February 5th, 2010 by bluecrew in · No Comments
Week In Preview for Feb. 8 – 11
There will be no school for students on Friday. It is a teacher’s professional day.
Social Studies
Jeremy Stein
jstein@fps.k12.me.us
late day: Tuesday
We have reached the conclusion of our Africa unit. We will have our “Assessment #28″ on the second class of the week. We will be playing a “Jeopardy” style review game the first class of the week to get ready for the Assessment. Over the weekend students should be looking at their review sheet that was given to them, and preparing for the Jeopardy game.
After the Assessment we will look at current events in Africa for the final class of the week.
Science
Carrie Boudreau
cboudreau@fps.k12.me.us
after Tuesday
This week we will explore various water aquatic environments in search of protists, bacteria and microscopic animals. Students will use their current skills to locate the tiny creatures, draw them, estimate their size and then identify them. There will not be a test this week, instead I will collect and grade their “What’s living in our water?” investigation.
Le Français Mme Turner after school Tues.
gturner@fps.k12.me.us
Students will have a quiz on family vocabulary. They have a fictional family tree template to fill out which is due their second class of next week. Instructions are on the back of the sheet and they began the work in class on Friday.
We will be watching the French film “Les Choristes”. It is described: “An inspirational story in the rich tradition of “Music of the Heart” and “Mr. Holland’s Opus”, “Les Choristes” has moved critics everywhere to declare it one of the year’s very best films! When he takes a job teaching music at a school for troubled boys, Clément Mathieu is unprepared for its harsh discipline and depressing atmosphere. But with passion and unconventional teaching methods, he’s able to spark his students’ interest in music and bring them a new found joy! It also puts him at odds with the school’s overbearing headmaster, however, locking Mathieu in a battle between politics and the determination to change his pupils’ lives!”
Mathematics
After School:
Monday – Ms. Jacobs
Tuesday- Mrs. Bennett, Mr. Towle
Wednesday-Ms. Jacobs
Next week, students will learn how to add and subtract integers through a game that uses colored chips as a mathematical model. As lessons progress, we will move from that concrete model to the abstract symbols used to represent integers in computation.
The students have on their laptops the program “Understanding Integers”. This program will provide extra instruction and practice for those students who need more practice or miss the class lessons.
Now is the time of year when students start to run out of supplies (pencils, erasers, and notebook paper). Please make sure that your child is well supplied with these materials. We have a small supply on hand but when it runs out, we can no longer accommodate the shortfall.
Ellen Santora
ELA Blue Crew
esantora@fps.k12.me.us
After school: Tuesday, Wednesday
We are entering the final week of revision and editing in the Writing Workshop! Work should be completed on exit slips for writing pieces. The most recent piece of writing were excellent expository articles on various topics relevant to FMS peers. They were GREAT! These will be posted on my website for all students to enjoy, permission granted. Students will have the February break to finish independent reading and evidence to demonstrate comprehension. When we return from vacation, we will be transitioning into the Reading Workshop with Ms. Hayes and will be forwarding information regarding that as necessary.
January 29th, 2010 by bluecrew in · No Comments
Week In Preview Feb. 1-5
Social Studies
Jeremy Stein
This week we will be finishing the “Missions” of the Trekking to Timbuktu webqest that we have embarked on. Students have been doing a great job writing quality responses to the various prompts. There will be some sort of final assessment for the entire project. It will be based on all the information from all the Missions, not just what as already been written by students.
Have a good week.
Sra. Campbell -Spanish
marshacampbell@fps.k12.me.us
Available after school on Tuesday and Thursday
We are almost done with Unit 2, lesson 2 and will be reviewing and reintegrating what we have learned so far in the coming week. We will finish the week with another small unit test covering the verbs IR and ESTAR, taking about feelings, where things are, and where we are going and when. Students should revisit the previous unit to refresh their memories of the expressions we used with GUSTAR ( “me gusta comer pizza” and things like that) as well as telling time. Before the February break I hope to give an oral assessment and start a mini unit on Spain. Va estar muy divertido.
