Murray Pilots

Don’t count the days, make the days count. Author Unknown

We are getting down to the wire! We have our spring band/orchestra concert next week, classes are approaching the point of final summative assessments, after school programming is preparing to close out and we are in the planning phases for all of our end-of-year activities. As the quote states, it’s important for our students to “make the days count”! We ask that families have conversations with their young Murray Pilots around all facets of being a student. Examples may include working with teachers to ensure work is up to date and students are prepared for any upcoming assessments, continuing to commit to any after school programming/athletics and being a student leader by upholding our three basic expectations of being respectful, responsible and safe. We are very much looking forward to celebrating the accomplishments of our 8th grade students as they prepare to step into high school and for our younger Pilots to step up into those leadership roles for school year 26/27. With 15 days left of school, it’s critical that we make each day count and finish strong!

Celebrations:

#Pilotprops of the week! Ms. Bittner would like to celebrate Joey Ehlers. I have asked a million things of him, and he always steps up, even outside of school time. He reaches out to help others, especially around organizing and following through on projects. He is always up for a job or to help, and makes others feel accepted into whatever he is working on. He is willing to spend time out of school to work on completing projects. I believe he brings a feeling of inclusiveness to Murray as a whole and I appreciate that.

#Pilotprops of the week! Ms. Steinhoff would like to celebrate Piper Williamson. Piper is an amazing leader here at Murray. She continuously stands up for herself and her peers, and is passionate about equal rights and justice for everyone. One day Piper may rule the world! She is also a fantastic poet, swimmer, and soccer player. Thank you for being a positive member of our community!

Your Co-Pilot,

Jamin McKenzie

Principal, Murray Middle School

English Language Arts with Ms. Williams and Ms. Carter:

Our sixth-grade Readers and Writers just wrapped up a short Fantasy unit. We are beginning to write and read poetry this week! Please keep your calendar open for our Poetry Slam performance on Monday, May 8th, or Tuesday, May 9th, during your student's regular class time.

Seventh Grade
Life Science with Ms. Dooley and Mr. Altringer:

The students are continuing their work on how plants are able to make food. We'll be wrapping up the unit by examining where the food molecules go — animals, humans, and decomposers, and how each of these parts plays an important role in recycling matter on Earth.

Trout Release:

Seventh grade students participated in a fieldtrip to Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park to release the trout into Cenaiko Lake on May 14th. After watching the baby trout swim away into the depths of the lake; students participated in bird watching with a biologist, water coloring, nature scavenger hunt, water quality data collection, senses poetry, learning about decomposers, and volleyball. Students ate lunch on the banks of the beautiful Mississippi River.

Eighth Grade
Algebra with Mr. Hayden:

In Algebra, students are currently learning about scatterplots. We have looked at how to create and interpret them, how to classify the type of association it shows (positive, negative, nonlinear, or no association), and if it is linear, should its association be described as weak or strong. We've learned how linear associations can be represented with a trend line or line of best fit and how we can use that to make predictions, based on the data. We've also discussed how to come up with an equation for the trend line, which can also assist in identifying trends and making predictions. We will close out the year by briefly looking into the Pythagorean Theorem, systems of equations, and properties of exponents.

Integrated Math 1 with Mr. Hayden:

In Integrated Math 1, students are learning all about transformations and rigid motions. We have looked at rotations, reflections, and translations in the coordinate plane. We have learned particular rules for rotations of 90, 180, and 270 degrees about the origin, we have seen how to notate compositions of transformations and how some compositions can be expressed in various ways. For example, a glide reflection can be thought of as a translation followed by a reflection, or 3 different reflections. We will close out the year in this class by briefly looking at triangle congruence and statistics.

Physical Science with Ms. Dooley and Ms. Atkinson:

The students are starting their Chemical Reactions and Energy Transfer unit. It is the last major unit of the year. We began by looking at MRE packs, which are used by military personnel and in natural disaster situations (as well as other times). We are looking at the chemical heating pack that comes with the MREs, and will be trying to design a substitution that addresses some of the issues we've seen with the MREs/

Global Studies with Ms. Croone:

We have just finished learning about governments from around the world. There are 6 styles of government that we looked at and identified around the world. One question that each student needed to consider was what type of government would they want to have in the country they created at the beginning of the year-type of leadership, elections, how people participated and how they could vote. Now we have moved to Europe and looking at the European Union and physical features.

Sixth, Seventh, Eighth Grade
Comparative Anatomy with Ms. Dooley:

The students took a trip to the Como Conservatory to investigate different types of plants that are on display. This was to kick off the mini-plant unit. After that, we're back to studying animals — the complex invertebrates, and then on to animals with a backbone.

Honor Band

8 students participated in the SEMBDA (South East Minnesota Band Directors) Concert in Lakeville on May 2nd. These 8 students were nominated to attend with other 1st and 2nd year band students from the South East Region of Minnesota. They came together at 8 am and gave a concert by 12 pm. They did an amazing job!

8th Grade Recognition Ceremony by Foundations - Wednesday, June 10th
9:30 AM:
Bornholdt/Phan
Croone
Hagen
Hayden
Hirthe

1:30 PM
Atkinson
Cabatingan
Cudahy
Dooley
Steinhoff

8th Grade Valleyfair
Thursday, June 11th
9:00am - 6:00pm
Students need to be picked up at Murray at 6:00pm

Murray Pilots go to National History Day!

https://www.givemn.org/story/Historyday2026

National Junior Honor Society

NJHS-Letters have gone out to over 60 7th graders that had the grades to apply! Congrats.

Applications are due on Friday, May 22 by 3:00pm to Ms. Croone. Letters of acceptance will be sent out by email on Tuesday, May 26.

8th Grade NJHS members and families-please put Tuesday, 6:00pm on June 2 on your calendar for the culmination ceremony and induction of our new members. More details will follow via email in the next week.

School Pictures are Ready!

View and order at https://shop.jostenspix.com/login
MURRAY MIDDLE SCHOOL· Event Code: FE33325

History Day Bake Sale during 6th Grade registration-raised over $400! Thanks for all of the support for the students going on to National History Day in June at University of Maryland-College Park.

Here are a few announcements from our counseling team. As a reminder, here is our contact information:

· Ms. Justine Revermann - justine.revermann@spps.org - 651-243-4663 ext. 744052: Student last names A-L

· Ms. Lisa Engelstad – lisa.engelstad@spps.org - 651-243-4663 ext. 745675: Student last names M-Z

Every Meal:

We have a partnership with EveryMeal and students can pick up free food bags to take home. More information and sign up on the link here: https://forms.gle/JYus6pV3yRTN7ByQ6.

Internet Hot Spots:

Here's a resource for internet hot spots to check if you're eligible: https://www.tmobile.com/brand/project-10-million

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Murray Highlights Form

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PTO Newsletter Archives

January #1

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March #1

Visit our showroom at ThreadArt to order your custom Murray Middle School clothing! Now available: Debate shirts!! You can also purchase a Debate shirt to donate to a student.

**AVAILABLE NOW**

Murray Pilots 100 Years throwback shirts to celebrate 100 years of Murray Greatness!

6:00pm in the Murray Media Center

Monday, May 18th

Thursday, May 21

Murray Band & Orchestra Concert

6:00pm - 8:00pm

Monday, May 25 - Wednesday, May 27

No School

Wednesday, June 10

8th Grade Recognition

9:30am - 11:00am (By Foundations)

1:30pm - 3:00pm (By Foundations)

Thursday, June 11

6th Grade Awards - 10:00am (By Invitation)

7th Grade Awards - 1:30pm (By Invitation)

8th Grade Valleyfair

Last Day of School