For Your Information s2

Dear Students, Parent/Guardians, and Staff: If you are like most of us at the middle school, you’ve decided that you have had quite enough of winter and are setting your sights toward spring. One missed day has already been made up, and school will be in session on both Thursday, March 24, and Monday, March 28, to make up for the closures on January 26 and February 16. Barring any further closings, the third marking period will now end on Monday, March 28, and report cards will be sent home on April 7.

Congratulations to the Principal’s Award winners for the second marking period: Landon Kuntzelman, 5-Black; Kennedy Young, 5-Orange; Jacy Welsh, 6-Black; Alexis Erdman, 6- Orange; Madelyn Oates, 7-Black; Caroline Kirn, 7-Orange; Judinya Thwaites-Brevik, 8-Black and Isabella Komon, 8-Orange.

We also congratulate Majdouline Elaamerani and Matthew Hagen, who passed the written 100-word test for the Central PA WITF Spelling Bee and qualified to compete in the Grand Championship oral competition held on Saturday, February 27. Carter Strickler will be competing in the Pennsylvania State Geographic Bee held at the State Museum in Harrisburg on April 1, and Gianna Leone won the Fleet Reserve Association Branch 106 7th grade Americanism and Patriotism Essay contest. Her essay has now been forwarded to the FRA Northeast/New England Region, which is the next level of competition.

Both the boys’ and girls’ middle school basketball teams had very successful seasons, with the 7th grade girls’ team going undefeated. Congratulations to all of our talented, hard-working student athletes!

Spring sports are getting underway, with soccer and track & field for both boys and girls gearing up for their first day of practice on March 14. Girls in 6th through 8th grade have also had a chance to get involved in this year’s Girls on the Run program, “Heart and Sole”, under the guidance of our faculty sponsor, Miss April Scott.

Work is continuing on several projects funded by grants awarded to middle school faculty members by the East Pennsboro Educational Foundation. Last year work began on the outdoor classroom and greenhouse. Those projects are now mostly complete, and an outdoor cafeteria and hydroponics project are underway, with much of the work being carried out by our STEM RtII students.

Rehearsal, set preparation, and costume construction are all underway for this year’s middle school musical. Mark your calendars and watch for information on purchasing tickets for the Shrek, Jr. performances on April 8 and 9. PSSA preparation continues, with the testing window currently set for April 11 – May 6. Parents are reminded that student attendance for testing is extremely important, and we ask your cooperation in scheduling appointments outside of school hours (or at least in the afternoon), and refraining from vacation travel on those dates.

Thank you all for your continued support of our students and staff! Sincerely, Michael Sim Michael Sim EPMS Principal DATES TO REMEMBER March - April 2016

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday MARCH 1 2 3 4 5 HS Musical HS Musical 7:00 7:00 PM PM

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 HS 8th grade School Board Early Musical field trip to Mtg. – 7:30 Dismissal 2:00 PM Anne Frank PM @ Admin 12:50 PM Center Teacher In- service

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 PAC mtg - 2:00 PM in office conference room 1st day of Spring sports practice 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 School Board Snow make- NO SCHOOL Mtg. – 7:30 PM @ up day – SPRING Admin Center school is in BREAK session

27 28 29 30 31 1 APRIL 2 Snow make-up day – school is in session End of 3rd marking period 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 SPRING School Board MS Musical MS Musical 7:00 PICTURES Mtg. – 7:30 7:00 PM @ PM @ HS PM @ Admin HS Auditorium Center Auditorium 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 PSSA Testing-ELA PSSA Testing - PSSA Testing PSSA Testing – PAC mtg. ELA - ELA ELA 2:00 PM in office conference room 17 18 19 20 20 22 23 PSSA Testing - PSSA Testing - PSSA Testing PSSA Testing - NO SCHOOL Math Math - Math Math (Offices open) School Board Possible Mtg. – 7:30 PM @ snow make- Admin up day Center

Congratulations to…. after the yearbooks are  Principal’s Award Winners, 2nd Marking Period: delivered 5B – Landon Kuntzelman 5O – Kennedy sometime in May. Young Those copies will 6B – Jacy Welsh 6O – Alexis Erdman be available for 7B – Madelyn Oates 7O – Caroline $17.00 cash on a Kirn first-come, first-served basis. 8B - Judinya Thwaites-Brevik 8O – Isabella Komon

