MAY      

                                                                              UPCOMING SCHEDULE

May   1          State Middle School Super Bowl at DMS

                                    3-7      Teacher’s Appreciation Week

                                    3          5th grade Orientation w/Parents                                 6:00pm

                                    4          Booster Meeting                                                        4:00pm

                                    5          7th grade parent field trip meeting                              7:00pm

                                    5          School Board Meeting                                               6:30pm

                                    7          5th grade visit and eat lunch at DMS

                                    7          7th grade trip to Chicago, IL                                                                                             

                                    11        DMS Spring Band Concert                                        7:00pm

                                    12        All ‘A’ Lunch

                                    14        8th grade Career Day at DMS

                                    18        DMS Spring Choir Concert at DMS                          7:00pm

                                    18        School Board Meeting                                               6:30pm

                                    25        Track Awards at DMS                                              4:30pm

                                    26        8th Grade Field Day

                                    31        Memorial Day - No School

                           June  1          Final Exams - Periods 1,3,5,7

                                    2          Final Exams - Periods 2,4,6

                                    3        8th Grade Breakfast

                                    3          Students’ Last of School/Honors Program/ 8th Grade Breakfast

 STUDENTS’ LAST DAY OF SCHOOL,

THURSDAY, JUNE 3

Events for the last day of school:

            8th Grade Breakfast                 7:00am

            Honors Program                       8:00am

            Talent Show                             9:45am

            End of Year Video                  1:45pm

Everyone is welcome! More information will be forthcoming.

8th GRADE  CAREER DAY

On Friday, May 14, Delta Middle School 8th grade students will be participating in our annual Career Day program.  Each year our 8th grade students hear a keynote speaker in the morning. This year’s keynote speaker is, Matt Painter, head basketball coach for the Purdue Boilermakers, who will be speaking to the entire student body.  The 8^th graders will then hear different career presentations of their choice, and after lunch students will get the opportunity to hear from a panel of Delta High School students about preparing for high school expectations.  On this day we ask that the 8^th grade students make an extra effort to "dress up" for the occasion.  We encourage girls to wear appropriate dresses, skirts, or dress pants with a blouse; and we ask boys to wear dress pants or khakis and a shirt with a collar.  We appreciate your help in encouraging your student to take this opportunity seriously by talking with them in advance about the importance appearance plays in making a good impression on future employers.  Career Day is a wonderful experience for our students, and the entire day would not be possible without the help of our parent booster club and volunteer speakers.

 CHANDLER DAVIS WINS NATIONAL WRITING AWARD

At the Scholastic Art & Writing Contest through the Ft. Wayne region, twenty-four gold medal winning pieces went on to the national competition in New York. Chandler Davis’s poem “Jolly Old Tune” won a National Silver Medal. The Ft. Wayne region received 11 national medals, which places them as the 5th best writing region in the country out of 23. Chandler and Mrs. Decker are invited to attend the awards ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York City on June 9.

Congratulations!

BAND NOTES

The Band Department will conclude their 2009-2010 school year with their Spring Concert on Tuesday, May 11, 2010, beginning at 7:00pm in the DMS cafetorium.  The students will need to wear their concert uniform of a white collared shirt, black pants, black socks, and black/dark brown shoes.  This concert will feature the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade bands.  We hope that everyone will be able to attend.  Call times for the concert include 7^th grade band at 6:30pm in the band room, 6^th grade band at 6:30pm in the choir room, and 8^th grade band at 6:40pm in the band room.  This concert will feature rock classics, contemporary pop charts, movie soundtracks, and standards from the traditional band literature.  We hope that you will be able to attend our last concert of the year!

DELTA HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BANDS

Mark your calendars now for the annual Delta High School Spring Jazz Show! The event will be held on Friday, May 21 at 6:30 pm in the Delta High School commons area. Join the 9 O’clock and 10 O’clock jazz bands for an evening of music, dancing, and refreshments as they present Latin, swing, funk, and contemporary jazz music in a relaxing coffee house atmosphere. Tickets are $5 and will be on sale in May, and can also be purchased at the door. All proceeds benefit the high school music department and allow students the opportunity to attend festivals and competitions as well as purchase much needed equipment and music. Please plan to attend this exciting evening of fun and entertainment!

DMS CHOIR CONCERT - MAY 18

The Middle School Choirs will be giving a concert on Tuesday, May 18, at 7:00pm, on the middle school stage.   We will be giving you a Disney-tastic show, featuring numbers from Beauty and the Beast, the Lion King, High School Musical, and more! This concert is free, with no admission charge, so please come for a night of music and entertainment

CELEBRATIONS IN THE MEDIA CENTER

Fifty-seven DMS students who had earned Reading Hall of Fame status in early April celebrated their accomplishment with free books and ice cream.  These students selected their books from the book fair on April 5 and then continued their celebration in the media center by making ice cream sundaes.  Each student also wrote the name of the best book she/he read this school year and these have been displayed on the bulletin board outside the media center.

