MJS Weekly Reflection

November 27 - December 1

Table of Contents

Team Building Day

Fall Play Production

7th Grade Science Skittle Labs

Brass Clinic at MHS

The Makerspace At MJS

Lost and Found

Additional Information/Upcoming Events

In Our Community

Looking ahead

Another great week at MJS! This Weekly Reflection covers the past two weeks at MJS. We are in Marking Period 2 and our students are doing a great job! As Acting Principal I was extremely proud of our students during our Team Building day. They all represented MJS well and participated in a respectful and collaborative way at all locations. There is a great energy in our building, which is coming from our staff and students. Our goal is to ensure everyone that walks into MJS has the best day possible learning and growing together! Enjoy browsing through our Weekly Reflection.

Team Building Day

We had an awesome Team Building Day on Wednesday November 22nd. Prior to the students starting their activities I had an opportunity to speak with each grade to talk about the purpose of this day. We focused on what Team Building means and what it can do for our community. Working together in these types of activities helps us as a community build trust, collaboration and communication among each other. As a grade level this provided the opporunity to grow together as a group while also having fun. As MJS ONE, we are ONE inclusive community helping each other learn and grow, which this Team Building day fit right into our goal as a community. A big thank you to our High School Peer Connection Student Group who worked with our 6th graders, the Madison YMCA for our 7th grade and the Hanover Lanes for our 8th grade. It is wonderful to partner with outside groups/organizations for the benefit our students.

Fall Play Production

Congratulations to the cast and crew of our Fall Play Production Mirror of Most Value: A Ms. Marvel Play which was performed on Friday and Saturday. 47 MJS students were part of the cast and crew and they all did an amazing job. A big thank you to our Director: Ms. Skyler Makuch, our assistant director: Ms. Amanda Tobia and our Set Design Director: Ms. Sarah Fiedler.

7th Grade Science Skittle Labs

7th Grade science classes have been working on a few labs using skittles. The first lab modeled the chemical equations of photosynthesis and cellular respiration using Skittles! Students had a blast and it was so exciting as they worked through it to see them realize they are reciprocals of each other as they counted the atoms and applied the law of conservation of matter. Another Skittles lab focused on a diffusion activity where students added hot water to see what would happen!

Brass Clinic at MHS

Our MJS Brass students who are part of our band program had the opportunity to take a trip to Madison High School to participate in a Brass clinic. They were able to work with and listen to the Amo Brass ensemble. This was a great experience for our Brass students to learn from a professional Brass ensemble.

The Makerspace At MJS

October and November was a busy time in the MJS Makerspace. Sixth grade students finished up the first marking period by racing their mouse trap cars.

Seventh grade students finished their Castle Crushing Catapults at the end of the last marking period. All catapults were tested for accuracy, precision and power. All catapults in successfully launched the ping pong ball towards our castle wall at least one time. To introduce electricity, students have a redesign challenge. They need to take their traditional catapult and using only the materials in their old catapult plus a few electrical components they need to change their catapult into a catapult from the future. This means students will add a motor, battery pack and a DIY electric switch to their redesigned catapult. These catapults will act more like bowling machines and must knock over cardboard bowling pins. Our next unit is about designing and engineering with clean energy.

Eighth graders finished out the marking period by designing and assembling their automaton projects. All students successfully designed and engineered a complex system of cams and cam followers that caused motion in their automaton. It was wonderful seeing each student's creativity come to life with this project.

Students in eighth grade are currently working on engineering puzzles and games that will be donated to children in need, in collaboration with the YMCA in Newark. Students are working diligently on their assignments and have come up with some wonderful ideas! I can not wait to see their final products.

The Makerspace is open after school typically using the following schedule:

Monday: 2:50 - 3:15pm

Tuesday: Closed

Wednesday: 2:50 - 4:00pm (This time will occasionally change to 3:15)

Thursday: 2:50 - 4:00pm

Friday: 2:50 - 3:15pm

Lost and Found

Over the past 3 months our lost and found table has gathered many items. A big thank you to our office secretary, Ms. Kelly for taking the time to organize these items so we can get them back to their owners. Below are pictures of all the items we currently have in our lost and found. If you notice a item that belongs to your child please have them go to the office during their cycle period and check in with Ms. Kelly before picking up their item. Thank you for your assistance in getting these items back to their owners.

The Week Ahead

Our Fall Scholastic Book Fair opens this Wednesday December 6th! We are still collecting unwrapped toys for our Toys for Tots community service project and we currently have over 300 toys collected. If you are able please have your child bring an unwrapped toy to school and drop it off in their homeroom. Our TREP$ marketplace is this Wednesday at 6:00pm and we are excited to see all of our the wonderful products our students have created! Come out and shop for the holidays!

Additional Information/Upcoming Events

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In Our Community

Madison Public Library Newsletter

If you are interested in receiving the virtual newsletter from the Madison Public Library so that you can stay up to date with what the public library is offering , please click this link to sign up.

From our MEF

A note from the Madison Education Foundation:

On this #GivingTuesday week and throughout the holiday season, we ask that you include MEF in your charitable giving plans.

By the time this calendar year is over, we will have funded nearly 60 grants totaling more than $120,000. These impressive numbers are thanks to the generosity of community members like you that contribute to our effort year after year. Your donation now ensures our ability to fund the wonderful enrichment grant submissions we are sure to receive in 2024 and beyond.

Thank you for your continued support!

DONATE BY CLICKING THIS LINK

From our PTO

To our MJS community,

Your dues are important to the success of our mission. Please help support your children, the MJS Staff and our PTO with a donation of $50-$75 for every 6th-7th grade student and $75 for every 8th grade student. Dues are not mandatory and any dollar amount donated above or below our suggested amounts will be much appreciated. Feel free to use the square link or the venmo QR code attached below.

https://madison-junior-school-pto.square.site/

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