From Mr. Toler’s Desk

It is hard to believe that March has already come and gone. The students

are excited for spring break, and we hope that families are able to use it as a time

to enjoy one another’s company, get some rest, and prepare for the final stretch

into summer. The Maple Creek staff still has a great deal they would like to accom-

plish this year, and we want students to be ready to give their best as we move

through this final quarter of the school year.

One major event in April is the second round of ISTEP. Maple Creek will

start testing on April 25th, and students will take the multiple-choice portion of

this state-wide assessment online. Please be sure that your child is getting ade-

quate rest and nutrition during this time and help him/her arrive to school on-time

and ready to go. During the first round of testing, the students were very confi-

dent in how they performed, and we want them prepared to do their best and show

what they are really capable of doing with this final go-around.

Thinking about ISTEP and its impact on our school and community reminds

me of another area of accountability for our school, attendance. As we near the

end of the school year, keeping our attendance rate high is vitally important. We

typically have an excellent attendance rate due to our high-level of parent involve-

ment, and the saying “If you miss school, then you miss out,” continues to hold true

for the general well-being of our students. Teachers are doing exciting things in

their classrooms on a daily basis, and when students miss those lessons, they may

be able to complete make-up work, but they cannot make-up the classroom experi-

ence that they have missed.

In addition to the regular school-day happenings at Maple Creek, we have

entered the spring extra-curricular season. Our wrestlers and swimmers recently

finished-off exciting seasons, but now it is time for our student athletes to move

outside with track and soccer getting into full swing. Hopefully, we will have a warm

and sunny spring, so parents and students can cheer on these athletes. It is also

important to note that our second play of the year, The Little Princess, will be per-

formed at Maple Creek on May 11, and we want to wish our Academic Super Bowl

team good luck as they move closer to their big competition at the end of April.

Good luck to all of our students as they practice, compete, and perform this spring.

Our students are anxious for a break, and summer is just around the cor-

ner. Working together we can keep our students on track to finish the year strong,

and I hope all of our Maple Creek families have a safe, restful, and enjoyable spring

break.

Special points of interest:

Middle School Fall

Registration

Dates:

Mon. Aug 1, 2016

10:00p.m.-6:00p.m.

Tues. Aug 2, 2016

8:00a.m.-3:00p.m.

*************************

Last Day of

School is

Friday

May 27, 2016

8th Grade News 2

7th Grade News 3

6th Grade News 4

RAT News/PE 5

RAT News/Music 6

Inside this issue:

Maple Creek Middle School

April 2016 Newsletter 425 Union Chapel Road

Fort Wayne, IN 46845

Phone: 260-338-0802 Fax 260-338-0369

Bill Toler, Principal/Carter Jones, Assistant Principal/AD

Page 1

Spanish/Profe Chronister

We’re moving fast in Spanish 1! We just

finished chapter 5 and will begin chapter

6 after the break. I’m sure all my stu-

dents will be excited to learn that chap-

ter 6 will introduce them to the past

tense along with an opportunity to re-

search famous Hispanics from around the

world. Interesting news in the Spanish

world: “Spanish town bans bizarre duck-

chasing seaside festival. The Costa

Brava resort of Roses has decided to ban

a century-old tradition in which locals

chased ducks in the sea as part of the

town’s summer festivities.” Although it’s

not allowed to chase ducks anymore,

there are still plenty of festivals availa-

ble to travelers as they go abroad and

explore our Spanish world.

Social Studies/Mrs. Tigulis

8th graders have been moving west!! Our

last unit of study was Westward Expan-

sion including the Oregon Trail & The

Gold Rush. We’ve used a variety of in-

structional and assessment strategies like

flipped (video) lesson, layered (menu)

learning, mock trials, report cards for

Andrew Jackson, performance tasks

(blogs, vlogs, newscast/podcasts). Our

next unit will be our Mapping unit to cover

our Geography Standards. All students

took a pre-test to determine their basic

knowledge of the states, capitals, physi-

cal features, climates and land usage. The

scores on that pretest determine what

parts and pieces of the map packet they

have to do…it meets them right at their

own level!! After Spring Break we’ll be

starting our states and capitals testing.

So on that long drive to Florida, quiz your

kiddos!!

