SPX Middle School Blog #1
Friday, August 30th, 2019
Welcome to the Saint
Pius X Middle School Blog!
School is back in
session and we are excited to share with you the great lessons and activities
happening for your middle school student here at school!
Check back here to
read the newest updates as we post new content every other Friday.
Thank you for
partnering with us here at Saint Pius X School, as we work together to raise
young men and women dedicated to Loving God. Loving Others. Making Disciples.
And Restoring All Things in Christ!
Have a Blessed day!
-The Middle School
Team
General Middle School Updates
1. Please join us for
the SPX Parent Information Night on Tuesday, September 3rd.
The evening will
begin at 6:00pm with a Welcome from Administration in the gym, followed by
three optional 20 minute sessions hosted by teachers in the classrooms…
Session 1: 6:30-6:50
Session 2: 6:55-7:15
Session 3: 7:20-7:40
The Middle School
Team will be presenting each session in Mr. Tallman’s homeroom.
2. Please join us at the following school Masses
hosted by our middle school classes this month:
-September 4th
(Hosted by the 6th grade class)
-September 18th
(Hosted by our 8P homeroom class)
3. Have you heard
about the Middle School Virtual Planner? Each day every middle school teacher
posts homework on our virtual planner at https://sites.google.com/stpiusxschool.org/middleschool
This is a great way for students double-check
the assignments recorded in their student planners! We encourage parents to
check the virtual planner as well to assist their student as they complete
their homework and prepare for assessments!
4. Pius Academy is
back for the 2019-2020 School year!
Pius Academy is an
afterschool program where middle school students can get one-on-one support
from the Middle School Team and Dowling Catholic High School Peer Helpers in
any subject area! It’s open to all students as their schedule allows throughout
the course of the school year.
Pius Academy is
offered on Tuesday afternoons from 3:00-3:45pm starting September 10th,
2019. Pick-up takes place outside the front entrance of the school (West doors)
at 3:45pm.
We look forward to
working with your children during Pius Academy!
Teacher Updates
6th grade and 7B Language Arts with Ms. Fannon:
6E & 6K- We are off to a great start! It
has been wonderful getting to know all of the 6th graders! In reading, students
have been learning about different points of view in literature. Next week we
will begin to read a short story in first person point of view. We will be
focusing on how first person point of view influences the story and how the
story can change if we apply a different point of view. In writing, students
have been reviewing end punctuation and capitalization rules. Next week we will
be covering all of the different comma rules and responding to journal prompts.
This week we discussed Accelerated Reader
expectations and grading. Students were to explain that information to
you and get your signature. Let me know if you have any questions.
7F- We are off to a great start! I am
enjoying getting to know the 7th graders! In reading, students have begun to
cover vocabulary, and will have a vocabulary quiz September 4th over a
mythological play in Scope magazine. Students will also read some myths in our
Literature book. We will be focusing on the characteristics of a myth and
the natural occurrences and lessons taught in myths. In writing, students are reviewing comma
rules and writing journals with prompts.
This week we discussed Accelerated Reader
expectations and grading. Students were to explain that information to
you and get your signature. Let me know if you have any questions.
6th and 7T Language Arts with Mrs. Pedersen:
Welcome to a new
school year! I am looking forward to working with your children. If you
have any questions or concerns throughout the year, please feel free to send me
an email or give me a call. Here is how we are starting out in each
grade.
7 Tallman -
We are off to a great start! I am enjoying getting to know the
students. We are starting with a myth unit. Students will read a
play in Scope magazine. Students will also read some myths in our
Literature book. We will be focusing on the characteristics of a myth and
the natural occurrences and lessons taught in myths. Students are
reviewing comma rules and writing journals with prompts.
This week we discussed
Accelerated Reader expectations and grading. Students were to explain
that information to you and get your signature. Let me know if you
have any questions.
8th Grade -
I've enjoyed catching up with the students I had in class last year and getting
to know the students I didn't have in class. We are starting with an
Edgar Allan Poe unit. We will read a few of his works. Students
will learn how life experiences influenced his writing. Skills we are
focusing on are plot, symbol, and making predictions. Students are
working on a review of punctuation, and then we will move on to basic sentence
parts. Students will be writing responses to literature with the Poe
unit.
