Middle School Memo
Friday, October 25, 2013
Dear Parents,
See below for middle school information.
CHOIR
Allendale Middle School choir sent 12 students to audition for the Michigan School Vocal Music
Association State Honors Choir in Owosso on Saturday, October 19th. Singers prepared 2 pieces of
music, working independently and with Mr. Wurst for 3 weeks. Auditions included students from around
the state. Students sang in a trio of 3 singers, each performing their own part. They were then given a
score based on their level of preparation and other musical factors such as: accuracy of rhythm, pitch,
dynamics, and memorization. Of the 12 students who auditioned from AMS, 9 were selected to perform
in the SSA and TTB State Honors Choirs for Middle School. Performances will be held in DeVos Place
downtown Grand Rapids on Thursday, January 16.
Congratulations to ALL 12 students for a job WELL DONE and specifically the following students who
were selected to perform in the following State Honors Choirs:
SSA (Soprano 1, Soprano 2, Alto) Honors Choir:
Kate Mahaffy, 7th grade
Kelsey Inman-Carter, 8th grade
Alaina White, 8th grade
TTB (Tenor 1, Tenor 2, Bass) Honors Choir:
Jonah DeZwaan, 7th grade
Sean Schmidt, 7th grade
Howard Barnes, 8th grade
Isaac Cameron, 8th grade
Jacob Doornbos, 8th grade
Jeff Secord, 8th grade
Congratulations to Ariana Tonielli, Hannah DeMott, and Kelly Ortega for their excellent participation at
auditions.
MEAP
MEAP testing is over and our MEAP materials are boxed and being sent back to the state. I know the
students and teachers are glad to get this behind us this year. We will not know the results of the tests
for a few months. AMS would like to thank the PTO for providing healthy snacks for the students each
day before they started testing.
FALL CONFERENCES
Middle School conferences are scheduled for November 25 and 26. They will run from 4:00pm to
8:00pm. You will be receiving information pertaining to online scheduling with teachers in a couple of
weeks.
SCIENCE OLYMPIAD
Mr. Erdmans is seeking 7th and 8th students and parents who are highly motivated in science, to join the
Science Olympiad team. This runs from December to March. If your student is not playing a winter
sport and is interested in science have them see Mr. Erdmans to get more information about the
program. He will be having a meeting and sign ups the first week of November. Sixth graders can
possibly be on the team too, see Mr. Erdmans.
8TH GRADE PARENTS
Attention all 8th grade parents: We will be having a meeting on Monday night October 28th at 7pm, in
the middle school media center, to plan the 8th grade celebration. This is a great night for our students
to celebrate the completion of their time at the middle school and all their accomplishments during this
time. We would love as many parents as possible to attend the meeting and to help plan the nights
events. Any parent or guardian of an 8th grade student is welcome to come to the meeting. If you are
unable to attend this meeting but would like to be involved in the celebration, please feel free to contact
Deb DeLooff at delooffdeb@allendale.k12.mi.us.
MS ATHLETIC NEWS
Allendale Middle School and the Allendale Athletic Department would like to welcome our new Middle
School Athletic Coordinator, Maria Huistra. She will work with Mr. Thompson and the Middle School
staff to monitor eligibility for our athletes and she will be in charge of game management for all middle
school home events. Maria will be the main contact person for all middle school athletics and will assist
with communication between coaches and parents. The creation of this position allows Allendale to have
a face and a voice dedicated to the needs and direction of middle school athletics. This addition will
greatly enhance our current and future programs.
7th GRADE ENGLISH
Mrs. Apel is collecting paper bags for her classroom. If you have any extra that you would like to donate
please send them to school.
BOX TOPS CONTEST
The middle school PTO is collecting Box Top Labels, Spartan UPC codes and Tyson UPC codes. Students
can turn them in to their Literacy Block teacher and the class that collects the most labels over the
year will get a party in March!!!
OCTOBER CALENDAR
Wednesday, October 30 – Half day of school