Hall of Fame students include:  sixth graders AJ Atkinson, Clayton Spofford, Wes VanCleave, and Donnie Youngdale; seventh graders Megan Clark, Joseph Dalton, Hannah George, Nathan Hahn, Kelsi Hall, Shaylie Hall, Logan Houser, Emily Kirby, Daniel Knauss, Collin Lane, Josh Minch, Alyvia Morgan, Angie Naaman, Jacey Price, Madison Savage, Eric Smith, Olivia Smith, Bethany Taylor, and Joselyn Whipple; and eighth graders Madison Bergren, Alicia Coffey, Krisha Conley, Billy Cribbs, Erica Davison, Shannon Ellery, Tiffany Flowers, Andrea Grasso, Kirsten Hagen, Jalen Hammond, Michael Hardman, Maddi Hatfield, Brandon Hines, Katie Huston, Rebecca Jennings, Devin Lawson, Darrian Lee, Hope Lehman, Ryan May, Colin McCaslin, Michael McKean, Tamara Modglin, Hannah Myers, Maren Orchard, Jami Parson, Tavis Rattray, Kaitlyn Rawls, Rachel Smith, Cody Stone, Brendan Thompson, Wesley Wagner, Bailey Walton, and Colleen Wells.

Many students and staff took advantage of the half-price book fair by purchasing books during the week of April 6 – 9.  Book sales totaled nearly $2500 during the four day fair meaning nearly $5000 in new books are out in the DMS community. 

The media center prepared breakfast for the staff on April 14 in celebration of National Library Week.  Several teachers won door prizes that had been donated to the media center.  The prizes and their winners included: discount coupons for all staff and a certificate for an ice cream cake from Albany Dairy Dream--Mr. Reade; box of lattes from Healthy Coffee (Tracy Fenwick)—Mrs. DeNeal; Mary Kay products (Amy Fowler, Independent Beauty Consultant)—Mr. Richards; dinner for two from Pete’s Duck Inn—Mrs. Mays;  dinner for two from Texas Roadhouse—Mrs. Musselman, Mrs. Dennis, and Mrs. Studebaker. 

RELAY FOR LIFE

The American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life is a life-changing event that gives everyone in communities across the globe a chance to celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost and fight back against the disease.  At the Delaware County Relay For Life, teams of people camp out at the Delaware County Fairgrounds and take turns walking around the track.  Each team is asked to have at least one team member on the track at all times during the 15-hour event.  There are several ways Delaware County residents can get involved in the fight against cancer:

DeSoto Elementary Mini Relay - May 7, 2010

Call 289-3544 for information.

Eaton Elementary Mini Relay - May 14, 201

Call 396-3301 for information.

Delaware County Relay For Life - June 25-26, 2010                                  Call Kristen at 765-642-6603 or visit www.DelawareRFL.org for information

Cancer Prevention Study 3 (CPS3)  Are you between the ages of 30 and 65 and have never been diagnosed with cancer?  Are you willing to make a long-term commitment to the study?  If you answered yes, you can be a part of a historic research effort by enrolling in American Cancer Society’s third Cancer Prevention Study.  (CPS3)  For more information visit cancer.org/cps3 or call 1-888-604-5888.

BOX TOPS, TYSON PROJECT A+, and CAMPBELL’S LABELS FOR EDUCATION Delta Middle School participates in these national school fundraising programs!  Send Box Tops for Education, Tyson Chicken “Project A+” flaps, and Campbell's Labels for Education to school with your son or daughter.  Please encourage your family members to save the labels throughout the summer.

YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE                                                                                                                 To Nancy Ruiz and the wonderful ladies who help each month with the newsletter production-Thank you!! We appreciate your generosity of time, your kindness, and your dependability. You make a HUGE difference and we appreciate you.

PENNY WARS

You did it Delta Middle School!  With a tremendous effort on Friday, you raised $1111.36!!!  National Junior Honor Society and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society thank you so much! The bottom 5 classes (in the negative): Mrs. Burchfield (-3.93), Mrs. Cramer (-4.65), Mrs. Piazza (-18.18), Mrs. Musselman (-34.57), Mrs. Olfier (-36.94)    The top 5 classes: 5th place  Mrs. Cramer $19.12,  4th place Mrs. Decker $23.62, 3rd place ,Mrs. Razmic $37.63,2nd place (and very, very close to the first place class) is Mrs. Giordano $43.02. WINNING THIS YEAR'S PENNY WARS COMPETITION IS MRS. MAYS' CLASS WITH A PENNY WAR TOTAL OF $44.38 (just $1.36 more than the second place class!) Also, NJHS will award a second pizza party because the class with the most pennies was not the winning class.  Bringing in $66.47 in pennies and winning a pizza party as well, is Mrs. Decker's class.  Thank you all so much for a fun week of friendly competition with Penny Wars.  Thanks also to Mr. Harman who will be    taking all that money to the bank!

