Principal’s Point of View HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL / APRIL 2011 / VOLUME 08

NEWS FROM THE HORNET’S NEST

The fourth quarter is upon us! Where has the time gone? Our classrooms, hallways, and fields are filled with excitement. The music of the spring musical is beginning to fill our hallways. Our seventh and eighth grade students are preparing for the performance of Guys and Dolls. (April 28 and 29).

Students are enthusiastically participating in girls’ softball, boys’ volleyball, and coed soccer. Our classrooms are filled with a plethora of activities. Students are researching ways to improve the sustainability of our natural resources, the effects of the catastrophic events taking place in Japan and how it relates to energy production in Illinois, how the civil uprises around the world relate to how the United States has evolved to what it is today, and how the solar system is constantly being redefined due to new scientific and technological advancements.

Summer SchoolDon’t forget to go online and sign up for summer school.

Spring and SafetySpring is a time when more students ride their bicycles and walk to school. So please slow down in the parking lot, put your cell phone down, and focus on your driving. Please remember not to walk your dog to school. Remember the safety of your children is our number one priority.

Mr. P’s Study Tip an Oldie but a Goodie Make your expectations clear! Take time to discuss the end of the year expectations with your child. Let them know how important it is to finish strong and stay focused. Too many times we take for granted that our children know what is expected of them. Don’t forget to talk about dress code, being punctual, and following school expectations to the very end.

Together we will prepare our children to lead the future.

Mr. Papierski

Highlands Middle SchoolHonor Roll - 3rd Quarter

8th GradeHigh Honor RollLindsey Allen, Jessica Bendyk, Carolyn Boo, Madeline Brennan, Caitlin Bresnahan (4.0), Vincent Caruso (4.0), Daiga Cers, Sydney Cleveland, Louis Colonna (4.0), Cameron Dowling, Karli Fehrman, Christopher Fonseca, Claudia Gaigalaite, Olivia Giovannelli, Grace Gumbiner (4.0), Emma Hirt (4.0), Anna Hoffman, Chad Holland, Bryce Hughes, Olivia Jones, Kevin Karpinski, Madeleine Kirklys, Erika Koch-Weser, Casey Lawry, Anne LeFevour (4.0), Joseph Leonard (4.0), Stephanie Lerner (4.0), James Lilly, Emma Lopez, Melissa Marston (4.0), Tessa Metz (4.0), Mark O’Connor, Daniel O’Malley, Emma Palmer, Ariah Palter, Georgianna Panopoulos, Rebecca Pennington, Lawrence Pettrone (4.0), Kelly Roemer, Ellen Rosicky, Michael Rundle (4.0), Zachary Russo, Timothy Sam (4.0), Julia Saunders (4.0), Britta Shockley, Jessica Sholler (4.0), Michele Siamis, Elizabeth Skolba (4.0), Ana Sprajcer, Dante Stefanini, Matthew Stevens, Jake Suva, Macy Tabachka (4.0), Shantiera Taylor, Isabella Tenorio-Bucci, Alexander Vasti, Emma Vuillemot (4.0), Mariah Walsh, Isabella Watts (4.0), Kevin Whelan, Conor Wiegmann (4.0), Paige Williams, Oliver Wilp, John Wing, Jessica Wittenberg, Erin Yang (4.0), and Jack Zimmerman.

Honor RollTimothy Acker, Vincent Arata, Jack Bibeau, Nicholas Bonneville, Trevor Bouma, Seth Briskey, Elyse Campion, Abigail Conboy, Kelsey Corcoran, Ashley Dean, Daniel Farmer, Kara Ferguson, Charlie Harrigan, Bailey Hernandez, Phillip Janowiak, Elizabeth Johnson, Katarina Kaplarevic, Kevin Kundid, Casey Kutay, Austin LaPenna, Ross Leavitt, Andrew Lichtenauer, Stephen Mahar, Matthew Martorano, James McDermott, Jacob McMillan, Edward Moskos, Megan Moskowitz, Eric Mueller, Celeste Muniz, Dakota Murphy, Scott Murphy, Nicholas Musick, Jacob Nelson, Madeline Nelson, Kelli O’Laughlin, Dariel Ortiz, Maria Philippou, Alison Swanson, Nicholas Valdivia, Jeffrey Wolf and Kyle Yang.