Mathematics
After School
Monday – Ms. Jacobs
Tuesday – Math Meet at Bonny Eagle Middle School (no after school math help available)
Wednesday – Mrs. Bennett, Ms. Jacobs, Mrs. Hodgkins
Thursday – Mrs. Bennett, Mrs. Hodgkins
This week we will begin a unit called “Accentuate the Negative.” It is a no calculator unit.
This unit will introduce students to positive and negative numbers and integers. Students will learn how to add, subtract, multiply, divide, and compare integers. We will work with temperature readings, both above and below 0 on a thermometer and will look at business situations that speak of being “in the red” or “in the black.” In class, we will learn many of these concepts through a game that uses colored chips as a way to mathematically model operations with integers.
Le Français Mme Turner after school Tues. & Thurs.
We will review and expand on family vocabulary and will incorporate possessive adjectives with it. These concepts will be combined with prior vocabulary of activities so students can talk about what family members do. We will also learn the conjugation and uses of the verb “avoir”. On either Thursday or Friday, February 4th or 5th there will be a check in on the second homework assignment for the trimester.
NEWS FROM THE YEARBOOK CLUB: New prices for the 2009-2010 yearbook are in effect. You can purchase a hardcover book for $20, and a paperback for $16. Payments may be made in either cash or a check (made out to Falmouth Middle School), and may be delivered to either Joyce Beasley in the front office, or to Ellen Lowery in room 38. Prices will rise again after February break, so please don’t delay! The final day for placing a yearbook order will be Friday, April 9, and at that time prices will be $25 for hardcover, and $21 for paperback. Please feel free to direct any questions to Ellen at elowery@fps.k12.me.us. Thank you!
Science Ms. Boudreau
After school Tues & Thursday
We had to take a break from the microscopes and watch some great movies related to microscopic organisms while I was out with back issues, but Monday we will continue using the scopes. The scope unit will end just before vacation with a test that is partially using the scope and partially identifying cell parts and answering questions about cells and other unit material. Students should have all their papers organized by number in their notebooks. It would be good to start practicing and reviewing now. I have the activities set up so as we learn skills we use them, but that doesn’t mean students internalize them and remember the names of each skill.
January 23rd, 2010 by bluecrew in · No Comments
Week In Preview Jan. 25 – Jan. 29 (can’t believe it’s already the end of Jan.)
Mathematics
Monday – Ms. Jacobs,
Tuesday- Mr. Towle
Wednesday – Mrs. Bennett, Ms. Jacobs
Thursday – Mrs. Bennett, Mrs. Hodgkins
In class, students took a Partner Quiz on Thursday and Friday. This quiz will be scored by Monday.
The unit test for Stretching and Shrinking will be given over a two day period next week starting on Wednesday.
Sra. Campbell -Spanish
marshacampbell@fps.k12.me.us
Available after school on Tuesday and Thursday
Next week we will be continuing with lesson 2 ( unit 2). This week we focused on the verb ESTAR and the location words. Next week we will focus a bit more on the verb IR ( to go) and recombining what we have learned so far in new ways. There will be quizzes on the verbs and also on the location words. Students should be studying these to make sure they really know them. We will see the rest of the telehistoria ( the mini drama).
From: Gail Turner [mailto:gturner@fps.k12.me.us]
To: Becky Hayes [mailto:bhayes@fps.k12.me.us], carrie boudreau [mailto:cboudreau@fps.k12.me.us]
Sent: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 09:31:24 -0500
Subject: French WIP
Le Français Mme Turner Extra support : after school Thurs. or before school by prearrangement
gturner@fps.k12.me.us
Using the “futur proche” (near future) students will make cootie catchers in the beginning of the week in order to tell their friends future. There will be a phrase of the day quiz for classes who have not yet done that. We will review for an oral assessment where students will be asked to talk about after school activities and about what they will be doing (futur proche). (Please see Moodle site for focus questions under Oral Assessment #2 in section 1) Review will be on: aller, faire de, jouer à, jouer de, sport/activity vocabulary, contractions, places vocabulary, and the future tense. Our next unit of study will be home life with family and house vocabulary.
