Monday, December 2, 2019

December 2019/January 2020 Family Newsletter



From the Principal’s Desk

Seasons Greetings,

I want to share a big thank you to our families for making their way to River View for Parent Teacher Conferences. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to connect in this way with families to share the wonderful news of your child’s progress and provide suggestions for making even more growth as the year moves on.

And so with the turning of the calendar I see that Christmas is again upon us. I have always been a fan of this season for many reasons but in particular because of the many ways I/we can give back to others who need our help and or cheerful spirit. As my mother would often say, Tis better to give than receive.
In that spirit of giving RV has a number of very cool activities taking place during the holidays. Our Random Acts of Kindess (RAK) club will be visiting cancer patients in an area hospital, bringing them tidings of joy. The Sources of Strength Peer Leaders are working on their second campaign-What are the characteristics of a positive friend? Their work with promoting these behaviors is a great way to spread joy and hope throughout our school. The 5th is also collecting new socks, underwear and mittens, gloves and hats for those less fortunate in our community.

All these are wonderful examples of the sharing the Christmas spirit with our friends, neighbors and community. As you gear up for the holiday season I want to challenge you as well to find some time to give joy and hope to others. What could that mean? How about you and your child(ren) shovel an elderly person’s driveway/sidewalk for them or sign up to ring bells for a couple hours for the Salvation Army. Perhaps this holiday season you could volunteer to give blood, which is always in short supply. Another thought could be make a donation to our 5th grades winter clothing drive. Just bring the items to the office and we will get them to where they need to go. A last thought here could be to unplug from all those electronics and play a board game or cards. I find great joy in listening to the conversation, laughter, silliness and strategizing that happens during these times with my family and I hope you will as well.

Thank you for your continued support and I wish you a wonderful Christmas and a safe and productive New Year!

Dan Joseph
Principal




MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Student Council and the Destination Imagination Team will be hosting a school-wide dance on January 31st! The Theme is Neon/Glow!

**The 5th and 6th grade dance will take place from 5:30-7:00pm

**The 7th and 8th grade dance will take place from 7:30-9:00pm

The admission fee will be $5. There will be various activities for the kids to participate in!

Look for more information and opportunities to volunteer coming soon!





Yearbook Orders

Don't forget to purchase a 2019 - 2020 River View yearbook, designed and created by our very own students!
Order online at www.jostens.com for just $14! Include your student's name, grade, and spring homeroom teacher for easy delivery.

Please contact Mr. Mecikalski at mecikalskib@kaukaunasd.org with any yearbook-related questions.

Every school year is special, so cherish all the memories from 2019 - 2020 with a copy of our River View Yearbook!"




Our Brand New Playground!

Our new playground is a hit with all of our kids! So many things for the kids to do. More swings, more options, more interaction with their peers, more FUN!
























Upcoming Musical Events

*6th and 7th grade Band Concert on December 5th at 7:00 pm in the RVMS Auditorium.

*6th-8th grade Orchestra Winter Concert on December 10th at 6:30 pm in the RVMS Auditorium.

*7th grade Choir and Jazz Choir Concert on December 12th at 6:00 pm in the KHS Auditorium.

*8th grade Choir and Jazz Choir Concert on December 12th at 7:00 pm in the KHS Auditorium.

*Jazz Band and 8th grade Band Concert on December 17th at 7:00 pm in the RVMS Auditorium.

*Grade 6 Dig It! Musical Performance will be on January 9th at 6:00pm for Day 1 students and 7:15 pm for Day 2 students.

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Orchestra Concert

The River View 6-8th Grade Orchestras will be performing their upcoming Winter Concert on Tuesday December 10th at 6:30 pm in the River View Auditorium. Students will be performing a variety of holiday and winter themed pieces.





Seventh and Eighth Grade Choir Concert

The 7th and 8th Grade Choirs and 8th Grade Jazz Choir will present their holiday concerts on Thursday, December 12, 2019. The 7th Grade and Jazz Choir will perform at 6:00 PM and the 8th Grade and Jazz Choirs will perform at 7:00 PM. The concerts take place at Kaukauna High School. All choir students should report to the high school choir room no later than 20 minutes prior to the start of their performance. Please come and share in these wonderful events as the students are working hard to prepare a beautiful performance.





Dig It! Cover.gifDig It!

