Northridge Middle School News
Thoughts from Dr. Goodman
October 2013
Qtr 1 2013-14
Part of the mission of Northridge Middle School is to prepare students for high school and post-secondary
life. The International Baccalaureate Diploma Program at NHS is one our newest programs as a district that is
preparing students to achieve at high levels. I feel strongly that its core character traits that it instills in high
school age learners are applicable to our middle school age students as well. We hope that we are following
these same goals at NMS.
The aim of all International Baccalaureate (IB) programs is to develop internationally minded people who,
recognizing their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more
peaceful world.
IB learners strive to be:
Inquirers: They develop their natural curiosity. They acquire the skills necessary to conduct inquiry and research and show independence in learning. They actively enjoy learning and this love of learning will be sustained throughout their lives.
Knowledgeable: They explore concepts, ideas and issues that have local and global significance. In so doing,
they acquire in-depth knowledge and develop understanding across a broad and balanced range of disciplines.
Thinkers: They exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to recognize and approach
complex problems, and make reasoned, ethical decisions.
Communicators: They understand and express ideas and information confidently and creatively in more than
one language and in a variety of modes of communication. They work effectively and willingly in collaboration with others.
Principled: They act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice and respect for the
dignity of the individual, groups and communities. They take responsibility for their own actions and the consequences that accompany them.
Open-minded: They understand and appreciate their own cultures and personal histories, and are open to
the perspectives, values and traditions of other individuals and communities. They are accustomed to seeking and evaluating a range of points of view, and are willing to grow from the experience.
Caring: They show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and feelings of others. They have a
personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment.
Risk-takers: They approach unfamiliar situations and uncertainty with courage and forethought, and have
the independence of spirit to explore new roles, ideas and strategies. They are brave and articulate in defending their beliefs.
Balanced: They understand the importance of intellectual, physical and emotional balance to achieve personal well-being for themselves and others.
Reflective: They give thoughtful consideration to their own learning and experience. They are able to assess
and understand their strengths and limitations in order to support their learning and personal development.
Staff new to Northridge Middle School
Shawn Baker – 8th Gr Social Studies
High School: Northridge
College: Manchester University
Teaching years: 2
Hobbies: I enjoy spending time with
my wife, reading when I get the
chance, staying in shape, watching
sports, and being outside when the
weather is nice.
I'm very excited to be back in the
Middlebury school system and looking forward to many
more years here!
Aimee Gingerich – 6th Gr math
High School: Northridge - 2007
College: Purdue University, participating in track and softball there.
Experience: 1st year teacher
Hobbies: Enjoy sports (running, basketball, softball), fishing, movies,
spending time with family.
Jamie Halfast— 7th Grade LA & VB
coach
High School - Rochester
College IU Bloomington with a B.S.
in apparel merchandising
Returned to IUSB to pursue a B.S. in
Elem. Ed. & M.S. at Ind. Wesleyan
I enjoy spending free time with my
husband Eric and one year old son,
Kellan. I also Enjoy reading and spending time outdoors
Tammy Smaka – L.E.A.P. teacher
High School: JW Robinson Secondary
in Fairfax, Virginia
College: Purdue
experience: currently in my 15th year
hobbies: reading, sporting events,
spending time with family and dogs
Interesting or not: I'm obsessed with
awards shows, and I really do think
Walt Disney World is the most magical place on earth.
Erika Corson 6th Grade Para and
Mixed Ability
High School: South Side, Fort Wayne
College: Indiana University, Bloomington
IPFW Ivy Tech Community College
Hobbies: Scrapbooking, Traveling,and
Performing with Premier Arts.
I enjoy spending time with my husband and two boys. We love traveling to Disney World,
spending our weekends at the lake, and watching my
oldest play hockey with the Irish Youth Hockey League.
John Davis ECSEC Para
High School DeKalb High School
College WGU
experience 1 year
Hobbies playing instruments, hiking, singing,
traveling
I help at the High School with the Showchoir, I am
so excited about working at Northridge!
Autumn Elliott SpEd Asst
High School: Northridge
College: current IUSB student in education
Enjoys running, reading, & being active
along with spending time with friends and
family
Robbie Fletcher Bldg Asst
Nicole Graham Academy Asst
High School: Elkhart Memorial
Son Doug is a 6th grader at NMS and daughter,
Morgan a 4th grader at HIS.
Hobbies: Enjoy both playing and watching
sports, and outdoor activities, fishing and
horseback riding.
Sara Hoefer SpEd Asst
High School: Goshen High School
College: Goshen
In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my
family, reading, exercising and traveling. I have
two children. My son is a freshman at Northridge
High School, and my daughter is a 4th grader at
Heritage Intermediate School. I also have a Goldendoodle named
Harley.
Priti Patel SpEd Asst
New Staff Cont….
