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Weekly News

October 9, 2020

Weekly NewsOctober 9, 2020

Calendar Items

Monday, October 12 - Silver Day / A - L at school

Tuesday, October 13 - Green Day / M - Z at school

Tuesday, October 13 - Intermural cross country @ Home

Wednesday, October 14 - Silver Day / M - Z at school

Thursday, October 15 - Green Day / A - L at school

Thursday, October 15 - Intermural football @ Harmony

Thursday, October 15 - Intermural volleyball @ Pleasant Ridge

Friday, October 16 - Silver Day / A - L at school

Car Lane Expectations

  • All car riders should be dropped off in the north loop of the school. Buses will enter and drop off in the south loop.
  • Students will NOT be allowed out of cars until we signal at 7:30 a.m. This is a district-wide mitigation strategy, and we expect all families to respect and follow this protocol.
  • Students must have masks on when they get out of vehicles.
  • Drivers must stay in the car lane and follow procedures for drop-off/pick-up.
  • Do not drop students off in the parking lot. Stay in the traffic pattern and unload students curbside. No exceptions.

Progress Reports

With the adjustment to the start of the school year, along with the transition in learning modes this first week of October, the timeline and process for 1st quarter progress reporting has been modified. Parents may check Canvas for their student’s most up-to-date grades for any course or subject on October 14th as a mid-way progress check.


How do I access my student’s grades in Canvas?

The most up-to-date grades for a student for each course or subject will be made available in Canvas on October 14th. If you have not paired your Canvas parent account with your student’s account, please follow these steps. To access your student’s grades, please follow the directions in the link provided here.

Changes Made To Community Service

In the past, the district has focused on the President’s Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) as our recognition method for students who complete community service. However, the district has found an increasing number of problems with this national program over the past few years. The challenges have included, but are not limited to, the inability to contact customer service to troubleshoot problems, the delay in receiving certificates/awards from the organization (some schools are still waiting on awards earned last school year), and the increasing cost of the awards. Also, please note that the national program no longer recognizes the lifetime service award.


As a result, the district has changed the name of the program to the Blue Valley Volunteer Service Award. We will utilize the same basic standards as outlined by the President’s Volunteer Service Award, however, the certificates will come from the Blue Valley School District/ABMS.



Please click the links below to access an overview of the Blue Valley Volunteer Service Award, suggested volunteer activities, and the Volunteer Service Log.

School Pictures

Aubry Bend is waiting until January to have school pictures taken. We have tentatively reserved Wednesday, January 6 and Friday, January 8 for pictures. More information will be shared when it is available.

USDA extends free meals for students through 2020

As a result of extended USDA funding opportunities, all students enrolled in Blue Valley will be able to eat for FREE as of Sept. 9, 2020, regardless of eligibility status, until further notice. This includes complete breakfast and lunch meals for students who are dining in-person/hybrid at the elementary level, middle and high school students currently in the Distance Learning model, and all students enrolled in the all-virtual model, VirtualED. Please help out the Food and Nutrition Department and consider eating a complete breakfast and lunch meal at school for free. A la carte items will be charged at the set price and are not free.

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Apply to join our BV support team and make a difference in your community

The Blue Valley School District is actively seeking applications for new members of our support team. Across the country, school districts are experiencing difficulties staffing several of the most critical school support roles. If 2020 has shown us anything, it is that together, anything is possible. With that in mind, we are asking you to join us in the driver’s seat, in the classroom, in the lunchroom and in our schools to help us provide the best in-person learning experience for our students. Blue Valley is seeking applications for the following support roles within our district:

  • Bus drivers (Training provided)
  • Substitute teachers (60 hours college credit required to apply)
  • Paraeducators
  • Custodians
  • Food Service workers


If you are looking to make a positive impact in your community and in the lives of our children, we encourage you to apply for one of these support opportunities in the district, or share this information with someone you think would be a good fit to join our team. For more information and to apply for school-level openings, visit the Blue Valley employment website. Apply for bus driver positions online.

6th Grade Students attending ABMS and PSMS

Parent-teacher conferences will take place on Wednesday 10/28 & Thursday 10/29. All conferences will be held via Zoom – there will not be any in-person conferences this fall. Information related to sign-ups will be shared in next week’s update.