Science: Ms. Boudreau
After School
Tues & Thurs
Microscope quiz grades are posted for classes A-D. B already had a re-take as a class, others are allowed to re-take the first 2 sided page to increase score to an 80, and must be done during guided practice or after school this week. Most students did a great job!
Students have now learned how to calculate total power of magnification, focus prepared slides and self-made slides using all powers, measure field of view, move the slide to see specimen and label simple parts of a cell. They are creating a microscope/cell investigation notebook as they go and I’m grading some pages to help monitor their progress. Students are being graded on following directions, completion of tasks, quality & detail of drawings.
This week students will look at 2 types of plant cells, one with chloroplasts and one without, and at least one type of animal cells (cheek cell). They will also learn how to focus at different depths of the slide by viewing thread slides. These slides are a very expensive teaching tool, but our budget is sparse. Please remind your child to be responsible with lab equipment.
We have had some fun with my microscope that attaches to my laptop attached to the LCD projector. In E block, we observed a microscopic worm eating something on an aquatic plant leaf. It was quite entertaining. I received the microscope after attending a 2 week SEPA workshop at USM during the summer. Some of your children have images and movies on their laptops that they took during their yeast investigation or during their current investigation.
Since we are working with the microscopes, absences can only be made up by attending after school sessions, unless the student has his or her own microscope at home to view some of the objects we are observing in class.
January 15th, 2010 by bluecrew in · No Comments
Blue Crew Week In Preview
Happy Martin Luther King Day!!
DO YOU LOVE FIELD HOCKEY?
Any current 7th grade girl interested in going to a team overnight Field Hockey camp this summer, please contact Maria Masselli 797-2405 or mmasselli@maine.rr.com.
Sra. Campbell -Spanish
marshacampbell@fps.k12.me.us
Available after school on Tuesday and Thursday
The coming week will begin on Tuesday with quizzes on the vocabulary for lesson 2 (Unidad 2). The vocabulary for this lesson has many cognates and words students have seen in previous years, so the challenge is to learn the few words that are REALLY new. I will introduce the verb ESTAR next week and we will use it to talk about where we are, how we are feeling and other temporary states. We will also learn words of placement or location like under, above or behind in this lesson. We will do various HomeTutor activities in class. In this lesson we are describing our classroom and where things are.
The students are really making progress that is beginning to demonstrated by the nice sentences they can use to talk about things. Enjoy the long weekend, hasta luego.
Le Français Mme Turner after school Tues. & Thurs.
gturner@fps.k12.me.us
We will begin our study of the verb “aller” (to go)! This will be combined with vocabulary of places and will be used to talk about doing things in the near future. Up until this verb, we have only been communicating about what is happening in the present. There will be a quiz on the conjugation of the verb “aller” mid-week.
Ellen Santora
ELA Blue Crew
esantora@fps.k12.me.us
After School: Tuesday/Thursday
Students are writing articles this week. There is a brainstorm sheet for gathering information which students will be working on for homework over the long weekend. We will learn about gathering information, organizing it, and selecting word choice, tone, and mixed media specific to an audience (the Falmouth Middle School student). These articles will be culminate into a Blue Crew Newspaper. This is the 8th piece of writing for our portfolios! We are nearing the end of the writing workshop and students will be editing and polishing existing pieces. These pieces will be evaluated at the end of the semester as demonstrating their approach, mastery, or expertise of the writing goals set for each student. Additionally, we are gathering “Our Worst Sentences” to talk about editing for grammar, punctuation, syntax, agreement, sophistication, or “boring-ness”… We will work with our own collective, authentic sentences for this exercise…should be fun. (At least, I think so…)
Mathematics
After School Help:
Monday – Martin Luther King Day – no school
Tuesday- Mrs. Bennett, Mr. Towle
Wednesday- Mrs. Bennett, Ms. Jacobs
Thursday – Mrs. Hodgkins
Next week, students will take a partner quiz at the end of the week. It will be returned to them on the following Monday and and we will wrap up the unit on mathematical similarity with a test at the end of the week.
