08 March 2014 MRMS

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A note from the principal . . .

MARCH 2014

Main Office

303-387-1800

Fax

303-387-801

Attendance

303-387-1802

Athletics/Activities

303-387-1812

Bookkeeper

303-387-1808

Registrar

303-387-1820

Transportation

303-387-0415

Weather Hotline

303-387-7669

Twitter

follow@mountainridgems

Online Payments

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Happy Spring!

I am going to keep this month’s column short and sweet, and simply celebrate some great things at Mountain Ridge Middle School!

#1 Congratulations to Pete Mazula, “Mr. Pete,” for being honored as

the Classified Apple Award Winner for the Douglas County School District. What an amazingly deserving recognition.

#2 Congratulations to Pete Vincelette, Librarian, for receiving the

Colorado Department of Education’s Highly Effective School Library Program. Pete will be recognized by the State Board of Education this spring.

#3 Congratulations to Lauri Williams and Headstrong Theater for

another amazing production. The Seuss Odyssey was incredible!

http://www.medvedsouth.com/

P A G E 2

Mountain Ridge Middle School

A note from the principal . . . continued

#4 Congratulations to the twenty-two students who participated in

the National Thespian Competition in Dallas, TX. And, congratulations to the seven students who then qualified for International Thespian Competition this summer, based on how well they did at Nationals.

#5 Congratulations to the MRMS students, counselors, and teachers

for making it through another year of TCAP testing!

I know that there are so many more things that could be celebrated, but here are a few to kick off our spring. I hope you all have a great spring break! I look forward to a great 4th quarter.

Shannon Clarke, Principal

Table of Contents

Page 1-2 Principal Note

Page 3 General Announcements

Page 4 Athletics / Activities

Page 5,6 Team 7-1

Page 7-8 Team 7-2

Page 9 Team 7-4

Page 10-12 Team 8-1

Page 13-15 Team 8-3

Page 16-17 Team 8-4

Page 18 World Language

http://www.thewildlifeexperience.org/

http://www.mathnasium.com/highlandsranch


General Announcements

P A G E 3

CMAS Testing Is Coming!

CMAS (Colorado Measures of Academic Achievement) is the online testing system being rolled out this year by the state.

Students in 7th grade will take the social studies test, and students in 8th grade will take the science test. There are three separate test sessions for each content area, and teams will take one day to complete the tests.

Our testing schedule is as follows:

April 16 Team 7-1 Social Studies


April 21 Team 8-4 Science




Since the online testing is new to us, we are all looking forward to this new experience!

http://www.warriorsyouthsports.com/

http://www.seekingsitters.com/


Athletics / Activities

P A G E 4

7th grade boys’ basketball will finish up with a season ending tournament on April 12th. We had record numbers again! Thank you, to all our athletes, parents, and coaches for a great season. Our last sport of the year, track, starts on April 14th. Track is a wonderful opportunity for our students to try something new or hone their skills. We traditionally have between 100-150 students out for the team.

There are still many clubs going strong. Our iCode club is developing an app for MRMS! Hiking club is looking for some nice weather. Our Make a Child Smile Club is doing fun activities with our SSN students and accompanied them to our Mardi Gras dance, which was hosted by our Student Council. Students enjoyed themselves as they danced, watched a movie, played games, and ate pizza!

Here is a heads up for our Night of Champions: The 2nd annual Night of Champions will be May 7th from 6:00pm – 8:00pm. The event will be held in the Mountain Vista High School main gym. MRMS will showcase and celebrate our student performers, athletes, and club participants. Our 8th grade boys and girls A Team basketball players will play the staff in a rousing game of basketball.

It is

Stay active and healthy. There are plenty of opportunities for our students to get involved. Thank you for encouraging them.

http://www.hanleetkd.com/index.php

http://www.drgaryholt.com/

http://highlandsranchchamber.org/winapalooza-business-expo/

P A G E 5


P.E./ Health

In Physical Education we are currently working on skills in Badminton and Pickleball with class tournaments to follow. Students will also continue to rotate through the weight room, which we started last P.E. rotation. In Health we only have 2 rotations remaining. The first rotation will cover substance abuse, focusing on tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana; and the second rotation will focus on personal safety.

