Students in Mrs. Hendricks’ and Mrs. Crebo’s English classes combined forces for a Friday Inquiry. Students were challenged to discover the meaning of a very common word part by using their own background knowledge. Students broke into small groups and brainstormed a list of words with the prefix ‘trans’. After sharing out an impressive list, they wondered were there...
The end of the first Power Hour rotation is upon us. The OMS students balance having fun and working in these elective classes. They had a wonderful time in this rotation and can't wait until their second rotation starts on Monday.
#olyspartanpride
Hey all you Spartans! The team forms are in, so do you know what that means? That means the 10th Annual Dodgeball Tournament is all set for TOMORROW, November 9 at 6 p.m. A portion of the proceeds from the tournament will go toward the Ms. Susan Schuber Scholarship. Even if you aren’t on a team, you can come support the players and cheer on the teams! Admission into th...
Our Winter Spiritwear Store is now open! Place your order by December 1 to guarantee Christmas delivery. Click on the link below, then click "Olympia Spartans" then "Booster Club" and start shopping!
https://www.limelitegraphics.com/schools
The OHMS Drama Department is hosting a Harry Potter Family Fun Night on Wednesday, November 7, 2018, from 4:30-8:00 PM. The evening will be fun for Harry Potter fans of all ages and will include an escape room, trivia, Quidditch tournament, concessions, and much more! The full schedule can be found below.
When: November 7, 2018; 4:30 - 8:00 pm
Where: Honeydukes, ...
The students in Miss Schwarting’s Power Hour, The War at Home: Life During World War II, welcomed two special guests on Monday, October 15th. Lin and Sharon Lacefield, grandparents of sixth grade student Owen Alford, visited OMS and brought along the medals and awards earned by Owen’s great grandfather, Olous Lacefield, during his time as an Army Tech Sergeant servin...
October is Principal Appreciation Month. We are blessed to have building Principals and Assistant Principals that are working hard each day to ensure all students are learning and growing. While their staff and the District Administration team have already thanked them for their hard work and service, they would appreciate hearing from parents and students as well. ...
On Wednesday, Oct. 24, the 8th grade class visited the Bloomington Area Career Center at the Interstate Center as a field trip. The students had the opportunity to visit different booths that were related to college and career readiness. The Career Expo is offered every year to 8th grade students in the Bloomington-Normal area.
At each booth, students could participa...
Attention all Dodgeball enthusiasts:
Can you throw a ball like Captain America throws his shield? Can you dodge flying objects like Quicksilver? Do you like to watch a competitive activity like Tony Stark watches his stocks grow? If so, then you’re in luck! The 10th Annual Dodgeball Tournament will be held on Friday, November 9 from 6-9 p.m. All students need to be pi...
Please click the link below to take the Parent Engagement Survey:6-12 Survey
On the evening of Thursday, October 12th, members of the 7th grade team participated in a teacher panel at Illinois State University. The team attended a senior block class for students who are preparing to student teach in middle schools next semester. While at ISU, the team answers questions from students about the benefits of teaming, skills based reporting, and wha...
On Columbus day, several brave and talented OMS band and chorus students traveled to Bloomington Junior High to audition for the ILMEA All-District Band and Chorus. The audition is a rigorous and competitive process involving students from all over Central Illinois. A huge congratulations to the following OMS students who have been invited to participate in the Distr...
The OMS Library will be hosting a book fair the week of Parent Teacher conferences (10/22 - 10/26) but you can shop online now! Visit our online site: http://www.scholastic.com/bf/olympiamiddleschoolThere is a large selection of books for students of all ages, and all sales support the OMS Library.Happy shopping!
Pictured above: Both varsity teams are pictured after finding out they made it to the State Meet.
Saturday
97 runners on the girls side and 96 on the boys crossed the finish line at Germantown Hills Sectional Meet this past Saturday. The day was already hyped with intrigue due to the mounting pressure that the kids were feeling to claim their spot for the State Champ...
Saturday
Cool temperatures were offset by the heat of competition in Delavan on Saturday. The 2.04 mile course consisted of many loops making it great for fans to spectate the race, but the real beauty in the course was how flat and fast it was for the athletes. The Delavan Dare Classic produced many great times.
