Parent Group

Happy holidays and best wishes for a wonderful new year! Please

consider making a donation for the end of the year Staff Appreciation Luncheon at KMS. The Parent Group hosts an end-of-the-year luncheon to extend our thanks and appreciation to all 113 KMS staff members who support our children throughout the year. Because we don't fundraise on a regular basis, we ask par-ents to make small donations to cover the estimated $1,000+ cost of this im-portant event. Save the Date for our next Parent Group Program at KMS March 2nd, it will be a College Planning and Preparation presentation. Also please feel free to join our monthly Parent Group meetings, they are the 3rd Tues-day of each month at 8:30am in the Main Office Conference room at KMS. Don’t forget to check out the Parent Group page on the Keene Middle School web-site: http://kms.keeneschoolsnh.org/

There you will find a list of up-coming Parent Group activities and meetings, a copy of the parent volunteer form, and links to important information to support you as you parent your middle-schooler.

Thanks for all you do to support the KMS community,

Tamara Sy, Jenna Tattersall, Marty Hennum, and Misty Martinez-

Bohannon

KEENE Middle SCHOOL

Who’s received a Cardinal Award?

Cardinal Awards are given to students who are “caught” doing an act of kindness or deed that makes KMS the good place it is. Some of the wonderful acts include the

following: doing a great job running the Cardinal Corner, great effort on “Iron Giraffe Challenge”, helping others, being super kind and helpful, being very positive and enthusiastic.

The following are the recipients. KUDOS to you all! Mrs. Frazier

January 2017

Niranja Archunaraj Lilly Beckwith Mea Carroll- Clough Briauna Clay Haley Clough Ashley Connerton Scarlett Craven Natalie Dean Brendan Doane

Avery Dobbins (4) Adrian Donnell Jonah Frost Sydney Fugere (2) Bradley Hamel Ben Hertzler Alex Hoefer Kylie Knowles Audrey Kostick

Dear KMS Families,

We are pleased to offer parent conferences on January 23rd. There is no school for students on this day. Enclosed is a letter and form inviting you to participate. Not all, but some of the Allied Arts teachers (PE, Music, Health, Technology Education, Family & Consumer Science, Computers, and Art) will be available on this day. If you’d like to schedule a time with them, please note it on the form. You may drop in to have a brief meeting with the Allied Arts folks, however, when “dropping in” you may need to wait. Another time can always be scheduled. Should we not be able to schedule all requested conferences on this day, we will offer other times. These conferences are not required, but we do look forward to meeting with those of you that choose to do this. We have included another copy of our “Emergency Information for Parents” pamphlet. As you know, school safety is always our top priority. Staff, students and parents—you all play an im-portant role in helping our school community be safe. If you have any questions or ideas, please feel free to contact us. Have a safe and wonderful holiday season.

Dotty Frazier and Ryan Margaitis

Mason Lavertue Brianna Lucier Abby Martin Violet Masterson Robbie Nowill Abby Pride Caden Raffiani (3) Nicole Rodrigues Olivia Salema(2)

Emma Schmidl-Gagne (2) Robby Smith Sebastian Spykman Chloe Swett (2) William Swingle Victor Targett Ryan Valenti (3) John Ward Regan Wilkins

Jan. 7 & 14 – Keene Board of Education’s Finance Committee holds all day budget sessions on the proposed

2017- 2018 Keene School District budget in the LGIA at KHS, 8:00 a.m. on the 7th and 8:30 a.m. on the 14th.

Jan. 17 – Public Hearing on the proposed 2017-2018 budget, 7:00 p.m. KHS Auditorium

Feb. 11 – First Session of the Annual Keene School District Meeting, 9:00 a.m. KHS Auditorium

March 14– Second Session of the Annual Keene School District Meeting at the polls, 7:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Wards 1, 2 , 3, 4 & 5 vote at the Keene Rec. Center, 312 Washington Street.

The filing period for those interested in running for the Keene Board of Education runs from Wednesday,

January 25 through Friday, February 3, 2017.

There are three board seats open for full three-year terms. The positions of Keene School District Clerk and Keene School

District Moderator are also open for full three-year terms. To be eligible, a candidate must be a registered Keene voter, and

not employed by any school district in SAU #29 – Chesterfield, Harrisville, Keene, Marlborough, Marlow, Nelson, or West-

moreland.

Interested persons may file at the superintendent’s office, 193 Maple Avenue, Keene, Monday through Friday from 8:00

a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Informational packets are available in the superintendent’s office. Please contact Diane Freitas with

any questions at dfreitas@sau29.org or 357-9002 Ext. 223.

