We Are South, We Are One!

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

March 10 - Quarter 4 begins

March 24 - April 6 - SPRING BREAK - No School!!

Upcoming ILEARN Test Dates:

April 22-24: ELA (Tuesday through Thursday)

April 29-30: Math (Tuesday-Wednesday)

Monday begins the final quarter of this school year. Before Monday, please log into PowerSchool to look at what your elective class(es) will be on Monday. Have a great Friday and relaxing weekend!

The health department is starting to schedule vaccine appointments for next school year 2025-2026. They currently have several openings available. They get full in July. Please consider scheduling and getting your students vaccines early to prevent being excluded on exclusion day next year.

Scott Adams - Athletic Director

Joni Johnson - Athletic Trainer

Avon Middle School South will be offering an online ticket option for all athletic events. Online tickets will be available for purchase on the platform EventLink. These tickets will become available for purchase ten days prior to the date of the event. We encourage you to download the EventLink application on your mobile device from the App Store or Google Play Store.

All athletic tickets cost $5. Children between the ages 0 and 5 years old will be free in addition to adults who are 62 years old and older. When purchasing a ticket online through EventLink, there will be a service fee included.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU:

Lucas McNabb

Shaniya Smith

Derrick Thomas

Samantha Bamikole

Abhai Singh

Roxane Buanga

Sherry Cuevas

Jordan Overton

Laila Gilles

Caden Smith

Zoe Wood

Brady Hicks

Bella Snyder

Ryleigh Owens

Zoey Ambercrombie

National Junior Honor Society will offer after school study help sessions on Wednesday’s after school from 4:10 - 5:00PM.

During this time, there will be a NJHS teacher sponsor 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. Students will then go to the front commons area and wait for the late bus or parent pick-up.

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.

Ms. Costello, Mrs. Dugan, Mrs. Williams & Mr. Uhl

Next week in Social Studies, we will finish our unit on South Asia and test on Friday! Math will be reviewing their unit on geometric figures and taking the unit test on Friday (3/14). Pre-Algebra will be beginning their unit on transformations. In Language Arts, students will finish writing their informational essay. At the end of the week, they will take their unit assessment. Next week in Science, we will be learning about Newton's 3rd Law and how it relates to our everyday life. Remember-- every action has an action and opposite reaction!

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

Language Arts: After finishing their 7C: Brain Science Compare and Contrast essays early in the week, students will have an opportunity to review before we take our unit summative assessment. The exam is currently scheduled to be taken across March 13th and 14th. Math students will be learning how to find the volume and surface area of single prisms and the volume of composite 3D shapes. Pre-Algebra students will start their unit on Sampling and Statistics. In science, we will be looking at Newton's 3rd Law of action & reaction. We will be practicing how to calculate momentum and understanding the basic concepts of elastic and inelastic collisions. We will have a short quiz on Friday, March 14th. Social Studies students will be concluding our unit on South Asia talking about Gandhi, his peaceful protests, how he helped gain independence for India, and the partition of India and Pakistan. The unit test will be Friday 3/14. Students will have two days in class to complete the review sheet and study for the test. There are review activities and map games in the black folder at the top of the Schoology page to help them study for the test.

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

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

Language Arts

Mrs. Ringham - Language Arts students will complete their compare and contrast essay and take part 1 of their Unit test on Thursday. Part 2 of the test will be the following week.

Mr. Thoennes - Students will continue writing their compare and contrast essay and have their Unit 7C Assessment on Thursday and Friday.

Math & Pre-Algebra

Mrs. Schaffer - Math students will delve deeper into Module 10, focusing on probability. They will learn to understand probability concepts, calculate the likelihood of simple events, and design simulations to model real-world scenarios. Engaging in these activities will enhance their analytical skills and foster a deeper appreciation for the role of probability in everyday life. In Pre-Algebra, students will continue their exploration of Module 13, which centers on geometric transformations. They will analyze translations, rotations, reflections, and dilations, gaining insight into how these transformations affect figures. Additionally, students will examine the properties of similar and congruent figures through the lens of transformations, strengthening their spatial reasoning and understanding of geometric relationships.

Mrs. Shambaugh - Students will begin learning about probability and likelihoods.

