The Ray Review
G re a t Nec k M id d le S c ho o l PTA Ne w s le tte r
President’s Letter
As we wrap up this
school year, I am
grateful for all of the
people who have taken
time out of their busy
schedules to assist me
personally, our PTA,
and our school. It has
been an awesome year
and we have had great
success with our PTA
and our school’s
achievements. Our
PTA has had some
really great fundraising
events that were largely
attended by both
students and parents.
We had many folks
comment on how
excited they were to see
our Spirit wear sold at
our Open House this
year, and so we will do
it again next year. Our
Spring Dance was very
well attended and the
kids had a great time
while they danced the
afternoon away with
friends and celebrated
our Spring season.
Volume 3, Issue 4
IMPORTANT DATES:
Our Spirit Nights
knocked it out of the
park this year, which
allowed us to give 2
large scholarships to
well-deserving,
former GNMS
students and we are
so proud of them!
Our first ever
Dodgeball
tournament fundraiser was a huge
success and the kids
had a fabulous time.
It was well attended
by students, teachers,
staff and our parents.
Thank you for all of
your overwhelming
support this year and
I look forward to
serving again next
year.
Sincerely,
Missy Dixon
GNMS PTA President
* 5/1 PTA Volunteer
Appreciation Breakfast and
Final PTA Board Meeting @
9:20 a.m. in Room 406.
* 5/4 – 5/8 Teacher
Appreciation Week!
Spring 2015
Special points of interest:
 PTA President’s Letter & PTA
Annual Recap
 Principal’s Letter
* 5/5 Teacher Appreciation
Luncheon hosted by PTA in
Room 406.
 Club and Activities Update
 Academic Team Updates
* 5/11-6/11 SOL Testing
* 6/12-6/17 SOL Make Up’s
* 5/11 Band Concert 7:00 p.m.
* 5/12 Chorus Concert 7:00
p.m.
* 5/13 Orchestra Concert 7:00
p.m. and installation of new
Executive PTA Board.
* 5/18 Activity Awards
Ceremony
* 6/10 Awards and Induction
Ceremonies @ 6:00 p.m. in
Auditeria
* 6/11 AVID Awards Banquet
6:00 p.m. in Auditeria
* 6/15 8th Grade Celebration.
* 6/18 Last Day of School!
HAPPY SUMMER!!!!!!!
PTA Executive Board
Missy Dixon
President
Deedra Dills
Vice President/Membership
Susan Lambert
Treasurer
Stacey Pilla
Secretary
Great Neck Middle School
1848 N. Great Neck Rd.
Virginia Beach, VA 23454
757-648-4550
http://
www.greatneckms.vbschools.com
The Ray ReviewPrincip
Page 2
Principal’s Corner: April/May 2015
Our extended school day (9:15 AM-4:14 PM) will continue through Friday, May 22. Know as well that
due to inclement weather cancellations, the SOL test schedule was also adjusted to provide additional
time for teachers to prepare students for testing. This revised schedule has been printed within this
newsletter.
Progress Reports will be issued to all students on Friday, May 8, 2015. Review your child’s academic
progress, and make plans for continued success or for necessary improvement. As always, contact your
child’s teachers, counselor, and/or grade level assistant principal should you require assistance. For
your ease, you may contact all staff members via email by visiting Great Neck Middle’s website at
www.greatneckms.vbschools.com. Simply click on the link for Staff.
Join me in congratulating Diana Trimble, Great Neck Middle’s Volunteer of the Year. Mrs. Trimble has
been an active parent volunteer at Great Neck the past three years serving in various capacities, most
notably coordinating our annual dance and overseeing our Spirit Nights at local restaurants. She has
served Virginia Beach Schools as a volunteer throughout her children’s years at John B. Dey and Great
Neck. Parent involvement is key to a school’s success, and volunteers at Great Neck Middle log
countless hours. Consider volunteering for the many opportunities Great Neck Middle offers. Contact
PTA Volunteer Coordinator Ramona Seals [email protected] to learn about volunteer opportunities.