Students will be
required to present one Book Talk first and second trimester. Today
students received the rubric and an example. Book Talks are given each
Friday. There is a schedule; two students will present each Friday.
This week we discussed
Accelerated Reader expectations and grading. Students were to explain that
information to you and get your signature. Let me know if you have
any questions.
I hope your family is
having a great start to the school year!
Mrs. Pedersen
Math with Mrs. Gipple:
6th Grade Math
We took the 1st few
days to get to know each other a little bit, as well as give a general overview
of 6th grade math! I talked to the kids about the supplies they need for
class, expectations, what we will cover and what they will be graded on.
Then we started in!!!
We began by working
with estimation strategies that we will use all year. Then we applied one
of the estimation strategies, compatible numbers, as we reviewed multi-digit
division. The 3rd concept we worked on was the exponents. We will
review these concepts today and next Tuesday and take our first quiz next
Wednesday, Sept. 4th.
The 2nd half of the
chapter will focus on the Order of Operations and how important these rules are
while solving numerical expressions. We will also work with 3 number
properties, the commutative property, the associative property and the
distributive property.
7th Grade Math
This class took their
1st quiz today over the Order of Operations and several number properties; the
identity property, the commutative property, the associative property and the
distributive property. We will go over those quizzes next week and their
scores can be viewed in Powerschool by Tuesday. In the 2nd half of the
chapter we will concentrate on variables and algebraic expressions. The
quiz over these concepts will be in 2 weeks, then we will review the entire
chapter and have our 1st chapter posttest. Each chapter Accelerated Math
practices will be assigned and are due by the time we take each chapter
posttest.
7th Grade Pre-Algebra
We began the year by
reviewing several concepts we worked with last year: creating and interpreting
data displays, the oder of operations, variables and variable expressions,
powers and exponents. The quiz over these concepts will be next
Wednesday, Sept 4th. The 2nd half of the chapter will work with equations
and their solutions, variables in formulas, and working with some problem
solving strategies. Students will need to keep up with Accelerated Math
practices that will be assigned each chapter throughout the year.
8th Grade Pre-Algebra
This class began the
year by reviewing the four main operations with real numbers. We will
review and work on Accelerated Math on Tuesday and then take the quiz over real
number operations next Wednesday, Sept 4th. In the 2nd half of the
chapter we will be working with 1-step equations and 2-step equations.
The quiz over these equations will be in 2 weeks.
8th Grade Algebra
This class took their
1st quiz today over variables and expressions, real numbers and the order of
operations. We will go over those quizzes next week and then begin the
2nd half of the chapter where we will review real number operations, number
properties as well as equations and graphs.
Please let me know if
you have any questions and I hope to see all of you at our parent information night
next Tuesday, Sept. 3rd!
Have a wonderful Labor
Day weekend!
Mrs. Gipple
Religion with Mr. Tallman:
Welcome to a new school year! It’s exciting to be back in
the school routine and a blessing to work with your children in religion class!
I look forward to visiting with all of you at next weeks Parent Information
Night (Sept. 3rd)!
In the meantime, follow our classroom twitter account at
@MrTallmansClass …when you follow you’ll receive daily tweets about our
in-class activities and discussion! I’ll include pictures as well as homework
reminders!
All middle school classes have received a class syllabus for
our religion class. In this you’ll find an outline of our course content for
the school year. It’s a helpful resource to reference throughout the year!
All middle school classes selected a homeroom patron saint
this week…please ask your student about this process and which saint his/her
class ended up selecting (pictures of the process were posted on twitter!).
Next week all middle school classes will be introduced to
our middle school service hour program and discuss the various grade level
requirements. Watch for a detailed information handout come home which outlines
the expectations for service hours!
Thanks for a great first week of school! I’m looking forward
to seeing everyone back next Tuesday!
Peace,
Mr. Tallman
Science with Mrs. Erickson:
I am excited for the new year and can’t wait to
see where it will take us!