Missy Pletcher Bldg Asst.
High School: Concord High School
Have 2 kids Lauren (Sophomore at
NHS and Drew 5th at HIS)
Lin Troyer: Attendance Secretary
High School: Northridge
Teresa Troyer Bldg Asst
High School: Mira Mesa High School
- San Diego, CA
Miramar College - San Diego, CA
2 years as a Para for High Functioning Autistic Kids
Hobbies: Reading, Cooking, Baking, Camping, Hiking
Queen of Cake Pops
I was born in the Philippines and moved to the
United States at the age of 10. I am married to
Gareth Troyer and we have three children (Mason
- 13, Hayley - 9, and Landon - 7). I am one of nine
children with me being the youngest by five
minutes; I have an identical twin sister.
BoxTops For Education
SwingFry
The Northridge Middle School and High School
Choral Departments are excited for the Annual
SwingFry Fundraiser coming up on November 9,
2013. SwingFry will be a wonderful party for the
entire community where family and friends gather at Northridge High School for an afternoon
and evening of performances, along with an "All
You Can Eat" fish and chicken dinner (not to
mention home made pie!). There will be an unbelievable bake sale, a silent auction full of surprises, and open concessions and coffee stands.
Tickets will go on sale soon and may be purchased through choir members or contacting the
front office at NMS. Area show choirs have also
been invited to perform. Shows will run from 3 8 p.m. Please mark November 9th on your calendar so that you can help our kids get off to a
great start this year!
6th Grade Students of the
Month for September:
T-Rex
Kaylee Lundy
Zach Smaka
RAPTOR
Natalia Gamaz-Trillo
Jacob Luebbenhusen
Remember to clip Box Tops
We have a list of products in the
front office
www.boxtops4education.com
Last year we earned over $1000.00!
Saber
Jessica Bell
Wilson Wang
2013 Parent/Teacher Conference
Conference times: Wednesday, Oct 16 – 4:30 – 8:30
Thursday, Oct 17 – 4:30 – 8:30
Our P/T conference format allows parents to conference with as many or as few teachers as the parent desires. Parents will
retrieve their child's report card from a guidance counselor seated directly inside our north entryway before entering into the
conferences. The core teachers will be seated by instructional teams in the school cafeteria, Expressive Arts teachers will be
located in the hallway prepared to talk with parents about our children. You may need to wait a few minutes to see each
teacher.
All teachers will be on a limited time schedule because of the number of parents they will be meeting. If you feel there is not
sufficient time to discuss a concern with the teacher, we encourage you to set up an appointment to meet that teacher at a
later date.
We appreciate your continued interest in and support of our educational program. By working together in this manner we
can better meet the individual needs of your child. We look forward to seeing you either Wednesday, October 16, or
Thursday, October 17.
Friday, October 18 – No School
Friday, October 25 – No School
8th Grade Civics Projects
As part of an ongoing Civics project, over 160 eighth grade students and 10 teachers teamed with
Feed-the-Children out of Elkhart, to pack over 2000 boxes of food to go to local families in need. Students also sorted through hundreds of books to be distributed to local schools. In addition to this large
scale project, students have worked a combined 100 hours at the local food pantry, spent over 100 hours
cleaning the school grounds and planting flowers, helped with local elementary parent meetings, participated in various races around the community, helped with the Middlebury Optimist Club’s annual Tri- Star
Soccer event, and various other projects of their own design. Students will continue in their efforts to make
the world a better place through projects both big and small. Upcoming projects include Letters to Soldiers, Ringing the Bell for the Salvation Army, the Haunted Hilly, and a large scale park clean-up in partnership with the Middlebury Parks Department
Parents-The best way to keep up on your student's homework assignments is by going to our homework site What's Due Today?
at whatsduetoday.org. Click on your student's grade level, and
pick a day to see what teachers are expecting to be completed
when they come to class that day.
The site is updated by 4:00 pm each school day.
This is also a good way to see what assignments have been given if your child is absent.
If you have any questions or issues with the site, please contact
Matthew Lind at [email protected].
1st Quarter VIP Luncheon
The VIP program at Northridge Middle School recognizes good citizenship qualities. Ten
students are selected from each grade level. Each quarter, VIPs will be honored with a Middlebury Dairy Queen luncheon with a speaker from the community. They also receive a bumper sticker and a picture magnet provided by American Legion Post #210 in Middlebury.
The criteria considered for selecting these students are: they help and care for others, take
care of school responsibilities (grades, detentions, overdue books etc.) in a positive way, display leadership, are actively involved in school, have good attendance, pleasant personality,
respect authority and other students’ rights and property,
The featured speaker for the first quarter was Jack Cook of Middlebury. The luncheon was
held October 8, 2013.