Science

Mrs. Miller - Science students will be finishing discussing our unit on Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion- it is a short unit! We will have a quiz on Friday, March 14, 2025.

Ms. Schaber - Students will continue learning about Newton's 3rd Law.

Social Studies

Mr. Leach - Social Studies students are earning about the independence of South Asia. The test is on 3/14.

Mr. McDonald - Students will begin learning about probability and likelihoods.

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

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

Language Arts

Mrs. Zimmerman - Students will complete a quiz on Monday, March 10th over chapters 9-11 of the Frederick Douglass narrative.

Mr. Thoennes - Students will continue writing their compare and contrast essay and have their Unit 7C Assessment on Thursday and Friday.

Pre-Algebra & Algebra

Mrs. DeBow - Algebra students will test over quadratics and the Pythagorean theorem Thursday and Friday. Pre-algebra students will focus on finding the number of outcomes in probability situations.

Mrs. Shambaugh - Students will begin learning about probability and organizing outcomes.

Science

Mr. Goson - Students will begin the second part of our chemistry unit. We will be taking a look at Lewis diagrams and chemical bonding of elements and Biology students will continue our genetics/heredity unit by learning about inheritance and traits.

Ms. Schaber - Students will be starting a new unit Monday. They will be learning about chemical reactions!

Social Studies

Mrs. Mellen - Next week, we will be studying Reforms of Jackson's presidency. Their test is on Friday, 3/14.

Mr. McDonald - Students will discuss the legacy of Andrew Jackson’s presidency and its impact on American history.

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

Science: Students will begin their chemical reactions unit.

Biology: Students will be investigating heredity and genetics.

Pre-Algebra: Student will be learning about probability and counting outcomes.

Algebra: Students will be taking the Chapter 9 Test.

Social Studies: Students will be preparing for their Unit 8 Test over the Age of Jackson.

Language Arts: Students will be finishing The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and using collected evidence to write an informative essay with a strong thesis.

Mrs. Cadle, Mr. Garrison, Mrs. Hood & Mr. Williams

Science: Students will continue on with chemistry part 2. Our focus, this unit, will be on how atoms bond together and the types of bonds that they can make.

Biology: Students will begin their genetics and heredity unit.

Language Arts: Students will be reading some chapters from Harriet Jacobs's book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. They will then begin planning and writing an informative essay using evidence from Douglass and Jacobs.

Social Studies: Social Studies students will learn about the Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears. On Thursday, we will review Unit 8, the Jacksonian Era, and have a test on Friday.

Pre-Algebra: We will begin our unit on probability with a focus on ways to determine how many outcomes are possible in different events.

Algebra: We will wrap up the first half of Chapter 9 on Quadratic Equations with review activities and test on Thursday and Friday 3/13-3/14. This test will cover quite a bit of material including: Solving by Factoring, the Square Root Method, and the Quadratic Formula, Simplifying Radicals, Applying the Pythagorean Theorem, and Solving Word Problems with Quadratic Equations.

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 learning about stem changing verbs in Spanish. On Wednesday they will have a quiz on tener (to have) and tener expressions.

Japanese

The Japanese class topics will be recognizing katakana and kanji characters; colors; hobbies.

Computer Science

7th graders will be starting their Code.org lessons with learning about shapes and parameters.

8th graders will be starting to learn about microbits.

Art

In art we will be creating mandalas and students are able to choose to use colored pencils, oil pastels, or watercolors.

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

7th & 8th - We will be starting a new 9 weeks with shop safety and introduction to the course. We will be taking a shop safety test and measurement test before we leave for Spring Break in two weeks.

Digital Literacy & Communication

This week in Digital Literacy, we are introducing the class and learning about what media is and how we analyze it!

Robotics

Robotics 1 – Students will be introduced to basic robotics concepts and the design process.

Robotics 2 - Students will review and construct basic gear mechanisms using VEX V5 components.

Flight & Space

Welcome to Flight and Space! This week will be talking about procedures, expectations, and what this class is all about. So excited to meet all of you!

Medical Detectives

Welcome to Medical Detectives! This week will be talking about procedures, expectations, and what this class is all about. So excited to meet all of you!

Mrs. Lucas, Mr. Jackson & Mr. Van Winkle

Dressing out is crucial for participation, accounting for 30% of their overall grade. Students should wear grey shirts, black shorts, and tennis shoes to every class.

