#iamsouth

Email: msattendance@avon-schools.org
Website: https://www.avon-schools.org/mssouth
Location: 7199 East US Highway 36, Avon, IN, USA
Phone: 317-544-5700
Twitter: @avonsouth

Feb. 19, 2024 - NO SCHOOL - President's Day

Mar. 18 - 29, 2024 - NO SCHOOL - Spring Break

Mr. Will Mahan, Athletic Director/Dean of Students

Ms. Joni Johnson, Athletic Trainer

2/12 AWAY vs. County Rd. 1 5:30PM - Plainfield Middle School

2/13 - AWAY vs. County Rd. 2 5:30PM - Location TBD

2/15 - AWAY VS. County Final 5:30PM - Location TBD

Good luck!

2/14 - AWAY vs. Zionsville Middle School 5:30PM

2/15 - AWAY vs. AMS North 5:30PM

Good luck!

Our Athletic Department is offering a season ticket option for all students. This season pass is $40. This pass will get all students into each regular season game hosted by South. Regular ticket price is $5 per event. We host approximately 45 athletic events this year at South. This pass will also allow students to enter the three tailgates this year.

The season pass for students is offered through EventLink. EventLink is the online ticket platform that we use for athletic events at South. The student will simply need to show the barcode via cellphone to the ticket taker when entering a game.

The link to purchase this ticket is below:

https://websites.eventlink.com/s/avon-middle-school-south/Tickets/Passes/2900/276

Happy Birthday

to our students celebrating a birthday this week:

Vella Bailey

Jaxson Cleveland

Rihanna Clingman

Sienna Gonzalez

Tilly Ma

Emma Wood

Alae Nachid

Justice Ponto

Jennifer Spalding

Dylan Williams

Henry Barrett

Dakotah Jones

Whitney Love

Alyson Connors

Tyler Fike

Oluwatunmise Olalere

Karmen Kinchelow

2023 - 2024 Yearbooks are on sale now!

Follow the link below to order your yearbook today.

Yearbook school ID: 15098424

National Junior Honor Society will offer after school study help sessions on Wednesday’s after school from 4:10 - 5:00PM. Students will then go to the front commons area and wait for the late bus or parent pick-up. During this time, there will be a supervisor with the students while they wait for the late bus to arrive. Students that will be a car rider home on these days can be picked up at door 1 at 5:00PM.

If your student will be staying for the study session and they need bus transportation home they must sign up for the late bus in the Guidance Office at lunch that day. For those students taking the late bus home, the bus will leave AMS South at 5:10pm.

Each week your child's team will give an update about the current week or week ahead. Please find your child's team below for that information. In addition, you will find news from our Encore teachers, Media Center, and PE/Wellness teachers.

Mrs. Dugan, Mrs. Williams, Mr. Schubert & Mr. Uhl

In Language Arts, students will review the elements of narrative writing and demonstrate their understanding by writing historical fiction about a day in the life of Phineas Gage. They also have their next Skills & Stems Quiz on Friday. In Science, we will be investigating how different body systems work together to support an organism. We have a research project coming up. Watch ParentSquare for more information in the next week! Social Studies students will be discussing stories of Independence in Africa. In Math, we will be starting a new unit on writing and solving one and two-step inequalities. In Pre-Algebra, we will be starting a new unit on geometric shapes and angle relationships.

Mrs. Barnes, Mr. Blackmore, Mrs. Boroff & Ms. Weinstein

In Science, we have been learning about the levels of organization (cells, tissues, organs, organ systems) within all organisms. Next week, we will continue learning about the various organ systems within the human body. I will be offering an extra credit project that will be due by Friday, February 16th. Math students will be reviewing and taking their solving equations test on Wednesday. They will then begin the inequalities unit and work on writing, graphing, and solving 1-step inequalities. Pre-Algebra students will be learning about types of angles, triangles, and parallel lines. In Language Arts, students will continue their work analyzing and annotating informational passages by working with various passages about Phineas Gage from A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science. Students will also return to their narrative writing skills later in the week by writing about the life of Phineas Gage in the 1800's. Social Studies students will be learning about modern conflicts in Africa. We will be finishing up our section on Nelson Mandela, the end of Apartheid in South Africa and the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. We will also investigate conflicts in the Congo and Sudan/South Sudan. The end of the Africa unit test will be Wednesday, February 21st.

Mr. Leach, Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Ringham & Mrs. Schaffer

Mr. McDonald, Ms. Schaber, Mrs. Shambaugh & Mr. Thoennes

Language Arts

Mrs. Ringham - In Language Arts, students will practice narrative writing by imagining they are in a day of the life of Phineas Gage.