If you are curious about me or what we are doing
in science feel free to check out my website: https://sites.google.com/view/mrsericksonscience/home I plan to keep
this up-to-date with notes, handouts, study guides, etc. as we move through the
year. I have also added course information for each grade level, safety
contracts that I will have students complete and sign, an outline of their
science binder expectations, and request to retest form. If you have trouble
accessing something, please let me know!
6th Grade- In the next two weeks we will
continue learning about… Science!... Seriously, though, we’ve been discussing
the “What” of science. We will then move into the “Who” of science and will be
doing short research posters focusing on a career in science that each student
is drawn towards. My hope is that through researching and sharing what they
learned about the careers is they will see scientists can do almost ANYTHING!
We will also be working through each “part” of the scientific process from
observations, questions, and hypotheses to results, conclusions, and
communications. Each part will have a focused mini-unit and will culminate with
a lab bringing all their knowledge together. So far our classes have been very
discussion based, but we will be moving into some skills necessary for science.
As we do this there will be various opportunities to formally show their
knowledge. Check out the homework site for more detailed information about
assignments and upcoming dates! https://sites.google.com/stpiusxschool.org/middleschool
7th Grade- We are working through a review of
basic science skills from last year, with a few new for the year ahead. We have
started with controlled experiments and have been reviewing everything from
testable questions and hypotheses, to types of variables and constants. We will
then review procedures before doing the first lab of the year. Once we complete
our lab we will discuss how to analyze data and draw conclusions using evidence
from our experiment. We will write a lab report as well as take a short
assessment over the experimental design process. This will be around September
6th next week. Check out the homework site for more detailed information about
assignments and upcoming dates! https://sites.google.com/stpiusxschool.org/middleschool
8th Grade- We are working through a review of basic
science skills from last year, with a few new for the year ahead. We have
started with controlled experiments and have been reviewing everything from
testable questions and hypotheses, to types of variables and constants. We will
then review procedures before doing the first lab of the year. Once we complete
our lab we will discuss how to analyze data and draw conclusions using evidence
from our experiment. We will write a lab report as well as take a short
assessment over the experimental design process. This will be around September
6th next week. Check out the homework site for more detailed information about
assignments and upcoming dates! https://sites.google.com/stpiusxschool.org/middleschool
Social Studies with Mr. Klein:
The new school year is off to a great
start in Social Studies! We will be working on some new and interesting things
this year.
6th Grade:
The sixth graders will
be working on a Five Themes of Geography project the next week. Students will
be working in groups and researching a country of their choosing. During the
investigation, students will be finding information about their country using
the Five Themes.
7th Grade:
We will begin our
first Global Issue next week by talking about Imperialism and how it affected
the world today. We will begin by looking at how European countries divided up
India and Africa.
8th Grade:
In eighth grade, we
will be researching and creating a mini history book about European Explorers
making their voyages over to the "New World" and how it affected the
civilizations already living there. After that, the students will be creating
their own colony in the New World.
Instrumental Music with Ms. Walter:
Hello, and welcome back to school! After a long
summer, it's been great seeing everyone's smiling faces coming back into the
building this week. Band is no exception to everything else starting up, so
this is a reminder to make sure your child is registered for band. The link to
sign up is http://bit.ly/spxMSband. Lessons began on August 29th, with the first day of full
rehearsals being September 3rd. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone
again--this should be a great year for band!
Happy First Week of
School!
Ms. Walter
Physical Education with Mr. Martin:
PE class is just
getting started. Students should start getting into the habit of bringing their
gym clothes to school on days they have PE. All students were given a syllabus
that you can feel free to look at as well.
Mr. Martin
Spanish with Sra. Schoessler:
Spanish is off to a strong start this year.
We have been blessed with more time, which means more practice and fun
with the language! Right now Spanish 1A and B are reviewing vocabulary from
last year. Sixth grade will be exploring their topics of interest, and fifth
grade (yes, 5th grade now, too!) is starting Spanish as well.
Seventh graders should buy a 3 subject notebook for class. This 3
subject notebook will be carried over to next year as 8th graders. It’s just
nice to have all notes and vocab in one place for Spanish 1. I don’t think this
was on the supply list ahead of time, so my apologies. The 5th and 6th grade
should also have a 1 subject notebook. All students should have a folder
to keep handouts. Fifth graders should already have what they need.
