Mandarino Minutes for Dec. 12, 2016

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Happy Snow Day-
I hope that your neighborhood is now uncovered! :)

Concerts-
Tomorrow (Tuesday, Dec. 13th) will be the 7th & 8th grade orchestras and 6th-8th grade choir concert at St. Joseph High School's auditorium beginning at 7:00 P.M.  Wednesday evening at 7:00 P.M. will be the middle school & high school band concerts at St. Joseph High School's auditorium. Both concerts should be very entertaining!  Our IT department is also offering live streaming for those family members that are unable to attend.  Below are the links:

Upton Middle School Winter Concert: Tuesday December 13^th  @ 7:00

https://youtu.be/2bDFiSQfmr4

SJPS Winter Band Concert: Wednesday December 14^th @ 7:00

https://youtu.be/L9aCYgrXXI8

SJHS Choir and Orchestra: Monday December 19^th @ 7:00

https://youtu.be/sems0SfgJRQ

7th & 8th grade Girls Basketball meeting-
Any 7th or 8th grade girl interested in girls basketball we will have a meeting before school at 8:30 A.M. in the Blue gym.  Coach Bloodworth will be talking to the girls about the upcoming tryouts and season that will begin right after the break.

Holiday Luncheon-

We will have our annual holiday luncheon this Wednesday, December 14th.  We will have ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, cake, and more.  It is the normal lunch price.

Upcoming Dance-
We will have a 7th & 8th grade dance on Friday, January 6th from 6:00-8:00 P.M.

Late Start Wednesday-
We will have a late start this Wednesday, December 14th.  Buses will run one hour later and breakfast will be served starting at 8:15 A.M.

Thanks for your support-
Our media center staff is very appreciative of your support of our book fair.  Your support and generosity will help us purchase more books for our media center.

Quote of the week-

"Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.”

- Gail Devers

Have a good week,

Mr. Mandarino

Mandarino Minutes for 12-5-16

Dear Parents/Guardians,


All-State Anna-
Congratulations to Anna Miesse for being selected to the All-State orchestra!  Anna is the only middle school student to be selected at UMS! This is not an easy task, and is the product of a lot of hard work and practice!

Joe Bots-
Congratulations to teams 11855 and 8513 for a great competition at Coloma on Saturday!  Team 8513 was chosen as an alliance partner and lost a close match in the semifinals.  Team 8513 also came away with the PTC Design Award!  A great job and effort was put in by all of our Joe Bots! :)

Upton Equestrian Team Meeting-
This Thursday, December 8th beginning at 6:00 P.M. in Ms. Kietzerow's room 212 we will have a student & parent meeting for any students interested in being a part of the Upton Equestrian team.

Book Fair-
The book fair continues through this Friday, December 9th.  We want to thank all the parents who have volunteered to work a shift, and to the students who have browsed the fair.  These book fairs help us to be able to provide more books for our media center.

Personal Responsibility-

The guidance department went into all the 7th grade science classes to discuss personal responsibility last week.  As part of this presentation, all the students had some “homework” - each student is to come up with 1 way to be more responsible at home & 1 way to be more responsible at school. Starting Mon 12/5 – Thurs 12/15 the students will track how they are doing on these goals, get a parent signature, and turn in the paper on Friday 12/16 to his/her science teacher.  

Hour of Code-

This Friday, December 9th the entire student body will take part in the international day of code.  Each student will work for a portion of time on coding and be able to go at their comfort level from beginner to advanced.  This is the third annual event held here at Upton. Here is a link to the Hour of code:  https://hourofcode.com/us

Dates to Remember:

-  Tuesday, December 6th- 6th grade "informance"

-  Wednesday, December 7th & 14th- Late Start Days

-  Tuesday, December 13th-  Choir & 7th/8th grade Orchestra Concert

-  Wednesday, December 14th-  MS/HS Band Concert

Quote of the week:

"Self-praise is for losers. Be a winner. Stand for something. Always have class, and be humble." - John Madden

Have a great week,

Mr. Mandarino