TRI-LITEPage 1
TRI-VALLEY MIDDLE SCHOOL / PACE NEWSLETTER
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Volume 8, Issue 3October2001
Mr. Bob Lishka, PrincipalMrs. Sandee Hoffman, PACE President
PACE NEWSLETTERPage 1
FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK….
No Report.
PACE PRESIDENT NEWS…
Thank you to all who signed up at the Open House/Orientation to help on a committee or with a project. If you still want to sign up, feel free to contact the specific chairperson for that area. Thanks Mary Hayden and Deb Mason for organizing refreshments for this function. Great Job!
On Tuesday, October 9th, I hope to kick off the planning of a new idea to raise funds to the Middle School. A spring auction will be held during the Science Challenge Night in April. We have so many talented families in our community and I have great hopes that as a community we will all step up in one way or another and offer that talent. Ideas and suggestions are always helpful. You can send suggestions to me at or feel free to call me at 663-8671.
Market Day has begun - please consider placing an order - specifying TVMS. If you would like to help at the sales, please contact Sheryl Murphy. Order forms will be sent home with your child.
Our PACE meetings will be held on the 2nd Monday of each month. All are welcome. The October 8th meeting will begin at 7:45 p.m. due to a boys basketball parent meeting - and we hope not to be too long. We will, unfortunately have conflicts throughout the year, but we will take them a month at a time - If you can come for 1/2 an hour or even 20minutes, your input is important.
CASH FOR TRASH!!!
As some of you already know, there is a container in the Middle School Office for old printer cartridges. We can turn these used cartridges in and receive cash. Just bring them in and put them in the container. If you can put them back in their original boxes that would help. Spread the word and collect them from your family, friends and even your jobs. Help save the environment and earn money for the school all at the same time!!! Bring us your trash!!!
THANK YOU
Thank you Parents and Community Members!
Our pizza order was a success thanks to you and your orders.
The delivery date is October 4. The orders will be available to be picked up between 3:00-5:30 p.m. in the middle school multi-purpose room. Any orders not picked up at that time will be sent back on the truck unless arrangements have previously been made.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
October 2001
1Board of Educ. Mtg., 8:00 p.m.
Girls Basketball (Home), 6:00 pm
25th Gr. Band Parent Mtg, 7:00 pm
3BUY GAS @ AMOCO
4Yellow (Gold) Day
Pizza Pick-up, 3:00-5:00 p.m.
7Athletic Booster Club Mtg., 7:00 p.m. – H.S. IMC
8-PACE Mtg., 7:45P.M. (Note Time Change), MS IMC
-Mandatory Parent Meeting for
6th, 7th, & 8th Grade Basketball
Players, 7:00 p.m.
-7th/8th Grade All District Band Try-outs
9Auction Planning Meeting, IMC
11Girls Basketball (Home), 6:00 pm
15-20 - 7th/8th Boys Basketball Try-outs
18Girls Basketball (Home), 6:00 pm
20Fine Arts Craft Fair, HS 9-3:00 pm
226th Boys Basketball Practice
23Girls Basketball (Home), 6:00 pm
30“Show Me The Candy”, 7:00 p.m.
MS Gym by the 4th Grade
31BUY GAS @ AMOCO
WEBSITE FOR INFO – Check our Web site for school weather closings, daily announcements, sport schedules, and school extracurricular activities and lunch menu. You can find this at
Middle School Spring Auction
During the Science Challenge Night, an Auction will take place ... your help is needed. Ideas could include:
- An elegant dinner for 10;
- Landscaping services or plants;
- Lessons for swim, golf, computer, piano, voice, photography, aerobics or scrap booking;
- A dessert a month for a year (For all those cooks out there!)
- Hair Cuts and/or styling;
- Nail/pedicure for a period of time; and
- Baskets or boxes of goodies.
Can you help with any of the above? These are simply suggestions, but if you can help in any way, please contact Sandee Hoffman. You can contact her by e-mail at or by calling 663-8671.
NEXT PLANNING MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER 9TH
SCHOOLPOP – Sign up and shop on-line with over 300 Stores!
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NATIONAL JUNIOR HONOR SOCIETY
The National Junior Honor Society at the middle school had a very busy September. First, we elected officers. Our new president is Grant Jones. Morgan Wilson is our vice-president and Ashlynne Solvie is our secretary. Congratulations to all of our new officers.
NJHS spearheaded a drive at the middle school to collect money for the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. Over a two-day period, we collected $2,235.07, which we added to the community-wide effort that raised over $778,000. We had one student contribute $100, which was all her babysitting money that she had saved. Another student went door-to-door in Downs and collected $100.00 in one evening. A third student brought in a tin that was filled with coins she had been saving for years. As she turned in the tin, she said, "I can't think of a better place to put my money. No one needs it more than the people in New York." There was over $115.00 in the tin.
