September 30, 2016

Karcher Character Students of the Week

Every week five students will be chosen by our staff for "Karcher Character Student of the Week".  One student from every house (Onyx, Diamond, Hive, & Silver) along with one from the applied academic courses.  The 6th student is chosen from the Karcher Character Bucks students receive throughout the week.  All 6 of these students displayed positive character behaviors within our 8 focused traits:  

Be... responsible, respectful, kind, safe, honest, loyal, compassionate, courageous.  

Student's of the week for 

September 6 - September 9

• Amanda Viel: (Silver House) 
• We chose Amanda for showing leadership and a positive attitude throughout the school day! Way to make a strong first impression.
• Megan Smitz: (Diamond House) 
• Megan has shown strong character during the first week of school. She did a great job being the leader in her science group. She handled adversity well when things didn't go her way. She did a great job of advocating for herself.
• Al Jost: (Applied Academic) 
• Al has already stepped up to assist in class without being asked. Al always treats his teachers and peers with kindness and respect! He is an outstanding role model and leads by example.
• David Smitz: (Hive House) 
• David exhibited Karcher character by showing kindness and respect towards his classmates in a cooperative learning situation.
• Josh Gelden: (Onyx House) 
• Josh has done a fantastic job exhibiting "The Karcher Way". He is always willing to help out and he consistently has a positive attitude and a smile on his face. Thanks Josh and keep up the good work!
• Cory Flees: (Karcher Character Bucks) 
• Cory is a leader in class during group work and works well with others. He is respectful to others inside and outside of the classroom.

Student's of the week for 
September 12 - September 16

• Olivia Ament: (Onyx)  
• Olivia Ament displays "The Karcher Way" in the form of respect, kindness, and sportsmanship. Thanks for being such a positive example Olivia, and keep up the great work.
• Shaquell Daniel: (Karcher Character Bucks) 
• Shaquell was responsible by working well with our advisory team on our banner. He showed kindness and compassion by encouraging a peer who did not want to try a new reading activity. Way to go Shaquell!
• Reid Rainer: (Applied Academics) 
• Reid has a friendly, enthusiastic personality and shows "The Karcher Way" through respecting both students and teachers alike. He even taught his Spanish teacher something really cool this week!  He is not afraid to step up and share prior knowledge with the class.
• Cody Dorn: (Diamond) 
• Cody is a responsible young man who takes pride in doing a great job on his school work. He is kind to his peers and always has a smile on his face.
• Jaden Bird: (Silver) 
• Jaden has a positive attitude, great leadership skills, and strong intellectual abilities! We believe he'll make a great George Washington some day!
• Keenan Kramer (Hive) 
• Keenan has done an outstanding job in advisory as part of the team and continues to show responsibility in class.

Student's of the week for 

September 19 - September 23

• Justus Brenner: (Onyx) 
• Justus has taken frequent leadership roles in many settings. He is a positive role model for his peers. He demonstrated compassion at Friday Night Live, teaching others to play Ping Pong. Keep up the great work.
• Trishelle Iniguez: (Diamond) 
• Trishelle is always respectful to her peers and is a leader inside and outside of the classroom. She is a great representative of "The Karcher Way".
• Ali Ament: (Silver) 
• Silver House chooses Alli, her incredibly positive attitude and desire to help brightens every class! Thank you Alli!
• Sarah Koeberl: (Applied Academics) 
• Sarah comes to class every day with a great positive attitude and is always willing to help.
• Kate Weidner: (Hive) 
• Even though Kate is new to our school, Kate has consistently done things "The Karcher Way". She is kind, responsible, and always respectful.
• LeAnn Schroeder: (Karcher Character Bucks) 
• LeAnn is a quiet leader who is always respectful to staff and her peers. She is a great example of how to follow "The Karcher Way"!

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Reminders/Information

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• Our first FNL (Friday Night Live) was a success!  We had 141 students in attendance and over 15 staff volunteers to help with the event.  See some pictures below of the students in action.  
• The Athletic Activities Calendar now has clickable PDFs for you to utilize for all of our girls basketball games, cross country meets, and flag football schedule.  
• All clubs at Karcher have been updated on our website under the Activities/Club tab on the left.  Click HERE to go right to the link.  
• Students are made aware through morning announcements when clubs start!
• The deadline for yearbook order forms has been extended.  Please contact Ms. Berezowitz (advisor) with any questions.
• Students should turn in their order form to their advisory teacher at the start of the school day.  
• Picture Day make-ups will be held on October 25th.  
• Click on the links below for Outdoor Education information:
• Silver House Permission Slip/Payment Information
• Hive House Permission Slip/Payment Information
• 7th grade field trip to the school forest has moved to October 5, Wednesday from 9:40 - 12:45.  Contact Barb Berezowitz or Andrea Hancock with any questions.  
• Student Counsel field trip to Camp MacLean on October 10, Monday.  Contact Marilee Hoffman (advisor) with questions.
• Parent-Teacher Conferences will be on October 17 from 4:00 - 7:00pm.  
• These are open conferences for parents to come in and meet with any teacher within your student's schedule that you would like to meet with.  
• All conferences will be held in the Karcher Library. 
• No School on October 28 due to staff in-service time. 
• Wrestling and Boys Basketball will start on October 31.   If you do not have a physical on file for your student please start thinking about lining one up for your student to participate.  
• Contact Bonnie Crist, our health aide, with any questions (763-0190 ext. 1107)
• Reminder that students can stay after school every Tuesday and/or Thursday from 2:40 - 3:20 to work on their academic work.  We encourage your student to take advantage of this time, especially if they are needing to use their chromebooks!  

