The IMS Connection

In October, we recognized Red Ribbon Week and participated in assemblies and advisory activities focusing on positive choices. Tim Shoemaker had a presentation for the entire Middle School. It was a powerful and eye-opening message about the hazards of vaping.

Student Government sponsored its 4th “Spooktacular” for all of Islip’s elementary children. What a festive time the children had while they were able to try out their costumes and have holiday fun in a safe and joyful environment. Halloween added to the fun as our middle school students demonstrated some rather interesting costume choices.

The first of four progress reports have been forwarded via the Parent Portal. I hope parents are finding the information regarding grades readily available via the planner, newsletters, ConnectEd, and websites.

November finds our CARE Club working on our annual food drive. The donations will go directly to Islip’s Food Pantry. It is an opportunity for us to truly make a difference in our community by helping our neighbors in need.

For all of our veterans who serve and have served, we extend our gratitude. November is about gratefulness in IMS, and our learning community does not run short on this character trait. As we all reflect on what we have to be thankful for, we wish our entire Middle School learning community an enjoyable Thanksgiving.

As always, feel free to contact me at tmartin@islipufsd.org.

Kind Regards,

Timothy P. Martin

We are thrilled to get started with our very first Rally of the year!

The Rally will be on November 8th! All 7th & 8th Grade Card Holders reflecting last year's 4th Quarter are invited. We are excited to also include the 6th Grade for this Rally to check out what Renaissance is all about!

Keep up the excellent work and behavior! Continue to positively add to our learning community! Please review the Renaissance Guidelines in your planner.

We look forward to the year ahead as we celebrate Islip Middle School Excellence!

The month of October has come and gone in a flash. As quick as it went, it was a jam-packed month. During October, we recognized Red Ribbon Week to heighten students' awareness to the dangers of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. We devoted the entire months advisory activities to engage students in meaningful dialog about the dangers of drugs and alcohol or strategies to make positive choices.

We also had a representative from CVS Pharmacy in to speak to our 8th grade students on the dangers of prescription drugs. We would be remiss if we did not thank the IDEA Task Force for bringing in Timothy Shoemaker, who provided our students with an enthusiastic presentation on the dangers of vaping. Mr. Shoemaker also held an evening presentation that was open to the community. The evening presentation had a paraphernalia museum to demonstrate how easily these items can be concealed in everyday items. The IDEA Task Force will also be hosting Dr. Dewey on November 13th. Dr. Dewey will be discussing the science of drugs and addiction on the teenage brain.

The month of November will be another busy month with many great happenings in the Islip Middle School. This month we will be holding our first Renaissance Rally of the 2019-20 school year. The rally will be for all qualifying 7th and 8th grade card holders and all 6th grade students. In the hustle and bustle of life we often overlook the simple things. Sometimes a smile or kind word can brighten somebody’s day and lift them up, yet we never really consider these as things to be grateful for, but we should. Our advisory activities will focus on gratitude to encourage our students to look beyond the grand gestures and find the joy in the things many of us look passed.

The month of November also brings the start of early winter sports. Early winter sports are boys’ basketball and volleyball and they will begin on November 14th. There is still time to sign up, but if you have not heard, sports sign-up is being done a bit differently this season. The district will be using a new software program called Final Forms. This will streamline all the paperwork for the district and parents. Here is the link to the IslipUFSDwebpage that will provide you with all the information you will need to sign up. Please remember you must still send in or drop off a hard copy of the sports physical form to the nurse.

Remember to look for the little things and have a wonderful November!!

Jason Cohen

November: Empathy and Acceptance

As Buccaneers, we live, study, work, and play on a ship full of others from different backgrounds, points of view, and walks of life. Our journey together is enhanced when we don't simply tolerate others who are different from us, but rather accept them for who they are, understand their experiences, and empathize with them.

1 Emergency Sheltering Drill Early Dismissal (15 minutes before regular close of school)

4 MS Early Winter Sports Begin

5 No School for Students - Election Day/Superintendent's Day

7 MS Picture Make-Ups

8 1st Marking Period Ends

11 District Closed - Veteran's Day

12 Board of Education Meeting, 7:30 p.m.* - WING

13 IDEA Parent Presentation: Dr. Stephen Dewey, 7:00 p.m., MS Auditorium

18 IMS PTA Meeting and Yankee Candle Order Pickup, 7:00 p.m., MS Library

19 Report Cards Posted to Portal

19 Board of Education Meeting, 7:30 p.m.* - MS Library

20 SEPTA Meeting, 7:00 p.m. - SES Library

27-29 District Closed - Thanksgiving Recess

*Unless otherwise noted, all Board of Education meetings will begin with an Executive Session at 6:45 p.m.. The public business meeting portion will begin at approximately 7:30 p.m..