Our sixth-grade choir members will perform Dig It! A Musical Tale of Ancient Civilizations on January 9, 2020, during the school day for the fifth graders and their classmates and at an evening performance for their families and friends. The evening performance is at 6:00 PM for the Day 1 choir members and at 7:15 for the Day 2 choir members. Each class will present its own show and several students will have special parts in the production. The performance will take place at River View in the Civic Auditorium. All are invited to attend. The musical covers some of the students’ social studies and science curriculum. It is a fun way for our students to learn about the mysteries of the world, science, and history.

The musical begins on November 30, 1974, in Hadar, Ethiopia. Why? That was where and when two archeologists named Tom Gray and Don Johanson discovered an exceptionally complete skeleton of one of our early ancestors from over 3 million years ago. They named her Lucy. In our story, Lucy takes two young archeologists on an adventure back in time to learn about important cultures from the past such as Mesopotamia; Egypt; Asia; Greece and Rome. Our students met famous people from the past like King Zoser of Egypt; Imhotep-the architect of the first pyramids; Gilgamesh- king of the city of Uruk in Mesopotamia (the first recorded epic poem was about Gilgamesh and his battle against the giant, Huwawa); Confucious of Asia who lived from 551 to 479 B.C. and he became one of the best-educated Chinese of all time; Sophocles, the author of great plays like Antigone, and Herodotus known as “the father of history”; and Remus and Romulus, twin brothers that legend says founded the city of Rome.

I hope to see you at one of our performances.

Mrs. Bauer
Choir Director





River View Band News

Congratulations to 8th graders Maddie W, Lillian G, Macy H, Elliot M, Noah S, Nick O and Nathan O for being selected to perform with the UW- Milwaukee Honors Bands at the end of November. The students spent the weekend rehearsing and performing with some of the regions most motivated and accomplished middle school instrumentalist and worked with nationally recognized wind band conductors.







RV Physical Education

Students in grades 5, 6, and 8 are just finishing our current dance unit. In 5th grade the students were taught a few dances and graded on the 5-6-7-8 dance for their progress report. In 6th grade we focused on a few line and wedding type dances and threw in a creative dance option with the Cotton Eye Joe. Our 8th grade students are beginning to perform their self choreographed dances to the song of their choice. While all other grades were dancing, our 7th grade has been working hard on a Cultural Games unit recreating games from other countries with our school equipment. This assignment has them videotaping, editing, creating flags, adding voice-overs and working in google classroom. Ask your child to show you their project, they are amazing!


The rest of second quarter will entail a basketball and volleyball unit for all grade levels. Students will participate in skills, drills, and lead up games.





7th Grade Careers For You

Careers For You has had many guest speakers come in to talk about their careers. Doctors, Lawyers, Military, Timber Rattlers, etc. The kids are learning a lot about all the different career choices. The Army Recruiters came in November and talked to the kids about what the Military offers for service, education and careers.








Girls Basketball

Practice will start after we return from Christmas Break! If you wish to sign-up, you may do so in the office. Please make sure that your physical/alternate card and the activity fee of $20.00 is paid. Students cannot practice until all this important paperwork is handed in.




**River View Spelling Bee**

The River View Spelling Bee will be  Thursday, January 16th at 8:00 am in the Auditorium.  Congratulations to the following 7th and 8th grade students who qualified for the Spelling Bee during the 7/8 Spelldown in December:

Norah Bowers
Ella Cronin
McKaleigh Pahl
Cassie Phillips
Will Ryan
Ciarra Schuh

We will feature the 5th and 6th grade qualifiers in future announcements.





Inclement Weather/Cancellation

Please remind your son/daughter to dress appropriately for the cold weather. In the event of a snowstorm and school cancellations, we will communicate over the following radio and television stations. Additionally, the district has been using the capabilities of a messenger that sends e-mail notification to families with up-to-date e-mail addresses in our student management system. Please refrain from calling school about school cancellations.


Radio: WAPL (105.7 FM), WIXX (101.1 FM), WGEE (1360 AM),

WEMI (91.9 FM), WNCY (100.3 FM), WHBY (1150 AM),


WGEE (99.7 FM), WPCK (104.9 FM), WNFL (1440 AM),


WPKR (99.5 FM), and WSGC (1050 AM)




Television: WBAY-TV (Channel 2), WGBA-TV (Channel 26),

WHBY-TV (Channel 5), WLUK-TV (Channel 11)






Winter Weather

So far this year most of our students have been doing a good job of coming to school dressed for the inclement weather. Winter coats, mittens, and a hat are a necessity during a Wisconsin winter. Thank you for doing your part in ensuring that your son/daughter leaves the house properly dressed.