As the days get warmer (hopefully) and

the number of school days shorter, continue to encourage your kids to work on homework

and studying for tests in small chunks, to

stay organized, and stay the course with

their school work. As always, if you have

concerns or questions, please contact

Mrs. Tigulis

Social Studies/Mrs. Zee

Students just finished up evaluating An-

drew Jackson on his job as the 7th Presi-

dent of the United States. Using primary

sources that students analyzed through-

out the week, students gave Jackson a

grade and supported that grade with

evidence from the text and strong com-

mentary. This semester, we’ve been

working on argumentative writing a TON,

and I’m so impressed with how hard your

students are working! I’ve seen so much

improvement in their writing so far, and

I’m excited to continue the process later

on in the semester. Over the course of

the next few weeks, we will be working on

meeting all of our map standards, working

on our 2nd DBQ, a Lego project, and more!

Please feel free to email me with any

questions you might have.

Science/Mrs. Rowland

Time is flying! During the

month of April, we will wrap-

up our earth science studies

and enter our final unit of life science.

Topics included in the unit are living or-

ganisms, taxonomy, heredity and traits.

Students should be conscientious about

filling in their planners and checking the

homework board daily. As always grades

and assignments can be checked utilizing

the NACS website.

English/Ms. Moser/Ms. Miller

The Pre-AP English classes have finished

a humor unit with their embedded assess-

ment which analyzed humorous writing.

Hopefully, they have learned that finding

humor in life can help along the way. Af-

ter spring break, the classes will embark

on a Shakespearean adventure with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. They will have

the opportunity to perform scenes from

the Shakespeare comedy.

The Academic English classes have been

intently researching articles for a Holo-

caust topic that was used in the writing

of an expository essay. They have

learned the importance of text evidence

from reliable sources and commentary,

and especially citing their sources with in-

text citations. After spring break, the

Holocaust theme will continue with lit

circles that will include double entry jour-

nals on the book that they select.

Math/Mr. McBride

Algebra classes are finishing up Chapter

10 over radicals by testing the week be-

fore spring break. When we return from

break, we will be moving into Chapter 11,

rational functions and equations.

Geometry just completed our Chapter 10

test over circles. We are now working on

area and perimeter of two dimensional

figures. We will continue with this after

returning from spring break.

Math/Mrs. Davis

We are just finishing up Chapter 10 on

Squares , Square Roots, and Triangles.

The rest of the year will be working and

finishing up Chapters 11-13 dealing with

Geometry and Probability. In years past,

the 4th quarter is a nice break because it

is easier than the 3rd quarter and real life

applications are easier to see. As things

start to wind down for this school year,

please make sure your child has paper,

calculator, pencils, and pens this last

quarter to we can finish with a success.

Page 2

8th Grade News

Maple Creek Middle School

Social Studies/Mrs. Tigulis/Mrs. Etter

We are just finishing up our unit on Saudi

Arabia, UAE, and Israel. The students

enjoyed learning about oil and how it real-

ly drives this area of the world. Probably

their favorite though, was learning about

UAE & Dubai. Between the Palm Islands,

the World Islands, Ferrari World, and

the Mall with a ski slope inside of it…we

all decided that Dubai is on our list of

places we want to travel to!! For our study

of Israel, the students were extra crea-

tive as they created a LEGO sculpture

based on a topic of the Israeli-Palestinian

conflict. Along with the building, they

wrote and presented a short paragraph

explaining their sculpture and how it con-

nects to what they’ve learned about the

conflict. It was a lot of fun!! Now we will

be moving into our Unit on the War on

Terrorism. We’ll discuss the most recent

wars is US history along with ISIS.

As the days get warmer (hopefully) and

the number of school days shorter, con-

tinue to encourage your kids to work on

homework and studying for tests in small

chunks, to stay organized, and stay the

course with their school work. As always,

if you have concerns or questions, please

contact Mrs. Etter or Mrs. Tigulis

Language Arts/Mrs. Hill

Pre-AP

Throughout the month, students have

been analyzing different types of poetry.

We’ve been working with understanding

how words can influence other elements

such as the mood of a poem. We’ve read

many famous poems including Edgar Allen

Poe’s “The Raven” which has a deep, dark

mood. Students will also read a love story

poem titled “The Highwayman.” Students

have also been learning how monologues

are written and performed. Monologues

and poems have some of the same ele-

ments. We’ve already examined a come-

dic monologue and a few dramatic mono-

logues. By the end of the unit, students

will write their own monologue with vari-

ous literary elements, develop a persona,

and perform it for the class using effec-

tive props, facial expressions, and voice

inflections to set the tone of the mono-

logue.

Academic

Students in the academic classes have

been studying poetry this month. We

started with learning about different

types of poetry and why authors use fig-

urative and sensory language to enhance a

poem. Together as a class, we created a

strong literary analysis paragraph which

explored how an author’s word choices

can affect the mood of a poem. We have

learned how words with positive or nega-

tive connotations can influence that mood.