Mr. Thoennes - Students will continue to learn about the brain through Phineas Gage and readings about the adolescent brain.

Math & Pre-Algebra

Mrs. Schaffer - In Math, students will be starting Module 7 and learning how to solve one and 2 step inequalities and graph the solutions on a number on a line. Pre-Algebra students will be shifting to focus on Geometry. We will look at several angle relationships and combine Geometry with Algebra to determine unknown angle measurements.

Mrs. Shambaugh - Students will solve one variable inequalities.

Science

Mrs. Miller - Science will continue talking about different systems of the human body next week, including the digestive, respiratory, and circulatory systems!

Ms. Schaber - Students will be continuing learning about the body systems! The ones we will be covering next week are the digestive, excretory, and respiratory system!

Social Studies

Mr. Leach - Social Studies students will learn about South Africa, Rwanda and Nigeria after decolonization and independence movements all over Africa. Our end of unit test is 2/21 and ALL LATE WORK is due by 2/23.

Mr. McDonald - Students will learn about Modern African Conflicts

Students in Social Studies with Mr. Leach class playing a game to simulate the colonization of Africa.

Mrs. Ringham's students coloring the parts of the brain and assembling their brains into a hat.

Mrs. DeBow, Mr. Goson, Mrs. Mellen & Mrs. Zimmerman

Mr. McDonald, Ms. Schaber, Mrs. Shambaugh & Mr. Thoennes

Language Arts

Mrs. Zimmerman - Students will submit the final post for their space blogs and continue with Unit 8F.

Mr. Thoennes - Students will be writing blogs as if they are an astronaut or cosmonaut.

Pre-Algebra & Algebra

Mrs. DeBow - Algebra students will simplify radical expressions. Pre-algebra students will test over Chapter 9 on Thursday.

Mrs. Shambaugh - Students will continue to connect squares and square roots to the Pythagorean Theorem. The Chapter 9 Test is Thursday, February 15.

Science

Mr. Goson - Next week we are beginning our chemistry unit by looking at atoms and their structure. We will also learn about the periodic table and elements.

Ms. Schaber - Students will be starting their new unit on chemistry. We will start by learning about the atom next week.

Mrs. Hood - Students will be beginning our DNA introduction this week.

Social Studies

Mrs. Mellen - Next week, we will be covering the War of 1812 and the Battle of New Orleans.

Mr. McDonald - Students will learn about the Democratic-Republican Era and the causes of the War of 1812.

Mrs. Warthan, Ms. Kegley, Mr. Casey & Mr. Osen

In Science, students will be introduced to chemistry and the basic structure of an atom. Biology students will be investigating the structure and function of DNA. In Pre-Algebra, students will work with applications of the Pythagorean Theorem and prepare for their test on Friday. Algebra students will simplify radicals and solve quadratic equations. In Social Studies, students will be studying the events of the War of 1812. In Language Arts, students will be writing space blogs from the perspective of an astronaut or cosmonaut.

Mrs. Hood, Mr. Rodgers, Mrs. Taylor & Mr. Williams

In Social Studies, we will study the War of 1812, focusing on its causes and effects. We will examine specific battles, such as the American victory at New Orleans and the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner. Pre-Algebra will be finishing up our unit on Real Numbers and taking our test on 2/14, We will then begin our unit on inequalities using a Desmos activity. Students continue to have weekly IXL assignments that are due each Saturday at 11:59 pm. Algebra students will take their Factoring test on Wednesday. We will begin solving quadratics using graphing, factoring, and the square root method. In Language Arts, students will research an assigned astronaut or cosmonaut and write a narrative from the perspective of that person during their mission to space. They will end the week by reading an article about the first animal to travel in space, a dog named Laika. Science students will be beginning our chemistry introduction this week. Biology students will be beginning our DNA introduction this week.

Señora Barker (Spanish), Mrs. Hauptmann (Japanese), Mr. Parr (Computer Science),

Mrs. Leonard (Art), Mr. McFarlin (Engineering and Technology), Mr. Wolf (Robotics),

Mrs. Snyder (Flight & Space and Medical Detectives),

and Mr. Tarnowski (Digital Literacy & Communication)

Spanish

Next week students will be conjugating er/ir verbs and practicing saying what they eat and drink.

Japanese

The Japanese class topics will be daily routine, kanji for new, old, eat, drink, go, see.

Computer Science

7th graders will be working on complex sprite movements and looping.

8th graders will be presenting their safe projects, and then will be moving onto their next project.