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Pictures from the last few weeks!

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Students navigating throughout the building in Mr. Jones's math class.  The students had to understand coordinates in order to know where the next clue/location was.  

Ms. Geyso's ELA class utilizing some silent sustained reading time in the library.  

Ms. Zeman's students utilizing their chromebooks for a math formative assessment.  

Students in Ms. Sturdevant's science class developing an experiment and collecting accurate data.  

Student's in Ms. Weis's science class working through the experimental method and the importance of observations.  

Students in Ms. Pelnar's art class creating their own perspective drawings.  

And the student's perspective drawings after...

Students in Ms. Waki's class participating in a getting to know each other activity.  

The next four pictures are students in Ms. Jorgenson's math class working through math stations.

Students in Mr. Sulik and Ms. Fulton's ELA class working on their own person Ode...

Coach Staude (teacher at Dyer) and some of his baseball players being recognized at the board meeting for their state championship win last season!  

Student being recognized at the board meeting with Coach Bousman for being an outstanding track and field athlete!  

Burlington High School students being recognized at the board meeting last Monday night.  These students were recognized for taking rigorous course work within the area of AP courses and recognized as AP Scholars!

Students in Ms. Nettesheim, Ms Tenhagen, and Ms. Parr's 7th grade math classroom utilizing the chromebook whiteboards and the Behavior Rubric :)

From the creation of the advisory banners to the presentation of the banners in the gym this past Friday for our Karcher Kick-Off Day.  Students did a great job creating a theme and weaving in the 8 character traits of "The Karcher Way".

Team building activities by advisory and/or grade level during our Karcher Kick-Off Day.  Students did a great job working through some difficult challenges as a team!

Friday Night Live!!!  GREAT turn out (141 students attended) and the students had a great time!

Silver House meeting about Outdoor Education!

Basketball girls getting their game on this past week against New Berlin.  

Students waiting for their free breakfast!  179 students took breakfast last week... the number is climbing!!!

Students in Mr. Ferstenou's and Ms. Hancock's iTime working on creating their own superhero stories that they will create and record on their chromebooks.  

 Student's assisting each other within Ms. Pelnar's Art Design course as they work through understanding the importance of shapes within a 2D perspective.  

Students in Ms. Rummler's social studies class all playing delegate roles for the creation of the constitution. 

Girls cross country are off to a nice start of their season!

September 6, 2016

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Reminders/Information

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• Our first 3 days of school have been a success!  Check out some pictures at the end of each blog to see our students in action here at Karcher!

• We have three main focuses at Karcher.  Below is a short description of each:
• Character Education:  
• Across the district, K-12, each school has implemented character education within their school day.  
• At Karcher we being each week on Monday morning with a character lesson, taught during advisory time.  These lessons focus around our 8 character traits:  Be safe, kind, respectful, responsible, compassionate, honest, loyal, and courageous.  Students will also participate with their advisory on larger scale character projects throughout the school year.  
• We also utilize "Karcher Character Bucks" (also known as KCBs) as our positive behavior system for students.  When a student demonstrates that they have gone above and beyond within one of our 8 character traits they may receive a KCB from any staff member in the building.  They then can use their KCBs throughout the school year.  Students are made aware of KCB opportunities through our morning announcements.  
• Literacy - SQIDVPAC and writing:
• Disciplinary literacy is a necessity for all of our students to ensure they are all college and/or career ready once they graduate from high school.  
• To assist with ensuring students are college and/or career ready at Karcher we have infused reading strategies (utilizing the acronym SQIDVPAC) across all disciplines at Karcher.  The "S" for example stands for summarizing, synthesizing, and sequencing.  Three different reading strategies to assist students with reading comprehension within the classroom.  
• Our other focus within literacy is to increase writing opportunities for students.   This includes response journals, informative writing, and persuasive writing across all disciplines.  Other forms of writing will be emphasized within our core subject areas.  
• Instructional Best Practices:
• Staff will continue to provide guaranteed and viable curriculum to all of our students utilizing current best practices.  
• Staff work collaboratively to continuously improve lesson design, common assessments, and differentiation strategies to meet the needs of all students.  

