Principally Speaking:

On behalf of all staff members associated with the Aurora Middle School, we want to take a moment to say thanks for the opportunity to work with your children. As we reflect upon the Thanksgiving holiday, our staff is extremely grateful for the students of our school district. We are also very appreciative of our parents/guardians of our students. Thank you very much for your continued support. Overall, it has been an extremely enjoyable 1st semester with our Aurora Middle School students. It won’t be but a short time before we will be celebrating Christmas. Happy upcoming holidays and as you are making your Christmas plans, a reminder that school will resume with students on Monday, January 6th, 2020.

Thanks for your continued support of our Aurora Middle School.

A couple of additional notes of importance are as follow: • Students were informed through the handbook as well as verbal conversations at the beginning of the school year, about the

school provided iPad remaining at school over the Christmas holiday break. Although the iPads are intended to be an educational tool for students, we realize students and adults have learned to use technology far beyond educational purposes. Over the Christmas break, we wanted all students to be able to enjoy social time with family and friends, without the distraction of the technology devices. As some students have some long term projects that lie ahead, many parents have asked about students having access to the iPad, in order to work on some research projects. Therefore, an adjustment is going to be made for students in 7th and 8th grade. Students will be able to take their iPad home if the parent truly believes the student will have or take time over the break to work on their project. At the 7th grade level, students may need access if wanting to do research on their POP character. At the 8th grade level, students may want to schedule their audio interview with their selected business within their community. Students will be able to take the iPad home, only if permission is granted by school and authorized by parent signature. Students in 7th and 8th grade will be provided with the document to take home and obtain the signature if planning to keep the iPad over the break.

• A reminder to parents, students are in violation of their signed iPad agreement if they are texting or emailing any student, parent, or others, during the school day. Please do not encourage this by sending an email nor by expecting them to respond. It is a violation of the agreement. Feel free to call the school if a message is needed to be relayed to your child.

• Undesirable weather may result in a need for late starts or cancellation of school. Should that need arise, our school will use the traditional means of TV outlets, as well as Infinite Campus and twitter.

CHRISTMAS BREAK DECEMBER 20th (11:30 Dismissal )

School Resumes -JANUARY 6th

D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9 A N G I E M O U R A L

a m o u r a l @ 4 r h u s k i e s . o r g

When my kids were small, I stayed home with them for a few years. My husband

traveled for his job often and we made the decision that it would be best for them if I

stayed home for a little while. My kids were newborn and 3 at that time. Now my

kids are 21 and 18.

I remember running into Reverend Garfield one day. I must have looked pretty

frazzled. My youngest was not an easy toddler. He told me that the days sometimes

creep by but the years fly by. Little did I know, how right he was.

As we enter the holiday season, I encourage all families to spend time together.

These moments are fleeting and someday our kids will be gone and with their own

families. Put the phones and devices away, even turn the WiFi off. Grab a board

game or if the weather is nice, go out and play together outside.

Research is developing that shows that many of us do not have balance between our

real lives and our device lives. We are spending too much time on our phones and

not enough time developing our relationships.

My personal plan is to ask my youngest to build a Christmas house out of graham

crackers and frosting with me. We used to do that every Christmas season when they

were small. I can’t even find the words to tell you how excited I will be to do this one

very small activity. This will be his last year living at home with us. Honestly, where

did the years go?

Blessings to all of you this holiday season.

Sincerely,

Angie Moural

I would put Mrs. Brockhaus and my dog on the nice list because she is a

good teacher and she’s nice and positive! My dog because I love him and

he’s a great dog and he’s good all the time!~hannah Vermillion

My Christmas wish is to have lots of AR points. ~Keegan Chaney

I would put my teachers on the nice list because they worked hard

to make sure that we do our best in school. ~Jordyn Wells

My Christmas wish is to have everyone be happy! ~Brynn Kliewer

I would put Gavin Logue on the nice list he

has been a good friend.~ Carter Schuetze

My Christmas wish is for mickey mouse beats! ~Canon Allen

I would put my mom on the nice list

because she helps me with my

homework. ~Wyatt Parker

I would put Mayzi Retzlaff on the nice list because

she is there for me at the times I need her most!

~Paityn Wyatt

I would put Brooklynn Christenson on the nice list because she’s always

been a kind, caring and comforting friend. ~Grace Howland

I would put my sister on the nice

list because she is kind and puts

up with me. ~Bryndal Moody

My Christmas wish is to be with my Brother on Christmas.

~Booker Schiermann

I would put Brady Freeman on the nice list because he’s the

nicest person I’ve every met. ~Adam Amsden

I would put my sister on the nice list because

she is kind, quiet and playful. ~Trenton Stevens

I would put Rowen Bennett on the Nice List because she is A cool gal!

~Scott Bennet

My Christmas wish is for a puppy.

~Makenna Hanke

I would put Mrs. Wanek on

the nice list because she is

super nice and funny.

