What We Did With Our Summer (Pt. I)

Hello Team Equinox -

We hope the summer is treating you well and that you've been enjoying these sunshine days. Here are some of the things your teachers have been up to, and if you'd like, please post your summer happenings in the comments. We'll share half of the teachers today and half in another post.

Ms. Koester

This is me trying to stay positive after our third attempt this summer at a trail ride on Icelandic Horses was canceled because of rain. I love to ride horses and on this day, the rain started as we pulled up to the barn! We will try again soon. We had severe thunderstorms and intense heat and humidity in Iowa and Illinois this summer, when we spent 12 days visiting family and friends. We even celebrated my Grandmother's 90th birthday with a big party! I was a server - that meant I did whatever my Grandma, Mom, and Aunts told me to do. In between traveling, painting our living/dining room, training our dog Buddy, and watching a sidewalk be put in on our street, I read three educational books for school and am reading some of the middle school summer read books. 

Ms. Menard

Following my graduation from Johnson State College, my summer started off with a bang when I went on a trip to the Caribbean island of Martinique through an anthropology course at Lyndon State College. During this two week adventure I went sight-seeing, ate delicious Martinican cuisine, observed and interacted with the locals, learned about the history of the country, and even hiked a volcano! The rest of my summer was spent reading, hiking, visiting the city of Philadelphia for the first time, and spending time with family and friends.

It's the Final Countdown!

This is just a reminder that we're in the last month of summer! We hope yours has been terrific, and we hope that you've found time to read the summer book you selected (and that you've enjoyed them as much as we have!). If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Moore at jmoore@mymtsd-vt.org. If you've enjoyed other books this summer, add them below in the comments!

Happy August!

Student-led Food Drive

From a Team Falcon 8th grader:

Attention Team Falcon faculty and students, as a part of my PLP transferrable skills project, I am starting a food drive among the team. There will be paper bags with advisory names in the room each advisory goes to for PLP. You are strongly encouraged to donate a few items from your pantry at home or extra food bought at the grocery store to these bags. The total food collected will be donated to the food shelf and distributed among families struggling to put meals on the table each day. The advisory that donates the most food will be rewarded with a lunchtime ice cream party soon after the competition has concluded. You have until Friday the 12th to submit your donations and try to help your advisory win the ice cream.  Good donations consist of some things such as peanut butter, crackers, canned vegetables and meats, and cereal. Pamphlets will be handed out to each advisor and posters will be hung in the hallways. On these will be more information as to what the food shelf is in the most need of. Pasta and marinara sauce are usually good donations, but the food shelf currently is not in need of those items.

Thanks for your help!

National Poetry Month

Yesterday in Language Arts, students wrote or created poems to celebrate National Poetry Month, and we wanted to share some with you. This link will take you to some of our more visual poetry (book spine, blackout, and chance poetry).

We also wrote some "exquisite corpse" poetry, where students write a line of poetry, fold it over, and pass it to the next person, who writes their line - and so on. The results, as you can see here, are pretty entertaining.

And last, but not least, students were able to just write poems - and a couple of those are posted here.

Enjoy the end of National Poetry Month! As a reminder, Poem In Your Pocket Day is April 27 - a day to encourage students to carry poems around with them. If students send me a picture of their poem and either themselves or where they are, there will be some kind of reward! Photos will be accepted upon students' return to classes as well.

Enjoy the break!

Renowned Civil War Presenter

It was just brought to my attention that we neglected to share with you this fabulous resource. Back in January, thanks to the General Stannard House Committee (thanks, Bill!) and the Milton Historical Society, we were treated to a presentation by noted historian, Howard Coffin. LCATV recorded this presentation and made it available for the public to view. Enjoy!

Video of Howard Coffin's presentation

Civil War Quilt

Students' inquiry work from our Civil War unit (The Danger of a Single Story) was incorporated into quilt squares and assembled in our hall by some visually inventive students. 

Yoga for Middle Schoolers!

We are offering after-school yoga for Middle Schoolers EVERY Thursday in May!!

2:35-3:15 in Rooms 224 and 225

5/4, 5/11, 5/18, and 5/25

with Yoga Instructor (and former Guidance Counselor) Kim Horton

Please let us know if your child is interested and whether or not they would need to borrow a yoga mat. Students will need to get a bus pass if they plan to ride the Elementary Bus. Let us know if you have any questions. 

Namaste

From the School Nurses

Hello All, 

We hope you are well. Here is the health round up for March!  

In the month of March we saw almost 400 students in the Middle School.    Out of the students we saw, 93% stayed in school :). Like the past months, our Middle School kiddos' top three complaints were Headaches (25%) , Cold/Sore Throat (20%) and Stomachaches (15%).  This month in the school health newsletter we are highlighting sleep and electronic use, as fatigue can be a major player in headaches.   

Great news, each month the nurse's office will be highlighting a health topic in the Milton Independent.   You will have to check us out in on the health page.   This is in an attempt to increase our collaboration with the community and reach out on trends and data we are seeing in the school.   

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns! :) 

Thanks

The School Nurse Office 

It's conference time!

Team Falcon Portfolio Conferences, April 11 & 12

March 2017

Dear Families,

The days are getting longer, and spring is in the air! It’s time for Student Portfolio Conferences! Your child has done much learning and growing over these past months. We invite you to a Portfolio Conference, where your child will present work from each class that he or she has thoughtfully selected to demonstrate learning and growth.

These conferences are important to your child, and represent many hours of hard work. The portfolio process helps students build lifelong 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/teamfalconconferencesspring17 to indicate your preferred conference time, or return the form attached to this letter. Any caring adult is welcome - parents, adults siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors. 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. Conferences will take place in the Middle/Elementary School Library.

We look forward to seeing you!

The Teachers of Team Falcon: Jana Fabri-Sbardellati Megan Smith

Greer Krembs Gloria Crowe

James Moore Tami Koester

Catherine Thibault-Cote

Visit http://bit.ly/teamfalconconferencesspring17

MMS in the News!

Competing against 24 other middle school teams this weekend, the Milton Chef Jackets took home the Lively Local Award for the best highlight of local, seasonal products in their Winter Vegetable Curry with Apple Raita and homemade Naan Bread!!

Please wish congratulations to Team Falcon members for their participation in this event: Thomas Young, Brad Stankiewicz, and Anna Kaigle!

Come taste their dish for yourself at the Community Dinner this Thursday from 4:30-7:00

Go Milton!!!!