May 2014 1Newsletter - Ralston Middle School

Mr. Jason Buckingham, Principal
Mr. Andy Parizek, Assistant Principal
&
Activities Director
8202 Lakeview Street
Ralston, NE 68127
(402) 331-4701
www.rms.ralstonschools.org
Papio Fun Park Day
We have had a great year here at Ralston Middle School, both the 7th and 8th grade classes
have done a good job improving both their behavior and study skills during the course of the
year. As we get ready to say goodbye to our 8th grade class, we will celebrate their impending
promotion to the high school by taking all eligible 8th grade students to Papio Fun Park on
Thursday, May 22nd. In order for a student to attend this celebration, they need to have ALL of
their homework completed and turned in to their instructors by Friday, May 16th. In addition the
eligibility requirements are the same for as for every other activity at RMS. Students may not
have any F grades or more than one D in order to eligible to attend. Students who do not meet
this requirement will have the opportunity to stay at school on the 22nd and complete their
school work in a guided study hall. For students that are far behind, we offer both before and
after school tutoring. We want all of our 8th graders to have an opportunity to attend this
celebration, so please continue to work with your students on completing all their work by the
16h! Additional information regarding the Papio Park Fun Day will be sent home soon to your
8th grade student.
Changes at RMS for 2014-2015
I would like to announce that this will be my final newsletter here as principal of Ralston Middle
School as I have accepted a new position next year at our district’s central office. I am leaving
to work as the Director of Fiscal Affairs for the Ralston Public Schools. It has been my distinct
pleasure to have worked in the capacity of principal at RMS over the course of the last five
years. I am proud of the hard work and progress that has been made as a school and progress
that has been made in helping prepare our students for the rigors of high school. I would like to
announce that Mr. Andy Parizek, current Assistant Principal at Ralston Middle will be the next
principal at RMS. Mr. Parizek has worked in the building as a teacher and assistant principal for
the past nine years and brings a wealth of middle school experience to the position. Thanks to
all the parents, students and staff for making the past five years so enjoyable and please join me
in welcoming Mr. Parizek to the principal position for 2014.
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"The mission of Ralston Middle School is to develop safe, responsible, and respectful learners today, leaders tomorrow."
In Social Studies classes we have been learning about the early Middle Ages. Students have
been learning about the levels of feudalism and life on a manor. We also studied the traits of
the Code of Chivalry of the medieval knights. Next we will be learning about the late Middle
Ages where we will be studying the Crusades, and learning about the Black Death. One of
the highlights of the chapter is Black Death Day when the students participate in a role play
to experience the worries and fears of this time period.
In Science class we have begun our final unit of the year, Astronomy. We have studied the
motions of planets and moon and now understand why we have days, months, years, and
seasons. As we progress through this unit we will learn about the moon, the sun, the 8
planets, and the smaller bodies that can be found in our solar system. On the first day of our
Astronomy unit we were very lucky to have the opportunity to view the first of four total lunar
eclipses that will happen in the next two years. Keep those eyes to the sky because there
are millions of things to observe up there!
The month of May we will be working on our Data and Statistics Unit, where students will be
learning different ways to group numbers. We will be doing a couple of projects to excite
their interests on the unit. One activity is called Stepping Out. This activity is focused on the
idea of, do students with longer legs run faster than students with shorter legs and we use
Data from the classes to figure it out. Our last project of the year will be comparing teachers’
ages in the Ralston Middle School building. The students get extremely excited to see the
comparison between whom they believe is old and young. This unit should be a fun way for
the students to end their 7th grade school year!
In 7A language arts classes we have finished up our NESA testing and non-fiction units. We
will be finishing the year with an intense descriptive writing unit and another novel. Our last
two units help us put together all the skills we have learned throughout the year. We are
working to comprehend texts and create original writing pieces that describe our favorite
places. We can't wait to use all we have learned as 8th graders!
Here is what is going on in Team Thunder classes!
World History- The students are learning about life in the Middle Ages! We have
completed half our unit, learning about the geography of Europe, who got what in the
feudal system, and what the lives of monks and nuns were like in medieval times.
After learning about medieval knight's code of chivalry, students nominated who they
thought was the most chivalrous member of their class! The following students were
chosen as our "most chivalrous":
Period 1- Jadyn Sacco
Period 2- Kaitlyn Nguyenduy
Period 5- Matthias Walters
Period 7- Gina Petersen
Period 8- Zach Petriw
Chivalry is alive at RMS!