5 Winter Concert Grade 6, 7:00 PM, Auditorium

10 BOE Meeting 7:30 PM* - MS Library

13 2nd Qtr. Progress Period Ends

19 Winter Concert, Grades 7 & 8, 7:00 PM, Auditorium

23 Winter Recess - School Closed through January 3, 2020

*Unless otherwise noted, all Board of Education meetings will begin with an Executive Session at 6:45 p.m.. The public business meeting portion will begin at approximately 7:30 p.m..

On Monday, October 28th, the CARE Club began their Annual Food Drive. The last day for contributions will be during advisory on Wednesday, November 20, 2019.

Please send in your donations of NON-PERISHABLE foods (no glass please).

Items that are especially needed:

Instant Potatoes

Stuffing Mix

Cranberry Sauce

Canned Yams

Canned Fruits and Vegetables

Cake Mixes and Frosting

Pudding Mixes

Soups

Gravy

Juices

Coffee

Each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday advisors will send their donations to the Health Office where they will keep track of the numbers.

The advisory that donates the most food will earn a bagel breakfast. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, November 26, 2019.

Please help make this year's Food Drive the best ever!

Our library has been very busy since the start of the school year! ELA classes came in straightaway to borrow “Read Every Day” books. Many students have even returned to get their 2nd and 3rd R.E.D. books too! During lunch, Mrs. Kaywood and Ryder welcome countless students to get a jump start on homework or to read, while others play board games or work on a 1000 piece puzzle while still others go online to play games.

Mrs. Ryder’s Library Research students are presently examining the concepts of privacy and security in a world where Google, Amazon and Facebook and the like are permitted to save student search histories, track their locations and sell such personal data to marketers for advertising purposes.

Finally, KIC Club students, with the help of Mrs. Kaywood and Mrs. Ryder, have nearly completed mulching the front native garden. Chrysanthemums and asters are in bloom and the garden should be warm over the winter months. With three or so more weeks of outdoor work, we will move on to the courtyard to prepare the grounds for another native garden!

In closing, our sincerest thanks need to go to Mr. Graham and the building and grounds men, for supplying us with the mulch, wheelbarrows, and shovels so handily. And big thanks need to go our custodian, Mr. Garone, for his help at each of our work sessions in showing our students how to work with mulch, wheelbarrows safely and efficiently.

President—Jennifer Sanders Vice President—Colleen Kurka

Secretary—Jean De Lucca Treasurer—Denise Nash

We had a great turn out for our first PTA meeting. Thanks to all who attended! We know that your time is valuable and we want to make the PTA meetings meaningful. We try to keep the meetings to an hour. If there is a topic that you would like discussed, please let us know.

The Staff Welcome Back Breakfast was a great success, as teachers and staff were treated to a variety of bagels, pastries, and fruits. Thank you to all who donated items for the breakfast.

PTA is sponsoring grade level assemblies again this year featuring topics on cultural awareness, physics, and the highlight for the eighth graders is “From the Fires, Voices of the Holocaust.” The PTA is working with Dr. Martin, Mr. Cohen, and staff to plan these assemblies around the curriculum to make them timely.

Our next PTA Meeting / Yankee Candle Order pick-up is November 18th. Pick up will begin at 6:00 p.m., our meeting starts at 7:00 pm and both will be in the Middle School Library. Please make every effort to pick up your orders on this date. Most orders contain fragile items.

Our membership drive is doing well! If you have already joined, thank you. If you haven’t, please consider joining the Middle School PTA. There is no obligation to volunteer when you join. Your PTA dues are a donation and any money raised from dues and fundraising goes directly to our students. You can join by visiting nyspta.force.com/UnitLookup or downloading the membership form on the IMS website e-board and sending it into the main office.

IMS PTA wishes you and your loved ones a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Sincerely,

If you have any questions or would like to be an IMS PTA volunteer, please feel free to contact us at IslipMiddleSchoolPTA@gmail.com.

Congratulations to the IMS Student Government on another successful Halloween Spooktacular event! A special thanks to National Junior Honor Society for helping out with crafts, and our parents, teachers and staff for your participation and help with this event!

Website: islipufsd.org
Location: 211 Main Street, Islip, NY, United States
Phone: 631-650-8500
Facebook: facebook.com/IslipMS
Twitter: @IslipMS