The generosity of the Tri-Valley family was overwhelming. We want to thank everyone who contributed to the fund drive. Please know you did a very good thing. You should be proud of yourself; we are certainly proud of you.
NJHS is currently selling t-shirts as another fundraiser for the Red Cross. NJHS member Ryan Fogel designed a shirt with a patriotic handprint on the front and the words "Proud to Be an American" on the back. Profits from our sales will go to the national disaster relief fund. If you would like a t-shirt, a sample of the shirt, along with order forms are in the middle school office.
In the months ahead, NJHS will undertake additional projects aimed at helping others. Thank you for your support; we appreciate it very much!
TEAM TV
Congratulations to this month’s Students of Character for Citizenship: 4th Grade- Kelsey Maffett, 5th Grade- Jake Todino, 6th Grade- Amy Castleman, 7th Grade- Katie Meins, and 8th Grade- Ryan Fogel. Their teachers comment on their helpfulness in the classroom, respect to all, politeness, and even spearheading a fundraising project for the Red Cross.
October’s Pillar of Character is Respect. Again, to “kick-off” the month, students are asked to wear the color yellow (or gold) on Friday, October 4. Last month we had over two-thirds the school wearing purple to celebrate citizenship! Don’t forget about that pizza party to the class that has the highest participation on color days!
FINE ARTS BOOSTERS
On Saturday, September 15th, the Tri-Valley Fine Arts Boosters hosted a free will donation car wash at Walmart. It was decided to donate the money raised to the American Red Cross and we earned almost $1,500 in one day of washing cars. The traffic was steady most of the day and the rain held off. Walmart matched the money we raised and the kids were thrilled to be able to donate almost $3,500. Thanks again to all the parents, teachers, and most of all the Middle School and High School youth. We are proud of you!
The annual fall craft fair will be held in the commons at the Tri-Valley High school on October 20th from 9:00-3:00 p.m. There will be many craft vendors, refreshments, a raffle for donated craft items, and a special sneak preview of Mr. Mitchell’s Madrigal singers from the upcoming December show. Tickets for the Madrigal performance will also be on sale, as seating is limited. Mrs. Angela Sparks is this year’s coordinator.
There is one vendor table still available and we are in need of kitchen help that day. If you are willing to help us with this fundraiser, please call Angela at 378-2711. Come on out for a very special day and start that Christmas shopping early!
4th–6th GRADE TMD PROGRAM
We are very excited that our program is now going into its second year here at Tri-Valley Middle School! Although I, myself, am new to Tri-Valley, everyone has been very warm and welcoming. So I would like to thank you all for opening your arms to me and making me a part of your team.
We are definitely looking forward to a great year, as our schedule continues to blossom and grow with each passing day. Our team has brainstormed together and developed some really creative ways to make learning functional, meaningful, and effective for our kids. An important element of our program is the Community Based Instruction we will be providing on a regular basis at a variety of local settings in order to teach daily living skills to our students in their natural environments.
Our class is also proud to say that we have begun a peer buddy system with the four 4th grade classes in the afternoon to help our students learn and improve recreation/leisure skills and social skills. We couldn’t have asked for better results after sending home the letters to parents! We’ve enjoyed having all of the 4th graders who have had the opportunity to come to our classroom. We hope to continue to see those of you, and we look forward to meeting many more of you as the year progresses. Thank you to those 4th grade teachers and parents for welcoming and accepting our idea so early in the school year and for working with our busy schedule! (Ms. Amy Searby)
FOURTH GRADE
Fourth Grade Students Present “Show Me The Candy”, a Halloween treat about the goodness of giving. Please make plans to join us on Tuesday, October 30 at 7:00 p.m., in the Middle School gym. This show will be a delight as the Greedy, Gimme and Allme learn how to share from Nicely. The show is free and open to all. Mark your calendar and join the fourth graders in this production.
THANKS to all of those parents who attended Open House. It was wonderful to see all of you and finally put some faces with names. It is always wonderful to show support for the hard work our students have been doing!
Congrats! Kelsey Maffett is our 4th grade Citizenship Student of the Month. Kelsey has been noticed by her teacher as a student who consistently follows the rules and is a wonderful role model for others. Next month we will focus
on Respect.
Reading & AR - Mid-term is here! Your student should have earned 2.5 points for the A.R. mid-term. Please keep encouraging them to read in the home. We are wrapping up our first reading unit, Make a Wish, by reading the story Sarah, Plain and Tall. The students have done very well adjusting to the new "reading routine". We are proud of our growing readers!
Math & Science - Fourth graders are winding their way out of subtraction and into a myriad of different math strategies. Place value, money, and rounding are a few of the things we'll be experiencing. Science students are
venturing into earth science in preparation for our field trip. We will be taking a fall field trip to the Stearkle Planetarium in Champaign, Illinois. The field trip will include an exciting presentation on the solar system. It
is always one of our favorites.