DMS RECYCLING PROGRAM

Our paper recycling program began again on Saturday, April 4th.  We have earned more than $2300 for the Dollars for Scholars scholarship program so far this year.  We thank all of you that have helped us achieve this.  If you save paper and cardboard for the DMS recycling program please flatten cardboard boxes.  We want to fill the recycling container as full as possible so that we can increase our earnings.  If there is no wasted space, such as large empty boxes, we can get much more in the container.  All types of paper can be recycled.  Metal fasteners, including staples, need to be removed.  Plastic laminated paper and plastic coverings also need to be removed.  The funds from the paper recycling program benefit the Dollars for Scholars scholarship program for Delta students.

The next paper recycling date is Saturday, May 2^nd from 10:00 am to noon. This will be our last paper collection date for the year.

We are continuing to collect empty inkjet cartridges and cell phones for our outdoor lab fund.  Please place the empty cartridges in a plastic bag to prevent leaking.  At this time we are not able to recycle toner cartridges. A recycling box is in the cafetorium area in front of Mr. Harman’s office window.  Mrs. Gonser is also collecting these items.

Thank you for supporting our recycling program.  Contact Mrs. Gonser at 747-0869 with any questions.

 TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY SCHOLARS PROGRAM

Enroll your child today for the Twenty-First Century Scholars Program.  Eligible sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students who enroll in the program and fulfill a pledge of good citizenship, will receive a scholarship for up to eight semesters of free tuition at an eligible Indiana public college, university, or technical school. (An equivalent amount will be awarded toward tuition at a private Indiana college.)  There are income eligibility guidelines. The Scholars website is an excellent resource as well: http://www.scholars.in.gov. The application deadline is June 30, following the student’s eighth grade year.   For more information or an application, contact the school counselors. 

KEEPING SHARP IN THE SUMMER 

The website for our math textbook is available 24/7/364.  Students can access it by going to www.classzone.com to review,  practice skills, or even look ahead to next school year.  The website has several options after a textbook is chosen.  If you don’t have internet at home, visit your local library…and grab a book to read while you’re there!  Don’t forget those old flashcards (you probably already have)!  Get them out, dust them off, and practice them until you know them forwards and backwards!  Math facts are like sight words…you don’t have to think about them (or count on your fingers)…you just know them.  The better you know the facts, the faster you can do any problem.  Play board games, card games, dominoes,…with friends or family.  Keep your mind active!!

TIPS FOR PARENTS

Middle school students have grown up with technology.  They instant message, text message, and use cell phones to communicate with their friends.  They use the Internet not only to locate information, but also to express themselves through personal profiles and blogs.  While some parents don’t understand the technology their children are using, parents need to be aware of how, and for what purposes, their children are using their computers and cell phones.

In order to guide and protect your child, learn as much as you can about the Internet, MySpace, chat rooms, etc.  The information below will hopefully help you better understand some of the lingo.

Blog (Web logs) - an online journal that’s regularly updated and written for others to read.  While some blogs center around a specific issue, many read more like a diary.  Writers discuss activities, interests, thoughts, ideas, and opinions.  Many students write blogs thinking that only those who are on their “friends’ list” will read them.  Students need to realize that if it’s on the Internet, it can be available for anyone to read, and that once something’s posted, it can’t be taken back.  Students need to be very careful about what they write.

Chat Room - a place on the Internet where people go to discuss an agreed upon topic in real time.  A middle schooler, for example, may go to a chat room to discuss a favorite singer or video game.  In chat rooms, students can read what other people are saying, and then type in a message for everyone else to read.  Students need to realize that the people who visit chat rooms aren’t always who they claim to be.

Cyber Bullying - using technology to threaten, harass, or taunt another person.  Cyber bullying has become a problem in many schools, and it can have a devastating effect on its victims.  All parents need to insist that their children use technology responsibly.

Instant Messaging (IM) - a way to communicate online with one or more people in real time.  When students IM, they use their computer keyboards to type messages back and forth.

My Space/Face Book - popular social networking sites.  Students use these sites to post personal profiles and blogs and to communicate with friends.

DMS VOLLEYBALL CAMP

The camp is July 12-14.  For the school year 2010-2011 grades K-5 is 8:30-10:30 and grades 6-8 is 10:30-12:00.  Camp is held at Delta Middle School and cost is $40.  Please contact varsity coach Heidi Zickgraf at     hzickgraf@delcomschools.org or at 748-3148.

ATHLETIC PHYSICALS

As per the school rules (Agenda pg. 15):  A student will be considered eligible for extra curricular activities as a  participant …  “For athletics, a physical signed by a physician and consent and release form signed by a parent or guardian is turned in by the first day of practice or tryouts. The physicals are effective from May 1 of the prior school year to May 1 of this school year.”  Please consider getting your child’s athletic physical completed before the start of the next school year.  We cannot guarantee participation if physicals are not turned in with enough time for the school nurse to check them and verify eligibility.  Athletic Physicals will be offered for $15 at Central Indiana Orthopedics (Muncie Office) on Saturday June 19^th from 8am-11am.  Please bring an IHSAA form with you.  It can be found on the DMS Website, IHSAA website or a hard copy in the school office.