 Majdouline Elaamerani and Matthew Hagen, who qualified to participate in the Grand Championship Spelling Bee on February 27th. The competition will be March 24th and March 28th rebroadcast on WITF TV on March 3rd and 7:30 PM and March 4th at 1:00 PM. Snow make-up days School is in session  Carter Strickler, who qualified for the Pennslyvania State Geographic Bee to be held on April 1st at the State Museum in From the Nurse’s Office: Harrisburg. Reminder to parents of 7th grade students:  Gianna Leone, whose essay won the Fleet Seventh grade students are required to have a Reserve Association Branch 106 7th grade dental examination. Private exam forms are Americanism and Patriotism Essay contest. PAST DUE! Please return these forms ASAP. Her essay has now been forwarded to the Notification has been sent home of those still FRA Northeast/New England Region, which requiring submission of a dental exam report. The is the next level of competition. district dentist will be performing exams in spring. In order for a student to be examined a  The EPYAL competition cheerleaders for permission slip must be completed by a placing 1st in their competition on February parent/guardian and returned. Those students 7th. Team members include: Yaphiya Pagan, eligible for district dental exams will be sent a Erica Wilson, Gabbie Ford, Ashley letter. If there are any questions feel free to Frederick, Madelyn Oates, Marissa Orris, contact the school nurse. Madilyn Pinci, Katherine Rohanna, Molly Swope and Aubrey Rohanna. Reminder to parents of 6th grade students: Sixth grade students are required to have a physical examination. Private exam forms are PAST DUE! Please return these forms ASAP. School exams will be completed in spring. Forms Yearbook pre-orders are now will be mailed home for students who are missing physicals for 6th grade. A signed permission slip closed. A limited number of must be returned to school in order for a student extra copies will be available to be examined. If there are any questions feel free to contact the school nurse. All students circumstances. Any subsequent exclusion from entering seventh must have a meningococcal physical education will require a physician’s and a Tdap immunization. excuse. Vision Screening is being completed on all Students may bring cough drops to school. students. If a student failed the eye exam, a However, they must have a parental note to carry referral form was sent home. An eye specialist them. The nurse’s office is out of cough drops needs to be seen, and this form needs to be until the end of the school year. If your child completed and returned no later than May 2016. requires cough drops while at school, please send in a supply. Hearing Screening is being completed. If a form is sent home, then a physician needs to SPRING PICTURE DAY assess the student’s hearing and the completed form must be returned no later than May 2016. Wednesday, April 6 During regular PE classes one parental excuse a year may be honored, depending on the FEBRUARY BOX TOPS CONTEST RESULTS What is RtII? Defined by the The second Box Tops contest of the school year Department of Education, in ended on February 22. By collecting Box Pennsylvania, RtII is a three-tier (or three-level) Tops for Education, our school earns 10 prevention, early identification, and cents for every Box Top submitted. The intervening strategy provided in general money earned is used to fund field trips education classrooms, and refers to a process for middle school students. that emphasizes how well students respond to changes in instruction. The learning of ALL An ice cream sundae party will be held for the students is assessed early and often. RtII uses home room in each grade that collected standards aligned (what students must know the most Box Tops. In addition, they and be able to do) and research-based (what have earned bragging rights and will has been proven to work) interventions that receive the traveling Box Tops trophy! are both based on research and aligned to state standards at increasing levels of intensity Congratulations to our winners: to support students who struggle with reading 5th Grade – Mrs. Sedlak – 618 and math and to help them reach state 6th Grade – Mrs. Hollick – 1, 336 standards. RtII depends on strong, standards 7th Grade – Mr. Petersheim – 560 aligned, research-based core curriculum (the 8th Grade – Ms. E. Miller - 499 “general curriculum” and school-wide behavior program that are both based on research and Also, remember to do all your online aligned to Pennsylvania standards). shopping through boxtops4education.com and earn even more eBox Tops for our school! Over 150 retailers participate, (Best Buy, What do the three tiers in the RtII process JCPenney, Sears, Lands End, Gap, Target, look like? Old Navy, Nike, Barnes & Noble, Cabela’s Tier 1 - Instruction occurs in the general and WalMart to name a few), so you’re education classroom. All classes are content sure to find what you’re looking for. driven with a concentration on literacy. EBoxTops earnings are credited to our Reading and writing strategies are utilized and school automatically. Thank you for practiced across all content areas. supporting our students! Tier 2 - Progress monitoring occurs based upon student need. This includes targeted RtII at EPMS group intervention, in addition to their core classes. Tier 3 - Progress monitoring occurs weekly. Students who already played a fall or winter Select students (below grade level) will receive sport for the school this year and weren't additional instruction to meet their needs so injured only need a parent to re-certify them for they achieve needed growth to reach on grade spring. That is just a one page form. Students level goals- Not implemented at this time. still need to pay the participation fee of $27.

Intramurals - Every fifth week our students Students who did not do a sport for the school participate in an intramurals week. During this yet this year need to complete the physical time, each grade level gets one day to go to packet and pay the fee of $27. the gym and enjoy time exercising. When they are not in the gym, they participate in The forms and packets are available from the team/school wide projects in class. office and they are on the district web site under athletics. SPRING SPORTS INFORMATION

Practices for 7th and 8th grade GUIDANCE students who are interested in PSSA TESTING UPDATE playing a spring sport for the ELA 4/11, 4/12, 4/13, 4/14. 4/15 school will begin on March 14th. MATH 4/18, 4/19, 4/20, 4/21 Spring sports include boys soccer, SCIENCE 4/25, 4/26, 4/27, 4/28 (8TH Grade girls soccer, and track. Students need to Only) complete the required forms and pay the KEYSTONE 5/16 – 5/27 (Algebra I - 8TH Grade participation fee before they can begin practice. Only)