TCA Times
Wayne Central Middle School Newsletter
Great Week(s)
In this last edition of the month (October), we have included some highlights from each grade level. Please scroll through to what you find relevant. Each of our teams have put together some highlights for the month. In response to the feedback we have received, we will include this depth in the last edition of the month instead of each edition.
Red Ribbon Activity Night
All said were were able to raise a total of $331.87 to donate to Red Ribbon.
This is a great donation as compared to previous years:
2014: $256.51 with 140 students
2013: $236.99 with 156 students
2012: $297.09 with 172 students
A huge thank you to all the staff members and parent volunteers who helped make this night a success. We obviously could not do this without you. The smiles on our students faces throughout the night were hopefully well worth your time!
Another shot from the Red Ribbon Night
Wear Red Day
These Ladies Have Spirit!
Principals' Recognition Breakfast
The following students have contributed positively to the climate of our middle school and have been nominated for Student of the Week:
Nicolena Treasure was nominated by the Neptune team for being a self motivated, conscientious student who takes responsibility for her own learning. At the same time she is never too busy to help other students or adults. She is kind and considerate to others and daily displays a positive attitude. Nicolena is a role model for others on the team.
Ellie Wambold was nominated by the Pluto team for being a delightful student who enjoys school and regularly gives her best effort. She has a fantastic attitude, and does a wonderful job helping others.
Isabella VerHow was nominated by the Pluto team for being a kind and respectful student who goes above and beyond in her work. She is a diligent worker and an example to her peers.
Lian Sydorowicz was nominated by the Jupiter team for being a conscientious student who strives to complete high quality work. Keep up the good work!
Anna Keene was nominated by the Saturn team. Anna works hard and always does her best. She’s patient, friendly, and works well with her peers. She’s truly a great role model!
Kelly Frederick was nominated by the Mercury team. Kelly consistently strives to do her best in all areas of her education. She stays after, works diligently, and pushes through adversity in the classroom. Bravo Kelly!
Casey Jurcsak was nominated by the Mars team for being a great role model for her peers: tries her best, actively participates, produces high quality work, follows procedures well, kind & respectful to others.
We would also like to recognize our Class Act recipients for their actions which exhibit positive character and leadership traits.
Gianna Lincourt our 6th grade recipient is recognized for Service to Others and Caring. Gianna helped one of her classmates complete her warm up. She did this in a positive “teaching way”. Way to go Gianna!!
Katie Petrotta our 7th grade recipient is recognized for Service to Others. Katie volunteered to help put items on the bulletin board.
Trevor Lane our 8th grade recipient is recognized for Positive Peer Influence and Achievement Motivation. Trevor used positive encouragement and gave support to his peers during group work.
Principals’ recipients for this week: Adriana Behrendt - Adriana is doing a fabulous job with her academics and excels in athletics. She was a member of the varsity cross country team. She is a wonderful, polite, respectful and hard working young lady who has been a pleasure to meet.
Congratulations to all our Students of the Week and Class Act recipients!!
UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER
November 1
Daylight Savings – Turn Clocks Back One Hour
November 5
6:00 – 7:00 p.m. TCA Friends of Music Mtg. in Media Center
November 5
7:00 p.m. BOE Mtg. in DO Conf. Rm.
November 10
½ Day – Staff Development (10:40 dismissal)
November 11
SCHOOL CLOSED – VETERANS DAY
November 16 - 20
American Education Week
November 16
6:00 p.m. PTO Mtg. in Media Center
November 19
½ Day – Parent Teacher Conferences K-12 (10:40 dismissal)
November 19
7:00 p.m. BOE Mtg. in Conf. Rm.
November 25, 26, 27
SCHOOL CLOSED – Thanksgiving Recess
Freecycle at the Middle School
Teachers and students have joined together at the middle school to create an ongoing Freecycle event. There is a designated room at the middle school where students can donate clothing for other students to use, or choose something they would like to own from the donated items. This opportunity is open to all students.
So, clean out your closets and donate very gently used clothing to this project and/or come see if there are items of clothing that you might need.
