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. 

Parent/Teacher Conferences:

Thursday, September 25 & Tuesday, September 30, 2025

• 3:45 -4:45 pm: Collaboration between teachers & families by phone to learn about your student's progress at Irving

• 4:45-6:45 pm: Drop-in conferences to learn about your student's progress at Irving

Elective/ACES & PE/Health teachers: Conferences in the cafeteria

• 6th Grade teachers: Conferences in the library

• 7th grade teachers: Conferences on the 2nd floor 

• 8th grade teachers: Conferences on the 3rd floor

We’ve officially laid the foundation for the year and are finally able to start diving into the heart of our curriculum. Our first unit will be centered around the Persian empire where we will begin by learning about their achievements, organization, and other key ideas that allowed them to be a successful empire. All of this is going to build up to our very first inquiry where the students will be discussing Cyrus the Great and ultimately wrestle with the question of whether or not he deserves to hold the title of “Great”. The students will get to see an example of the messiness of history as this leader can be credited with some very remarkable things, but at the same time things that aren’t so easy to defend. 

Where We've Been: MAP Testing and Introducing Notice & Note

This past week, our students were focused on two key areas: demonstrating their progress and building new reading skills. We began the week with MAP testing to help us understand each student's current strengths. Afterward, we introduced the Notice & Note Signposts, a powerful set of reading strategies that help students dig deeper into a story.

What's Coming Up Next Week: Plotting Our Way to Understanding

Next week, we will continue exploring the Notice & Note Signposts and begin working with plot charts. Learning to identify these signposts and mapping out a story's plot will provide students with the necessary tools to explore how personal narratives are constructed. This foundational work is crucial as students will be writing their own personal narratives in the coming weeks.

Students just finished Unit 2 about the Communication Model and celebrated the end of the unit by learning how to play the card game called Spoons. They read the written instructions and worked as a group to learn and teach each other the game.  You could ask them to teach you how to play at home.  You’ll need a deck of cards and some spoons. 

Unit 3 is about working in groups to solve a specific problem related to social responsibility.  Students will learn specific skills and strategies to use when group members talk too much or too little, how to make sure everyone participates and does the work, and how to solve conflicts that may arise during the process.   In each unit, we also talk about and practice looking at a large project and breaking it down into smaller parts in order to reduce stress and still be done on time. 

Our French Unit is wrapping up with a French Food Research Project.  In our next unit, German, we will focus on Food as well.  We will end our quarter with Chinese and Japanese too.  It has been a fun quarter of learning about all of the languages that LPS has to offer.

• 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.

7th Grade students in art class are creating painted Mandalas!

• Students have learned about the art history of Mandalas and how this art form can be found all around the world.

• We talked about radial symmetry and how this can be found in nature.

• We have been busy creating our own radial symmetry design using a compass, ruler and pencil.

• Next week 7th grade will paint their sketched-out design using tints and shades to create a 3D effect using a color scheme.

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. 

Students in Reading Rewards Secondary are continuing to build reading, vocabulary, writing, fluency, spelling, comprehension and phonics while using a variety of sentence structures and passages.  We are finishing up Unit 1 and will be testing by the end of next week!  Continue to practice spelling words and reading at home!

Students in Reading Rewards Plus are finishing Unit 1 where they have been working on a variety of sentences, vocabulary, writing, fluency, spelling and comprehension tying into a passage about ecosystems.

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.