Science
After School Help Tuesday & Thursday
Students did a great job investigating yeast and if it displays the characteristics of life. They are a little overwhelmed with the entire process and the new lab report expectations. The initial reports are due at the beginning of class on Tuesday. They had lots of time during class and guided practice all week to work in their groups and finish the report. For this first official report, students had the choice of turning their own report or turning in a collaborative group report. I will review it, make comments on it and give them one opportunity to make corrections before they get the final grade. The next report will be individual and no opportunity for corrections.
Many students were not well prepared for the quiz they had on Friday even though their only homework for science was to study for the quiz and the papers the needed to study were listed on the board. They need to learn the material before I allow them to use the very expensive microscopy equipment, so I’m allowing them to re-take part of the quiz for a grade up to 80%. Hopefully, in the future, they will prepare more thoroughly.
This week, students will be learning how to use the microscopes. First they will learn how to find total magnification, next they will learn how to calculate field of view, then they will observe onion cells, green plant cells, and cheek cells.
Happy 3 day weekend!!
Jeremy Stein
Social Studies
After school Tuesday
jstein@fps.k12.me.us
This week we will be finishing off the last few Asia Culmination Projects, before delving into our studies of Medieval Africa. We will begin with the geography and resources available. From there we will launch into a multi-week webquest following the development of Timbuktu in the medieval era. Students will work individually on a number of tasks, each culminating with a brief writing piece. This will all be completed on moodle.
In addition to our medieval studies we will also be looking at the devastation of Haiti and the international response. I encourage you to watch/ read/ discuss the events with your student to help them understand the impact of what has happened.
December 18th, 2009 by bluecrew in · No Comments
I hope everyone has a Happy, Healthy, and SAFE holiday and winter vacation. Don’t forget to GET OUT and PLAY!
Le Français Mme Turner
gturner@fps.k12.me.us
Monday all classes will be making crèpes in class and finishing the film “La Gloire de Mon Père”. Students were reminded Friday about what they signed up for in the hope that no key component of the festivities will be forgotten. Please check with your child to see if they signed up to bring something in. Bonnes Vacances!
Science Ms. Boudreau
cboudreau@fps.k12.me.us
Students and Parents, if you want to contact me by e-mail, please use the e-mail above. Some people have sent me messages on Google docs and I don’t check that often.
If your child did not get to finish both parts of the Matter & Energy Assessment, he/she will have time on Monday to do this. Otherwise, he/she will have to stay after school the first week we return. We will be starting a new unit and I want their minds available to absorb the new information. Thank you to those that planned ahead and completed the assessment before they left.
Our new unit of study will include the characteristics of life, comparison of cells types, and viruses. Students will learn how to use the light microscope, prepare wet mount slides, calculate field of view, measure specimens, identify some pond water organisms and differentiate between 4 cell types.
Ellen Santora
ELA Blue
esantora@fps.k12.me.us
In time for the new year, when people begin to reflect on fresh starts and personal goals, students have crafted a list of 100 Things they Believe…We will be listening to personal belief statements via This I Believe…inc. and crafting a piece of writing which reflects students core beliefs – after the break. Many students have been very thoughtful in this process and I am, once again, impressed with the depth of reflection attained by such young thinkers. Personal narratives have been completed: equally moving. Students should be finished reading the fourth novel/book/memoir of the semester by the time we return from break…a project will be completed shortly following. We spent some intensive time working on the paragraph/essay structure in preparation for the science test. Ask kids how their hand relates to a paragraph: it’s a handy graphic organizer that comes everywhere with you….(pun intended). Have a great vacation. May the new year bring you much peace.
December 13th, 2009 by bluecrew in · No Comments
This is the last week for the 7th and 8th grade student council’s toy drive/fundraiser to benefit the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital. The Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital “strives to create a wonderful, bright holiday experience for patients and their families who are in the hospital and away from their extended family and usual holiday tradition. Donated toys make this magic possible and are given out at various in-hospital holiday events and celebrations.”
If you would like to participant and donate to this worthy cause, please bring in a new unwrapped toy. ( A list of possible items to donate can be found outside Mr. Fox’s classroom (room 6). Or if you prefer to make a monetary donation you could drop it off in the main office of the Middle School.
