The RMS Newsletter

May 2018

Dear Parents and Students: Spring Has Sprung as we enter the final weeks of this school year. As delineated in our Student/Parent Handbook, the Radnor Middle School Code of Conduct provides guidelines for student behavior that emphasizes treating everyone with dignity and respect, cooperating with others, being truthful, and conducting oneself in a safe and responsible manner. Our students are expected to uphold their responsibility to keep the learning environment safe and free from distractions, affording all other students the opportunity to learn in an environment that is conducive to educational success. As this year draws to a close, I am optimistic that we will continue to work together to encourage our students to do their very best until the very end of the school year arrives. Our students participated with full force during this year’s PSSAs. Thank you! As our middle school parents, we know you understand, appreciate, and support our end-of-year expectations as you work with us to promote positive and lasting choices for our students to build upon! Thank you for your continued support of Radnor Middle School. Sincerely,

Esther M. Purnell, Principal Radnor Middle School

RMS STUDENT DRESS CODE

Students are expected to attend school dressed for the business of learning. While school officials hesitate to establish specific rules, it is expected that students dress in good taste considering their age, the weather, community norms, the need for safety, and the need to take the process of education seriously. Traditional standards of good taste and modesty are expected. Parents are requested to assist the school by monitoring clothing for appropriateness. The school reserves the right to determine standards of dress in an educational setting.

It is suggested that students should not wear to school:

• Hats, hoods, bandanas, and scarves once inside the building. • Clothing that makes reference to alcohol, drugs, violent behavior, or offensive language. • Items that communicate vulgarity, sexual or mixed messages, or messages that tend to agitate others (especially ethnic, religious, or cultural groups). • Clothing that does not cover all undergarments. • Halter tops, spaghetti straps, loosely fitting tank tops, or clothing exposing midriffs, waists, or chests. • Shirts cut off at the shoulders or waist. • Shorts or skirts of an inappropriate length. The bottom of the shorts/skirts should extend further than the longest extended finger while arms are resting at one’s side. • Shoes that cause imbalance or inability to maneuver quickly and safely.

8th grade Transition to High School

The 8th graders will be visiting Radnor High School on the morning of

Wednesday, May 30th. They will leave RMS around 9:00am and return for our

8th grade lunch. The students will be touring the building as well hearing

important information from a high school student panel.

Keystones

This is a reminder that all students currently enrolled in the last part of

Algebra 1 will be sitting for the Keystone exam on May 22nd & 23rd. Make-up

days will run from May 24th -25th as needed.

5th Grade Visits to RMS!

Wayne, Ithan, and Radnor 5th grade elementary classes will be visiting the middle

school this week. On May 7th (Radnor), May 8th (Ithan), and May 10th (Wayne) students

will travel to RMS for the beginning of their transition process to middle school. The

students will be given a tour, hear from a 6th grade “survivor panel”, and participate in

a Q & A session with administrators and counselors.

RMS ACADEMIC REINFORCEMENT CLASSES:

In 2018-2019, RMS will continue to provide courses to students who demonstrate a

need to strengthen skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. We take seriously the

fact that some of students do not perform at the Proficient level on the PSSA tests.

Teachers and counselors have been reviewing student achievement data and are

making recommendations for classes titled READING FOR UNDERSTANDING, WRITING

ESSENTIALS, MATH ESSENTIALS AND MATH ENRICHMENT. Courses are offered mainly

during advisory. However, READING is scheduled in place of world language during

one of a child's elective periods. Final determination of placement in these classes will

be made once PSSA results are available this summer.

RMS Summer Reading Book Fair –

May 31st

On Thursday, May 31st, the RMS library will host the

annual Summer Reading Book Fair for students and

parents. Students and parents can visit the RMS Library

from 8:00 am-3:30 pm and 5:00 pm -7:30 pm to

purchase books for summer reading. We will be

partnering with Children’s Book World to provide

students a wide array of books to choose from. Please

visit the RMS Library website for more information.

Yearbooks!!!!

Got Yearbook?

If you did not pre-order a Yearbook through Josten's, please

submit payment of $35 via cash or check made payable to

"Josten's" to Mr. Achenbach in Room 204. Books are sold on a

first-come, first-serve basis and will be distributed to students

the week of June 5th. Please contact Mr. Achenbach at

andrew.achenbach@rtsd.org if you have any questions,

comments or concerns.

