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Page 1 JC McKenna Middle School
JC McKenna Middle School School Newsletter
March 2016 Important Dates
March 7…..Jazz Band & Blue
Notes Concert
March 7...End of 2nd trimester
March 12 ….....Solo Ensemble
March 14……..…….No School
March 18……..…..…….Dance
March 25 …..…..Early Release
March 28-April 1..Spring Break
Principal Message: Jason Knott
Dear Parent/Guardians: Wisconsin Students in Grades 3 – 8 will be participating in the FORWARD assessment during the upcoming testing “window”. Our school is scheduled to take the State assessment throughout the month of April. The FORWARD assessment evaluates student perfor-mance in the areas of English Language Arts and Math. In addition, students in grade 4, and 8 will take tests in Science and Social Studies. One or more subtests may be administered daily during the identified time frame of April 5 – 29. Therefore, it is very important that your son or daughter be in school during this time. Students not in school on the scheduled testing days will be scheduled for a make-up test prior to the close of the testing “window”. The FORWARD assessment measures the knowledge and skills your student(s) should have acquired by the time they reach each grade level. Their performance on the assessment will not affect any of their current grades. Please encourage your son or daughter to take the test seriously and do the best they can. The results of these tests will be used to help school staff make determinations or placement in classes to best support your child(ren). An informational brochure is attached. This gives more detail about the assessment including its purpose, what scores will be provided, and how the scores will be used. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Thank you,
Jason Knott
Contacting
JC McKenna Middle School
Main Office Hours
7:15am-3:45pm
Telephone Extensions:
Principal, Mr. Knott .…………..…….882-3302
Attendance Voicemail ..…………..882-3301
School Guidance Counselor:
Mrs. Traut-Ebert ………..…………..882-3304
School Social Worker:
Mr. Mike Czerwonka …………..…882- 3356
307 S. First Street
Evansville, WI 53536
Fax: 608-882-5744 Website: jcm.ecsdnet.org
Mission Statement
“Educating and engaging the
whole student”
To create a stimulating, caring
and socially responsible environ-
ment that encourages students to
reach their individual potential.
Page 2 JC McKenna Middle School
Forward testing dates:
ECSD Summer School 2016 July 11 through July 29, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
This summer, we are very excited to offer 15 half-days of enrichment courses for students at all levels. Preliminary plans are in place now with awesome courses being developed by our teachers. The courses will be offered at no cost to families. Meals and transportation will not be offered.
Within a few weeks, a catalog of enrichment courses will be sent home to each family for you to make your course selec-tions. Registration will be offered online to facilitate the process with speed and efficiency, but paper forms will also be available.
Keep watching the school website for more information.
Page 3 JC McKenna Middle School
The benefits of failure—why failure is a positive thing.
by Mr. Czerwonka and Ms. Traut
Allowing students to suffer the consequences of achieving a lower grade for having missed an assignment
or failed to prepare adequately for a test may actually benefit your child in the long-run.
The danger of over-helping is that students are under-prepared. If you are doing your child’s homework, he
or she will not be able to perform the task on a test or quiz.
Maya Angelou said “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter
the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”
In so many ways we (parents and teachers) want success. How we measure that success is often looked at in terms of winning (at
a game/contest), an A on the report card (because of a test score or project grade), or high test scores (on some sort of standard-
ized assessment).
While these are one way to measure success there are a lot of benefits from failure as well. Typically we view failure as bad—in
reality failure can often be a great teacher. The conventional view is that someone with a near-perfect GPA will become a near-
perfect employee. The concern with this is that a straight-A student is not a perfect person but some-
one who has never done badly in a course. This means that they have never really been tested. If they
have not been tested to the extent of receiving at least some weak grades, then they missed out on
learning to cope with failure.
Failing provides a reality check on where we really are—perhaps we think we are the best team,
greatest student, fastest runner or something else and then by failing we realize that there may be a
better team, someone smarter than us, faster than us—yet it is important to not give up because the
next time we may be the best team again
Failing can teach priceless lessons—that first time we fail we might feel embarrassed, frightened,
shocked, disappointed, etc. We learn that we can experience these feelings and continue on with a
different plan or focus.
Failure often teaches us there is more than one way to progress--life does not simply give us one shot—often times by fail-
ing we find another way to meet our goal.
Failure can test strength and character—people who fail repeatedly develop a sense of persistence when things do not initial-
ly go their way.
Failure can drive you and motivate you—how we address failure can help us in the long-run.
History is filled with people who failed. The found a way to use what they learned from their failure.