Please contact Heather Estabrook or Jody Mutschler for more information.
From out Music Dept.
Congratulations to TC Armstrong 8th grader Olivia Crawford! Olivia was accepted into and will sing as part of the 2015 New York State School Music Association’s Zone 2 Junior High Area All-State Mixed Choir on November 7th in Rush-Henrietta. This is the highest level ensemble a student in Middle School can participate in. Olivia will be performing along with other high achieving students who were selected into the ensemble based on their spring vocal solo evaluation from Orleans, Genesee, Wyoming, Monroe, Livingston, Ontario, Seneca and Wayne counties. She and the ensemble will work under the direction of Colleen Thompson, a vocal director from Simsbury High School in Connecticut. The festival will conclude with a concert at 2:00 pm that Saturday. Way to go Olivia!
Computer Applications
In Computer Applications, 6th grade students have begun the keyboarding unit. Our focus will be on posture & technique and accuracy. Although increasing keyboarding speed is a goal, students will not be assessed on how fast they type.
When your child uses the computer at home, encourage them to practice “neutral body positioning” to help reduce the risk of injury in the future. In order to maintain this posture, we recommend that students: sit up straight, keep their feet flat on the floor, position the keyboard near the edge of the table, push chair back so that arms can be in a “L” position, and adjust the monitor so that it’s at eye level. They should also be focusing on using the correct fingering for each alphabetic letter.
For this unit, we will be using the EduTyping program, which is web-based. Unfortunately, you are unable to access this from home. We will give ample class time to complete each lesson. If a student misses class due to illness or a music lesson and need additional time, they can arrange to come to the computer lab during academic workshop or after school.
If your child would like additional practice, a program that has some similar features is www.typingclub.com. Keyboarding can be practiced without creating an account. Creating a free account will add the extra feature of tracking the student’s progress. Please feel to contact dkittleson@wayne.k12.ny.us or lhoward@wayne.k12.ny.us with any questions. Happy typing!
Seventh Grade News
Seventh Grade Saturn:
As we approach cold and flu season, we thought it might be an appropriate time to talk tissues! You may recall that the supply list the students received during the summer requested that each person bring in at least one box of tissues. These tissues were to be dropped off to your child’s S.S. teacher at the start of the year. We are finding that many of the boxes did not come in at the beginning of the year and we are therefore, running low already. If you somehow overlooked that item on the supply list or are able to send in a second box, it would be greatly appreciated. Our noses thank you!!
7th Grade Becker Accelerated Science
Students in Mrs. Becker’s class are rising to the challenge of the accelerated pace and the greater independence of inquiry, as well as to the deeper science content itself. Our first unit was all about the Scientific Method and the need for quantitative metric measurement. Ask to see your student’s marshmallow catapult, or why we cut blocks of yummy cheese in class! Now we are applying those topics in Unit 2: Key Properties of Matter, where we will explore density, buoyancy, and Archimedes Principle in November. Be ready to hear explanations involving dancing raisins, blobbing lava lamps, floating eggs, pulled tablecloths, and yardsticks broken with only air.
VanOrman/Wolanski Science
Students have been busy utilizing their microscope skills to observe plant and animal cells along with discovering the processes of the organelles that allow the cell to function. Using their understanding of cells, students will begin to explore how these building blocks are organized in multicellular organisms. Students will begin with how the body coordinates and controls itself via chemicals and electrical signals.
ELA
In ELA, students are writing original poems based on "Where I'm From" by George Ella Lyon. Students did a great job incorporating sophisticated vocabulary and poetic devices into their poetry. Ask your child to show you their poem. Students will be reading a great short story, "Priscilla and the Wimps", which deals with the hot topic of bullying, before moving into our class novel, Touching Spirit Bear. Please let me know by e-mail if you would like a copy of the book to read with your child at home.
