Mandarino Minutes for 1-29-18

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Welcome to the 2nd Semester-
It is hard to believe that today is the start of the second semester!  Thanks for a great first half and we hope the second half is just as successful!

The Little Mermaid, Jr. -
It's your turn to be "part of the world" and join your friends in the cast of Little Mermaid, Jr. the musical that Upton Students will put on Saturday, May 12th.  Rehearsals begin Monday, March 12th-Wednesday, March 14th from 3:00-5:00 P.M. in the Choir Room.  Auditions will be Thursday & Friday, March 15th &15th from 3:00-5:00 P.M.  All experience levels are welcome (no prior experience as well).  More information is available at www.sjmusicalboosters.com or Facebook: St. Joseph Musical Boosters.  

MathCounts -
Congratulations to our MathCounts team as they travel this Friday to compete in the regional math competition at Western Michigan University.  They are: 
6th graders-  Tanvi Gaikwad and Grace Yuan
7th graders- Riley Biggins, James Diamond, Nik Door, 

Ashton Gashin, Harsh Gupta, and Max Warriner  

8th graders- Joe Paine and Nick Strickler 

Heart & Sole/Girls on the Run Deadline today -
Please go to this document: Heart & Sole document  This program is for any girl interested in Heart & Sole/ Girls on the Run.  It is a great program that builds self esteem, character, and is fun all at the same time!  The deadline is today.  

SJPS Calendar Photo Contest -
Here is a link to the SJPS Foundation calendar photo contest.  This is open to all students and families in SJPS.  Click here: http://www.stjosephpublicschoolsfoundation.org/Photo-Contest.html

Equestrian Team Meeting Reminder -

Upton will have an equestrian team meeting this Thursday, February 1st at 5:30 pm in Ms. Kietzerow's room (212).  This meeting is open to anyone interested in joining the club and a parent/s.


8th grade parent meeting next week on Wednesday, Feb. 7th -

CLASS OF 2022

SAVE THE DATE: 

Informational Scheduling Meeting for 8th Grade Students & Their Parents 
who plan to attend
St. Joseph High School Fall 2018

Wednesday, February 7, 2018
6:00pm
St. Joseph High School Auditorium

(You will receive 2018-19 scheduling materials, learn about the high school scheduling process, meet department representatives and tour the school. 

This is a very important informational meeting and encourage all 8th grade students and their parents to attend.

Honors Breakfast dates-

These grades will be based on the semester grades.  You can view the final semester grades in PowerSchool and they will be official on Wednesday, January 31st.  The student and parent will be given an invitation if they made the honor roll early next week.  The time that the breakfast begins is 7:15 A.M.ish.

February 13th- 7th grade

February 15th- 6th grade

February 16th- 8th grade

From the Upton Student Handbook:

Honor Roll Criteria

Principals' Honor Roll:

Straight A's (or A-'s)

Honor Roll:

At least 2 A's (or A-'s) and no grade lower than a B.  This means B- or lower disqualifies.

Quote of the week - 

"Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care." - Theodore Roosevelt

Have a great week,

Mr. Mandarino

Mandarino Minutes for 1-22-18

Dear Parents/Guardians,


PTO meeting tonight-
Our UPTO meeting is tonight in the Upton Conference room beginning at 7:00 P.M.  Join us if your schedule allows.  

Scholastic Art Award Winners-
Congratulations to our many students, Mr. Joe Fralick, Mr. Matt Culver, and Mrs. Julie Beam! Many Upton & SJHS students once again won art awards! Here is a link to the middle and high school winners of the Scholastic Art Awards.  Click here for the Link to awards

Exam Week (Another reminder)-
Just a reminder that this is exam week for 6th-8th graders.  The students will have half days on Wednesday (1st and 2nd hour exams), Thursday (3rd and 4th hour exams), and Friday (5th and 6th hour exams).  Dismissal is at 11:04 A.M.   If they are a car-rider, please have rides available by 11:15 A.M.

National History Night at Upton-
UMS 6th graders have completed their National History Day projects!  The students will compete this Thursday evening from 6:00-7:30 P.M., and over 200 projects will be on display.  The top three projects will go on to the district competition at Western Michigan University.  Good luck and congratulations to all our 6th graders on all their hard work!

30th Annul Battle of the Books-
Hear ye!  Hear ye!  The Battle of the Books has begun. This year marks the 30th annual team reading competition here at Upton, and our 7th grade reading warriors have taken to the field of battle. Teams will work together in the next 7 weeks to read thirteen novels, covering a variety of genres and authors, and compete quiz-bowl style to see which teams will move on to the final battle on March 2. Ask your 7th grader today about his/her book, team name, and the plan for achieving literary glory!

Semester Honor Roll-
From the Upton Student Handbook:

Honor Roll Criteria

Principals' Honor Roll:

Straight A's (or A-'s)

Honor Roll:

At least 2 A's (or A-'s) and no grade lower than a B.  This means B- or lower disqualifies.

