The Panther Pride
ASRMS Newsletter - December 2022
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From the Principal
Good afternoon Panther Families,
I hope you all had a wonderful start to the holiday season! This week we started the second trimester of the school year. With that milestone comes reports on student progress during the first portion of the school year. You can look for your student report card this Monday (12/13). As always, if you would like to discuss your students progress with their teacher please feel free to reach out to them directly. Teachers are best reached using email but are available by phone or appointment.
We will be getting together on Wednesday of next week to celebrate student achievements and citizenship. It’s always wonderful to see our students and staff cheering one another on! This week students also started Unified Arts and Enrichment classes. We’re looking forward to these new experiences for our kids.
During the last couple weeks of December we’ll give students the opportunity to express their holiday spirit. Next Thursday night our band students will perform in their Holiday Concert. You’ll also find the Spirit Week details below with different themes for each day before the break. On the Friday before break, we’ll take some time during the day to celebrate as a community with a brief concert and sing-along. We look forward to seeing the students get excited about time with family and friends!
Have a great holiday season!
Sincerely,
Bryan Oelerich
Principal
Important Dates
12/2 - Trimester 1 ends
12/7 - 90 Min. Early Release
12/8 - Picture Retake Day
12/12 - Report Cards go home
12/14 - Student of the Trimester
12/15 - Band Concert @7pm
12/23 - Half Day
12/26-12/30 - Holiday Break
1/3 - Return from break
See our district calendar for important dates for the year.
December Lunch Menu
Holiday Concert
The Middle School Bands and The Fretted Friends are having a concert!
Thursday December 15th at 7:00 pm
Students will need to arrive by 6:30 to get ready. Students should dress nicely, and wear black and/or white.
Spirit Week
12/20 - Holiday Hat
12/21 - Holiday Culture
12/22 - Holiday Flannel
12/23 - Holiday PJ Day
Report Card Schedule 2022-2023
Progress Reports
Trimester 2: Monday, 2/6
Trimester 3: Monday, 5/8
Report Cards
Trimester 2: Monday, 3/27
Trimester 3: Last Day of School
PTC
Friday, 10/28 (afternoon conferences)
Trimester 2: Thursday, 2/9/23 (evening conferences)
Friday, 2/10/23 (afternoon conferences)
Student of the Trimester
After School Extra-Help
Refillable Water Bottle
Ski Club
We welcome you to join Ayer Shirley Regional Middle & High School beginning Thursday, January 5, 2023, for 6 weeks of skiing or snowboarding at Mt. Wachusett, in Princeton, MA. A healthy way to enjoy our New England winters.
There is NO BUSING this year! Parents may either drop off and pick up OR join the ski club! Our start time is 3:30 and ending time is 7:30
Dates planned this year are as follows: January 5, 12, 19, 26, and February 2 and 9, 2023. In case of inclement weather, and it is necessary to cancel, we will add another trip to the mountain. We go on six trips no matter what.
Again this year to register the Student Program is offered Online Only. Parents can start ordering program services now! The price is only locked for a few more days so register now to avoid price increases
Follow the directions below:
Step ONE: Go to https://www.wachusett.com/Tickets-Passes/Groups/School-Groups.aspx
Step TWO: Enter Program Code: AYSH - Parents enter this Code to access the order form.
Step THREE: Use the order form to select which badge you want, rentals, and lessons.
- Student Season Pass Bronze $349.00
- 6WK Lift Badge THU $173.00
- “First come, first serve “policy is observed.
- If the numbers get too high, I will need to cut it off.
Students are responsible for their own actions and safety during the program. School rules prevail. Students should know they will be responsible for getting organized, carrying their own gear, getting suited up, and following chaperone check-in expectations. You must have health insurance in the event of a mishap. A faculty member will check participants at the mountain, but will not always be able to ski/board with them. Faculty members and volunteer chaperones will be skiing/boarding, however, they will not be with your child at all times, and therefore the buddy system is enforced/expected.
Everyone must check-in and check out with me (Mrs. Gibbons) upon arrival, once at 5:45 and when departing. This includes parents who are participating. Our time ends at 7:30
Authorization and Consent Form, and the Pre-Participation Head Injury Reporting Form For Extracurricular Activities, attached, needs to be filled out and returned before your student can participate.
Chaperons, YES, I would love to have a parent or three to come along to either ski, board, or float around the ski area as a contact person for the students. If a parent can sign up for one Thursday, that is one more day of help for the program. There is a discounted fee for your lift ticket as well as equipment rentals.
