Heartland Elective Newsletter

Remind your students to check their Weeks-at-a-Glance on Canvas and charge those Chromebooks!

Free & Reduced Price Meal Applications can be found HERE.

Dear Students and Parents/Guardians,

In this class, we will travel around the world together to expand our knowledge of the various cultures, traditions, geography, history and much more that this planet has to offer.

WELCOME to ALL of the new 2nd Semester Students.

This is a class that provides creativity through the student controlling their own learning.

Thunderhawk UP!

SUBJECT: Building questions for Final EXAM

Tondrell Durham

tondrell.durham@edmondschools.net

(405) 726-6334

Mr. Wilmes’s STEAM based art program (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) will explore problem solving, imagination, and experimentation as students build their visual language.

6th Grade: All STEAM Art students will consider how to create a mixed media art history study. Students will engage in a discussion about color theory and how colors and shapes play an important role in creating Cubism, Realism, and Surrealism. They will uniquely draw and design a pair of glasses for each art history study. Students will self-critique their progress.

7th Grade: ALL STEAM Art students considered the importance of how gravity and viscosity can be used to create abstract art. Students explored gravity and a constant flow of paint as they create an abstract celebrity portrait. Students will develop critical problem solving skills by exploring physical science. Students manipulate their abstractions with various media and the E&P of art to create an aesthetically pleasing two-dimensional painting.

8th Grade: All STEAM Art Students will consider how to create an expressionistic self portrait that depicts their mood. Students will analyze the spatial relationships between eyes, nose, mouth, ears, etc. for an accurate drawing. As well as decide their media and the intensity of their colors and create a balanced composition

Please support our STEAM Art program by donating to the Donors Choose grants listed below or share on your socials.

Classroom Essentials

tracy.wilmes@edmondschools.net

Phone: 405-726-6293

Welcome to Band

6th Grade

We are working on our concert music!. Students need to be practicing at least 5 days per week for 5-15 minutes. We have canvas assignments every weekend that are due Sunday night, so please help your students to remember to do those every week!

7th Grade

We are working on our concert music! Students have 4 submissions over the concert music that are due on Canvas by Friday the 25th no later than 11:59pm. The assignment will close after that time. Students need to submit all 4 assignments with a 90% or higher to be selected to go to our Frontier contest May 2nd during the school day.

8th Grade

We are working on our concert music! Students have 4 submissions over the concert music that are due on Canvas by Friday the 25th no later than 11:59pm. The assignment will close after that time. Students need to submit all 4 assignments with a 90% or higher to be selected to go to our Frontier contest May 2nd during the school day.

Students must be eligible in all classes and have all of their playing tests turned in with a 90% or above before April 25th to be able to participate in the Frontier City Contest. Practice reflections open every Friday morning and are due Sunday night at 11:59pm.

All Grade Levels

Our band concert is Thursday, May 15th at 7:00pm at Santa Fe HS!

Tony.Romano@edmondschools.net

Andrew.Heitz@edmondschools.net

Milik.Coffer@edmondschools.net

(405) 726-6304

Open House Video

Syllabus

Computer Science (7th & 8th Grade)

Students just wrapped up an exciting robotics challenge where they built and coded their own milk carton robots. Using block coding and creativity, they engineered bots capable of movement and completed various classroom tasks. Students collaborated to troubleshoot, redesign, and test their creations—showing off impressive problem-solving and critical thinking skills along the way.

Multimedia (8th Grade)

8th graders stepped into the role of entrepreneurs this quarter, designing their own dream restaurants from the ground up. Each student created a unique brand, developed logos, built digital menus, and even researched real estate and loans for their business location. It was a powerful blend of design, tech skills, and real-world application.

Multimedia (7th Grade)

Lights, camera, justice! 7th grade students are finishing up their mock trial projects where they took on courtroom roles—attorneys, witnesses, and judges. They used multimedia tools to build case files, film trial footage, and present their arguments. It’s been a fun and educational way to practice storytelling, public speaking, and video editing.

Exploratory (6th Grade)

Our newest group of 6th graders hit the ground running! They just finished designing their own cereal brands—complete with custom boxes and mascots—and are now jumping into commercial production. With green screens, scripts, and sound effects in action, their creativity is shining through on every screen.

courtney.goss@edmondschools.net

Courtney Goss

Office: 405-726-6334

Office Hours: 11:59am-12:41pm

Welcome to Thunderhawk Theatre!

Upcoming Spring Musical: The Addams Family

ashlynn.stewart@edmondschools.net

Office: 405-726-6331

Office Hours: 11:59am-12:41pm

Welcome to Engineering!

