MMS Science Fair is Coming!

Dear Milton Middle School Families,

We are excited to be holding a Science Fair at Milton Middle School on the evening of February 12, 2014. This event will be on the same evening as a Milton Community Dinner so you can enjoy a great meal before experiencing the impressive work our students will be showcasing. All students in grades 6-8 will be expected to participate in the science fair. Hands-on scientific investigation and invention are the focus at our particular fair. Over a nine week period, your child will design, test, analyze, and present a project that uses scientific methods to solve a problem. The sky’s the limit!

As you know, science, technology and engineering include basic skills expected by employers. As Twenty First Century citizens, our students will also have to make some of the toughest decisions of any generation, based on their understanding of emerging science and technology. Doing science is key to understanding science. Science fairs involve students in the practices of science and engineering, requiring them to apply those skills to a topic of interest to them.

Time will be given to students during the school day to work on their project. We encourage students to continue

this work at home as well. Students will be given project guidelines and time-lines at school, and teachers will check in with them periodically. However, much of the work will be self-directed. Families are encouraged to offer support and reminders, but to allow children to do the projects by themselves.

We are encouraging support from the community in helping to make this experience a beneficial one for our students and for Milton Middle School. Please call or email with any questions or potential resources. More information will follow as the night of the Science Fair approaches. Thank you very much in advance for your support!

Sincerely,
Milton Middle School Science Teachers

Portfolio Conferences a Success!

We held 63 student-led portfolio conferences this week. Thank you to all of you who helped make our conferences a success! Your participation and caring feedback sends a powerful message of support to your child. Our students are proud of the work they've done, and your involvement means a lot to them.

If you did not attend a conference, it's not too late. Contact any of the House C teachers and we'll be happy to arrange a time for you to conference with your child.

Thanks again!
The Teachers of House C

Grade 6 and 7 Homework October 28, 2013

Homework this week for grade 6 and grade 7 is to spend one hour between now and Friday on Khan Academy.  Both groups are currently studying fractions and this should be students focus while on Khan Academy.  There are instructional videos and practice problems.  Students should log in using their mymtsd-vt.org accounts.  If you have difficulty logging in please notify Ms. Thibault-Cote or Mr. Caswell.  We will be checking your student progress throughout the week.  If you still can not get on using your account please keep track of your time and have a parent sign off on it.

Portfolio Conferences November 12 & 13

Dear Families,

How time flies! We're well into the eighth week of the school year and it is already time for our first round of Student Portfolio Conferences. Children benefit greatly from having meaningful conversations about their learning with important adults in their lives. To that end, we invite you to a Portfolio Conference, where your child will present to you artifacts of his or her learning - work from each class that he or she has thoughtfully selected to demonstrate learning and growth. Any caring adult is welcome - parents, adult siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors. Conferences will take place in the Middle/Elementary School Library.

These conferences are important to your child, and represent many hours of hard work. The portfolio process helps students build life-long skills including: organization skills, self-evaluative skills, and communication skills. Most importantly, the portfolio process helps your child take more ownership of his or her learning and be more accountable for his or her academic progress. Thank you for the important role you play in this process!

Please visit http://bit.ly/housecconferences4 to indicate your preferred conference time. If no adult is able to attend at one of the times offered, we will gladly make arrangements for you to conference with your child at another time.

We look forward to seeing you!

The Teachers of House C

Progress Reports

Dear Families,
By now, your child should have presented you with three progress reports: math, science, and humanities. We gave all of our students progress reports to bring home at the end of last week, and any missed last week were given out on Monday. As always, don't hesitate to contact a teacher should you have any questions about your child's progress.
Thanks!
The Teachers of House C

Picture Day

Picture day is this Tuesday, September 24. Students were given the order forms to bring home. Remember to send in your order form on Tuesday.

Field Trip to Northern Lights Rock and Ice

House C has scheduled a field trip to Northern Lights Rock and Ice on Thursday, October 17. We will spend the day under the guidance of the staff of NLRI, as we meet the challenges of their ropes course and climbing walls. The purpose of this trip is to strengthen our teamwork, to support each other as we challenge ourselves, and to have fun together. This is a special opportunity we don’t get every year.

We will be leaving the school at 8:30 A.M. and will be returning at approximately 2:30 P.M. Bus transportation is provided. Supervision will be by teachers and staff members. Your student's share of the cost of the trip, $25, is due before Friday, October 4. Make checks payable to Milton Middle School. If paying the full cost is a financial hardship, please consider paying what you can, and requesting a scholarship to cover the balance.

This is not an optional school day. Students who do not participate in this field trip will be expected to attend a regular day at school.

Parents - All House C students have been given a permission form for this trip. If you have not yet seen the information, please ask your child about it.