Please return the signed and completed. Please submit electronically if possible.
Should you have any questions please contact Sarah Gibbons, email (preferred) at sgibbons@asrsd.org, or 978-772-8600 X1484.
Thank you,
Massachusetts PFAS and Your Health Study
Hello, ASMS Parents & Guardians!
Is your family a current or former resident of Ayer? As the leader of PACE, the nonprofit environmental watchdog in Ayer, I am delighted to share with you some great news about Ayer public water! The contaminant known as PFAS (the 'Forever Chemical") is now fully filtered out of Ayer water! YEAH! Ayer is among the first communities in MA that addressed this problem, and I am proud of the strong community support that made it happen.
PFAS can stay in our bodies a very long time. In 2019, PACE became involved with another nonprofit research organization called Silent Spring Institute, to help further the scientific knowledge about possible health effects attributed to PFAS. We are honored that Ayer and Hyannis were selected to participate in a key national study on PFAS, as described by Dr. Laurel Schaider below. Stay tuned! We will offer a PFAS Informational Meeting at the schools after the New Year!
Sincerely yours,
Laurie Nehring, President of People of Ayer Concerned About the Environment
Greetings from Dr. Laurel Schaider!
Silent Spring Institute is recruiting residents in Ayer to join The Massachusetts PFAS and Your Health Study. Adults and children who lived in Ayer anytime between May 2006 and February 2018 may be eligible. By joining this study, Ayer residents can learn about the levels of PFAS chemicals in their bodies and can help advance scientific understanding of the impacts of PFAS on human health and inform drinking water guidelines to better protect communities from these harmful chemicals.
Anyone interested in participating can contact the study team at ayer-pfas-study@silentspring.org or (978) 212-9733. Details about the study are in the above link.
A Note from the School Nurse
Please remember to forward all physicals and doctors notes for excused absences.
School Counselors
We wish you all well and hope you enjoy the holiday season. It is hard to believe the year has gone by so quickly!
We enjoy working with your students in classrooms, advisory around the building and individually on all things academic, social/emotional and career interests. Ask your students about what they do in Advisory!!
If your student is in grade 6 and had Computer Tech for UA in Trimester - ask them about their Career Project they completed with Ms. Doyle and Ms. Esielionis!! The students did an amazing job creating job descriptions for the occupation they chose based upon their interest inventory.
As a reminder for grade 8 families, as you prepare to transition your students to high school, please communicate with your student’s counselor!
Nashoba Tech: is accepting applications until January 15th. Please use their website to apply, the middle school will send all supporting documents after Trimester 1 closes.
Private/Selective Secondary Schools: Please notify your student’s counselor if your student is applying to one of these schools at least a month prior to the application deadline to allow adequate time to prepare supporting documents.
ASRHS: Is your high school! Stay tuned!!
We are continuing our partnership with the BRYT Program this year and, therefore, we continue to have the opportunity to make additional resources available to families.
Most recent information from the BRYT Network:
We will continue our monthly Parent Learning with Parents speaker series. December 14th, 7 pm. "Navigating white-centered services and systems as a BIPOC parent/caregiver *For BIPOC parents/caregivers Speaker: JaLisa Williams, Smith College School for Social Work and Soul Shift Consulting
Link: https://youtu.be/_sQ7ncpwoXs For upcoming events, see the flyer here
Our parent-to-parent support groups will be back to full capacity. For Parent Supporting Parent (PSP) group offerings, see HERE. Our parent-to-parent support is open to ALL parents of youth who are navigating mental health challenges. The groups are virtual, hosted by a BRYT family engagement specialist via Zoom, and are designed to be a platform for families to support each other. *The purpose of these groups is to give parents an opportunity to give and receive support from each other. PSP groups are not designed to supplement mental health treatment.
BRYT Family Engagement Resource Library page. Our BRYT family engagement team creates this resource doc to save you time in your search for articles, links, and local community resource needs for your students and families. Recordings of live events will be stored here as well.
Facebook group for BRYT families: This closed FB group is only for BRYT caregivers. To join, just search 'BRYT FAMILY SUPPORT' on Facebook and ask to be added. BRYTFamily Engagement Coordinators manage the group and caregivers will find posts about events, parenting articles, support from other parents, and more.
As a reminder, Ms. Brine has students with last names beginning with A-D, Ms. Teahan has students with last names E-K and Ms. Esielionis has students with last names beginning with L-Z. There are some exceptions to these caseloads.