Steve Jobs was technically a failure as a college dropout, a fired tech executive and an unsuccessful businessman. At 30 years
old he was actually removed from the company he founded.
Thomas Edison was "too stupid to learn anything." Work was no better, as he was fired from his first two jobs for not being
productive enough. Even as an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. Of course, all
those unsuccessful attempts finally resulted in the design that worked.
Charles Schultz: Schultz's Peanuts comic strip has had enduring fame, yet this cartoonist had every cartoon he submitted reject-
ed by his high school yearbook staff. Even after high school, Schultz didn't have it easy, applying and being rejected for a posi-
tion working with Walt Disney.
As Michael Eisner (Former CEO of Disney) said “Failure is good as long as it doesn’t become a habit.”
Page 4 JC McKenna Middle School
6th Grade Team
Mr. Tom Bethke 882-3328
Math
Mr. Tristan McKittrick 882 -3330
Social Studies
Mrs. Jill Schultz 882-3323
Reading/Language Arts
Mrs. Renee Smith 882-3322
Reading/Language Arts
Mr. Greg Vossekuil 882-3329
Science
Mr. Trent Schmick-882-3335
Tech Ed
Social Studies
The sixth grade scholars have been
learning lots of about turn of the
century America, and they wrote
some well-reasoned argumentative
essays to end their unit, showing off
their historical knowledge. Some
argued the Industrial Revolution was
damaging to America due to the lack
of child labor laws and the toxic pol-
lution spewing from factories. Oth-
ers made the case that our country
was improving as new immigrants
entered our nation, cheap goods
abounded and we grew into a pow-
erful nation. The students are
getting quite good at using historical
evidence to make their case. Next
we’ll move onto study the world
map and just a taste of World War
II. On March 21, Mr. Beedle takes
over when Mr. McKittrick departs for
paternity leave for the rest of the
year…
Art
I just want to remind you that the 12
-week 6th grade art class will be end-
ing on March 4. Please follow up
regularly on Skyward to monitor
your child’s progress and to view any
missing work. Our goal is to have all
student work completed by March
4. If your child requires some addi-
tional time beyond the trimester to
complete any work please let me
know. I will be posting their art
grades on their third quarter report
card.
I've greatly enjoyed working with
your child and I eagerly look forward
to working with them as 7th graders!
Trent Schmick
Parents please continue to sign and check over your child’s assignment
notebook. This helps everyone stay informed about what is being assigned
for homework as well as any upcoming tests or projects. Team Time teach-
ers check for signatures daily.
Grades are posted online. Please use Family Access to find your child’s
grades. It takes about 1 week turn around time for teachers to post
grades. If you have not signed-up for Family Access please contact Linda
Gard at the District Office.
6th grade could use some snacks for our growing “Success Club”
attendees.
Science
Students will have finished up their third and final chemistry unit on Chemical
Reactions. We will be moving into a unit on buoyancy and then going full
"force" into our first Physics unit on movement and motion. Science Olympics
has really heated up with many teams attempting to move to the top spot on
our leader board. Ask your student about SOC buzzer questions and some of
the competitions we have already done.
Also, please check in with your student on their study habits. Over the next
few units students have to begin to decide what is the best way for them to
study for their classes.
Page 5 JC McKenna Middle School
Homework Help!
6th Grade Success Club meets every Wednesday from 3:15 to 4:15 pm. This club is staffed by 6th grade
teachers. Parents can request that their child attend this club even if they do not have any latework. Stu-
dents with latework will be asked to attend by Wednesday. Contact your child’s Team Time teacher if you
would like to sign-up your child or if you have any questions.
Language Arts
Sixth grade students are off to a
wonderful start with our immigration
unit. Classes are reading and taking
notes on a few nonfiction pieces of
literature titled If Your Name Was
Changed on Ellis Island, and Immi-
grant Kids. Students will earn a
stamp for their “Immigration Pass-
port” when they complete these
pieces, and may also get to play Quiz
Bowl while reviewing the infor-
mation. Our current novels, Children
of the River and Crossing the Wire
are both based on realistic experi-
ences dealing with the challenges
(both past and present) of immi-
grating to a new country. From
these novels, students have daily
reading and required written re-
sponses with detailed evidences
from the story. Other skills focused
on include inferencing, characteriza-
tion, and basic literature elements
such as conflict, figures of speech,
symbolism, and plot development.