Our girls varsity saw fit to take advantage of the f...
Olympia High School will present the play Alice in Wonderland on Thursday, October 11, at 7:00 PM; Saturday, October 13, at 7:00 PM; and Sunday, October 14, at 2:00 PM. Tickets can be reserved by calling Wendy Wade at the middle school at (309) 379-5941, ext. 8330.
This family-friendly production follows Alice (Mariah Maris) as she pursues the White Rabbit (Ethan S...
Olympia is in the midst of developing a 5 year Facilities Plan and we would like your input. Please plan on attending a Facility Planning session inside the school building your child attends. Each session begins at 6:30 pm, includes a brief tour of the facility, including academic, athletic, and fine art areas, then moves to the Learning Center where dialogue will ...
Saturday
Fast. That sufficiently captures the state of our home course as our Spartans raced to great performances. With the help of amazing volunteers and a passionate crowd, the 2018 Olympia Invitational allowed our running Spartans to seize the day with many personal best times.
Girls Varsity- Chrystal C. led the way in a time of 13:05 to earn a 16-second personal...
Thursday
Looping through the grounds of Tremont Junior/Senior High School, our Spartans took the crown on both sides last Thursday. They did so in an impressive fashion considering their latest training. Coach Springer wanted the athletes to know that this race was a great step moving forward. “We were coming off of a harder training effort yesterday and this race h...
Get your "It's a Spartan Thing" apparel and laser engraved Spartan RTIC Tumblers. Available now till October 1st, 2018. Click on the link below for the order form. Just complete the order form and send in with money to Olympia Middle School.
http://5il.co/4wun
7th grade students in Mrs. Hembra's English I class put their point of view skills to the test today by reading and analyzing a variety of children's books. While reading each book with their groups, students were asked to identify the point of view of each text, then explain how they knew. All types of point of view were covered within the seven different texts. A ...
Saturday
The Parkside Invitational saw many personal records shattered as the Spartans cruised through the course. It also saw 49 teams cover Maxwell Park’s two-mile course which is known for its fast times as well as being the host for the IESA State Meet.
Getting the first crack at the rain-covered course were the varsity girls. Chrystal C. got off to a great sta...
It’s time to blog! Miss Ringer’s English II class is taking to the web and sharing what they think is awesome. The class was inspired after reading “The Book of Awesome” by Neil Pasricha and decided to share some of the awesome things they find every day. Once a week, students find and share a picture and explanation of items or people they believe to be awesome. The c...
This week the area of focus in Mrs. Hembra's English II class has been the types of nouns. Over the past two days, students learned about the different types of nouns and collaborated with peers to create their own review games. Today, students rotated to different student-created noun review games to test their knowledge of the types of nouns. The types of games cr...
The 7th grade choir was hard at work recently as they worked to complete a scavenger hunt of various musical symbols in their scores. The group is quickly learning that being in choir is more than just learning "lyrics" - but its about really reading the music notation as well. Just recently, the group taught themselves a song entirely a capella - they're making great ...
Tuesday
Our Spartans traveled to El-Paso Gridley to compete in a unique meet with a difficult course and an exciting atmosphere. Coach Springer loved the novelty of the race saying, “This meet has always been fun to go to because it is a different experience than our athletes usually get to be a part of. It’s atmosphere with the music and the cheering allowed the runn...
Thursday
OMS Cross Country traveled to Mason City to compete against Illini Central and West Lincoln-Broadwell. For some, it was their third race in 6 days. Coming off a race on Tuesday, our student-athletes’ tired legs carried them through to strong performances on both sides.
Led by Chrystal C. in a time of 14:39, the girls team ran a packed race for much of the ...
Over the past three days, 7th grade students in Mrs. Hembra's English II classes have been presenting 'My Story' projects during class. Intended as an activity for students to share what is important to them, this project gave students a chance to tell their own stories. Students were given the choice of what to share, as well as how to share it. Popular formats for...
