march2005
TEAM NEWS
by T. K.
Blue Team is starting new units, as third term continues
to roll on, and 4th term is just around the corner,
in April.
The English classes are reading books in literature
circles. Students chose to read WITNESS by Karen Hesse,
WHAT’S IN A NAME? by Ellen Wittlinger, FLIPPED
by Wendelin Van Draanen, and THE COLOR OF WATER by
James McBride. The groups meet seven times while reading
the books, and discuss point of view and perspective.
The science classes on the Blue Team have started
a unit on plate tectonics which will be completed by
next month.
The math sections will now be taught by Michael Levin,
who will substitute for Heidi Weber, who will be on
leave.
In social studies, the classes are looking at the
Bill of Rights, the Constitution, Supreme Court issues
involving teens, and subjects relating to teens, and
Westward expansion of the United States.
by M. G.
The Copper Team students have just finished learning
about the continent of Africa and now have moved on
to the continent of Asia. They will be learning about
Asia in sections.
The first part that they will be learning about is
the Middle East. Students must learn all of the countries
and the main physical features in the Middle East. “We
will be spending only 2 weeks on the Middle East,” says
Monica Crowley the Copper Team social studies teacher.
In math class, the Copper Team students have just
finished a quiz on adding, subtracting, and multiplying
mixed numbers and fractions. They are currently learning
to divide fractions. are learning how to add, subtract
,and multiply fractions. Next, the students will be
learning about percents.
In science class the Copper Team is learning about
plastics. They have watched a video about what to recycle
and what not to recycle. The movie even included one
of the Copper Team’s own teachers, Michael Pfaff,
as the recycling hero!
Pfaff is the Copper Team’s language arts teacher.
In his classroom students are currently working on
the Greek god unit (mythology). They have finished
learning the basics and are now reading THE ODYSSEY.
The Copper Team put on a talent show before February
vacation, but not all the participants had a chance
to perform. But they will have a chance to show their
talent to the rest of their team!
by B. H.-M.
In Coral science, Roseanna Baack will finish up the
study of the Punnet Square and how heredity works and
why humans inherit traits. Baack then will jump into
genetic disorders, with a research project of the students’ choice.
There also is a possibility of having a guest speaker
come in to talk about a genetic disorder called mitochondrial
disease. The speaker, Margaret Orr, works at The Floating
Hospital for Children and her daughter died because
of mitochondrial disease, so she knows a lot about
it. The date is still not decided.
This month, Susan Spiro and English students will
study poetry. “We will be writing poems, reading
poems, listening to poems and we will love poems,” says
Spiro when describing the unit. She also says that
her students will discover the inner poet and also
says, “All my students are poets and they just
don’t know it.” Students will also be reviewing
for the MCAS in May and will be doing grammar work.
In math this month, students in accelerated and pre-algebra
will finish ratio and proportion and start signed numbers
and solving equations. The students in introduction
will start simple equations.
Sheila Dugan is hoping to finish Greece this month
with a project whereby students in groups will be making
board games related to Greek culture.
Dugan will end the month with the start of Rome. The
part of this unit to be finished this month is the
legend of Didoaeanes.
by J. T. and M. Z.
March will be both a busy and interesting month for
Jade Team students.
In science, taught by Amy Richard, students will continue
to explore how traits are inherited and to apply their
new-found knowledge of genetics to explain the diversity
of life. “This is usually the most enjoyable
unit for students because they get to do projects like
genetic disorders,” says Richard.
Students will be starting a new unit on negative integers
and algebra in math, taught by Brian Marks. Additionally,
they will be finishing their current unit on proportions
and play “The Great Signed Number Game”,
a game similar to Chutes and Ladders, but with negative
numbers.
In English, students will be finishing the novel ROLL
OF THUNDER HEAR MY CRY by Mildred Taylor. They will
be finishing up their Reader Response Journals on the
book as well.
In social studies students will be learning about
the fall of Sparta, which will be accompanied by a
Power Point presentation. They will also be taking
the second test of the Greek unit. In addition, students
will be studying the trial of Socrates.
by J. R.
Jennifer Coval, Orange Team social studies teacher,
has returned from dealing with a back injury. Social
studies classes will be studying the Constitution and
Bill of rights in a 2-week wrap up of the new government
of the United States of America. Afterwards the classes
will be focusing on a part of our nation’s history
known as “the decades”. This is a reference
to the period of time between 1800 and 1860.
English classes on Orange will be reading a book titled
THE SUNFLOWER by Simon Wiesenthal. The story is about
his life in a Nazi Concentration camp, and how one
day he was pulled away from his usual duties and asked
to go to the bedside of a SS officer. The officer wishes
to be absolved by the very people he hurt, the Jews.
Half of the book is about Wiesenthal’s experience
and the other half is spent showing what 53 other people
would have done in his position.
The science classes will be studying a variety of
natural events. The tie among them is that they all
are caused by the movements of Earth’s plates.
These events include volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis.
During the unit classes will be learning about the
devastating tsunami that occurred last year. Also,
classes will be taking a look at how hard it was to
change the scientific world’s way of thinking
about the planet when the idea of tectonic plates was
first realized.
