Clarke Middle School
News and Notes | April 2018
From the Principal
On a recent Monday evening in, the 6th grade English teachers hosted a poetry evening for parents, families and students to see the culminating projects in their poetry unit. I was so impressed by the creativity and imagination that was displayed all over the library and surrounding classrooms of Clarke. We had live performances, musical poetry, videos, 3D and 2D projects representing their poems as well as many students that combined their poetry with circuitry in the Library. All of these amazing original pieces of work literally lit up the school. It was wonderful to see so many families come and see all of the work as well. Thank you for your support and a huge thank you to our teachers and librarian who worked extremely hard to make it all happen.
I'd like to extend a huge thank you to the Clarke PTO and all of those that worked so hard on the Clarke Night Out fundraiser. It was a huge success and a really fun night! We had over 30 Clarke teachers and staff that attended the evening as well. The silent and live auction items were quite popular and brought in a lot of funds that will go back to support Clarke teachers and students in the years to come. Thank you to all who came out to hang out with friends, bid on items and get to know the Clarke community together. It was so much fun!
Also in March, many of our students participated in a #Enough Walkout to show their support for better gun control in our country. The original date of March 14th National walkout that was planned was snowed out but Lexington students followed through with the walkout on the next day without question. I was extremely impressed with how our middle school students organized and handled themselves throughout this entire event. There were approximately 300 students that participated in the walkout on the Clarke front plaza to show their support, listen to speeches and sign a banner.
As we moved into April we had our first round of MCAS testing in English Language Arts. New this year with the MCAS 2.0 test was online testing for both 7th and 8th graders. This is new for everyone, but students were up for the challenge and many students reported that computer based testing was user friendly and smooth. Coming up in the first and second week of May we will continue with Math MCAS testing for all grades and then 8th grade only will have a Science, Technology and Engineering test to close out MCAS for this year. Thank you for ensuring that students are in school, on time and have their iPads charged and ready to go!
I truly hope that the April break is a restful time for all. Enjoy the week!
7th grade students on Team Enterprise Speak with an Author
Clarke’s Spring Play - Stuart Little Coming Soon!
The drama department will be presenting the E.B. White play Stuart Little this spring. The actors and techies have been working to create the staging and the technical elements and will present the show at the Massachusetts Middle School drama festival on Sunday, April 29, 2018 along with schools from around the state. The following week, the classic story of a young mouse born to a family in NYC, will be presented at Clarke. Clarke’s production is using puppetry in a unique manner. By using hand and rod puppets along with oversized puppets, Clarke’s production will help to give Stuart’s story come to life.
Shows – May 3 & 4 at 7:30pm
Tickets - $5 at the door
General Admission
Mathcounts Video Team Makes the National Semi-Finals!!
The Clarke Mathcounts Video Challenge team – The Algebros (Mia Pesiridis, Nishika Karody, Melanie Moon, and Anika Ahuja) – made it into the semi-finals for the national math competition with their video entitled The Boda Challenge. In the challenge, they had to solve a math problem in a video format. The students worked with Mr. Frost to make sure the math was accurate and then with Ms. Brown on the video production of the challenge.
The students also worked with Mark McMinn from LexMedia who gave the girls tips on the video production. LexMedia also let them use their equipment for taping. The girls developed a script and rehearsed during WIN blocks. They submitted the video in February and went through the first round of public voting. That put them in the top 100 videos in the USA!
The second round of voting was with a team of educators. The Clarke team has made it into the next round and that means that their video was one of the top 20 videos in the country! Congratulations to The Algebros for their excellent work! You can find the link to their video here.
Two Clarke Students Selected as Winners in the MWRA Challenge!
The MWRA has an annual poster contest. Students could make a poster or write about the cleanup of Boston Harbor. Out of over 3,000 entries Helen Cui won the poster contest and Bryan Zhang won the writing contest! The Awards ceremony will be held May 25 at the Deer Island Treatment Plant. Our sincerest congratulations go to Helen and Bryan!