Social Studies & Language - Antarctica, North America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, and ______? Ask your fourth grader - they should know!!! We'll also be looking at the different factors that effect our climate and how we live today. In language we are continuing our quest for perfect grammar! We have enjoyed hearing about the summer activities of all of our students through our Summer Vacation essay. Continue to study for those Friday D.O.L. quizzes.
Parents - If questions arise, please be aware that you may contact us by e-mail using the Tri-Valley web page. Sometimes our telephone time is a bit limited! As always, continue looking for the assignment books at home. We are working hard to build responsible habits here at school. The students are expected to write down their assignments from the continuously updated assignment board. They are also expected to keep those assignments in the correct folder. These are skills they will continue to need as they grow! Thanks for your help!
Educationally yours,
Fourth Grade Team
AMOCO GAS – Please show your support by purchasing gas at the Amoco Gas Station in Downs on the first and last Wednesdays of the month!
FIFTH GRADE
Fifth Grade Science Report!!!
Rumblin', bumblin', stumblin'!!! The fifth graders are off to an interesting start to the new year. They took their first science test for their new teacher a couple weeks ago. The young prodigies didn't disappoint. Many of the students displayed excellent recollection of all the information covered. Guess those tests will have to be harder!!!
The latter part of September found us studying how organisms reproduce. Most of October is going to be spent checking out how organisms adapt to the different environments they live in and the different seasons of the year. Hopefully, we'll finish up the month discussing what an ecosystem is and all it's different parts. The fun never stops!!!
SIXTH GRADE
Thanks for attending open house. It was nice to get to meet everyone. If you did not get a chance to meet one of us, please stop by the school and say hi. If you are interested in a conference after the first grading period (on Nov. 1st and 2nd) please call the office and set one up.
Math classes breezed through the first chapter with most students scoring extremely well on the first test. We have now entered the world metric measurement and decimals. Some students will be challenged by place value and metric conversion concepts as we progress through the next two chapters.
Reading classes have been discussing different cultures and experiencing new vocabulary as they finish unit 1 in the literature book. All sections will be reading a novel starting in mid-October. Mr. Holliday's section will read The Phantom Tollbooth, Miss Feinholz's class will read Number the Stars, and Mrs. Lueschen's group will read Snow Treasure.
Science classes started the year by studying the scientific method. We experimented with seed corn growth. If you have not talked with your student about it, ask them what they observed and wrote in the journals. We are now studying a unit on outer space starting with chapter 23. This unit will end with a project TBA later. If you have any books or resources you think might be helpful in science, please let us know.
Last week In Social Studies we just finished Chapter 1 on The Shape of the Earth. In this chapter we learned lots of interesting things about how geographers look at our world and the high tech tools they use today such as satellites and computers. We also studied various types of maps. A thematic map is based on one theme and a reference map shows where things are located. The very first maps were made with strips of wood, coconut fiber, and shells. In order to study the earth, geographers divide the earth into various regions such as human regions and physical regions. This helps the geographers to study the various regions throughout the world.
Now we are focusing on Ch. 4 - Ancient Egypt and Nubia. So far we have learned about the geography of the Nile River. The Nile River was the foundation of Ancient Egypt's civilization. Each year the Nile flooded and created fertile land around the river to grow food. One of our activities this week was creating travel brochures to convince people to travel to the Nile River Valley. We have also been studying other aspects of Ancient Egypt's culture such as wall paintings. This week Mrs. Lueschen's and Mr. Holliday's class had a fun time creating wall paintings just like the Egyptians did. Ms. Feinholz's class also created brochures this week and studied the hierarchy of Egypt. The hierarchy consists of Gods and Goddesses, Kings/Pharaohs, Viziers, Chief of Treasury, and the Common Citizens. In the next couple of weeks we will be focusing on the daily life of Egyptians, their beliefs about the Afterlife, tombs, pyramids, and then learning about Ancient Nubia.
In writing the sixth graders have just completed their first essay. The topic for the essay was, "Why I Love Being In My Family"-they turned out wonderfully. We have also begun to put together a Writers' Toolbox. This is an instrument that will help students become and continue to be successful writers. We continue working hard on our Grammar and look forward to "tackling" our next essay.
SEVENTH GRADE
No Report.
EIGHTH GRADE
We would like to introduce Ms. McMurray to the Tri-Valley community. A Champaign native, Ms. McMurray is student teaching in Mr. Carter's classroom as she finishes up her last semester at I.S.U. She is very excited and enthusiastic about working with the students, staff, and parents.
In Mrs. Hill's language arts classes, the students have had a month filled with reading and writing. We started off the year with the students writing a letter to their favorite teacher. The letters expressed wonderful feelings and gave many educators a well-deserved pat on the back.