Math classes will be covered by retired Day teacher,
Sheila Enright, for remainder of the year, since on
March the 2nd Tracey Stewart had her baby that was
originally due in May. The baby and mother, according
to other Orange Team teachers, are doing fine.
by A. G. and M. V.
Platinum math students may be learning in “bits
and pieces” while their teacher gets her bearings.
Tracy Feeney has returned, and math class will be very
different for awhile. The class is working on BITS
AND PIECES II, a connected mathematics book. The best
part of being back for Feeney is (what else) teaching.
Besides that, Feeney looked forward to the “Platinum
Poetry Jam”, a presentation of students’ original
poetry. “Platinum Team has been working hard
on their poems and artwork, so I’m looking forward
to the production.”
The team’s English teacher, James Demarest,
has recently been working hard to prepare the “Platinum
Poetry Jam”, which promised to be an exciting
performance. To begin with, Demarest sang “Windmills
of your Mind” over and over, playing his own
accompaniment on the piano. Students were instructed
to write whatever was on their mind. The only restriction:
they couldn’t stop writing. These thoughts gradually
evolved into “Poetic pieces of writing.” Every
team and D.E.A.R. period, students practiced the pieces
to perfection.
But memorization was just step 1. Next was performance. “Open
vowels, strong consonants,” was something many
students got tired of hearing, but it helped. Being
slow enough, fast enough, clear enough, loud enough,
etc. became a part of regular speech for some Platinum
Teamers. The final effect was heard by students, teachers,
and parents on March the 2nd.
In the very near future, Platinum will be “...doing
a variety of things related to stories with an oral
tradition.” They will also be working on issues
of individuality and conformity as a follow-up to their
last book, THE GIVER, by Lois Lowry.
Currently, the students are writing autobiographical
essays and “...making improvements,” with
a total goal of at least 100. Before beginning another
book as a class, students are reading independently,
with the book options including SLAKE’S LIMBO,
by Felice Holman; DOG SONG by Gary Paulsen; THE TRUE
CONFESSIONS OF CHARLOTTE DOYLE, by Avi; ISLAND ON BIRD
STREET, by Uri Orlev; MANIAC MAGEE, by Jerry Spinelli;
BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA by Katherine Patterson; and PARK’S
QUEST, also by Katherine Patterson. The projects of
these books are to be determined. Platinum students
won’t have a minute to spare in Demarest’s
class (except for the few that it takes to do the traditional
hat throw).
by M. D.and R. J.
During March, Red Team is starting the poetry unit.
The students will be doing reflections on some favorite
poems chosen by the Red Teamers. They will also be
analyzing poetry by famous poets such as Langston Hughes,
Robert Frost, and Maya Angelou. Red Team will learn
different poetic techniques and will be writing their
own later on. Also, in preparation for MCAS, the sections
will be reviewing useful writing strategies for essays.
In science, students will be learning about genetics,
and genetic disorder and hereditary traits. Red Teamers
will work on a one and a half to a two page paper on
genetic disorders. They will get to pick a disorder
and do research in pairs. Also, Red Team will learn
how traits are inherited. Then, they will be learning
about evolution, and classification, and will be doing
a poster with the classification unit.
In social studies the Red Team students will be studying
ancient Greece. There will be a major test on April
the 1st. Also, students just completed posters on a
variety of topics, ranging from clothing, and government,
to wars, treatment of women, and more. After Ancient
Greece is finished, students will review for the MCAS.
Red Teamers will be finishing the analyzing data unit.
Then students will be reviewing negative numbers. They
will begin the equation solving unit.
by Z. G.
The Silver Team teachers are raising their expectations
for the second half of the term. Silver Team language
arts teacher Jennifer Campbell says, "The students
are going to be doing more writing and reading than
ever". The unit that Silver Team students are
currently studying is historical fiction, reading a
book; THE ISLAND ON BIRD STREET. "There is a lot
of reading [and writing] involved. The goal of this
project is to become better readers; to read more in-depth.” The
students will be creating a "masterpiece" writing
piece. In this piece, the children will be able to
choose from a list of possibilities, so that they can
choose their skill level.
Science teacher Pasquale Puleo has been impressed
with most of the students’ behavior, and ability
to handle work for the last two terms, and hopes that
if this continues, he will not have to make changes. "Generally
speaking, the students are doing a good job in terms
of behavior.”
However, he still thinks that some improvement could
be made. "Some of our teammates are not concentrating
on doing their work, and they are fooling around; increasingly
disturbing other kids." This month, his science
class will be focusing on the table of elements. The
class will be building a huge incline plane, and having
a competition on the classroom level. In the competition,
the students will build an incline plane, and see if
they can make an object travel the fastest on the plane.
In math, Ellen Baker will be wrapping up the section
on adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions
and mixed numbers.
In social studies, the students have finished studying
about the geography of Africa, and a unit test may
be expected soon. In this term, students will be learning
about Asia. They will be covering the lifestyles of
the people in Asia, and also be studying about the
land.
All of these teachers offer extra help for students
who need it, and have work available to challenge kids
who are doing well in the subject.
Puleo offers work time after school on Mondays, where
the students can work in his classroom until 4:30.
Baker offers extra help on Thursdays until 4:00. If
students need more challenging work in class, they
have only to ask the teachers.
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