8th Grade Boston Trip Update

Dear Families,

At the end of your student’s middle school experience, he or she will have the opportunity to participate in the 8th grade field trip to Boston. This field trip is three days and two nights and for many students it is the highlight of their middle school years. During this trip, students get to witness the culture of Boston, visit a few of Boston’s best museums, and they get to stay at Emerson College. This is a unique opportunity that every student should experience. In order to make this trip affordable for all families, we offer numerous fundraisers throughout the school year. Each student is given a field trip account. Students earn money for this account by fundraising. This money will be put towards the cost of the Boston trip and can also be used to fund other school based field trips as well. I have created these accounts so that students can earn their trip to Boston. This year the cost of the trip is $325, if your students participates in a couple of fundraisers each year, they will not have to fund raise all of the money during 8th grade.

For 8th and 7th Graders, your student will be getting a summary of their account on Monday 9/16.

Tentative list of this year’s fundraisers:

September – PTA Fundraiser – If your student participates, 50% of the profits from their orders will go towards Boston.

October – Dan’s Chocolates

November – Thanksgiving Pie Sale

November – Dan’s Holiday Cards, create your own custom cards for the holidays

December – February – Calendar Raffle

March – Spaghetti Dinner

April – Fire Truck Pull

Please address any questions about the Boston trip to our trip coordinator, Joe Smith <jsmith3@mtsd-vt.org>

Information from House C and the Nurse's Office

Dear Parents:
You’ve all read the headlines and seen the news stories: food allergies are a growing concern in schools across America. Millions of children-children who are perfectly healthy and normal in every other way must watch every single bite they eat, or risk suffering a severe or even life threatening reaction. In fact, food allergies claim an estimated 150 lives and are responsible for more than 125,000 emergency room visits each year. A major health issue such as this must be taken very seriously, and it has always been the policy of this school to make the safety and well-being of our students our top priority.
A student in your child’s class has a serious peanut/tree nut allergy-the food allergy that claims more lives each year than any other. Tree nuts include: walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, pistachios, and Brazil nuts. A child with a serious peanut/tree nut allergy can suffer a reaction by touching a peanut/tree nut-containing food. Therefore, we are putting the following safety guidelines into effect:

• Please do not send peanuts/tree nuts, or foods containing peanuts or tree nuts to be eaten as snacks in the classroom. It is fine to send these products for lunch, which is eaten in the cafeteria.
• We will not be doing any classroom projects that involve peanuts/tree nuts. Please do not send any of these projects into the classroom with your child.
• Birthday parties are a special time for children, but can be a difficult time for the food-allergic child. If you would like to send in baked goods, please be careful about the ingredients. Please list the ingredients on the outside of the package (or send in the ingredient label from the package) and when preparing "treats" please pay close attention to cross contamination in your kitchen. To prevent cross-contamination, it is necessary that cooking utensils and preparation surfaces be carefully washed after each food is toughed. It would be especially helpful if you could let your child’s teacher know a few days ahead of when you’d like to celebrate your child’s birthday, so that the food-allergic child can provide his/her own safe treat.
• We will try to keep the food at holiday parties to a minimum. As with birthday parties, we must be extremely careful about the ingredients in all of the food items. Please do not enclose candy or other treats with holiday cards.
• We will keep a box of wipes in the classroom, and may request that all children who ate peanut butter or tree nuts for lunch use a wipe to clean their hands when they return from the cafeteria. Similarly, if your child ate peanut butter or tree nuts for breakfast, we would greatly appreciate your making sure that his/her hands are washed with soap and water before leaving for school. Water alone does not do the trick!

This is a learning process for all of us, but we trust that you understand how deeply important it is to respect and adhere to these guidelines. If throughout the course of the year, you have any questions or concerns about food-allergy-related issues, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Wishing you and your family a safe and healthy school year.
Sincerely,
　
Alice Daley, Nurse grades 5-8

Grade 7 Math

Grade seven has started the year exploring algebra.  Students are working on identifying variables and creating and interpreting tables and graphs.                                                                                          

Please check with your child daily to see what homework is; they are working on ACE questions and they change day to day.

Grade 6 Math

Grade six has begun their year with a review of finding factors and multiples of a number.  We will also explore the traditional method of multiplication, prime and composite numbers and Least Common Multiple (LCM) and Greatest Common Factor (GCF).  We will explore many of these concepts through problem solving.

This week the homework is to complete assignment 1.1 pages 1-2 problems 1-3.  It is due Friday September 6.

Welcome to a new school year!

Welcome to the 2013-2014 school year at Milton Middle School! We are eager and excited to begin our work together! Our learning community on House C consists of 90 students in grades six, seven and eight. The teachers of House C are: Mr. Caswell and Mrs. Thibault-Cote (Maths and Science); Mr. Dabritz, Ms. Fabri, and Ms. Page (Humanities); and Mrs. Smith (Consulting Teacher).

