For the Week of 1/30 - 2/3

Welcome Message from Dr. Clapp
Classroom Peeks
HKMS Happenings
Drive to Thrive
Ways to get Involved
and...Upcoming Events!

Dear HKMS families,

This is a picture of fourteen-year-old Alex Nevel a few weeks before he overdosed on a fentanyl pill that his mom Amy says he got on Snapchat. Intelligent, curious, well-liked, and athletic are all words that were used to describe Alex in his obituary. Alex could easily be one of our students, one of your child’s friends, a teammate, or a neighbor.

On June 23, 2020, Amy Nevel walked into Alex’s room to find him in his beanbag chair passed-away from a single pill he allegedly purchased through Snapchat. Last week, Amy testified to congress about her son's death and Snapchat’s role. "It was on Snapchat that Alex was able to visit with dealers and other users. It was on Snapchat that he set up a deal to get pills," Amy testified. “The dealer who sold fentanyl to Alex was never caught or prosecuted. Snapchat hasn't acknowledged any role in his death.” You can read more about Alex’s story, the foundation that's started in his name, and how his mom is fighting for Snapchat to be held accountable here.

One of the most prolific Snapchat denouncers is Officer David Gomez, a School Resource Officer (SRO) and a Deputy of the Boise County Sheriff’s Department in Idaho. He has created incredible resources to help parents navigate the complexity of social media with their children and they are linked below. He recently posted an insightful warning about Snapchat and cell phones:

“Did you know Snapchat has a built-in secret picture vault with its own password? Yup, most parents don’t know about this either. Most online predators love it when parents give their children Snapchat as there is no way to monitor it. I personally consider any device that has Snapchat an unmonitored device no matter how good parents think they are at technology. Did you know spambots now send unsolicited pornography indiscriminately to usernames on Snapchat? Phone checks are not going to uncover this feature. Please put some serious thought into letting your children have an application on their cell phones that hides information from parents.

Parents, I know it’s very hard to watch your child be left out of school peer activities because they are one of the very few kids without a smartphone. My friends at Wait Until 8th have made a great list of other things your children will be missing out on without smartphones. Know that no parent has ever told me they wish their child would have ha phone at a younger age. Many parents have admitted that they made a mistake by letting their children have phones too early in their life.

Happy Parenting, -Officer Gomez.”

Officer Gomez Facebook Page Officer Gomez You Tube Channel

Please take 2 minutes to watch this important video from officer Gomez!

Here at HKMS, Mrs. Mohr spends hours every day untangling interpersonal messes that developed on Snapchat while kids are not in school! These issues happen weekly and range from mean comments and horrific language, to threats, bullying and hate speech. Even if you don’t believe your child would post anything harmful to another, they are being exposed to this type of interaction constantly and becoming desensitized to this treatment of others.

Why are drug dealers, predators, and criminals targeting children on Snapchat? Well, that's where our children are spending their time, and it is nearly impossible to track down who posted what, who saw it, or who might have saved it (through a screenshot). What can we do about this as parents and educators? Don't allow it, delete it, and share Alex’s story with other parents whose kids are on that platform. In fact the Surgeon General recently released his thoughts about even the age of 13 being too young for children to use social media. Please read the research included in this article about how social media addiction is altering the brains of adolescents. Here’s the bottom line, we love our students and want to partner with you on this important safety movement. We see first hand the emotional and academic toll technology addiction and social media are having on this generation and we care about them too much to not do everything we can to help.

That is pretty heavy for an intro to this newsletter that is full of middle-school joy! Make sure you refill your soul by checking out the great peeks into classrooms and insights into how we support our children. Don’t miss the info below about an incredible initiative by ALL FIVE Parent Teacher Organizations in ER9 to have Pink Out Day on February 14th in support of the Norma F. Pfriem Breast Cancer Foundation. It’s simple, we all wear pink and you donate at this LINK. Upcoming events and ways to be involved are always included in the bottom part of the newsletter as well.

I hope you all have a wonderful and restful weekend!

Sincerely,

Steve Clapp

Principal

Helen Keller Middle School

Find your strength, build upon it, and share it!

