The Panther Pride
ASRMS Newsletter - March 2022
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From the Principal
Good morning Panther Families,
I hope this newsletter finds you warm and comfortable on this snowy Saturday morning. While I was looking forward to Spring, I’m trying to make the best of these storms late in the season. This week, our students and staff settled back in after the Winter Break. March is one of the most consistent stretches of time we have with our students and teachers are looking forward to the deep learning and discussion that can happen at this point in the school year.
During February, we hit the midway point in the school year. As part of that milestone, we shared progress reports and saw many of your for Parent-Teacher Conferences. Whether you attended virtually or in-person, it was wonderful getting to collaborate and celebrate your students’ progress. The end of the trimester is approaching and hopefully those conversations set students on the course for a strong finish.
March is a full month and we have a lot of events to fill it for our students. This week, counselors, students and administration from ASRHS visited to speak with students and answer questions during lunches. Next week, we’ll continue to prepare our 8th graders for the transition to high school with a tour of ASRHS. On Monday 3/13, we’ll have a guest speaker coming in during the day to speak with students about personal safety both in person and online. He’ll also return for an evening session with parents and guardians. We also have several classes planning to take field trips that bring their classroom learning into the real world. All of these event are great opportunities for students to engage and apply skills and content.
We are also preparing for the spring sports season so students should be checking FamilyID to sign up. There are plenty of opportunities to get active either at the middle school or with our high school peers. Unified Basketball also started up this week. This fantastic program partners students with and without disabilities to play the sport in a supportive environment. It was a huge success last year and we’re really looking forward to cheering on our team as they play other schools in the area.
Finally, our MCAS testing is about a month away! Teachers and students will spend the next month digging deep to solidify learning. Staff will also be providing students with practice tests and tutorials so they know how to complete this online test. If your child has any questions or concerns, please let us know. We want students feeling confident and comfortable by the end of March. This week I shared the proposed calendar and schedule with staff. We’re looking to finalize it by next week and will be sending out a notification so everyone is aware of testing days. This year we’ll be working to get students excited about demonstrating their knowledge with some spirit days. We’ll share information about that in our next newsletter.
Have a great weekend, I hope your shoveling is light and you all the time with family!
Sincerely,
Bryan Oelerich
Principal
Important Dates
3/3 - Winter Dance (snow date 3/10)
3/6 - 90 Min. Early Release
3/8 - 8th grade students visit ASRHS
3/13 - Personal Safety & Internet Awareness Guest Speaker (12:50-2:15 for students) (6-8 for parents)
3/17 - Trimester 2 ends
3/27 - Report Cards go home
March Lunch Menu
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)
Guest Speaker
We will be having a guest speaker come on Monday March 13th. NY Finest Safety Seminar, Tom Grimes works with students and parents to build personal safety and Internet awareness that can be applied online and in the real world. Click here for more information.
On Monday March 13th students will attend an assembly during the school day presented by Tom Grimes. He will be holding a parent session on Monday March 13th from 630-8pm to share his safety awareness with parents. Please join us!
Diversity Equity Inclusion and Belonging Parent Committee
We are looking for parents to join our DEIB Committee! We will be holding meetings monthly!
We will be holding our first committee meeting on Tuesday March 21st from 7-8pm via zoom. Our Assistant Principal Danielle Scicutella, and our DEIB Club Coordinator Ms. Jaclyn Couture will be running our DEIB Parent Committee! Click the link if you’d like to join us!
DEIB Committee Zoom Link
Join Zoom Meeting
https://asrsd.zoom.us/j/83105456256?pwd=UlZmelVuUTRmSXlrR2lFTHdRbkJPZz09
8th Grade Transition to High School
Over the next few months, students will have the opportunity to experience presentations, visits and gather more information about the transition from Ayer Shirley Regional Middle School to Ayer Shirley Regional High School. We are currently placing finishing touches on our timeline for these events and will be sending it out to families as soon as it is finalized. The plan this year is to create more interactive pieces to the transition. We are both happy to answer any questions you may have throughout the process and can be reached at our emails listed below. We look forward to working with you on this process.
Sincerely,
Mr. Spencer S. Christie & Mr. Bryan Oelerich
ARSHS Principal ASRMS Principal
schristie@asrsd.ord boelerich@asrsd.orgASRHS Trip to Puerto Rico
There are still spots available for the ASRHS trip to Puerto Rico 2024. This trip is open to current 8th graders who will attend Ayer Shirley High School next year. To receive the $200.00 discount, you must register by March 15th 2023. This discount will cover the cost of add-on excursions.
Future trips abroad depend on the success of this trip. Please email Mrs. Capasso at the high school for more information:
Spring Sports
Spring sports registrations are now open! ASRSD will offer the following sports: HS Baseball (9-12), HS Softball (8-12), MS Baseball (6-8), MS Softball (6-8), Track & Field (7-12), Unified Track & Field (9-12), Boys' lacrosse with Lunenburg (9-12), Girls' lacrosse with Groton-Dunstable (9-12), Boys' volleyball (8-12), Girls' golf (9-12).
