Who remembers doing vocabulary review when you were in school? I seemed to always be the following, “please write down the vocabulary word and write the definition.” Well today in Mrs. Miller’s class they did vocabulary review with a twist. Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Tucker were co-teaching a review game where they infused captured the flag. The students were divided up into teams and as a team they would answer questions about vocabulary words, analogies, synonyms, and antonyms. The questions get progressively harder as the game moves on. If the students got the answer correct, they would go to another group and take a flag from that team. The flags however, had values on the backside. The values could be 1 point, 2 points, minus 1 point, minus 2 points, etc. At the end of the review, the team with the most points wins. The students enjoyed this activity and it was a great way to review their vocabulary words.
Thank you, Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Tucker, for teaching our students!
The CDC has recently updated its guidelines regarding returning to work or school after illness. According to the new guidelines, individuals can return to work or school once they have been fever-free for 24 hours without the use of medication.
Additionally, the CDC has also updated and simplified its respiratory virus precautions, which are designed to help prevent the spread of illness.
As part of our efforts to keep everyone informed and safe, we would like to share the following information and links:
CDC updates respiratory virus guidance
On March 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated and simplified its respiratory virus precautions. These easy-to-use recommendations can help prevent the spread of illness.
As a reminder, screening tools for schools and parents are available here:
General Wellness Screening for Parents
How Sick is too Sick
Please take a moment to review these resources and familiarize yourself with the updated guidelines.
Attention Preschool Families: Save the Date for our Registration and Information Open House March 14th 5-6PM at JSE! Spread the word, we have openings!
Negotiations and their tactics are very important to all of us. They can be used in sports, economics, politics, and even in your own home. You might have to give up something to gain something. Ultimately both parties should feel like they walked away with a win. Today in Mr. Guillen's history class they did an activity where the students were in groups and represented countries such as: Great Britain, France, Netherlands, Portugal, and Belgium and had to negotiate with each other over land in Africa. Each group had to pick areas of Africa they wanted to control and provide information to the other countries on why they wanted that land. Some of the examples I overheard were they wanted control of the coast or that area has a lot of diamond mines. As the students were negotiating, there were random cards drawn that put restraints on their talks. Some of the cards stated a certain county or empire demanded that land and wanted control of that territory. The students then had to add that factor to their negotiations. The students worked through all of their negotiations and the challenges the random cards created and came away with the land that they were seeking.
Thank you Mr. Guillen for teaching our students!
WHS Cross Country Fish Fry!
Patterns and sequences are everywhere! Old video games secretly had patterns and once you figured those patterns out, you could easily defeat the hardest games. This week in Mr. Cunningham's math class they did an activity called “Crossing the River” where the students had to use problem solving skills to cross the water. The students had to recognize patterns and sequences to successfully complete this task. Once each group successfully crossed the river, the students had a discussion on the strategies that worked and discussed the patterns that helped them achieve their goal of crossing the river.
Thank you Mr. Cunningham for teaching our students!
Announcements: Bearcat News 2-21 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hiHYalIDg1dC-xOiK2SwST3Ev2UBcuQc/view?usp=sharing
The Black Plague was a very dark time in our history. Who was at fault? Was it fleas? Rats? A punishment? These were all the thoughts many had. The question was, what really caused this? They did not have the advancements in medicine like we do today. Last week in Mrs. Snyder’s class, the students learned about the plague. She had a great lesson set up in the library where the students became CSI members and worked together to research and to do activities about the plague. They ultimately had to solve the mystery about who/what caused the plague. The students also received a visit from the Plague Doctor!
Thank you Mrs. Snyder for teaching our students!
What does value mean to you? Does it mean what an item is worth or a meal you order in a drive thru? What about in art class? If you ask our 6th grade UTMS students they can tell you a different meaning of value. In their sketchbooks, they had to show the different values of colors from light to dark. This is a lead up to their project they are working on called Zentangle. The students make various designs within each cube and they color each design using different values to show depth and contrast. The students are working together with partners in designing each Zentangle. There is a special prize for the best one!
Thank you Mrs. Ochall for teaching our students!
Happy school counselor's week to our very own Mrs. Sims! Mrs. Sims does an amazing job meeting with our students to make them feel safe and loved. She is tasked with many other duties and completes them all with a smile on her face. If you see Mrs. Sims around make sure tell her happy school counselor's week and how much she impacts your life, she loves hearing that!
WHS Cheer Tryouts for 2024-25!
Debating is always fun. You get to give your opinions on why you feel about something. There are traditional debates such as; Cubs vs Sox, Pepsi vs Coca-Cola, Marvel or DC? There are also debates on what something classifies as, such as, is a hotdog a sandwich? or is cereal a soup? Today in Mrs. Ornelas’ class, the student's topic was, “Is ketchup a fruit smoothie?” Every Friday she has the students write for 15 minutes about various topics in their journals and they must give their stance on it. They even get to share their writings with the class. The topics vary, so the students are always pushed to think and be creative!
Thank you Mrs. Ornelas for teaching our students!
2024 Youth Baseball Camp! Use the link for the registration form: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_DTqvL9jx1vnXdqnd8fmL8E2d2DRhRRgx5qGZ9r5oZ0/edit?usp=sharing
The 7th graders lost a tough game to Morgan Township 24-16. Bella G had 12 points, Kiki T chipped in 4 points. Despite the loss the team continues to improve.
The 8th graders defeated Morgan Township 46-8. Kylie S had 13 points, Brooklyn J and Grace G had 9 points, Sadie S chipped in with 5 points and a total team defensive effort shut down the Cherokees.
The 8th graders next game is on Thursday at Lake Station
Student CPR Class
What a great night at the Bearcat Theater with their show Finding Nemo Jr! Mr. Hanaway put on an amazing show with our UTMS students as well as the elementary students! If you were not able to make it tonight, you have two more chances, Saturday at 7pm and Sunday at 2pm. Come on out and support our students and see a great show!
Who remembers the Pythagorean Theorem? It is the one that always sticks out in my mind. A^2 +B^2= C^2, you remember it now don’t you? Today in Mrs. Elliott’s class, the students were taught about the Greek mathematician and learned that his theorem was not proven until after his death. The students then learned about the theorem and how to use it. They finished the class by practicing finding either the leg values or the hypotenuse using the theorem.
Thank you Mrs. Elliott for teaching our students!
New Year Counselor Connection News Letter
https://www.smore.com/8sy91
Yesterday the 8th grade students in Mr. Harnew's Honors Social Studies class went to Indianapolis to compete in the We the People competition. The We the People requires students to write information essays on citizenship, constitutional history, and constitutional powers of government. The students competed virtually in the Southwest Indiana Regional We the People competition. UTMS placed in the top 3 for middle school teams which allowed them to qualify for the Indiana State We the People competition. This is the second year UTMS has qualified for the state competition.
Congratulations to our hard working UTMS students and Mr. Harnew as well!
Do you know how gummy worms and orbeez are made? If you were in Mrs Boender’s 8th grade science class you would. The students learned about synthetic materials and what happens when different materials are mixed together. After the students learned about synthetic materials, Mrs. Boender had the students do a very interesting lab where they mixed calcium chloride and sodium alginate to create both gummies and orbeez. After creating these items, the students recorded their observations with their lab groups and also answered a series of questions about the materials. Thank you so much for the fun activity and teaching our students!
