The IMS Connection

Greetings Islip Middle School Families,

Now that we are well rested from our winter recess, all signs are pointing to spring. The weather cooperated in February and maybe this trend will continue. As the days are becoming notably brighter and longer, we encourage children to get outside and take full advantage of the changing season that is upon us. We hope to maximize our outdoor arrival and recess in the months ahead. Nonetheless, children should come to school dressed to go outside when possible.

As we prepare for the 4th and final quarter, this is an excellent time to log on to the parent portal to check the accomplishments of your children. Any questions you have, please reach out to your child's teacher, counselor, or me and we will gladly assist with your requests.

Remember to Look Good, Feel Good, and Do Good as you stay healthy and well.

Warm Regards,

Timothy P. Martin

Principal

Welcome Team IMS,

As we enter March 2023, we can take sight of the back stretch and move to June. With that being shared and with four months left of school, we would like to share with you the New York State testing for our Middle Schoolers.

IMS Testing information:

New York State Department of Education Assessments

IMS Administration Dates

ELA

Grades 6 & 7: NYS ELA Exam, April 20th & 21st

Grade 8: NYS ELA Exam, April 24th & 25th

Math

Grades 6 & 7: NYS Math Exam, May 3rd & 4th

• Most students will test in their period 1 classroom while some period 1 classes will be relocated to a more suitable testing location.
• Student assessments will be completed using their laptops; therefore they must be brought to school fully charged.
• The assessment will be over by the end of period 2 and all students will report to period 3.

Please take a look at Facebook & Instagram to view photos, videos, and news about our amazing students, staff, and school community @ IMS. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me at cjuengerkes@islipufsd.org or (631) 650-8515.

As always, enjoy and thank you for making Islip Middle School a great place to grow up.

Be well,

Curt Juengerkes

Islip Middle School, Assistant Principal

Greetings Islip Middle School,

We are very excited to be hosting guest speaker Mr. Rohan Murphy on Friday, March 31st. Mr. Murphy is a former graduate of the East Islip School District and will be discussing topics such as overcoming adversity and accepting differences. We at Islip Middle School find these topics to be extremely important and may help all of us develop the skills needed to correct some of the challenges we’ve been facing this school year.

As we enter the second semester, I want to reiterate a couple of topics presented during our February Town Hall Meetings. First, we’ve noticed an increase of inappropriate cell phone usage throughout the middle school building.

Inappropriate Cell Phone Infractions that we’ve witnessed are as follows:

• Video recording and picture taking throughout the building
• Dining Rooms, Bathrooms, Hallways, etc.
• Airdropping while in the dining rooms
• Postings on social media platforms
• Pictures being taken of exams and sent to classmates
• Earbuds in ears while navigating the hallways

Due to the escalation of the previously mentioned infractions, we as a school are heading in the direction of banning cell phone use during the school day. We are still in discussions of whether this new policy will be put into place during this school year, or the start of next year. Secondly, all students have been addressed regarding the disrespect towards our adults who monitor the dining halls as well as each other. Please, when an adult or a peer is speaking to you try to follow The Golden Rule, treat others the way you want to be treated.

I leave you with this quote:

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

~ Martin Luther King, Jr

With gratitude,

Rich Santoro

Dean of Students

Islip Middle School

Luck of the Renaissance!!! We roar into March on the heels of celebrating our 1st Quarter achievements with our first Renaissance Raffle for this school year!! It was a ton of fun! Students walked away with various prizes: echo dot, puzzles, games, gift cards, and JBL ear pods… just to name a few! We are looking forward to celebrating the 2nd Quarter soon! Keep working hard and being KIND!

LOOK GOOD! FEEL GOOD! DO GOOD!!

With the start of the third quarter, Mrs. Ryder and her students have only just become acquainted. So, what can the students expect to learn in Library Research as the semester unfolds?

To start, the students will consider what it means to be a middle school-aged digital citizen in 2023 and learn that online safety and online reputations should be “Priority 1” at all times.

In Library Research online safety begins with an understanding of what safe, responsible, and respectful behavior looks like both off and online. The students will become familiar with these concepts when they use them to solve real-life ethical dilemmas and learn, first hand, that these values can serve them well in all of their future decision-making.

The students will examine social media and learn the importance of privacy in an age where students tend to over share their lives. The students will learn about the value of protecting personal identifiable information and discern what information is safe to share online especially as they begin to mold their digital reputations. They will also learn about the Childen’s Online Privacy Protection Act which is meant to protect minors from online marketers and create strong passwords to use as a first line of online defense from scammers and thieves.