Please reach out with any questions or concerns at any time!
Green Team
In Mr. Langford's History classes, students created early human caricatures that displayed student understanding of how these early humans may have looked and behaved. Up next is the history of Mesopotamia.
Ms. Stahl's ELA classes recently completed a gallery walk of chapter illustrations from the novel Harbor Me. Students are also studying author's craft within this amazing novel.
Mr. Churchill's students have selected a Greek god or goddess to research and present what they have learned as that god or goddess. Writers have also been busy creating their own 'Hero's Journeys' while learning to write effective narratives.
Mathematicians in Ms. Glidden's math classes are beginning their third unit of study on rational numbers. They are learning to extend their number lines into negative numbers.
Purple Team
ELA: 6th Grade: Students have finished the novel Harbor Me along with analyzing plot structure, character development and theme.They are now in the process of writing narratives using their own life experiences. They’ve also, if interested, done a little research into their family trees with Ancestry Classroom. After we wrap up this unit, we will start a new class novel, A Night Divided.
7th Grade: Students in seventh grade have finished the class novel, The Outsiders. We have also watched the movie and did a quick compare/contrast of the two types of media. Students are now trying their hand at taking a scene from the novel and writing it from a different character’s perspective. When done, we will move on to the novel, The Giver.Social Studies: 6th Grade: Finally!!! By using the first few months of school building our historical schema, we have reached the part of our curriculum where we can now accurately and academically examine Ancient Civilizations. We can look at how civilizations started and the different components that makeup a civilization such as, language, faith, government, geography, etc .
Next up, we will transition to the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia and its contributions to the Fertile Crescent.
7th Grade: Students ended the trimester demonstrating mastery of our unit on Ancient Greece. Students were able to express themselves in a variety of ways when examining Greek Culture. For example, we held a team-wide mock election that represented Athenian Democracy and Government. Lastly, we examined the Peloponnesian War and the battle between city-states, Sparta and Athens.
Next up, we will be starting Ancient Rome. In particular, the influence and legacy of the Roman Empire on the conquered peoples in the territory it controlled.
Science: 6th grade - We are ending our investigation into continental drift and analyzing evidence that supports the theory using maps and data. Next we will be digging into fossils!
7th grade - We are wrapping up our investigation into past geologic events. Next, we will begin our unit on ecology, the environment, and the impact humans have on ecosystems.Math: 6th grade: The Boundless Adventures 6th grade field trip was a blast! Students overcame obstacles and supported one another through the challenging ropes courses. In math,we have completed Eureka Module 2: Decimal Operations and Division of Fractions. In December we will begin Eureka Module 3: Rational Numbers. In this unit students will expand their number sense to include negative numbers.
7th grade: 7th graders on the purple team are working through Eureka Module 2: Rational Numbers. In this unit students develop an understanding of rational numbers to add, subtract, multiply, and divide negative numbers. Students are also introduced to the Integer Game.Blue Team
7th grade is starting our first novel of the year, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.
8th grade is wrapping up a narrative before we begin reading Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl.Math with Mrs. Daisy - 7th graders are adding and subtracting rational numbers.
8th graders are completing their work on dilations.
Both grade levels have a trimester exam on Tuesday, December 6th.
Science with Mrs. Kauppi - We”ll be finishing this unit of Earth’s Changing Surface with a hands-on project. Scientists will consider the damage caused by a natural disaster. They’ll then be challenged to create some sort of model that may lessen the damage caused by the disaster.
Social Studies/Civics with Dr. Pataky -
7th Grade- Unit 2- Ancient Rome
Carpe Diem!
Please bring in a big piece of cardboard for your Roman shield by Monday 12/19
Vocabulary list 2 quiz is on Friday 12/9
8th Grade- War in North America
We are moving on to the French and Indian War.
Mrs. Seppelin - Hola, soy Sra. Seppelin. I am happy to join the 7th grade team as the new World Language Teacher. Other than getting to know each other, we have been practicing numbers and starting to learn the days of the week, names of the months, and season/weather conditions. This month, students will have the opportunity to create a "Weather Channel'' project, which will be mainly done in the classroom.
Mr. Nessman & Ms. Nigohosian’s Corner - The library is now open in the mornings before school for students who may need help on homework. I will be in the library every Monday morning giving a helping hand to various students. Other teachers may be there on other days.
We will be supporting students in a variety of classes this trimester. I will also be working on some organizational strategies with various students. We are taking donations of unused (or lightly used) notebooks, folders, and binders to help students in organizational need.