Honor roll will be calculated on semester grades.  This is 40% first marking period, 40% second marking period, and 20% semester exam.

Job opportunity-

• Food Service Part-Time Positions Available
• 3 Hour Permanent Position at the High School
• On-Call sub position for all buildings
• If interested please contact Demrhy Youngquist at 269-926-3127 or dyoungquist@sjschools.org

Equestrian Team-

Upton will have an equestrian team meeting on Thursday, February 1st at 5:30 pm in Ms. Kietzerow's room which is room 212.  (At the end of the sixth grade hall)  This meeting is open to anyone interested in joining the club and a parent/s.

Ski & Snowboard Club-
Ski & Snowboard Club will take place this Wednesday from 11:30 A.M. and returning around 5:30 P.M. from Timber Ridge.  This time slot allows for students to be able to ski and still study for exams. 

No NHS tutoring this week-

Due to exams the high school will not be hosting National Honor Society tutoring this week to allow our high school students to study for exams.

Quote of the week-

"What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you."

 -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Have a great week,

Mr. Mandarino

Mandarino Minutes for 1-16-18

Dear Parents/Guardians,


Heart & Sole/Girls on the Run-
Please go to this document: Heart & Sole document  This program is for any girl interested in Heart & Sole/ Girls on the Run.  It is a great program that builds self esteem, character, and is fun all at the same time!  The deadline is Monday, January 29th to register.  Also, if you are interested in being a coach please go to this site for more information:  Coach Information Sheet 

Upton Variety Show Tryouts-
Tomorrow (Wednesday, January 17th) will be auditions for the talent/variety show.  Students will meet in the auditorium.  If students are unable to make tomorrow's tryouts they can see Mrs. Schrock for a Friday tryout after school.  If you have any questions, please email Mrs. Schrock at : p-jschrock@comcast.net

MLK Day of Service-
On the front page of the Herald Palladium  yesterday (Monday, January 15th) was a great article on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service that several Upton and other district students particpated in.  These students made cards for kids who have cancer, gave to a toy drive for homeless children (Thanks for your donations to this!), etc.  What a great community service project!  See the picture below from the Herald Palladium.

Exams next week-

Here is the exam schedule:
1st and 2nd hours- Wednesday, January 24th
3rd and 4th hours- Thursday, January 25th
5th and 6th hours- Friday, January 26th
Dismissal is at 11:04 A.M. on these dates.  Please make sure rides are available by 11:15 A.M. as we would like students home and studying for the next day exams.

Late-Start tomorrow-
Tomorrow, Wednesday, January 17th is a one-hour delay/ late start.  

UPTO meeting Thursday and Monday-
Just a reminder that we have a UPTO meeting this Thursday at noon and next Monday, January 22nd at 7:00 P.M. Both meetings will take place in the Upton Conference room.

Board of Education meeting-
SJPS has a board of education meeting next Monday, January 22nd at 6:00 P.M. at Central office on Lincoln Avenue.

SJPS Community Corkboard-

Have you visited the community corkboard lately?  If not, here is a link:  SJPS Community Corkboard

Quote of the week-

"Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking." 

- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Have a great week,

Mr. Mandarino

Mandarino Minutes for 1-8-18

Dear Parents/Guardians,


Happy New Year-
I hope your family enjoyed a lot of family time this past break!  We are almost 1/2 done with the school year.  Welcome back and have a great week!

Toy Drive-
United Way is sponsoring a toy drive for homeless children and there will be a drop box at Upton.  If you are able, please send in new, unused/unopened toys. The drive is for this week only.  This is different from Toys for Tots.  Please consider this donation if you can.

No Late Start this week-
We do not have a late start this Wednesday, January 10th.  It is a regular schedule day.

Semester Exams-
We will have semester exams January 24th (1st & 2nd hour exams), January 25th (3rd & 4th hour exams), and January 26th (5th & 6th hour exams).  These exams will be worth 20% of their semester grade.  The exam will cover the material that was covered over the 1st semester.  Exams like these take place 6th-12th grade.The breakdown is:  40% 1st marking period grade, 40% 2nd marking period grade, and 20% semester exam grade.  Dismissal for the exam days will be 11:04 A.M. for all three days.

Upcoming dates:

• January 16th- Community Planetarium Night at the Upton Planetarium beginning at 6:30 P.M.  The show is called Dark Star Adventures.  Here is the trailer to the show:  Dark Star Adventure Trailer
• January 17th- Late-Start
• January 18th- UPTO Meeting at Noon
• January 22nd- End of the 2nd Marking Period
• January 23rd-  Review Day
• January 22nd-  School Board meeting at Central office 6:00 P.M.
• January 22nd- UPTO meeting at 7:00 P.M. (Note: In the month of January we are doing two meetings.)

Quotes of the week:

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education." - Dr. Marin Luther King Jr.

"The time is always right to do what is right." - Dr. Marin Luther King Jr.

Have a great week,

Mr. Mandarino