January 22, 2013
ERCSD Board Report
The mission of the Cooperative Middle School is to provide a challenging, safe, and healthy environment designed to meet the
social, emotional and intellectual needs of all students.
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PRINCIPAL’S NOTES
Thank you to all the staff from EHS and CMS who put together the Suicide prevention training on January
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15 . The feedback was extremely positive. We had just over 100 participants. This included parents,
community members, youth group organizers, and others. This was truly a community event that will help
strengthen and raise our awareness around teen suicide. Thank you to everyone who helped organize
and make this opportunity available to our community.
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On January 15 CMS had its first string orchestra concert. This concert was our 6 grade students
performing and informing the audience about the program. We had 19 sixth graders participating in this
wonderful evening. In May we will have a full string orchestra concert with all CMS members playing. At
this time we have over 30 members in our string orchestra. Thank you to Jen Ramsey for starting this
program and supporting its continued growth. It was a great concert!
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On January 23 we will have our early release in-service day. At CMS we will be focusing this time on
updating our safety plans and RtI (Response to Instruction) implementation. Officer Mike Olivera will be
presenting to the staff a history of school safety plans and identifying our next steps to improve our
current plans. We are fortunate to have his support and expertise assisting us in this plan development.
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January 24 will be Instructional Rounds at CMS. Again this year we will have a team of 40 administrators
and teachers trained in the Instructional Rounds model and they will come observe our classrooms. This
team of observers will be looking for evidence of ways and to what extent our students at CMS are being
challenged in their thinking. We are excited to have this feedback and data. We will compare these
results to the Instructional Rounds Data from last year and hopefully we will see evidence of growth.
Thank you to the team for their time in this worthwhile process.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Thank you to our nurse’s office and our Builder’s Club for their efforts to collect food and create food
baskets for the holiday season. During the Thanksgiving break they distributed 88 food baskets. For
Christmas break they distributed an additional 85 baskets. I am so proud of their efforts and hard work to
support local families in need! Great work! I also would like to recognize Linda Raye and Martha La Perle
who continued to collect gift cards and distribute them during the holiday season in the food baskets. In
addition to the food basket every family received gift cards for local grocery stores and gas cards. This
year Martha and Linda were able to collect and distribute over $2500 worth of gift cards. This would not
be possible without the generosity of parents, community members, and local businesses. Thank you all
for a job well done!
CURRICULUM and INSTRUCTION
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6 Grade
Team 1 Windstorm January Newsletter
By: Katelyn Regan and Ella Raslavicusk, (Students) Team 1
This month we have worked on a lot in all of our classes. In Reading, we have discussed our Everest/
mountain books, working on shelters, W.I.N.D.S, and Hypothermia. We went outside and built shelters
using the W.I.N.D.S format and also learned how to make a hypothermia wrap called a burrito. We were
able to hold some climbing equipment such as an ice axe and some crampons. The best was cooking
outside and using equipment similar to what our characters used. It took a lot of snow to make 1 cup of
drinking water! All of this really helped us connect to our novels. It was hard to do on sea level to imagine
being on Everest and cooking!
We have done a lot in other classrooms too. In Science we have been working on our Fungi unit which
included using microscopes, going outside to find different types of mushrooms, and looking at mold.
Social Studies has been very fun. We have been learning about Southern Asia, which includes India.
Recently we have been talking about Mahatma Ghandi and the Taj Mahal. Oh, and Mr. Young likes to
keep us updated on CNN student news!
In Math we have been working on decimals, place value, and inequalities.
Language Arts has been really fun. We have been working on e. e. Cummings and we have been
learning how to write our own poems. In the beginning of school, I think that everyone was nervous for
the start of school, and trust me… I was too, but now, I know that school’s not that bad. I’ve gotten used
to waking up early in the morning and it’s really not terrible and the teachers are actually really nice.
They’re kind, and they’re always there to help us when we need help with school work or anything else.