Math
Both Math 7 and Math 7 Accelerated just completed the first module test (Ratios and Proportions) and are now moving into the second module (Number Systems). In Math 7, we will be focusing on integers (positive & negative numbers), while Accelerated students will also be learning integers, along with exponents and the differences between rational and irrational numbers. Please don't forget that class notes and homework assignments can all be found on my website at http://www.wayne.k12.ny.us/webpages/cferry/
Foreign Language
Spanish 7 - 7th grade Spanish students have spent the month of October learning how to ask and answer questions that you might ask someone you’re meeting for the first time or that you’d ask a pen pal. We focused on finding out people’s names, how they’re feeling, their ages, what they look like, and some of their personality traits. Students also learned that when speaking to a person whom they’d address as Mr., Miss, or Mrs. the questions changed slightly and had to be asked formally.
During the first part of November, our focus will be on the members of the family. However, we will connect it to what we’ve already learned by asking family members’ names, how they feel, their ages, what they look like, and their personality traits. Please encourage your student to use the family vocabulary at home. It’s a great and natural way to reinforce the vocabulary.
S.S.
Students are learning about the beginning of colonies in America. They are currently working on their Colonial America project where they are researching one region on the British colonies.
Seventh Grade Jupiter:
Mrs. Lincoln- In social studies students are learning about English colonization. Ask to see their slideshows!
Ms. Siwicki- ELA 7 Jupiter students are working with metaphors ~ they are stretching their brains to find similarities with very different objects, animals, etc. All Jupiter kids are reading books, keeping reading progress logs and writing in depth reader responses. Please ask your child what they are reading and what metaphors they are creating in ELA.
Mrs. VanOrman- Students have been busy utilizing their microscope skills to observe plant and animal cells along with discovering the processes of the organelles that allow the cell to function. Using their understanding of cells, students will begin to explore how these building blocks are organized in multicellular organisms. Students will begin with how the body coordinates and controls itself via chemicals and electrical signals.
Mrs. Becker- 7th Grade Becker Accelerated Science : Students in Mrs. Becker’s class are rising to the challenge of the accelerated pace and the greater independence of inquiry, as well as to the deeper science content itself. Our first unit was all about the Scientific Method and the need for quantitative metric measurement. Ask to see your student’s marshmallow catapult, or why we cut blocks of yummy cheese in class! Now we are applying those topics in Unit 2: Key Properties of Matter, where we will explore density, buoyancy, and Archimedes Principle in November. Be ready to hear explanations involving dancing raisins, blobbing lava lamps, floating eggs, pulled tablecloths, and yardsticks broken with only air.
Mrs. Ferry and Mr. LaBarge- Both Math 7 and Math 7 Accelerated just completed the first module test (Ratios and Proportions) and are now moving into the second module (Number Systems). In Math 7, we will be focusing on integers (positive & negative numbers), while Accelerated students will also be learning integers, along with exponents and the differences between rational and irrational numbers. Please don't forget that class notes and homework assignments can all be found on my website at http://www.wayne.k12.ny.us/webpages/cferry/
Spanish 7 - 7th grade Spanish students have spent the month of October learning how to ask and answer questions that you might ask someone you’re meeting for the first time or that you’d ask a pen pal. We focused on finding out people’s names, how they’re feeling, their ages, what they look like, and some of their personality traits. Students also learned that when speaking to a person whom they’d address as Mr., Miss, or Mrs. the questions changed slightly and had to be asked formally.
During the first part of November, our focus will be on the members of the family. However, we will connect it to what we’ve already learned by asking family members’ names, how they feel, their ages, what they look like, and their personality traits. Please encourage your student to use the family vocabulary at home. It’s a great and natural way to reinforce the vocabulary.
German- Wayne welcomes another group of German exchange students as part of our on-going participation in the German-American Partnership Program (GAPP). The 11 German students and their 2 teachers spent a week in NYC and are staying with Wayne families for two weeks. They will experience fall activities in Western New York, attend school and visit local attractions.
