November 23-24 No School December 7 Fundraiser Product Pickup—3:00-6:00 PM (All money due at this time) December 14 ROCKS Movie Night—3:15-6:30 PM December 18 Mini-Course Overnight Trip Application Opens—8th Grade Only Dec. 25-Jan. 1 No School

Nov. 22

2017 Gator Bytes Learning, Leadership and Laughter...The JRG Journey

J.R. Gerritts Middle School * 545 S. John St. * Kimberly, WI * 920-788-7905

Mr. Hoerth’s Ex. Tech Photo

of the Week Winner

Congratulations to this week’s winner:

Elizabeth Ritger

8th Grade-We Need Your Baby Pictures Do you want to be featured in our very own JRG yearbook? We want your baby pictures from ages 2-3! This year, we will be featuring a section in the yearbook in which students are guessing which baby picture belongs to which student. This is just for 8th grade. Email your pictures to 22kzuleger@kimberly.k12.wi.us if you want to be included in this extra fun section of the book. January 1st is the last day we will be accepting the pictures. Thank you! -JRG Yearbook Staff

Parent-Teacher Conference Survey Thank you to all families that were able to take the time to attend our Parent-Teacher Conferences last week. Approximately 380 families were in attendance! If you did not have the opportunity to complete the brief parent survey during conferences, please follow this link to share your thoughts on your experience.

Yankee Candle/Cherrydale Fundraiser Pickup December 7 Fundraising items will be available for pickup on Thursday, December 7 from 3:00-6:00 PM in the JRG Commons. All money is due at this time. Please refer to the pink copy of your sales form for the total amount due. Checks can be made out to JRG.

Check Out These Student-Created Commercials Promoting Their Narratives

You may have seen this display (pictured at left)

during our Parent-Teacher Conferences last week.

Ms. Hagmann’s 7th grade Language Arts classes

used Flipgrid, a video discussion platform, to build

interest in their narratives. Groups of students created

short videos summarizing and promoting their stories

in response to this prompt: With your group members,

record a description/commercial for your narrative

anthology. Keep it brief and interesting. Begin by sharing your common topic (sports, scary, relationship

stories, overcoming obstacles, etc.). Then give a brief overview of each story (much like your one-

sentence summary but with no spoilers). Ms. Hagmann then created a

poster with each video linked via a QR code.

You can check out the results by following the link above, and read the

stories by following the link embedded below each video. Their work even

got a shout-out from Flipgrid on Twitter. Technology is a tool our students

use every day, mostly to increase productivity, but sometimes (as in this

example) to build engagement and find an authentic audience.

Emergency Medications Please be aware that emergency medications that are provided for use during the school day will not be accessible before or after school hours. Parents and students must plan ahead to have emergency medication available during school activities such as clubs and sports. If an emergency arises and a student does not have their emergency medication available, 911 will be called.

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Weather Cancellations and Delays Winter is right around the corner. If weather conditions dictate that there will be no school or a delayed start, a decision to keep the schools closed is usually made by 6:30 a.m. Parents with students in school receive a direct call, text and/or email from our auto-call system since that is the fastest way to communicate with thousands of parents at one time. As a reminder: If you have a new phone number or email address, please update your information in the Infinite Campus parent portal or contact your school’s secretary to update the portal. Announcements are also sent to local TV and radio stations. Please tune to local stations such as these rather than call the school directly: WAPL-105.7FM, WHBY-1150AM, WKFX-104.9FM, WEMI-91.9 FM, WGEE-1360 AM, and WOZZ-93.5FM; and WBAY-TV2, WFRV-TV5, WGBA-TV26, and WLUK-FOX11. If other school events, such as concerts or sporting events are also cancelled because of weather, they are typically communicated through these stations as well. The District’s website and Facebook page are not our primary way to communicate school closures, so we ask parents to listen to the auto-call messages or tune in to the radio and TV stations listed for the timeliest updates.

Outagamie County Conservation Contests Outagamie County Land Conservation Department is holding it’s annual conservation poster and speaking contest. The poster topic for this year is “Watersheds: Our Water, Our Home”. Students wishing to participate in the speaking contest can choose any topic promoting the conservation of natural resources and the protection or enhancement of environmental quality. Please stop in the Main Office for detailed contest information packets, applications and deadlines. General information for each contest can be found on pages 7-8 of this newsletter.

JRG students participate in World Appreciation Day at UW Madison

On Tuesday, November 14th, 35 French, Spanish, and EL students from JRG attended a World Appreciation Day event hosted by UW-Madison. Some 450 middle school students from 16 Wisconsin schools participated. Our students received a shout-out during the opening remarks as the school that had traveled the farthest to attend the event. Indeed, we had to get up very early to catch our 5:30 bus to Madison. It was all worth it as a memorable cultural experience was had by all. The event opened with an energetic African drum and dance performance put on by a Guinean group called Limanya. We then broke off into smaller groups in which our students attended three different sessions which included: greetings around the world, an introduction to the Zulu language, a discussion of twins in Yuruba land, Balkan Village line dances, Yoga, mindfulness, and meditation, Yane, a group dance from the Myanmar New year celebration, an expose on the Hukka people of Southeast Asia, an interactive dance session with the Limanya group, and a session on the art of henna. In between the second and third sessions there was a milk and cookie break attended by Bucky Badger. The final event was a Klezner Dance party with a Yiddish band called Yid Vicious. The bus ride home included glimpses of the UW Madison campus sights along with a peek at the capital. Students returned to JRG with a broader vision of the vastness of cultures within our world, and yet how we are all fundamentally the same and can appreciate one another's uniqueness. World Appreciation Day is the type of event that lays the foundation for engaged, global citizenship.

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Hey, JRG ROCKS members, it’s time for our next ROCKS event!

In December, we will have our own private movie theater showing of the movie, Wonder.

You must register for this event online.

JRG is partnering with Eventbrite to help you register for JRG ROCKS events through just the click of a button. Head to our event page at rockswonder.eventbrite.com to register, pay, and complete your field trip forms. Just like that, you’ll be all set to see the flick! No need to remember to bring forms to and from school, no chance of losing your money, and no way that you forget to turn it in on time. Just head to rockswonder.eventbrite.com to do it all at once. You can pay online with credit or debit card.

rockswonder.eventbrite.com

Need help registering online?

Contact Chad Verboomen at cverboomen@kimberly.k12.wi.us

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The Kimberly Area School District does not discriminate against pupils on the basis of sex, race, religion, national origin, ancestry, creed, pregnancy, marital or parental status, sexual orientation or physical, mental, emotional or learning disability or handicap in its educational programs or activities. Federal law prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of

age, race, color, national origin, sex, religion or handicap.

J. R. Gerritts Middle School 545 S. John Street s Kimberly, WI 54136

(P) 920-788-7905 (F) 920-788-7914 (E) JRG@Kimberly.k12.wi.us

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