Heartland Middle School

Winter Break: No School December 21 - January 8 We will see you back at school on Tuesday, January 9!

Congratulations to Bri Akins, who was named Heartland Middle School’s 2024 Support Employee of the Year! She works as a Classroom Assistant at Heartland and has worked at Heartland for three years. One teacher had the following to say about Ms. Bri: Ms. Bri is the most dedicated and supportive Classroom Assistant! She is loved by all staff and students alike, which is so apparent by how everyone flocks to her side. She makes sure that all of our students are using their accommodations, she keeps them in line behaviorally, she's always searching for new ways to connect with our kiddos and to build success with them each day, and she builds relationships with every kid that she meets, regardless of their background. We love Ms. Bri! For more information, please see the Support Employee of the Year page under the Faculty menu on this website.

Heartland art students recently completed a Fauvism self portrait assignment. Students explored colored pencils and oil pastels as they considered their visual language.

Heartland art students created Cherokee single wall baskets this week to celebrate Native American Indian month. Art teacher Mr. Wilmes was inspired to do the project after attending a fine arts professional development where Sydna Yellowfish from Oklahoma Indian Education presented a lesson on basketry and beadwork. Mr. Wilmes also incorporated a little STEAM learning as students considered how tension plays a vital role to structure and how an over-under pattern secures connections without knots, tape, or welding.

On November 13, New York Times Best Selling author Max Brallier visited Heartland and spoke to all 6th grade students. He gave the audience unique insights into his popular series The Last Kids on Earth, which is also an Emmy award winning show on Netflix. Max also shared stories about what he was like as a kid and how his excessive daydreaming then turned into a successful writing career now. He made time to answer questions from students at the end of his presentation. Heartland students love The Last Kids on Earth series and thoroughly enjoyed his presentation. Many students submitted artwork for a fan art contest and Max spent time looking at each illustration. He posed for a photo with the winner of the contest, sixth grade student Makaio S. We are so appreciative to local bookstore Best of Books and Max Brallier and his team for providing Heartland students with this wonderful experience!

There were so many great entries this year’s pumpkin decorating contest. The annual contest is hosted by the media center and all pumpkins designs are inspired by books. Winners this year were as follows. There was a tie for Most Creative and Artistic pumpkin which went to 8th grader Katie H. for her pumpkin inspired by Homunculus and to 6th grader Ethan T. for his pumpkin inspired by The Wolf’s Boy. Funniest pumpkin was awarded to 6th grader Ella B. for her Baby Shark pumpkin. Cutest pumpkin went to 6th grader Winnie W. for her Biggie-biggie-biggie pumpkin. Most Accurate pumpkin went to 6th grader Maggie R. for her Hedwig the snowy owl pumpkin. There was a tie for Best Paper Pumpkin, which was awarded to 7th grader Clara B. for her Giving Tree pumpkin and to 6th grader Elise B. for her Tune it Out pumpkin. And the grand prize winner was 6th grader Ethan T. for his pumpkin inspired by The Wolf’s Boy. The winner of the teacher division was Mr. LeBlanc's Jabba the Puppett pumpkin. Congratulations to our winners!

Thanksgiving Break: No School Nov. 20-24

Sixth grade literacy students presented their Buyer/Seller projects this week. For this project, students spend time reading a book of their choice, then create a presentation about the book and bring a token to share with their classmates. The token can be purchased or handmade, but should be an object that relates to their book in some way. On presentation day, students tell each other about their books and hand out their tokens. Some tokens this year included handmade paper crowns, handmade magnets, store-bought brownies, tiny plastic babies, drawings, and more!

Did you know that November 8 is National STEM Day? If you're looking for a way to support STEM education in Edmond Schools, consider donating to one of Heartland's STEM projects on Donors Choose. 2 Heads Are Better Than 1 (https://tinyurl.com/wbtxp7x5) STEAM-Inky (https://tinyurl.com/4tvh64zn) Chicken Nuggets Need a Home Too (https://tinyurl.com/4zhu9v3x)

Mr. Wilmes' art students are working on their Monster Mugs this month. For this assignment, students design a mug featuring an imagined creature, whether humorous or scary. Their mugs must have a functional handle, be at least 6" tall and hold approximately 8 oz of water.

Heartland's STEAM Art students considered the importance of Structural Engineering during their latest project. Students created a large 3D paper mache’ masks from cardboard, tape, newspaper and paper mache glue. Students considered how to interlock support beams (cardboard) for strength as well as how the interlocking beams can be used to form and shape their designs. Other challenges students explored were layering of the newsprint for strength, functionality of wearable art, constructing a 360 degree self portrait, and whether they would be able to physically see from under their structures.

Congratulations to Tracy Wilmes, Heartland's 2024 Teacher of the Year! Read more at https://heartland.edmondschools.net/o/heartland/page/teacher-of-the-year

Sk8 Club's latest meeting was at Mathis Skate Park at Mitch Park. Contact Tracy.Wilmes@edmondschools.net for information on how to join!

Parent/Teacher Conferences will be Thursday, October 12 and Monday, October 16 from 3:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. There is no sign-up necessary. Simply stop by and speak with the teacher(s) you would like to connect with. We look forward to seeing you there!

Congratulations to the girls volleyball teams who raised $1900 for the Vera Bradley Foundation during Pink Out. The teams hosted a variety of events and activities throughout the week to promote breast cancer awareness.

Fall Break: No school October 19 - 23. We'll see you back on Tuesday, October 24.

Heartland student Dejuan won the raffle for a pottery session with art teacher Mr. Wilmes at HPO's Back to School Social. Mr. Wilmes said he did a great job throwing on the wheel!

Sk8Club is back! At the first meeting this year, 17 skaters from Heartland and 10 other skaters from neighboring middle schools showed up for some after school fun. All skaters were demonstrating RISE (Respect, Integrity, Self-Control and Effort), taking turns, and respecting the ramps and staff at the DailyShredd. It's never too late to join! Contact Mr. Wilmes at Tracy.Wilmes@edmondschools.net for more information.

Heartland's Volleyball Pink Out Night will be Tuesday, September 26 in the Heartland Gym. JV starts at 5:00 PM and Varsity starts at 6:00 PM. Heartland Dress Up Days begin Tuesday September 19 and are as follows: Tuesday, September 19: Color War Day 8th Grade: Wear Green 7th Grade: Wear Black 6th Grade: Wear Yellow Wednesday, September 20: Wacky Wednesday Crazy Hair, Mismatched Clothes/Socks Thursday, September 21: Hawaiian Day Friday, September 22: Jersey/Team Day Monday, September 25: Pajama Day Tuesday, September 26: Pink Out!

Check out the latest edition of HeARTland kicks - Hit us up on IG for drop dates! Recently in Mr. Wilmes's STEAM Art classes, students considered the importance of biomimicry and how entrepreneurs use it in innovative product development. In class they discussed how to be an entrepreneur and create and design products that embody biomimicry. Students created new and innovative shoe products that incorporate specific characteristics unique to their animal of choice. Students created a 3D design of a new shoe product to be sold by Nike or Adidas and performed a self-critique of their individual progress.