6th grade:

Last week, we reviewed classroom safety and kicked off our Measuring Unit. This week, from Tuesday to Thursday, students will be building their Skimmer Projects! Next week, we’ll continue measuring activities, and don’t forget—our quiz on mean, median, mode, and range is this Friday!

7th Grade:

We’re deep into Space Exploration! Students are wrapping up their Space Exploration Timelines, and they've done a great job so far. Stay tuned—Unit 3 begins soon!

8th Grade:

We're in the middle of our Space Travel lessons and the students are absolutely killing it with their creativity and engagement!

TSA Reminder:

TSA Winner’s Workshop is coming up on April 30th! Make sure you’re ready!

Cheyenne Deupree

(405) 726-6297

cheyenne.deupree@edmondschools.net

Office Hours: 11:59-12:41, M-F

6th Grade

All About Me: Caring for ourselves and handling the ups and downs of life.

→Sewing: We will learn the basics of hand sewing by creating a simple pencil pouch.

→Cooking: Discussing various aspects of the kitchen, including safety, proper measurements, and simple food preparation.

7th Grade

Students will start our last unit, Child Development, which focuses on babysitting skills. This is my favorite unit because we get to analyze toys, cartoons, and activities made for kids. We will finish the unit with our final: Day Care Stations with the robotic babies!

8th Grade

Students will start our last unit, Child Development, which focuses on babysitting skills. This is my favorite unit because we get to analyze toys, cartoons, and activities made for kids. We will finish the unit with our final: Day Care Stations with the robotic babies!

Amanda Moore

amanda.moore@edmondschools.net

Office: 405-726-6306

Office Hours: 11:59-12:41, M-F

Welcome grades 6-8 to Fit For Life! This is where our students will get an introduction to fitness, which will focus on muscular strength and endurance, cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, and general health and wellness.

These are the topics of the next few weeks as we are slowly getting into the groove and movement of Fit for Life.

• Gym Rules and Procedures
• P.E. expectations
• Starting to Move!

Be sure to wear the proper attire (No slides, sandals, boots, flip flops or open toed shoes.

trenton.bell@edmondschools.net

Office: 405-726-6262

Office Hours: 11:59-12:41

Pro Tip for GATE & Challenge Parents: Instead of asking your kiddo what they did in school today (to which they will assuredly respond, “Nothing…”) ask them about the Big Brain Battles for Warm Up this week! Specifically ask about automaticity: the capacity of a cell to generate an action potential spontaneously without an external stimulus. In other words, the ability to recall an answer FAST without “thinking” about it! We used automaticity this week with math, practicing for those timed math tests of the future and seeing how fast we can compute!

GATE/Challenge is unlike any other class! It is a unique learning model and opportunity for unique students. Through projects that combine art, science, technology, history, math, social skills, music, engineering, and language arts, we will demonstrate:

problem solving skills;

reflective learning;

understanding and connecting universal patterns in both self and the world around us.

This class practices metacognition: thinking about thinking! This means to: consider preconceptions, misconceptions, context and conceptual frameworks, monitoring and adapting, and an awareness of your own cognitive process.

Gate/Challenge is all about having a Growth Mindset and exploring the limits of our own imagination, creativity, and knowledge! All done while having FUN!

Please check out our class Canvas page for up to date info on student projects, directions, and deadlines.

Please send students to school with a fully charged chromebook each day! All other supplies will be provided.

cathy.pettijohn-russell@edmondschools.net

(405) 726- 6352

Open House Slideshow Intro to GATE & Challenge!

WELCOME TO THE HEARTLAND ORCHESTRA FAMILY!

Sixth Grade

We are working on Spring Concert music. I think you will be impressed with their growth this year. The Spring Concert will be on Friday May 9, 2025. We will have a combined rehearsal during 3rd & 4th hour that day to prepare. Students will need to wear their orchestra uniform and arrive at Santa Fe High School at 6pm to unpack and tune and the concert will begin at 6:30pm. This is a required performance worth 300 performance points and counts as their semester final. Please plan to be in attendance for the entire concert.

Cello/Bass players will turn in their school loaned instruments after the concert IF they rented it from Santa Fe.

Seventh/Eighth Grade

Students are busy preparing for their Spring Concert and will have the pleasure of having Mr. Edward Hudson as their clinician on Friday May 2 in preparation for their Spring Concert. After the clinic we will attend the “Frontier City Outdoor Classroom Day”.

