April 7 , 20 17
FMS NEWS
A LOOK AT WHAT’S HAPPENING AT FREEPORT MIDDLE
SCHOOL
PRINCIPAL’S CORNER
Individual Highlights:
Principal’s Corner
1
Upcoming Events
1
Yearbook
2
Unified Arts
2
Music Notes
2
6 Grade News
3
7 Grade News
4
8 Grade News
5
RSU5 Comm. Progr
6
th
th
th
At tachm ent s
School Nutrition News
8th Gr. Citizenship Award
Pr incip al’s C or ner
Our eighth graders are in the middle of their boat-building unit. All students will be making boats
out of cardboard boxes and then will race them at the YMCA. Students are required to figure out
the volume, surface area, etc. of their boat prior to racing. Our seventh grade will be hosting a
Family Science Night on Monday, April 10th. They are all working extremely hard to finish up their
projects and we look forward to seeing seventh grade families that night. The sixth grade is
starting the Spirit Series next week, working on Socrates, with a performance at the end. It is
great seeing so many engaging hands on units going on for our kids.
Testing Schedule: After break eighth graders will take the science MEA test on April 27th. The
MEA writing test for all grades will be on May 11th.
8th Grade parents (and anyone else that wants to attend)
As mentioned in previous communications from the high school and at the last 8th grade high
school meeting held in January, the high school will be hosting two more Class of 2021 parent and
student information meetings before the end of the school year.
The next meeting will be held on M onday A pr il 10th from 5-6p m in the FHS cafeteria. At this
meeting, the high school will discuss our shift to proficiency-based practices at the high school as
well as "life outside of the classroom". You'll have the chance to speak to current FHS students
about athletics, extracurricular activities and community service, and we'll also discuss our exciting
work tied to proficiency practices in our classrooms. We hope that you'll join us for this meeting
and students are welcome and encouraged to attend.
Our third Class of 2021 meeting for families will be held in June.
Please contact the FHS main office for any questions.
Business Address
19 Kendall Lane
Freeport, Maine 04032
PHONE:
865-6051
FAX:
865-2902
Upcoming Events
FMS Social 6:00 – 9:00
DIII Honors Festival
FMS Science Night 6:00 – 7:30
8th Gr Info Night in FHS Cafeteria 5:00 – 6:00
8th Gr Cardboard Boat Races @ YMCA 9:30 – 11:30
Professional Comp Day – NO SCHOOL
Spring Vacation – NO SCHOOL
Grades 7 – 12 Jazz Concert @ FPAC 6:30
4/7
4/8
4/10
4/10
4/13
4/14
4/17 – 4/21
4/27
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Yearbook
The yearbook club has been busy! This year’s cover was designed by 6th grader Mia Hornschild-Bear. We are working very
hard to make sure that each student is represented in the book at least two, if not three, times.
Haven’t ordered yet? Order your yearbook now before time runs out! The deadline is April 14. You can pay by credit card
and order directly online at ybpay.lifetouch.com using the code: 11101917. We do not order extra copies so make sure
to place your order now. Not sure if you have ordered? Contact Jill Hooper @ [email protected]
Unified Arts
Sp anis h - M rs . Robs on
6th grade students are beginning the trimester with
greetings. They have been practicing their greetings and
are preparing for a quiz next week.
7th grade students are finishing their verb unit. They have
been learning how to conjugate verbs and use complete
sentences in speech and writing. They have made a lot of
progress in their writing this year! Following vacation we will
learn our family members and jobs. Please remind your child
to study regularly at home. It makes a big difference on
assessments and class activities!
8th grade students have just completed the travel
unit. Next, we will move on to our soccer unit, which is our
second to last! Please remind your child to study regularly
at home! They should also be logging all of their study time
each month.
Ar t – M s. Bubar
Sixth grade artists have just begun a Dahlov Ipcar
inspired, animal collage. They are creating vibrant scenes
of wild animals and geometric shapes inspired by the
Maine artist's paintings. Right now our seventh graders
are working on ceramic slab-bowls after learning about the
Blue Moon Clay Carvers, a duo of potters from
Farmington, Maine. Their ceramic work is full of bold,
beautiful colors and patterns. After learning about a
variety of abstract artists from Maine, the eighth graders
have each chosen one to inspire an independent project.
For this project, they get to choose the media that best
suits their abstract designs.