The students selected for the first quarter were:
6th grade: Tanner Baber, Alison Bache, Meg Ciokajlo, Dylan Kruzick, Nick Logan,
Jacob Miller, Erika Robles, Julia Stuckey, Ethan Stutzman and Betsy Wertman.
7th grade: Evan Beasley, Meghan Bontrager, Sarah Deak, Helen Duong, Takheim Erickson, Gina Foulon, Chris Gorham, Emma Palmer, Andrew Seegert and Julie Yoder.
8th grade: Emma Beebe, Alex Brown, Kyle Carson, Meghan Cawood, Litzy Chiquito, Simon
Grevengoed, Taylor Minth, Andrew Ostrander, Emily Penzenik and Trevor Sallee.
Congratulations to these students!
The 7A volleyball team is comprised of
Faith Weinberg, Arin Miller, Morgan Litwiller,
Grace Deuel, Bailey Grise, Carley Christner,
Cassie Solis, and Beth Seegert. The girls
have come a long way this season improving tremendously in every aspect of the
game. They had a strong finish to their season and are looking forward to their tournament next week.
It’s been a great season for Girls 7b Volleyball. The
girls have all brought their unique talents and skills
to make the team successful. One of our main
mottos for this season has been to always have fun.
They realized early on that if they were having fun
playing, then the hard work didn’t seem so hard.
They ended their regular season 7-1.
This year’s players included Brooke Mawhorter,
Maddie Colglazier, Elisa Peters, Cassidy Mansfiled,
Danielle Hapner, Alexis Jensen, and
captains Emma Sandy and Sam Michel.
Great job ladies on a season well done!
* name omitted due to “denial to publish” request”
Counselor’s Corner
The school year is off to a fast and wonderful start! The counseling department teamed up with our character education program to talk to the student body about setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely) goals for themselves. Each student had an opportunity to set two goals for themselves: an academic goal for the first nine weeks, and any goal of their choice that they would like to achieve by the end of the
school year. Parents, finding out what goals your student set for themselves would be a great conversation starter!
During the month of October, our sixth grade students will be experiencing an online program called
Drive of Your Life, which allows them to design their own vehicle while filling out a self-assessment and exploring
careers that match their personal skills and interests. You can find out more through visiting
www.driveofyourlife.org. Also in October, our 8th grade students will be taking part in our annual Career Day. On
October 24th, 15 different professionals will be coming to school to share with students about their career. Students will have the opportunity to listen to presentations from their top three career choices. We hope that these
activities provide our students with a vision of some future goals and dreams, as well as incentive to work hard
now in middle school so that they can one day attain the job that they hope to have.
Leisure League
Leisure League is an after school club that meets six times throughout the school year with the goal of
providing a greater sense of school connection for those who participate. In September we visited the Knollbrook
Farm Corn Maze. The 46 students and six staff members who attended had a blast! Our next activity, bowling at
Signature Lanes, is coming up on October 23rd. Students will hear announcements about this and have an opportunity to start signing up a week in advance. Other activities for the year will include skating and laser tag at Eby’s
Pines (Dec. 12th), swimming and a high ropes course at NHS (Feb. 8th), a movie and ice cream sundaes at NMS
(March 6th), and miniature golfing at Sunshine Farms (May 15th).
The Scholastic Book Fair will take place
in the NMS Library from 8-4:00pm Oct. 16-Oct. 24th and will also be open during the Parent/
Teacher Conferences. In addition to these days, we will hold an online book fair
(link below) beginning Oct. 4-Oct. 23.
Preorders will be taken for Diary of a Wimpy Kid Hard Luck (Nov. 5, 2013).
Volunteers are still needed…call Velma Hardman 574-238-5565.
http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bookfairs/cptoolkit/homepage.do?method=homepage&url=northridgemiddlesch
Our library is currently trying to raise funds to bring the author of
I’m Not Missing Anything to visit our school in January. Brett
Eastburn is an internationally acclaimed and respected motivational speaker who was born without any limbs. He grew up in
the South Bend area and attended John Glenn High School where
he participated in baseball, basketball, football, swimming, and
wrestling. Brett truly believes that he was born with no handicaps and that you're a success only if you choose to be. If you
would like to help sponsor his visit, please contact Teri Schmidt at
574-822-5068.
http://www.bretteastburn.com/
Thanks to the Middlebury Community Public Library our book clubs are continuing to take place each month with the help of Young Adult Librarian, Kelsey
Kauffman. They will feature a different Young Hoosier Book each month. This
month’s club features The Legend by Marie Lu. This is a New York Times bestseller which takes place in the dark future, when North America has split into two
warring nations. Fifteen-year-olds Day, a famous criminal, and prodigy June, the
brilliant soldier hired to capture him, discover that they have a common enemy.
Students who sign up each month, meet in the library for a lively discussion, fun
activities, and of course some food that pertains to the book. November’s book
club will feature The Candy Bomber by Michael Tunnell.