal

Loren Velasquez, Assistant Principal

Rebecca Rieken, Assistant Principal

Mission Statement: West Middle School educates the whole child with the belief that all children can learn. WMS exists to meet the social, physical, emotional, and academic needs of all students.

WMS—3301 W. 19th St.—Sioux City, IA 51103 Phone 712-279-6813 FAX 712-277-6138 www.siouxcityschools.org

Middle School Fees

If you haven’t already paid your child’s school fees, the middle school

amount due is $37.00

You may pay via cash, check or debit/credit card (online only).

* CASH / CHECK—If you write a check, please make the check paya-ble to West Middle School & include your child’s student ID #. Your child may drop off your payment in the West Middle office anytime.

* DEBIT / CREDIT CARDS—You can use a debit or credit card to make an online payment by using My School Bucks under the parents’ tab at www.siouxcityschools.org. After logging in, select school store, select categories, select Curriculum Fees

* Fee Waivers are available to families whose income meets certain guidelines. Fee waiver applications are available online at www.siouxcityschools.org, parents’ tab, select District Forms, select Fee Waiv-er Form OR your child may pick up a paper copy in the West Middle office anytime.

Nondiscrimination Statement: The Sioux City Community School District is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. It is an unfair or discriminatory practice for any educational institution to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, age (for employment), disability, socioeconomic status (for programs), marital status (for programs), or veteran status in its educational programs and its employment practices. Inquiries or grievances may be directed to Jen Gomez, Director of Student Services & Equity Education at 627 4th Street, Sioux City, IA 51101, (712) 279-6075, gomezj2@live.siouxcityschools.com.

Red Ribbon Week

During the week of Oct. 24-27, WMS’s Student Coun-cil arranged for various activities associated with our school’s commitment to living a drug-free life. Red Ribbon Week also gave our students an opportunity to provide Treat Baskets to several area police officers showing appreciation for their hard work in our com-munity. Thank you, also, to Kim and Russ Wauhob for creating the Student Council Banner used in the Homecoming parade and taking the group and individ-ual photos of Student Council members displayed in the WMS commons.

6th grade to Symphony

Our 6th grade students attended a symphony presentation at the Or-pheum Theater on Oct. 13th from 9:30-10:30

A.M. The theme of this year’s performance was

“Music That Moves”.

All-School Fundraiser Items Delivered

Fundraiser items were delivered to WMS and distributed to students the last few days of October. If your child participat-ed, please help them deliver the items to their customers as soon as possible. Thank you to all who participated. We appreciate your continued support of West Middle and our students!

WMS T-shirts / Sweatshirts

WMS shirts are available for sale anytime in the office. A variety of t-shirt styles are available for $10-12 / Sweat-shirts $25-30

WMS

ISU Trip On Oct. 19th & 20th, ten female West Middle students had the opportunity to tour Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. They were able to expand their concept of the possibilities open to them as future college students. In times past, many females felt that there weren’t many careers open to women that featured math and science, but trips like this one show girls that in actuality there are a large variety of jobs open to them in those fields.

A note from the Principal…

It’s hard to believe we’ve completed the first quar-ter of our year already. If you follow us on our WMS Facebook page you’ve seen some of the amazing things our students and staff have ac-

complished during the first 9 weeks. From learn-ing our locker combinations and students names

to big events like Haunted Hallways and PBIS assemblies to field trips to Ames, the riverfront, and the Orpheum. We’ve played football, run cross country, played volleyball, and qualified

OPUS musicians and some Special Olympians. We’ve worked hard and had fun.

As we look towards the 2nd quarter please re-member these important reminders…

* Communicate with your students advisory teacher with any concerns or questions

* Sleep is an important ingredient in student suc-cess at school

* The weather is changing, and we go outside as often as we can. Please encourage your student to wear a warm coat, hat, and gloves as appropri-ate. If you need help getting these items, please

let us know. * Celebrate. Celebrate the amazing things your

student is learning every day.

Thank you for a great start to the year. We look forward to what the next 9 weeks has in store.

Katie Towler—279-6813

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WMS WILDCAT NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 2016

Ongoing School

Fundraisers

All you need to do is SAVE YOUR HY-VEE RECEIPTS, BOXTOPS, & POP TABS.

Please send these to school as often as you like, and your child can turn them in to their Advisory teacher or the office.

Students can even use BoxTops to

pay library fines!

TUTORING available every day - Room 304 (library)

*Before school 7:00-7:40 A.M.

*After school 2:45-3:15 P.M.