Music Notes
Band – M rs . York
7 /8 Ho no rs J az z
On March 10th, Freeport Middle School was well represented at the 7th & 8th Grade Honors Jazz Festival. Antonio Wheeler (tenor
sax), Joseph Coleman (alto sax), Nicholas Bither (tenor sax), and Miles Panenka (trombone) all performed in a 25-piece jazz
ensemble made up of students that were selected by an audition/nomination process. They shared a concert with a 6th grade
honors band and 6th grade honors choir. Three of the four FMS students were brave enough to solo in front of an audience that
filled the Camden-Rockport gymnasium!
6 -1 2 In stru m en ta l
Congrats to all the band students that performed on Tuesday night. What a wonderful job! We have several other performance
commitments between now and the end of the year. The sixth grade will focus on completing book one of Standard of Excellence
as well as prepare for the Memorial Day parade and at least one in-school performance. The 7/8 band will also prepare for the
Memorial Day parade as well as a couple in-school performances, a performance at Promotion, and will be working with a senior,
Noah Brown, who is writing an original composition for them!
Ja zz Ba nd
The 7/8 Jazz Band will share a concert with the Portland Jazz Orchestra on Thursday, April 27th.
7 /8 H on ors Ba nd
This weekend fourteen 7th & 8th grade band members will perform at the 7th & 8th Grade District 3 Honors Festival in
Topsham. These students prepared a required audition piece and performed it for a judge last November at Medomak Valley Middle
School. Students representing the Freeport Middle School band are: Faith Robillard (flute), Riley Simon (clarinet), Katie Whittier
(clarinet), Jane Dawson (clarinet), Mary Kate Murphy (clarinet), Savannah Tracy (clarinet), Nicholas Bither (tenor sax), Miles
Panenka (trombone), Brian Brogan (tuba), Ellen Jolly (trumpet), Andrew Morrissey (trumpet), Ella Vertenten (percussion), Marcello
Santomenna (percussion), and Vivien Crawford (mallet percussion).
C hor us – M rs . Lawson
6 TH -1 2T H GRA DE CHOR US CONCER T
Dress rehearsals: TBA after sp ri ng b rea k
Date: T hu rsday , May 4 t h
Wh ere: FP A C A u ditoriu m
Call time for students: 5 :4 5p m in th e F HS c ho ir roo m
Con ce rt Start T im e: 6 :3 0p m
Attire: b lac k o n t h e bo tt om , so lid c olo re d t op (th in k sprin g co lors!)
6th Grade
Social Stud ies/Pr e A lgebr a – M rs . Brow n
Sixth G rad e Social Stud ies students are in the midst of
their study of prehistoric people and the Paleolithic
Age. Ask your sixth grade Social Studies student about
paranthropus boisei and homo habilis! Ask about what the
evidence is and what it tells us about early hominids.
For a brief period of time following their study of the Old
Stone Age, sixth grade Social Studies students will be
examining the Mesolithic Age, the transition time between
the Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages. They will be learning
about the climate changes and environmental forces that
pushed humans to alter forever how people live on this
planet.
After learning about the Natufians and the Mesolithic Age,
students will investigate the Neolithic Age and how learning
to farm and domesticate animals led to permanent homes
and the very earliest forms of government and religion.
In the middle of their study of prehistoric times, students
will be venturing into a quick study of Ancient Greece while
they work on the "Seeking Socrates" production with Mr.
Witte. Students will learn about the geography of Ancient
Greece, the concepts of citizenship and democracy that
began in Ancient Greece, the significant wars of the time,
and the lasting influence of Ancient Greek culture on the
modern world.
6th Gr ad e Pre A lgebra students have completed their
study of ratio and percent (including applications with
interest, sales tax, discount, and percent change) and are
beginning their investigation of geometric concepts. They
started with angles (measuring angles, complementary
angles, supplementary angles, and finding missing angle
measures). Students have also had a refresher on
classifying triangles. With the help of Mr. Garnett, students
have begun learning how to do geometric constructions
with a lesson on perpendicular bisectors and circles. We'll
finish up Chapter 7 with some work on quadrilaterals and
area.
Page 3 of 6
LA – M r. W itte
The students have been reading historical fiction in book
groups recently, focusing on novels about the
Holocaust. While it might seem an unappealing or
unnecessarily grim topic for a 6th grade spring, it brings
together so many important ideas. I've seen how students
learn enormously from viewing a horrible period through the
eyes of a young character. We get a chance to share and
compare our thoughts about these events in the open with
questions being asked and answered. In addition, I have
read aloud the excellent autobiography, The Girl Who
Survived, the actual account of Bronia Brandman who
survived Auschwitz. To accompany our reading, the
students have created some thoughtful products to
demonstrate their understanding. First, each student makes
an Emotional Timeline that traces their character's
emotional journey through the book. This is a different way
to consider a character and students find it more interesting
than just another written analysis. And second, pairs of
students are creating Body Biographies that are a life size
model of their characters with actions, thoughts, emotions,
and symbols contained on a huge sheet of paper. It was
very successful in previous years and I have high hopes for
this class as well. If you have any questions, please email
me.