7th GradeHigh Honor RollJeannette Alexander, Sophia Allison (4.0), Anastar Alvarez (4.0), Daniel Benson (4.0), Jack Blahnik (4.0), Michelle Blahnik (4.0), Amy Borgstrom (4.0), Kayla Bradley (4.0), Claire Brom (4.0), Michael Catrambone, Anna Chaloupka, Alexander Ciessau (4.0), Margretta Ciessau (4.0), Weston Credit, Lara Cuomo (4.0), Vicki Demakis (4.0), Samantha Ferrer (4.0), Stephanie Findley, Kevin Foody (4.0), Robert Fritz, Rebecca Garbe, Noah Goetz, Cristian Gonzalez (4.0), Brandon Hayes, Nicholas Hojnar (4.0), Maxim Holzhueter, Cayla Hultmark (4.0), Elizabeth Januska (4.0), Diana Kafkes (4.0), Philip Kim (4.0), Timothy Kogucki (4.0), Jarod Lindberg (4.0), Paige McMahon, Jason Miller, Christian Natiello, Kyle Norbut, Capri Pappas, Kiera Prinz (4.0), Jessica Pritz, Jared Rhiner (4.0), Kristen Roemer (4.0), Victoria Sam (4.0), Prashanth Sarma, Sanjiv Sarma, Madeline Schaeffer, Meghan Selip, Julia Staiano (4.0), Nicole Stevens (4.0), Alison Valentino (4.0), Anastasia Velliotis (4.0)

Honor RollMaggie Bachleda-Zawacki, Obrad Balla, Luke Brom, Marie Burke, Aurora Camacho, Marisol Cowan, Reed Doubek, Gabriela Esposito, Michelle Flaws, Robert Harlow, Sara Jane Holland, Bria Holt, Emily Johnson, Parrish Jonen, Filip Kaplarevic, Ayah Kayali, Alyssa Lenihan, Luke Lopez, Ruben Madrigal, Maggie McDermott, Brittany McPhee, Avery Millard, Matthew Miller, Katherine Nash, Jack Petrini, Ryan Phillip, Dominic Raphael, Brooke Ridlen, Andrea Smith, Colin Strien, and Lauren Whelan.

Highlands Middle SchoolHonor Roll - 3rd Quarter

6th GradeHigh Honor RollJillian Almase, Emma Bastyr, Daniel Beck, Matthew Beck, Erich Brandt (4.0), Matthew Brandt (4.0), Grace Brannen, Bridget Brodlo, Ericka Bruce, Jennifer Carver (4.0), Connor Ciecko, Haylee Donovan, Benjamin Ezsias, Jacob Gleason, Juliana Halpin (4.0), Marc Johnson (4.0), Joseph Kalata, Jianna Keska (4.0), Armin Korsos, Joe Koszut, Jakub Kudzicz, Arden Kurhayez, Courtney Kurhayez, Zuri Lima, Quinn Madarang, Meghan McGarry (4.0), Meagan Mitchell, Kevin Moran, Timothy O’Malley, Jacqueline Osborn (4.0), Caroline Pavlecic, Sophia Pethokoukis, Anna Podkowski, Shayna Prinz, Jessica Prost, Olivia Raphael, Lauren Reynolds, Mary Rokicki (4.0), Charlie Sargent, Paul Skolba, Leah Slivovsky, Philip Smith, Joanna Szpytma, Joshua Szyszka, Cole Tuisl (4.0), Paul Velliotis (4.0), Dillon Wagner, Hope Walsh, Maxwell Williams (4.0), Myranda Williams, and Adam Zimmerman.

Honor RollLacey Allen, Emily Callam, Madeline Campbell, Marisa Capizzano, Kathryn Carlson, Ryan Carlson, Patrick Caruso, Lois Combs, Christopher Condon, Peter Eggerding, Jacob Gross, Nicholas Grossi, Gabriela Hardman, John Hirstein, Maranda Jackson, Dylan Jones, Julia Karpinski, Luke Kehle, Zak Lavaty, Mark McCarthy, Rory McDermott, Caleb Moskowitz, Ali Nix, Reece Petrusha, Richard Scheer, Arlis Strauss, Tory Trutenko and Glenn Wilson.