WMS’s Bell Schedule for 2016/17

School begins each day at 7:45 A.M. and dismisses at 2:45 P.M. with the excep-tion of Monday. Each Monday, school will dismiss one hour early at 1:45 P.M. to allow staff to participate in professional development. Please make transportation plans for your child if they do not ride the bus.

Lunch times are as follows:

Mondays: Tuesdays-Fridays:

P4 10:22-10:52 A.M. (6th grade lunch) P4 11:07-11:37 A.M. (6th grade lunch)

P5 11:05-11:35 A.M. (7th gr. lunch) P5 11:54-12:24 (7th gr. lunch)

P6 11:48-12:18 (8th gr. lunch) P6 12:41-1:11 P.M. (8th gr. lunch)

Teachers’ Professional Development

11/7 Technology

11/14 Overview of groups for Module 2

11/21 Module 2 Section 1

11/28 Module 2 Section 2 & 3

Home to School Communication Tool

If you have questions about your child’s progress in school, please feel free to contact your child’s team or their counselor at 279-6813.

6th grade team time: 8:13-8:57 A.M. / Ms. Galloway - Green Team Counselor & Ms. Lichty—White Team Counselor

7th grade team time: 9:00-9:44 A.M. / Ms. Galloway—counselor

8th grade team time: 9:47-10:31 P.M. / Ms. Lichty—counselor

Graduation Coach (grades 6-8) / Ms. Petersen—counselor

7th Grade White Team Highlights

English: We’ve been working on making our writing descriptive. We read Gary Soto as a model of descriptive writing and respond-ed with our own descriptions. We also have been working on sen-tence fluency and practiced simple and compound sentences.

Science: Students have been learning about cells and their func-tion. Students then created evidence of their learning by writing descriptive stories about plant or animal cells, assembled 3D models of cells, or created cells using technology. They did a GREAT job! Next quarter we will begin to study genetics.

Reading: We are reading the novel Tangerine. While reading

the book students are working on textual evidence.

Math: Students are learning how to add, subtract, multiply, and

divide positive and negative integers.

Civics: We are studying the constitution, and we’re also discuss-

ing how things work for the upcoming election.

8th Grade Highlights

Density...What is it good for??

8th grade Science students have been working hard at perfecting their measurement skills in order to find

the mass and volume of different objects. The next step is to compare these two measurements. This com-

parison is called density. The density of materials affect things such as: finding out if a crown is pure gold,

why the Titanic sank, why mustard gas killed so many in WW1, why air flows in your house, how weather

systems move, and many other processes on our planet Earth. Ask your student to explain some of these

density causes.

A Whole Lotta Changes Going On!!!

There are all kinds of changes happening in 8th grade Science! Students have tested several sub-

stances by adding heat (yes – we used fire!). They were testing substances to see how they would

react. We have even changed the form of some substances. Lots of physical and chemical changes

taking place. Ask your student for more details.

Art Supply Donations: Mrs. Kirvin, WMS’s art teacher, is

in need of the following items for art projects this year. If you would like to donate any extras you may have around the house, please have your child take them to Mrs. Kirvin’s room (#201).

Plastic bags (grocery store kind) Newspapers

Plastic soda or juice bottles

6th grade White Team Highlights:

Our first quarter of 6th grade is complete, and it was a busy time! Students finished book reports as they learned more about plot structure with Mrs. Praster. In science, students have learned the difference between a predator and its prey, along with terms like producer and consumer. They have learned to construct food chains, and have explored the meaning of carrying capacity through games like, “How Many Can Come to Dinner?” In English, the first quarter was all about narrative writing, so students learned about transition words, and practiced using them in daily writing practices. We are also using the “daily 3” to help students practice and review necessary writing skills. Quick Writes are another way that our students practice and demonstrate their writing, and we have completed 9 of those to date. We have also conquered the first quarter summative essay: Tell about an exciting or surprising time in your life. Sixth grade history is transporting our students way back in time, to Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. Students have learned about ancient Babylon, and will move shortly to a study of Egypt. Reading, writing, and evaluating math expressions will be on the math menu for sixth graders. They have already covered a unit on multiplication and division of fractions, as well as greatest common factor and least common multiple.

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WMS WILDCAT NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 2016 WMS WILDCAT NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 2016

Mr. Borrall Wins a Grant

A WMS teacher is honored for his innovative lessons in the classroom. Voya Finan-cial picked Mike Borrall, WMS’ Technology teacher, to receive a $2,000 grant through the company's Unsung Heroes awards competition. He won the award for an idea called "Haunted Hallways" where his students created 3D printed models to build a haunted house at 416 Jackson St. The public was invited to attend on 5 dif-ferent evenings during the month of October.