Also, we will start next week on the Spirit Series, a special
unit that is co-taught with a guest teacher, Kent Pierce
from Yarmouth. We will group the students into four
classes that will read, study, and consider the life and death
of Socrates, leading towards a staged reading of Seeking
Socrates, an original production of Spirit Series. This is an
exciting unit that will culminate in performances on May 4th
and 5th, to which parents and families are most welcome to
attend. In addition to the performances, students will also
engage in a variety of assignments both in and out of
class. I will have more information about performance
details as we get closer as well as a letter from Kent Pierce,
the co-teacher. We've done this for a couple of years and it
has been an enormous success.
7th Grade
ELA – M rs . Cowp er thw aite
Social studies and English language arts classes teamed up
to begin a unit on the American Civil War. ELA students
chose from a broad selection of historical fiction novels
set during the era and read in book clubs composed of
three to four students. All books featured characters that
were young adolescents who faced hardships and often
trauma as a result of the war. Our essential questions was
How was your character's life affected by the culture and
the historical events of the civil war? Discussions were rich
as we compared what it was like for a young person to live
back then and also compared the political climate of the
era to today.
Photo: Wil VanNostrand read Iron Thunder by Avi for
our Civil-War themed historical fiction unit
Social Stud ies – M rs . Moulton
The C iv il W ar Unit has begun. This week students will
identify the economic, social, and cultural differences
between the North and the South during the early 1800’s.
Students will be busy creating their ‘Standing Cube’,
which includes written information, along with visuals of
each category. (ie: Geography/Climate, Economy, Society
and Transportation).
C ak e C hallenge: Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle
Tom’s Cabin is available as a free download on their iPads.
I have told students that anyone who reads the 751 page
novel (no small feat) and can pass a ‘Book Talk’ has
earned a cake of their choice. The deadline is June 1st.
CONGRATULATIONS TO:
Cake #1: Zach Benner
Cake #2: Savannah Tracy
Page 4 of 6
ELA – M rs . Deeves
The students are wrapping up the Historical Fiction Book Clubs
that we did in conjunction with the current Social Studies
unit. The focus of this unit was twofold: to learn to read
closely and to gain insight into the lives of Americans during
the Civil War. The students responded to their reading by
completing prompts in their journal. These prompts required
students to practice thinking while reading and to reflect on
what they read when finished. For many students, this is a
new skill that will take practice over time.
The next step is for students to reflect on their reading by
answering the following essential question: How are the
characters’ lives affected by the culture and events of the
Civil War era? They will need to explain their thinking, use
knowledge from Social Studies and Language Arts, and cite
examples from the text They will also complete a project with
their group where they identify an important section of text,
prepare a presentation of it, and share it with the class.
ELA & MA TH - Mr s. Roney
ELA
Last week we started our new unit on reading history through
literature. This unit gives students an opportunity to learn
about history through various types of historical writings such
as fiction and poetry. All of my students are reading an
historical fiction novel as part of a book group. Reading
historical fiction and examining a character's actions, students
see how people handle difficult situations, explore diversity
and tolerance issues, gain historical intelligence, and become
aware of the basis of America history. In addition, activities
with historical literature can nurture creativity and create an
environment of higher-order and critical thinking skills, as well
as motivate students to discover the past and how it
connects to life today.
M ATH
After the few days of MEA testing last week, we started
chapter 5 on ratios and proportions. In this chapter students
will develop an understanding of ratios and apply
proportionality to solve problems, including those with tables
and graphs. We had a little fun yesterday in class with
cereal. I gave each student a handful of magic stars and they
had to determine the ratio of cereal pieces to
marshmallows. We learned there was a 4:1 ratio of cereal to
marshmallows in both boxes of cereal.
8th Grade
Page 5 of 6
Dear 8th grad e fam ilies and s tud ents ,
I hope this email finds you well and getting ready for some spring weather to arrive. As we mentioned in previous emails and
at our parent meeting in January, we would like to host two more Class of 2021 parent and student information meetings
before the end of the school year.