This year, our focus in Humanities will be on developing our literacy skills through the lens of U.S. and World History. We will examine literature and other media to explore moments in our country's history as well as creation and origin myths worldwide, so that students will come to see that history is a living, breathing, dynamic set of different perspectives and stories that contribute to our overall understanding of the current state of our country and the global community.

In Science, students will hone their inquiry skills as they answer questions and test predictions about living organisms and ecosystems.

Students will further develop their abstract and quantitative reasoning as they become skilled mathematicians in using fractions, decimals, percents, proportionality, negative numbers, equations, linear functions, the geometry of three-dimensional shapes, the Pythagorean Theorem, and more!

House C Blog
Our primary mode of team-home communication will be through our this blog, where we will post all manner of information about student learning, assignments, and announcements. Please bookmark this URL in your web browser and visit often for daily updates during the school year:

Meet and Greet
As a new team, we think it’s important to spend some time getting to know each other. To that end, we hope you will join us at the school in rooms 214 and 215 on Tuesday, August 27th from 5:00-6:30 for a “sweets and apps” potluck. Please bring a small number of your favorite dessert or appetizer to share. This is a great opportunity to chat with the teachers, preview your classrooms, and meet other families on House C.

Supplies
Binders You will store and organize your paperwork in a three-ring binder. If you wish to keep everything in one place, you will need a larger (2” to 3”) binder. If you prefer to keep separate binders for each subject, you will need up to three smaller (1” to 1½”) binders. You will also need a separate 2” binder for your portfolio.

Paper

Get several packs of three-ring lined paper. You’ll be surprised how quickly this is used up!

Dividers

Two packs of five tabbed dividers.

Pencils

Being prepared for class with a pencil is a must. Don’t be caught without one!

Sharpener

A simple handheld pencil sharpener.

Highlighters

Two or three different colors.

Dry Erase Markers

For math class.

Composition Book

College ruled, for humanities class.

Light Folders with prongs

Two for 6th grade math only.

For materials such as paper, pencils, and markers, we suggest that you send a limited amount at the beginning of the year and keep a reserve at home for when these supplies run low throughout the year.

We look forward to learning and playing together over the next 10 months. In the meantime, be in touch if you have any questions or concerns.

Enjoy the remainder of your summer and we’ll see you soon!

Sincerely,

Nathan Caswell
Charles Dabritz
Jana Fabri
Ericka Page
Megan Smith
Catherine Thibault-Cote

8th Grade Celebration - Wed, June 12

8th Graders should be at the HIGH SCHOOL, in the cafeteria at 6:15 to line up, guests should find seats in the gym.

Reception immediately following in the cafeteria and a student dance following that.

You're invited to our Futurist Convention!

Dear Families and Friends of House C students,

We invite you to attend our final learner celebration! On Wednesday, June 12, from 9:10AM to 10:30AM in the middle/elementary school library, our students will be holding a FUTURIST CONVENTION.

Students have been diligently researching past and present trends for a topic of their interest. They are using their research and inquiry skills to generate predictions of how that thing might change within their lifetime.

How could robots change the workplace?
What could housing in Milton look like 70 years from now?
What might your great-granddaughter's first car look like?

Possible futures for these topics and others will be revealed!

We recognize that mid-morning may be difficult timing. Still, we hope you can come and mingle among our young futurists and see the good work they have accomplished. If you think you will be able to attend, we'd love to hear back from you.

Thanks!
The Teachers of House C

The New MMS Boosters

MILTON MIDDLE SCHOOL BOOSTERS

SPRING 2013

Little Caesars Pizza Kit Fundraiser

It’s Pizza!Pizza! time! Time to stock up with Little Caesars Pizza Kits! Pizza Kits are perfect for quick dinners and snacks for the whole family. Pizza Kits are great to have on hand all summer long! Help us raise money to start our Milton Middle School Boosters program.

Prizes: Any Top-Seller prizes? (Yes you will find out who wins on Thursday June 20th)

How: Fill out the top portion of your order form with your name & your phone number. Collect payment at the time you take orders. Checks will be made payable to Milton Middle School. Write your student’s name on the memo line of each check.

When: Wednesday, May 29 Fundraiser start date.

Thursday, June 13 Order form & payment due.

Be sure your order form is correctly tallied.

Double check all rows & all columns.

Total your order form across the bottom row.

Incorrectly tallied forms will be returned.

Turn in order & payment to Melinda Young/Office

Thursday, June 20 Pizza Kit Pickup time 1:00PM – 6:00PM

Where: Pickup will be at here at school in the 5-8 Cafeteria. Please pick up your pizza kits as soon as possible. We will not be responsible for any kits remaining after pickup times, as we do not have storage space for them. If the products thaw, they can be refrozen.

