Mandarino Minutes: February 2023

Friday, February 24, 2023

Mandarino Minutes for 2-24-23

Dear Upton Middle School Families,

Congratulations MathCounts! -

Did you do Math on the snow day last Friday? Our Upton MathCounts team did. In fact 5 of the competitors will advance to the state competition in Warren, Michigan on March 11.

The Team of Albert Pham, Hank Fisbeck, Owen Wingate and Patrick Pham took first place at the Chapter event at Western Michigan and will practice their divisibility tests to be ready for the state competition. Albert placed 2nd individually in the entire competition and Patrick was 3rd. Atharv Saxena also advanced to the state competition as placing 5th. The rest of the MathCounts team this year who competed were Aaron Conley, Lorelei Fugal, Eeshaan Ale, Divyang Verma, and Swarnali Basu. Evan Lokey and Rueben Lorenz also are a part of the championship team.

8th grade Skate Night Tonight-

Tonight for our 7th graders only we will have a skate night at the John & Dede Howard Ice Arena from 6:00-8:00 PM. This is free of charge thanks to the generosity of Honor Credit Union.

Choir Festival & Pre-Festival Concert -

Choral Festival is Tuesday, February 28th at The Chapel

7th grade - at 7:55 AM

6th grade - at 1:30 PM

8th grade - after school

Upton’s Band and Orchestra Pre-Festival Concert is next Wednesday, March 1st beginning at 7pm at the John & Dede Howard Auditorium at SJHS.

Orchestra Festival is Monday, March 6th at Andrews University for 6th and 7th graders. The 8th graders will go to Andrews on Thursday, March 9th. (need exact times)

Band Festival is Wednesday, March 8th at Paw Paw High School

7th Grade Band - at 2pm

8th Grade Band - at 3:30pm

*For additional information please contact your child’s Fine Arts teacher.

From the Guidance Team -

National Kindness Week Winners

Guest speaker Kirk Goodwin

Interact Club Bake Sale -

The Interact Club recently held a fundraiser for the Children's Advocacy Center and sold out all bake goods! Our Interact Club is a service-based club open to all UMS students. Thanks Interact Club!

Shrek the Musical Help Needed-

Our musical boosters and musical directors are in need of a costumer for Shrek the Musical this spring! This position is paid! Anyone with costuming or sewing experience that is interested please email cvlietstra@sjschools.org.

New 6th Grade Sewing Club-

Mrs. Hunnell is offering an after school club for 6th graders who would like to learn how to sew pillows. The club will meet Tuesdays and Thursdays through March. If you are interested in participating, please come to an informational meeting this Thursday after school until 3:15 in the sewing room. If you have questions or cannot make this week's meeting, but would like to be in the club, please see Mrs. Hunnell this week.

Stock the Lounge -

It's time to stock the teachers' lounge again! Our teachers are running out of snacks and goodies! Let's make sure they have what they need to get them through the rest of the school year!

Check out the Amazon Wish List and have your order sent directly to the middle school. Select your item and quantity, then be sure to select the "gift registry" address for shipping at checkout. We appreciate your support!

Click here: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1Z9BLBZWOUQNE?ref_=wl_share

UPTO meeting -

The next PTO meeting is next Tuesday, February 28th at 8:30am, in the Upton Conference Room. Feel free to join!

Cloverleaf Spelling Bee-

Cloverleaf Spelling Bee has been rescheduled to next Tuesday, February 28th at Lake Michigan College.

Students of the Week -

Upton staff votes each week on students that go above and beyond in the classroom. This week’s students of the week are:

Sukainah Saleem, Colin Peek, Lydia Johnson

Educator of the Week -

Congratulations to Mrs. Crampton for being our Educator of the Week!

Prospective Student & Parent meeting -

We will have a Prospective Student and Parent meeting on Thursday, March 30th beginning at 1:00pm. This meeting is only for families that are not currently attending any St Joseph Public School but plan to attend Upton in the fall 2023. This is NOT for 5th graders already attending one of our elementary schools. Those students will have a separate meeting and visit. Please call the Upton Office at 269-926-3400 and let us know if you plan to attend.

Late Start this Wednesday -

Reminder that Wednesday is a late start. School begins at 8:45am. Doors do not open until 8:15 am. If you drop your child off before 8:15am, the doors are locked and no supervision is available.

Lunch next week -

Monday - Chicken patty sandwich, potato wedges

Tuesday - Beef nachos or baked potato, steamed broccoli

Wednesday - Chicken tenders and waffles, hash browns

Thursday - Penne pasta with alfredo or marinara sauce, seasoned broccoli, garlic bread

Friday - Cheese bosco sticks with marinara, steamed green beans

*all lunches served with choice of milk, salad bar and fruit*

Quote of the Week-

Have a great weekend,

Mr. Mandarino

Friday, February 17, 2023

Mandarino Minutes for 2-17-23

Dear Upton Middle School Families,

7th grade Skate Night Tonight-

Tonight for our 7th graders only we will have a skate night at the John & Dede Howard Ice Arena from 6:00-8:00 PM. This is free of charge thanks to the generosity of Honor Credit Union.

Thank you!

I wanted to send a special shout out to two young men who went the extra mile in helping out. Baxter D. and Nick Z. stayed back once the event was over and helped clean up and return all the skate aides back to the warming hut. Baxter made a point to ask if any additional help was needed which was pretty impressive.

Cloverleaf Spelling Bee Next Week-

All the hard work of the Upton Middle School Spelling qualifiers will be determined Wednesday, Feb. 22 during the Cloverleaf Spelling Bee held at Lake Michigan College, Mendel Center. The educational goal of the Spelling Bee is to encourage children to perfect the art of spelling, but also to help enlarge their vocabularies and widen their knowledge of the English language. The purpose of the Cloverleaf Spelling Bee is to add emphasis to the teaching of spelling and vocabulary study; to increase interest in spelling for students and parents; to increase the ability of the students to think correctly and quickly in competition; to promote friendship and understanding among students in the academic field. The Cloverleaf Spelling Bee will use the “Words of Champion” list of 4,000 words provided by The Scripps National Spelling Bee. After that, words will be used from the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary.

Best of Luck to our three 7th-grade qualifiers Swarnali Basu, Suprabha Singh, and Kavya Singh.

Students of the Week -

Upton staff votes each week on students that go above and beyond in the classroom. This week’s students of the week are:

Ashton Warsow, Maisy Gable, Josiah Wagoner,

& Reaghan Scott

Educator of the Week -

Congratulations to Mrs. Fairchild the UMS educator of the week!

National Kindness Week -

We had a great week at Upton celebrating kindness! I am hopeful this can carry on throughout the rest of the school year! The students also created a "chain of kindness" that is hanging in our office. Our kindness sheets that the students are filling out can be turned in until Monday, February 20th.

Rotation 3 ends for 6th & 7th Grades-

Rotation 3 ends Tuesday, February 21st and Rotation 4 begins Wednesday, February 22nd. Have your child check their schedule in PowerSchool. We do not print off schedules for rotation changes.

President’s Day - Monday, February 20th-

We DO have school on Monday!

Facts about President's Day: Presidents' Day is a federal holiday celebrated on the third Monday in February. Originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington, the holiday became popularly known as Presidents' Day after it was moved as part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act, an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers. While several states still have individual holidays honoring the birthdays of Washington, Abraham Lincoln and other figures, Presidents' Day is now popularly viewed as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents, past and present.