B.U.G. REPORT - Bring Up Your GradeThe following students brought up their GPA by .5 and higher:

6th grade 7th grade 8th gradeEricka Bruce Marie Burke Vincent ArataRyan Carlson Joe Cassano Cameron DowlingMichaela Kelliher Samantha Cohen Casey LawryStella Kowalski Samantha Ferrer Joseph Leonard Robert Fritz Max Romero Rebecca Gacek Zachary Russo Matthew Miller Paige Williams Katherine Nash Kyle Norbut Mark Petrukovich Congratulations to all!

HIGHLANDS CLASSROOM HIGHLIGHTS

Spotlight on Sixth Grade

Math – Mrs. Novotny

6th Grade Language Arts – Ms. O’Brien and Mrs. Scheiwe

Following Spring Break, the sixth grade Language Arts students will view a short documentary film about the Dust Bowl and conduct a research “scavenger hunt” in preparation for the novel Out of the Dust. This Newbery medal-winning historical novel is written in free verse poetry and tells the story of Billie Jo Kelby, a girl growing up in Oklahoma during the 1930s.

This novel study will lead into our poetry unit toward the end of April, which just happens to be National Poetry Month! Students will study and write a variety of different forms of poetry. Our culminating event will be our haiku throwdown, a tournament where students will compete head-to-head reciting their own original haiku for special guest judges.

The sixth grade Advanced Language Arts students will delve further into our new William & Mary Persuasion literature unit, exploring critical reasoning and the elements of persuasion in connection with many different pieces of literature.

The 6th grade class had a great time launching their catapults outside as part of their Middle Ages Unit. The longest launches from each class were: Joey Kalata, Dillon Wagner, Danny Beck, Patrick Caruso, Dylan Jones, Kayle Lindberg, Caroline Pavlecic, and Luke Coleman. All competitors did an awesome job designing, creating, building, rolling, and launching their catapults! The students also measured their launches using the U.S. Customary System. This gave them a great real-life experience for our measurement unit. Stop by the middle school hall to see their pictures and results.Math classes will be continuing work on fractions in April and then move on to a unit on ratios, rates, proportions, and percents for the month of May.

Social Studies – Mrs. Phillip After wrapping up our study of the Middle Ages with a crossbow competition and a re-enactment of the Bubonic Plague, the 6th graders are moving on to the exciting period known as the Renaissance. Renaissance means “re-birth”, and it was a time of reborn interest in learning. We will be studying many famous people from the time – Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Newton and Leonardo da Vinci to name a few! These people had a major impact on our world as the “rebirth” of learning in Europe inspired them to create, explore and innovate!

One of the changes in this time period that had a major impact on our corner of the globe was exploration. In our continuing emphasis on Global Citizenship, we will look at the impact that the Europeans’ arrival had on the local population of Native Americans as well as the impact of the slave trade in Africa. We will imagine what our lives would be like if WE were explorers in search of a new land.

HIGHLANDS CLASSROOM HIGHLIGHTS

Spotlight on Sixth Grade (cont.)

HIGHLANDS CLASSROOM HIGHLIGHTS

Spotlight on Sixth Grade (cont.)

Star FormationAs our fourth quarter begins, students

have a few things to finish up in astronomy. 6th graders will learn about asteroids, meteors and comets and then embark on a voyage to the stars. What makes a star? How do we know how far away a star is? How do we determine what makes up a star? We will also explore star

formation; how stars begin their lives inside stellar nurseries known as nebula. We will investigate the life cycle of stars from their

birth as protostars to their eventual death as dwarf stars, supernovas or even black holes.

Investigating WeatherThe 4th Quarter Weather Unit will

follow astronomy. Kids will study weather fronts and learn to decipher trends in our atmosphere. We investigate daily weather

maps from the WGN Weather Center and view televised weather reports. We will learn how to make a barometer and measure air pressure. Students will also use data from our WeatherBug tracking station on the roof of the school. L a b s i n c l u d e b u i l d i n g a weather station, creating wind in a box, and the

h u m a n d u n k tank lab. We should have an enjoyable fourth quarter.

Astronomy and Weather

6th Grade ScienceAPRIL 2011! HIGHLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL! MR. SWICK

We are steadily adding content to the 6th grade science website. Our astronomy pages are getting full and we will be building up the

weather pages in the 4th quarter.http://teachers.district106.net/~dswick/6th_Grade_Science/Home.html

A: Warm Front; B: Cold Front;C: Thunderstorms; D: Hurricane

E: Snow

What do these weather symbols

mean?