New information:  

• Our first FNL (Friday Night Live) for all 7th and 8th grade students attending Karcher will be on September 16th from 6:30 - 8:30pm.  
• FNL has been established to give students an opportunity to engage in safe and appropriate activities on a Friday night.  Activities that will be available are:  dodgeball, outdoor activities, ping pong, video games, and board games.
• All FNL's are staffed with volunteer staff members from Karcher Middle School
• The cost to attend can be any of the three:  2 KCBs, 2 dollars, or 4 canned goods (we then donate to Love, Inc)
• Drop off and pick up will be on Wainwright Street by the gym.  
• Please pick up promptly at 8:30pm.

• "Grab and Go" is our free breakfast offered to all students this school year.  
• There is a "Grab and Go" cart in both the 7th grade wing and the 8th grade wing.  The cart on the first floor (7th grade wing) is near the ramp to go to music or the gym.  The second floor (8th grade wing) cart is near the library. Students can access either cart for their free breakfast.  Students simply need to provide their 5 digit lunch code for documentation purposes only.  
• Students can eat their breakfast in their advisory at the start of the school day or save their breakfast items for a snack later in the school day.   
• The daily breakfast menu is located on our website under the "Food Service" tab on the left side of our BASD website.  Once you click on "Food Service" there are clickable links to the calendar by school on the right hand side.  CLICK HERE to access the September breakfast food calendar for Karcher.  

• CLICK HERE  to access the September lunch food calendar for Karcher. 

• Chromebooks - students have been issued their chromebook.  Their issued chromebook will be their BASD technology device for the next three years!  Students need to take care of them as they keep the same exact device throughout all three years.

• We are working on our finalized list for other extra curricular activities and I plan to share those in our next blog...

• CLICK HERE if your 7th grade student is in the Diamond House.  This is their homework calendar as a team... this can also be found on our "Parent Links" tab on the Karcher Middle School Website.

• Picture Day order flyers will be handed out to students tomorrow, Thursday, during advisory.  Expect them to be coming home tomorrow! 
• Picture day is on September 13th.  Students are called to the library in alphabetical order throughout the day.  
• Students should have their order form with them and give it to the photographer at the time of their picture being taken.  

Reminder... Extra Curricular Activities starting in September:

Please note:  Anyone who is participating in cross country or girls basketball MUST have a physical turned into the health office to participate.   All necessary forms are located under our "Karcher Athletics" tab on the Karcher website.  CLICK HERE to go directly to the link.  

The following are the three extra-curricular activities offered starting this week:

• Cross Country will start practice on September 8 and run through October 10 with practices after school from 2:45-4:00.
• Coach contact:  Marilee Hoffman (mhoffman@basd.k12.w.us)
• Girls Basketball will start on September 7 and run through October 29 with practices after school from 2:45-4:15.
• Coach contact:  
• Kurt Rummler (7th grade) krummler@basd.k12.wi.us
• Brad Ferstenou (8th grade)  bferstenou@basd.k12.wi.us
• Flag Football will start practice on September 8.  
• Students planning on starting flag football do NOT need to have a physical as this is considered a club.  
• Meeting every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday for six weeks - see below schedule.
• Coach contact:  Hans Block (hblock@basd.k12.wi.us)
• Click HERE for the permission slip needed for flag football.  

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Pictures from the first few days of school!

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Students working on finding their classes and figuring out their lockers.  

Learning the ins and outs within the cafeteria.  

Taking advantage of their free time right after lunch!

Math students getting to know each other in Ms. Tenhagen and Ms. Nettesheim's classroom.

8th grade students already working on their book selections for Ms. Geyso's ELA class.  

Students working on building the tallest spaghetti tower as a team building activity in Mr. Sulik's ELA class.  

2nd day assembly on the utilization of their 1 to 1 chromebooks!  

After the assembly students were already engaging in their learning through the use of their chromebooks in Ms. Murphy's ELA class.  

August 16, 2016

WELCOME BACK!

Parents and Guardians,

School is just around the corner and we are excited to meet our new incoming 7th graders and see our now 8th graders again!  We have an excellent staff here at Karcher;  they are extremely dedicated to the academic growth and character development of all of our students.  This can be recognized when looking at our academic gains our 7th and 8th grade students made during the 2015-2016 school year on the MAP assessments (noted below) in comparison to the national mean.  We are all eager to get back to school and begin making strides forward with all of our students throughout the 2016-2017 school year and will work hard to make significant gains in academic growth again!