To Learn more about the MWRA and the student challenge visit the challenge site here.
Rubbish To Runway Event at Clarke
Have you ever seen dresses made of discarded newspaper? How about a gown made of hair nets and coffee lids? Have you ever seen a party dress made from Capri Sun pouches? You will see all of these at Clarke drama department’sRubbish to Runway show!
The Clarke student designers have been working in collaboration with the Green Team in collecting materials with which to create their garments. The auditorium’s stage will be transformed into a runway and the models will showcase the amazing work of these Clarke students. AND, all of the money from the event will be going to the charity, Long Way Home, which builds schools in poor communities around the world.
Last year’s runway show was filmed by LHS student Saoirse Loftus-Reid and was submitted to the New England student Emmy awards which is the regional level for the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Saorirse created a promo for the Clarke runway show that received an honorable mention in the PSA category and received an honorable mention for editing in the film category.
Watch the videos here:
Rubbish to Runway - May 18, 2018 at 7:30pm
Tickets - $5 at the door
Upcoming Dates and Events
Monday April 16 - Friday April 20 | No School
Vacation Week
Wednesday April 25 - Friday April 27 | 8th Grade Washington DC Trip
Tuesday May 1 | Early Dismissal for 5th grade move up day
Middle School Only - Dismissal at 11:45
Wednesday May 2 | PTO Welcome Coffee for 5th Grade Parents
8:45AM Cafeteria
Thursday May 3 | Spring Play - Stuart Little
7:30PM Clarke Auditorium
Friday May 4 | Spring Play - Stuart Little
7:30PM Clarke Auditorium
Tuesday May 8 | MCAS Testing
Math - All Grades
Thursday May 10 | MCAS Testing
Math - All Grades
Friday May 11 | PTO Sponsored School Socials
6th Grade: 3:00 - 5:00PM and 7th Grade 6:30 - 8:30PM
Monday May 14 | MCAS Testing
Science, Technology and Engineering - 8th grade ONLY
Tuesday May 15 | MCAS Testing
Science, Technology and Engineering - 8th grade ONLY
Thursday May 17 | Early Release (11:45 Dismissal)
District Professional Learning day
Thursday May 17 | PTO Volunteer Appreciation Night
7:00PM Location TBD
Friday May 18 | Rubbish to Runway Show
7:30PM Clarke Auditorium. Tickets are$5.00 | Proceeds to support Long Way Home
Thursday June 21 | 8th Grade Moving On Ceremony
7:00PM LHS Auditorium
Friday June 22 | Final Day of School
Early Dismissal at 11:45
News From the Clarke PTO
News from the 6th Grade
Team Atlantis
The Atlantis team went on a field trip to the Harvard Peabody Museum, where the students participated in activities done by early farmers. They used a mortar and pestle to grind grain, sharp rocks and bones to cut leather, and learned how an ancient hand drill worked. Besides the hands on experiences, the students spent some time learning about meteorites, minerals, fossils, and Ancient Egypt.
With 5th grade orientation fast approaching, the Atlantis students broke into small groups and created a top 5 list of tips and advice for incoming 6th graders. We compiled their lists into one great list that we will share with the 5th graders on orientation day.
2018 ATLANTIS TEAM
ADVICE AND TIPS
FOR INCOMING 6TH GRADERS
Don’t worry about being late for class. It gets easy.
Always try your best.
When times get tough, don’t give up!
Use WIN wisely.
Don’t worry about being popular.
Be yourself. You’re great!
Manage your time so you don’t get stressed.
Keep your binder organized.
Keep calm and always bring a pencil!
Be open to meeting new people.
Join Clarke after school activities.
Get lunch from the deli. It’s awesome!
Be respectful to others.
Personal Hygiene is important! Showers, deodorant, etc…
Keep your receipts from STAPLES. If your binder breaks you can get a new one for free!