The students will learn what media and information literacy involves. Students will become effective, efficient, online researchers when they navigate websites for information. They will learn how to identify credible, authoritative, sources and learn the value of using trust and shareworthy sources for their futures.

Finally, the students will learn coding skills as members of the Islip District’s KIDOYO middle school community!

Mrs. Sauer, Mrs. DeSena, and Mrs. Mills continue to find ways to make lessons engaging and fun for the Family and Consumer Science students. The 6th grade Nutrition unit incorporated some fun lessons on nutrients, food digestion, healthy food choices, affects sugar has on the body, and how to properly read a food label. They also enjoyed a fun lesson on nutrients that allowed them to get up out of their seats to unscramble nutrient riddles.

Mrs. Sauer’s 7th grade FACS class found the sewing contest during the hand sewing unit to be a success. Students designed their pillow, cut the designs out from felt and then used the hand stitches taught in class to sew the design on the front and sew the pillow together. Students from all her classes voted, and the winners were given a certificate, bag of goodies and picture posted in her classroom. The categories and winners were: Most Precise Pillow-Kayla Perez, Most Challenging Pillow-Steven Vanegas, Most Creative Pillow-Joshua Canales.

The Golden Spoon Award is another incentive used in Mrs. Sauer and Mrs. DeSena’s 6th and 7th grade classes during the food’s unit. Groups strive for excellence in cooperation, teamwork, and time management. One group in each class receives a certificate and is recognized as an award recipient along with a picture displayed in the classroom. This incentive started a couple years ago and is well known around the school as lab groups work together to earn this award and recognition in FACS.

Mrs. Sauer’s Golden Spoon Award Winners: Camrynn Gawarecki, David Grigoryan, Gianna Allicock, Luke Berton, Kayla Perez, Devyn Johnson, Chloe Morales, Max Carminio, Lyla Sandoval, Candace Sanko, Ashley Stephenson, Angel Fernandez, (not pictured Erica Carino, Shea Wirtenson) Juliet Miceli, Elise Lettieri, Phoebe Rindos, Grace Jimenez, Mikey Corrigan, Jake Taormina, June Schuler & Ella Fishbein.

Mrs. DeSena’s Golden Spoon Award Winners: Danyal Khan, Caolan Eng, Thomas Trovato, Julian Lozano, Enrique Ayala, Miguel Delacruz, Shea Reinhart, Elaine Biscari, Shea LaGiglia, Francesca Napoleone, Lena Schwarz, Natalie Pantaleone, John LoGrasso, Giovanni Zerato, Zulakha Ahmad, Lily Rund, Sasha Ortiz White, April Moreno Garcia, Lilly Hassler, Megan Soto, Emmie Wallace, Teagan Quinn, Emily Gowen, Jorja Spahn, and Mia Olivieri.

Students in Mrs. DeSena’s classes had been cooking up a storm! 7th grade students recently completed their home cooking projects, where they were able to show off their newly acquired culinary skills to prepare a meal of choice for their family. Some recipes prepared were chicken teriyaki, chicken cacciatore, doughnuts and various cookies from scratch; just to name a few! Students presented their culinary creations to classmates with step – by - step posters, slide presentations and even video demonstrations! During the holiday season, 6th grade got into the holiday season by learning how to make decorative sugar cookies including royal icing decorating techniques!

In 7th grade, students have wrapped up the consumerism unit. After discussing topics on advertising, budgeting and smart shopping strategies, students participated in an in-class taste test of various name and store brand items. Many were surprised by their taste preferences!

Mrs. Mill’s 7th graders completed a Food Truck business project and utilized all the marketing and advertising strategies discussed in class. To reach their target audience, students created a model food truck, business cards, menus and a Google site for each of their food trucks!

Exploring Our Futures

It's never too early to dream big! Students will explore college and career pathways in order to empower them to chart their own course.

3- World Language Immersion Day, MS

3- SEPTA Resource Fair and Craft Night, 6pm, HS

7- MS/HS Progress Period Ends

14- BOE Meeting, HS Auditorium

16- MS/HS Progress Reports Posted to Portal

27- MS Spring Sports Begin

28-BOE Meeting, HS Auditorium

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

3- World Language Immersion Day, MS

3- SEPTA Resource Fair and Craft Night, 6pm, HS

6-Superintendent's Conference Day

7- MS/HS Progress Period Ends

7-14- Spring Recess, School Closed

16- MS/HS Progress Reports Posted to Portal

18-20 -8th Grade, Washington Field Trip

19- BOE Meeting, HS Auditorium

27- MS Spring Sports Begin

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

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