The IMS Connection

Greetings,

Wishing you a Happy New Year as we celebrate the first birthday of our digital newsletter. In addition to this site, I hope that you are connected to all of our social media links on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

The second semester will begin in just a few days. Children should be aware of their current achievement and grades. Viewing the Parent Portal and Gradebook once a week is a great way to be informed on your child’s progress.

It is important to note that most interscholastic games begin at 4:00 P.M. Students cannot remain in the school unsupervised from 2:30-4:00 P.M. Children can take the 3:15 P.M. and 5:00 P.M. late bus only when participating in a supervised club or activity.

Each January we begin the budget and scheduling processes for next year. Parents should be on the lookout for important literature in regard to Middle School and 9th grade High School courses.

As in the past, we will not be accepting teacher or team requests. Such correspondence places students, parents, and teachers in precarious situations; however, we welcome a discussion about your child’s educational needs and any information that can help your child be successful at Islip Middle School. Please send any written correspondence directly to me. Letters are not retained from year to year, so any pertinent information/requests must be sent each year. This year’s deadline is Friday, January 18, 2019.

As always, if you have a desire for a parent conference simply call our guidance office at 631-650-8550. We look forward to the year ahead and wish our Islip Middle School learning community all the best in the New Year.

Kind regards,

Timothy P. Martin

tmartin@islipufsd.org

We want to wish everyone a happy new year!

We ended 2018 with an amazing Renaissance Rally! Do not worry if you missed it; there will be another one coming up! Remember to keep studying and character always counts!

Happy New Year to our IMS family and friends!

We are so excited to begin anew with our students, staff, and community, but we continue to remain focused on our priority for this year: enhancing our student climate and culture. To that end, we’ve put some exciting things in place to improve our student experience in each of our two focus areas: (1) empathy and acceptance (2) student voice and leadership.

In December, our advisory theme was "pay it forward." Our student video challenged students to pass on an act of kindness in the hopes of starting a chain reaction. Once three acts of kindness were completed, students returned the Pay It Forward card to the AP office to be displayed on our Pay It Forward bulletin board. Our board will now display over 100 acts of kindness completed in December, with no doubt hundreds more that were never written down. We want to keep it going and make “paying it forward” a year-round activity.

This month will mark the inaugural edition of our Buccaneer Roundtable, a forum created by our Student Climate and Culture committee to amplify students’ voices and help our staff better understand our students’ views and concerns. Students from each team were selected to participate and we cannot wait to hear what they have to say.

I wish you all the best in the New Year and look forward to continuing our journey together.

Responsibility/Perseverance… With a new year here, what steps can we take to achieve our goals? Even when things are looking bleak, “You must keep at it, someday soon your perseverance will reap rewards.” (Domenico Mazza, How to Find Your Passion)

2 Progress Reports Posted to Portal

8 BOE Meeting 7:30 PM, MS Auditorium & Library

9 SEPTA Meeting 6:00 PM, HS Community Room

10 Curriculum Night 6:00 PM, HS Cafeteria

14 MS PTA Meeting 7:00 PM, MS Library - Introduction to Naviance

19 Special Olympics Bowling Program begins, 11:45 AM East Islip Lanes

21 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - District Closed

22 BOE Meeting 7:30 PM, SES

25 2nd Marking Period Ends

29 Superintendent Meet & Greet, 5:30 - 7:00 PM, MS Café

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.

1 Report Cards Posted to Portal

1 SEPTA Sweetheart Dance 6:30-8:30 PM, MS

5 IDEA Task Force Meeting 7:00 PM, HS

12 BOE Meeting 7:30 PM*, WING

12 Booster Club Meeting 7:00 PM, HS Faculty Room

13 District Art Show 6:30 PM, HS

14 Happy Valentine’s Day

15 (Snow Date) SEPTA Sweetheart Dance

18 - 22 School Closed—Mid Winter Recess

26 Budget Workshop/BOE Mtg. 7:30 PM*, MS

27 SEPTA Meeting 7:00 PM, HS Community Room

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.

Welcome to a new year!

The school year is half over! It’s about that time to check your child’s supplies. Please make sure they have pencils and sticky notes. Remember to review your child’s planner daily and ensure that homework is completed. Be sure to continue to utilize the planner as a communication vehicle. Active studying is more important now as we approach new concepts and students are expected to utilize the study skills taught in the first quarter more independently.

In the classroom, 6 Orange students have been hard at work. In all areas, students have been learning to read with a purpose, study actively, and improve writing skills. Science students will be finishing their biology unit and delving into the study of the Earth. Math concepts have involved algebraic equations, decimals, prime factorization, and finding the GCF (greatest common factor). We will begin to develop our skills with positive and negative numbers in real-world scenarios. Please check the eboard for the updated video demonstrations on various math topics. In addition, students will be taking their second I-Ready Assessment.