I
am so excited to get rolling with the curriculum. These kids are eager to learn
more and that makes it so much fun for me! I am already so impressed and
delighted to see that many students have kept in touch with Spanish skills over
the summer!
Sra Schoessler
Guidance with Mrs. Elliott:
Hello Sixth Grade Parents and
Guardians,
Your children will
have Guidance during the first trimester on Thursdays and Fridays. I am
looking forward to having conversations about adjusting to middle school,
managing stress and making good choices. Sixth grade is a special year
because the Urbandale Police Department will join us to present their Culture
of Integrity program. They will come to guidance on Thursdays starting
September 12th. They will talk to our sixth grade students about
bullying, social media, peer pressure, and tips to put their best foot
forward. I will send you an email next week regarding these
presentations. If there is anything I can do to support your child's
middle school experience please contact me.
Susie Elliott - School
Counselor - selliott@stpiusxschool.org
Enrichment with Mrs. Moser:
Mock Trial News - St Pius X middle school students want
to have a Mock Trial team this year but we need YOUR help!
We are in need of a Mock Trial coach. If you have any law
experience (lawyers, judges, law students, and other legal professionals)
we would love to have you work with students on the various aspects of
preparing a case and conducting a trial.
Please consider working with students through the Iowa
Mock Trial Program. Through this program students get a hands-on opportunity
to examine legal processes and current legal issues. In addition to providing
familiarity with the law, mock trials also help students develop important
critical-thinking skills and aid in the development of fundamental research,
preparation and presentation skills.
**If you are interested in being our coach (or
you know someone who would be a good fit) please contact Mrs. Moser atnmoser@stpiusxschool.org or (515)-276-1061
ext 142.**
A note from Mrs. Samanth Montang about SPX Parish Youth Programing:
Hello, SPX Middle School Parents!
For those of you who don’t know me or we haven’t had the
time to meet yet, my name is Samantha Montang (Blaser), and I am the youth
minister here at St. Pius X. I got married this summer, so now some of you may
really not have heard of me!
My goal for all of the teens in the St. Pius X Parish
community is to see the Church as a place to call home. Home tends to be a
physical place, so I want your children to feel like this is a place where they
can run to when they are bored, want to have fun, feel sad or have just
received the best news. I want them to know, if they don’t already, that being
at St. Pius X isn’t always because of school or church. I want them to come and
play basketball, to watch movies, play board games. I want them to see this
place as home away from home.
So, I want to invite you to all of our middle school
activities. We plan to have hang out nights, open gyms, movie nights, time for prayer,
and many other activities! I want to also take fun trips to places locally and
on mission trips. I want your teens to explore who they are with their friends,
family and Jesus by their sides.
I have an email list where I send out information about what
St. Pius youth are up to, and anything in the bulletin that talks about youth
is also talking about your kids. Never feel like activities are just for the
Faith Formation kids. I don’t believe in that separation. All of our kids
deserve to get to know each other, learn from each other and spend time with
one another.
Of course, another thing I highly suggest is Edge. I want to
be clear that Edge is not just for learning about the faith. I know your kids
are already doing that with Mr. Tallman, and he is doing an incredible job. My
focus is friendship, prayer, fun and formation. Of course formation is
important, but it is through friendship with other like-minded people that
their curiosity can bud. They feel more comfortable asking questions because their
friends are asking the same questions. We have guest speakers come because we
believe teens need to interact with as
many people who love their faith as possible. We want them
to hear testimonies of people who love Jesus. We want them to see and experience
Jesus through the others around them. Edge is a time to experience, to discover
and to live authentically. That’s our goal.
If you are interested in Edge and want more information,
contact me.
If you want to be on the email list for the events that we
put on, contact me.
If you feel called to help lead these middle schoolers
encounter Jesus even more deeply, contact me. If you felt something moving in
your heart when you read this, contact me.
I want to know each of you because we are here for the same
reason: for your kids to fall in love with Jesus and to continue deepening our
own relationships with God as a family and individually. I want the best for
you and your family. So, if you want more of that, contact me.
Looking forward to meeting you, getting to know you and
being there by your side to continue helping your kids find St. Pius as a place
to call home.
Shalom,
Samantha Montang