To wrap up the unit, students will be

showing what they have learned in a two

part test. One part analyzes poetry in

multiple choice form and the second part

is a literary analysis paragraph.

Language Arts/Ms. Miller

This month, we have been working on

poetry and analyzing how important word

choice can be to poets and to us to ex-

plain meaning. To round out the year,

we’ll be doing a novel study and analyzing

literary elements. This includes plot

structure, characterization, and fore-

shadowing among others.

Science/Mrs. Rowland

Time is flying! During

the month of April,

we will wrap-up our

earth science studies

and enter our final

unit of life science.

Topics included in the

unit are living organisms, cells, body sys-

tems, which leads to FROG DISSECTION

in May! Students should be conscientious

about filling in their planners and check-

ing the homework board daily. As always

grades and assignments can be checked

utilizing the NACS website.

Math/Mr. McBride

Algebra classes are finishing up Chapter

10 over radicals by testing the week be-

fore spring break. When we return from

break, we will be moving into Chapter 11,

rational functions and equations.

Geometry just completed our Chapter 10

test over circles. We are now working on

area and perimeter of two dimensional

figures. We will continue with this after

returning from spring break.

Math/Mrs. Davis

We are just finishing up Chapter 10 on

Squares , Square Roots, and Triangles.

The rest of the year will be working and

finishing up Chapters 11-13 dealing with

Geometry and Probability. In years past,

the 4th quarter is a nice break because it

is easier than the 3rd quarter and real life

applications are easier to see. As things

start to wind down for this school year,

please make sure your child has paper,

calculator, pencils, and pens this last

quarter to we can finish with a success.

7th Grade News

Page 3

Social Studies Mr. Hill/ Mr.

Motz

Social Studies students just

completed a mapping review ac-

tivity centered on the NCAA

March Madness interdisciplinary

unit. After Spring Break, we will

study the Renaissance, Restora-

tion, Enlightenment, and Age of

Exploration. During this chapter,

students will write an argumenta-

tive paper about important En-

lightenment thinkers and examine

primary sources to better under-

stand the importance of the In-

dustrial Revolution. Towards the

end of April, we will begin study-

ing World War 1, World War 2,

and the Cold War along with the

importance of world organiza-

tions such as the European Union.

Language Arts Mrs. Niemeyer/

Mrs. Mee

In Language Arts in April the

students will be working on their

Unit 4 Vocabulary. The students

should be using the study stacks

on Canvas to familiarize them-

selves with the vocabulary for

this unit. The students will be

starting their Poetry Unit in

their Pearson Literature Book. This year the Academic Language

Arts classes winning Haiku poems

will be in the Cherry Blossom

Festival at the Allen County Pub-

lic Library. The poems the stu-

dents will be focusing on are the

following: Haiku, Narrative, Lyr-

ic, Concrete, Limerick, and Free

Verse. During the last week of

April the students will be com-

pleting the second portion of

ISTEP.

Pre-AP Language Arts Mrs.

Thomas

It’s hard to believe we are in the

final quarter of this school year.

The time has flown by. We will

focus on two main areas this

quarter: Shakespeare and litera-

ture circles. Our textbook will

take us through exploring who

Shakespeare was and his contri-

butions to literature. Students

will also get in touch with their

dramatic side. Along with that,

students will read novels and par-

ticipate in academic discussions

analyzing various literary aspects

of their works.

Science Mrs. Miller/Mr.

Bushong

Students have been working

through the last unit of study

involving the interactions of or-

ganisms. We will continue to

work through chapter 8 and will

finish chapter 9 with food

chains/food webs, photosynthe-

sis and biomes. Students will be

asked to create a fantasy food

web based on the information

presented in class. We will have

a common assessment test over

chapters 8 & 9 at the end of the

quarter.

Math Mrs. Burrough/Mr.

Ousley

The 6th grade math classes have

just finished their work on the

March Madness activities along

with Chapter 10. These work-

sheets introduced students to

real-life problem solving skills

dealing with computation in eve-

ryday life situations. Students

also created scale

drawings of the

basketball court.

As we move into April, the 6th

grade Math classes will be intro-

duced to the world of probabil-

ity. We will learn the basics of

theoretical probability, out-

comes, and other probability con-

cepts during this chapter.

Accelerated Math Mrs. Bur-

rough

The Accelerated Math classes

will also jump back into the book

as we begin the month of April.

The March Madness packets in-

troduced the students to the

game of basketball with a fun

twist of real-life situations in-

volving math. We will now be fo-

cusing on the many different ar-

eas of Geometry and Measure-

ment as we move forward this

final 9 weeks. We will also contin-

ue to prepare students for

ISTEP as well as introduce con-

cepts to help prepare students

for Pre-Algebra and Algebra

classes.