Contact Info for PSMS VirtualEd Teachers



7th Grade Students attending ABMS and HMS

Parent/Teacher conferences at HMS will be held October 28 and 29. All conferences will be held via Zoom. An email will be sent next week with instructions on how to sign up.


Contact Info for HMS VirtualED Teachers


8th Grade Students attending ABMS and OMS

Parent-teacher conferences will take place on Wednesday 10/28 & Thursday 10/29. All conferences will be held via Zoom – there will not be any in-person conferences this fall. Information related to sign-ups will be shared in next week’s update.


Contact Info for OMS Virtual Teachers

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Getting to know Student Services

Welcome Aubry Bend Families and Students!

My name is Officer George and I am one of the School Resource Officers here at Aubry Bend. We are so excited to have our kids back in school. I just wanted to drop you a quick note and tell you that I am here to serve all of you in any way I can. I can assure you that the safety and security of your children is my top priority and we here at Blue Valley have all necessary measures in place to ensure that. We also believe that building trusted relationships is a foundational principal that all of our staff adhere to. Please not hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns, my door is always open. Have a great rest of the school year.

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· ABMS MASKS -THANK YOU to everyone who ordered masks. The orders have been shipped and/or pick up arrangements have been made. Please reach out if you are still needing to coordinate a pick up.

· SPIRITWEAR - Thank you for everyone who placed an order! We are hoping to get the shop back open for orders again later this fall.

· Invest in ABMS/PTO membership - Any and all support is very much appreciated!! Log into ParentVue to donate.

· AMAZON SMILE - Did you know you can support ABMS by shopping through Amazon Smile? It's an easy way to help, but you must shop through our link.

· "BE IN THE KNOW WITH ABMS PTO"- Be sure to follow us on FB (@AubryBendMSPTO) and twitter (@AbmsPto).

· PRIME DAY - You can make a difference while you shop Amazon Prime Day deals on October 13 & 14. Simply shop at smile.amazon.com/ch/45-1810291 or with AmazonSmile ON in the Amazon Shopping app and AmazonSmile donates to Aubry Bend Middle School PTO.

This week we’ve had many students checking out library books! 6th Grade ELA made visits in their cohort groups. We even had frequent fliers come and check out multiple times this week! Getting books into student’s hands makes us very happy!!!


Curbside Checkout continues for our ABMS Virtual students! Check out the link below to learn about this process!


The Scholastic Virtual Book Fair is coming soon! Oct 30th-Nov 12th. Our book fair will be completely online this year. More info to come!


Axis 360 eBooks

Not comfortable with checking out a print book? No problem! Students can check out eBooks through Axis 360. See the link for directions and to locate the Axis 360 link!



ABMS Library Webpage Link


Axis 360 eBooks

Choir

We will go outside to sing when the weather allows. Please consider checking the weather predictions for your class time before you leave for school and dress accordingly. I recommend layers! I am so excited to sing with you!

ELA

We read the short story titled “ The Tail” this week and analyzed characterization and making inferences through several activities such as discussion posts, annotations, and short answer questions. Next week, all ELA in-person students will be visiting the library to check out a free reading book. The library curbside ordering and pick-up is also available to all students to check out books.

Social Studies

We have spent the week in ancient Mesopotamia and beginning Ancient Egypt. We discussed Hammurabi's Laws (an eye for an eye) - ask your student if they think he was fair or not. They may have a strong opinion! Then, we examined the Nile River and its effects on the people of Egypt.

Math

This week in math we found the area of irregular polygons by decomposing and composing the shapes into rectangles and triangles. We are expanding our knowledge on volume to find the volume of irregular polygons through next week.

Science

Science classes are finishing up Earth’s seasons and motions and will move on to lunar phases in the next week. It was great to meet everyone in person this week!

Choir:

We will go outside to sing when the weather allows. Please consider checking the weather predictions for your class time before you leave for school and dress accordingly. I recommend layers! I am so excited to sing with you!