Upcoming Dates

Friday May 2 - Seventh/Eighth Grade concert clinic and Frontier City Trip. (Students must be academically eligible and have no unexcused absences from a performance to attend)

Friday May 9 - Spring Orchestra concert at Santa Fe High School at 6:30 pm worth 300 performance points and is the semester final.

June 2 - 6 - Edmond Summer Strings at Edmond Santa Fe High School.

Sixth Grade Syllabus

Seventh Grade Syllabus

Eighth Grade Syllabus

Dionna Fuston

O: 405-726-6299

Email:

Dionna.Fuston@edmondschools.net

Office Hours: 8:55 - 9:37

Open House Video

Welcome to Heartland’s Health class for 6th grade students. We are learning how to build a strong foundation for living a healthy lifestyle. Health class focuses on the 3 sided health triangle theory. Students will learn about physical health, emotional/mental health, and social health that make up the 3 sides of the health triangle.

This week we are focusing on Character!

What is Character

How to show good character

Bullying and Prevention

Sara Mobley

sara.mobley@edmondschools.net

Office: 405-726-6316

Office Hours: 11:59-12:41

Welcome to Physical Education! This is where students will learn the importance of basic stretching and exercise procedures and the rules and skills involved for various sports, games, and physical activities. Students will also be able to apply the skills and rules taught into an actual game situation while displaying team unity and sportsmanship. Each student will also improve their overall fitness level and be able to measure those improvements through periodic fitness assessments. In addition, athletic shoes are required.

• Physical Education Rules and Regulations
• Thunder Ball
• Physical warm-ups and education on body stretching.

Parent and students please wear appropriate gym attire and sport shoes to class (No slides, boots, or open toed shoes)

mitch.parker@edmondschools.net

(405) 726-6320 & (405) 726-6316

Hello! My name is Mikayla McKinzie and I am the Vocal Music teacher here at Heartland. This is my second year of teaching and I am so excited to make music this year with some new and old faces!

I’ll be sending an email within the first week of school with all the information you could need and more! Make sure to be on the lookout for that. :)

Thunderstruck (Show Choir):

Congrats to Thunderstruck on winning “Most Entertaining” and their 3rd place finish at the Enid Show Choir Contest!

Full Competition/Performance Schedule:

Tuesday, April 15th: Alva Show Choir Contest

Thursday, May 8th: Elementary Recruitment Tours

Monday, May 19th: Spring Concert

6th Grade:

We are in the midst of learning our 6th Grade Festival music!

If you do not already have it on the calendar, 6th Grade Festival is on Wednesday, April 23rd. I will take the eligibility list from Wednesday, April 16th. Students know to take care of business to be able to attend!

7th & 8th Grade:

Frontier City sign-ups have closed. Please note that I will take the eligibility deadline of Wednesday, April 23rd for Frontier City. If your child signs up but is ineligible that week, they will not be able to attend the trip with us. I cannot give refunds for any reason - including not attending due to eligibility.

Honor Choir:

SNU All-State Camp

June 2-5, 2025

Ask Miss McKinzie for more information!

Everyone:

Our Spring Concert date is Monday, May 19th at 7:00 pm at LifeChurch OKC (the location on 178th & Penn)! The dress code will be t-shirts, jeans and sneakers. More information is coming soon!

If you are not a part of the BAND app, please join us!

6th Grade: https://band.us/n/a3a5Ac1fy9b8U

7th/8th Grade: https://band.us/n/abadAf1cy8b1H

Thunderstruck (Show Choir): https://band.us/n/a9afAd10ycA3i

Important Links:

My student is… (Tell me about your student!)

Full HMS Choir Calendar

mikayla.mckinzie@edmondschools.net

Office Phone: (405) 726-6315

Canvas is the learning management system chosen by a committee of staff, students, community members, and Board of Education members. Canvas provides online and blended learning opportunities, and is web-based, meaning it can be accessed anywhere with Internet access at any time on any Internet enabled device. Canvas allows teachers to differentiate instruction to better meet student needs through instructional content, assessments, and daily work.

Setting up an Canvas Observer Account: Click the link below.

Canvas Parent Observer Account

Help with using Canvas on a Chromebook

Infinite Campus (Parent Portal) provides families, guardians and students with real-time access to course schedules, assignments, grades, attendance and report cards for grades PreK through 12.

If you have already established a portal account with Infinite Campus, click the link below.

Parent/Student Portal Login

Setting up a Parent Portal account:

New to Edmond Public Schools: Families will receive an email that will contain a link with instructions on how to set up a new portal account after student enrollment has been completed.