Saturday
Varsity runners laced up their spikes at Oak Ridge Park in Washington, IL for the St. Jude Classic. Spartans heard the sound for the start of the race many times on Saturday as they competed in a flighted meet. There were 8 races in total (4 boys and 4 girls). The meet began with the top runner on each team running their race and then a trickle down system be...
Three groups of 7th graders successfully Escaped the Doldrums in Mrs. Wade's English I classes! Working together as they conquered task after task, these hearty students persevered until they conquered the back-to-school Doldrums! #olyspartanpride!
Over the past two days, 7th grade students have worked together to break out of an escape room in English I class! Putting their collaboration and perseverance skills to the test, students solved riddles, used a decoder device, and wrote and sang an original song to escape. #olyspartanpride
This past weekend, the OMS Cross Country team competed in the Clinton Maroon Invite at Little Galilee just outside of the host’s town. The varsity girls began the day in strong fashion with many personal records. Led by Chrystal C. in a time of 14:19, the girls captured a second place team finish just behind Saint Agnes. The varsity boys performed in similar fashion by...
7th graders are working to Escape the Doldrums of coming back to school! In English, groups of students are working collaboratively to learn more about growth mindset, a major theme of the middle school. Hopefully, we can all escape and be able to continue our educational journey!
Tryouts for middle school girls basketball will be on Aug. 29, 30 and 31 after school in the middle school gym.
Please make sure to register for middle school basketball before the tryout date on the activities webpage.
Just go to http://il.8to18.com/olympiahs and click registration and follow the steps. You will also need to make sure you
have a current physical ...
Our 1st Spiritwear Store of the school year is now open! Place your order by Sunday, August 26, with an option for shipping directly to your home! Click on the link below, then click "Olympia Spartans" and start shopping!
https://www.limelitegraphics.com/schools
I hope that you and your family are enjoying summer. I want to take a moment to introduce myself and share with you my excitement about leading OMS! I am an Olympia graduate (2001) who has a wonderful wife, Hannah. We have two beautiful girls; Olivia (5) and Sadie (1). Prior to beginning at OMS, I was the Principal at Oly North for six years. Being a building leader...
The start of fall activities is just around the corner. Anyone interested in participating in an activity needs to register for that activity on the activities webpage .http://il.8to18.com/olympiahs Click registration and follow the steps. A copy of a current physical needs to be turned in to the office before you can start practicing. Physicals can be sent to m...
We are switching email from our existing email system to Gmail. Some of you have found your Gmail already and have been using it. We are turning off access to our current system as of today and your emails, contacts, and calendars will be migrating over in the next week or so. Please be patient as we get everything sorted. Once we believe the transfer is complete t...
On Saturday June 30th Olympia Middle School was one of 47 schools nationally to receive the Horizon School to Watch award. OMS was one of two schools in Illinois to receive the initial designation of this award. Thank you to all students and staff for helping OMS grow into one of the premier middle schools in the U.S. #OlySpartanPride
Registration is now open for middle school and high school fall activities. All registration must be done online. Please go to https://olympiahs.8to18.com and click registration. Students must be registered and have an updated physical turned in to be able to start practice/tryouts. If registering for multiple sports or activities, you will have to register for ea...
Dr. Andrew Wise, Andrew Wash, Katie Ringer, Megan VanGorder, Tami Geurts, and Dee Dee Stine are at the National Forum’s School to Watch Conference in Washington D.C. This year OMS was one of 49 schools nationally to be selected as a Horizon School to Watch with their initial designation. Olympia staff members spent the day meeting with U.S. Representatives Rodney Davis...
Coach Springer is excited for OMS Cross Country to get started but she has some advice to help you get ready for the season. Please see the following links for all her Summer Training Plans. Training for Returning RunnersTraining for Beginner RunnersTraining for Advanced Runners
Fall Athletics will be here before you know it! Below is a list of the fall sport opportunities along with the registration process and physical guidelines. If you have any questions please feel free to contact Kim Logsdon at kim.logsdon@olympia.org.
Fall Season Athletics:
MS Softball
Coach Darrel Dubree: Darrel.Dubree@olympia.org
Season Star...