Students have also been reading a
number of paired articles where
they’ve been asked to analyze infor-
mation presented, complete an out-
line supporting their claim, and then
synthesize their responses into either
a paragraph or essay with properly
cited textual support for their argu-
ments. Whew! No wonder we have
been a bit overwhelmed with
writing. Nevertheless, these pieces
will help prepare our students for the
Wisconsin Forward Exam which will
occur in April. (Be looking for our
“Happy Camper” paragraph to be
shared at conferences.) Weekly Pro-
fessor Language practice, and Word
Wizard study of prefixes, suffixes,
and root words are ongoing skills we
continue to work on.
Math
Regular math classes are into chap-
ter 9 of the GO MATH book. This is
the study of relationships between
variables in algebra. We have just
finished learning about algebra ex-
pressions. We hope to have Chap-
ter 9 completed by March 1. This is
our last algebra chapter in this book.
Ask your child if they know about
independent (x) and dependent (y)
variables. Check out my you tube
lessons for extra practice or help on
math skills. These can be found at
my school website.
Advanced Math
Currently the class has begun work
in the new series titled BIG IDEAS.
Right now students will be starting
Chapter 4 in this book. This is the
study of graphing and solving ine-
qualities in algebra. The first 3 chap-
ters have been quite challenging for
all of the students in this class. Re-
mind your child to bring their calcu-
lator to class.
2016 Math Team
Congrats to the students who will
represent Evansville at the 5/6 Math
Meet: Trenten Malterer, Kevin
Herro, Ricky Braunschweig and Mi-
randa Nelson. Practice schedules
have been sent home. The Math
Meet is April 12, 2016.
2016 Math 24 Team
Congrats to the students who made
the 6th Grade Evansville Math 24
Team: Alex Johnson, Owen Boll,
Trent Malterer, Sam Ross, Eli Bran-
denburg and Ashlyn Tiedt. The tour-
ney takes place on March 8, 2016.
Khan Academy.com
All students have been given a user
name and password for Khan Acade-
my. This free website is a wonderful
resource for all students and has
many different subjects areas.
There are videos and skills for stu-
dents to watch and practice. Ask
your child if they can get to Khan
Academy on their own. This would
be great review work or even exten-
sion work.
Page 6 JC McKenna Middle School
2016 January Ski Trip to Cascade
Page 7 JC McKenna Middle School
FUN !!
Page 8 JC McKenna Middle School
Page 9 JC McKenna Middle School
7th Grade Team
Mrs. Ann Alme 882-3325
Math
Mr. Bruce Curtis 882-3356
Science
Mrs. Carla Gomez 882-3348
Spanish
Mrs. Beth Oswald 882-3342
Social Studies
Mrs. RuthAnn Yoerger 882-
3349
Composition Literature
Mr. Trent Schmick 882-3335
Art
Mr. Mike Maves 882-3336
Special Education
Mr. Pat Dietrich 882-3314
Special Education
Science
We are finishing up our units on the Digestive and Circulatory
systems. Students are getting the option of dissecting the deer
hearts that were donated in November. Our next unit will be
DNA and Genetics. Also coming this spring will be a science pro-
ject. Stay tuned for more details!
Composition/Literature: In March, we will continue our study of
Greek and Roman mythology. Students will be working on an in-class
assignment called Mythology Pick Three where they get to select three
activities related to mythology. One activity will have a reading focus;
one activity will have a writing focus; one activity will have a research
focus. Please ask your child about his/her choices and progress.
Page 10 JC McKenna Middle School
Seventh grade
math:
Students will
be working with inequalities. They
will both need to write and graph
inequalities. We will be solving
them using the four basic opera-
tions. Students will be solving one
and two-step inequalities.
World History:
Greece is the word! What do '57 Chevys',
AC/DC, The Wizard of Oz, Pac Man, Looney
Tunes, The Giver, Mozart, and Swan Lake
have in common? They are all classic or
classical! We are beginning to learn about
the classical civilizations of Greece and
Rome, and what makes them
"classical." Also, information about Greco-
Roman Day (a.k.a. Toga Day) is coming
soon! Watch your email for details about
this fun and educational day.
FACE students are wrapping up their trimester with a Fiesta—a combined project with 7th grade Spanish
classes. We will be making 13 different Mexican foods one class period and celebrating by eating them
the next day. It is a lot of hard work, but the delicious Fiesta we will get to share is so worth it! It helps
them to practice Spanish words for foods also.