Our next meeting will be M onday A pr il 10th from 5- 6p m in the FHS cafeteria. At this meeting, we'll discuss our shift to
proficiency-based practices at the high school as well as "life outside of the classroom". You'll have the chance to speak to
current FHS students about athletics, extracurricular activities and community service, and we'll also discuss our exciting work
tied to proficiency practices in our classrooms. We hope that you'll join us for this meeting and students are welcome and
encouraged to attend.
Our third Class of 2021 meeting for families will be held in June.
Please contact the FHS main office for any questions.
All the best,
Jen Gulko
STEM – M r. N ic hols on
In STEM students have just completed a unit on wind energy.
They designed and constructed a tower stable enough to
receive a heavy blast of fan- driven “wind”. Once the tower
was perfected, students experimented with the turbine
blades. Variations in the blade construction included materials
to use, pitch directed at the wind, number of blades used, and
area of the blade wing. To test the power created, each group
had a small generator attached to measure the millivolts and
milliamps to determine the milliwatts produced. The final
assessment was to measure the rotations per minute using
video analysis. Students video taped the motion of their
blades and analyzed the angular motion per frame of video.
Some of the highest angular motions reached over 600 rpm.
Five of our student groups competed in the Maine State Wind
Blade challenge and one team took 4th place out of 40 teams!
In the next few days we will start a short unit on math and art.
Students are learning the art of origami and will design a
hanging mobile using statics calculations (torque) to plan out
and construct it.
After April vacation students will hopefully have decided upon
an independent project to pursue so they can begin their
process of writing up their design plan, Gantt chart (specific
schedule for a timeline) and orthographic drawing of their
object. Their independent project was introduced this week so
they can check in with me on ideas before the start of
vacation. My website has a large collection of links to help
students search for ideas. Their project will last from May until
mid- June. Their final project will also have a documentation
component with an iMovie explaining their design process.
In FLEX students will be racing their cardboard box boats on
Thursday, April 13th from 10- 11:40 at the local YMCA pool.
They have calculated volume displacement and drawn
orthographic designs to make sure their boat floats. The final
goal is to design a pool- worthy cardboard boat using only
duct tape and then paddle it down one of the pool lanes with
a kayak paddle. It’s great fun to see the teamwork involved
and especially fun to watch. Please stop by to check it out!
LA – M s. M urp hy
Students are just finishing up two projects for the current
short story unit "The Most Dangerous Game." The first
project included creating a Google Slides presentation with a
partner that focused on various aspects of the short story-sensory imagery, suspense, characterization, conflict and
theme. The second project was the journal that students
created in the first person as Sanger Rainsford. This
narrative included a recollection of the events that were
described in the story. Irony was another literary tool that
students identified as they read the story as Connell used a
significant amount throughout the story. When students
return from break they will be selecting a historical fiction
novel to read for the Dirty 30's project that will kick off the
week of May 1st.
Social Stud ies – M r. Favr eau
Students have just begun our short unit on the first World
War, and the timing could not be better, as April 6th marks
the 100 year anniversary of the United States entry into
the conflict. We began the unit with a simulated
auction,with the students unknowingly demonstrating the 4
primary factors contributing to the outbreak of war in
1914. We’ll examine how these factors existing together
created a climate for conflict. Over the next few weeks we
will have a simulated Draft drawing to illustrate the draft
process, a map quiz over 1914 Europe, an examination of
the Propaganda used during the war, a look at the Lusitania,
Zimmerman Telegram and the use of Liberty Bonds to
finance the war and will close with the opening of the Tomb
of the Unknown Soldier. In transition to the upcoming Great
Depression unit and project, we will run this unit as a quasi
self directed unit, preparing the students to manage their
work load and budget their time to become prepared of the
assessment at the end. Usually the week after April
vacation signals the start of the Dirty Thirties project, but
because of the number of snow days and the extension of
the year by a full week, we have move the start time back
one week. We know from many years of experience that we
can run the project for six weeks and produce very fine
results. In preparation for the project, there will be a parent
meeting to explain the process and timeline, as well as take
questions. This meeting will be on Tuesday April 25th at
6pm in the FMS library.
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RSU5 Com munity Pr ogram s
The anticipated Spring/Summer 2017 brochure from RSU5 Com munity Pr ogram s is now out and on its way to
your mailboxes. Many programs are starting soon, so don't delay. Reserve your spot now. This is also the Summer
Camps issue, so check out all of the new and popular returning offerings. To view the online BROCHURE CLICK
HERE. To register for both adult and youth classes, teams and camps, visit our REGISTRATION PAGE HERE.