Math

All math classes have finished up with Geometry and are now moving on to the beginnings of Algebra.

iLab

There is lots of talk about 21st Century skills, but

do students really understand or apply the skills to solve problems? With this in mind, iLab students are working to uncover the nuances of 21st Century skills. Their job is to create a task that assesses another student's ability to use the skills. Each team designs a task for a fellow 7th grader. Then, they do the task and reflect on where they are in the process of understanding and applying collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity/innovation, resiliency and problem solving. This activity will prepare them for the capstone project.

Language Arts

In March, students wrapped up their novel studies of The Outsiders and a variety of cultural novels, such as Red Scarf Girl and Kira-Kira. Students collaborated to identify the theme of their cultural novel, then gave presentations about the cultural messages. It was great to gain new insights and see different global perspectives and traditions.

Team 7-One Wonders!


These girls dressed up for their cultural book presentations.

http://www.drhorton.com/colorado

Team 7-One Wonders! continued

P A G E 6


Social Studies

In Social Studies, we are studying Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. We are taking a look at their similarities and differences to gain understanding and, hopefully, tolerance. In groups, students will come up with a lesson plan to teach their classmates about one of these religions and religions impact on culture...let's get creative!

Science

We are currently studying cell structure and function in Science class. Students will be completing a project, which is a common assessment for all 7th graders. This will be the first major grade of the last 9 weeks.

Congratulations to our February students of the month: Grayson Barker,

Julia Driggs, Megan Hoodmaker, and Luke Jones! We appreciate their positive attitudes and strong work ethic!

Boys get in character as they present their novel Dragon Wings.

http://www.learningrx.com/

P A G E 7


Team 7-2


Are you aware? TCAP – the “Transitional Colorado Assessment Program” – presented us with an opportunity to challenge our students with fun, collaborative activities that got them up and moving around between tests, both outside and indoors. Our TCAP schedule gave us two “team times” during the day. The first, a short 30 minutes, was just perfect for an outdoor scavenger hunt designed by Ms. Willis. The students got into groups and were given a list of clues. Their challenge was to solve the clues in order to find the item/location on the school grounds and take a picture of the item/location with at least one team member in the picture. This would prove that they were actually there! Students ran all over campus solving the puzzles – in gorgeous weather!

The second activity, for 40 minutes each afternoon, kept us indoors and crowded into our pod area. Student groups were challenged to design and build a “Rube Goldberg” machine – a complex machine that performs a simple task such as ringing

a bell. Wow! They came up with some amazing contraptions that rang bells,

parked cars, dumped chips into guacamole, and many more.

http://tutoring.sylvanlearning.com/centers/80126/index.cfm?CFID=4725487&CFTOKEN=93199787

P A G E 8


Team 7-2 continued

TCAP week also provides students with an opportunity for quiet reading. Each Team 7-2 student was able to read a novel and summarize the story for classmates in Language Arts.

THANK YOU, PARENTS! The breakfast each morning before testing was a feast! We are so appreciative of the more than 60 parents who contributed food, beverages, tableware, and time to make our TCAP week so much more enjoyable. Students were able to gather before school, eat a healthy breakfast, and socialize with friends in a relaxed atmosphere. What a great way to start the day! They are wondering if we could do that more often. Something to think about.

http://theschoolnewslettercompany.com/districts/douglas-county-school-district/

http://www.salsabravacolorado.com/

P A G E 9


Team 7-4 Change Agents

“One of the top 6 teams at MRMS!”

7-4 Change Agent of the Month:

Jason Fisch

Congratulations to Jason Fisch on being our “Change Agent of the Month” for March.

Jason is an exemplary student who strives to bring his positive, friendly attitude to the classroom and the team every day. Jason is a thoughtful person who models a thoughtful and respectful manner to his peers. Oh, and he’s really ridiculously funny, and knows he is on one of the top 6 teams at MRMS.

What’s up next for 74?