Math News:

Keystone Review Sessions are coming! For those

students scheduled to take the Algebra 1 Keystone

Exam on May 22nd and 23rd, the math teachers at

RMS will be offering additional help. Mark your

calendars. On May 1st, 3rd, 8th, 10th, 15th and 17th

from 7:35am to 8:35am, students are welcome to

come to the Library for extra practice/review for the

Keystone Exam. If you have questions, feel free to

contact your child's math teacher.

A NEW TYPE OF BOOK TASTING!

Abby Daniels, RMS Humanities Coach and 8th grade Language Arts teacher, Erin Howey are currently collaborating on an innovative cross genre social issues book club unit! Students will demonstrate readiness for high school level engagement with text through the independent reading of self selected texts. Tracing the development of common themes through multiple genres and multimedia will engage students in critical thinking and analysis of social issues, allowing them to respond to literature in a variety of ways. Students are currently reading articles that dive into themes of diversity, amendment rights, poverty, mental health, immigration, and drug and alcohol addiction. Nest step...each student will choose their own novel from 50 preselected texts...these will be complemented with poetry, short stories, podcasts, graphic design, and pop culture connections! Our goals are to encourage and extend communication, collaboration, creativity, problem solving, and technology skills through thoughtful literature discussions and curricular based reading and writing activities.

International Language Club

Final meetings will be held on Thursday, May 3 and Thursday, May

17. This is hosted by Frau Walsberg and señorita Muñoz in rooms

109/220. We look forward to seeing you there.

Spring in Crossroads By Dustin W. Schrader and Angel Flores

Crossroads is an integrated program for 6th graders. It combines Science, Social Studies,

and Language Arts, into one theme, Culture. Here are some things we have done

between March and April.

Dynamic Earth, Mid-March:

Dynamic Earth was a project involving tectonic plates. We learned about how the

continents were once a large piece of land mass called Pangaea. We learned that the

world is sort of like a puzzle, you have to figure out where each piece of land fits to create

Pangaea. We were introduced to a research project involving these plate tectonics, such

as, where the dividing lines are that separate each portion of the Earth. Each group had a

different region and each group learned about different natural land formations such as,

earthquakes, mountain ranges, hotspots, volcanoes, etc. We then gave a presentation on

the topic, which wrapped up the project.

Africa Project, Beginning of April:

The Africa project is about learning about different regions of Africa. These regions

included the Congo Basin, the Island Nations, the Horn of Africa, etc. We were assigned

to find a native ethnic group, major cities, natural resources, and daily clothing and food.

However, each group was assigned to do something a little different with each topic. For

example, the Island Nations had to compare two major cities and the Congo Basin region

had to find the daily life in these major cities. Aside from our project, we also learned

about how Africa was once colonized by different European countries. This was called the

scramble for Africa. Along with this we studied political cartoons about the scramble for

Africa that show different opinions and acts that occurred during colonization. Not only

did we learn about the Scramble for Africa, we also learned about the daily life and the

struggles in Africa by reading two novellas, Chike and the River and, A Long Walk to

Water. Chike and the River, by Chinua Achebe, was about a boy who longed to cross the

Niger River to experience life on the other side. A Long Walk to Water was about a boy

struggling to find safety during the Sudan War. It is a true story, but it also contains

fictional characters based on true events about the struggle to get clean water.

Going on Now:

We are currently learning about weather and climate. We are specifically talking about

how prevailing winds can move oceans currents and change the temperature of the

water and the land around it. Shortly we will begin a group project on this topic. Climate

definitely has an impact on culture!

We are also in the middle of an individual assignment involving reading and writing a

biography on a world icon. Each week, we read a portion of our biography and write a

response about what we’ve read. After we’re all finished with the reading and writing, we

are to do a presentation on our world icon to the class.

Something else that occurred recently was attending an Opera called Carmen which we

did in conjunction with our study of European cultures. When we first heard about the

Opera, we were not thrilled. We often thought of Opera as voices annoyingly high and

breaking glass. But this was not the case. We found the opera to be great, and very

interesting. There were many different parts that were very well done as well as a great

set and costume designs. Carmen was in French, but while talking about it in Crossroads,

we went over it in English to make sure we all understood the plot. Now we have more

respect and appreciation for opera, even though it may not be our first choice.