Upcoming Events:

• May 30:  BOE meeting, 6pm.

• April 3 - April 12:  Spring break, no school.

• April 17:  Half day for students.

• April 20:  Boe meeting, 6pm.

• April 21-22:  NYS ELA exam for grades 5-8.

• Reminder to parents that the Middle School dismisses at 2:40 on Fridays.

New York State requires vision and hearing screenings for all students in 5th and 7th grade. If your child has not already had these completed by their primary care provider, the school will conduct the screenings.

School screenings will begin next week. If you have already had these done, please send in documentation from your child’s provider to the school nurse. 

Athletics:

• Spring modified sports start dates and coaches:

• Baseball:  Combined with Greene - March 23

• Softball:  Coach Kim Bohannon and Becky Rosas - March 23

• Track:  Ashley Winter, Combined with Greene - March 23

Guidance:

• Grade 8 students will be completing their 9th Grade schedule requests over the next month or so.  Please contact the guidance office if you would like to be a part of your student's scheduling meeting. 

• We continue to implement our character development program PurposeFull People. Our character trait for the month of March is Cooperation.  

• Our clothes closet, the Hawks Hanger, and our school supply closet are full of helpful supplies for any student in need.  Please encourage your child to see me or the school nurse, Mrs. Barber, for any supply needs they may have. 

•  Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns- KStarkSp@oxac.org- (607)843-7185 ext. 2518        

5th Grade:

• Our 5th and 6th graders who had their writing published:  Mrs. Smith had students submit their writing to be published in the Young Writers’ Monster Mini Tales contest.  The students list below had their writing submissions selected as a winner to be published.  CONGRATULATIONS!

• Standing: Riley Moyer, Lyndsay Davis, Abryanna Rhodes, James Timke, McKenna Blair.

• Kneeling: Dominick Bess, Ella Jordan, Reese Rhodes, Benson Breck, Calina Roys-Robinson.

• ELA:  This week in ELA we completed our Acrostic and Haiku poems.  Next week we will revisit the rhyme scheme and work on SWBST, which is a skill for summarizing.  There is no homework next week.  There are many students who are in need of pencils and erasers.

• Science is working on finishing up the Spaceship Earth Unit and moving on to our Stars and Planets Unit after spring break. This week we are working on the phases of the moon. The vocabulary quiz this week will take place on the 1st of April.  Please reach out with any questions or concerns.  

• Social Studies-Students looked at an excerpt from Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and then analyzed quotes to see if they would support or  also learned about the break up letter called The Declaration of Independence. The next vocabulary test will be April 1. If you have any questions, please reach out! Have a wonderful weekend!

• Math- This week students learned how to classify polygons based on their attributes. They also reviewed terms such as lines and line segments, angles, and line relationships. To help remember all the new vocabulary, students practiced by playing Simon Says with their geometry terms! They have been doing a great job and are very competitive with this new game! Enjoy your weekend!

6th Grade:

• ELA: This week in ELA we completed our Acrostic and Haiku poems.  Next week we will revisit the rhyme scheme and work on SWBST, which is a skill for summarizing.  There is no homework next week.  There are many students who are in need of pencils and erasers.

• Science is working on Thermal Energy to prepare them for Weather and Climate.  The students will be completing a state lab when the weather and climate unit is complete.  The vocabulary quiz this week will take place on the 1st of April.  Please reach out with any questions.

• Social Studies-Students are finishing up the unit on Ancient China. They started to look at documents to write an essay on the importance of the Silk Road. The next vocabulary test will be April 1.  If you have any questions, please reach out! Have a wonderful weekend!

• Math: The students are working hard learning how to solve one-step equations and how to graph inequalities.  We will finish up module 4 next week with a unit test and begin our geometry unit.  Have a wonderful weekend! 

7th and 8th Grade:

ELA 8 students have been working hard on their independent reading requirement. Shown here are two of the many projects students have completed this year: postcards and DVD cases.

    Oxford Middle School Eighth Graders Published in National Young Writers Contest

Oxford Middle School proudly announces that two Eighth Grade ELA students, Braelynn Rogers and Arianna Kelly, have achieved national recognition in the Young Writers' Once Upon A Dream-Dreams for Tomorrow poetry competition.

