You may remember this quote from Alice in Wonderland from the 6th Grade Parent Orientation night! I always use it to describe the ups and downs of adolescent's day but I think it could also pass for our recent weather patterns of late. Please check out our information below that highlights come grounding experiences with our Marauders!

• 8th Grade Math
• 6th Grade Science
• Service Learning at Bernie's Book Bank
• St. Baldrick's
• Polar Plunge
• 5 Essentials
• State Assessments
• and 8th Grade End of the Year information!

Pre-Algebra students just finished learning different methods of solving systems of equations. See the pictures of the Sage 'n' Scribe activity where students explain the process step by step to each other. Now 8th graders are starting the first unit on properties of exponents. Most students like this section because they can solve a lot of problems quickly, but beware! Slowing down, showing work, and taking time to think at each step gets them to the right answers faster.

Algebra students just finished the first unit on quadratic expressions and equations. Students have been multiplying and factoring polynomials in preparation for the infamous Quadratic Formula. This is one of the most important topics in all of Algebra 1, so get ready to hear them singing that formula. We are also getting excited to welcome back the guest presenter from Engineers Teaching Algebra later this month to give students a new way to look at problem solving. 

This year, we were lucky to have six students attend a special day at the the Illinois Holocaust Museum. The Student Leadership Day inspires change-makers to build leadership skills, explore their roles as citizens, and develop a deeper understanding of the Holocaust, genocide, and other human rights issues. The goal is for our Marauders to return to their communities with the tools and drive to promote acceptance and understanding. Our students had a chance to work with other middle school students from other schools that are also working to make a change in their school as well as listen to the keynote speaker, Dion Dawson!

Sixth grade science classes are in the middle of an extensive Outer Space unit. We began with the Earth-Sun-Moon system, then moved on to the solar system and beyond. Students learned about the reason for eclipses, seasons, orbits of the planets, and the future of our Sun. One surprising thing was the relative size and distance of the planets in our solar system. Students modeled these phenomena using household objects and drawing. We are finishing this unit with a space research project that students chose themselves.

This picture shows a senior intern from D214 leading a focus group in Ms. O'Connor's #MAChasPRIDE class. First, in the future, this could very well be one of our own Marauders coming back to learn from staff and contribute to District goals! This D214 student is interning with Mr. Alms and Dr. Angelaccio, learning about multimedia projects and communication. For us, she is creating and getting feedback on a poster series about finishing the year strong, which reinforces messaging we have with all students as they come back from Spring Break. I will be excited in my next communication to share the posters we will have up around school greeting students after Break, and it will be cool to know the messaging and visuals will be inspired by feedback from this class!

The 6th grade took our annual field trip to Bernie's Book Bank on February 21 and 23. Students sorted approximately 40,000 baby books that will be donated to young families who don't have easy access to books for their children. We had fun working alongside friends and listening to music while working hard for 1.5 hours. Thanks to our parents who volunteered to chaperone!

St. Baldrick's is planned for March 15th! Registration information can be found here. More information is on the way as our Student Senate continues its planning. In 2022, we had a goal of $2000 and shattered that amount. What will 2024 bring?

Polar Plunge is planned for March 8th! If you would like to join our MacArthur team, you can register here for more information. 

We do have a competition going on with Keller Junior High; we have raised $10,800 so far and Keller is at $11,500- one more week to regain the lead!!

We are excited to announce the launching of this year's 5Essentials Survey in the State of Illinois. We would love to hear your feedback! Please click the button below to fill out the survey.

The 5Essentials Survey provides insights into schools’ organizational strengths and areas of opportunity across the five essential factors for school improvement. We use the feedback from this survey to improve our school environment! Thank you in advance for taking time out of your already busy schedule to complete our survey.

There are many things synonymous with the winter months, including cold weather, winter sports, and warm drinks. Well, here at school the winter and spring months are synonymous with state testing. In our last newsletter, we focused on the State of Illinois's ACCESS Test for Multilingual Learners that is currently underway. Coming soon, students in grades 3-12 will be taking the Illinois Assessment of Readiness, which is a statewide test in English/language arts (ELA) and mathematics. The state uses this information to provide more support and resources to the schools in the greatest need. This year’s testing window is from March 4 to April 19. Your school will let you know of their chosen testing window within this timeframe as it approaches. An alternate version of the assessment is also available for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities as well. 

In addition to this assessment, students in grades 5, 8, and 11 in the State of Illinois are also required to take the Illinois Science Assessment (ISA), which measures students progress in the area of science over time. Both the Illinois Assessment of Readiness in ELA and Mathematics and the Illinois Science Assessment are aligned with state standards in their subject areas.

Spring Break is three weeks away, and our student iPads are getting ready for a beach staycation, minus the beach! As we prepare for Spring Break, teachers will be collecting iPads and working with the Tech Department to again make sure iPads are updated and working. Specifically, for 4th- and 8th-grade iPads, the Tech Department will inspect those over Break as those iPads will be turned in at the end of the year for recycling. For all students, this ensures they will come back to a working iPad after break, and we hope it is one less thing you have to find on a counter at home. Starting next Friday, students will see a version of the wallpaper below, just giving them instructions for how to prepare for the Spring Break staycation. Parents, please do check to see if your child's iPad is fully updated, to 17.3 and above. 

On April 3rd, our 7th grade students will be participating in virtual presentations during their PE/Exploratory classes for supervised presentations entitled Teen Sexual Health. We partner with Candor Health each year for this great partnerships. If you would like to know more about the program, Candor has created videos for parent resources at: https://candorhealthed.org/school-program-overviews-for-parents/. The password for the video your parents will view is Premier24. Please contact your child's PE teacher if you do not wish them to participate in this program.

End of Year Dates:

8th Grade Parade: 5/22/24

8th Grade Dance: 5/23/24

Promotion: 5/24/24 @JHHS

Each year, our 8th grade teachers select two students to represent MacArthur Middle School at the Student Recognition Breakfast. This year, joining Mr. Kaper and me, was Angie Ban and Sofia Olivieri! These two definitely meet the criteria for the nomination for their work in so many organizations and teams at MacArthur. I can't wait to see how they continue it into their high school careers! Great Job, Ladies!

Updates to 2023-24 Calendar

At the November Board of Education Meeting, the following necessary changes to the current 2023-24 School Year calendar were made:

Tuesday, March 19 will now be a Day of Non-attendance for Teacher Institute Day.

Tuesday, April 2 will now be a day of attendance.

CLICK HERE to view the revised "At-A-Glance" Calendar

-Institute Days: 3/19

-School Improvement Days: 5/10

-Holidays: No School

-Spring Break: 3/25-3/29

-Memorial Day: 5/27

-Additional Non-Attendance Days: 4/1

-8th Grade Promotion (tentative): 5/24

-Last Day of Student Attendance (if no emergency days used): 5