Questions: Please feel free to contact Melinda Young at 893-0336.

Volunteers: We will need volunteers to help count, sort, pack & distribute orders on delivery day. Please email us at dopeylover33@yahoo.com if you can help out! Thank you! Thank you!

Romeo & Juliet

Hi folks,

Your child was sent home with a letter today explaining that we will be walking to the high school next Friday  after lunch to view the middle school production of Romeo & Juliet. Please ask your child to see this letter for more information.

Thank you

Milton 250 Celebration

House C would like to thank Paul and Doris Mears & Jim and Linda Ballard for visiting our Humanities class today. They shared photographs, artifacts, and most importantly stories about growing up in Milton. The event was filmed by LCATV and a DVD of the presentation will be placed in the Milton 250 time capsule along with student reactions. I hope to see you all in 2063 when we watch the video together!

6th Grade Math Homework May 7, 2013

Students this week will continue to practice finding the surface area of pyramids.  Homework is skills practice packet 14.5 pages 799-804.  It is due on Monday May 13, 2013. 

Progress Reports

Dear Parents,

On Friday, May 3, your student was given a progress report in each class (Humanities, Math and Science), with instructions to bring it home to you. If your student has not yet presented these progress reports to you, please ask him/her about them.

Thanks,
The Teachers of House C

Boston Update

From Mr. Smith:


Dear Families,

For students who are going to Boston, there will be a mandatory meeting on Monday, May 13, at 6:00 p.m. in the High School Auditorium.  At this time, we will go over student expectations and what students need to bring to Boston.  At this meeting, students will sign their behavior contract. If you have not already done so, please fill out the attached health form and waiver/release form from Emerson college (these are being sent in an email attachment from Rhonda).  I need both filled out.

For students who are not going to Boston, the expectation is that they will come to school.  There will be special programming for these students in school.

Thank you,
Joe Smith

8th Grade Trip - Account Update

Hi folks,

8th graders were given a letter today with the amount due on the Boston trip. Please check in with your child this evening for that information.

Thanks!

Health Policy Reminder

Here's a note from the health office:

Dear Parents and Guardians,

There have been a large number of school absences due to illness and a large number of students being sent home due to fevers the past couple of weeks. As we think about ways to minimize the spread of these illnesses, we want to remind families of our school health policies, the relavant parts are printed below:

F6: STUDENT HEALTH

Policy

It is the goal of the Milton Town School District to keep our entire

school population as healthy as possible. We thus implement this student health policy, with the

guidance of the Vermont Department of Education and Vermont Department of Health.

Illness/Communicable Conditions

Students with a known communicable condition (such as, but not limited to

strep throat and conjunctivitis/pink eye) are to remain out of school until they have

received antibiotic therapy for 24 hours. Students who have a fever of 100

degrees or more are required to remain home from school until their

temperature is less than 100 degrees for 24 hours, without ibuprofen or 

acetaminophen. Recommendations of the Vermont Department of Health will be

followed.

If a student comes to school and is suspected of having a communicable

condition, the student shall be sent to the health office, where the

school nurse will determine the need for the student to be sent home. If a

student is sent home for a communicable illness, the health office staff

(school nurse) will work with the family to provide guidance for when the

student can return to school. This is generally after 24 hours of

antibiotic therapy, or 24 hours after symptoms resolve. In cases where a

student has had severe vomiting or diarrhea, we require that students not

return until their symptoms have been resolved for 24 hours and they are

able to resume normal dietary habits. In cases where there are attendance

issues, the school will work with the family to make a plan, possibly

requiring that the student be evaluated by the school nurse before

deciding if the student requires an additional absence.

Missing Work

All students missing work for Humanities and Literacy were given PowerSchool printouts this week and were asked to have them signed and returned. We have not seen many yet. Please check with your student or log into PowerSchool to see what work they are missing. All late work should be turned in as soon as possible.

Spring has arrived (more or less) - Some reminders:

Hi folks,

With the annual arrival of spring comes the annual arrival of our reminders about our expectations around student appearance. Please help support us as we enforce the following expectations as stated in the student handbook:

"Guidelines for Student Appearance

• Student dress cannot violate health or safety laws
• Clothing with underwear showing (inappropriate)
• Excessively low-cut shirts/dresses (inappropriate)
• Shorts and skirts no shorter than mid-thigh
• Avoid strapless, backless, or single strap garments
• Avoid obscene, derogatory, racial, ethnic, sexual, hate/prejudice
• Spiked jewelry (inappropriate)

Dress and appearance are considered the responsibility of the student and her/his parents or guardians...Teachers and administration will judge whether or not a student is in violation of the dress code. Students who refuse to change will be sent home."