That’s why January has been awesome.
Team 2
John Hawkins, (Student)Team 2.
There is a lot going on in Pod 2 right now. We just got a permission slip to have a pod lunch for a week
from now. There will be all sorts of great food such as sweet and sour meatballs and pasta. In English
right now we are working on correct word choice and putting voice in our writing. We just finished
blogging about many different subjects. In Science we just finished a fungi packet that almost took us
three weeks. We had to do five experiments. We chose between two mushroom stations, and a station
where we saw chemical reactions between yeast and other matter. The other choice was cultivating
yeast. In Reading we just started a novel called “Wild Man Island”. We are in Chapter 9 right now and
are just about to start a long project on the book. In Social Studies we are studying about Israel. We
wrote a post card that had three paragraphs on climate, famous places, economic activities, and cities.
Once we finished we posted them to Kid Bug. In Math, we just had a test on inequalities. Now we are
learning about factors and multipliers. Go Earth House!
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7 Grade
Team 5 , Mrs. Cook, English
On team 5, students have been busily and enthusiastically preparing for the criminal trial taking place in
English classes today based on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart". The case hinges on whether
the narrator is legally insane, and therefore not guilty, or sane, and therefore guilty of murder in the first
degree. The story offers an abundance of evidence for both sides, so the 7th grade prosecutors and
defense attorneys have had a considerable amount of fuel to add to their legal fires as they prepare their
opening and closing statements, witness preparation, and direct and cross examination questions.
Not only is this unit really fun and engaging, it also fits beautifully with the Common Core expectations of
close reading, argument writing, and citing evidence from a text in order to support claims.
I am very proud of our 7th graders on team 5!!
Team 6, Mr. Leslie
Team 6 Tidal Wave has been working hard and learning a lot this quarter. We have had many
opportunities to flexibly group our students with Team 7. We continue to gather information and feedback
about which groupings work best for student learning. It has been a great experience so far!
Team 7—Tornado—Grade 7
Morgan Palmer, Jack Patten, and Josh Dang are the Team 7 (Tornado) student newsletter
committee. We are going to inform you about the events we have done as well as upcoming ones during
the school year.
English:
“NO. WAY.”
“I cannot believe this is happening!”
“This is crazy!”
“No! Don’t stop reading!”
These are some of the comments that could be heard from Tornadoes while we read “The Most
Dangerous Game” in English class. Students were captivated by the tale of Sanger Rainsford, a worldfamous game hunter who ends up being part of a rather “dangerous game” himself when he meets the
bizarre but cunning General Zaroff. What will become of our protagonist? What sort of conflict will this
man be up against? Is his antagonist mad…or evil? And are Rainsford and Zaroff really all that different?
We have a lot of opinions about this story, and we are ready and willing to support those opinions with
textual evidence!
In Social Studies, we are learning about the Industrial Revolution. This took place between the 1600s and
1700s. During this time, child labor was extremely common. The logic behind this was that children didn’t
understand the value of money; so therefore, it was easier for businessmen to keep their money and
expand their business empires.
In Science, we are learning about rocks. The three main types of rocks are igneous, sedimentary, and
metamorphic. We are learning about each type of rock and how they are made. For example, a
metamorphic rock is formed out of an existing rock with lots of heat and pressure. Our final test is on
January 18—wishes us luck!
In the past few weeks, we have accomplished many things, and many of them were fascinating! For
instance, a few weeks ago we held a mock trial for the book The Outsiders. We then did a unit on the
media with Team 6 and learned different ways commercials and other advertisements influence people’s
opinions and actions. We’re learning a lot this year, but we are doing the learning in really interesting
ways!
