March/April 2012

Dear JGMS Families,

Happy Spring! It is nice to have longer sun lit days these fantastic warm temperatures!

This time of year is exciting. It is wonderful to see the school bustling with the activity that a change of season always brings.  Activities started off with our students’ awesone performance in “Bye Bye Birdie.” Special thanks go to Ms. Budka and her staff for the tremendous amount of work involved with putting on a performance with such a large number of students involved.

As you know, our students just beginning the first wave of MCAS testing, with another testing window to follow beginning in May.  Please see the full schedule later on in the newsletter. Students will be tested at every grade level in a variety of subject areas.  You will find the May MCAS schedule later in this newsletter.

Spring sports will be starting up in a few weeks, with our teams taking the field for interscholastic play the week of April 25th!   Please make sure all necessary health information is provided to Ken Norling, our spring JGMS Athletic Coordinator.

I hope you have an enjoyable spring season.

Regards,

P. Jayne Viladenis

Inside This Issue:

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Friday April 6 is an Early Release Day with no lunch served.

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Upcoming Religious Dates

Please consider these dates when scheduling events:

Western Christian Good Friday   April 6

Western Christian Easter             April 8

Passover                                   April 7 to April 14

Eastern Orthodox Good Friday   April 13

Eastern Orthodox Easter            April 15

From the Health Office

Spring sports should begin in April, and physical education classes will begin to be held outdoors as weather permits. Please consider these safety concerns:

Appropriate clothing- shorts/sweatpants – plan for both warm and cool weather

Protection against sunburn-use of sunscreen /hats

Health concerns- need for inhalers before running if child has allergies or asthma

Allergic reaction to insect stings-Epipen availability with a physician’s order on file in the nurse’s office

Also students should have inhalers and epipens with them for after school activities

I will be sending reminder notices to 6^th grade parents who have not sent in a physical exam. I need these in order to check for up-to-date immunizations. The State requires an immunization survey in October each year for 7^th graders.

Please call with any concerns or questions.

Thank you,

Carol Eaton, R.N.

MCAS Schedule March & April

Important notes:

Testing: March 20 – April 2

* We will need to move the March 28^th Anti-Bullying Day

-Grade 6:  2 (60 min. sessions) ELA Reading Comprehension

-Grade 7: 2 (60 min. sessions) ELA Reading Comprehension

2 (45 min. sessions) Comp. (Mandated date: 3/20; Mandated Make-Up 3/29)

-Grade 8: 2 (60min. sessions) ELA Reading Composition

Library News

Battle of the Books

The final competition between red and blue teams took place on Thursday, March 15^h. In the end, a blue team was victorious.  Nyan Books from 6-5 Ladies won the prize. Erin Monahan, Fionna Zhang, Jasmin Yannix, Neil Luczai, Parker DeBaryshe, and Ben Radovitzky were delighted when their learning group enjoyed pizza on thanks to their talents on Monday, Mar. 19th at the library.

Author Visit

On Mar. 2^nd 6^th graders assembled in the auditorium to hear Tim Green. He authored Football Genius, a popular book that is part of the Battle of the Books list.

His message to the audience was to work hard in school to be prepared for life. Tim is a huge supporter of reading and encouraged the students in that direction. He signed copies of his books.

Check out http://www.timgreenbooks.com/

The kids prepared to meet him by doing research on his life and achievements in the library lab with Mrs. Smith and Mr.Tonini.  Students created appropriate questions to be asked at the end of Tim’s presentation.

Tim Green has done it all. Not only has he written books for adults and children, but he has been former professional football player. He was a Rhodes scholar who currently practices law, and works as a television commentator.

Library Activity

7^th grade social studies teacher, Matt McGonagle directed research on Egyptian culture. Students used books, databases, and websites to access information for their project.

6^th grade science teachers, Lauren Noferi and Nadine Coletta reserved our large collection of books on the elements to help students gather information to create their own website on elements.

Ms. Bemis and Ms. Stephen had students check out historical fiction, biographies, and fantasy books.

Ms. Beinert-Hunnewell honored Women’s History Month by having students research women in sports history. The used Biography in Contest to learn facts and information and created a display outside the library.