A

B

C D E

Answers below

ANSWERS RIGHT: WeatherBug offers many interactive activities that students can

use to learn how weather data is compiled and used to make a forecast.

HIGHLANDS CLASSROOM HIGHLIGHTS

Spotlight on Seventh Grade

Language Arts with Mrs. Clark and Mrs. Racolta

In grammar this next month, all seventh grade students will learn more about how to use adjectives and adverbs to improve and enrich their writing. Currently, some classes are in the midst of a poetry unit. Students recently created keynote presentations about a poet to accompany our study of notable poets and their work. Along with studying various elements of poetry, students are learning how to write and read poetry with an understanding of poetic devices and figurative language. Students recently created an imitation poem following our study of Langston Hughes’s poem, “Theme for English B”. Excerpts from the novel Bronx Masquerade, by Nikki Grimes will accompany our study of different styles of poetry.

In advanced language arts, students are still involved in a literature study focused on the idea of utopia and the study of man’s search for a perfect world or community. We just finished reading George Orwell’s Animal Farm and students are learning how to construct a literary analysis essay to explore a theme represented in the novel. In the next week, we will review the structure of an essay and students will learn how to use parenthetical documentation to cite directly from the novel. Our next novel will be Lois Lowry’s The Giver. Along with studying the literal and symbolic levels of the characters and plot in The Giver, we will also explore “big picture” questions, such as the following: What comments about utopia is the book making? What comments about people and society is the book making? How is the book speaking to today’s world and to individuals? Along with reading assignments from a novel, students will also examine utopian ideas through short stories and poetry.

Seventh grade Geography students have recently toured Mexico City by taxi. We participated in a simulated visit to 4 neighborhoods in Mexico City that ranged from lower to middle to upper class. We also learned about the extreme poverty found in the poorest neighborhoods as well as the vast wealth prevalent in the best neighborhoods. From Mexico, we moved on to Asia with a close look at the effects of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. We have been following daily reports on CNNstudentnews.com which have provided us with insight into the tragedy and the recovery efforts under way. We discussed the possibility of natural disasters in the Midwest and what we do to prepare for such an event. We will continue our study of Asia after spring break.

with Mr. Kissel

Our young scientists are ending the quarter with our final examination in the area of cells and genetics. After taking the ISAT tests, we were able to participate in an interesting independent project that allowed the students to explore an area of cells and genetics of their choice. Many of the students chose topics such as evolution, genetic disorders, and medical treatments for those who are born with a hereditary trait that may alter their or a family member’s lifestyle. The kids were very engaged and took a lot of pride and ownership in their projects

Stay tuned for quarter 4 when we start our biology unit, which will include the study of the muscular system, nervous system, skeletal system, medical/health career exploration, and the ever popular DISSECTION UNITS!

Science with Mr. A

Math with Mrs. Curran

HIGHLANDS CLASSROOM HIGHLIGHTS

Spotlight on Seventh Grade (cont)

Students in Pre-Algebra just completed Unit 7 on two-step equations, multi-step equations, and graphing two-step inequalities. I am very proud on how well the students did with this unit. They did a great job on showing the algebraic process and applying what they learned. In the next unit, students will calculate problems using estimation, rounding, and formulas. They will also be finding the measures of central tendency and identifying appropriate metric measures. This month, Pre-Algebra students will be completing a math project called, “My Ranch Blueprint”. They have a choice of completing their own ranch blueprint or using a blueprint I have designed. With the blueprint, the will be required to complete four tasks:

Task A: Finding the dimensions and area of roomsTask B: Determining the cost of their home by finding three homes that compares to their ranch home and find the average. Task C: Find the cost of new flooring for roomsTask D: Furnish a room

They will be given some time in class to work on this independent project, but they may need to complete some tasks at home.

Students in PAL just completed their unit on solving and graphing inequalities and compound inequalities. The next unit is going to be a short unit on graphs and functions. Concepts they will concentrate on in this unit include relating graphs to events, evaluating functions, and applying functions to real-world situations.

Also this month, PAL students will complete a math project called, “First Time Buyers”. Students will learn some basic first time buyer definitions and apply it to “purchasing” their first home with a partner. They will figure out what they can afford based on their combined incomes, get pre-approval letters, make offers, calculate their mortgage, find the area of each of their rooms, and buy furniture for one of their rooms.

EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY for all math classes:Most maps are drawn “to scale”. Explain what this phrase means and how a scale works. Give two other examples of things that are drawn to scale. (McDonald Mathematics Journal Topic)

The 8th Grade Team

Dr. Babcock’s classes will be finishing up their drama unit and starting their classical novel unit. Concurrently, students will be working on their research paper project. They will be improving their rough drafts, outlines, and finishing up their final research paper. As always, students will also be working on improving their skills in grammar, vocabulary, oral presentations, writing, and reading comprehension. The 4th quarter is an important quarter for all 8th graders. It is especially important that they stay focused and organized in order to finish strong.

Mrs. Schweizer’s Language Arts classes have been working diligently on their research projects over the past few weeks. Students have been preparing to write the paper by perusing a vast range of sources from which to find valuable information. Students have been sifting through various print sources, online sources, and some may even choose to conduct their own research to help shed light on their topic. This is a great opportunity for students to not only gain a more in-depth perspective on their topic, but it equips them with the skills necessary to be successful in high school and even in college.  Though this is a long and involved process, students are starting to become “experts” on their topics!  After completing the research paper, students will conduct presentations for their classmates to help illuminate the major points they have covered in the paper.

The 8th Grade Team (cont.)

Social Studies - Mr. Steele

In SOCIAL STUDIES, the 8th graders will spend the first part of April finishing their study of the United States Constitution. Their final test will be on Tuesday, April 12. There will be several review sessions leading up to the final test to help them finish preparing for this major exam. Please e-mail me if you have any questions regarding the final test.

During the second half of April, we will begin our study of World War II and the Holocaust. We will begin our study by seeing how the United States was pulled into the war with the attack on Pearl Harbor. We will then look more closely into the D-Day invasion and why it was a success for the Allied forces. Finally, the students will complete three different projects of their own choosing that allow them to dive deeper into some aspect of the war that interests them. One of the choices will have students creating an advertising campaign to show the need for women in factories during the war. Below is one of the most famous ads from this time period which depicts “Rosie the Riveter” filling the role vacated by men during the war.

We will finish up this time period by looking at the Holocaust through a film entitled Life is Beautiful. The film tells the story of the Holocaust through the eyes of an Italian Jewish family. The film will tie into a presentation on Thursday, May 5 by Ralph Rehbock, a Holocaust survivor. He is coming to speak to our students about his experience during The Night of Broken Glass. You will receive more information on this special event as it gets closer.

The 8th Grade Team (cont.)

Mathematics - Mrs. Funk

Science - Mr. Zeman

April will be a very busy month for all 8th graders in math. It will be very important that students stay current with the homework assignments and study their notes for quizzes and tests. Please check the homework website frequently as it will be updated each Monday with the assignments and important dates for that week. During the month of April regular 8th grade classes will be completing a study of inequalities with a focus on graphical representations and algebraic solutions. They will also be completing a chapter that will focus on interpreting graphs, determining if a relation is a function and creating tables to plot graphs. The project for the 4th quarter will also be introduced with a due date in early May.During the month of April the advanced 8th grade class will be completing a chapter that will focus on quadratic equations and functions. They will also be completing some sections in a chapter that will focus on radical expressions, equations and graphs. By the end of April there will only be two more chapters to complete (only certain sections in each) before the second semester exam that will be taken on May 25th. New placement letters with necessary scores for Advanced Algebra placement will be distributed at the end of April since the second semester exam will not have 100 questions.

April holds a bright new future for 8th grade science. The students will be wrapping up the chemistry unit with the study of solutions, acids, and bases. At that point we will begin to look at physics, specifically electricity and magnetism. Students have been involved in labs such as the latest where they analyzed how the temperature of a solution can affect the solubility of a solvent. The students have been able to view these manipulations first hand and look forward to more labs in the coming weeks.

Reading Workshop - Mrs. Sheers

In Reading Workshop, we are continuing to work to strengthen reading strategies and build background knowledge and vocabulary. Sixth graders are enjoying a Newbery Medal winning novel, A Year Down Yonder. Seventh graders are reading On the Wings of Heroes, a poignant novel of W.W.II on the home front. They are also preparing a Keynote presentation on their research of an aspect of life on the home front during this period. Eighth graders are working diligently on their term papers. They will end the year with the novel Dirt Road Home, sequel to Alabama Moon, which they read earlier in the year and loved very much.

