Message from the Principal

We are at the end of the school year! It always goes by so fast! It has been a treat to see the students develop both academically and behaviorally. Another transition period is coming soon for our 8^th grade students. It is amazing how quickly the years go by. Their time at the high school will go by just as fast.

Students will keep their Chromebooks over the summer and use the same one next year. If your student will not be attending VandenBerge (current 6^th and 7^th graders) or Elk River High School (current 8^th graders) next year, they should turn in their Chromebook and charger to the Chrome Depot on Thursday, June 9.

June 10 is the last day the building will be open due to construction that will be taking place at VandenBerge this summer. Administration and office staff will continue to be available through email and phone calls. If you need to drop anything off after June 10, please take it to the District Office at 11500 193^rd Ave NW in Elk River.

With this being the last edition of the Vibe for this school year and my last Vibe due to my retirement, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped make VandenBerge the best it can be. Your support for our staff and students has been outstanding. Thank you for all you do to help us educate, inspire, and empower your children. We enjoy the life and energy your students bring to the building and to our lives and thank you for giving us the opportunity to work with them each day. It has been an honor to work and serve in this wonderful community. Take care and have a safe summer!

Retirement

Congratulations to Marcia Welch and Renee Nelson on their upcoming retirement! 

Mrs. Welch has worked in the district for 25 years, with 12 of those years as the Principal at VandenBerge.

Mrs. Nelson has worked in the district for 37 years, with 33 of those years as the Health Services Secretary at VandenBerge. 

They will be greatly missed by their VMS family, but we wish them the very best as they move on to this exciting new chapter of their life.

VMS Talent Show

The VMS Talent Show took place on June 6th. What fun it was to have VMS students share their talent with the entire VMS family! 

We enjoyed some amazing vocal, instrumental, and dance performances, as well as an artwork display. The event was capped off with a performance by the VMS Jazz Band and a "We are VMS" tribute from the VMS staff to Mrs. Welch.

We have some amazing talent at VMS and it was a fun day for all!

Student of the Week

Congratulations to our May and June Students of the Week!

Hunter Altenbrun, Austin Anderson, Catelyn Anderson, Anneliese Blomquist-Smith, Curtis Chang, Josef Christian, Genevieve Chur, Molly Dougherty, Rylee Eastman-Skarolid, Akongnwi Fubienka, Luke Hill, Zach Hughes, Robbie Jorgenson, Hannah King, Joseph Konkol, Margo Rivers, Adrienne Rotz, Kaitlyn Rydberg

AVID

We want to thank our AVID students for a wonderful year! They have done an excellent job participating strongly in their AVID class.

Our 7th and 8th grade AVID classes are wrapping up tutorials with our AVID tutors and preparing to move into the next grade level of AVID. Our 6th grade AVID is finalizing their AVID family by working on team building activities together. Each class will be hosting their own celebration to honor the students and their hard work this year!!

AVID students who are currently enrolled in AVID will automatically continue into the next grade level of AVID for the following school year.

If you have any questions, please contact Sarah Weinhold (AVID Coordinator) via email at sarah.weinhold@isd728.org.

English

Grade 6: In the last few weeks of school, 6th graders have been putting together a final presentation on a person who they think is remarkable. So far, students have worked hard to find a person they’d like to research and then build a Google slides presentation about. During the last few days of school, students will be presenting their work to their classmates and will also watch the other presentations. The final due date for all work and missing assignments is June 6th. 

Thank you for supporting your student in English this year!

These 6th graders enjoyed spending the remainder of their Pride tickets on scrunchies!

Grade 7: Students will be working on their summative hero's journey project through June 8. They will choose either a narrative story to type or a digital storybook to create. This can be done during class work time. It is due at the end of the hour on June 8. We will play End-of-the-Year Jeopardy on our last day of school! This game will encompass information from all our units and the winning team will earn a prize.

It has been a blessing to work with all of your students throughout this school year! Please encourage your students to read at least three books this summer to help them keep their reading stamina and be ready for the rigor of eighth grade.

Grade 8: We are finishing up Unit #3 of StudySync. For the last 2 weeks, students worked on their end of the year college presentations (see picture gallery below.) As their middle school journey ends, we wanted them to start looking towards their future and researching about the importance of education after high school and what they can do over the next four years to make themselves successful. The students selected a college of their choice, researched certain aspects of the school and put together a final presentation. They created some amazing and creative presentations!

Family and Consumer Science

The 8th grade FACS group has shown their creativity in the kitchen this quarter! Each week they get a different "family unit" and work together to create a meal. Some of the groups showed their creativity with BLUE PIZZA (which was delicious). Ask your 8th grader to cook you a meal and see what they've learned! 

Math

We have seen a lot of growth in student’s math abilities this year!  MCA and FAST test scores showed us that our students have been working hard and making progress!

Here are a few ways to keep kids engaged and retain their math knowledge over the summer:

• IXL Diagnostic: Students can login through their Rapid Identity, then step into the arena. Here, they will be given a variety of problems to work through along with recommendations to broaden their skills.

• Khan Academy courses: This is a free site where students (and families) can sign up, work through examples, and practice math they have done throughout the years. It also keeps track of each person’s progress! Here is the link for the “Get Ready” Courses.

As always, if you have any questions about daily practice or class expectations, feel free to contact your child’s math teacher by phone or by email.  Have a wonderful rest of the school year and an enjoyable summer!

~The VMS Math Team

Media Center

This past month we have seen a lot of changes in the library as packing began in full force. At this time, 90% of our books are boxed up and ready to be stored until August. Students have been commenting on how empty the library looks without our shelves filled with books and makerspace materials. It’s definitely strange for us too! 

Ms. Kohler had a chance to speak with Meadowvale 5th graders about what to expect next year in the library. They were awesome and asked many questions regarding library services. 

Book Club ended at the beginning of May and we celebrated books with book themed Jeopardy. Our 8th grade members will be missed and thank you to all our members for making it a memorable year.   

The end of May was exciting with the College Fair. It was great to see the work 8th graders put into researching colleges and preparing for their presentation. The presentations were informative and well done! 

This year we had 5,945 checkouts! Thank you for a fantastic year and we look forward to coming back next school year in a brand new space. 

Have a great summer!

Phy Ed

What a fun year! We are so thankful that we got to experience most of our PE units this year! We rounded out the year with Golf, Disc Golf,  Flag Football, Tennis, and Kickball. We wish you all a fun and active summer! 

Mr. Michalak and Mrs. Sheetz 

Social Studies

Grade 6: We have been learning about America at the turn of the 20th Century and how certain historical events have impacted Minnesota and its citizens.  We just finished a chapter on World War 1 and will finish the year learning about The Roaring Twenties and The Great Depression. 

Grade 7: We are concluding the year with learning about Civil Rights. Students will have an open note final (not graded) to recall all that they've learned and accomplished this year in U.S. History.

Grade 8: Students are wrapping up the year with two projects. They were asked to plan a fictional road trip over the different regions of the United States and then choose how to present the information. During this final week, students will be reflecting on the countries and physical features they have learned about this year to create a final "map of the mind".