In Ms. Redemske's math classes, we are starting a unit on data and graphing. We
will be learning how to make and interpret box & whisker plots, circle graphs, and
scatter plots. We will also be investigating whether longer legged people run faster
than shorter legged people using our own experimental data!
Mrs. Sheets' Language Arts classes are wrapping up the year by beginning to study
descriptive writing. This will allow students to be ready to hit the ground running next
year!
Science is looking at the expansive nature of the universe and solar system. Students
will be investigating objects in our solar system, why objects stay in motion in the
solar system, the effect of orbit on seasons and years, the moon's influence on tides,
and moon phases and eclipses.
Team 8A is enjoying the final weeks with the
students as it has been a great year.
Students are looking forward to their walk to the
high school in a few weeks to explore the building
and classes they will take next year.
We are all looking forward to Papio Fun Park day
on May 22nd to celebrate 8th grade graduation.
NeSa is done!!! Kids really seemed to show what they know in
Language Arts, Math and Science. There are a lot of events
happening too so make sure you check the website for special dates
of concerts, meetings, and final events.
In 8B US History will finish up the Civil War and Reconstruction this
month. In May, we will look into Jim Crow, westward travels,
immigration, and also work on a family generation chart.
In Algebra students are finishing up on the quadratic function and
working on some radicals. Pre-Algebra is covering topics like multistep equations, systems of equations and properties that they will
need to know in Algebra next year at the high school. All Math
classes will do an end of the year project and either make an ABC
book of math or 10 things I like and hate about math.
Language Arts students have wrapped up the Anne Frank play. We
will be finishing off the year in Literature Circles reading Holocaust
based novels.
AP students have begun their Shakespeare unit. We celebrated
Shakespeare's birthday on the 23rd by performing the Hokey Pokey,
Shakespeare style.
In Science. we are going to be doing mini units on plant life, genetics,
and magnetism in May to wrap up the year.
May is Better Hearing and Speech Month (BHSM), a month dedicated to
raising awareness about communication disorders and to promoting
treatment that can improve the quality of life for those who experience
problems with speaking, understanding, or hearing.
A new, nationwide effort to educate the public about communication
disorders was recently launched by the American Speech-LanguageHearing Association (ASHA)— a professional association, of which I am a
member. Called Identify the Signs, this campaign specifically aims to help
people recognize the early warning signs of communication disorders. This
topic couldn’t be timelier—or more important.
An estimated 40 million Americans have trouble speaking or hearing due to
a communication disorder. Millions more family members and friends are
also impacted. Visit www.asha.org for more information.
Kelly Madison
Speech-Language Pathologist
Ralston Public Schools
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln recognized Nebraska eighth graders for their academic excellence,
leadership and perseverance at the 2012 Big Red Stars Recognition Ceremony.
Big Red Stars is a program designed to recognize outstanding eighth-grade students in
Nebraska. These talented students were nominated by school principals as students who showcase
strong leadership skills and academic promise.
Congratulations to Lauren T. and Carolina L. for being selected as our Big Red Stars from RMS.
The Lunch Bunch Book Club is Tuesday, May 13.
Starting Monday, June 2, join the Summer Reading. Enter for a chance to win
gift cards, book of your choice, or lots of other fun stuff. Read a book and fill out a review. Check out the display case
for the cool prizes.
The Summer Finale will be the final prize drawing and party on July 31 from 6:00 - 8:00. Come for the food, games and
prizes!
For more information, call Sara Nelson at the library 402-331-7636.
Summer Reading Opportunities from the RMS Media Center:
Parents of teenagers already know that reading is important, and keeping them reading throughout the summer
prevents the dreaded summer slide. Ms. Maureen Olsen, Ralston Middle School Teacher-Librarian, recommends
keeping a wide variety of reading material around the house. But if your student only wants to read graphic novels or
the Wimpy Kid series in the summer, it’s ok. Anything they read helps build reading skills. But if they were once avid
readers and now have no interest in reading, or they never liked reading in the first place, there are strategies you can
try:
Take your students to a bookstore or the public library. This is a great opportunity for them to spread their wings and
choose some reading material that interests them. Ralston’s Baright Public Library, as well as the other metro public
libraries, offer Summer Reading Programs for teens as well as the younger set. For the eighth year in a row, teachers
from Team 7A / Lightning will be walking their classes to Baright in May to meet with youth librarians there to take a
tour of the facility and teen-space, and learn about the summer reading program.
Check out YA booklists and blogs:
For the latest in Young Adult literature, check out these websites:
TeenReads.com Be sure to look at the Ultimate Reading List on this site. It is updated often.