Throughout the school year our way of keeping parents in the loop for Karcher is through the use of this blog.  I will update the blog every 2-3 weeks and you will receive an email through Skyward informing you of each updated blog.  The blog is always accessible on the Karcher Middle School website in the center of the screen.  You can also bookmark karchermiddleschool.blogspot.com to have constant access to the blog.  Each blog throughout the school year will be archived and can be accessed at the bottom of the most recent blog.  I hope you feel this blog is useful and helpful for you as we progress through the school year.

On behalf of the staff here at Karcher we look forward to working with each and every student so they all can achieve academic growth and have some fun along the way.

Go Demons!

Jill Oelslager, principal

2016-2017 MAP Data Results

 

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Reminders/Information

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Prior to the first day of school information:

• Online Registration needs to be completed for every student prior to August 21.  Please make sure you login to your Skyward to register your students.  
• To login/register you will need your username and password.  If you do not know one of these you can call our main office at Karcher (763-0190) or any district building for this information.  
• Onsite Registration if needing assistance will be held at Burlington High School on:
• August 17 from 7:00-1:00 and/or 2:30-6:30pm
• August 18 from 7:00-1:00 and/or 2:30-6:30pm
• Our Karcher Middle School office is currently open from 7:00 - 3:30pm.  Once school is in session the office is open from 6:45am - 3:45pm.  
• Student's schedules will be visible online starting August 24 at 8:00am.  
• We are still double checking schedules but they will be good to go by the 24th.  
• Karcher Open House:  August 31 from 6:30 - 7:30pm.
• Students, parents, and/or guardians will have the opportunity to locate their classrooms and talk with staff.
• Please bring a printed copy of your student's schedule.
• Please do not bring any of your school supplies as locker combinations will be handed out during the school day.  

Once school starts:

• The school day here at Karcher is from 7:20 - 2:30.  
• Students will be able to enter the building starting at 7:05am.  
• All parent drop off and pick up should occur on Robert Street (by the circle drive).  
• Parents will not be able to drive through the circle drive once the barrier is in place (am & pm) due to the high traffic flow of students walking.
• All AM buses drop off on Wainwright Street (by the gym).
• PM buses are located on both Wainwright Street and Robert Street.  
• Our first two days of the school year we will be running a modified bell schedule (we will still have a 7:20-2:30 day - just utilizing an atypical schedule)
• Our character curriculum will be utilized to assist students with the transition to school and ensure all students are comfortable and ready for the school year.  
• Click HERE for our regular daily bell schedule.  
• This year all students at Karcher will have the ability to have a free breakfast prior to the start of class.  We will make sure all students are aware of this through our daily announcements in advisory.  
• One to One - Chromebooks!
• Every student will be given a BASD issued chromebook on the second day of school.  This is an exciting time for BASD as all students K-12 will have one to one access to technology.  
• A chromebook will be assigned to your student with a bar code and name identification.  Students at Karcher will not be allowed to bring their chromebooks home and we will assist the students with the structure for pick up and drop off of their chromebooks at the start and end of each school day.  
• Students are responsible for their school issued chromebook and will need to follow the technology handbook guidelines.  
• Picture Day will be on September 13 throughout the school day.  
• Order form information will be handed out to students prior to picture day.  
• Tuesday/Thursday school will start on September 20th.
• Every Tuesday and Thursday the library will be open from 2:35 - 3:20 to provide a time for students to have access to their chromebooks and assistance from staff members with their academic work.  
• This time may also be used by teachers if they feel a student needs to be assigned to Tuesday or Thursday school due to their academic progress.  Parents would be contacted in the event a teacher decides to utilizes this time.  
• Health Office information:
• Please remember that if your child requires medication fro the upcoming 2016-2017 school year that a new medication administration consent form will be required before medications can be administered.  Prescription medications do require a MD, PA, or NPAP signature.  Forms can be downloaded and printed from the District's website or picked up in your child's school office.  All morning medications should be administered to the child at home BEFORE they arrive at school.  This prevents the need for controlled substance delivery between school and home.  It also assures that any necessary benefit of the medication is in your child's system so they are ready to start their 1st hour class upon arrival. 
• Please feel free to call Jessica Polcyn RN, BSN, Director of Health Services for any questions on medication use in the school (262) 763-0214 ext. 203.

Extra Curricular Activities starting in September:

• Cross Country will start practice on September 8 and run through October 10 with practices after school from 2:45-4:00.
• Coach contact:  Marilee Hoffman (mhoffman@basd.k12.w.us)
• Girls Basketball will start on September 7 and run through October 29 with practices after school from 2:45-4:15.
• Coach contact:  
• Kurt Rummler (7th grade) krummler@basd.k12.wi.us
• Brad Ferstenou (8th grade)  bferstenou@basd.k12.wi.us
• Flag Football will start practice on September 8.  
• Meeting every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday for six weeks.  
• Coach contact:  Hans Block (hblock@basd.k12.wi.us)