From the Middle: Week of March 19

Middle School Musical A Success:

It is an exciting time for our students at the Middle School.  After weeks of preparation, we are now presenting the Musical, Wipeout.  We have tickets still available for the Friday performance and can be purchased at the door for $5.00.  Students have been using every available moment to be ready.  A huge shoutout to Mrs. Cantu and Ms. Remmen for all of the countless hours of extra preparation for our students.  A big thank you to all of the parents for all of the flexibility and help getting students to practice to make this happen..... As they say in show business... Lights, Camera, Action!

Iowa Assessments Followed By Midmester:

Iowa Assessments are coming the week of March 19th - March 22nd.  It is important that your child get proper sleep and eat breakfast to help them do their very best.  Students have been working hard this year and we look forward to seeing them perform on these assessments.  We have implemented individual grade level rewards for students to encourage them to do their best.  We also have set goals for our school improvement and I will be serving a BBQ lunch to students if we meet our goal.

In addition, one of the goals at New Hampton Middle School during the 2017-18 year is to continue to build a passion for learning at all ages.  Students learn best when a connection is made between content and the real-world.  This school year, teachers have been working hard to learn about Project Based Learning focusing around the learning process.   Our staff has designed courses to showcase the passion of teachers while being interesting to students.

All Midmester Academy courses are aligned to the 21^st century skills required through the Iowa Core Curriculum and contain a unique end product. Students and staff will be addressing a driving question for each course as designed by the instructor(s).  Our goal is to expose our students to a greater amount of content that may not be a part of their curricular course work, address additional 21^st century skills, develop critical thinking skills, foster collaboration, and build on employability skills.

Students signed up for Midmester Academy classes at the end of first semester. They will be notified shortly of the classes they will be enrolled by grade level teachers.  All of the courses are located in the handbook found on the middle school website.  Midmester Academy will take place March 26 - April 13th.  On April 13th from 4 pm-6 pm, we will have a showcase night where students will be tour guides for parents and guests.  This event will take place at the middle school complex and parents are encouraged to enter by the office doors and leave from the gym.  Our students will be following a schedule of three Midmester classes, interventions, lunch, and band and choir. 

Our teachers look forward to this new integration of passion learning that will continue to enhance our educational system.  We continue to explore innovative ways to make learning more meaningful and relevant to our students.   As a district our Midmester Academy style of learning will feed into the High School J-term and Iowa Big programs.  Please take time to review our courses and call the middle school if you have any questions or need clarification.  Also, feel free to stop in and see all of the great learning that will be taking place March 26 - April 13th.