Three members of the Olympia Middle School staff are moving on to new chapters in their lives.
Andy Walsh has served as OMS’s principal for the last eight years. Prior to this, he was a history teacher at Olympia High School. During this time, Mr. Walsh has effectively led students, parents, and staff through many stages of development and change, culminating with ...
We've had a great year of learning in 8th Grade Science at Olympia Middle School!See you next year!Mrs. Swartz
Just in time for the end of the school year, the Spartan Skill mural is complete! Mrs. Hembra's Advisory, with much help from Mrs. Ratliff and several other seventh grade students who volunteered their skills and time, painted a mural to show our Spartan pride on the hall outside of the OMS cafeteria. Stop by to check it out! #OlySpartanPride
OMS students (and a couple of staff members) participated in a karaoke and lip sync concert on Monday afternoon to celebrate the end of the 2017-2018 school year. Songs ranged from Disney favorites to today's hits. One thing is certain: it's a good thing that the play next year is a musical because our OMS students sure can sing!
8th Grade Promotion will be held on Monday May 21st at 7:00 p.m. If you are unable to attend but would like to see the event, please click on the following link to be redirected to the page where the video will be streaming: Promotion Live Stream
OMS students had a great time participating in the end of the year Dodgeball Tounament. The students did a great job and all of the teams competed really well for the entire tournament.
Here's a look at some projects that students constructed in 8th Grade STEM Power Hour this year:
Since the beginning of the 2017/2018 school year, 7th graders have been working on learning all they can about where the countries of the world are located, as a part of their Social Studies curriculum. Following a final assessment, these students showed the greatest growth in their class. Meagan H., Jayson M., Taylor H., Lily W., and Lucas Y. showed the most improv...
Hannah Cleveland is your 2018 IESA Class AA 7th Grade Girls Shot Put Champion! Hannah is an OMS 6th grade student athlete that persevered with focus and determination to win the event with a throw of 32-6.25 on her last attempt. #OlySpartanPride
The Olympia Middle School sixth graders enjoyed another spring day at Funks Grove on Tuesday, May 15th. The purpose of this day is to learn about biodiversity and promote stewardship for our environment. The students spent the time in small groups moving between learning stations and spreading mulch around the Sugar Grove Nature Center. Topics of learning included r...
On Friday, May 18, the OMS 8th Graders had a day filled with end of the year activities, including an assembly introducing them to high school life and an afternoon outside in the beautiful weather. They can't wait to go across the hall to become high schoolers, and an afternoon in the sun is just what they (and their teachers) needed to relax after a fun, exciting sch...
8th Grade STEM students have been building model rockets all spring, and finally got to see their efforts pay off. We had a great launch and can't wait to launch again on Friday!
Congratulations to the following OMS students for making it to State in Track:Owen Dare- 800 meter run and 1600 meter runCarter Fairfield- 800 meter runAnthony Ragland- 1600 meter runOwen, Carter, and Anthony will also run with Brad Schardan in the 4 x 400 meter relay. Taylor Nowaskie- Long jumpHannah Cleveland- Shot putAnna Bieber- 800 meter runTwo relays also advance...
An exciting day was had by all students in the 7th grade today when they participated in the first ever Advisory Olympics. Throughout the day, students participated in a variety of academic and physical competitions, including Minute to Win It games, a Scholastic Bowl tournament, a building competition, a watermelon eating contest, and various team relays. #OlySparta...
Representatives from each advisory are using their geography skills to locate 24 world cities using coordinates in the Absolute Location Quest. Who will conquer this challenge the quickest and most accurately?
Order in the court! 7th grade students in Mrs. Hembra's Mock Trial Power Hour wrapped up their course by participating in mock trials yesterday afternoon. Students broke into two groups, one participating in a civil case and one in a criminal case. Students collaborated to write their own trials before delivering them in front of a jury of their peers. #OlySpartanP...
Students in 8th Grade STEM 1 Power Hour have been hard at work building model rockets. Today they prepped their rockets for launch and we took them out with the expectation of getting a few up into the air. First up was a well-constructed rocket built by John and Canyon. They set it up on the launch pad and we counted all down "3, 2, 1, GO!" Then we watched the rocket ...