Eighth Grade News
Eighth Grade Mercury:
Social Studies 8:
8th grade social studies class have been studying the effect of industrialization in the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Most recently students have examined the experience of millions of immigrants arriving in the United States. Students identified the push and pull factors that spurred this immigrations. Additionally, students researched the Immigrant experience by examining the following topics: their journey to the United States, their experience entering the U.S., living conditions, working conditions, and the treatment of newly arrived immigrants. Students created two journals and a media presentation to share their understanding of the immigrant experience. Next we will investigate life in the growing cities. Students will identify problems of city life and the solutions used to fix those problems.
Spanish- Mr. Harris
In Spanish we finished up our unit on Pastimes. We took our unit test and started the next unit on food. During this next unit, we will learn about shopping for food and also going out to eat in a restaurant. This is usually a really fun unit for students during which they learn about various cultural dishes and ways they can purchase food to make something delicious at home.
Math 8 and Alegebra
What an incredible month we have had in math class. This month math 8 students completed units on multistep equations and angle relationships. Math 8 students completed several projects including a color-by-equations drawing, a crime scene investigation where they solved a crime using math, created a foldable and made vocabulary cards to guide them in their understanding of major concepts. Algebra students worked with systems of linear equations and inequalities. They discovered that systems of equations can be used to guide us in making financial decisions. Students did an amazing job on their assessments! I am truly enjoying this group of kids! Thank you for all your support at home!
ELA 8:
What an exciting year so far! Students have just finished up Inside Out and Back Again, a novel after a Vietnamese family relocating to America after fleeing Vietnam. Students read the variety of poems in this novel as the protagonist experienced bullying, racism, and numerous hardships. As a final summative piece, students are participating in a socratic seminar to bolster their speaking and listening skills as well as to discuss pivotal, burning questions such as: What is the purpose of this novel? Who is this novel intended for? What character can you relate to personally? Does poetry enhance or detract from this text?
Finally, students will begin To Kill a Mockingbird in the upcoming month! In preparation, we will be discussing the setting of the novel, The Great Depression, and what was life truly was like during the 1930s. Then, we will learn about the sleepy, southern town of Maycomb, Alabama.
German 8:
Wayne welcomes another group of German exchange students as part of our on-going participation in the German-American Partnership Program (GAPP). The 11 German students and their 2 teachers spent a week in NYC and are staying with Wayne families for two weeks. They will experience fall activities in Western New York, attend school and visit local attractions.
Physical Science 8 (Mrs. Becker and Miss Cornell)
Students in physical science have started our second unit: Key Properties of Matter. We have studied mass, volume, and weight so far this year, and most of November will be relating these physical properties to a material’s density and buoyancy. Be sure to ask your student about the Cheese Lab, how lava lamps work, and how to figure out if a substance floats or sinks. Next week, you should be hearing about breaking yardsticks with the weight of air, making raisins dance, and how to determine if an egg is fresh or old.
Biology:
In Mrs. Wolanski’s Biology class we will be completing our first New York State lab that will be on Part D of the Regents exam. The lab will be conducted in class and students will be working on the analysis as part of the homework. We will conclude the unit discussing the leaf structure of a plant and cellular respiration and photosynthesis. Several weeks in November will be spent working on and completing an individual animal classification project. Students will then be asked to dress up and present their project to the class. Students always love this project! J Please contact me if your child does not have access to the internet or a computer because a majority of the work will be done using the computer and internet. Students will also conduct research here at the library using reference books during class time.
Physical Science:
Miss Cornnell’s physical science classes finished up the first unit on the scientific method and measurement last week and have started the second unit by learning about density! Throughout the next month we will be completing a variety of fun and engaging activities that will help us reinforce the concept of density!
Biology: Miss Cornnell’s biology students have finished learning about biochemistry (unit 2) and have started the next unit – cells and cell processes. We will be completing our first state lab about diffusion through a membrane in the coming weeks!
Eighth Grade Mars:
Biology:
In Mrs. Wolanski’s Biology class we will be completing our first New York State lab that will be on Part D of the Regents exam. The lab will be conducted in class and students will be working on the analysis as part of the homework. We will conclude the unit discussing the leaf structure of a plant and cellular respiration and photosynthesis. Several weeks in November will be spent working on and completing an individual animal classification project. Students will then be asked to dress up and present their project to the class. Students always love this project! J Please contact me if your child does not have access to the internet or a computer because a majority of the work will be done using the computer and internet. Students will also conduct research here at the library using reference books during class time.