Students are also finishing up their sewing projects of their choice. You will see soccer balls, footballs, gun
cases, and many other awesome projects coming home. Some students did not purchase projects and
they have been putting together pillowcases for Ryan’s Case for Smiles. The pillowcases will be donated to
the American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison. Other students are making Little Dresses for Africa,
and still others are creating eye pillows for the Mindfulness Co-op here in Evansville.
Parents please encourage your young person to be creative in the kitchen. They need help and practice in
following directions and making foods for your family would be a big help to increase their confidence in
the kitchen.
See you next year!
Mrs. Herbers
Page 11 JC McKenna Middle School
8th Grade Team
Mrs. Katelyn Demrow 882-3351
Composition/Literature
Mr. Rich Fanning 882-3358
Science
Ms. Kelly Fanta 882 -3350
Spanish
Mr. John Hanson 882 -3340
Social Studies
Mrs. Gretchen Kopf 882-3343
Math
Mr. Trent Schmick 882-3335
Art
Mrs. Brittany Deaver 882-3315
Special Education
Composition/Literature
8th grade comp/lit students finished up their Edgar Allan Poe unit where they followed common theme
among stories and worked on finding tone and mood. Students also worked on visualizing techniques
when reading the detailed stories. February 9th kicked off the WWII and Holocaust unit for our 8th graders.
Students will be learning a variety of information related to both WWII and the Holocaust. We will focus
on learning non-fiction reading skills and strategies when looking at articles detailing Japanese Internment,
the Holocaust, and other WWII stories. Lit. circles are also starting again! Students received their book on
February 18th and are working in their lit. circles to build discussion and critical thinking skills. Each book is
related to the unit's topic. Students will wrap this unit up the week before spring break. Ask them about
the information they are learning about this time in history and how it relates to their book!
Spanish
Students in 8th grade Spanish are finishing up a research and presentation unit on World War II
topics. They will present to their classes in the first week of March. After that, students will cov-
er a Spanish unit on travel, where they will learn places (river, ocean, mountains, etc), weather
and weather-specific clothing items. Students will use TPR (total physical response) to learn the
weather expressions, so they will have an action that they think of for each one.
World Geography
The 8th grade World Geography classes are studying European geography with an emphasis on WW2
and the Holocaust that runs concurrent to books being selected, read and projects in Comp/Lit and
Spanish classes. After that, students will turn their attentions to Africa - the Vast Continent!!
Math 8
IT’S FINALLY HERE!!!! Pi is such an amazingly irrational number that it doesn’t just get a day for 8th grade, it get’s the whole month!
Students will be working in “pi” groups for the month of March, earning points for great participation, homework completion, and vari-
ous contests of math skill. While in groups, students will be studying all things linear...making and interpreting linear graphs, writing
and solving equations in different forms, and connecting the concept of slope to our study of similar triangles.
Algebra
Pi month is just as important for our Algebra folks. They will be working in pi groups too. They will be studying exponents, radi-
cals, and applying that knowledge to exponential functions. We will touch on adding, subtracting, and multiplying polynomials
before spring break.
Science
March will have the 8th grade science students taking a trip back in time by examining the earth
history time line and uncovering the facts that lead to the actual age of the earth. Trilobites, am-
monites, fossil fish, dinosaurs, and woolly mammoths may all make an appearance at JC McKenna.
Art
Your child’s 12 week art class will be starting on March 7th. I will be sending home class expectation sheets for you to review
with your child after our first day. I also want to remind parents that each student will need a pencil, a sketchbook (8 ½ x 11 or 9
x 12) and a two pocket paper folder. If students still have their sketchbook from last year, they should continue to use that. If
they need to purchase a new sketchbook, they can buy one from me for $5.00. You can also purchase sketchbooks at area office
supply stores, art stores or other discount stores. Just make sure it’s the right size and that it has plain white paper.
I’m excited at the opportunity to work with your child again this year as they continue to further develop their creativity and an
overall appreciation for the fine arts.
Page 12 JC McKenna Middle School
Specials Team
Mr. Kendall Buttchen 882-3316
Phy Ed/Health
Mr. Darren Demmin 882-3309
Phy Ed/Health
Ms. Leslie Ferrell 882-3320
Reading Specialist
Mrs. Mandi Firgens 882-3331
Business & Information Technology
firgensm@evansville,k12.wi.us
Mr. Bob Harsevoort 882-3334
Band
Ms. Cathy Kruckenberg 882 -3308
Phy Ed/Health
Mrs. Meghann Proper 882-3332
Vocal Music
8TH GRADE COMPUTERS ~ Students created an online portfolio
using Google Sites. In March, they will be learning topics in the
area of financial literacy.