Parent volunteers will be needed for our SOL Testing.
Parents, may I call upon your assistance with two things? First, with the advent of warmer weather,
ensure your child is appropriately dressed for school. Our most frequent dress code violations occur
when our young ladies wear shirts, which expose the midriff or shirts which do not have sleeves to
cover underwear straps. Our young ladies’ shirts must have sleeves. In addition, when picking up your
child from school, join the moving queue of parents in the pick-up circle, and wait for students to walk
to your car. Do not attempt to pull up to the front for your child; it places your child in the roadway, an
unsafe condition, and is not courteous to those parents who remain patiently in the queue.
As always, thank you for your continued support. Please do not hesitate to contact me, or any member
of my staff if we may be of assistance.
Sincerely,
Gene F. Soltner, Ed. D., Principal
Volume 3, Issue 4
Page 3
Partners in Education
2013-2014
Great Neck Middle School is grateful
to our Partners in Education for their
continued support of our students and
staff. Please let these businesses and
organizations know how much we
appreciate their contributions. Our
partners provide support in various
ways such as providing incentives,
recognizing student achievement, and
supporting student programs with donations and guest speakers.
For more information on the Partners
In Education Program or to become a
partner, please contact: Partner in Education Coordinator, Helen Sissel
[email protected]
Beach Movie Bistro
Brothers Pizza
Chic Fil-A (Hilltop)
Dominos Pizza (Great Neck)
Farm Fresh (Great Neck Shopping
Cen- ter)
Great Neck Middle School PTA
HWY55
Klar/Voorhees Orthodontics Moe's
Southwest Grill (Hilltop) 7-11 (Red
Tide Drive)
Shorebreak Pizza
Tini's Frozen Yogurt Bar
Tropical Smoothie Café (Marina
Shores Shoppes)
Tropical Smoothie Café (Renaissance
Place)
YNOT Pizza & Italian Cuisine
Please support our partners because they
support us!
“Spring Dance”
The Spring Shamrock Dance was a great hit!
Our 30 member Student Dance Committee
did a super job making posters, selecting
songs, food, and merchandise to sell at the
Dance. Starting off at 4 pm, DJ Jim, from Astro
DJ's did a stellar job playing current music and
got the kids dancing and playing games. The
students also enjoyed adding props to their
outfits and getting their pictures taken in the
"photo booth." Concessions, including pizza,
drinks, popcorn and donated sweet treats
were a HUGE hit and made the Dance even
more fun! Some of the kids purchased St.
Patty's green merchandise to wear at the
Dance. We handed out 25 fun prizes
throughout the Dance, drawing student's
names from the "pot-o-gold."
We thank the following local businesses who
made a gift donation:
American Indoor Karting, Bagel Baker, Beach
Movie Bistro,Chick-Fil-A, Dave and Busters,
Dunkin Donuts, Farm Fresh, Jimmy Johns,
Tini's, Moe's Southwest Grill, Nails Only,
Pinboys, Sweet Frog, Uncle Al's Hot Dogs,
Uncle Rich's, and Y-Not Italian.
Also, a huge "Thank You" to all of our
volunteer teachers and parents who worked
hard to help make the Dance extra fun this
year!!
Sincerely, Diana Trimble, Spring Dance Chair
Congratulations to all of the students
who participated in the 2015 Regional
Destination Imagination Tournament on March
14. The event was the culmination of months
of hard work and each team should be
recognized for their commitment. The
members of the Tubular Turtles team which
tied for sixth place in the Feary Tales Fine Arts
Challenge were Lauren Levin, Emma Kazle,
Nathaniel Hollaway, Abbey Brown, Sydney
Strickland, and Melumo Togashi. The
members of the 7 Seconds of Imagination team
which took third place for the Improv Games
Challenge were Mattie Anderton, Natalie
Polley, Katie Damron, Madison Herron, Sara
Dixon, Kayla Thomas, and Maddie Thomas.