Their poems, which explored the theme of dreams, were chosen for publication from over 12,500 entries submitted nationwide. Braelynn's "A Dream for Me" and Arianna's "Dream or Reality" were selected for their exceptional demonstration of imagination, creativity, originality, and mastery of language.

The published anthology, Once Upon A Dream-Dreams for Tomorrow, is scheduled for release in June 2026. Oxford Middle School will receive a complimentary copy. We congratulate Braelynn and Arianna on this outstanding accomplishment.

• ELA 8:  This week in 8th Grade English Language Arts, students focused on reinforcing core language arts skills. We began each day with Bell Ringer tasks and practiced defining unknown words using context clues.

• Our literature study of Thanhha Lai's novel in verse, Inside Out and Back Again, continued. Students worked on identifying and citing character traits for the protagonist and supporting characters. A comprehension check was also completed to assess their understanding of the assigned reading.

Important Reminders & Project Needs:

• Students are making excellent progress with their independent reading, which requires a minimum of 30 minutes daily (including weekends) to improve fluency and comprehension.

• The deadline for completing all Independent Reading books was Wednesday, March 25th.

• A new project was assigned on March 25th and will be due on Thursday, April 2nd. For this project, each student will need an empty cereal box. We would be grateful for any donations of empty cereal boxes you may have for the class.

Thank you for your ongoing support! Please reach out to me with any questions at ncrandall@oxac.org.

• Math 7: This week we have been preparing for our upcoming Math State Test by reviewing old test questions. This practice test is DUE ON MONDAY 3/30/26. After we finish up this practice state test we will begin our final unit of the school year Unit 5: Data, Statistics and Probability.

• 7th grade Social Studies students have been learning about Thomas Jefferson's presidency.  They will soon be working with documents that were created during the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

• 8th grade Social Studies students have been learning about the Great Depression.  They have been learning about note taking and researching in order to create a Slides presentation about a New Deal agency.

• ELA 7 students began practicing for the upcoming NYS ELA Test. As a class, students read released texts from previous NYS ELA tests and answered questions relating to many different NYS ELA standards  The NYS ELA Standards reviewed include: 

• 7R2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; summarize a text.

• 7R3: In literary texts, analyze how elements of plot are related, affect one another, and contribute to meaning.In informational texts, analyze how individuals, events, and ideas are introduced, relate to each other, and are developed.

• 7R4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings. Analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning, tone, and mood, including words with multiple meanings

• On 3/23 students were assigned their sixth of seven independent reading assignments.  Students must choose a book to read on their own outside of class and will be assessed on their understanding of it on 5/1.  Please encourage your student to read every night.

• 7th Grade Science: We are wrapping up our study of diffusion and osmosis! The students participated in a "Gummy Bear Lab" to see these processes in action.  Be sure to ask your student what happened to their bears!

• 8th Grade Science: We have kicked off a short unit on density. This week, students investigated the properties of matter by calculating and comparing the density of regular Coke versus Diet Coke.

News / Programs / Clubs / Related Arts:

• Jr. FFA: we are in the planning process for an upcoming Earth Day community service project. More details to come in the near future.

   Spirit Fridays:

April 17 - Country vs. Country Club

April 24 - Dress as your grade 5th babies 6th toddlers 7th adults 8th grandparents

May 1 - Sports Day (Favorite team or Sport)

May 4 - Star Wars Day!     

College and Careers:

Catalyst:

• Fab Lab:  Xavier Ober created the Student of the Month design for February (seen below).  Great job Xavier.

• FAB LAB:  Students in the Fablab have been busy.  They have been creating signs and sign holders that can be used for events on our campuses, starting with our UPK Information Night next Tuesday March 31st from 5:30-7:30.

• They have also been working on a model tree for our students in the Primary School to use to learn about tapping maple trees, and making maple syrup.  Students will be able to drill and tap the tree to get "Sap" from it when complete.  

PRINCIPALS MESSAGE:

• ParentSquare will be used for all communication from the school including progress and report cards in the newsletter.  You can download the ParentSquare app and create an account or you can go to the schools website and scroll all the way to the bottom and can get to the site from there as well.

• Update to our Website:  School Lunch Access:   "My School Bucks" that parents can access to see their child's lunch account activity and add money to it.  It is under the "Parents/Community" tab on our school website.

• Thank you for sharing your children with us.

• Be great everyone.