It's the three items italicized above that tend to present challenges this time of year. Students are being reminded of these guidelines this week. Going forward, any student in violation will receive a Classroom Discipline Referral for Inappropriate Dress. Consequences may include, but are not limited to, contacting home, changing clothes, and attending call back.

Please help guide your child to make appropriate clothing choices in the morning so that we don't have to call  home for a change of clothes.

Thank you for your continued support of our positive and safe learning environment.

4/10 Humanities & Literacy

We are in the midst of our unit on Food Consumption and Production: The Omnivore's Dilemma. Students are learning to identify the natural, human, and capital resources that go into producing and transporting our food from farm to table and the environmental impact of the food decisions that we make. Some great discussions have ensued. Much of their learning is happening through writing, with almost daily opportunities to make a claim about the day's learning and support that claim with evidence.

Laura Fletcher and Ericka Page, two UVM interns who we've been fortunate to have join our team, are currently completing their solo instruction hours. They have worked together to plan a rigorous outline of lessons that will help get students toward the ultimate goals of this unit.

Please continue to check the calendar daily for current homework assignments.

8 Maths 4-2

Students are two thirds of the way through the Say It With Symbols unit, where they have been learning to use equivalent expressions to better understand and solve problems. Students have been developing their skills with the distributive property by factoring and expanding expressions. They have also been using equations to solve problems.

Students will take a quiz on Thursday. The quiz will involve:

• Equivalent expressions - factored and expanded forms
• Solving equations
• Using equations to solve problems

7 Maths 4-2

Students are wrapping up the "Accentuate the Negative" unit, where they have been learning to solve problems involving negative numbers. Students have learned and practiced adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, and using the order of operations with rational numbers, including negative fractions and mixed numbers. The final lessons involve using the distributive property to write equivalent expressions.

Students will take the unit test on Thursday. The unit test will involve:

• Adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing with negative numbers (including fractions and mixed numbers)
• Absolute value
• Order of operations
• The distributive property
• Solving problems involving any of the above

6 Math Homework for Week of April 1, 2013

In class this week students will continue their exploration of volume and surface area of prisms.

Homework this week is a packet that includes a fraction review of addition and subtraction of mixed numbers and more practice finding the surface area and volume of cubes.  It is due April 4, 2013.

8th Grade Boston Update

8th Grade Families only –

On Wednesday, your students will receive an account update and a medical form (attached) to fill out. Students will also fill out a survey this week asking what activity they want to do. Below is a list of activities which I strongly recommend reviewing this with your student and reminding them to choose activities based on their interests not on what their friends are doing.

Boston Activities 

Harvard to North End Walk About:
Explore Harvard Square take the T to the North End and eat at an authentic Italian Deli followed by Cannolies from Bova's. Top it off with Bubble Tea from Chinatown. This is a tour for people who like interesting foods. 

Harvard Tour and New England Aquarium:
Tour the Harvard Campus, one of the most prestigious universities in the world, explore Harvard Square, and end up at the New England Aquarium looking at cool fish, sharks, and other aquatic life.

Salem Witch Hunt:
Take the commuter rail to Salem and visit the Salem Witch Museum and/or 3D History Museum.

Prudential, Fenway Park, Aquarium:
Go to the top of the Second Largest Building in Boston, walk over and explore the oldest baseball park in America, end up at the New England Aquarium looking at cool fish, sharks, and other aquatic life.

Prudential, Fenway Park, Newbury Street:
Go to the top of the Second Largest Building in Boston, walk over and explore the oldest baseball park in America, and then walk down Newbury street visiting the boutiques, thrift shops, and art stores.

Prudential, Museum of Fine Art:
Go to the top of the Second Largest Building in Boston, take the T to the Museum of Fine Art and look at work from all of the masters, Van Gogh, Monet, and many others.

Emerson Media Production School, TD Banknorth Garden, Aquarium:
Tour the Emerson Media Production School, make your way to the New England Sports Museum at the TD Banknorth Garden and view all of the Celtics and Bruins banners, eat lunch in the North End at an authentic Italian deli, and end up at the New England Aquarium looking at cool fish, sharks, and other aquatic life.

USS Constitution, Bunker Hill, North End:
Visit the oldest commissioned ship in the US Navy, run up the hill were one of the first battles of the Revolutionary War was fought, and then tour the north end eating at deli's and visiting Paul Revere's house.

Franklin Park Zoo:
We're going to the zoo, how about you? Visit the zoo see the gorillas, the tigers, oh my. You will discuss with your group how you will spend the rest of your day.

Guided Tour of the Freedom Trail, Aquarium:
Learn all about the founding of the United States and the rich history that is in Boston with this guided tour. End the day at the New England Aquarium looking at cool fish, sharks, and other aquatic life.