7^th grade English teachers, Mrs. McGraw and Mrs. D’Entremont  directed students to do research on the ‘60’s as connected to their class novel, The Pigman.

Those who read, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, used books and websites to learn the background of the early puritans.

Homework Club

Homework Club Extended!!!

Due to the generous grant provided by the MSPA, Homework Club will continue through early June. It will continue to be held in the library from 2:30 until 3:40 on Tuesdays and Thursdays of each week. When the library has a conflict, it will be held in Room A 209, Ms. Bakerian's room.

Ms. Pespisa and Ms. Daley will continue to welcome those students who want to come to get a head start on homework, help with a subject, writing, or project. It is also a way to study or work  with friends and classmates. Late buses will continue to be available to students and typically JGMS between 3:40 and 4 pm. See you there

Chemistry Competition

This is the third year that JGMS and the Bedford community are participating in the You Be the Chemist Challenge. It is an academic competition that engages middle school students in learning about important chemistry concepts, discoveries and chemical safety. It was developed as a question-and answer competition, similar to spelling bees and quiz bowls. Currently participating states include California, Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Washington, DC.  All JGMS students took a qualifying exam before February vacation. The top scorers were determined in each grade and were given a study guide to prepare for the next phase of competition, which will take place on April 30th.  Since we are the only school district in Massachusetts participating in the challenge, the winner of our competition will represent Massachusetts in the national competition at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia on June 25th.  Last year’s prizes for the national champion included a $5,000 Savings Bond, a $100 Gift Certificate to the Discovery Channel Store, a TI-84 Silver Edition Plus Calculator and a CHEM3000 Chemistry Set.

Student Owned Strategies

It looks like we’ve made it through the winter and are now marching onward to the warmer weather. In S.O.S we have been busy as usual. During the past few weeks we have wrapped up a very successful battle of the books competition with classroom battles and look forward to the final battle on March 15. The winners of the final battle will earn a pizza party lunch for their learning group.

In addition to the battle of the books, we have kicked off a unit on Thinking Maps. Thinking Maps are a set of eight graphic organizers designed to work independently or as a system. Thinking Maps is designed to help your students break down concepts graphically and to help students build knowledge. Weaved into the unit on Thinking Maps, students are also reviewing reading comprehension strategies such as finding the main idea and locating key details in non-fiction text.

As the third semester ends and we round the corner into the final semester, students can look forward to a robust unit on literature circles. A literature circle is another technique that helps students build connections to text. While students will participate in some of the traditional roles of a literature circle, we will also utilize many of the strategies that students have learned throughout the year.

6th Grade News

It looks like we’ve made it through the winter and are now marching onward to the warmer weather. In S.O.S we have been busy as usual. During the past few weeks we have wrapped up a very successful battle of the books competition with classroom battles and look forward to the final battle on March 15. The winners of the final battle will earn a pizza party lunch for their learning group.

In addition to the battle of the books, we have kicked off a unit on Thinking Maps. Thinking Maps are a set of eight graphic organizers designed to work independently or as a system. Thinking Maps is designed to help your students break down concepts graphically and to help students build knowledge. Weaved into the unit on Thinking Maps, students are also reviewing reading comprehension strategies such as finding the main idea and locating key details in non-fiction text.

As the third semester ends and we round the corner into the final semester, students can look forward to a robust unit on literature circles. A literature circle is another technique that helps students build connections to text. While students will participate in some of the traditional roles of a literature circle, we will also utilize many of the strategies that students have learned throughout the year.

In English on the blue team, we are hard at work preparing for the MCAS at the end of the month. We have also begun our symbols and poetry unit. Students will be developing a symbol in honor of their Change-Maker and representing one of their Change-Maker's character traits. Ultimately, students will compose poems using these symbols.

On the red team, students recently finished reading The Magician’s Nephew. We not only learned to think more carefully about the story, but we also learned to recognize the subtext. Most students were surprised to see just how many “hidden” ideas were included. Currently, we are engaged in a poetry unit and are connecting our reading of poetry with the social studies curriculum.  As students in social studies examine the effects of the slave trade during Reconstruction and the years that followed, we are looking at how the same themes appear in the literature. In the next few weeks we will begin writing poetry. Keep your eyes peeled for the next great American poet. I am sure at least one will appear in room A221!