The following two teams advanced to compete
in the State Tournament on March 28: the We
Need a Name? team of Annabelle Muriano,
Ansley Carpenter, Callan Searing-Niiler,
Hannah Dabney, Lacey Wilson, and
Mackenzie White won first place in the
Making Waves Scientific Challenge and the
Nuclear Pythons team of Emil Ivanov, Josiah
Pope, Christian Pope, CJ Pilla, Noah Brooks,
and Sai Senthilkumar took fourth place in the
Lose to Win Structural Challenge and also won
the Spirit of Discovery and Imagination
Award. Thank you for representing Great Neck
Middle in this exciting competition!
Spirit Night
We had a SUPER turnout at our final Spirit Night of the year! Thank you for
coming out and supporting our school. We hope you enjoyed your meal and had
a nice time visiting with friends and meeting new people. Shorebreak
generously returned a $602.39 check to our GNMS PTA which will help us with all
of our school wide programs. We also thank Shorebreak Pizza for their generous
and continued support of GNMS. They have given us 18% of ALL sales (food and
drinks) during this school year for our 3 events.
Go Stingrays!!
-Diana Trimble & Sheryl Reynolds, Spirit Night
Page 4
“Gifted”
Gifted cluster classes
have sprung into the second
semester with several
engaging lessons. PreAlgebra students discussed
the different methods to
solve a system of equations
during a Socratic seminar
As part of the enrichment model, students are
after solving a system and
invited to attend monthly gifted lunch meetings. Four
analyzing several sample
interest groups including the Stock Market Gamers,
solutions. Advanced
Stingray Citizens, Stingray Readers & Writers, and Left
English 7 students
& Right Brains were formed and began meeting this
participated in a Journey
semester. The Stock Market Gamers meet weekly to
through Wonderland
evaluate their portfolios as they compete online with
activity by exploring
other schools across the state in a real-time stock market
various resources connected
simulation. The Stingray Citizens collaborated with the
to the artistic, historical, and
library helpers to run a donation drive for the SPCA the
mathematical references in
week of March 23 - 27. The Stingray Readers & Writers
Alice in Wonderland.
meet monthly to discuss group-selected readings from
Advanced Science 7
the Virginia Readers’ Choice list of middle school books
students took on roles of
including the most popular among all three grades levels
various stakeholders to
which was On the Day I Died by Candace Fleming. The
debate the implications of
Left & Right Brains meet monthly to participate in
genetic engineering at the
activities that engage both sides of the brain through
Genetics Summit.
critical and creative thinking such as working with
engineering Legos and exploring a mathematical
There are many
theorem on map coloring.
interesting activities
Please contact the Gifted Resource Teacher Kara
happening in our gifted
Henry at [email protected] with any questions
cluster classrooms every
regarding the gifted program.
day and these are just a few
of the most recent
examples.
GRADE SIX
COMBINED
It is hard to believe that the school year is coming to an end. Please remind your student to stay focused.
With the warm weather coming, it is easy to let grades slip and destroy a whole year of hard work in just
a few weeks. We would like you to know we are proud of each and every one of our students, and it has
been our pleasure to teach them this year.
Language Arts - Advanced students will read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie while
Core students will read nonfiction articles. Both core and advanced will finalize persuasive and researchbased writing and reflect on how their writing has improved over the school year. We will then complete
our final review before the SOL test and end the year with an introduction to the works of William
Shakespeare!
Math -Math 6 students have recently finished up a Probability and Statistics unit. We are getting
into a Geometry and Measurement Unit. Students will be required to memorize characteristics of
quadrilaterals, conversion charts and understand geometric formulas. Please make sure your child
reviews their notes daily and try to minimize absences. Pre-algebra students will be covering a lot
of information this last quarter including proportional reasoning and solving multistep, consumer
application problems involving fractions and decimals. Application of Geometrical formulas will
also be scattered throughout unit.
