Food resources for families

Below are school and community resources available to provide food assistance for those who need it. 

Food Market at Irving

The Irving Food Market is open to any student, parents of students, and school staff. Those who need food assistance may come to the Irving cafeteria on Monday, November 3, 2025, at 3:00. Menu-specific items are available and supplemented by a limited number of donated goods, bakery items, and fresh produce as those items are available. Food is based on an allocated amount. 

Free and Reduced School Meal Program

Families can apply for Free and Reduced school meals at any time, especially if there has been a recent life change or change in income. If approved, the student then qualifies for free and reduced meals through the school year. Families will need to complete a new application starting next school year. Once your student is approved for free and reduced meals, you can also qualify your family for scholarships and fee waivers for student activities at school.

You can pick up a paper application from your student’s school if unable to access the form online. Learn more about the Free and Reduced Meal program on our website.

LPS Emergency Pantry

In response to the high need of students and their families experiencing hunger, the Food Bank, in cooperation with Leadership Lincoln and Lincoln Public Schools, opened the LPS Emergency Pantry.

Any LPS, private or homeschool student and their family can come to the pantry to receive food assistance. The amount of food families can have is based on family size.

The pantry is located at Bryan Community (300 S. 48th St.) and is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 3-5:30 p.m. when school is in session.

*You must have a school-aged student to visit the Emergency Pantry.

Community Food Resources

• List of community food distribution opportunities compiled by UNL Extension

• 2-1-1 Nebraska

• Food Bank of Lincoln website (and here is a pdf list of resources from the Food Bank)

• Little Free Pantries

• MyLNK is a website (https://mylnk.app) and a mobile app (for Apple and Android - search MyLNK) that has information about community resources. It can be downloaded in a wi-fi environment and then used when wi-fi is not available. The website provides translations in Spanish, Vietnamese, and Arabic.

• Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (SNAP)

Information from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services about SNAP

On October 29, Nebraska paused SNAP benefits due to the federal government shutdown. This means that SNAP benefits will not be issued during the month of November until the shutdown ends.

What do I need to do?

• If you are currently on SNAP, you may continue to use any remaining benefits on your EBT card for nine months from the date of last use.

• You must also continue to recertify your SNAP and report any changes to your personal information.

• If you are not on SNAP, you can still sign up, and your application will still be processed.

Interested in helping an LPS student and family in need?

If you are interested in helping LPS students and families in need, you can give to The Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools student emergency fund, or contact them at 402-436-1612.

StuCo Update:  We are working on a special project.  We have OPTIONAL work days next Monday and Wednesday.  We will work from 3:00-3:30 after school in room 110.  

We are super proud of our work this year!  Thank you for supporting your StuCo student!

As we wrap up the semester, we encourage all students to finish strong by completing any remaining assignments and staying focused through the final days. If your child has questions or needs help, please remind them to reach out to their teachers—we’re all here to support them.

Our Homework Hub is also available for extra assistance, so students are welcome to stop by for help with studying, organization, or completing work. Homework Hub is open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 3:10-4:00.

As we head into the break, I will be reviewing any scheduling errors for next semester and making necessary adjustments. Thank you for your ongoing support. We wish everyone a successful finish and a restful break ahead!

Your child is in 7th grade and there are health requirements which MUST be completed. You can schedule PHYSICALS at any time and at the same time receive the required TDap VACCINE. A DENTAL EXAM is also required for all 7th graders.

If you do not have a doctor or you do not have insurance, you may contact the Clinic with a Heart at 402-421-2924, the Health Department at 402-441-8065, or Health 360 at 402-441-6642.  

We highly encourage that the Physicals, Immunizations, and Dental Exams be completed as soon as possible and turned in as soon as possible. As soon as these requirements are met, please turn in the forms to Irving Middle School either in person, by mail, Fax : 402-458-3214 or email : cehmke@lps.org.

Students who are not compliant with immunizations by October 15th, 2025 will be excluded from school until they are compliant. If you have any questions regarding these requirements or need help with resources, please contact the Irving Health office 402-436-1214 ext 4. 

In PE, we have started our soccer unit. Students will focus on ball handling, passing, shooting, and eventually working their way into competitive games.

Now that we have covered the fall of the Roman Empire, we are learning about Medieval Europe. This week, the students learned about both the Feudal system as well as what life was like in a medieval town. Ultimately, the students will weigh the positives and negatives for the people living within those systems and determine which one they would prefer to live under.

As the semester ends, I wanted to provide a quick update on our final two weeks. We have officially wrapped up our Argument Essays, and I am proud of the students' hard work in structuring their arguments. Next week, the schedule will shift as students take the Winter MAP test over three days.

Following testing, our focus will turn to review and skill building. Students will have dedicated time to revisit their Personal Narratives and Argument Essays to apply feedback, polish their writing, and improve their final grades before the term closes. We will also be incorporating engaging grammar activities and word games during this time to help build better writing habits.