In the mood for a story??

Ernest Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words and called it his best: “For sale: baby shoes; never worn.” The authors in A221 have taken a shot at writing their own. Here are a few examples to whet your literary appetite:

I wish I had seen “warning”!     -GM

A missing cow; hamburger on table.    –MF

Going brunette, look up….nooo! Pink!    –TK

WWIII lasts two hours.     –SK

Gravity out, power too.  Stupid asteroid.     –GW

Put dog with cat; shouldn’t have.    –MW

I thought he was dead until…    -SS

In 6th grade Math, students are wrapping up the largest unit of the year which focused on fractions, decimals and percents. They have also spent time exploring the concept of elapsed time and used menus from local restaurants to practice calculating tax and tip. Our next unit will focus on data and statistics. We will spend time collecting and analyzing date using several different types of graphs and the concepts of mean, median, mode and range to describe a data set.

Students have been hard at work studying the Periodic Table of Elements in Science. The students have learned how to draw a model of an atom using the information found in the table, and have looked at the different patterns and trends the groups have.  We will be continuing our investigation into matter by starting to learn how elements combine to form compounds over the next couple of weeks.

In social studies we are studying the five regions of the continent of Africa. We have covered North Africa and are in the midst of our study of West Africa. In order to connect the study of this continent to our American history we are spending some time looking at the history of the African American experience. This includes slavery and the civil rights movement. Be sure to ask your sixth grader to tell you about what we have been discussing.

7th Grade News

Seventh Graders have been working hard. As we welcome this lovely spring weather, please remind your kids that there is still plenty of learning to do.

English:

English classes have been learning about other cultures and families through literature for their Global Literature Perspectives Moodle book project. Students have been focusing on theme while reading in class novels such as The Witch of Blackbird Pond, The Pigman or The Outsiders. Additionally, students have been improving their writing skills in preparation for the MCAS.  We are looking forward to beginning  the Newbury Award winner,The Giver soon as well as continuing to hone writing and comprehension skills. 

Social Studies:

The written papers and oral/visual presentations students created as part of their study of ancient Egypt were quite impressive.  It was great for the students to become experts in an area of their choice and teach their classmates about what they had learned.  Students have now begun learning about ancient Greece and the unit began with a visit from Polybus, the son-in-law of Hippocrates. Polybus, an actor played by our own Teaching Assistant Chris Wiley, presented to combined classes with students from both teams and described what life was like in ancient Greece. He was very entertaining and really caused the students to think about what they already knew about Greek mythology and connect it to what was new to them.  Students have been learning about the geography of ancient Greece and how it impacted their lifestyle, the early civilizations of the Minoans and Myceneans, and four forms of government that existed throughout Greek history.

Science:

How unique are you? Students are finding the answer to that question in science class. As part of our unit on Reproduction and Heredity, students took an inventory of some of their easily observable genetic traits. Students then collected data from the whole class and presented that information in the form of a bar graph. Students have been learning that our genes determine our traits and how those traits are passed down from parent to offspring. They have discovered how Punnett squares can be used to predict the possible traits in offspring. In April, they will start to unravel the mysteries of DNA, the genetic material that determines our traits.

Math:

In 7th Grade Math, the students finished the percent unit and are now working on a geometry unit. Angles, triangles, and polygons were all part of the first chapter in the geometry unit. The next chapter will be on calculating area, surface area and volume. The students did a wonderful job on their cartoon enlargement projects. In Pre-Algebra, we are in the middle of the three-dimensional geometry unit, including surface area and volume of prism, pyramids, cones, cylinders and spheres. The Wheel of Theodorus projects that were recently completed showed the students mathematical skills as well as artistic abilities. The students will begin their box enlargement projects at the end of March.

Placement letters for 8th grade math were sent home with all students. These letters included all the information that was used to make placement recommendations. Please contact your student's math teacher with any questions. As supplies dwindle down by this point in the year, please ensure your child still has the necessary class materials such as lined paper, graph paper, and plenty of pencils. Please make sure your students have access to a calculator for use at home and at school on a daily basis.  Without their own calculator that they are used to using, they are put at a disadvantage on math homework, assessments, and MCAS.  Students are encouraged to visit www.classzone.com for extra practice (e-workbooks) and games (animations).