Please register by March 14 at https://www.familyid.com/programs/ayer-shirley-regional-school-district-spring-athletic-registration-2023
User fees are $200 per student per year (family cap of $500) for HS athletes and $100 per year per student for MS students. Dr. Godfrey will beat the high school for free physicals on March 1, 2023, at 9:00am. You MUST register with Mrs. Liddy, ASRHS school nurse.
New Communication APP / Website!
SportsYou is a new communication app that all Ayer Shirley athletic programs (co-op teams with other schools may use something different) will begin utilizing this spring. It is easy to register and all communication will occur through this application/website. All student-athletes and parents should register using the codes below:
Boys' Volleyball: 5X9ZSFFA
Girls' Golf: V428NWGY
JV Baseball: ZVP7NPNX
JV Softball: GYTAM844
Unified Track: GGRNRHYL
Middle School Baseball: 723Y2A9T
Middle School Softball: XVAYXRQD
Outdoor Track: 2VDXVR5P
Varsity Baseball: NRCW2ESA
Varsity Softball: 2VNMXQPW
Unified Track: GGRNRHYL
After School Extra-Help
Tennis Club
Notes from the Nurse
EpiPens and inhalers need to be sent to the nurse in order for your child to attend field trips.
School Counselors
Summer and other opportunities are being advertised by colleges and agencies for students. We are making you aware of these opportunities as we become aware of them. We recommend that you thoroughly investigate any programs of interest to you as each program may not be the right fit for all students.
Rising 9-11 grade students
“A Better Chance places high-performing students of color in our nation’s best independent and public schools and supports them on their educational and leadership journeys..”
We continue to work with the students on developing their best selves through individual, group and classroom/advisory activities.
For our Nashoba Tech applicants, decision letters should be emailed on March 15th. Families will have 2 weeks to let the Tech know if they intend to have their student enroll there.
ASRMS grade 8 students will be visiting ASRHS on March 8th and there will be a Parent Night on March 9th - please see communication from the high school
Most recent information from the BRYT Network:
Coming up! Our next Parents learning with Parent speaker series topic:
Ready (or not) to Launch: Preparing for your child's post-high school chapter. March 15th, 7 pm. Link: https://youtu.be/8zCDIg18V6k
The guest speakers will include a Clinical Social Worker at the Center for Counseling and Psychological Health at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a high school guidance director, who will be sharing valuable information on how students can plan for their own support at college, and also look at non-college options and advice, such as taking a gap year and working. The third week in March also marks just about 50 days of high school left for most of our seniors! It's getting real!
Our Parent Supporting Parent groups (flyer linked) are back to our regular schedule this week. As always, these are 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 (flyer linked) 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. Recordings of live events are stored here as well including our most recent live events around Grief (January) and Substance use in Teens (February).
Lastly, please see our Facebook group for BRYT families: This closed FB group is only for BRYT caregivers. Just search 'BRYT FAMILY SUPPORT' on Facebook and ask to be added. BRYT Family Engagement Coordinators manage the group and caregivers will find posts with tips, 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 addition to students learning about identity, in ELA students created one-pagers to celebrate Black History Month. Ask your student to share what they learned about their influential person! Some of the student one pagers can also be seen showcased on our Green Team bulletin board.
Lastly, please be sure to keep an eye out for Field Trip forms being sent out later this month. As a reminder our Field Trip will be on Tuesday June 6th for Baseball in Education Day!
Purple Team
ELA -
6th Grade - Students have finished and thoroughly enjoyed the novel, A Night Divided and are now working on completing their “Wall”. We continue to work on the roots - now up to forty! - and are busy working on their literary analysis essays.
7th Grade - We are just about to complete our class novel,The Giver and have had some great class discussions on the “community” setting of the book. Like the sixth grade, they have increased their knowledge of Greek and Latin roots to forty. In preparation for an informational writing assignment, they will begin research into groups who have tried to achieve their own “utopian” societies.
Math -
6th Grade is wrapping up Eureka Module 4 which covers expressions and equations. After a Trimester Two Assessment, students will move onto Eureka Module 5. In this geometry unit, students will use previous experiences with decomposing and putting together shapes to use and understand formulas for area, volume, and surface area.
7th grade will begin Eureka Module 4. In this unit students deepen their understanding of ratios and proportional relationships as they explore a variety of percent problems which involves converting between fractions, decimals, and percents. Students will also complete the Trimester Two Assessment to show mastery of the concepts from throughout the trimester.
Social Studies -
6th Grade - Students are now firmly entrenched in the longest and most creative unit of the year, Ancient Egypt. There will be many fascinating lessons, rich academic discourse, PBL exercises and even a field trip to the Fitchburg Art Museum to participate in an educational exhibition pertaining to Ancient Egyptian artifacts!!!