PERFORMANCE TEAM

Las clases de español - sra. Rus

6th grade The 6th grade Spanish students are busy learning over 20 classroom objects. They will be able to describe them using numbers and colors. After that we will start learning animal vocabulary.

7th grade The students have started chapter 4, "La vida escolar", which means school life. They will be learning classroom objects and be able to say what they have and what they need. They also will learn the names of classes and how to talk about their schedules. We will also review -ar verbs and learn how to conjugate -er and -ir verbs.

8th grade The students are continuing Chapter 7. It is titled "Cuerpo sano, mente sana" which means healthy body, healthy mind. The students will talk about staying fit and healthy and discuss how they feel physically and what hurts. We will also review commands and do negative commands which go with discussing healthy lifestyles. The project in this chapter is to make their own commercial.

In the French Classes….

Le printemps – springtime –at last! During the month of April, sixth grade students will be talking about colors, parts of the body and animals.

Seventh graders are continuing to learn how to describe themselves, their friends and things they have. They will also start working on their Impressionist painters project. The project will culminate in May with a “showing” of their work.

Eighth graders will begin learning the regular “passé composé” so they will be able to describe activities that happened in the past, as well as present and future. They will follow with “passé composé” using être. The students have also been working on researching and compiling traditional French recipes. We will be sampling these French recipes during April and May, as well as compile our own French cookbook. Bon Appétit to us all!

PERFORMANCE TEAM (cont.)

Music with Mrs. O’Reilly

6th grade MusicOur final unit this block will be on guitars. We will study the parts of the guitar, as well as, the strings, hand position, posture and strumming patterns. The students will learn many simple chords and several folksongs during which they will accompany themselves in performance.

Rehearsals for the cast of are well underway. We are working hard on the vocal numbers in preparation for the choreography that will be taught from now until show time. Please mark your calendars for Thursday, April 28 at 1:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Friday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m. so as to not miss our performances. I look forward to seeing you all there. And don’t forget to bring a friend!

PERFORMANCE TEAM (cont.)

Physical Education – Mrs. Eskra and Mr. Kolar

The Physical Education classes have started the track and field unit. During this unit, students are split into teams and compete in a variety of running and field events to try to earn points for their team. The top three boys and top three girls for the class earn points to go towards their team totals. The week before Spring Break, students participated in the high jump, which is a favorite for many. Quite a few students jumped over a bar well over 4 feet high! The track and field unit will continue throughout April, ending with a written test. Also in the next few weeks, students will begin fitness testing. The Presidential Physical Fitness Test compares scores nationally for 5 different tests (shuttle run, V-sit and reach, right angle push-ups, curl-ups, and the mile run). Based on fitness test scores, the top 10 8th grade students for each gender will get the chance to compete against other 8th graders at LT Fitness Day in May.

6th Grade:We have been busy in 6th grade art! After creating some fabulous pinch pot animals and glass mosaics we jumped right into our drawing unit. Students first learned how to make a full range of values from the lightest value to the darkest. We learned that the retina is made up of rods and cones, but the rods don’t see color - only value. To help us see value in our drawings more clearly we squinted our eyes to block out the color-sensing cones. Students researched images online before choosing one to draw. Using a minimum of 5 different values, all the work is turning out great! Our last week of the block will be spent working on our repoussé picture frames. Using pattern and texture students are embossing the foil sheets and then creating a frame that will soon hold a 5” x 7” picture.

7th Grade:Sculpture and Handbuilding class has been busy creating masks and bowls these last several weeks. Students had a choice of plastering their own face or using clay and a mold to make the basic mask form. Once the masks were created, students had to come up with a creative design that also expressed something about themselves. The masks are on display in the Middle School foyer - stop in and see them! We then moved into our ceramic coil bowls. We will be melting glass into the bottoms of the bowls for an extra special effect! We will then look at our feet for some inspiration - creating ceramic shoes with a creature feature. Sneakers with fangs, cow-inspired pumps, tropical flip flops??? The sky is the limit as we work to really push our creativity to the max!

