FROM THE PRINCIPAL 

Dear Pershing Families,

As of Friday, February 4, Springfield Public Schools has missed five days due to inclement weather. SPS builds six make-up days into the school calendar. If more than six make-up days are necessary, a decision will be made in early spring about additional make-up days.  Please consult the district calendar available at www.springfieldpublicschoolsmo.org. (Missing 5 days puts the last day of school on June 6.)

I would like to take this opportunity to make you aware of an exciting change in store for the 2011-2012 school year.  Pershing students will no longer be on the block schedule.  Students will be scheduled into a 7-period school day.  This is NOT due to budget cuts.  Over the past two school years I have reviewed our current schedule, talked with Pershing teachers as well as many Pershing parents, looked at the current research on scheduling, and have come to the conclusion that a 7-period day will serve our students academic interests the best. While there are many positives to a block schedule, research indicates that the day-to-day contact between students and teachers optimizes learning (especially at the middle school level). There will actually be more instructional minutes per class per week with our new schedule.  Students will be in each period for 50 minutes. They will see their core teachers every day.  PE, Art, computers and other related arts classes will still be offered for a semester.  Students in 6^th and 7^th grades will still be assigned to a team of teachers.  Eighth grade students will not be assigned to a team.  Due to various scheduling difficulties with our eighth grade offerings such as High School Spanish and Algebra our 8^th grade teachers will work as one team.  On our new schedule lunch times will begin about 20 minutes earlier in the day which works out very well for our elementary students.  Elementary will be able to start lunch around 12:30 as opposed to 1:00.  As we finalize the schedule we will be posting it on our webpage for your information.

Students are currently completing their mid-year Performance Series Assessments in reading, communication arts, and mathematics.  Mid-third quarter is February 16 which means it is time for a grade check.  Please make sure you know where your student's performance stands in each class.  Teachers will notify parents of students who are performing below the "C" level in their classes.  The best way for you to stay informed of your student's progress is to log on to the Home Access system where you can continually monitor daily work and grades.  Log in information is available in the office if you do not have it.  To find the "Home Access" link go to the Pershing web page.  Just click on the words, "Home Access" on the left hand side of the page.

If you have any questions or concerns please email or call me.  Pershing School is a great place to be!!

Regards,

Dr. Natalie Cauldwell

The following students were chosen as Students of the Month for their outstanding work and attitude in the classroom.       

GREEN TEAM

We trust all of our Pershing families are ready to get back on schedule from having so many snow days and are looking forward to warmer weather. However, even though we can hardly believe it is already February, we have been very pleased with our Green Team "sweethearts".

    EdPerformance Testing has been completed.  Therefore, we are focusing on catching up.

Academically, Ms. Adams's classes are studying Westward Expansion and Jacksonian Democracy.   

    Mr. Apperson's math students are continuing to practice their problem-solving skills as they learn about graphing and geometry.  Algebra students are working with systems of linear equations and inequalities and are reviewing problems from past MAP tests.

Mrs. Oelschlaeger's students began their journey into Mark Twain and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  Parents should expect students to have worksheets to complete as homework to reinforce the concepts learned in class.

    Mrs. Walker's science classes are finishing their Chemistry unit.  Then students will move on to the Weather and Climate unit.  We will build a weather station to study weather conditions.  Mrs. Walker encourages students and parents to watch the Weather Channel or weather reports on the local news channels as much as possible as this will help them get a better understanding of forecasting the weather.

    Please remember to contact Mrs. Oelschlaeger at coelschlaeger@spsmail.org or 523-2508 if you would like to schedule a team conference.

In Communication Arts parts of speech are being reviewed in preparation to take a test.  The test will be Feb. 24/25.  After completing the Parts of Speech test, students will be working on revising and editing recent writing using the Six Traits of Writing as a guide.  For more information about the Six Traits of Writing, check out your child's Writing Handbook.  During this study students will also study the mechanics of punctuation, capitalization, and using the parts of speech to write effective sentences.

Students will also be looking at their best writing from this year to put together in a Writing Anthology.  This Anthology will be assigned during the week of Feb. 22 and due on March 2/3.  Watch for information about this assignment that will be posted on Mrs. Brown's website.

The Screaming Eagles American History classes are currently working on their Oregon Trail Survival Manuals.  They will be starting their work on what is called, "The American History Video Project" this coming week.  The students have been competing in a North v. South game that will conclude at the end of Chapter 14.  The Screaming Eagles begin to march in March to prepare for their trip to Wilson's Creek in April.   

Students in science classes are working on chemical reactions (sometimes science is a blast!!) and balancing chemical equations, which can be a pretty good challenge for some students.  Tell them not to stress out about it. Mr. Davis knows not everyone will become a chemist, and the test over this material will not count a great number of points.  Students will also complete the presentations on the Element Project, which has been delayed several times due to various factors.  However, Mr. Davis and Screaming Eagles students shall persevere!!

Math students will be testing over Chapter 6 (area and volume) on Friday, February 18, and Algebra students will be testing over Chapter 7 (systems of equations) on the same date. Math students will be begin studying ratios, proportions, similarity, scale in Chapter 7. Algebra students will be studying operations on exponential expressions, including exponential growth and decay, in Chapter 8. The third quarter project will be assigned on Friday, February 18. Students will have a choice of creating a game project or completing a research project which they will present to the class. This project will be due March 11, and instructions will be on Mrs. Dorris' website.

Have we mentioned what a great group of students we have this year?! They are a terrific bunch! Please remind students to keep up with assignments and avoid the third quarter slump!

R.E.A.D.

            R.E.A.D. classes are continuing to work on reading and writing! Please make sure your students are completing their five entries and book club assignments for reading weeks.

            The sixth graders are in the middle of a unit on strategic reading during reading weeks. During writing weeks, students are focusing on selecting appropriate ideas for their writing. The seventh graders are beginning a unit on strategies to help them read and understand non-fiction texts. They are also working on adding more details to their stories during writing weeks. Eighth graders are reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid. During writing weeks, eighth graders are focusing on the trait of voice in their writings.  My website lists weekly assignments in more detail. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Christina Burt

523-2604

cjburt@spsmail.org

A BIG THANK YOU to all the families who contributed to the Pershing PTSA Capital Campaign this year.  We ended the year with $4,583 in receipts.  The purchase of the projector system for the cafeteria has been a great enhancement for the school and the additional funds put into the PTSA treasury helped to fund many of the items the PTSA was able to accomplish.  Without your financial help these items would not have been accomplished!  You help make Pershing Middle School great!

Capital Campaign Chair

Julie Barker