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SUSAN B. ANTHONY MIDDLE SCHOOL An Internaonal Baccalaureate World School Mai Chang P. Vue, Principal 5757 Irving Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55419 612.668.3241 February 4, 2015 Dear Anthony Families, Students and Staff, It feels like yesterday that I welcomed you to a new academic year and asked for your sup- port and participation in helping to define it. Your response has been overwhelming and for that I thank you all. My experience so far has been wonderful and I owe it to you. First, before I provide you with an update on how and what we are doing, I would like to congratulate Mr. John Haugen on his retirement. He taught thirteen years at Anthony and eighteen years in the district. Replacing Mr. Haugen is Ms. Kirsten Taylor who comes with a broad range of knowledge and experience in education. Since the fall semester, we have also welcomed Ms. Roxanne Peyton, Social Worker; Ms. Tami Jenkins, Associate Educa- tor; Mr. Jamah Farah, Somali Associate Educator; Mr. Travis Smith, School Dean; Ms. Kim Gordien, Office Assistant and Mr. Chris Powell, Building Engineer. We are proud to have these fine individuals join our Anthony Family. Anthony Celebrations We have had many great achievements happening since the start of the school year. Although I won’t be able to list them all, I would like to recognize the following students, staff and groups for their hard work and success. 2015 Minnesota Teacher of the Year Nominees: 6 th grade Math Teacher, Ms. Penny Pickard and 6 th grade Individuals and Society teacher, Ms. Teri Ricks 2014-15 Patriot Pen winners: 1 st place winner was Lauren Smith, 2 nd place winner was Charlie Vaaler and 3 rd place winner was Grace Gens 2014-15 School Logo winners: 1 st place winner was Roberto Catano, 2 nd place winner was Bella Ellstrom and 3 rd place winner was Amani Samuels 2014-15 District Spelling Bee Champion second time in a row, Josie Spanier 2014-15 Annual School-Wide Geography Bee winners: 1 st place winner was Lucie Allen, 2 nd place winner was Mike Woodhouse, and 3 rd place winner was Charlotte Zahn 2014-15 Nordic Ski state qualifier and first time Anthony student to compete at state level, Lily Richmond Anthony Girls Basketball and Coach Bishop for making it to the Championship– 2nd place Anthony Boys Basketball Team and Coaches Nolen and Edwards for making it to the Semi-Final Game Anthony Girls Volleyball and Coach Vang for making it to the Championship—2nd place Anthony Debate Team: Novice Division Individual Speaker Award winners were Carson Kindred, William Bercaw, Saheli Patel and Henry Bubula; 3 rd place in the Junior Varsity Divi- sion was Bella Ellstrom and 2 nd place Varsity Division were Anikka Johnson and Amani Samuels Ms. Peyton and the Anthony Dance Team for their performances at school functions School Improvement Plan (SIP) Mid-Year Update As we move through the second semester, our focus will continue to focus on the following three areas: academic achievement, school climate and family involvement. Academically, we continue to provide rigorous programs and diverse methods of teaching and learning as part of our IB-MYP philosophy. Teachers continue to develop and implement MYP units of inquiry and exploration while incorporating benchmark assessments across disciplines to monitor student progress. Students are challenged to examine their own learning and use AVID reading strategies, the IXL math program and explicit vocabulary development meth- ods to further advance and support their learning. All students have completed taking the Reading OLPA (Optional Local Purpose Assessment) and the Math OLPA. (continued on page 2) Upcoming School Events Feb. 19 Anthony Talent Show and Soul Food Dinner 5pm-7:30pm Feb. 26 AVID Family Night Mar. 12 Eighth Grade Guth- rie Field Trip Mar. 18-20 Scholastic Book Fair Mar. 26 Activity Day May 14 Sixth Grade Rocket Launch May 8 Eighth Grade Dance Jun. 5 Eighth Grade Com- pletion Ceremony Anthony Family Night - will be held in May; please stay tuned for more details. Site Council Meetings: Mar. 25 & Apr. 19 Morning Coffee with the Principal - 3 rd Tuesday of every month from 8:30am- 9:30am in room 108. Morn- ing Coffee topic on February 17 is on school policies such as the dress code and cell phones.