Culminating with each content area with team 7-4, students have begun working on the perfect society. The Utopian society will be created by students from the ground up or based on another type of society, with realistic expectations, problems, and solutions created internally and externally. Much of the literature read this year will be a building block for an understanding of what might make a perfect society.

The expectations were handed out last Friday, March 7th in Language Arts class. If you care to download your own copy of the expectations, please go to the team 7-4 homework page for the team website.

Upcoming events:

Culture field trip- End of April

Bridging the Gap- April 16th

We asked the students

“What would your perfect world look like in 5 words or less?”

Here are their answers:

Megan D./Macey F.- No conflicts and clean water

Kim P./ Cassie M./ Christian H./Abby H.- Starbucks, celebrities, eat, sleep, and friends

Nikki M./Morgan R./Sara H./Madison S./ Maggie R.- Swimming, softball, soccer, music, and food.

Mr. DiPasquali- Chipotle, chocolate, coffee, sunshine, and outdoors.

P A G E 10


MATH:

In our business simulation, students created either a brownie company or a rice krispie treat company. Some of their business proposals and marketing strategies were very creative. In total, after 90 minutes of selling time, they made $540.00, which will be donated to the social change charity winner of the slam poetry project in Ms. Earl's class. Thanks to all the parents of the bakers who helped make this a great authentic learning experience! I bought a goodie from each group, and they were all fabulous! Thanks for your support!

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Civil War - perhaps the greatest oxymoron known to man. Our country was at

war, the North vs. the South, Yankees vs. Rebs, the Blue vs. the Grey...I could go

on, but I think you have the point. This was America’s greatest test of our

Constitution. Would our nation divide or would the blessings of liberty be

bestowed on all Americans? The war would last for four long years, after which,

thankfully, the issue of slavery will be resolved.

STEM:

Wow! They say March comes in like a Lion and out like a Lamb. I’m not so sure that’s how it is with 8th graders. When we return from Spring break, STEM students will be venturing into their second round of choices: Robotics, Mechanics, Electronics, or Global Awareness; each culminating with a spectacular model demonstrating their learning. I can’t wait to see how the projects will take a life of their own.

Team 8-1


P A G E 11


Team 8-1 continued


The most amazing part of being a STEM teacher is watching the students move from very comfortable places in their learning styles to ones that stretch their thinking and their abilities to be successful. It’s so great to see how willing they are to try new things and persevere till the end: such wonderful life lessons indeed.

P A G E 12


Team 8-1 continued

SCIENCE:

We are making our way through the physical world of science. We are exploring the nature of the building blocks of the universe. We will then travel through energy transformation. We are discovering how everything in the universe is connected.

LA:

We are starting a wonderful unit on social change. The students in 8-1 are going to be coming together with the rest of the 8th grade pods. They will create a social change speech (persuasive/poetic) for the chance of winning donated money to a charity of their choice (and research). We are super excited about this unit and getting all of our students together to make a change.

PE/HEALTH:

In Health, we are studying drugs and the prevention of drug use. How can we make wise decisions when it comes to drugs? How do drugs affect the family and relationships? Why do people start using drugs knowing the consequences? These are questions that each student should be able to answer, using the models, notes and discussions we have shared in class. Our next unit of study is the Human Reproductive System and Relationships, which should be a good one.


P A G E 13


Team 8-3

On Team 8-3 March came in like a lion, and…went out like a lion.

This month, there was one week when statewide standardized testing, or TCAP tested our knowledge. Luckily, there were many breaks between the tests. Pretzels, mints, fruit snacks, and animal crackers comforted the students. We were also able to enjoy the sunshine during the free time, with the teachers allowing students to go hang out in the great weather, or stay inside and play card games. Mr. McKinney’s TCAP wardrobe of hats, ninja stars and a brand-new vest also lightened the mood. TCAP was a good experience for most students and prepared us for some of the rigorous tests in high school.