Thanks for your support.
Happy Week before holiday break to all. We will be celebrating this week by having all students participate in the National Geographic Geography Bee. All students will be asked seven questions testing their knowledge of geography from the United States to all over the world. The preliminary rounds will include multiple choice questions, and the latter rounds are just from the students memory banks. Each Social Studies class will have one winner, who will advance to the grade competition to be held later in the week. The top two winners from the grade final will partake in the school wide competition following the winter break.
After our Geography Bee we will start our studies of Medieval Japan. This includes the Shogun era and learning about the feudal system as it manifested itself in Japan.
Don’t forget that the Asia Postcards are due the first class of the week.
I will be after school on Tuesday if any students wants to retake their Asia Map Quiz. They must bring their original copy of the quiz with them, so I can compare which ones they improved on.
Mathematics
After School Help:
Monday – Ms. Jacobs
Tuesday- Mr. Towle, Mrs. Bennett
Wednesday- Ms. Jacobs
Thursday-Mrs. Hodgkins, Mrs. Bennett
Due to the snow day, the first check up of the unit was postponed to Monday or Tuesday. During the rest of the week we will explore the areas of similar figures and their relationship to the scale factor through the concept of rep-tiles. A rep-tile is a way to demonstrate how congruent copies of a shape can be put together to make a larger similar shape.
Sra. Campbell -Spanish
marshacampbell@fps.k12.me.us
Available after school on Tuesday and Thursday
This week, what with a snow day, we have made very little progress. Let’s hope for a full productive week next week. We are continuing with Unit 2, lesson 1. This week I just introduced regular AR verb endings and hope to continue to practice using these new forms and also to build on the use of TENER. I am planning a vocabulary quiz, the first thing next week and later a verb quiz. We will end the week with a pictograma assignment, integrating what we have learned in this lesson. Next week we will also discuss plans for a cultural event for the following Monday (and Tuesday, for block E). IF the students are interested in doing some cooking and preparation, we can have a Spanish and Mexican holiday foods fiesta. If some of you have holiday recipes from Spain or another Spanish-speaking country that you would like to share, please contact me. I have some recipes I can share as well. Gracias y “Prospero año nuevo!” a todos.
Le Français Mme Turner after school Tues. & Thurs.
gturner@fps.k12.me.us
Monday, students who did not do their oral assessment, will have the opportunity to complete that in class. We will go over the 2nd trimester homework assignments of which there are 3. The choices are posted on my Moodle site. There will be a phrase of the day quiz toward the end of the week. We will begin the film “La Gloire de mon Père” based on the best-selling memoirs of French novelist/filmmaker Marcel Pagnol. Monday, Dec. 21st we will be finishing the film and making crepes in class. Recipes for crepes and a sign up sheet will be circulated this week for students to bring in the makings and fillings. Next weeks WIP will include a reminder about the Monday activities!
Science Ms. Boudreau
After Tuesday & Wednesday
Students will have their Matter & Energy 2 part Assessment this week. Basically, they have to show on a poster how photosynthesis uses the waste products of cellular respiration and how cellular respiration uses the products of photosynthesis. They all received a rubric and assessment directions during class on Thursday or Friday. Monday, we will watch a documentary that demonstrates how the processes work together. I’ll stop at intervals so students can fill in their study guide. I encourage students to do a practice poster and write a rough draft paragraph at home Monday and/or Tuesday so they can stay on Tues/Wed for help if needed. Classes B & D will complete their poster in class on Wed. Class B will complete the paragraph in class on Thursday and Class D will complete theirs in class on Friday. All other classes will do the poster on Thursday and Paragraph on Friday. Please ask to see their Rubric, and have them show you their rough drafts. Everyone should get 100% if they properly prepare.
December 5th, 2009 by bluecrew in · No Comments
WIP 12.7-12.11
For the next two weeks the 7th and 8th grade student council is holding a toy drive/fundraiser for the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital. The Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital “strives to create a wonderful, bright holiday experience for patients and their families who are in the hospital and away from their extended family and usual holiday tradition. Donated toys make this magic possible and are given out at various in-hospital holiday events and celebrations.”