Have fun!
Don’t save your HW for the last minute.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
Write your HW in your assignments books every day.
Share your ideas.
Bring your BARK! Balance, Acceptance, Resilience, Kindness!
Team Columbia
As we say goodbye to the snow, and look forward toward warmer weather, the students and faculty of Team Columbia are engaged in some powerful learning experiences. Our recent trip to the Museum of Fine Arts as the kickoff to our ancient Egypt unit was a huge success (see pictures below), and our team’s contributions to Clarke Middle School’s Poetry Night impressed a packed house. To say we are excited to see what the students accomplish in the coming weeks would be an understatement!
In science, students have been learning about the causes of climate change and potential mitigation strategies. As part of this unit, students have been reading and writing nonfiction. They have crafted argumentative essays using a “claim, evidence, reasoning” strategy and graphic organizer, which mirrors a lot of their work in English class. This kind of interdisciplinary literacy instruction helps deepen student understanding while providing plentiful opportunities for practice and growth. Students regularly remark that they see the connections between their humanities and science classes. Students enthusiastically use the word “Synergy” to describe these connections, and term they learned earlier this year in their English and Ancient Civilizations classes. It’s exciting to see students increasingly make these connections that support their learning!
In addition to argumentative writing connections between humanities and science classes, Columbia students have written creative poems to show their understanding of various poetic devices, paired those poems with visual art, and celebrated their hard work at Poetry Night. Embedded in the same unit was a paired text analysis (two poems side-by-side), in which students compared and contrasted authors’ approaches as they addressed the same themes, but in different ways. Students learned about all sorts of poetic devices and forms, including those with intentional repetition, free verse, and spoken word. We explored poetry with deep, somber themes, and light hearted humorous ones. Not only did we read, recite, and write poetry, but we learned a lot about one another as well! In parallel to our English work, in social studies we learned about the Neolithic Revolution, seeing how many early peoples moved away from nomadic hunting and gathering to form the first city-states. We learned about early architecture, laws, government, technology, written language, and more! More recently, we have begun an interdisciplinary, project-based study of ancient Egypt. This unit finds us learning various reading strategies for relatively complex non-fiction texts, gain additional research experience, and then designing and building monuments or artifacts. These projects will allow us to demonstrate what we learn about the elements that made ancient Egypt one of the world’s most influential, advanced, and enduring empires. Students will also write news articles to share and summarize their learning. Eventually, our literacy work will turn to a novel unit in which groups will read historically-based fiction, with each book influenced by one of the time periods we focus on in social studies this year.
In Maths we have finished up our exploration of decimals and fractions. The students learned a great deal about benchmark and equivalent fractions, as well as decimal-to-fraction (and vice-versa) conversions. Now we are working in the areas of geometry, variables, and data. They are learning about how to represent geometric solids in two-dimensional “nets”. Ask your child to give you a demonstration of how a cube can be shown this way! Moreover, we’re learning how to measure angles, calculate area, and express volume in scientific notation using exponents. As we explore various data sets, we are seeing how different kinds of graphs help us make sense of it all in easy-to-understand visual representations.
Team Quest
Math class is wrapping up our Geometry Unit. We have two more units, Variables and Patterns and Data About Us to begin before MCAS! The students are working hard and focusing on collaboration and challenge work as we begin Term 4.
In English, we have just finished MCAS. During the test, the students were focused and used all the strategies that they have been learning throughout the year. We are so proud of all their efforts. Now, students are starting a joint ELA/Science project on climate change. Students will using their reading skills to become experts on a particular aspect of climate change and show off their writing skills by producing an informational book on it.
In Science,
We are studying climate and climate change. It’s amazing how many climates exist around the world! We’ll be diving into their causes and how us humans are having an impact on them. We’ll learn that with determination we can have a more positive impact.