7TH GRADE COMPUTERS ~ Students created an online portfolio
using Google Sites. In March, they will be exploring Career
Cruising, and learning more about a chosen career.
6TH GRADE COMPUTERS ~ Students will continue to learn about
their Digital Life, Internet Searching, and Internet Safety.
All students use Google Classroom to submit their assignments. If
students are absent, they can check Classroom for any work they
missed.
Check out my class website:
https://sites.google.com/a/ecsdnet.org/mrsfirgens/
MUSIC FUNDRAISER - BUTTER BRAID PASTRIES
Are you hungry? The annual music fundraiser is already
underway! Butter Braids orders are due to the main office by March
10th. Delivery will be at the end of the school day on March 23rd. Stu-
dents with 12 or fewer Butter Braids should easily be able to take their
order home. Please make arrangements to pick up orders of 13 or more.
Pick-up will be in the cafeteria from 3:10 to 4:15. The pastries come fro-
zen so it's important for all the orders to be picked up that day. All mon-
ey raised goes back to students in the form of new music, new or re-
paired instruments, new technology like iPads, reduced ticket prices for
field trips and so much more. Thank you for your support!
SOLO & ENSEMBLE
All seventh and eighth grade Chorus and Band students are
invited to perform at Solo & Ensemble on Saturday, March 12th at Evans-
ville High School. This is a great opportunity to grow as a young musician!
If your student is performing, they will receive their specific performance
time about a week before the event. Please let your music teacher
know if you have questions or
concerns.
HEALTH
8th Grade ~ Alcohol / Blood Alcohol Content / Drunk Driving: Fatal Vision
Goggle Activity
7th Grade ~ Effects of Drugs on the Teenage Brain
6th Grade ~ Inhalants
JAZZ CONCERT
Blue Notes and Jazz Band will
perform at the jazz concert on
Monday, March 7th at 7pm.
Students should report to the
high school at 6:30pm.
Page 13 JC McKenna Middle School
In January…
Many new fiction and non-fiction titles
were added to our collection. Below are
just a few ….
Students and teachers checked out 1,242
items during the month of January. That’s a
lot of reading & research!
Scrapbooking Materials
We will be starting a make-your-own-
bookmark center in the library. If anyone
has extra scrapbooking materials such as
paper, ribbon, stickers, or buttons that
they’d like to donate, please drop them off
at the office or contact me at
Battle On!
Out of 38 middle school participants, the
6th grade team of Ricky Braunschwieg, Mi-
chael Urban, and Eli Winchel won the Bat-
tle of the Books run-off competition for our
school, allowing them to represent JC
McKenna in competing against other mid-
dle school teams across the state. All par-
ticipants worked hard and read many won-
derful books. Way to go!
Library Media Center News By Jolene Lenth, Library Media Specialist
Nondiscrimination Statement
The Evansville Community School District prohibits harassment or discrimination against any pupil in any program or activity on the basis of sex, race, religion, national origin, ancestry, creed, pregnancy, marital or parental status, sexual orientation, physical, mental, emotional or learning disability, or any other basis
protected by law.
Page 14 JC McKenna Middle School
EVANSVILLE YOUTH CENTER
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
March 2016
1—Air Hockey Tournament
2—Air Hockey Tournament
3—Library Alison
4—Air Hockey Tournament
7—Wii Medieval Games
8—Let’s Cook
9—Cut Throat Pool Tournament
10-- Cut Throat Pool Tournament
11-- Cut Throat Pool Tournament
14—NO SCHOOL/NO EYC
15—Movie & Popcorn
16—Just Dance
17—St Patrick’s Party
18—St Patrick’s Trivia
21—Minute to Win It
22—Minute to Win It
23—Bowling
24—Spoons
25—NO EYC
28-1—NO SCHOOL/NO EYC
The Evansville Youth Center is getting ready for their next field trip. Students will be heading to Eagle Cave to spelunk on Monday, April 18. All students grades 5-8 are wel-come (even home schooled students). All students must have a Student Information form on file at the youth center, take the Eagle Cave information sheet home, and turn in the Eagle Cave permission form by Thursday, March 24 to be able to attend. These forms can be picked up at the youth center (209 S First St) or downloaded from the City of Ev-ansville page. The bus leaves from the youth center at 8 am and will return at 5:30 pm. All expenses are covered by the United Way Blackhawk Region grant for the youth
center. This will be a great day of exploring--come join us!
Show your support for the
Evansville Youth Center by
going to this link:
GoFundMe.com/kwpdmcwc
