8th Grade News

📸 September 21- Picture Day

🦌 September 14- KAS Board of Education Meeting 6PM

📌 October 3- Field Trip Permission Slips Due

🍎 October 12 & 13- Parent-Teacher Conferences (Details to Come)

🦌 October 12- KAS Board of Education Meeting 6PM

🚌 October 16- Field Trip to NMC & Silver Lake Park (Details Below)

📸 October 23- Picture RETAKE Day

📸 Monday, September 21st 2026, is Kingsley Middle School picture day. Parents can order their picture packages online using code 5626. Please note, this code is only for the middle school and will not be valid for elementary students or high school students.

📝 Paper copies of the order forms are available in the office upon request. Picture re-take day is scheduled for October 23rd, 2026. Please contact the office with any questions regarding picture day.

🚌 On Friday, October 16th, eighth-grade students will visit Northwestern Community College and Silver Lake Recreational Park for a field trip.

📝 Permission slips have been sent home and are due October 3rd. A copy is also attached below for your convenience.

👋🏼 Greetings All,

📖 The school year is off to a great start in Language Arts. This week, we concluded our review of the parts of speech and completed our first read and annotations of "The Medicine Bag." Moving forward, students will complete a comprehension check and analyze the story’s characterization and themes.

✅ Additionally, all students have had a chance to select independent reading books from both the school library and my classroom library. Students are expected to have their books with them daily, as we dedicate 20–25 minutes of class time each week to structured independent reading. I always encourage students to read for 15–25 minutes outside of school when their schedules allow.

📌 REMINDER- FALL LANGUAGE ARTS NWEA TESTING BEGINS SEPT. 29. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. - Mr. Gaddy

📅 Pre-Algebra and Algebra classes will be taking the NWEA test next week! On Monday, students will take a look at their data from last year and the good news is everyone improved! Students will then set a goal for their upcoming NWEA test. Even though we’ll be focused on NWEA next week, all classes will still start class with our Math Circuit problems, and students can expect a Math Circuit Quiz at the end of the week. If you have a few minutes on Monday, ask your student about the goal they set. It’s always great for them to have someone at home cheering them on!

💯 Grades! Our first grades are entering the grade book by Monday! Vocab checks are a weekly check in that is worth a small amount of points. These are NOT retakeable. The writing assignment, Was the American Revolution truly revolutionary?, should be in the gradebook shortly as well. Students who have this missing should get on top of it and make sure they turn in their paragraph. Students who turned it in and got a score lower than what they desired have the opportunity to retake it. The last day to turn in a revision is 5 school days after the grade hits the gradebook.

📜 This last week, students investigated ways the American Revolution was and was not revolutionary. Additionally, we focused on vocabulary and celebrated our Constitution on Constitution Day. Next week, we'll be looking at the origins of our country's political thought including the Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, English Bill of Rights and the Iroquois Confederacy.

📌 Our first big quiz of the year will be on Tuesday, 9/29. Study materials will be passed out and put online early next week. Students should study throughout the week and make sure they are ready on quiz day. Quiz retakes are limited to the five days after the quiz score is returned. and only available if all classwork and notecards are completed.

🍎 Mr. Byrnes is going to take over the classroom starting 9/30. At that point, he will be responsible for planning, executing the 8th grade curriculum that correlates with the standards. I will be in the room mentoring and assisting if/when necessary. He has had a great start to the year and has been an asset to our students and our school. His email is cbyrnes@kingsleyschools.org . He would love to hear from you!

🏫 Student Council has started with a massive amount of interest - over 50 students attended the first meeting!

📣 Student Council is an optional student group, supervised by Mr. Buniewicz, that helps make Kingsley Middle School a better place. This can be through pep rallies, random acts of kindness, planning activities, service projects, and more! Meetings and work times are exclusively during lunch and recess. Students that are a part of Student Council may be subject to certain criteria including regular attendance, proper conduct in and out of meetings, and general trustworthiness.

🏆 This is an incredible opportunity for leadership and I can't wait to see all of the great things this year's Student Council has planned.

📨 If you have any questions or concerns, please let Mr. Buniewicz know at pbuniewicz@kingsleyschools.org

🎨 Learning Through Our Art Journals!

This week in the KMS Art Studio, students are putting the finishing touches on their art journals while continuing to build their understanding of how artists use materials, techniques, and the Elements of Art to communicate ideas.

🧑🏽‍🎨 Our middle school artists are working with mixed media, combining several different types of art materials in one piece. Students learned that a medium is a type of material or supply used to create art, such as pencil, pen, paint, ribbon, yarn, buttons, colored pencil, etc. They are applying this new vocabulary as they design creative, personal covers for their art journals using multiple media.

As students finish these projects, keep an eye on Artsonia for your student's artwork to be submitted and displayed. It is a great way for families to see what students are learning and creating in the Art Studio!

📨 If you have any trouble accessing your student's Artsonia account, please email me at teichler@kingsleyschools.org and I will be happy to help.

— Ms. Eichler, KMS Art Studio

💻 Digital Literacy

Next week, Digital Literacy students will wrap up Unit 1 by building greater Chromebook independence and positive technology habits. Students will practice navigating their devices efficiently, solving common problems on their own, managing digital work, and making responsible choices that help them stay focused and productive.

🤖 Innovation Lab

Next week, Innovation Lab students will continue practicing the Engineering Design Process as they work through a multi-day Paper Ball Run Challenge. Students will plan and build a paper track designed to guide a ball through a course, then repeatedly test, evaluate, and improve their prototypes. The project will give students several days to experience how engineers learn from testing and use each new attempt to improve a design.

🍎 Guest Teacher

Students in the Tech Lab will have a guest teacher on Monday, September 21st. On Friday, we reviewed the importance of being respectful, responsible, and cooperative, as well as the expectations for their work. I would appreciate your support in briefly reinforcing these expectations with your student before Monday. Thank you for helping ensure a positive and productive day for our students and guest teacher.

📨 Please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions or concerns.

🧑🏻‍🎓 Our school counselor, Mrs. Bradford, recently shared a resource with 8th-grade students to help them begin exploring opportunities after high school. Families are encouraged to explore the Michigan Talent Pathways Post-Graduation Resources together to learn more about college, skilled trades, career training, apprenticeships, military service, and other pathways.