All students are encouraged to wear winter weather gear if they wish to go into the snow. This will help to keep the students warm and dry when they enter back into school for the remainder of their day. We don’t want to hinder their need to run and enjoy the outdoors, and this will allow them to do so. Students may choose not to wear boots or snow pants, but are then asked to stay on the plowed black top area if they are not wearing those items. Thanks for your help in keeping students warm, comfortable, and safe this winter.






District Wide Food Drive

Kaukauna High School's National Honor Society hosted the annual district-wide food drive October 28-November 8, 2019. Schools throughout the district competed to collect the highest number of non-perishable food items and monetary donations for Kaukauna's Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry.

New this year, the High School welcomed the public to help with the cause, raising money during the high school's fall musical with "Peter Pan's Cans." Patrons were invited to donaate as they entered the auditorium for one of the four musical performances. Two local businesses, Badger Sports Park and Frogg's Ice Cream each offered to donate 5 cents per item doanted during Peter Pan's Cans. The 175 can donations during the shows brought in $87.50 from each of those generous donors, to supplement the additional $168 collected in donations during the musical performances.

Collectively this year, Kaukauna Area School District staff and students, along with the Peter Pan's Can initiative, were able to collect 9,692 food items.

Electa Quinney Elementary School, as it has for every year since this competition between schools began, claimed the top donation spot with 2,092 items - that's 6.2 items per student ... Way to go, Quinney Cougars! River View School took the 2nd spot with 2.95 items per student (that's over 3,500 non-perishable food items donated!) and Haen the third position with 573 items, 2.09 per student.

At the high school, the band took on the rest of the school for the highest donations, and alone raised 1,149 cans to the whole school's 1,180. Way to go KHS Band!

Because of all of the generosity of our staff, students and local community, we were happy to present Loaves and Fishes of the Fox Valley, Inc. with more than 7,000 pounds of food. Thank you to everyone who partcipated in this event to help those in need within our community. Congratulations, KASD!

River View had their own competition and the Homeroom winners were Mrs. Houle’s and Mrs. Lindberg’s Homerooms! Mrs. Houle and Mrs. Lindberg were the proud winners of wearing the River View Eagle costumes around the entire school and greeting the kids in the morning on November 26. Way to go!








Parent Teacher Conferences

River View Staff would like to express its appreciation to our families for attending the recent Parent-Teacher Conferences. It is our hope you found the conversations as helpful as we did and that you were able to get your questions answered. Your presence provided a powerful message to your child(ren) and the importance you place on their education. Thank you for continuing to partner with River View Middle School through the Parent-Teacher Conferences.

Also a thank you goes out to the following parents for providing dinner to the staff on conference nights!

Kerri Schaefer, Jordan VanDeHey, Chris Moore, Becky and Mat Duel, Sara Clark, Shayna Vanden Heuvel, Amanda Tripp, Susan VandeHey, Leslie Ashauer, Kerri VanderLoop, Tara Dakins, Beth Sanderfoot, Angie McMullin, Mike Hofmann, Betzy Olson, Paula Isaacs, Magan De Valk, Christina DiPiazza, Tina Planert, Jill Lotzer, Beth Schaefer, Megan Nelson, Lori Swick, Jennifer Haen, Janis Bowers, Jane Gates, Cheryl Mader, Amy Bloch, Allison Thiel, Deneen Shiffert, Jennifer Clifford, Brandon Smith, Abbey Adrian, Carrie Owen, Heidi Kornowski, Lori Greenthal, Laurie Eiting, Linda Luneau, Karen Ritzke, Karla Schultz, Karen Luckow, Andrea Pauls, Michelle Schneider, Heather Awe, Jodi Schwartz, Stephanie Kobussen, Alison Johnson and Shana Hussin.





River View Spelling Bee

The River View Spelling Bee is just around the corner. The school-wide spelling bee will be Thursday, January 16, 2020 at 8:00 am in the auditorium. In fifth and sixth grade, each ELA classroom will conduct a spell-down to determine their top two finishers. In seventh and eighth grade, students will attend a spell-down on Monday, December 7th during their PIE time if they are interested in competing in the school-wide bee. The top four finishers in the River View Spelling Bee will compete in the Regional Bee at Lawrence University.