JFK Library, ICA Museum
Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. Learn all about John F. Kennedy at the presidential library and then visit a cool art museum over looking the Boston harbor.

Fire Truck Pull!

Dear Families,

The fourth annual Fire Truck Pull and Carnival is happening on April 13th, from 11:00 – 1:30pm, to benefit the 8th grade trip to Boston. There are many activities planned including “minute-to-win-it” games, crafts, music, food, 50/50 raffle and, of course, the Fire Truck Pull! We are looking for Fire Truck Pull Teams and craft vendors.

If you and nine of your friends or co-workers are feeling strong, create a team to pull a fire truck. To participate in the pull each team needs to raise at least $100. There will be trophies awarded for the fastest pull by a team that is under 18, fastest pull by a team over 18 and the most money raised. The team that raises the most money will also be awarded 10 vouchers for 6” subs from Subway. If you are interested in putting together a team please contact Amira Bakr at 893-3215 ext. 1213 or abakr@mtsd-vt.org.

If you are crafty and you would like to sell your crafts, we are selling table space at $25 per booth. You will get to keep all of your profits from the sale of your items. If you are interested or know someone who may be interested, please contact, Joe Smith at jsmith3@mtsd-vt.org or call at 893-3215 ext. 1208 by April 5th.

To make this day a success, we are looking for parents and other adults to help us. We will be in need of adults to help grill. If you can assist, please fill out the form below and return it to your student's Advisory Teacher or email Amira Bakr or Joe Smith.

Please contact us if you have any other questions.

We highly appreciate your help and hope to see you at the Fire Truck Pull!

Fundraising Update

Dear Families,

Thank you very much for those of you came out and supported our students at the Spaghetti Dinner. We raised $1260. Congratulations to Lili Anemikos, Cody Hyldburg, and Lynda Battistoni for winning the cupcake war and Brad Hanson for winning the 50/50 raffle.

Our next big fundraiser and last major fundraiser before Boston is the Fire Truck Pull on April 13th. It would be great if we can have a big turn out for this event. It is a fun time and helps build community. There is more information below and a flyer attached to this email. Please post the flyer up in places where people are likely to see it. Also, students who get pledges for the Fire Truck Pull will get 90% of the money that they raise for their field trip account. There will be a sign-up sheet outside my office for students to sign up to help at the Fire Truck Pull. Eighth Graders will get to sign up starting Tuesday, April 2nd, 7th Graders April 3rd, and 6th Graders April 4th. You can also share this even with your friends on Faceblook here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/events/496291843766804/

Spring Pictures are this Thursday. A portion of the sales will go towards the general Boston fund.

Grade 6 Math Homework March 24

This week in class students are working on finding surface area and volume of various prisms. 
Homework this week is about surface area and volume of cubes. 
Students will be working with both whole numbers and decimals as they do the problems and
as much as possible students should practice using the traditional method of multiplication as they calculate the surface area and volume.  They are to do Skills Practice 14.2, pages 782-788.  In addition to this if students did not complete their in class work last week on pages 935-940 (problem 7, 8 and Talk the Talk), they need to do finish this as well.

School Updates

Hi folks,

Here are some current announcements:

-Thanks to all those students and families who contributed to making last night's spaghetti dinner a successful fundraiser.
-Barring any technical glitches, report cards for the 2nd trimester are being printed and mailed today.
-Round one of conferences went well and we look forward to meeting with many more of you next Tuesday. If you've yet to sign up for a conference, there are still slots available on Tuesday 3/26 from 4:00-7:00pm, or we could make arrangements for your child to conference with you at a more convenient time, if needed. Please use this link to sign up.
-The Book Fair will be next week, M-Th from 8:00am-8:00pm and F from 8:00am-4:00pm in the MEMS library.
-The School Board and Dr. Barone have scheduled a Community Forum on the FY 14 Budget for April 2nd at 7:00pm in the Library at Milton High School.  This will be an opportunity for community members to give input as to why the FY 14 Budget went down on March 5th and to give input/recommendations on how to move forward with another budget vote.
-From Paul Curtiss: "I wanted to let the district know that Milton will be hosting the Vermont Regional One Act Play festival this year on Saturday, March 23.  Six schools will be presenting their one act plays in a celebration of theatre.  There will be three sessions:  10:30 - 12:30, 2:00- 4:00, and 6:00 - 8:00.  Milton High School will be presenting the Tempest at 6:00 at night, however, I encourage you to come see more than one show.  Tickets are $6 per session and $15 for a festival pass. If you are unable to see the show Saturday, there will be a community show NEXT Wednesday, March 27 at 7:00 pm.  We had to reschedule it from this evening (Wednesday, March 20) due to some complications with the cast and with the weather."
-Next Thursday, the 28th, students will have another opportunity to have school pictures taken. Forms have been given out to advisories. If students would like to order pictures, they just need to bring their envelopes & payment on picture day (3/28).  For those students who do not bring an order form and payment - If they have a picture taken, they will receive a proof (along with the delivery of picture packages) - and will then have one year to order online if they choose to.  Proofs do not need to be returned - And there are No retakes.