If you would like to participant and donate to this worthy cause, please bring in a new unwrapped toy. ( A list of possible items to donate can be found outside Mr. Fox’s classroom (room 6). Or if you prefer to make a monetary donation you could drop it off in the main office of the Middle School.
Thanks for your support.
Please Note: A few homerooms may have “assigned” a gift to each student to help ensure each child at the hospital receives a gift and to not have too many duplicates. Please don’t feel as though this is mandatory; it’s more of a management/organizational system 
Le Français Mme Turner after school Tues. & Thurs.
Students will have an oral assessment on their day at school. they need to be able to ask simple questions about school and to answer them. Below are the study questions. With this complete we will turn our studies to after school activities and sports. The important, irregular verb Faire will be introduced to the tune of the French national anthem, La Marseillaise!
1.À quelle heure est-ce que tu arrives à l’école?
2.Qu’est-ce que tu étudies à l’école?
3.Les cours sont de quelle heure à quelle heure?
4.Qu’est-ce que tu aimes faire (to do) à l’école? (use -er verbs studied)
5. Qui sont les profs et comment sont les profs?
6. À quelle heure est-ce que tu quittes l’école?
7. À quelle heure est-ce que tu rentres à la maison.
Science: Ms. Boudreau
After school Tuesday & Wednesday
OPTIONAL ACTIVITY that is part of Science Club with Mrs. Stuart.
Students who are interested in dissection should pick up a form from Mrs. Stuart. Payment and permission forms are due by Dec. 17th.
Dissection for 7th graders is a fetal pig that looks just like the inside (well almost) of the human. This is an after school science club activity. Students can get Bonus points if they take pictures of their experience, organize them into a presentation and make arrangements to present their experience. The number of Bonus points will range from 20 to 100 depending on the complexity and accuracy of the presentation.
In class this week we will use all the information we’ve learned about Cellular Respiration to write our Lab conclusion. We’ll complete another lab to get evidence for the raw materials of cellular respiration, and then we will use a video and graphic organizer to visualize and illustrate how the 2 processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration work together to cycle carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and energy. Depending on how far we get by Wednesday, there may be a quiz on Thursday for B and Friday for all other classes. The test on this unit will be next week.
Ellen Santora
ELA Blue Crew
esantora@fps.k12.me.us
After school: Tuesday and Thursday
We have begun writing our memoirs and I am thrilled to see the kids reflecting on the valuable moments, people, and objects of their lives. Students should be reading (at least) their FOURTH novel/book. I have suggested the memoir as a genre as we are working on them in class. Tickets to edit should be completed with an editor – at the latest – by Monday.
Mathematics
After School Help:
Monday – Ms. Jacobs
Tuesday- Mrs. Bennett, Mr. Towle
Wednesday- Ms. Jacobs
Thursday- Mrs. Hodgkins
This past week, students honed their coordinate graphing skills as they plotted points and used algebraic rules to produce similar figures on a coordinate grid. Students continue to develop their understanding of the relationships of angles, side lengths, perimeters and area in similar figures. The first quiz of the unit will be at the end of the week.
It is always a good idea to be well-prepared for the first check up of a new unit. Please encourage your child to come for extra practice after school (our times are listed above).
Jeremy Stein
Social Studies
jstein@fps.k12.me.us
Late Day: Tuesday
On Monday we will have a Map Quiz focusing on countries in Asia. Students were made aware of the quiz last Tuesday.
After the quiz, students will be introduced to a “Post Card” Assignment, the Rubric will go home on Monday. The postcard will be due on the following Monday. For the remainder of the week we will be studying medieval Japan via book work, cornell notes and class discussions.
The annual National Geographic Geography Bee will take place on Monday December 14th. Every student will compete within their Social Studies classroom. The winners will compete in the 7th grade final on December 17th.