By Allie Chipman, Caden Foster

P.E. and Health are extremely useful classes where you learn to make smart life decisions and to take care of yourself. In Health, we were educated on the importance of having a plan if we are ever offered drugs and what those drugs do to us long-term. In P.E., we have been building up stamina by running and doing different stretches and exercises. Mr. Kelly even challenges us to create our own stretches and exercises and teach them to the class. We also have fun through games such as Four Hoop Basketball (Basket-Brawl), Crazy Kickball, Badminton, and Three-Way Dodge Ball. Three-Way Dodge Ball consists of three different classes all playing dodge ball against each other. Health and P.E. are preparing us to make the right decisions in our lives when we leave middle and high school. Thanks, Mr. Kelly!

By Anna Steegen, Griffin Barnard, Erin Solomon, and Jacob Riffel

Recently in STEM, students have been building scale models of buildings, Rube Goldbergs, and recreating NASA missions. Creating these projects has been an odyssey most people would rather not take. Building these projects with a group has been fun. With Ms. Rasbach going crazy over lost materials, students going crazy about time, and a lack of space, this past month has been frantic. With the end date looming, some students are skeptical about finishing. Overall, STEM hasn’t just taught us how to be energy efficient, knock things over with energy transfers, or send things into space. It has taught us much more. It has taught us life skills such as handling a big workload and collaborating with a group: skills we will use the rest of our lives.

By Trevor Price, Max Frain, Emerson Zamensky, Gabe Barnard, Emily Humes

Stephen Hawking said "The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired. " This quote reflects our latest unit in science.

P A G E 14


continue on next page

Team 8-3 continued

Stephen Hawking, Robert Higgs, and many other famous scientists have developed theories related to our universe that we have studied today. In our astronomy unit, we are learning about Earth’s role in the solar system and realizing just how big the universe is. We are being introduced to certain concepts, such as the HR diagrams, expanding universe, Doppler effect, and the electromagnetic spectrum. We are experimenting with light, sound, and gravitational forces. Mr. McKinney is connecting the dots from past units of the year and wrapping it up with a bang. (Really. A literal bang!) With innovative, groundbreaking ideas, such as his class wide test and tennis ball launcher, Mr. McKinney makes science relatable, entertaining, and educational.

By Barack Morris, Nick DiGuilio, Colter Giem, Regan Lavallee

P A G E 15


Team 8-3 continued

Language Arts: The only class where you argue your point of view for a grade. This month in language arts, we explored an interesting and intriguing topic: robotics. We started off by doing a bit of research on robotics, immersing ourselves in the past, present, and future innovations that have influenced the community in a number of substantial areas. Then we adopted one of two opinions based on this question: Are robotics influencing modern society in a positive or negative way? Using our background knowledge, we formulated and finalized an opinion and wrote an argumentative essay that supported our opinion and blew the other perspective “out of the water”. Overall, we were able to learn about the future of robotics and learn to write in a way that gave us an insight on a new, more effective way to prove a point in the form of argumentative publishing.

By Landon Nolta, Hannah Jane Lovell, Abbi Cobb, Isabel Vaughn

One more month of school has come and gone. There are only 2 months of school remaining and “summer fever” is already kicking in. At the beginning of March, students experienced TCAP testing. On team 8-3, we were able to eat snacks while socializing with our friends, and we also took many breaks outside. The core classes have flown by with the TCAP week, but we are starting many new units. Students are looking forward to the fun projects that are coming up. Although March has had a different schedule, team 8-3 has still been able to fill our minds with knowledge.

By Annie Chambless and Kersti Kammerer

We’ve been busy in 8-3 working hard to finish up the third quarter in the best way possible. From health to STEM, we have had a bundle of work to do, but the end result should be fabulous. We are trying to get the best grades we can, even if that requires a little extra work. We have been busy with TCAP and the play, but we are still trying to push through. Hope you enjoy this month’s newsletter and learn some more about what you kid is doing at school, because sometimes when you ask, “What did you do at school today?” we don’t always give you the full story.

By Tessa George, Audrey Shearer, Josh Hoffman

P A G E 16

Team 8-4

Social Studies

Despite its age, the U.S. Constitution remains a living document. In social studies we are studying the formation of the U.S. Government, we are analyzing important historical documents that define our government, and we are examining the relevance of these important documents in our lives today.

As we begin our Physics of Sports unit as a team, we will focus on the enduring understanding for social studies this year: what unites and/or divides a nation? How do sports unite and/or divide groups of people?