PLEASE BE SURE EMERGENCY

CONTACT INFORMATION IS CORRECT

If you have any changes to your

child’s Emergency Contacts, please

notify the attendance office immedi-

ately at 357-9020 ext. 1. This infor-

mation is important and needs to be

accurate and up-to-date.

Student Council began this school year by developing Keene Middle School’s school-wide social contract! Every student at KMS was able to partic-ipate, ultimately resulting in the following three rules/guidelines:

Keep the learning process supportive, safe, and enjoyable

Achieve success through perseverance

Have a growth mindset

We recently visited Cedarcrest Center for Children with Disabilities and we plan on doing some volunteer outreach with that organization.

We are also in the midst of our annual door decorating con-test. The theme this year is Animals and Mythical Beasts. Looking forward, representatives will begin planning the Winter Dressy Dance to be held Fri-day, February 10th. Student Council will also be working on the KMS Dress Code. We will be asking for comments in the coming month.

Betsy Stacey, Student Council Advisor

Geographic Bee

KMS social studies classes dedicated class time to the Na-tional Geography Bee in late December. The school bee will be held on January 13th and we will have 10 finalists on stage. Each Grade 7 and 8 cluster will field its winner and runner-up, the Grade 6 clusters send one winner. The school winner will go to a state competition in late March. The first-place national prize, however, is a $25,000 college schol-arship which is worth the extra study! The National Geographic Bee site -http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee/study-corner/ has new questions every day; other ways to prepare are by watching the news, reading magazines, and playing games.

Mr. Vernon, Bee Coordinator

Eighth Grade Trip

Early this month travelers will be receiving MEDICAL and SUITCASE suggestion forms in the mail. Please adhere to the return due date on

the medical form. Students CANNOT travel without this form. The last fundraising opportunity will begin on January 5th and will end on January 20, 2017. All cookie dough orders and money are due on or before January 20th. This is a time sensitive sale so orders need to be in on time. Anything turned in after the 20th will not be accepted. Also, the ability to register for the trip will end on January 15th. Your student CANNOT register at all after this date. It is vital that students meet the turn in date so credits to stu-dent accounts can be made quickly before the final payment is due to World Strides. It is imperative that full payment is made so your child can attend the trip. Students without at least 75% of their trip paid will not be able to participate in a roommate selection process. This will take place shortly after the last payment date in January. If you have any questions regarding billing, please call 1-800-468-5899.

The trip dates are: Thursday, April 14th- Monday, April 18th

Mrs. Wasko, Mr. Paone, and Mrs. Wilson-Tucker

Student Transition Dates

Parents of KMS 8th Graders January 3

KHS Guidance and Administration meet with the entire 8th grade class at KMS for

the first KHS orientation meeting.

January 24 Parent Night for current 8th grade parents

at Keene High Auditorium at 6:30 PM.

Parents of current 5th Graders from Keene, Nelson and Stoddard Elementary Schools

January - February Mr. Singer visits 5th grade classrooms for first orientation meeting for incoming 6th graders.

Parents of current 6th Graders from

Harrisville and Marlow January – February

Mrs. Campbell visits town schools for first orientation meeting for incoming 7th graders.

Congratulations to the following 6th, 7th & 8th grade students

who made High Honors for the first marking period:

Stephanie Ager, Brooke Alexander, Bailey Anderson, Amylia Anger, Niranjana Ar-chunaraj-Indhumathy, Kamille Atkins, Leonardo Ballaro, Eileen Barrett, Megan Barth,

Hannah Bates, Britta Baybutt, Brady Belden, Drew Beliveau, Jasmine Benavides, Isabelle Bradford, Mia Brown, Sharanya Budakoti, Haley Burnham, Kaitlyn Callahan, William

Carlisle, Donovan Carlson, Mea Carroll-Clough, Cameron Cielinski, Danica Cielinski,

Laurel Clace, Briauna Clay, Claire Cocklin, Iyla Cousins, Ethan Croteau, Natalie Dean, Sophie Dean, Tristan Dolenc, Elizabeth Downing, Hannah Driscoll-Carignan, Mallory

DuBois, Aidan Fauth, Elena Fedrizzi, Camille Fleuette, Penelope Garcia, Sophia Garland,

Claire Gemma, Georgia Gempler, Isabella Georges, Aidan Gianferrari, Anna Gray, Isabel-la Grosswiler, Brianna Guadalupe, Kobe Hachey, Delilah Hatheway, Tyler Harrington,