In Ancient Civ, students recently completed our unit on Ancient Mesopotamia. Students researched how the very first civilizations grew and flourished in the fertile crescent over 7000 years ago. Students then examined our own civilization today by analyzing issues in sustainability that we face. In groups, students developed either a campaign or invention to help our civilization make progress in the future using sustainable solutions. Examples of student projects included green buildings, ethical farms for the future, a car that runs on solar power and biofuel, an invention to limit food waste, and a lightbulb company aimed at reducing energy. Ask your child what their group came up with! Students have now begun their unit on Ancient Egypt so please ask them what they have learned so far about this fascinating civilization.
Students: This term’s goals are:
Focusing on finishing the year on a positive note.
Managing time with spring activities and responsibilities.
Building resilience to achieve our goals.
Parents/Guardians: Here are some suggested conversations you can have at home.
English: What have you read about the impact of climate change on the United States? Share any interesting news story about climate change that you have read with them.
Math: Discuss geometry in the real world. How do we use area, perimeter, surface area and volume?
Social Studies: What advancements did Egyptians make that we still use in our society today? How did the Ancient Egyptians bury their dead? What do you know about an Egyptian pyramid?
Team Voyager
Voyager had a great time when we visited the Harvard Peabody Museum at the end of March. Students were impressed with the amazing glass flowers, the variety of rocks, and the impressive collection of taxidermied animals. While some are still not convinced that the flowers were made of glass, others were sad to learn that the 10 foot ancient sloths which once roamed South America are now extinct.
In Ancient Civilizations we wrapped up our study of Mesopotamia and came away with a new appreciation of epic literature and the accomplishments of Gilgamesh and Enkidu. While Voyager learned about the many contributions and inventions of the Mesopotamians, we also made the interesting yet sad connection that many Mesopotamian artifacts are being destroyed and looted by member of ISIS. We learned about the tragic destruction and ongoing threat to famous antiquities throughout ancient Mesopotamia (modern Syria), as well as the modern day “monument men” who are risking their lives to save these world treasures. While sad to be leaving Mesopotamia, we all look forward to our upcoming study of Ancient Egypt.
In Voyager English, students have been immersed in practicing reading strategies to support their ability to access texts across all content areas. In addition, students have also been analyzing different types of texts and determining what writing structure is best to communicate central idea and effectively respond to the prompt. Students are learning the value and flexibility of the argumentative structure and how it allows them to fully communicate their ideas about texts. Moving ahead, in the next week, we will begin our Historical Fiction unit and explore Civil Rights issues through the award-winning novel, The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963. Throughout the duration of the unit, we will explore theme, as well as ample embedded non-fiction texts to enhance students’ understanding of the time period as well as the importance of the Civil Rights movement.
In science, students have been exploring the wonders of weather. Students have been learning about severe storms, fronts, heating of different surfaces as well as predicting and forecasting the weather. In the last week of March, the Voyager students had the opportunity to try the Google Expeditions Augmented Reality program. The immersive technology allowed students to bring different 3D objects such as an active volcano, Mount Everest and sharks into the classroom. All of the students had an engaging and fun experience. In the upcoming weeks, Voyager science will be moving into our climate unit.
In math, we have completed Units on fractions and decimals. Within these Units, students have not only mastered how to complete problems with all four operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, but they have explored the deeper conceptual meaning from these answers. For example, when we see 3414, what question is this problem asking of us? The response is: “How many 14s are there in 34?” The answer is “three”. Years ago, when we were in school, we were taught how to just find the answer. Nowadays, Common Core Math teaches students to better recognize why we are performing our calculations, the deeper meaning, and to attach them to real world situations. During the Decimals Unit, students practiced how to calculate percent. Discovering the tax on goods and computing the tip on a bill were part of our classwork and test. After this unit you can finally answer your child’s life-long question, "when are we ever going to use this stuff in the real world" by having him/her calculate the tip when you next eat out.