In Social Studies, we have discovered Ancient Mesopotamia, the Cradle of Civilization. We are currently exploring the Nile River and Ancient Egypt. Students will be collaborating with ELA to create a feature article on Egyptian life. With this project ELA, Social Studies, and Cross Curricular Studies will work in partnership.

We know the first half of the year was a success. We look forward to continuing that success the rest of the year.

Students in the Life Skills Program continue to learn about functional living skills. In Daily Living Skills, they are continuing to work on tools utilized in the kitchen and simulating the world of work with their individual workstations. Students took a trip to the bank where they continued to learn about personal money management and the role the bank plays in the community. The class also learned about the Post Office with addressing envelopes and letter writing. Lastly, students are looking forward to their trip at the end of the month where they will learn about jobs in the boating industry and meet their pen pals.

Hello from Team 8 Purple,

For the remaining portion of the school year, our team will continue to be busy readying our students for the demands of high school. To this end,

• Students, when weather permits, will continue investigating the world of nature in the outside learning lab for environmental science.

• Earth science students will continue to explore all aspects of the earth and sky.

• English classes will afford students the ability to travel far away from Islip through the pages of great literature, learning valuable life lessons.

• Social studies has the students traveling back in time so they can see history's relevance today.

• Common core algebra encourages students to follow their own paths to solve mathematical concepts.

• World language opens new doors to culture and communication right here in our own back yards.

HOWEVER, IT IS NOT ALL ABOUT CLASSROOM WORK! Before the Thanksgiving break, our team enjoyed a team day. The students rotated to different classrooms where they were able to play games and reflect on reasons for which we are all thankful. The day culminated with a team movie.

Our wish for you in the upcoming year is one filled with health, prosperity and loads of laughter!

Looking forward to the fun times that 2019 will bring for SEPTA!

Please add the following dates to your calendar.

1/9/19 - SEPTA meeting, 6:00 PM HS Community Room

1/19/19- Our Special Olympics Bowling Program begins, 11:45 AM, East Islip Lanes

1/24/19 - Sweetheart Dance Raffle Basket Making, 6:00 PM Location TBD

2/1/19 - Sweetheart Dance, 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM

Please keep an eye out for our Sign up Genius. We are in need of donations of food and raffle baskets for our Sweetheart Dance.

President Jennifer Sanders Vice President Colleen Kurka

Secretary Tina Hardekopf Treasurer Denise Nash

Happy New Year! This school year is going by so quickly.

Our next PTA meeting will be held on January 14th, at 7:00 PM. This is a very informative meeting, please make every effort to attend. We will be hosting members of the guidance department, and both MS and HS administrators as they will be talking about Naviance.

Naviance is a necessary tool for parents and students to help with post-secondary planning. It is never too early to prepare. Eighth grade parents, HS is just around the corner.

All parents are welcome to attend this meeting. MS and HS parents are strongly encouraged to attend.

Hope to see you on January 14th, at 7:00 PM in the MS Library.

Please email us at IslipMiddleSchoolPTA@gmail.com with any questions.

The “Spirit of Giving” continues with IMS’s National Junior Honor Society! On December 10th, the members of NJHS met at Target to do what they call, their “Toy Run”. The members were split into two teams, allotted a budget, and given an hour to "shop till they drop" and enrich the holidays of children on Long Island. The funds to purchase these toys were raised last June at their car wash.

Their toy donation was made to the John Theissen Children’s Foundation. This is a Long Island based organization which supports sick and under privileged children, as well as helping their families defray medical expenses. In keeping with their goal of “community service”, the students were proud of their accomplishments of giving to local children, learning the value of shopping economically, and how their hard work has brought happiness not only to others, but pride and happiness to themselves.

Some NJHS members even had the opportunity to get a tour of WBAB and BLI after donating the toys to the collection at the studio! They were reminded to find their passion in life and follow their dreams!

The IMS C.A.R.E. Club is collecting Box Tops for Education coupons. Hundreds of products have Box Top coupons, so keep us in mind when you do your shopping. Coupons may be left in the Main Office, Library, or brought to the Health Office.

Physicals for the late Winter sports season will be held by appointment only on Monday, January 14, 2019. Please call the Health Office at 631- 650-8525 or stop in to make an appointment to see the school doctor.

Should the opening of school be delayed, school canceled, or students dismissed early, families may expect a timely announcement to that effect via automated telephone message and on the following television, radio stations, and websites:

TV NEWS CHANNEL 12

FIOS 1 News

97.5 FM

WALK – 1370 AM

WHLI – B103 FM

WBAB – 102.3 FM

WBLI – 106.1 FM

www.cancellations.com

www.islipufsd.org

Reminder: If school is closed or dismissed early, all after-school activities are canceled.

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