7th Grade - After finishing up our brief but very informative unit on Ancient Arabia and the origins of Islam, students will be transitioning into Central Asian studies, more specifically, the Indian Subcontinent. As opposed to traditional classroom lessons, we will be engaged in multicultural learning with an emphasis on food, faith, language, customs, government etc. Parents or community members with Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan,or Nepali, backgrounds are encouraged to participate in this unit! Feel free to reach out to Mr. Elmasri to coordinate a way to accentuate your cultural background.
Science -
6th Grade - We are beginning our exploration into life science and learning about the characteristics of living things. Next, we will be learning about cells and making models to describe how the parts of a cell contribute to cellular functions.
7th Grade - We are currently learning about innate and learned animal behaviors like migration, imprinting, territorial, and courtship behaviors. Soon we will be looking into the impact humans can have on ecosystems, and ways we can protect them.
Student support:
We send home a homework email that will tell you when students have upcoming quizzes, tests, and projects. 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. Feel free to email jmelillo@asrsd.org if you would like to be on the 6th or 7th grade email list.
Blue Team
7/8th ELA completed a project on Civil Rights organizations at the end of February, which influences the settings (time) of the next novels we’ll read.
7th grade will be starting The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.
8th grade will begin Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson.Math with Mrs. Daisy - 7th graders are solving angle equations and studying angle relationships. Next up is solving and graphing two-step inequalities.
8th graders are calculating volumes of cylinders, spheres and cones. Next up is graphing lines using slope-intercept and xy-tables.
Science with Mrs. Kauppi - Scientists are currently studying ecosystems. Here are some topics within the unit:
Ecological organization
Interaction of living things in an ecosystem
Cycle of matter
Cycle of energy
Social Studies/Civics with Dr. Pataky - Here is what's going on in social studies/civics over the next two weeks:
In 7th grade The Roman Empire is gone and a new power is rising in the Middle East. They march forward under the banner of their prophet, Muhammad, and proclaim: “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet!”
Vocabulary test for Grade 7 on Friday, March 10th
In 8th grade we had enough of King George III and his taxes. We have been doing a mock trial of the five British troops who killed citizens of Boston in what the papers are calling “The Boston Massacre”
Mrs. Seppelin - In World Language, the students are practicing how to make simple, small conversations using “I like” and “ I don't like.”(me gusta y no me gusta). As they talk about their likes and dislikes, students are learning numerous vocabulary that helps them to express their thoughts.
Mr. Nessman & Ms. Nigohosian’s Corner - On Gray Day Enrichment, we have started playing Treasure Quest, an exciting adventure game where students solve problems and battle monsters in exchange for gold and treasure.
On Maroon Day Enrichment we have been reading and discussing Shirley Jackson’s timeless horror novel, The Haunting of Hill HouseMaroon Team
This March in ELA 8th grade students are beginning a new unit with a focus on the Civil Rights Movement. We will spend the next few weeks gathering background knowledge before reading a new class novel together set during that time period. Students are also continuing to hone their essay writing skills in preparation for MCAS.
En la clase de español we are learning new vocabulary for the house and home. We are also asking questions and creating sentences about location using the verb estar and prepositions! (Ask your student if they can define or give an example of a preposition). We will also begin to look at the concept of "home" in the Spanish speaking world and the variety of living structures in these places as well. Encourage your student to use house vocabulary around your home.
This March, Math students are continuing their studies of linear equations and graphing these lines. We will spend the next few weeks applying our knowledge to more complex word problems. Preparation for trimester exams as well as MCAS will also take place during this month.
This month in civics students are learning about state government and will be taking sides in the federalists debate then later learning about the Constitution while viewing Hamilton.
Visual Arts
6th graders will finish the trimester off with a rotating tessellation. A tessellation is created when a shape is repeated over and over again covering a plane without any gaps or overlaps. A rotational tessellation is a pattern where the repeating shapes fit together by rotating 90 degrees. Using a formula, students will create a unique shaped tile from heavy paper, like a puzzle piece. Students will then rotate and trace the tile on a large paper.
7th graders are honing their 2 point perspective drawing skills by drawing a city street corner. To draw a building in two-point perspective, an artist draws a horizon line and two dots to represent vanishing points on a piece of paper. After this, the work of creating a building from the corner view begins. The rules to drawing in this perspective are simple: vertical lines remain straight, while horizontal lines follow the angle of the vanishing points.
8th graders are starting their color theory unit. We learn about color and light, and how to mix tints, tones, and shades with tempera paint.
Gr.8 Enrichment:
A new project 8th graders are trying with me is creating an abstract sculpture using styrofoam as a base, wire from a wire hanger, and knee-high pantyhose to cover the wire. More photos to follow once they are finished.
STEM
reports on the astronauts involved, drawings representing the components and parts used in Artemis, 3D models will show us
how the system looks, and we will have some performances including Mock interview with astronauts and reporters working on scene to bring us
the latest Artemis updates on our journey to the Moon and eventually to MARS.
Technology Corner
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 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