7th grade students revisit most of the skills we've covered in English I and II this year with their exploration of The Hero's Journey, an introduction to archetypes in literature. After tracing the Hero's Journey for both Disney's Moana and Simba in The Lion King, students presented a book or movie of their own choosing and explained the Hero's Journey within.
...
Over the last several weeks, students in Mrs. Hembra's English I and II classes have been exploring the concept of the hero's journey through various forms of text. Students were asked to pick a text of their choice --novel, movie, or TV show-- and examine how the main character goes through the 12 steps of the hero's journey. All students were given a choice of how ...
Mrs. Swartz's 8th Grade Science students are finishing the year strong with units on cells and heredity. Carter, Drew, and Anthony (above) are in the process of extracting DNA from strawberry cells.Hillary displays her "Tiger Crossing" project, an activity aimed at helping students understand the nature of traits passed down from parents to offspring.Sierra is working ...
The OMS Fellowship of Christian Athletes celebrated the end of the year today with devotions, prayer, food and games. The FCA’s mission is “To lead every coach and athlete into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and His church.” Our FCA averaged around 45 student athletes with 65 joining us today. FCA will start back up at the beginning of the 2018-19 school year...
Throughout this week the OMS Staff has been celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week. We would like to thank all of the parents that have been helping us with all of the food that has been brought it, the Board of Education for the treats that were sent to us, Subway in McLean for the subs that they donated to the staff, and TJ's Roofing for their donation to support thi...
The 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade Bands put on a magnificent performance on Tuesday May 8th at their Spring Concert. All three bands combined classical music with contemporary pieces to delight the audience. Kudos to Mr. Lutz and all of the band students on their great performance!! #OlySpartanPride
As their community service project for the year, Mrs. Hembra's Advisory decided to create a mural to display the Spartan Skills for all who walk the halls of OMS. The mural is quickly taking shape outside of the OMS cafeteria. With the help of Mrs. Ratliff, Mrs. Hembra's Advisory students have been hard at work painting the mural during daily Advisory time. Stay tun...
We would like to congratulate Maggie, Luke, Mckenzie, and Austin for being named Spartan of the Week by their respective teachers. Way to go Spartans!! #OlySpartanPride
Earlier in the semester, Mrs. Mehl's class was invited by random classroom selection, from a middle school in Minnesota to join the Great Mail Race! By participating in the Race, students can potentially learn more about middle school cultures from all 50 states, and investigate different geographic regions across our country! Eager to get started, Mrs. Mehl's class c...
School Kits order forms were sent home with students last week and the order forms are due back on May 18th. By ordering through School Kits, all supplies will be delivered to your student on the first day of school next year and you will not have to do any school supply shopping in August. Please contact Mrs. Percival if you have any questions about ordering School ...
On Thursday, May 3rd, the Olympia Middle School staff celebrated its May 2018 Illinois State University graduates.Miss Melody Haigh has been a student teacher in the sixth grade this year. She has taught Social Studies, Reading, and Language Arts. This summer, Miss Haigh will relocate to Phoenix, Arizona to teach seventh grade Reading.Miss Rachael McMillan completed ...
8th Graders successfully completed various community service projects at Miller Park Zoo before spending some time exploring the exhibits. Using the information from their experience and question/answer session with the Education Coordinator, students will complete an end of the year project in each of their core classes. #OlySpartanPride
OMS students began their first day of FitnessGram assessments today with the 20 meter pacer. The students are challenged over their aerobic capacity, flexibility, muscular endurance and muscular strength over the next three weeks. #OlySpartanPride
Sunday was another great day to be an Olympia Spartan! Our OMS Special Olympics Athletes competed over the weekend at the Regional Special Olympics track games at East Peoria. Our very own James (7th grade) and Dakota (8th grade) brought home some impressive hardware, yet again! Dakota earned a Silver Medal for the 100M run and a Gold Metal in the Standing Long Jump. J...