6th Grade News

Page 4

Music News

Page 5

ISSMA Results

Congratulations to all the MCMS Music Students that participated in the ISSMA Organizational Contest at Garrett High School!!

Each group received the following for their performance:

6th Grade Band – Gold (1st Divisional Rating with Distinction))

6th Grade Choir – Gold (1st Divisional Rating)

7th Grade Band – Gold (1st Divisional Rating with Distinction)

Concert Choir – Gold (1st Divisional Rating)

8th Grade Band – Silver (1st Divisional Rating)

Congratulations to All!!

Other Concert Info

Fine Arts Concert Monday, May 16th

Spring Play

The cast and crew for the Spring Play, “A Little Princess” has been created. Each student is quickly learn-

ing their lines and places on stage for the great performance which will take place on the MCMS stage on

Wednesday, May 11th, beginning at 6:00pm. Make plans now to attend this very exciting production.

Choir e-mail newsletter

The music e-mail system (for choir) is in place and has been sending out messages about each grade

levels activities and up-coming test schedules. If you are a MCMS choir parent and not receiving the

information, and still would like to be added to the list, please send a message to Mr. Teeple’s e-mail

address (gary.teeple@nacs.k12.in.us) stating your e-mail address.

Band and Choir News

All the MCMS Band and Choirs will be having an Ice Cream Celebration on Friday, May 20th,

for doing a great job at the ISSMA Contest in March. The music teachers will be providing

the ice cream, bowls, spoons, and flavored syrups for putting on the ice cream.

Let’s Celebrate!!

MC Singers Travel to King’s Island

The MC Singers, a group of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade choir students from Maple Creek, have been

working very hard since March to create a 15 minute choral presentation consisting of singing and

dancing which they will be presenting for two judges at Loveland High School in Loveland, OH, on

Saturday, April 30th. The event that they will be participating in is a music festival where various

choirs from all over the Mid-West compete against each other for the title of Top Choral Group.

The choir participated last year in this festival and received top honors. The group hopes once

again to do as well. After the MC Singers complete their portion of the festival, they will be trav-

eling to King’s Island, which is down the road from Loveland H.S., to spend the rest of the day riding

rides and having fun. GOOD LUCK MC SINGERS!!!

Music Elementary Tour

The MC Islanders (Steel Drums), MC Jazz Band, and the MC Singers will be traveling to

Huntertown elementary School on Wed., March 30th (am only), to Cedar Canyon Elementary

School on Thurs., April 14th (afternoon only), and to Oak View Elementary School on Fri., May 6th

( afternoon only) to perform a selection of music for the young listeners. Chaperones are needed

for each field trip. If you are available to help, please let one of the MCMS Music teachers know.

Gary.Teeple@nacs.k12.in.us or Kristine.Miller@nacs.k12.in.us

MC Singer’s Banquet

All students in this year’s MC Singers (singers and crew) need to mark your calendars for the

2nd MC Singer Banquet. The Banquet will occur at Maple Creek on Tuesday, May 10, starting

at 6:30 pm. Everyone is asked to bring a dessert to share and awards will be handed out to all

students that have participated in the many singing events throughout the school year. Plan

now to be a part of the MC Singers Musical Banquet.

Try-Outs for next year’s MC Singer Group

The try-outs for next year’s middle school show choir will take place the week of April 18th.

If your son or daughter is interested in being part of the fun group, they need to listen to

the announcements at the end of the school day starting the second week of April (after we return from Spring Break).

There will be a try-out list that each student will need to sign their name on in order to receive a try-out time. Also, there

will be a selected day that each student will need to stay after school to sing a song for a panel of judges. So listen each day

starting in April and try out to be a member of the2016/17 MC Singers!!

Health News

Page 8

Do you know the signs and symptoms of heart attack or stroke? This past month 7th

graders have been studying the circulatory system. Not only have they learned how the

heart functions but also ways to prevent heart disease and the signs and symptoms of

stroke and heart attack. Students will finish this unit by demonstrating “hands only” CPR

on the CPR manikins.

Warning Signs of Stroke:

*Sudden numbness or weakness of face, arm or leg, especially one side of body.

*Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding.

*Sudden trouble seeing.

*Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance, coordination.

*Sudden severe headache with no known cause.

Warning Signs of Heart Attack:

*Chest discomfort in the center of chest that lasts a few minutes or goes away and

comes back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain.

*Discomfort in other areas of the body. Symptoms can include pain, discomfort in

arm (s), the back, neck, jaw or stomach.

*Shortness of breath.