Miss Cornnell’s biology students have finished learning about biochemistry (unit 2) and have started the next unit – cells and cell processes. We will be completing our first state lab about diffusion through a membrane in the coming weeks!
Physical Science:
Students in Mrs. Becker’s classes have started our second chemistry unit: Key Properties of Matter. We have studied mass, volume, and weight so far this year, and most of November will be relating these physical properties to a material’s density and buoyancy. Be sure to ask your student about the Cheese Lab, how lava lamps work, and how to figure out if a substance floats or sinks. Next week, you should be hearing about breaking yardsticks with the weight of air, making raisins dance, and how to determine if an egg is fresh or old.
Miss Cornnell’s physical science classes finished up the first unit on the scientific method and measurement last week and have started the second unit by learning about density. Throughout the next month we will be completing a variety of fun and engaging activities that will help us reinforce the concept of density!
SocialStudies:
8th grade social studies class have been studying the effect of industrialization in the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Most recently students have examined the experience of millions of immigrants arriving in the United States. Students identified the push and pull factors that spurred this immigrations. Additionally, students researched the Immigrant experience by examining the following topics: their journey to the United States, their experience entering the U.S., living conditions, working conditions, and the treatment of newly arrived immigrants. Students created two journals and a media presentation to share their understanding of the immigrant experience. Next we will investigate life in the growing cities. Students will identify problems of city life and the solutions used to fix those problems.
Spanish
In Spanish we finished up our unit on Pastimes. We took our unit test and started the next unit on food. During this next unit, we will learn about shopping for food and also going out to eat in a restaurant. This is usually a really fun unit for students during which they learn about various cultural dishes and ways they can purchase food to make something delicious at home.
Math 8
In Math 8 we have been completing our mini unit on angle relationships. The first 10 weeks has been primarily a review of concepts taught in 7th grade such as integers and multi-step equations. They have completed several interesting activities you may have seen such as the CSI investigation and color me equations. This time has been well spent as it has helped to solidify students’ knowledge of topics which they will need to apply throughout the year. The 10 week benchmark test was administered on Friday.
Our next unit of study will be an introduction to basic functions.
Algebra
Algebra students have been working on solidifying their understanding of linear algebra culminating with investigating systems of equations. We will finish systems next week and take the first unit test on Friday November 6th. Students should be reviewing their notes and quizzes in preparation for this assessment.
Next up is our functions unit in which we will explore linear, piecewise, step, exponential, quadratic, and square root functions along with other related topics such as sequences.
Sixth Grade News
Sixth Grade Neptune & Pluto
With only a few days left in the first quarter, this is a great time to check-in with students and with Powerschool. If you have not yet logged into Powerschool, it is a tool to help monitor your child’s progress and completion of assignments. As we approach the end of the marking period, it will be important for students to be sure they have all assignments completed and handed in. Please contact Pam Turan, in the counseling office, with questions or concerns around using Powerschool.
Table Talk—
ELA students continue to build their reading and writing skills. Students are analyzing Maniac Magee’s impact on the town of Two Mills. Be sure to check your child’s LRJ (Literature Response Journal) for completion and effort. Also, your child’s book list will be due at the end of this marking quarter. A brief conversation about his/her book list status is very important and could have a very favorable impact on his/her marking quarter grade.
Sixth grade Math students are finally coming to the end of unit one! Using percents wraps up the unit. Be sure to check with your child about when their end of unit test is.
Science is all about energy! Your child is learning about atoms, different types of energy and electricity! He/She will be participating in different labs creating circuits. Encourage your child to review his/her notes and vocabulary as this is new information and there will be quizzes coming up!!
Social Studies students in 6th grade are beginning to see how the first humans on the planet used social organization and technology to survive. They will begin to understand how the discovery of agriculture would be one of the greatest turning points in human history. Keep reviewing that notebook!!!