8th Grade News

The school year continues to move at a rapid pace and it is hard to believe that April is almost upon us. Although we look forward to the advent of spring and recognize that our string of premature 80 degree days signifies the beginning of many exciting events; the start of the spring sport season, and thoughts of the anxiously awaited trip to Washington, D. C., we ask that you remind your son or daughter that the school year ends on June 18th. With over ten weeks remaining in the school year, we expect active and engaged learners who, as eighth graders, show their ability to balance extracurricula activities with their academic demands. Your assistance in reinforcing this expectation is appreciated.

General News:

In late March and early April, then again in early May, students will be administered the MCAS exams in English/Language Arts followed by Math and Science. It is vital that students come to school well rested and ready to go!

D.C. Trip Important Information

This is an important message to all parents of 8th graders participating on the Washington D.C. trip that there will be a mandatory meeting on Thursday, April 12th at 6:30 in the auditorium with Mr. Casey, the trip coordinator to discuss this year's trip and answer any questions that you may have. We ask that at least one parent/guardian from each family attend.

Academic Updates:

Social Studies:

Students in Mr. Casey’s and Mr. Nagle’s classes have recently finished writing their culminating essays on our Europe unit answering the question: Describe the development of political social or economic relationships from the Fall of Roman Empire to the Modern Western World. What key moments or ideas shaped these relationships?

Students have since begun a short unit studying Latin America with a focus on the three civilizations of the Maya, Aztecs and Incas.

English:

Eighth grade English classes are very excited about going to see The Hunger Games movie on March 27^th. Students loved the novel and many went on to read the next two books in the trilogy.

Level two students have begun to research their persuasive speech topics.  Speeches will be given in class starting April 2^nd.  Level one students are going to read The Call of the Wild by Jack London prior to starting their speeches. This classic novel has outstanding descriptions of the Gold Rush era and challenging vocabulary.

Math:

Algebra classes have begun their study of polynomials and factoring. This unit connects and extends many of the big ideas introduced in the last chapter. Through real-world situations, students will discover that a single quantity may be represented by many different expressions. A polynomial cake assignment will serve as a culminating activity.

Pre-Algebra students are currently halfway through a unit on linear equations and graphs. Students have been identifying and writing functions, representing them with tables, and evaluating them. The unit also focuses on creating graphic representations of real-world problems.

Science:

In Mrs. Ferri’s science classes students will be investigating how the movement of the Earth’s crustal plates causes both slow changes in the Earth’s surface, such as mountain building, and rapid ones, such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. We will also be reviewing physical and life science in preparation for the science MCAS in May. 

In Mr. Puopolo’s science classes, students just finished a unit on earthquakes and are currently learning about volcanoes. A strong emphasis is being placed on the interconnectivity among the earth’s structure, earthquakes, and volcanoes. MCAS preparation will also be continued this quarter.

Spanish News

6th Grade

Sixth grade Spanish students are nearing the end of Unit 1 and have continued working on describing family members.  In addition, we have learned how to talk about birthdays and tell someone’s age using the verb tener. In this chapter, students read about the popular coming of age celebration, la quinceañera, which is a special tradition for girls in Latino culture. Students have recently learned new vocabulary, which pertains to days of the week and months, and are able to talk about the date. They have also added to their existing vocabulary of numbers and are now counting to 100.  As we wrap up the chapter, we are working on possessive adjectives and learning the different ways to express possession in Spanish. Unit 2 will take us from the Unites States to Mexico where we will explore Mexican culture and begin talking about a typical school day.

7th Grade

We are finishing up with sports, making comparisons, and saying what people play, what they know, and what they know how to do. We will soon begin learning/reviewing weather, seasonal clothing and accessories, stating an opinion, describing how people feel, and saying what is happening. These are in unit 3, chapter 3 and are in the last chapter of the unit based in Puerto Rico.

8th Grade

Our new unit takes place in the cultural context of Barcelona, Spain. Students are learning to describe their daily routine, talk about grooming, tell others to do something or not to do something and discuss daily household chores. One of the new grammar points is the introduction of reflexive verbs. Affirmative and negative familiar commands with reflexive and action verbs are also a part of this lesson. The cultural reading takes place at the Pablo Picasso Museum in Barcelona. In this lesson students learn to create and present an advertisement for an imaginary pharmacy. This advertisement will illustrate mastery of affirmative and negative commands and new vocabulary. Students will be using language technology with programs such as Quizlet, Glogster,  Conjuguemos and Google Docs.