Olympia Middle School would like to congratulate Nicole, Mattie, and Aime for being selected as Spartans of the Week by their teachers. Way to go students!! #OlySpartanPride
Congratulations to the OMS 8th grade band! Their performance at the IGSMA State Contest earned them a rating of "Superior", the highest possible rating. The band traveled to Troy Middle School in suburban Chicago to perform alongside other outstanding middle school bands from Illinois. Way to go, Band!
This year art OMS art students started using Artsonia, the world’s largest student art museum, where they have started to build digital art portfolios. It is so much more than an art museum! It's a free, safe, educational program designed to connect parents and families with their child's creative activities at school.Students take photos of their artwork, upload it to...
Olympia Middle School hosted a Walk of Champions on Thursday April 26th for the 7th and 8th Grade Chorus and the 8th Grade Band. Both of these groups will be participating in the state competition on Saturday April 28th at Troy Middle School. We are very proud of all of our students for advancing to this round and wish them the best of luck on Saturday. #OlySpartanP...
7th Grade students in Mr. Neylon's class spent time last week designing, building, and testing popsicle stick bridges. Once they finished building them they took them down to the weight room to see how much weight they could hold. The class champions were Justin S. and Tommy S., whose designed and built a bridge that held 130 pounds. Pictured below is Jamison R's br...
7th grade students in
Mrs. Hembra's class are in the beginning stages of preparing for a debate unit
in English II. Today, Ms. McMillan moderated a debate over the claim:
Cell phone towers should be built near national parks. The proposition
supported the idea that the safety of visitors outweighed the eyesore of a cell
phone tower, while the opposition emphasiz...
Congratulations to Cole, Eva, and Taylor for being named Spartan of the Week by their respective teachers. #OlySpartanPride
Over the past few days students in Mr. Smith’s Technology class have been designing machines to draw an image on paper. They then redesigned the machine to see if they could have more control over the machine and create a better piece of artwork. One of the biggest challenges throughout the project is figuring out how to keep the machine from falling apart using differ...
On Monday, April
14th, Mr. Steve Skelton, an attorney from Bloomington, came to Mrs.
Hembra's Mock Trial elective to speak with seventh grade students about what
it's like to be a lawyer. Mr. Skelton told students about why he decided
to become a lawyer, the amount of schooling involved, and the qualities it
takes to be an effective attorney. He also discussed t...
On Saturday April 14th OMS hosted the Tom Smith Track Invitational. There were 11 teams that competed. Thank you to all of the parents and OHS track members that volunteered their time to help with the track meet.
Olympia Middle School is proud to honor 8th Grade students Neil and Erin as student leaders. They were honored as our students of the year at the Illinois Principal’s Association Student Recognition Luncheon. Congratulations to these students for their outstanding work through the years!!
OMS would like to congratulate Nick, Nic, Adrianna, and Taylor for being named Spartan of the Week by their teachers!! #OlySpartanPride
OMS would like to congratulate Calvin, BJ, Demi, and Abraham for being selected as Spartan of the Week by their teachers. Way to go Spartans!! #OlySpartanPride
On Friday April 6th Olympia Middle School hosted Grandparent’s Day. We were excited to host over 200 Grandparents during the afternoon. Grandparents and their grandchildren were able to enjoy some snacks together and attended two classes together. We would like to thank everybody for all of their efforts in traveling to OMS for Grandparent’s Day. We look forward to hos...
On Thursday April 5th Illinois Lieutenant Governor Evelyn Sanguinetti spent the afternoon at Olympia Middle School. Lieutenant Governor Sanguinetti visited a few classrooms at OMS and then spent time meeting with the 6th Grade class congratulating them on earning the Illinois Biodiversity Field Trip grant. Through the years that the grant has been offered to students...
On Friday March 23rd, the 7th Grade students at OMS participated in a simulation to solve a mystery that their teachers created for them. In each of their classes they had to put together clues for which Disney character tried to steal a crown. The students used clues in each of their classes to uncover the mystery and find out who was responsible for the "crime". T...
Congratulations to Kyler, Kaylee, Shae, and Lauren for being named Spartan of the Week by their teachers. Way to go Spartans!!