Art

Next week students will glaze all three of their bisque projects from the clay unit.

7th grade Engineering and Design & 8th grade Gateway to Technology

7th Grade- We are starting to work on our second project of the nine weeks which is the puzzle cube. The goal of the project is to design a 3x3x3 cube using complex shapes that can has an average solve time of Three minutes or more. Students will have to accomplish this by using small wooden cubes and each complex shape can only have 4-6 small cubes in it.

8th grade- We are starting to work on our second project of the nine weeks which is the light box. The light box will be completed by creating a design or logo that will be cut out of the front of the box then the students will build a box that is sealed where no light can escape except for the logo.

Digital Literacy & Communication

This week in Digital Literacy and Communication, we learned about different forms of media, including graphic novels and radio. Doing so allowed us to learn how writers tell stories using images and sound and how those methods require different tools to analyze.

Robotics

Robotics 1 – Students will finish wind turbine projects and will begin constructing and coding the testbed project.

Robotics 2 – Students will present their dragster builds and will begin planning and constructing elevator project.

Medical Detectives

Medical Detectives will learn about the brain and get ready to dissect their sheep brain!

Flight & Space

Flight and Space will begin our unit on space. We will talk about the size of space and what it takes to survive in space. How do astronauts sleep? Eat? Shower? Etc... Students love this unit.

Mrs. Fair, Mrs. Lucas & Mr. Jackson

Students will have their second unit test on Wednesday. Study guides are posted in Schoology. We will then rotate to our final units before ending the quarter with fitness tests. As always, we appreciate students being prepared for class each week with clean clothes and deodorant.

Mr. Basso (Band), Ms. Szymkow (Band), Mr. Miller (Orchestra) & Mr. Nelson (Choir)

Band

South had an amazing turnout at the ISSMA Solo and Ensemble this past weekend. Sixty-Nine students earned a Gold Rating and four earned a Silver Rating. We also had eleven students receive a perfect score. See photos below!

Moving forward, the bands are preparing for the ISSMA Organizational Festival which is full band contest. The bands will perform at North on Friday, March 8th.

Choir

In choir we are charging through our ISSMA music, where all classes have gotten through most of their music! With a month until the performance, this gives us plenty of time to refine the pieces as best we can. We started a new content unit in all classes this week as well, where the students will have their assessment three weeks from Tuesday this week.

Orchestra

7th & 8th Grade Orchestras are hard at work on their ISSMA Contest music. We will host our ISSMA Preview Concert on Tuesday, February 27th here at AMS South. ISSMA Contest will be held on either March 8th or March 9th at AMS North. More details to come. Keep encouraging your students to practice at home and ask them to play for you.

Pictures for yearbook: Periods 1 & 2 will have pictures taken on February 16th due to weather-related issues on our previous date.

Scheduling: Students will be scheduling for classes in the next few months, and we have been talking about scheduling in orchestra. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Congratulations to all students who participated in Solo & Ensemble! We had many events this year, and the students represented our school well!

Check out this great article that features one of our South students who participated in the Metropolitan Youth's Orchestra's performance at the pacer game last weekend. Go Pacers and congrats Nair!

https://www.avon-schools.org/experience-avon/experience-avon/~board/acsc-posts/post/orchestra-student-performs-at-pacers-game

Ms. Sever

February is Black History Month. In the library and on Sora, we have a variety of books written by Black authors and featuring Black characters and cultures. In honor of this celebration, I wanted to highlight Curlfriends: New in Town, a graphic novel, by Sharee Miller.

Charlie has a foolproof plan for the first day at her new middle school. Even though she's used to starting over as the new kid—thanks to her military family's constant moving—making friends has never been easy for her. But this time, her first impression needs to last, since this is where her family plans to settle for good.

So she's hiding any interests that may seem “babyish,” updating her look, and doing her best to leave her shyness behind her…but is erasing the real Charlie the best way to make friends? – Blurb courtesy of Hatchette Book Group

To read more about Charlie and her new school, check out Curlfriends: New in Town from the AMS South library and Sora!

ABSENCE PROCEDURE

If a student is absent from school, the PARENT must call the school by 10:00 A.M. to report the absence. If no call is received, the automated school system will make an effort to contact the parent, but if NO PARENT CALL has been received by 3:00 P.M. the day following the absence, the student will be charged with an unexcused absence. You may also send an email to us to notify us of your child's absence at msattendance@avon-schools.org.