Looking Ahead to Quarter 4

As we wrap up Quarter 3, we are excited to begin Quarter 4 and look forward to meeting our new students. We are eager to start fresh and continue developing fitness, skills, and teamwork in our PE classes!

Resources for Success

✅ Study guides are available on Schoology.
✅ Blookets for test preparation

Please encourage your student to come prepared and actively participate each day. As a reminder, PE is a high school credit course, meaning the grade will be part of their academic record moving forward.

Thank you for your continued support!

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

Band

Our band students continue to prepare for their next performances and are busy in class each day! Band parents: for more specific information, please consult Mr. Basso's band newsletter.

Choir

In choir we are just 1 ½ weeks from our ISSMA performance at AMS North. In class we are working on final memorization of all pieces of music. This coming week we will be putting the finishing touches on our repertoire to make it the best it can possibly before the contest.

Orchestra

ISSMA Contest Information:

7th Grade Orchestra

The 7th Grade Orchestra performs on Saturday March 15. Here is the schedule for that morning:

Saturday, March 15
10:25am - Drop off students at AMS North. Students report to AMS North Practice Gym for Homeroom
11:00am - students transition to Warm-Up Room
11:05am - Warm-Up in Band room
11:35am - 7th Grade Orchestra Performance in the AMS North Auditorium (turn right when you enter door 7)

You can meet your student in the lobby outside of the auditorium around 12 noon after we perform and get our scores.

8th Grade Orchestra:

The 8th Grade Orchestra performs on Saturday March 15. Here is the schedule for that morning:

Saturday, March 15
8:40am - Drop off students at AMS North(door 7). Students report to AMS North Practice Gym for Homeroom
9:10am - students transition to Warm-Up Room
9:15am - Warm-Up in Band room
9:45am - 8th Grade Orchestra Performance in the AMS North Auditorium (turn right when you enter door 7)

You can meet your student in the lobby outside of the auditorium around 10:20am after we perform and get our scores

Chamber Orchestra:

The Chamber Orchestra Performs on Friday night, March 14. Here is the schedule for that evening:

Friday, March 14
8:15pm - Drop off students at AMS North. Students report to AMS North Practice Gym for Homeroom
8:40pm - students transition to Warm-Up Room
8:45pm - Warm-Up in Band room
9:15pm - Chamber Orchestra Performance in the AMS North Auditorium (turn right when you enter door 7)

You can meet your student in the lobby outside of the auditorium around 9:45 after we perform and get our scores.

Enjoy the Orchestra preview concert video from Tuesday linked here.

Mrs. Sever

The AMS South had many visitors this week! All 7th and 8th grade art students completed biographical research about an artist of their interest. We also had Mrs. Mellen's 8th grade social studies classes in the library for a stations activity. Next week will have more student checkouts - please remind your students to start returning anything they aren't reading as we lead up to Spring Break. Thank you!

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.

EARLY DISMISSALS

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 leaving early for a doctor/dentist appointment, please provide doctor/dentist verification to ensure that the absence is excused.

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 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.

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.

If your child will be absent from school due to a virtual doctor appointment, whether leaving early or coming to school late, to ensure that the absence is excused we will need you to provide written documentation of the appointment from the doctor. Please be sure to ask your doctor to email you a note to provide to school for the appointment. You can either print the email out and send to school with your child to bring to the office, or you can email it to our attendance line at

msattendance@avon-schools.org.

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 will not be granted during the following circumstances:

• NWEA and ILEARN testing
• End of Quarter Assessments
• Last three days of a semester
• 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.

You can either print this form out and complete the information requested and send into school with your child to bring to the front office, or you can fill it out and email it to our attendance email address at msattendance@avon-schools.org

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

Avon Community Schools has chosen Worth Ave. Group as the vendor of choice to insure school-issued laptops rented by students. 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.

• Coverage Term: July 18, 2024 - July 18, 2025
  • It is up to you to renew yearly.
• Enrollment Deadline: September 6, 2024
• Cost is prorated for policies purchased after September.

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, see district calendar for these dates) at Avon Intermediate School East, southside of building enter door #13.

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

Enrollment is simple. Please complete your 2024 - 2025 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.