7th Grade Newsletter
January 14, 2016
GRADE LEVEL ANNOUNCEMENTS
Happy winter to all!
Please be aware that Access testing will be occurring over the next few weeks and will impact daily scheduling for some students.
Important Dates:
January 18, 2016 - No School
January 22, 2016 - Social Studies chapter test
January 29, 2016 - Student memoirs due for ELA
January 29, 2016 - Grades close
February 11, 2016 - Report cards distributed
About Mrs. Doole
Email: rdoole@lowell.k12.ma.us
Hi! I'm so happy to be working with Butler kids and the Butler team. It's been an amazing experience! I grew up in Lowell and attended Lowell Public Schools since grammar school. Though I moved away from Lowell for several years, it's been wonderful being back and contributing to the success of the kids.
Prior to teaching English, I worked as a Human Resources Manager for a small firm in Boston. After 13 years in this profession, I decided to fulfill my dream and began working on my Masters in Education in 2010. I've been working for Lowell Public Schools for several years and have been with the Butler Middle School for two of those years. I have a passion for English as a subject and a passion for learning. I can't think of a better way to live out my passion than teaching.
About Ms. Tapia
Email: jtapia@lowell.k12.ma.us
Hola!
I am excited to join the Butler Bulldogs family on my 10th year as an Educator! I have been an ELA teacher for 9 years in Lawrence (6 at the high school and 3 at the middle schools) and have educated in various settings such as the Adult Learning Center, summer programs in the University of Maine, Boys and Girls Club and Phillips Academy, even writing workshops in Vermont, New York, and throughout Massachusetts. As a daughter of an immigrant I have experienced the importance of literacy and hope to impart a love of reading, writing, communication, and analytical skills to my students.
My goal this year is to create a community within my classroom that encourages creation, expression, critical thinking, and most importantly that reflects the voices of my students and their families. I hope to build upon what the students know and to have them impart their knowledge and skills back to their peers and me which mold them into civically engaged young adults. If you would like to visit our classroom or participate in our activities do not hesitate to contact me.
ELA with Ms. Tapia and Mrs. Doole
Along with reading memoirs, students will be writing their own memoir. We've already started building our memoirs and we're amazed at what we're seeing. Student memoirs will be due on January 29th.
**Please be advised that all students have reading homework nearly every night. For each reading assignment, they have a small writing assignment. Both the reading and writing should take about 20 minutes, depending on how quickly your student reads. Reading schedules were given to all students to keep them on task. Feel free to email Mrs. Doole, Ms. Tapia or Ms. Segarra if you'd like a copy for yourself.
About Mrs. Waugh
Phone: 978-937-8973 ext: 2227
Email: jwaugh@lowell.k12.ma.us
Hi! I'm a graduate of Umass Lowell and Cambridge College. I have traveled extensively around the world and lived in Egypt and Brazil where I taught English for three years. I have been teaching in Lowell since 1998. I love history and love to bring it alive for my students
Social Studies with Mrs. Waugh
We will be finishing the chapter on Egypt this week. There will be a chapter test, Friday January 22, 2016. A study guide will go home this Friday (1/15/2016) so please be sure your child studies everyday at home for this test.
After finishing up with Egypt, we will begin our chapter on ancient Greece.
About Mrs. Kabriel
Email: ekabriel@lowell.k12.ma.us
I love teaching 7th graders and I love teaching math!
I am so happy to join the wonderful teachers and staff at the Butler Middle School this year, however it's my 9th year teaching 7th grade math in Lowell. Before coming to Lowell I taught special education for four years in an elementary school. Prior to changing careers to devote my energies to education, I spent almost 20 years working in the business world helping companies implement business information systems and business process
improvements.
Middle school is an exciting and challenging time of change. With your help, I hope to ease each student's transition to seventh grade. My goal is to provide a high quality, safe learning environment that will academically challenge and develop your child's math abilities and skills in addition to facilitating his/her social and emotional growth.
About Mrs. Pappalardo
Email: cpappalardo@lowell.k12.ma.us
Prior to teaching, I spent 15 years in Operations Management in the Mortgage Banking field. I always felt a pull to teaching, coming from a family full of math educators. This is my 7th year teaching 7th grade and 5 of those have been here at the Butler Middle School. I truly love what I do. Along with teaching at the school, I coach the girls basketball team and am a member of the PBIS Committee. I am dedicated to the middle school and would not want to be teaching at any other grade level.