That should do it for now. Happy weekend!

Conferences Rescheduled

If you were scheduled for a conference on Tuesday 3/19, those have been rescheduled for Tuesday 3/26. They will take place in the House C classrooms - rooms 224-225. We will assume you will keep your same scheduled slot for next Tuesday UNLESS you let us know otherwise.

To sign up for a new time, you may visit:

http://bit.ly/housecconferences3

Thank you!

Tuesday's Conferences Postponed

As you might have guessed, for those of you with conferences scheduled for tonight (3/19), we will have to postpone those conferences until a later date due to the closure of school today. We will be in touch shortly with the new times.

If you're scheduled for a conference tomorrow (3/20), those will occur as planned.

Stay safe!

Portofolio Conferences March 19 and 20

http://bit.ly/housecconferences3

We're already at the end of Trimester 2 and it's time for our second round of Student Portfolio Conferences! Educational research tells us that children benefit greatly from having meaningful conversations about their learning with important adults in their lives.  To that end, your child will lead a Portfolio Conference where he or she will present to you artifacts of his or her learning - work from each class that he or she has thoughtfully selected to demonstrate learning and growth.

In addition to presenting artifacts of academic growth, your child will also discuss his or her progress with the five Habits of Mind we have been working on this year: Citizenship, Constructing Knowledge, Perseverance, Precision, and Preparedness.

For your convenience, we are scheduling conferences on the evenings of Tuesday and Wednesday, March 19 and 20. Any caring adult is welcome - parents, adult siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors. Conferences will take place in the Middle/Elementary School Library.

Please visit http://bit.ly/housecconferences3 to schedule your conference.

This is an important activity for your child. If no adult is able to attend on these dates, we will gladly make arrangements for you to conference with your child at another time.

If you wish to meet one on one with House C teachers, we would be more than happy to schedule a meeting when we see you at your child’s Portfolio Conference.

We look forward to seeing you!

Literacy 2/18/13

Most literature groups will be finishing the reading of their books this week. Teachers will be collecting talking points to assess students' participation. Now would be a great time to check in with your child about this process.

Humanities 2/18/13

Research project #2 culminates on Tuesday with the group presentations of their findings. Later this week, students will take a look at push and pull factors that have drawn immigrants to the United States (and forced them from their homeland) throughout history.

Grade Six Math Homework

Students are continuing to explore area and perimeter of rectangles, triangles and parallelograms.  We are also continuing to review computation with mixed numbers.

Homework this week is to complete a problem solving packet on area and perimeter.  It is due Thursday February 21, 2013.  Students will have an assessment on these concepts on Thursday as well. 

Grade 6 Math Week of February 11, 2013

Homework this week is a fraction skills review packet.  Students are working on subtracting mixed numbers, multiplying fractions, dividing fractions and whole numbers.  Because of our snow day on Friday homework is due Friday and not Thursday of this week.

In class this week we are continuing our exploration of area and perimeter as it relates to parallelograms.  Students have also made their first investments in the Stock Market Game.  Please ask them about it.

There will be a formal assessment on these geometry concepts next week.

Literacy 2/12/13

As mentioned in the humanities post, you can now find homework assignments for these two classes listed in the calendar scroll.

Literature groups are steaming along. Students are practicing speaking and listening skills (collaborating in group discussions) while being exposed to some excellent novels. A key piece to this is writing down talking points for each reading day. Feel free to ask to see their writing to get a sense of how this process is going.

Humanities 2/12/13

Going forward, you will now find homework assignments for humanities and literacy listed in the calendar scroll to the right (in addition to school events).

We are about to launch our second of three research projects. This unit, Settlement and Land Use, has allowed students to explore the reasons why people end up where they do and how they use the land to meet their needs. There has been a heavy focus on instructing and practicing research skills that will continue to be vital throughout their lives. This second project will happen in small groups and will take a look at four major U.S. cities and how they have developed over time. Please check in with your child for more details.

7 Maths 2-11

This week, students are reviewing and practicing their proportional reasoning and problem-solving skills. Students will take the Unit Test on the Comparing and Scaling unit this week. The test will assess students' ability to:

• Describe and compare quantities using fractions, ratos, percents and difference.
• Solve problems involving proportional relationships.
• Solve problems involving unit rates.

As always, I am available for extra help after school on Monday and Tuesday until 3:00, and on Thursday until 3:30.