ELA:

Seventh grade ELA is writing objective summaries. Next week they will continue that writing process and read The Monsters are Due on Maple Street. Students will also review theme, suspense, and mood and incorporate their knowledge into summaries over various texts. It is all starting to click!

Science

Explored the parts of a microscope, how to care for a microscope, and how to use a microscope this week! Next week, we will continue to explore all things microscopic and practice our new skills in class!

Social Studies

This week the kids created an advertisement about a country using descriptions of the geographical theme of Place. They turned out really well! Next week we will learn about the theme Human Environment Interaction.

Integrated Math

Students were introduced to integer rules for multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction this week. Next week we will continue to practice those skills and incorporate some fractions, decimals, and order of operations!

Advanced Math

Advanced math reviewed integer rules from 6th grade, incorporating them with fractions, decimals, and order of operations. Moving forward, we will focus on more challenging problems and also introduce the concept of rational versus irrational numbers.

Choir


We will go outside to sing when the weather allows. Please consider checking the weather predictions for your class time before you leave for school and dress accordingly. I recommend layers! I am so excited to sing with you!

ELA

We will continue reading The Outsiders, and be discussing symbolism in the novel, as well as writing a short essay about something that symbolizes us as individuals. We will also be analyzing the poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost, which is in chapter 5 of The Outsiders.

Math

Algebra 1: Function Notation and Evaluating Functions

Math 8: Finding slope from ordered pairs, writing point-slope equations from graphs, begin solving one & two-step linear equations.

Science

Farris: Changing states of matter.

Moss: Examine linear/non-linear relationships from experiments, energy review game, begin "Saving the Penguins" first quarter project.

Social Studies

We will be wrapping up our “Who gets to be in Charge” Unit. The assessment over this unit will occur 19th/20th depending on how the schedule falls. Each teacher will specify to their classes.

This week was AWESOME! It was so amazing having kids back in the building! Thank you for your support in preparing them for the new routines and procedures in place.


Our kids were excited and a little nervous to be back in the building, but once we were able to share our expectations and explain the “why” behind the new procedures, everyone settled in quickly. It’s important to remember that this was the kids’ second first day of school this year. Meeting people on Zoom in your “schedule” and meeting people in person are two different things. Our teachers did a great job orienting the kids to the hybrid schedule and modeling routines that are new, but now standard for everyday school. Now that we’ve been through one rotation of the entire student body, we’ll get into a rhythm that will become second nature!


It was so fun to see our 6th graders going on tours of the building with their teachers and meeting our ABMS staff. This certainly wasn’t what they (or we) had planned for their transition from elementary to middle school, but they’re already pros!


I want you to know how much we appreciate your support and understanding of our new routines. Our teachers are working hard to stay connected to the kids at home while being fully present for the kids sitting in their classrooms.


We will continue to take attendance at the beginning of every hour. Students should log into Canvas and join the Zoom session in order to be counted present. Teachers will give directions for the class at that time. We ask teachers to take attendance within the first 10 minutes of class, so if your student is more than 10 minutes late logging in, he/she may not be counted present and will need to contact the teacher for make-up work or directions. We have to have this timetable to allow our teachers to move forward in the lesson with students in the building. Students must have their entire face visible on their camera for attendance.


Here are the bell schedules for each grade level that show what time class starts each period:

6th grade bell schedule

7th grade bell schedule

8th grade bell schedule


We appreciate your patience, as well, as we iron out the arrival and dismissal routines. Our car riders must stay in the car until 7:30 a.m. Students are not allowed to be dropped off and wait outside for the doors to open in the morning. We contacted each family who did that this week to explain the procedure again. We understand you’re getting lots of information each week, and we truly appreciate your attention to these important details.


Finally, I want to give a huge shout out to our faculty and staff. I have never seen a group of people so committed to the success of students. They are working so hard each and every day, and even though it can be overwhelming along the way, they keep their focus on the kids and the kids’ success. I continue to encourage them to practice regular self-care and stress relief so they can be healthy and well during this time. Your support means the world to them. They are doing amazing work and any votes of confidence or kind words of support go a long way with them.


We feel that the transition to the hybrid mode has been a huge success this week. We love our kids and our community and want you to know that you can count on us.


Sincerely,

Diana Tate, Principal