~Haven Leu

I would put my brother on the nice list because he has been very

nice lately and compliments me on my catches when I’m playing

with him. ~ Zachary Peters

My Christmas wish is to make it to the nfl but not for the mon-

ey, for the fun of the sport! ~Brady Dennhardt

My Christmas wish is that we have a blizzard

~Jaylah gross

I would put my brother on the nice list

because he has had a great number of

accomplishments this year. ~ Ashlyn kottwitz

I would put Kayda Dahlke on the nice list because she has

been such a good friend to me. ~Taylor Kenny

I would put mr. dubas on the nice list because he is super nice and

deserves a raise because he is super fun! ~Teagan peterson

“YOU MAY WANT TO KNOW”

The following informational items have been provided to students through the daily bulletin:

• Students and parents are reminded the $35 fee paid with your iPad allows the student to take the iPad home. The $35 is not a payment for insurance. Students are reminded that damage caused to the ipad other than normal wear and tear or defective equipment, will be the responsibility of the student. The replacement cost to the iPad is $299. Students are reminded that iPad is loaned to them but should be reminded to treat it as it is their own. The school iPad will need to be returned at the end of the year in quality working condition.

• Students are not allowed to take AR tests over books that have been made into a movie. A reminder to all students, check with the MC before checking out the book if the intention is to read your book for AR points.

• Middle School students need fresh air. Reminder to students that we will go outside over the noon break most every day through the winter. Dress accordingly and please be reminded that Nebraska weather can be somewhat unpredictable from day to day.

• Seventh and 8th grade girls basketball as well as wrestling has begun and our participants are excited to have opportunities to perform in front of classmates, parents and community. We want to remind our students in effort to promote quality sportsmanship, the entertainment is on the playing surface and should not be in the bleachers. We encourage students to enjoy the competitions, but the focus of the event should never be on the students that are there to simply enjoy watching the event. An additional reminder to our students when watching ms activities in the north high school gym, the viewing area is in the northwest corner of the upper deck bleachers.

Christmas Break Schedule

School will be dismissed from the Middle School and High School at

11:30 a.m. onFriday, December 20th. Teacher inservice will be held on Friday, January 3rd. School will

resume for students on Monday, January 6th, 2020.

www.centralconference.org Reminder to all parents, the above email address provides you with access to our Aurora District calendar. The website pro-vides activities, as well as the time of the activity, location, including a map detailing the exact route to the activity destination. You can also access the website by simply going to the Aurora School District web-site at; www.aurorahuskies.org and click on the calendar.

7TH GRADE-SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER

On Tuesday, December 3rd the 7th graders hosted a guest speaker Adam Bender from Cabela's. Adam

discussed his recent trip to Africa where he collard elephants for conservation purposes. His presentation tied

together an outstanding message of how his Journalism degree led him to find his "Why" in life. Adam encouraged our

7th graders to find their "Why" and purpose in life as well! We appreciate Adam for coming to our school to share his

experiences!

Christmas Change War

During the week of Dec. 9-13, excitement will spread through the halls of

Aurora Middle School as CABS again will sponsor the annual Change Wars.

Donations collected are used to purchase Christmas gifts for students in need.

Many young people discover the joy found in giving to others as a result of the

project.

Each class has a large bucket to collect change. Dollar bills can be put in

another class’s bucket, and that total is subtracted from their total. The

students raised $3,294.84 last year with the winner being treated to a movie on

the last day before Christmas vacation.

Lana Dummer

COMMUNITY APPRECIATION PROJECT

In addition to the ten hours of service to their community, eighth grade stu-dents will be doing a project to learn more about their communities and hopefully develop a greater appreciation for them as well.

In December and January, students will be involved in activities in each of their core classes. These activities may include . . .

• learning about the history of Hamilton County

• discussing the scientific contributions of its citizens

• conducting research on an individual business and creating a profile of it

As a culmination for the project, they will create a promo video of their commu-nity and what they have learned.

Hopefully, by the time we finish, students will realize how lucky they are to

live and play in their respective communities.

Message for 7th Grade Parents and Guardians:

The POP project is just getting underway. By Christmas break students will have selected their prominent person and conduct-ed research on that person. Students have been given a calen-dar with tentative due dates and a parent letter for you explain-ing each step of the project. Here is a quick glance at these dates:

• Research packets are due Dec. 4 • Poster Workshop days: Dec. 11 & Dec. 18 from 2:00-

3:30 • Posters are due Jan. 7 • First draft of speeches are due Jan. 15 • Dress rehearsal follows spring break on Monday, March

16 • POP night is Thursday, March 19 @ 7:30 p.m.

Our objectives of this project are for students to 1) learn to

do research; 2) help expand thought processes; 3) improve writing skills; 4) learn to prepare for presentations. While we appreciate having parents provide guidance to your students and helping them gather materials, please remember that to reach these goals, the students need to be doing the work. Thank you for your help and support.

~The 7th Grade Teachers

SCHOOL CLOSING INFORMATION

To address the quickly changing weather patterns of Nebras-ka, the Aurora Public Schools makes every effort to share cor-rect school closing information. Please keep this information close at hand.

In addition to the Infinite Campus Messenger, the follow-ing media sources listed here will have “official” announce-ments from the Aurora Schools regarding school closing information:

AURORA PUBLIC SCHOOLS CLOSING INFORMATION SOURCES

TV STATIONS (Aurora cable channels) RADIO STATIONS

KHAS TV Channel 6 KROA 95.7 FM KLKN Channel 8 KHAS 1230 AM

KOLN/KGIN Channel 11 KZ100 100.3 FM

NTV Channel 13 KAWL 1370 AM

104.9 FM

KRGI 1430 AM

96.5 FM

(Please check your local cable provider or dish system information for corresponding channels.)