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SUSAN B. ANTHONY MIDDLE SCHOOL

An International Baccalaureate World School

Mai Chang P. Vue, Principal 5757 Irving Avenue South

Minneapolis, MN 55419 612.668.3241

February 4, 2015 Dear Anthony Families, Students and Staff, It feels like yesterday that I welcomed you to a new academic year and asked for your sup-port and participation in helping to define it. Your response has been overwhelming and for that I thank you all. My experience so far has been wonderful and I owe it to you. First, before I provide you with an update on how and what we are doing, I would like to congratulate Mr. John Haugen on his retirement. He taught thirteen years at Anthony and eighteen years in the district. Replacing Mr. Haugen is Ms. Kirsten Taylor who comes with a broad range of knowledge and experience in education. Since the fall semester, we have also welcomed Ms. Roxanne Peyton, Social Worker; Ms. Tami Jenkins, Associate Educa-tor; Mr. Jamah Farah, Somali Associate Educator; Mr. Travis Smith, School Dean; Ms. Kim Gordien, Office Assistant and Mr. Chris Powell, Building Engineer. We are proud to have these fine individuals join our Anthony Family. Anthony Celebrations We have had many great achievements happening since the start of the school year. Although I won’t be able to list them all, I would like to recognize the following students, staff and groups for their hard work and success.

2015 Minnesota Teacher of the Year Nominees: 6th grade Math Teacher, Ms. Penny

Pickard and 6th grade Individuals and Society teacher, Ms. Teri Ricks

2014-15 Patriot Pen winners: 1st place winner was Lauren Smith, 2nd place winner was

Charlie Vaaler and 3rd place winner was Grace Gens

2014-15 School Logo winners: 1st place winner was Roberto Catano, 2nd place winner

was Bella Ellstrom and 3rd place winner was Amani Samuels

2014-15 District Spelling Bee Champion second time in a row, Josie Spanier

2014-15 Annual School-Wide Geography Bee winners: 1st place winner was Lucie

Allen, 2nd place winner was Mike Woodhouse, and 3rd place winner was Charlotte Zahn

2014-15 Nordic Ski state qualifier and first time Anthony student to compete at state level,

Lily Richmond

Anthony Girls Basketball and Coach Bishop for making it to the Championship– 2nd place

Anthony Boys Basketball Team and Coaches Nolen and Edwards for making it to the

Semi-Final Game

Anthony Girls Volleyball and Coach Vang for making it to the Championship—2nd place

Anthony Debate Team: Novice Division Individual Speaker Award winners were Carson

Kindred, William Bercaw, Saheli Patel and Henry Bubula; 3rd place in the Junior Varsity Divi-sion was Bella Ellstrom and 2nd place Varsity Division were Anikka Johnson and Amani Samuels

Ms. Peyton and the Anthony Dance Team for their performances at school functions

School Improvement Plan (SIP) Mid-Year Update As we move through the second semester, our focus will continue to focus on the following three areas: academic achievement, school climate and family involvement. Academically, we continue to provide rigorous programs and diverse methods of teaching and learning as part of our IB-MYP philosophy. Teachers continue to develop and implement MYP units of inquiry and exploration while incorporating benchmark assessments across disciplines to monitor student progress. Students are challenged to examine their own learning and use AVID reading strategies, the IXL math program and explicit vocabulary development meth-ods to further advance and support their learning. All students have completed taking the Reading OLPA (Optional Local Purpose Assessment) and the Math OLPA.

(continued on page 2)

Upcoming School Events

Feb. 19 Anthony Talent

Show and Soul Food Dinner 5pm-7:30pm

Feb. 26 AVID Family Night

Mar. 12 Eighth Grade Guth-

rie Field Trip

Mar. 18-20 Scholastic Book

Fair

Mar. 26 Activity Day

May 14 Sixth Grade Rocket

Launch

May 8 Eighth Grade Dance

Jun. 5 Eighth Grade Com-

pletion Ceremony

Anthony Family Night - will

be held in May; please stay tuned for more details.

Site Council Meetings:

Mar. 25 & Apr. 19

Morning Coffee with the

Principal - 3rd Tuesday of every month from 8:30am-9:30am in room 108. Morn-ing Coffee topic on February 17 is on school policies such as the dress code and cell phones.

(continued from page 1)

The OLPA is a practice exam of the MCA (Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment) in which students will take in the Spring. As part of the district’s Acceleration 2020 plan, our building goal is to increase from 63% to 68% of students meeting or exceeding on the Reading MCA and from 60.4% to 65.5% meeting or exceeding on the Math MCA. We are very proud of our Reward School status this year and would like to maintain this prominent standing. Through your support, we know we can make this happen.