Finally, please note that it is essential for both the Personal Narrative and Argument Essay to be submitted by the last day of the semester, as these are the term's major benchmarks. I am currently reaching out to families of students with missing work; if this applies to your student, please encourage them to use the upcoming class time to complete it.

Math 7: Students are creating proportional relationships to solve authentic percent problems such as percent change, sales tax, discount and tip. Students will also find theoretical and experimental probabilities for compound and dependent events. We will begin the Chapter 5 Test on Tuesday, December 16th. Please encourage your student to turn in any missing homework.

Math 7D: Students are learning about the relationships between the diameter and circumference of a circle, as well as calculating the area of circles. They will compare how surface area and volume are related, and use a physical model to see the surfaces of a prism. We will begin the Chapter 9 Test on Tuesday, December 16th. Please encourage your student to turn in any missing homework.

This last week we started to learn about the smallest particles that are still considered normal matter, that atom. We found out that they are made of 3 smaller particles called protons, neutrons and electrons. We also learned that all molecules are combinations of 2 or more atoms. We then looked at the periodic table and how it is organized and how to read it. We are also beginning to learn about chemical formulas and equations. This is all designed to help us determine what gas our bath bomb is producing, our current candidates are Argon, Nitrogen and Carbon Dioxide. The skills learned this week will help students determine the identity of our unknown gas. Next week we will continue exploring chemical changes and chemical reactions.

Next Friday Chemistry Quiz 2 on Lesson 5, atoms and molecules, periodic table and balancing chemical equations/ reading chemical formulas.

Hello!   I want to pause and say THANK YOU for your great kids that I get to teach.   

Now would be a great time for students to check grades and show you their progress in class.  Students with low grades probably need to retake the Communication Model test.   In order to do that, they need to show me flashcards for the sixteen vocabulary terms and have all of the formative assignments completed (For the Birds, Active Listening, and Miscommunication Reflective Writing) before they may try the test again.   

We are finishing Unit 3 which is framed around the essential question, “What role does social responsibility play for individuals in a community? Students have working through their social responsibility project, and they are using specific skills and strategies I taught them to maximize their team time.  These projects will be due on Monday, December 8th.  From there, we’ll finish the quarter and the class with a unit on slam poetry. 

As always, please email me if you have any questions!  skroenk@lps.org

It has been a pleasure teaching your students in World Language.  So far, we have learned the Spanish alphabet and animals, French flags and clothing terms and listened to children’s and pop music in both languages.  Our next languages include German, Chinese and Japanese.  In our German Unit, we will be learning greetings, numbers and food vocabulary.  In our Chinese and Japanese units, we will focus on holidays and the Chinese zodiac calendar. 

• In art class we have been busy going over classroom expectations and procedures. 

• We are learning the classroom space and where materials are stored.

• We also discussed symbolism and wrote down objects that personally     represent us. 

  1. Students chose 1 symbol to create using found objects in a 40 min task party.

  2. Students will use those 5 symbols to decorate their sketchbook covers.

This week we have been working on our clay unit. Students learned the different stages of clay and created their own hand-built mug using clay slabs. Later, once fired, students will get to glaze their mugs using various design elements. 

Students in Business & Technology 7 have recently concluded their computer software applications unit, with a mini-unit exploring Google Sheets.  Students are now learning about infographics and using that knowledge to create infographics in Adobe Express.  Students are creating an internet safety infographic, as well as an infographic about their dream vacation.

Students in Family and Consumer Science are just wrapping up their sewing projects. They did an awesome job working in the sewing lab.

The rest of our quarter will be spent on a safety and sanitation unit in the kitchen. We will also work on measuring and working with their group to complete food labs.

Rewards Plus- We are continuing to work on many reading and writing skills and activities getting them prepared for the MAP testing next week (December 10, 11 and 12)  We are also beginning Unit 6 where we will include reading and writing skills and strategies along with a passage about Heart Transplants.  

Rewards Secondary: We are continuing to work on many reading and writing skills and activities preparing for the upcoming MAP Test next week (December 10, 11 and 12) We are also continuing Unit 4 where we are focusing on a variety of speaking, reading and writing skills. 

***Please encourage your child to read at home, practice fluency and practice spelling***

The orchestra is off to a wonderful start this year and sounds fantastic. With a big group, we start slow to focus on routine and structure in the classroom so that rehearsals can run smoothly. Students have grown on this front each day this week. Thank you for all the effort. 

Practice Cards: 

Students are expected to practice 60 or more minutes each week and record it on their blue practice card. Each week, the card will be due on Tuesday. Ideally, students will turn it in Monday, but it gives them a chance to forget, and bring it the next day if necessary. Practice can be on any music the student wishes to play, as long as they are accomplishing class assignments. That could include the music from class, music from private lessons (the actual lesson time does not count), music from other books/online, playing by ear, or playing along with recordings of music they like.