Hannah Healey, Benjamin Hertzler, Julia Hicks, Elizabeth Hines, Avery Holbrook, Rebec-ca Holland, Samuel Holmes, Emily Hopkins, Kyle Huston, Teresa Ivan, Matthew Keller,

Madison Kelley, Steffen Knouff, Audrey Kostick, Julia Lavallee, Mason Lavertue, Keagan

Lawrence, Jacob Lugo, Abigail Martin, Mychael Maxson, Gage McGuirk, Josephine Mitchell, Ava Moore, Jonah Murphy, Orion Murphy, Jaden Murray, Jonas O’Mara, Evelyn

Ostroski, Jo Dee Pancake, Isabella Paris, Anne Paulsen, Tanner Payne, Matthew Peate, Noah Pellerin, Justin Perra, Samuel Perry, Luke Petrovich, Lily Pierannunzi, Mia

Plaskiewicz, Maria Ranta, Margaret Rodrigues, Aditi Saleh, Reilly Salisbury, Maxwell

Santos, Linnea Schick, Emma Schmidl-Gagne, Yuki Schuette, Alina Scott, Braeden Scott, Michael Serpico, Tyler Shollenberger, Joseph Sogno, Donovan Somma, Sydney Squires,

Phaedra Stemp, Claire Stroshine, Chloe Swett, Campbell Sy, Victor Targett, Quinn

Thatcher, Margaret Thomas, Owen Thornton, Samuel Timmer, Man Dai Tran, Samantha Tremblay, Hailey Trudelle, Isabella Venezia, Gwennie Walier, Johnathan Walton, Lucinda

Walton, Nicholas Walton, Chloe Warner-DeMond, Jasmine Warner-DeMond, Makenzie Waterman, Zoe Waters, Quinten Wilson, Justin Zeng, Sarah Zinn

This newsletter is an approved publication. Any editorial comments, stated or implied, can be

assumed to represent the KMS administration.

The Cardinal Not just a school newspaper… it’s our tradition. The Cardinal News, under the advisorship of Mrs. Sylvia, has been

the Keene Middle School newspaper for eighteen years. Our middle school stu-dents publish their stories, articles, poetry, puzzles, illustrations, photographs, and many different school based contests in the school newspaper, sharing with par-ents, staff and other students an inside view of their world. This first issue comes out shortly before the December holiday break and is availa-ble for viewing on our KMS website. We would like to thank all the students and staff who have shown such enthusiastic support and encouragement to our young Cardinal Newspaper club members. This small, but highly engaging issue, contains articles about the recent election and local events. Other stories reveal what KMS students are watching on the big screen, doing during and after school, and how they’re spending their time with friends. The stories are written by our students, for our students, and reflect the very best of our young people’s community spirit. Students come on Wednesdays at 2:30 – 3:15 to Mrs. Sylvia’s room 2202 to get ideas, share advice, and write their stories. The following students are participating regularly in the Cardinal News: Elizabeth Downing, Josephine Evans, Niranjana Archunaraj-Indhumathy, Sierra Kolodziej, Kiera McLaughlin, Samantha Murray, Maria Ranta, Aditi Saleh, Sophia Tru-man. Many others drop in occasionally to work on a special project! The Cardinal News continues to be an engaging extra-curricular activity that offers students an important historical record of our KMS events and traditions.

Mrs. Sylvia

Extensions

Focused Study Groups and Extended Learning Plans

The Extensions program at Keene Middle School allows students to expand their studies in areas supporting their strengths, talents, interests, and potentials. In addition to the many after-school activities offered, extension opportunities exist during Fo-cused Study Group (FSG) period and within the various content classes. Students qualifying for extended learning options must meet academic as well as task-commitment requirements. Ad-mittance is through a teacher referral process. For an extended learning project, the student, parent, and teacher agree to an Ex-tending Learning Plan (ELP) outlining the lesson and activity expec-tations. Thus far, students have participated in a variety of exten-sions related to many content areas.

Hour of Code

We had a very successful week of “Hour of Code” activi-ties in December. There were 15 students who enthusiastically par-ticipated in tutorials related to computer programming and game design. We also had five Computer Science students from Keene High come and share their knowledge with the middle school stu-dents.

STEM Fun Fridays

We will be starting STEM Fun Fridays on Friday, January 20th and 27th. We will start out with a catapult building contest host-ed by Seth Andrews, Cluster A Science Teacher.