Fall Sports

Girls’ Basketball

11/1 @ EMS West Green vs. East White 4:00 P.M. / West White vs. East Black 5:00 P.M.

11/3 @ WMS West Green vs. East Orange 4:00 P.M. / West White vs. East White 5:00 P.M.

11/7 @ WMS West White vs. SSC White 4:00 P.M. / West Green vs. SSC Red 5:00 P.M.

Wrestling

11/3 @ EHS 4:00 P.M.

11/10 @ NHS 4:00 P.M.

Game admission at WMS is $2 adults / $1 for non-participating

students.

Outreach, Understanding, Responsibility & Support

(OURS) Parent Group

The Sioux City Community School District, Northwest Area Education Agen-cy, the Local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will continue their collabora-tion with the Outreach, Understand-ing, Responsibility, and Support (OURS) parent group.

The OURS parent group meets the second Tuesday of each month at 6:00 P.M. at the San-ford Community Center, 1700 Geneva Street. For more infor-mation and to RSVP to the meet-ings, contact Lori Gentry, BSW, Educational Equity Student Liaison for the Sioux City Community

Schools at 712-203-1107.

Topics for Discussion—6:00 P.M. @ Sanford Center

11/15 How to Plan for the Un-expected (revised date from 11/8)

12/13 Healthy Families

1/10 Mental Illness & Spiritual Health

No February Meeting

3/14 Human Trafficking

4/11 Responsible Spending & Budgeting

May date TBA—Senior Celebration

Health Tip:

Skip energy drinks Energy drinks contain up to five times more caffeine than coffee, but the boost they provide is fleet-ing and comes with unpleasant side effects like nervousness, irritability, and rapid heartbeat. Energy drinks often contain high levels of taurine, a central nervous system stimulant, and upwards of 50 grams of sugar per can (that's 13 teaspoons worth!). The sweet stuff spikes blood sugar temporari-ly, only to crash soon after, leav-ing you sluggish and foggy-headed. *information adapted from Health.com.

Sculpture Truck

John Himmelfarb’s life-sized truck sculpture “Penelope Awaiting Her Chamberlain” could be seen at West Middle on September 15th & 16th. Mr. Himmelfarb is a Midwest artist who converted a 1946 Chevrolet farm truck into a mobile sculpture. Many of his works, both large and small, have been on display recent-ly at the Sioux City Art Center.

* Information adapted from the Sioux City Art Center’s website

Westside Pride

West Middle students showed their Westside pride in honor of West High’s Homecoming. Student Council picked the winner of the “Most Pride Shown” contest.

OPUS Honor Choir

Please congratulate the follow-ing students: Adam Eber-

hardt, Holland Larned, and Matthew Pauling. These

students auditioned with over 3200 students statewide and were selected for the 2016 Iowa OPUS Honor Choir.

They will go to Ames, Iowa, on November 17 to rehearse for the day and give a concert

showcasing the best vocalists of Iowa.

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WMS WILDCAT NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 2016

PBIS

We are WEST! Welcoming-Engaged-Safe-Trustworthy. This year students receive the Cat Card (pictured) as an incentive for displaying one of the WEST behaviors. Also at West Mid-dle, we are implementing PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interven-tions and Supports). Students earn the Cat Cards and turn them in for incentives. We have prizes donated from local business, opportunities to partake in school-wide assembly games, and other grade-level incentives. The big picture is to reward students for being Welcoming-Engaged-Safe-Trustworthy…We are WEST!

6th grade Mesopotamian History Projects

Hammurabi: was a Babylonian King who reigned from 1792 B.C. to 1759 B.C. He created the Hammurabi Code of Law that states “An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth”. This Code of law which contained 282 laws, can be seen in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.

Ziggurat: These massive temples were built by the Babylonians back in the Early Dynastic Period. The Mesopotamians believed that these temples connected heaven and earth.

Hanging Gardens: Located in what we know today as Iraq. It is said the gar-dens were built to cheer up King Nebuchadnezzar’s homesick wife, Amyitis. He recreated her homeland by building an artificial looking mountain with beautiful gardens.

Tdap Shots

Please remember to turn in your 7th graders Tdap immunization record to the West Middle office if you have not already done so. An audit will begin on Nov. 28th for any 7th grade student not having their immunization on record yet. Thank you for your cooperation!