Grade 6

Our young scientists are working through stations this week as they explore the phenomenon of hear transfer while in search of the best insulation!

Time games in French class!

Mrs. Brodeur is teaching students an amazing way to break down word problems and tackle them one step at a time.

Grade 7

Real world applications of math are happening in Ms. Mancini's class! Students are trying to catch percent errors in hospital bills and calculating returns on investments.

Mrs. Rose's students are rotating through many engaging stations to learn about China!

The ice palaces are amazing!!

Grade 8

Students in Profe Cerra's 8th grade Spanish classes have designed their own town centers and are now recording dialogues in the target language about their shopping adventures!

Rockin' out area, circumference and volume in math this week!

FPA

It is fantastic to have Mrs. Gidley back with chorus and orchestra musicians, already getting started for the spring concert!!

Mr. Breyer's volleyballers working on their serves by playing the game Amoeba...which is wild fun!

Did you know there are many different techniques for water color? Mrs. G.'s art students do!!

Advisory

Kindness button making, puns and riddles, silent ball, Heads Up, and so much more were HAPPENING during this week's advisory lesson. Be sure to ask your child what activity their advisor did with them this week.

Mrs. Mohr, seen here leading our faulty meeting in an exercise that showed us how full our plates really are, full of appreciation!

Here is Mrs. Mohr again leading the school climate committee in an exercise about effective communication!

Coffee? Talk?

Next Thursday from 9:30- 10:30 the PTO-sponsored Principal's Coffee will again feature the adolescent brain as our focus, this time on how we best resolve conflicts and repair relationships once damaged.

In preparation, please take a few minutes to read the Restorative Practices Newsletter, linked here.

"13!" The HKMS musical is coming!

The Amazing Stage Crew!

The whole cast rehearsing a musical number

Cast and crew alike are putting scenes and scenery together! (Pictures by Ashley)

The Keller CourierThe Keller Courier By Helen Keller Middle School's Newspaper Club

At HKMS we believe all students should be thriving whether performing below, at, or above grade-level standards. This section will highlight just one of the ways we support learners and/or extend their thinking.

Did you know that Bloom's Taxonomy has been updated and is a great way to see the level your children are learning at and how we meet the needs of all learners?

Here at Keller, we encourage students and provide opportunities for them to apply their learning across various classes to increase their level of understanding. For example, students in science class will often use what they have learned about graphing and formulas in math class to help draw conclusions during their labs or in PLTW to calculate the strength of their structure.

Furthermore, students are often asked to analyze and evaluate data, a piece of text, or even their own learning on a regular basis. Whether it is analyzing if an article is a reliable source in social studies or evaluating how they performed on an assignment, using rubrics to help them improve student metacognition and engagement in their own learning. Providing students at all learning levels the opportunity to reach this higher order of thinking is essential to their learning here at Keller.

Finally, there is nothing better than creating something. The team here loves to encourage students to create on a daily basis and across numerous disciplines. It could be a beautiful project for art class, a creative story for ILA, a musical piece in Band/Orchestra, or a presentation on their new knowledge of other countries in social studies. Students are constantly creating unique and exciting work that is allowing them to express the uppermost level of comprehension and learning.

School Spiritwear Store!

https://stapleskellerspiritwear.com/

Keller Educational Discussions

Do you have an area of expertise middle schoolers can learn from? Do you like sharing? We want you to give a KED-Talk! Click here for more information and to sign up!

Best Fit Colleges with Rob Franek

The editor and chief from the Princeton Review will be at JBHS on February 23 at 7:00 for a very informative presentation. It is never too early to learn this valuable information!

To register use this link: https://secure.princetonreview.com/event?PSOId=512675&fbclid=IwAR1RHrW3PLQrZFEKPEbIVD7HZ6Tt65lHSoD7Q5uk7Jq6A4BhRu68DtDv4i4

From Our Friends at the...

Dear HKMS,

This is a wonderful, energetic program to celebrate Black History Month. Students can take the bus to the library and check it out. Registration is required, link here.

Kristine Oulman
Youth Services Librarian
Easton Public Library