8 Maths 2-11

This week, students are reviewing and practicing their skills with square roots and the Pythagorean Theorem. Students will take the Unit Test this week. The test will assess students' ability to:

• Use the PT to solve problems involving side lengths of right triangles.
• Use the PT to find the distance between two points on a coordinate grid.
• Use the PT to prove whether three lengths can form a right triangle.
• Operate with and estimate square roots.

As always, I am available for extra help after school on Monday and Tuesday until 3:00, and on Thursday until 3:30.

Boston Accounts

Hi folks,

8th graders will be given a letter today from Mr. Smith detailing how much money has been contributed toward their total of $325 to cover the cost of the Boston trip. If your student receives a letter yet does not plan on attending, we need a parent note indicating that he or she will not be going on the trip.

Thank you!

News and Events

Let me be the first to apologize for the sporadic nature of updates lately. We all agree that home-school communication is vital, and admittedly, we have some improvements to make to our end of that structure. That being said, here are some important school-wide announcements to share with you all:

• There will be a Course Fair for all 8th graders and their families this Thursday night (2/7) from 6:30-8:00pm in the high school library. Shortly thereafter, 8th graders will begin registering for their 9th grade courses.

• By this point, all House C students have been given trimester two progress reports for humanities, math, and science. Please check in with your child if you have not yet seen these reports.

• Sign-ups for spring sports have begun. If your child will be playing baseball, softball, or track and field, there is a mandatory meeting on April 1st at 6:00pm in the MS gym.

• Please note a change to the calendar. Your handbook/calendar shows Tuesday 3/5 has been set aside for conferences. House C will not be holding them on that day, but will instead be offering them over a couple of evenings in March. We will follow up as soon as those dates have been determined.
  
• There will be a concert this Friday night - Blackberry Jam - at 7:30pm in the high school auditorium. $5 suggested donation. This event has been rescheduled to March 8, due to the expected storm on Friday.

• There will be a middle school dance on Friday 2/15 from 7:00-9:00pm. $4 admission.

• While we are a couple of weeks past the field trip we took to Cairns, we wanted to let you all know that our students represented us so well. From students pushing themselves to try something new, to helping each other out, to leaving the space better than we found it, we saw examples of citizenship and perseverance that made us proud.

As always, should you have any questions, please don't hesitate to be in touch with any one of us.

Have a great week!

House C

Attention 8th Grade

MHS COURSE FAIR Feb. 7, 2013  6:30 - 8:00 pm

• 8th grade parents are invited to the HS library from 6:30 – 7:00 pm for parent orientation.
• All parents and students of grades 8-11 are encouraged to attend to meet with departments from 6:30 – 8:00 pm in the cafeteria
• On Feb 6th a copy of the Program of Studies will be available on the school website mtsd-vt.org

Calendar Raffle Winners

Congratulations to our early winners in the calendar raffle!

February 1 – Cassie Bombard - Ice Drill

February 2 - Paula Fenton - Milton Diner and Autoshine Carwash

February 3 - Doris McQuinn - Bev’s Florist

February 4 - Randy Tinker - Mary Kay Gift Basket

Grade 6 Math

Sixth grade continues to work on finding the area and perimeter of quadrilaterals and triangles.  They are working toward discovering the formula on their own for both. 

Students are starting the Stock Market Game this week.  Students are participating in a simulation where they are given an amount of $100,000 that they must try to figure out how best to invest their money.  Students are working in groups of three students.  Each team is charged with researching different companies and making suggestions for purchasing stocks, bonds and mutual funds.  Students will make their first investments this Friday after reviewing their research as a group.  All teams have group log in.
The website if you are interested in exploring it is: http://www.stockmarketgame.org/

Homework this week:  Students received a packet that reviews addition of mixed numbers, problem solving and graphing coordinate pairs.  Students should complete all odd numbered problems except on the last page of coordinate pairs.  On this page students will do the odd numbers 1-10, but complete all problems 11-14.

House C Grade 6 Math Homework

January 18, 2013

We have begun our geometry unit. We are currently exploring the area and perimeter of geometric figures. 

Homework this week is: 
Covering and Surrounding pages 10-17 ACE Problems 1-23, 33-35 and then students may choose one problem from 24-27.  Students should spend about 20 minutes a night on math homework.  If they exceed this time please note this on the cover sheet that went home with the homework. 

Grade 6 Math--Happy New Year!

     Students have been working on multiplying and dividing whole numbers, fractions and mixed numbers.  Students will have an assessment on these concepts Wednesday January 9, 2013.  Next week we will be moving on to explore the concepts of 2-dimensional, and 3-dimensional geometry, area, perimeter, surface area and volume. Homework until January 10, 2013 will be assigned daily and will include only work not completed in class.