Math with Mrs. Pappalardo and Ms. Kabriel
Math classes will be finishing up our Consumer Math Percent Unit including a final assessment/test on Thursday January 14th. This final week of the unit the students will learn about Percent Change and apply all their knowledge to solving real world percent problems.
The students have learned about percents in our world including tip, tax, discount, commission and mark-up. They have learned four methods to solve percent problems and this week worked on mastering two to three methods so they can determine the best approach to use for different scenarios. The goal is to choose the most efficient and effective approach when faced with a variety of real world problems. The four methods include: mental math/benchmark percents (like 10%), visual models, change percent to a decimal and multiply, and finally, the most versatile approach - the percent proportion. Ask your student to calculate a tip or a discount - see what they can do!
Math homework is assigned Monday through Thursday. Please help your student practice positive study habits in 2016 and make sure they are keeping up with homework, we have seen a slight dip the first week of 2016.
About Mrs. Jordan
Email: ejordan@lowell.k12.ma.us
Hello! I am Emilia Jordan, the 7th grade science teacher at the Butler Middle School. In 7th grade, we study Life Science and I am very excited to about working with the great group of students in 7th grade this year.
A little bit about me…
I grew up near Detroit, Michigan in a family of six (mom, dad, and 3 younger siblings). After graduating as valedictorian of my high school class, I attended to the University of Michigan, where I was dually enrolled as both a science student and an art student. At the University of Michigan, I earned a Bachelors of Science in Microbiology and a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Scientific Illustration. For several years after college, I worked as a research assistant in a lung cancer lab and as an illustration assistant for a science art firm. Eventually, I began substitute teaching, which lead me to pursue my Masters degree in Education at UMass Lowell and my current teaching position here in Lowell. This is my tenth year teaching 7th grade science at the Butler Middle School. In addition to teaching science, I also coach the Butler Knowledge Bowl team.
Outside of school, I enjoy spending time with family and friends. I also enjoy playing games, reading, camping, running (when I'm not injured), napping, and catching up on my favorite TV shows. One of my favorite things to do during vacation is travel—I love experiencing new places, eating new foods, and learning new things. This year, I've traveled to Brazil, Argentina, Denmark, the Netherlands, Maine, New Hampshire, Michigan, and Texas.
Science with Mrs. Jordan
Last week and this week we have been studying Protists. Specifically, we've learned about characteristics that all members of the protist kingdom have in common, along with characteristics and examples of organisms in each of the three protist classification groups: animal-like protists, plant-like protists, and fungus-like protists. We've also spent time comparing three common protist species: the amoeba, the paramecium, and the euglena. For these protists, we compared size, cell shape, cell structure, methods of obtaining food, and methods of movement. Students completed 2 Column Notes, a Protist Comparison Chart, Protist Drawings, and several protist-related review worksheets.
On Friday, January 8th, 7th grade female science students were treated to a presentation from the MIT Women in Science Initiative. Two female engineering/science students from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) visited to inform students about engineering and to motivate students to consider studying engineering or science. As a part of the presentation, students learned about the various fields of study in engineering and participated in an activity to extract DNA from strawberries.
About Mrs. Clark
Phone: 978-937-8973
Email: kxclark@lowell.k12.ma.us
My name is Karen Clark, I have been a Special Education teacher for 13 years ranging from elementary to middle school. I have been at the Butler Middle School for 8 years, the last six have been in seventh grade. I am licensed in both special education and middle school math. I work closely with the seventh and eighth grade math teachers to support all students, and co-teach with both Mrs. Pappalardo and Mrs. Kabriel, and with Mrs. Gurriero, grade 8. I recently came back from maternity leave in the middle of September. I am the proud mother of a beautiful baby boy, Philip Joseph "PJ," with that said, I am only available after school on Monday's and Friday's until 3:45 to support students with their math.
Ms. Segarra, ELA Special Education Teacher
Email: mssegarra@lowell.k12.ma.us
Mrs. Coffey, ELL Newcomer Teacher
Email: dcoffey@lowell.k12.ma.us