*Possible signs could be breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or dizziness.

RAT News :

The following students achieved Ironman/Ironwoman this month:

Page 9

Airdyne

Winston Lin

Paul Bishop

Jose Soto

Hunter Rivera

Stepper

Michael Ely

Treadmill

Riley Gardner

Jalen Vanderbosch

Courtney Brown

Caitlyn Fisher

40 mile Club (40 miles in 9 weeks)

Simia Spahiev

Maddie Ritzert

Paige’s Page Spring Break has arrived!! This time of year brings with it the warmth of the sun, and reminds us summer break is almost here. This can be energizing in many ways, however when it comes to ac-ademics we might start seeing the opposite. In anticipation of having a 2 month break, some stu-dents may start reducing their productivity and lose their motivation. Here are some ideas to keep them focused on the finish line:

Mix up the study location: Have them study outside on nice days, or where they can enjoy direct sunlight

Celebrate milestones: Big papers, presentations and tests are coming up, so reward their work ethic and positive attitude, and if they also get a good grade then you can celebrate that too!

Encourage active breaks: Instead of getting on social media or watching Netflix, have them take a walk with you or play a game of H-O-R-S-E together. Being active while being so-cial releases extra ‘feel good’ chemicals in our brains, making us happier and more ener-gized to complete our necessary work.

Paige Clingenpeel, LMHC. Paige.Clingenpeel@NACS.K12.IN.US Parkview’s SAP Counselor for Carroll High School & Maple Creek Middle School.

Guidance:

A Huge Congratulations goes out to

Julie Kim

for receiving a

NATIONAL SILVER MEDAL

for her drawing titled

“Avoiding Society”

in the

2016 Scholastic Art and Writing National Competition!

All current 5th, 6th, & 7th graders who would like to participate in any sport at Maple Creek Middle School next school year MUST HAVE A PHYSICAL on or AFTER April 1, 2016! RediMed is offering an inexpensive and convenient way to get this yearly requirement completed.

On Tuesday, May 24th, RediMed is offering physicals at Maple Creek for just $15. The physicals are available to all current 5th, 6th, & 7th grade students who will be attending Maple Creek Middle School dur-ing the 2016-2017 school year. Physicals will be administered for all participating students during the school day for current 6th & 7th graders.

The physical form, pages 1,3,4 (except physical exam portion) along with insurance and concussion information must be filled out prior to the physical.

You can go online to www.nacs.k12.in.us click on: Schools, Maple Creek Middle School, Athletics, Physical Form. You can print a physical form there, email Molly Abbott at

molly.abbott@nacs.k12.in.us (put ‘physical’ in memo line) to send a form home with your child or stop in to Maple Creek to pick up a copy.

The completed (by parent & student) physical form must be returned to Mrs. Abbott on or before

May 18th. She will check the form prior to RediMed and hold on to it until the day of the physical.

You may send in cash or a check payable to RediMed with the physical form or send in payment with your child on the day of the physical.

The physicals are valid for the entire 2016-2017 school year! If you have any questions, please call Carter Jones, AD or Molly Abbott, athletic secretary @ 338.0802.

Fifth grade will be coming over after school is out for their physicals. RediMed will be here until 4:00.

***CURRENT 8th, 9th, 10th & 11th grade “Free Physicals” will be on Saturday, May 7th, at 8:30 a.m. at Fort Wayne Orthopedics – 7601 W. Jefferson Blvd. Mrs. Abbott has the forms available for those physi-cals, also.

Please make all checks payable to:

$15 Physicals! $15 Physicals!

Tuesday, May 24th Tuesday, May 24th

FREE PHYSICALS FOR CURRENT

MAPLE CREEK

8TH GRADERS

Attention current 8th grade Parents: If your son or daughter wishes to participate in any activity at Carroll High School this summer or in a sport for the 2016-17 school year, they must have a physical on file to participate in conditioning/open gyms/tryouts.

A valid physical must be complete with insurance information and concus-sion release forms filled out in order to participate. NO EXCEPTION. There are four pages to the physical. One page is for the doctor and three pages are for the parent to complete. All three parent pages require sig-natures from the parent and student, requiring a total of 6 signatures.

The physical must be dated after April 1st, 2016.

On Saturday, May 7th at 8:30 am free physicals will be given at FWO (7601 W. Jefferson Blvd.), this is a great opportunity to get the physical done at no cost. The FWO physical is available for CURRENT 8th, 9th, 10th, & 11th graders.

The Carroll time slot is 8:30 – 9:30 AM.

2016-2017 Physical Forms attached or found here:

http://www.nacs.k12.in.us/Page/491