French News

6th Grade

We have just practiced various forms of the verb Vouloir (to want) and also the verb Aimer (to like). We have also been practicing many ER verbs  in conversations and in short written responses. Students are now able to clearly state their wishes and also want they don’t want or like to do. Students are eager to speak and present their dialogues as their proficiency has increased considerably! We are practicing French etiquette on the phone and what French teenagers like to do in their free time. We have also just started our French reader Babar which we will continue to read together in groups and as a class once a week.

7th Grade

We have been studying the sites of Paris. Students have started an Animoto video project where they choose one site in Paris and present it with words, images and French music. We have just finished a chapter on giving directions and names of places in a town or city. In pairs the students designed a city/town and presented it in class. They did a great job! We are now practicing the verb Aller (to go) with locations and as a near future tense. We have two reader groups, one which is Harry Potter in French and the other is the Le Bateau-Mouche. The students have enjoyed these books and are working well in their groups, reading aloud and answering questions that pertain to the readers.

8th Grade

We continue to work with the Passé Composé in our warm up activities. We have practiced many new expression with the verbs Avoir (to have) and Faire (to do/make). We are also revisiting the verb Aller as it is used for location and as a near future tense. Inversion of questions is an area that we are reviewing while using Avoir Faire and Aller. We continue to follow video episodes of our textbook characters Pierre, Corinne and Armelle.

In reading groups the students have been reading Harry Potter and Les Copains. The students work collaboratively to complete exercises and questions related to their readers.

Gifted & Talented & Differentiated Instruction Program

MathCounts News

Congratulations to our MathCounts Team! They made it to the state level of competition!  Our team members were Chris En, Alex Mascoli, Savannah En, and Annie Hyung. It is a very challenging level of competition, and our students all did very well. They should all be very proud!

The state level of competition followed the chapter competition in February. At the chapter competition, our team placed 2^nd, with three of the four team members scoring in the top 10 students.

For the second year in a row, a student at JGMS scored well enough on the American Math Competition, 10^th grade and below (AMC 10) to qualify for the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME). Chris En was actually the only student of those taking the AMC 10 in Bedford and qualified for the next level. He joined 5 students in grades 11 and 12 who qualified through the AMC 12 in taking the 3 hour long AIME competition. Only the top students on the AMC 10 and 12 are invited to compete. Additionally, the average score on the AIME is usually very low, ranging from 2-5.  We are very proud that Chris was invited to compete at such a high level!

MathCounts is now gearing up for the Collaborative Problem Solving Contest, a week long, 15 question math puzzle competition in which we typically score very well. This is by far our favorite competition of the year, and the students are getting excited! As this is a collaborative competition, we submit one set of answers for the entire school, so we could definitely use as many interested brains as possible. Students should thus feel free to come join MathCounts any Monday at 2:30 in B210!

WordSmiths News

WordSmiths has restarted after taking a break for the Spring Musical. We have plans to play with puzzles, words, games, and ideas. Students who wish to be part of the spring session of WordSmiths must register by Friday, March 23^rd. We hope to get back to updating our blog at wordsmithbyjgms.blogspot.com – please come visit!

Advanced Math Pull-Out Classes

The 6^th grade advanced math class has just finished the unit on rational numbers and is beginning to investigate bias in data.  We’ll be looking at how bias enters data through how it is gathered, analyzed, represented, and interpreted. Our goal is to become critical consumers of data. 7^th graders will soon be finishing a unit on three dimensional geometry and tackling a project with unusual solids and scales. 8^th grade students are deep in the realm of quadratics and will soon be deriving the quadratic formula!

Out of School Resources 

http://beyondiq.camp9.org/

Beyond IQ is a conference for gifted professionals, parents, and students. If you’re looking for a place your child can find connections, learn something new, and have opportunities to understand themselves better, Beyond IQ is a great single-weekend opportunity. This year, it will be held at Boston University Academy, on March 30^th, 31^st, and April 1^st.

Zumba Fitness