Sra. Campbell -Spanish
marshacampbell@fps.k12.me.us
Available after school on Tuesday and Thursday
We are now a week deep in Unidad 2, lesson 1. We have telling time and talking about school courses. We are introducing the verb TENER ( to have) in all its present tense forms and using it in different ways to talk about what we have and what we have to do. Numbers are now very important and we have had our first quiz on them. In the coming week we will continue with this unit, practicing talking about our day at school and finishing with an assignment to write about and illustrate our schedules. There may be quizzes on the verb TENER and vocabulary.
Marsha Campbell
7th Grade Spanish
Falmouth Middle School
December 1st, 2009 by bluecrew in · No Comments
Ellen Santora ELA Blue Crew esantora@fps.k12.me.us Your Blue Crew student is coming home with a writing portfolio! The portfolio is allowed out our classroom for editing over the next week and a half. The kids have filled in a “Ticket to Edit” for each of their five main writing pieces. They have been instructed to work with a person whom they consider to be a stronger writer than themselves. A REALLY important part of this process is working with the kids to have them realizing THEIR best ability…even if it isn’t ‘perfect’. I’ve told them that the editing conference can occur with others, but the actual editing needs to be completed by them in order for their most authentic work to be produced. If you are seeking support in directing your editing conversation or you need support with how to approach editing a piece of writing, see the Ticket to Edit page of my website. Thanks so much for your participation in this valuable part of the writing process.
November 20th, 2009 by bluecrew in · No Comments
WIP 11.23 & 11.24
Due to the short week, on Tuesday, both Gold and Blue Crew students will be watching a film entitled “Promises”, in celebration of the cultural studies of the Middle East that students explored in both Social Studies and ELA. Here’s an excerpt from the film: “A beautiful and deeply moving portrait of seven Palestinian and Israeli children. Promises follows the journey of a filmmaker who meets these children in and around Jerusalem, from a Palestinian refugee camp to an Israeli settlement in the West Bank…The children of Promises offer refreshing, personal and sometimes humorous insight into the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. With remarkable balance and a compelling blend of pathos and humor, this Oscar-nominated, Emmy Award winning film moves the conflict out of politics and into the realm of the human.”
Sra. Campbell -Spanish
marshacampbell@fps.k12.me.us
Available after school on Tuesday.
The coming week is very short, Monday and Tuesday only, so we will be doing a little side step from from the text and reading from a reader, Ventanas , and learning vocabulary for animals which we will use later in the next Unit. Students who miss these classes will need to get the animal vocabulary when they return. Have a wonderful “Día de la gracia”.
Le Français
Mme Turner
After school Monday for make up!
gturner@fps.k12.me.us
Our one class together this week will be further work with -er verbs and applying them to the school setting. Interrogatives will be combined with the new vocabulary. Over the weekend students should review the list of -er verbs. There will also be a follow up activity to their projects titled “L’emploi du temps”. Students did a fabulous job with this assessment.
Mathematics
After School Help
Monday – Ms. Jacobs
Students took a quiz last week in applying their sixth grade learning of how to find the area and perimeter of shapes. This knowledge is needed in the current unit and was practiced throughout the week.
Students continue to develop their understanding of the relationships of angles, side lengths, perimeters and area in similar figures while practicing their fraction computation skills.
Science: Ms. Boudreau
After school Tuesday
Thank you for sending in glue sticks! The students made great molecules of water, carbon dioxide and sugar that are now hanging in my classroom. I hope this will help them visualize the molecule and will help them understand that we are made of very tiny pieces that are recycled over and over.
Monday students will have the opportunity to learn about nano science by completing a few lab activities put together by students in the USM immunology department. There won’t be any quizzes over this one, maybe some extra credit for those who are here on Monday.
I’ll be posting a document called Summary: Sugar and Cells and follow up questions on my Moodle site for students who were not in school Nov. 18, 19, 20. The information on this document will be on a quiz later in the week following Thanksgiving break.
If anyone is absent after Thanksgiving, check my moodle site for activities or documents related to Cellular Respiration and/or the Carbon Cycle. There will be a test on how the process of Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration are related and the students will be expected to show how Carbon, Oxygen and Hydrogen are recycled through them.