We are also sending home a daily homework email. I can’t guarantee it will always be 100% accurate for every class every day, but it will give you an idea of what specific assignments need to be worked on and what upcoming quizzes, tests, and projects there are.
Email Mr. Nessman (knessman@asrsd.org) if you want to be added to the list (7th grade parents and guardians only)
Also, for students with IEPs, keep an eye out on Friday afternoons for an email from me listing any missing work from that week. Parents will also be copied in.
Maroon Team
In science, students have just begun a unit on environmental science. Students worked in groups to analyze real world data related to climate change and how humans are impacting the environment and presented their findings to their classmates. Next we will be moving into the life science portion of the year and will learn about how traits are passed from parents to offspring.
8th Grade Math
Students are closing out Trimester 1 by working on properties of similar triangles. The first of three trimester evaluation will be taking place next week. Students will then be exploring more Geometry by studying the Pythagorean Theorem.
This month in ELA 8th graders are beginning Unit 2 and gathering background information to better understand the circumstances surrounding Anne Frank and her family as they went into hiding. Students are using informative essay writing to demonstrate their gathered knowledge. Students also chose new outside reading books to continue their independent reading journey. This time they are tracking their progress in class charts and making it a friendly competition.
During 8th grade Academic Support, students have been demonstrating their knowledge of angle relationships by teaching a problem to their peers. Students are more engaged by having a peer present the information and they enjoy using the smart board with different colored pens. Also, students are realizing how hard it is to present information to a class and to keep the focus of all students.
Technology Corner
I am looking forward to trimester 2 and getting to know a whole new wave of students as we explore the world of computer science together.
Band Schedule
Visual Arts
The first trimester flew by! The 8th graders finished with an origami color wheel. Students created 2 of the same origami pieces (the shape and difficulty was up to each student), unfolded one, then mixed the primary colors, black, and white paints, to paint the shapes created by the creases.
7th graders finished the term learning about linear perspective, while 6th graders cut up their Zentangles to create a squash book.
I am sad today good-bye to trimester 1 students but excited to see what adventures trimester 2 brings!
Clubs Have Started
- Art Club - Ms. Nogueira (enogueira@asrsd.org)
- Band - Mrs. Fletcher (rfletcher@asrsd.org)
- Chess and Game - Dr. Pataky (cpataky@asrsd.org)
- Chorus - Mrs. Fletcher (rfletcher@asrsd.org)
- Competitive Gaming League - Ms. Doyle (adoyle@asrsd.org)
- Diversity and Equality - Mrs. Couture (jcourture@asrsd.org)
- Guitar and Ukulele - Mr. Langford (klangford@asrsd.org)
- Tennis Club (Spring) - Mr. Veeder (nveeder@asrsd.org)
- Student Government Association - Dr. Pataky (formerly Student Council) (cpataky@asrsd.org)
- Yearbook - Ms. Champagne (schampagne@asrsd.org)
Check It Out!
SPIRIT WEAR
Get your ASRMS Spirit wear at Route 2 Apparel!!!
https://route2apparel.com/ASRSD/shop/products/middle_school?page=1
ASRSD ATHLETICS
Please click on the link below to see the ASRSD Athletics schedule
BAND
ASPTO Holiday Gift Card Fundraiser
The ASPTO is running our annual holiday gift card fundraiser. Please go to www.RaiseRight.com or download the RaiseRight app.
Enter the ASPTO Enrollment Code: 9B11867L34693
E-gift cards and home delivery are available anytime.
There are 2 group order deadlines for physical gift cards.
- Due 11/9 for delivery by 11/23
- Due 12/9 for delivery by 12/23
Paper order forms available by request.
Questions? Email asptoscrip@gmail.com
Thanks for your support!
ASPTO MEETING SCHEDULE
Middle School Library
October 11th
November 8th
December 13th
January 10th
February 15th
March 14th
April 11th
May 9th
June 13th
“Together We Can Do More”
Website: https://sites.google.com/view/aspto
Welcome Letter and Calendar: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16J8aKAlJRDaLDOUfABCSKicda5l55Ecn/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=107589591020179956727&rtpof=true&sd=true
Ayer-Shirley Regional Middle School (ASRMS)
Email: boelerich@asrsd.org
Website: asrsd.org
Location: 1 Hospital Road, Shirley, MA, USA
Phone: (978)772-8600
Facebook: facebook.com/ASRMSPanthers