In regards to school climate, we want to create a culture where every student has the opportunity to thrive. When students are engaged and challenged in the classroom, students are focused on learning and there are fewer opportunities to misbehave. An-thony developed a PSWE (Positive School Wide Engagement) team from this summer to closely examine cause and effect of student behavior and to provide training and support for staff. Strengthening cultural competency is also central to this work. The Anthony Equity Team has also been providing staff professional development to build understanding of the students and families we serve to help share our practices to lead to improved student outcomes. We recently started a boys group called the Col-lege Bound Brothers and we are in the midst of creating a girls group that meets week-ly to do goal setting and build student confidence. Also, we have assembled a CARC (Collaborative Action Research Cohort) at Anthony to study the student achievement gap, especially the gap among our African American students, specifically our black males. The Anthony CARC will share their findings at a summer institute with other CARC groups in the district to develop a plan for the coming school year.

Family Involvement is an area that we continue to work on. We want you to know that we want and need your participation in the school. From assisting and attending school events, sharing your thoughts and ideas, helping in our main office to chaper-oning field trips, we appreciate your involvement. Please continue to read our Panther Post on upcoming events that you can assist with or attend. Or, simply contact our Family Liaison, Ms. Charlette Hawkins ([email protected]) or our PTA (Parent Teacher Association) Chair, Ms. Julie Flaskamp ([email protected]) on how to get involved. Listed on page one are upcoming events and opportunities on how you can get involved.

Auditorium Renovation We are truly excited for the renovation of our auditorium. The project has been ap-proved by the city and construction will start during the week of Spring Break and is scheduled to be completed by the Fall of 2015. Some of the renovation will consist of new lighting, new seats, new sound booth, updated flooring, and a new rigging, electri-cal and audio-visual system. The renovation will also consist of turning one of our classrooms by door number three into a lobby for events and display student artwork. Due to renovations, we are looking at various venues and options for our spring choir and band concerts and our 8

th grade completion ceremony. Please read our weekly

Panther Post to stay informed (http://anthony.mpls.k12.mn.us/pantherpost). For a hard copy, please contact our main office at 612.668.3240.

Ways to Support Anthony Students and Staff Enclosed with this letter is a GEMS card. For every time you shop at any of the partic-ipating businesses, use the enclosed GEMS card. Other ways to donate to Anthony is through the Target RedCard or Amazon Smile program. You can also purchase An-thony Spirit Wear in which portions of Spirit Wear sales go directly back to the school.

Thank you! The success of the school does not fall upon one person, but a collective group of dedicated individuals. I would like to thank our amazing teachers, school support staff and parents, more specifically our students, for making the impossible, possible. It has been busy. It has been challenging. It has been satisfying in ways that translate into the pulse of school life in all of its incredible dimensions. Second semester prom-ises to be equally gratifying as first semester. Please accept my deepest appreciation for all you do to support and enrich students and staff of Anthony Middle School.

Go Panthers!

Mai Chang P. Vue

Patriot Pen Essay Winners

Logo Design Winners

AMS Dance Team

Nordic Ski State Qualifier

AMS Debate Participants

Geography Bee Winners

Spelling Bee Champion

AMS Girls Basketball

AMS Boys Basketball

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnthonyMiddleSchool Follow us on Twitter: AnthonyPanthers

2015 Minnesota Teacher

of the Year Nominees

Ms. Penny Picard and Ms. Teri Ricks!

Little Mermaid Jr. Musical Show Times

Wednesday, March 18 6:30pm Thursday, March 19 6:30pm

Friday, March 20 7:00pm Saturday, March 21 2:00pm

Anthony Scholastic Book Fair Room 108

6th Grade classes will attend on Wed. March 18 7th Grade classes will attend on Thu. March 19

8th Grade will attend on Fri. March 20

Thank you

Anthony Parents for your

involvement and

generous support!

5 Easy Ways You can

Donate to Anthony Middle School

Save Your Box Tops:

There is a pink collection box in the main office for you to drop off box tops.

Use Your Target Red Card:

Target will donate 1% of your REDCard purchases made in-store or on-line when you enroll in their

“Take Charge of Education” program. Just go to target.com/tcoe and follow the directions to sign-up

from there. You will need to enter your REDCard number and designate Anthony Middle School as

your school choice.

File Your Kowalskis Receipts:

Place your Kowalskis receipts in the labeled Anthony bin at the front of the store. Donations are made

quarterly based on the total number of receipts collected in each school’s bin.

Go to giveMN.org:

Donate or raise funds through giveMN.org

Purchase through Amazon Smile:

Anytime you purchase from Amazon, 0.5% of your purchase could go back to the Anthony PTA.

Just follow this link for your next purchase and don't forget to Bookmark it. At the top of the

Amazon order page you will see in red: "Supporting: PTA Minnesota Congress Anthony Middle

School PTA". http://smile.amazon.com/ch/65-1262307