Science - Advanced science students have just completed the unit on Astronomy. We will be
starting to work with Energy, Heat, Sound and Light for the next month. The end of the year is
quickly approaching. Advanced science students need to stay focused, minimize their absences and
prepare nightly for tests and quizzes. Core science students have just finished the meteorology unit
and are getting ready to start the unit on Types of Energy. The unit involves differentiating between
Potential and Kinetic energy. Renewable and Nonrenewable energy sources will be addressed.
Please make sure all students stay focused and minimize absences.
Social Studies - NOTICE: SIXTH GRADE SOCIAL STUDIES IS MOVING… WEST! Now that America has
crushed the colonizers and created Articles of Confederation-turned Constitution, we stand facing WEST,
tracing our fingers around our Manifest Destiny! U.S. History classes will explore the uncharted lands
west of the Mississippi in the coming weeks. Our motivation: expand our lands, our pockets (GOLD!!!),
and our minds! Our transportation: steamboats, hardened heels, and engaging, cross-curricular
instruction! Our occupations: mineral and gem miners and 21st Century minders! Hop into a covered
caravan with your kids and explore the Oregon Trail with us in Unit 6: Western Migration! But beware:
with all great journeys come great trials… will we find riches and avoid dysentery and civil unrest? Only
time will tell…
Volume 3, Issue 4
Page 6
The Ray Review
olphin Team
As spring roars in, the Dolphins are getting warmed up for the last quarter and preparing for the SOLs as the tests
quickly approach. In Science, students conducted an impressive Socratic Seminar on genetic engineering. Now these
scientists will journey to the Galapagos Islands with Charles Darwin as they explore the theory of evolution. In
Language Arts, advanced students successfully persuaded their audience to agree with their opinion on topics in
genetic engineering. Then we went down the rabbit hole with Lewis Carroll while examining this author’s purpose
and literary choices in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” Core students met the Watsons and took a journey to
Birmingham during the Civil Rights movement in their novel study. The next unit takes us into outer space and
beyond as we examine the imaginative worlds of science-fiction and fantasy. Social Studies classes completed their
study of World War II. A highlight was debating the ethics of using nuclear weapons to end the war using
“Philosophical Chairs.” As we go into the 4th nine weeks, we will be studying the Cold War, Civil Rights, counterculture, and the Vietnam War. Core math students wrapped up their study of geometry and measurement and will
soon begin an adventure in statistics. Algebra had fun with factoring polynomials, and now will begin to explore
quadratic equations and statistics.
Beachcomber Team
The Beachcomber team would like to congratulate our Student of the Month, Jack D., and our Citizen of the Month, Kylia T. Great job to both of you!
As we return from Spring Break, Advanced Math 7 students are entering the world of Statistics and Probability. A few of the topics we will be discussing are how
to organize statistical data, the differences between different types of graphs, charts, and tables, and how to analyze them. Also, we will explore the differences
between theoretical and experimental probabilities.
Algebra I Honors students will begin to discover the differences between Linear Equations and Quadratic Equations. Then, they will delve more deeply into the
world of Quadratics, culminating in a project involving Projectile Motion.
English students completed a persuasive advertisement activity and presented their original products to classmates. Could any of these products be available in
the future? Speaking of the future, advanced English students are reading The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer filled with clones, power, and technology.
All students are reading a plethora of science fiction short stories that take them to infinity and beyond!
Science classes are busy studying the adventures and discoveries of Charles Darwin on the Galapagos Islands, and on the journey through evolution. We are
beginning our new unit on classification. This will include all levels of classification and all levels of the kingdoms.
In Social Studies classes students just completed their Holocaust Orbital, which is a student-centered, inquiry based Project. Their completed Acrostic Poems are
fantastic!
Students will be creating a culminating activity for the unit on World War II. They will be collaborating with their classmates on a Performance Task – a board
game – which will be designed to Review all of the material in the unit on World War II.
Please remember to replenish your child’s school supplies.