Math:

It has been a great quarter of explorations in math class! We started the quarter in Algebra working on Systems of Equations. The students used these concepts as a way to look at their cell phone usage within their family. The classes made some great discoveries to hopefully save your family money! If they didn’t share what they learned with you, ask about it! Right now we are finishing up Pythagorean Theorem and Simplifying Rational Expressions while looking at some of the real life applications of these concepts. We will start Quadratics next and tie these concepts into trajectories in our team wide Physics of Sports Project.

Math 8 started the quarter off by studying surface area and volume and had to repackage a common item to increase the amount of product the package could hold while decreasing the amount of packaging. This was a fun project! Right now we have been learning about patterns and functions which will lead into our Physics of Sports projects where they will be doing linear regression and data comparisons on this project to support their improvements in a sport.

Science:

In science, students have recently completed amazing sound projects, incorporating all of their learning about waves, sound and poetry, to create original musical compositions. Some of the projects included singing, playing guitar, slam poetry set to music, songs created with found sounds, Garage Band compositions, percussion arrangements, and energetic dances. We have all been very impressed with the wide range of talent that has been uncovered on team 8-4!

During the physics of sports project, students will be exploring the physics concepts related to their sport of choice, and designing experiments to track their improvement in their specific skill.



P A G E 17

Team 8-4 continued

PE/Health:

In Health, we just finished up our Drug Prevention Unit. We ended the unit talking about refusing drugs. Students worked on and presented skits that showed their ability to refuse drugs in realistic but difficult situations without saying “no” (they created alternative ways to refuse). It was a fun way to practice creating a plan for refusing drug if ever in that situation. We are now just beginning our Sexual Reproductive Health Unit. This unit is really focused on understanding and establishing healthy teenage relationships. However, we will also be discussing more sensitive topics such as the consequences for sexual activity with teenagers. I also want parents to know that our curriculum is abstinence based. I have sent out a letter and posted it on my webpage. I encourage parents to talk with their students about these issues as well. Please also contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

In PE, our last rotation was focused on cooperative/competitive games. The students compete against other classes in various PE activities. Following Spring Break, we will be focusing on our sports project. Students will need to choose an athletic/sports skill that they would like to improve. We will be testing our skills in PE and developing practice plans to improve it. There will be three PE standards, that fit this project: Analyzing Skills, Skills in Performance and Personal Responsibility. This will be an engaging and unique way for students to use their passion to demonstrate their knowledge of the PE content.

Language Arts:

Students have wrapped up their study on the debate around robotics and society and are moving into an 8th grade-wide project on Social Change. You have hopefully heard about this project, but if not, here is the letter we sent home in March: http://bit.ly/1fGnT8X Students are igniting their passion for an issue affecting the local community, the nation or the world, and will become the voices for an organization which they would like to support using persuasive speaking techniques and slam poetry. In April, teams will perform in two rounds, and the top three groups from the 8th grade will have the opportunity to donate funds to their organization. Our hope is that students find the power of their own voices, and hopefully, discover the path to giving the gift of their time as they transition to high school and start thinking about community service opportunities.

For the Physics of Sports project, students will research a controversy surrounding their sport and compose a formal argument, commentary, or letter to the editor on that topic.

STEM:

Throughout the year, students have been exploring Robotics, Electronics and Global Awareness. Students are now digging deeper in their choice-rotations. They are also learning how to use Excel for graphing and finding trend lines. During the Physics of Sports project, students will focus on methods of presenting information in multiple formats.


http://bit.ly/1fGnT8X

World Languages

P A G E 18


Exploring World Cultures and World Languages

Sometimes when your student enters into our classes it may seem to them that there is no way they could ever understand what we are trying to say, regardless of whether we’re speaking in English or in French or in Spanish…but how about in “Whistle?”

Meet Kusköy, a village in Turkey, where people have a unique way of communicating over long distances: not smoke signals, not messenger doves, but by whistling! The people from this village have been using this method of communication for over 400 years, and it's quite complex! Learn more

LetteR April 24th

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0aoguO_tvI

08 March 2014 MRMS

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