Book Clubs

Due to the wide interests and active lifestyles of KMS stu-dents, Book Club has taken on a different format. We have had two “Book Tasters” clubs that meet during student lunches. The lunch bunch format has provided a great opportunity to simply talk about books and share interests. After the holiday break, we will also be resuming our after school book club.

OCAC Ambassadors

This fall the OCAC Ambassadors invited new 7th and 8th grade students to tour the boardwalk. We are now working on our interpretive guide and winter wildlife tracking skills. We are plan-ning on leading preschool groups from Jonathan Daniels in the spring. Let us know if you have ideas on how we can best connect the OCAC trail with the school and with the public. If you have questions about Extensions programming please contact Betsy Stacey at bstacey@sau29.org or call 357-9020.

PARENT TIPS FOR SAFE INTERNET USE

Our children live in a much more technologically advanced world then the one in which we grew up in. Here are some tips to help your children com-municate in a safe and healthy manner.

COMMUNICATE with them about what they are doing online, and

with whom.

ENCOURAGE them to deal with any conflicts face to face.

MONITOR their internet and phone use.

REMIND them that messages, pictures, words sent electronically are

open for anyone to see.

KEEP home computers in the “public” living area.

SET RULES for where and when they can be online, and for a code of

conduct they are to follow.

WARN them not to share personal information on line and never talk

to people they don’t know.

BE INVOLVED and HAVE FUN with them.

DO THINK about what you post and text.

BE NICE, the same way you want to be treated.

REPORT, IGNORE OR BLOCK people who are inappropriate.

TELL AN ADULT if someone makes you feel uncomfortable.

DON’T DON’T RETALIATE if someone was mean to you.

DON’T SHARE personal infor-mation on line.

DON’T TALK to strangers online.

DON’T PARTICIPATE if unkind communication is being expressed.

DOs and DON’TS for KIDS

The Harris Center and KMS are proud to pre-

sent Dr. Goodby and “12,000 years ago in the

Granite State.” This presentation will be held

on January 31, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. in the KMS

Auditorium. As you may know, Dr. Goodby

coordinated a significant archeological dig on

this site. His engaging presentation talks

about the significance of the artifacts found.

Band News

The KMS Jazz Bands will be performing in their first series of concerts this month. On the evening of Thursday, January 19th, the Monday and Wednesday Night Jazz Bands will perform for family and friends. The concert begins at 7:00 p.m. in the KMS Auditorium. The following night on January 20th, both jazz bands will again be performing, this time for the annual Keene High School Jazz Invitation-al. The concert begins at 7:00 p.m. in the Keene High School Auditorium.

The Band holiday concerts were held on Thursday, December 8th in the Keene Middle School Auditorium. The bands performed magnifi-cently, playing holiday and traditional band selections to a packed house.

We are also excited to announce this years NHBDA Middle-Level Honors Band Festival participants. Two hundred and forty eight auditions were submitted from forty-seven New Hampshire middle schools state-wide, and four of our stu-dents were selected to participate. We are very proud of the seventh and eighth graders from KMS who challenged themselves and took risks well beyond what is asked of them in our school band program to audition for this prestigious ensem-ble. Students submitted recorded auditions of several scales and an etude unique to their instrument. These recordings were adjudicated by a panel of music profes-sionals and in return, each auditioning student receives a score sheet and feedback that will help them continue to develop as musicians. The following students will be participating in this year’s festival, which will take place on Friday, March 17th, 2017 at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, NH: 8th graders Caleigh Hicks and Nicholas Walton, and 7th graders Isabella Georges and Julia Hicks. Congratula-tions!

Mrs. Hahs

Keene Middle School 167 Maple Ave. Keene, NH 03431

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Winter Athletics

The winter season is off and running as the boys and girls basketball teams will be playing in an early season jambo-

ree at Keene High School. The majority of the games will be played in January and February with an end of the year basketball tournament played at South Meadow School. The wrestling team is off to a great start with the most participants the team has had in years. They will be competing in tournaments in Concord, as well as Mt. Anthony this year. The end of the season will consist of the big state tournament in late February. Please check our athletic website for the latest schedule links and important information about our teams. http://keenecardinals.com/

Winter Intramurals The PE Department will be offering a wide variety of intramurals after school Monday—Thursday from 2:30-3:00 p.m. in the gym, except on days we have athletic events. Any student can show up after school to participate. Activities may include basketball, flag football, kickball, and more.

Mr. Fazio KMS Athletic Director

efazio@sau29.org

http://kms.keeneschoolsnh.org/