Cougar Team
In social studies, the Cougars are beginning a unit on Civil Rights. We just completed work on the Holocaust and will continue studying
World War II. The students will be making board games as a culminating activity for the unit. We will be starting the Cold War unit shortly after
returning from Spring Break.
In Science class, the students are working on a classification unit and will start an Ecology unit after that. The Advanced class will take the
grade 8 Science SOL test on Thursday, June 9, 2015. Students will receive review materials prior to Spring Break. The test covers material for grades 6,
7, and core 8 curriculums.
In English, the students have started a unit on science fiction and fantasy. We will be focusing on the author Ray Bradbury and a few of his
works. The students have studied phrases and clauses, which are the building blocks of sentences. We analyzed sentences patterns to determine if
sentences were simple, compound, complex, or compound/complex. The students practiced utilizing the different sentence patterns to add details and
clarity to their writing, and they practiced the skill of purposeful elaboration and sentence combining to form sentences that are more intricate. We will be
working on completing a 7th grade English SOL review over the next few weeks. Likewise, we will be reviewing key vocabulary terms related to English,
reading, writing, and literature. As our SOL test approaches, we will practice taking previous years’ released SOL reading tests to help familiarize the
students with the types of questions they might encounter on the test. The7th grade reading SOL test will be on Friday, June 5, 2015.
Cougar Math students will begin reviewing for the math SOL tests. Students will receive material during each block that will need to be
reviewed and studied at home. Students can also go online and take practice Math SOL tests at the Jefferson Lab. The Algebra I SOL test will be on
Friday, May 29, 2015. The Math 7 SOL test will be on Monday, June 1, 2015.
Please make sure your child has a replenished supply of paper and pencils for the final nine weeks.
Volume 3, Issue 4
Page 7
Islander Team Marlin Team Seahawk Team
Grade 8 News:
Algebra students have been working on the polynomials and factoring unit. In this unit, students
are learning to apply the laws of exponents to perform operations on expressions. They are also learning
how to factor quadratic expressions and will soon discover the connection between the factors and roots
of a quadratic equation.
Geometry Honors students completed a short unit on transformations in the coordinate plane
and are beginning their next unit on Circles. There is so much to learn about circles other than radius,
circumference and diameter. Vocabulary concepts and attention to detail will be so important in this
unit. It is also getting close to SOL time, and with only one unit of study left after Circles, we will start
to review here sooner that you think.
Math 8 has completed the Geometry unit and is moving into probability and statistics. Students
should continue to be practicing their skills at home regularly.
Social Studies classes have moved from Civics to the study of economics. Through the first 2
weeks of April, we will be working on Unit 7, "A Wealth of Opportunity." We will be learning all about
economic systems and how they vary in the methods used to organized production and allocate scarce
resources. There will be several hands-on projects that students will need to create prior to the unit test
just before Spring Break. After Spring Break we will be covering state and local government. Parents,
keep watching the news with your student. Please help make real world connections so that Civics will
be relevant for your youngsters.
This quarter in Language Arts, we’re putting our focus on analyzing fiction and nonfiction
texts. Students in the core classes will focusing on Lois Lowry’s The Giver, and the advanced classes
will be moving from A Tale of Two Cities to Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. In all classes, we’ll be
making connections and comparisons between the novels and other literary pieces like news articles,
poems, and short stories. All students should continue to review literary devices as well as their rules
and notes for writing mechanics.
Our Earth Science students have been covering important SOL information on Geology. We
studied the characteristics and formation of Igneous, Metamorphic, and Sedimentary rocks. We
described uses and characteristics of minerals. We completed several labs as we identified samples of
both rocks and minerals. We are currently covering the different processes of weathering and erosion.
Next up: Plate Tectonics: Earthquakes and Volcanoes.
In Physical Science, we are focused on energy. We have spent most of our time learning about
energy production and transfer. We learned about the different forms of energy and how they are all
related. We explained how energy cannot be created or destroyed. We are now focusing on waves,
sound, and the electromagnetic spectrum.