Ski Club

Join the Ski Club and come enjoy the slopes with your friends after school! Whether you're an experienced skier/ snowboarder or have never hit the slopes, RVMS Ski Club is a great way to join your friends in getting outdoors for some winter fun!

The Ski Club is open to all River View students who want the chance to ski or snowboard this winter. No experience or equipment is required as there are several package options are available to meet the needs of all students. We take four trips to Nordic Mountain in Mount Morris, Wisconsin. The Ski Club allows students to enjoy skiing and snowboarding with savings of 60% off average prices!


**Ski Club**

RVMS Ski Club is open to all students Grades 5-8, who want the chance to ski or snowboard this Winter at Nordic Mountain.

Ski Club Dates are:

Thursday January 2

Thursday January 16

Thursday January 23

Thursday February 6


Packets are available for students to pick up in the RVMS Office! 

The following items need to be returned to the Office by December 6th:

*Printed email conformation from Nordic Mountain (package selection will be done online this year. Please use the link and code in the packet)

*Completed Permission/Chaperone interest form

*Payment in FULL (Checks payable to RVMS Ski Club)




Contact Information:

Please contact your volunteer advisor with any questions or concerns
Brandon Sanderfoot at rvmsskiclub@gmail.com or text/call (920)540-4161
Get updates via Remind by texting @rvmsski to 81010
Like our Facebook Page at River View Middle School Ski/Snowboard Club


See you on the Slopes!




Are You Tech Savvy?

Who: GIRLS 6th-9th Grade and their parents/guardians/mentors

When: Saturday March 14, 2020, 8:30am-4:00pm

Where: UWO Fox Cities, 1478 Midway Road, Menasha

What: Tech Savvy introduces you to careers in science, engineering, technology and other STEM careers. Special sessions for adults help them learn how to support you on your path to College and a career.

The workshop will include:
*Chemistry
*Coding
*Food Science
*Engineering
*DNA in a Bottle
*Self-inflating Balloons

Cost: $7.oo per person. The cost includes light breakfast and lunch, hands-on workshops and a t-shirt and tote for girls

For more information visit:
apposhtchsavvy@gmail.com
https://appleton-wi.aauw.net/tech-savvy/
https://appleton-wi.aauw.net/tech-savvy/





Encourage Reading Over the Winter Break

Winter break is right around the corner. Here are four tips for keeping middle school students engaged in reading over winter break.

1. Read for fun. Spend time reading favorite holiday stories or the newest installment from a favorite series.

2. Stock up on books at the local library. Libraries may also have fun, free holiday activities throughout the break.

3. Make the most of travel time. If your family will be spending time in the car, bring books along for the ride.

4. Books make great gifts. Check online or at a bookstore for gift ideas.

Books are important and worthy of our attention even during winter break. Happy holidays!





Prescription Medication Reminder

For your child to take prescription medication in school, health office staff must have a written order from your child's physician and your written permission. Medication must be in the actual pharmacy labeled container (loose pills sent in baggies or envelopes are not acceptable). Please let the pharmacy know you need a second labeled bottle for school.

This is the expectation for all prescriptions, so if your child needs an antibiotic during the school day for an acute illness, please ask the doctor for a written order (this is different than the pharmacy label).

Any over-the-counter medications need a written note from a parent. Cough drops are not permitted in school due to the choking risk they present along with lack of effectiveness. A healthy alternative is to drink extra fluids, like water.

Please call me with any questions you may have at 766-6111 (Ext. 5250). Thanks for helping us keep our students healthy and safe.

Emily Jansen, RN
School Nurse





Parent Resources

*Infinite Campus for Families -

*Click here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fT8bn70FhJcQKTfV_VFaL2o7qRkhfH_7/view?usp=sharing

*Google Classroom for Families -

*Click here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vA-fr47OVyBAroP9u9kWKdZKCKYoNimjjC2CqWMJe3o/edit?usp=sharing

*Chartwell’s Menu -

*https://kaukauna.nutrislice.com/

*Community Flyers

*Click Here to access information about any current flyers for this month

*2019-20 Parent Calendar -

*https://www.kaukauna.k12.wi.us/district/parent-calendar.pdf





Work Permits

River View will process work permits for our students. We need the following items from you in order to process it--

*Letter from the employer

*Parent signature and student address

*Birth certificate, baptismal certificate, or green card

*Social Security CARD

*$10.00
***The student needs to be present to sign the permit.