** Please be advised that we cannot take early dismissal information over the telephone. **

If your child needs to leave school early during the school day please send a note in with your child to bring to the office first thing in the morning or email us at

msattendance@avon-schools.org with all the necessary information: students name, date and time picking up, and the name of the person picking your child up if someone other than a parent or guardian will be picking up. This email will go directly to the front office secretaries and they will be able to get your child an early dismissal pass so that they can be in the front office when you are ready to pick them up. If you are unable to email us we will need you to come into the office with your valid ID, once we verify it is a parent/guardian picking up we will be able to call the student down for dismissal.

If someone other than a parent or guardian will be picking up your child we MUST have this information in writing from a parent/guardian. Please include his or her name on the note or email. Once we verify their photo ID then the student can sign out and leave.

If leaving early for a doctor/dentist/orthodontist appointment, please provide verification note from the appointment to the main office to ensure that the absence is excused.

Using this email will ensure your child will get a pass out of class to be in the office. Please do not use Parent Square to send a message to your child's teachers as we cannot guarantee that this message will get to the front office to get your child a pass. Our teachers are very busy throughout the day and may not be able to check Parent Square often, or if the teacher is out that day we would not get that message in the front office in time to get your child an early dismissal pass.

We want to make sure that your information is getting to the right person in a timely manner, and hopefully prevent any miscommunication or missed messages.

It is our belief that students can best achieve academic success by being in school every day. We also understand that a student may occasionally have an opportunity to experience extraordinary opportunities that may result in a missed day of school. The principal or designee may grant a pre-arranged absence, if the absence provides an extraordinary opportunity for the student and/or family. The request must be submitted at least five school days in advance of the requested absence. The student will be required to complete all missed work upon his/her return to school. No more than three days of pre-arranged absences will be approved each year. Pre-arranged absences may not be granted during the following circumstances:

• I-Learn

• During semester exams

• When the requested absence would push the student’s attendance record into excessive absence status or if the student has surpassed the allowable number of absences.

Below is our Pre-Arranged Absence form.

For Visitors to our Building

Avon Schools require all visitors to check-in at the front office using our visitor management system, Safe Visitor. This system requires visitors to scan their driver's license or state identification card for a check of their record. A temporary badge is provided to all visitors to wear while in our buildings. As our visitors leave school, they scan and return that badge to front office staff.

Entering the Building

Anyone entering our building beyond the front office will need to have a valid photo ID with them so that they can be checked in through our Safe Visitor Solutions system. You will be given a badge to wear while in the building so that you are identified as a visitor. When leaving you will return to the front office so that we can check you out of Safe Visitor Solutions and take your badge.

Visiting Students during Lunch

At this time, we are allowing parents/guardians to have lunch with their child during their specified lunch time in our commons area outside of the cafeteria. Parents must follow our policy for entering our building listed above; present a valid photo ID and be checked into our Safe Visitor system. Please take note that this process may take a few minutes to get you checked into our system so please allow for a few extra minutes for that process.

**If someone other than a parent/guardian would like to have lunch with your student, we MUST have that information in writing in advance from a parent/guardian. You can either send a note in with your student to bring to the office when they arrive at school in the morning, or you can email our attendance line with the information at msattendance@avon-schools.org

7th and 8th grade parents: Your children may be eligible for a college scholarship!

If your child qualifies for free and reduced lunch they are automatically enrolled in the 21st Century Scholars Program.

View the form below for more information.

Avon Community Schools has chosen Worth Ave. Group as the vendor of choice to insure school-issued laptops. Insurance with Worth Ave. Group will protect the device against: Accidental Damage, Theft, Fire, Flood, Natural Disasters, Power Surge and Vandalism. This insurance policy will provide full replacement cost coverage and will protect the item worldwide (on and off school grounds). The policy is also transferable to a replacement unit. Insurance plans may be purchased online. Please note this insurance does not cover accidental loss of the laptop, and families will be charged the full replacement cost for a lost device.

• Coverage Term: July 18, 2023 - July 18, 2024
  • It is up to you to renew yearly.

Need help with Math and Science homework?

Call the Homework Hotline

1-877-ASK-ROSE

Click below to visit their website

www.askrose.org

The Mary Lee Maier Community Pantry is available to Avon school families and employees.

Every Thursday from 5:00 - 6:00PM (when school is in session)

at Avon Intermediate School East

Please do not arrive before 4:30PM due to AIS bus/school traffic

Enrollment is simple. Please complete your 2023 - 2024 enrollment before you shop. Below you will find more information for enrollment, please click the link below.

Please click on Community Flyers below to take you to the ACSC web page of all the Educational Flyers and Community Events Flyers happening in our community.