8th Grade Graphic Arts student just finished working with digital photography creating an alphabet book with letters found in the architecture around the school. Books are being sent off for lamination and then will be bound. Students did a great job finding letters in some unexpected places! The impossible photos we made in Adobe Fireworks are on display, and we will soon be starting to work with Flash Animation.

Set Design students have been hard at work! The stage wall is all drawn out and the paint is quickly transforming the wall into our interpretation of Times Square in the 1940’s. We have 6 hanging murals the students have designed that will be used for scene changes in the musical and many props. Students are doing a great job collaborating with group members and making decisions for their scenes. We are all getting excited as everything is starting to come together!

with Ms. Zill(substitute teacher while Mrs. Cavello is on maternity leave)

PERFORMANCE TEAM (cont.)

Health with Mr. Yena6th Grade Health

The 6th Grade Health classes recently completed a unit on Self-Esteem and Self-Concept. The students developed a sense of their own personal Self-Esteem and Self-Concept throughout the unit, and the many factors that can promote positive aspects of these concepts. The students completed the unit by creating a Self-Esteem poster. The poster was a collage of pictures, text, drawings, etc. representing how their Self-Esteem has changed over the past years, what they look forward to in the future, and how they see themselves as a person right now.

Currently, the classes are learning basic hygiene practices for the entire body including the skin, hair, teeth, eyes, ears, and nails/hands. The students are learning common parts associated with these areas, how to care for them, and problems associated with them. The students are urged to create a routine for themselves regarding their personal hygiene each day, and how they should take pride in their personal appearance and hygiene.

In the coming weeks the classes will be diving into the worlds of sleep and nutrition. Although they would love to sleep in class, we will be discovering the need for sleep and how our bodies function during this time. The nutrition unit is the longest unit of the year where they learn about the food pyramid, nutrients, reading food labels, etc. The classes are looking forward to both of these units!

7th Grade Health 2

The 7th grade students recently finished up the unit on tobacco after they presented Keynote presentations on topics such as what is tobacco, how it is used, the effects of tobacco use, quitting methods, etc. The students completed the unit by writing a personal reflection about why they choose to be tobacco free in their life, and how they could help others stay tobacco free.

The students are currently creating infomercials about alcohol. The classes have been split into 4 core groups to create the videos about topics such as alcohol and the body, short and long term effects of alcohol use, decision making when using alcohol, and how to say no to using alcohol illegally. The classes are looking forward to viewing their final projects in the next week. As always, the 7th graders are gaining an understanding of how to make intelligent decisions regarding these substances in their lives and the dangers they present.

8th Grade Health 2

The 8th grade classes just completed a unit about tobacco. They expanded on what they learned in 7th grade by analyzing how the media and advertising plays a significant role in tobacco use among teens. The class participated in a long discussion about why teens use tobacco even though they know the negative effects of the substance. As a culmination to the unit the students created a cartoon using GoAnimate.com to represent one of the many negative topics regarding tobacco. The students used the information they researched in class, and put it into action using the program.

In the next couple weeks the students will be learning about alcohol and drugs. The students will be writing persuasive letters to the Surgeon General about their concerns regarding substance abuse among teens, and the regulations of certain laws regarding tobacco, alcohol, and drug use. Following the letters the students will be interactively discussing the dangers of drinking and driving and binge drinking. As always, the 8th graders are gaining an understanding of how to make intelligent decisions regarding these substances in their lives and the dangers they present.

Congratulations to the band members that performed in the LT Solo and Ensemble Festival on Saturday, March 12th. The band had 8 ensembles and 10 soloists participate. All of our students received a rating of Superior or Excellent This is a huge accomplishment and I am so proud of you all! Congratulations to the following band students that performed on March 12th.

Philip SmithJulia StaianoAmy BorgstromLauren ReynoldsJennifer CarverAndrew LichtenauerMark O’ConnorBen EzsiasChris BreakeyKayla BradleyKayle LindbergJarod LindbergOlivia GiovannelliJessica ShollerCapri PappasKyle YangPaige McMahonDiana KafkesPrashanth SarmaPeter EggerdingRebecca GarbeJoe Koszut

The Vandercook Band Festival is coming up next week on April 12th. We will be performing for 4 judges and having a clinic afterwards. I am very excited that they will have this performance opportunity. Permission slips and schedules have gone home with the students. Wish the band students good luck before this exciting field trip and performance opportunity!

PERFORMANCE TEAM (cont.)