Team 8, Mr. Johnson
Team 8 (Science) concluded their participation in a four-part initiative termed Sea to Lake, Summit to
Sky. This grant opportunity was centered on exploring the connection between weather and climate and
four New Hampshire based resources; the Seacoast Science Center, McAuliffe-Shepard Planetarium,
Mount Washington Observatory, and Squam Lakes Center. Students were able to visit the Seacoast and
McAuliffe Planetarium, we were able to conduct a video conference with Mt. Washington and Squam
Lakes presented at the school. In Science class, these experiences were approached not only from a
content perspective but also the scientific method and inquiry.
Meredith Baron, (Student) Team 8, Student Advisory Council Member
During this quarter, our Pod is studying rocks and rock layers in Science. In Language Arts, we are
doing/learning about poetry. In Social Studies, we are learning about economic systems and
government. Also, next month in Social Studies we will be painting Matryoshka dolls. And in Math, we
are almost done learning about fractions.
We are not planning on going on any field trips (that I know of). This year has been a good year because
we have been on a field trip to the Seacoast Science Center and the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium.
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8 Grade
Team 10, Mrs. Prior
Team 10 Earthquakers have been busy since they've returned from vacation. In FCS, they completed
their pillow project and practiced their measuring and procedural skills by making applesauce and
pumpkin bread. Students have been rigorously preparing for their Algebra mid-term, which is coming up
January 25. In US History, they are working their way through the Jeffersonian Era, heading full-steam
into the War of 1812. They have also finished their team-wide Geography Bee and the finalists are ready
for the school-wide Geo Bee coming up January 22, after school. In Science, students are showing what
they know about "Storms and Predicting Weather" through a Jeopardy game. But unlike the traditional
Jeopardy, instead of simply answering questions that the teacher provides, they are creating their own
questions in cooperative groups, categorizing them, analyzing them for rigor, and developing their own
game to challenge their classmates. In English, students recently completed their team-wide spelling bee.
The finalists are preparing for the school-wide round on the morning of January 31. Students recently
finished reading aloud “Nothing but the Truth”, a story about a conflict between a boy, his English teacher,
the 1st Amendment, and the real meaning of the whole truth. As a culminating activity, all students
became attorneys, prepared detailed legal briefs in order to represent their character-client in a civil suit
against a group of characters. They did a fantastic job honing their argumentative skills as they prepare
for the upcoming Persuasive Speech unit.
Team 11,Ms. Buckless
All CMS algebra students will be taking their midterm exam on January 25th.
Also, the seacoast region Mathcounts competition is February 9th at UNH.
Team 12, Ms.Jones,Ms. Leavitt,Ms.Schricker,Ms.Siecke,Mr.Wiggin,Mr. Zakian
Team Hurricane is working hard to wrap up Quarter 2 and get students thinking about what lies ahead in
high school, either at EHS or elsewhere. Students completed a joint essay in English and Social Studies
that incorporated elements of the Common Core State Standards in the grading rubric. Our students now
understand the Declaration of Independence at a level they probably never considered before! Mr.
Wiggin's Algebra class is gearing up for their first experience with midterm exams, and will be reviewing in
preparation for that test on January 25th. We said good-bye and good luck to Mrs. Gauthier at the
holiday break as she left to spend the rest of the year with her newborn, Cecile Annette, and welcomed
Mrs. Schricker to the 8th grade science classroom. She is very familiar with the curriculum and is
enjoying getting to know our students. We are very proud of our Students of the Month, Wyle
Schumacher and Marleigh Tetreault. We encourage students and parents to keep an eye out for
announcements regarding registration and enrollment for EHS, as both schools offer a number of
opportunities for parents and students alike to get information and ask questions about this big transition.
Ms. Barone, Latin 7
Students in Latin 7 are beginning to translate passages from the Aeneid, with their knowledge of 1st and
2nd declensions and have discussed the legendary origins of the Trojan War and the epic hero Aeneas.
Students in Latin 8 are being introduced to the battle of Thermopylae (of the famous 300) moving into
Alexander the Great and the influence of Hellenistic culture on the Roman Empire to today. They are
practicing the passive voice in Latin in 1st and 2nd conjugation. Students are also signing up to
challenge themselves to take the National Latin Exam in March.