Teen Top Ten Nominees for 2014 Start your reading! Twenty-five nominees were just announced during National
Library Week. Voting for the Top Ten begins in August and the Top Ten are announced during Teen Read Week in
October. (note: some titles contain mature subject matter). Ralston High School Library and Baright Public Library
make a point to order all twenty-five of these titles.
Nebraska Golden Sowers Check out the winners for this year on May 1, 2014, and get a preview of next school year’s
ten nominees in the primary, intermediate, and young adult categories. Students at RMS may read and vote for books
in either the intermediate or YA categories.
Other popular titles and series:
Divergent series by Veronica Roth.
Legend series by Marie Lu.
The Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan (or any Rick Riordan series).
Escape from Furnace series by Alexander Gordon Smith.
A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer.
This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith.
7A SOW
4/7 - Michelle B. for her fantastic work quality, and her kindness and willingness to
work with all classmates
4/14 - Abi M. for her amazing work quality, kindness, and patience
4/21 - Katelyn M. for improved attendance, concern for improving her grades, and
100% effort on her daily work
4/28 - Emma S. for always having a positive attitude and being friendly towards
others, and for consistently turning in quality work
7B SOW
4/7 - Nathan P. - Active in learning and success; brings a positive attitude to the
classroom, good attitude
4/14 - Kyra C. - Creative, high quality work, excellent job in the classroom this year!
4/21 - Kameron A.- displaying leadership, high quality work, taking pride in
schoolwork; enthusiastic and high energy
4/28 - Jessica O. for being super creative, deep thinker, great work quality, takes
pride in schoolwork.
8A SOW
4/7 - Eveline G. for having great test scores and classroom behavior
4/14 - Michael R. for strong efforts on tests and respectful classroom behaviors
4/21 - Johana C. for classroom participation, asking great questions and having a
thirst for knowledge
4/28 - Andrew S. for being a good role model for his peers and overall academic
success
8B SOW
4/7 - 8th grader - Lance C. works hard, helps others
4/14 - 8th grader - Sydni S. - overall exemplary student
4/21 - 8th grader - Mailani S. - good work ethic, respectful, self-motivated
4/28 - 8th grader Kyle L. - Friendly, hardworker
Artists of the Month
Students studied the work of Photorealistic Artist Chuck Close, who uses a
grid to break a highly detailed photograph into smaller, easier to work with
pieces. When the grid pieces come together, they re-create the
photograph. Students did such a fantastic job, I couldn't pick only one!
Ralston Middle School and Ralston High School
now have Twitter Accounts
Follow the middle school @RalstonMS
and the high school @Ralston HS
* Each day, more than 3,200 persons younger than 18 years of age smoke their first
cigarette.
* Each day, an estimated 2,100 youth and young adults who have been occasional
smokers become daily cigarette smokers.
68.9% of adult smokers indicated they wanted to stop smoking.
* Cigarette smoke contains over 7,000 chemicals, 69 of which are known to cause
cancer.
* Smoking is directly responsible for approximately 90 percent of lung cancer deaths
and approximately 80-90 percent of COPD (emphysema and chronic bronchitis)
deaths.
* 50,000 people die each year from second hand smoking.
* Second hand smoking causes between 150,000 and 300,000 lower respiratory
tract infections (lung and bronchus) in children under 18 months of age, with 7,500 to
15,000 hospitalizations each year.
* Smoking in pregnancy accounts for an estimated 20 to 30 percent of low-birth
weight babies, up to 14 percent of preterm deliveries, and some 10 percent of all
infant deaths. Even apparently healthy, full-term babies of smokers have been found
to be born with narrowed airways and reduced lung function.
5,000 people under age 21 die each year from alcohol-related car crashes,
homicides, suicides, alcohol poisoning, and other injuries such as falls, burns, and
drowning.
* Youth who drink are more likely to carry out or be the victim of a physical or sexual
assault.
* By 8th grade, 28% of adolescents have consumed alcohol, 15% have smoked
cigarettes, and 16.5% have used marijuana.
* Marijuana use causes changes in the brain and can cause problems with learning
and memory, distorted perception, poor motor coordination, and increased heart rate,
thus negatively affecting academic learning, performance in sports, and judgment.
**Information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American
Lung Association, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse
Thursday, May 1st, RMS Spring Choir
Concert @ RHS
Tuesday, May 13th, RMS Spring Band
Concert @ RMS
Ralston Middle School
ORDER BY 5/31/2014
Order your yearbook now to guarantee a copy in May! Extra books will be available on a very limited, first-come, first-served basis during the last week of
school. Don't miss out!
YEARBOOK
$22.00
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