Ellen Santora
esantora@fps.k12.me.us
After School: Monday
Portfolio evaluation and revision will be going on from November 23rd – December 3rd. During this time, portfolios will be home for your perusal. There will be a link on my website to inform and assist you as you move through the conference process with your child(ren). Have a very good holiday. I am thankful for your wonderful, creative children.
November 14th, 2009 by bluecrew in · 1 Comment
Thank You for your great participation and communication at conferences. Think link between student, teacher and parent is incredibly important to the success of the student and communication in person is much more effective than via phone or e-mail. Please continue to have conversations with your student regarding their progress on meeting their goals, and continue to communicate concerns with your student’s teachers.
Québec insurance: If your child is going to Québec and you choose to get the cancellation insurance, the payment of $32.10 made out to Falmouth Middle School is due on Wednesday. The policy is available in the main office for your review. With insurance you would get $396 back. Without it, if your child has a fever or illness on Wednesday or Thursday the week of the trip you will not get any money back. The final payment of $430 will be due March 1st. Please contact wfisher@fps.k12.me.us with any questions.
Vision Screening Tuesday and Wednesday. Please bring glasses or wear contacts if applicable.
Mathematics
After School Help:
Monday – Ms. Jacobs
Tuesday- Mrs. Bennett, Mr. Towle
Wednesday-Mrs. Bennett, Mrs. Hodgkins, Ms. Jacobs
Thursday-Mr. Towle
In class, students are continuing the new unit, Stretching and Shrinking, and will be applying measurement skills learned in grade 6 (finding area and perimeter of parallelograms, circles and triangles) to help make comparisons between shapes as we begin our study of mathematical similarity.
Students who scored less than 70% on the Variables and Patterns test may make their grade up to a 70% by attending an after school test review session and another session to retake the test. We have encouraged students to take advantage of this opportunity to improve their knowledge by correcting errors and doing additional practice. The retake must be completed next week.
Sra. Campbell -Spanish
marshacampbell@fps.k12.me.us
Available after school on Tuesday and Thursday for extra help or make ups.
The coming week we will have a Unit test on lesson 2. I will give the audio portion on Wednesday-Thursday ( depending on who I see each day) and the written part the following day. We will be reviewing the first part of the week. I have given out sign-on for the on-line version of the text book so students will be able to use that and the ClassZone.com site to review. The focus is really using adjectives correctly and being able to use the verbs ser and gustar to describe yourself or a someone else.
Le Français Mme Turner after school Tues. & Thurs.
gturner@fps.k12.me.us
Students will finish an assessment project “l’emploi du temps”/ “l’agenda” at the beginning of the week. We will review and expand on -er verbs with the introduction of communicating likes, dislikes and preferences using the structure of a conjugated verb followed by the infinitive. There will be a “phrase of the day” quiz mid-week.
Jeremy Stein
Social Studies
Late Day Wed:
We are nearing the end of our study of the Middle East and Islam. We are moving into the modern era as we study the role of women in modern Islamic countries. A brief study of the 3 major religions of the Middle East will lead us into our discussion of the delicate situation between modern Israel and the Palestinian National Authority.
I will be offering a retake of the Muhammad Life quiz on Wednesday after school. Any students who are interested must speak to me by Tuesday to be eligible. I am also offering an extra credit piece on life in modern Iran, due first class of the week..
Science: Ms. Boudreau
After Tuesday & Wednesday
This week we will have a quiz over the presentations. Students can use the note page I passed out to them. They should get notes from a friend prior to Monday’s class if they were absent for a presentation day or look up the information themselves and put it on the paper.
We are now learning about the matter that plants use to make their food that is used to make mass. We’ll expand to photosynthesis, cellular respiration and the carbon cycle. Students can, and should, view the links in the Matter and Energy section of my Moodle site. This will be a very short unit compared to space.
We have lots of great Atom models hanging in our room. If anyone forgot to pick up their solar system model during conferences and still wants it please e-mail me. I’m going to start breaking them down and recycling parts.
If anyone has a few extra small diameter low heat glue sticks please send them in. We’ll be making molecules in class soon.