D.Whall, Media Specialist
The library had an amazingly successful book fair at Barnes & Noble in December - thank you to all those
who came out to support the library.
Please take a look at the library shelves if you happen to be in the building. I have started to add QR
Codes to popular authors' areas - Lloyd Alexander, MT Anderson, etc. With luck, most authors will soon
have codes which will take the students to book trailers, authors' Web sites, or a Web site which will list
"which books comes next".
The Technology Team at CMS is thrilled to have Google Mail (and therefore Google Apps in Education)
up and running. Our students are engaged in online collaborative projects, have the ability to access their
files easily both at home and at school, and are able to share these files freely with their teachers and
peers.
The 7th grade technology class is working on collaborative book and movie compare and contrast project
in groups, using Google Apps in Education. Their efforts are spanning the school day, as well as taking
their projects home and "running with them" by their own choice. They are putting their knowledge of
Digital Citizenship to good use. Sixth grade integrators are demonstrating Web 2.0 tools such as
Wallwisher, Cacoo, podcasting, Google presentations, etc. The 6th graders, as well as other integration
classes, have blossomed due to the use of the Google Apps in Education.
The Media Center continues to introduce students to the concept of Digital Life and is reinforcing skills
learned during the 7 week computer course, as the students will be demonstrating their topic knowledge
by generating a Cacoo diagram.
The Tech Team will be hosting a Digital Learning Day networking breakfast on 2/6/13, in conjunction with
the National Digital Learning Day. Teachers will have the opportunity to discuss their current tech
projects with each other in a casual, non-threatening setting.
Stephanie Frigon, Ropes Course
The ropes course and experiential education program is well into its "winter mode". Throughout the month
of January, Mrs. Frigon is co-teaching with the 6th grade reading classes to explore themes in their
survival and expedition themed novels in an experiential and often outdoor environment. Some highlights
include hypothermia identification, treatment, and prevention, backcountry cooking and nutrition, shelter
building, and presentations about sea kayaking in southeast Alaska including the boats and all the gear!
The students are highly engaged in the process of bringing the books they are reading to life, and then
writing about and discussing the books in greater depth, having had a chance to take a walk in their
characters' shoes.
We also finished up a unit where Mrs. Frigon partnered with the alternative P.E. department to teach yoga
for two weeks, and Mrs. Frigon continues to do preparatory work with a group of CMS students traveling
to Puerto Rico after school. If that wasn't enough winter fun, after school on Thursdays, Ski Club is up
and running, bringing 130 students and eight CMS chaperones to Bradford Ski area for the next six
weeks.
Eilleen Dent, Wellness
In 7th & 8th grade Alt PE with Ms. Clermont and Ms. Dent, we are having the Exeter NH Martial Arts
Academy, Master Christina Hardy coming in and volunteer teaching Martial Arts to our students.
Jennifer Ramsey, Music
The Music department has been very busy this week. The general music classes are finishing up
projects ranging from violin and guitar playing to exploring protest music and creating and scoring original
soundtracks for cartoons. The brand new 6th grade orchestra successfully presented their first concert
this week. And after school i-Band is also being formed for the first time this week. This band will use ipad and i-phones apps to create a virtual band. The i-Band is open to any student at CMS. On January
25th, we are hosting a concert featuring Introduction: The Chicago Experience. The concert will feature
CMS jazz band and chorus students and all proceeds benefit the CMS Music Boosters.
COMMUNICATION
Important Dates:
January 23
January 25
January 29
January 31
February 1
February 6
February 8
February 11
February 12
Early Release – In-service Day
Report Cards Issued
NAEP Assessment
Spelling Bee
Drama Club to Boston Opera House
Student Advisory Council meeting
Student of the Month Assembly
John Halligan Assembly
PTO Meeting, 6:00 p.m.