annually audition for these spots. Summit Hill Junior High

is proud to announce that four of its band members will be representing our school in the Festival Band on Saturday,

November 7 and one will be representing us at the Jazz Festival on November 14: Beth-

any Dombkowski (clarinet), Jimmy Kreuz (tuba), Kyle Sta-nuch (trumpet), and David

On Oct. 3rd, eight band and seven choir students audi-

tioned for the IIllinois Music Educators' Association District festivals, being held in Novem-ber. These auditions deter-

mined whether a student could earn placement in the festival band, choir or jazz bands.

Students were selected from over 1000 students from ap-proximately 50 schools who

Woods (trumpet) will be a part of the Festival Band and TJ

Gaertig will be representing our district in the Jazz Festival In addition, seven of our choir members have made the Dis-

trict Junior Chorus: Molly Cis-cek, P.J. Doody, Katie Sheehan, Lauren Vitititti, Brandy Benak,

Savanna Steck, and Lizzie Warocki

SHJH Band and Choir are Music to Our Ears

November 9 & 10:

Parent Teacher

Conferences

November 11:

Veteran’s Day

November 25:

Early Dismissal

November 26 & 27:

Thanksgiving Holiday

December 21– January 3:

Winter Vacation

Important Dates to

Remember

Spartan 300

Inside this issue:

Sports 2-4

Principal, Librarian, Nurse 5

Team 8-1 6-7

Team 8-2 8-9

Team 8-3 10-11

Team 7-1 12-13

Team 7-2 14-15

Team 7-3 16-17

Encore 18-19

Highlights 20

1st Quarter: August 2009-October 2009 Volume 3, Issue 1

Edited and produced by Joanna Maas

For additional events and

dates to remember, see our

calendar posted on the

website

Principal, Beth Lind

Assistant Principal, Paula Sereleas

Dean of Students, Jim Letsos

Festival band qualifi-ers, pictured from left to right: Bethany Dombkowski (clarinet), Kyle Sta-nuch (trumpet), T.J. Gaertig (trumpet), David Woods (trumpet) and Jimmy Kreuz (tuba).

Choir Members, pictured from left to right: P.J. Doody, Katie Sheehan, Savanna Steck, Brandy Benak, Lizzy Warkocki, Lauren Vitiritti, Molly Ciszek

Page 2 Spartan 300

Spartan

Sports

third, Minooka was given extra opportunities thanks to Spartan

errors, and took advantage, pounding their way to 12 runs in the inning and a 13-1 lead that they would not relinquish. The

Spartans‘ could not find a big inning of their own and suf-fered their worst loss of the

season, losing 16-1 in four in-nings. The loss dropped the team‘s record to 15-4 with the IESA 3A third place game left to

play. The Spartans, showing great poise and confidence, bounced back quickly and ef-fectively in the third place

game to defeat the Junior Pot-ters from Morton for the sec-ond year in a row in the state

tournament, this time by a score of 10-0 in six innings. Erik Eggert dominated on the mound again, pitching five shut

-out innings, allowing only 3 hits and striking out seven to earn the victory. Brett King rebounded from his tough-luck

loss against Minooka to close out the Potters in the sixth with two strikeouts of his own, and

no runs allowed. Offensively, a

The Summit Hill Spartans‘ baseball team finished their

2009 campaign on a high note, with a 3rd place finish at the IESA Class 3A State Tourna-ment in East Peoria. In their

first game, the Spartans used a dominating combined pitching performance from Erik Eggert,

Brett King, and Joey Frederik-son, who allowed only one hit and struck out seven in a 7-0 shutout victory over Greenville

Junior High. Offensively, Na-than Harnett and Kevin Graff led Summit Hill in hits, with two a piece, while Zach Hoeksta had

a team high three RBIs. The win improved the Spartans‘ record to 15-3 on the season

and advanced them to the final four round of the IESA 3A state tournament to play Minooka in semi-final play. After the Indi-

ans‘ jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second, the Spartans fought back thanks to singles from Zach

Hoekstra and Brandon Butler, and a two-out RBI single from Kevin Graff that tied the game

up. However, in the top of the

total team effort helped the Spartans to victory, with 11

different players gathering hits in the win; Brett King, Erik Eggert, Steven Stremme, Mike Rissley, Josh Mutter, and Joey

Frederickson all had two hits a piece; and King, Eggert, Freder-ickson, Mutter and Mike Madg-

ziarz all had RBI‘s. Madgziarz provided the game breaker in the bottom of the third inning, with a pinch hit three-run

homerun to make the score 6-0. Josh Mutter finished off the Potters in the bottom of the sixth, with a walk off single to

give the Spartans‘ the 10-0 victory and the 3rd place trophy in the 2009 Class 3A state

tournament. The win improved the Spartans record to a final 16-4 for the season. The players would like to

thank all of their classmates and teachers for all of the support throughout the season, and thank all of the fans who

made the trip to East Peoria over the weekend. Thank you!

SHJH Baseball Takes a Swing at 3rd Place in State Tournament

Below Pictured is the 2009 Summit Hill Junior High Boy‘s Baseball Team who finished their season this year with a 16-4 record and took third place at State play. Above: The baseball team huddles together to celebrate victory. Left: Coach talks baseball with the umpire.

Page 3 Volume 3, Issue 1

Conference, led by Ruben San-chez‘s 10th place finish and

Vinnie LoCicero‘s 19th place. As for the seventh grade girls, Carla Castaneda and Killeen Murphy cruised to impressive

eighth and ninth place finishes, respectively. As of press time, the runners were on their way

to the sectional championship; and then, hopefully, to state.

After one rainout, endless sprints, and a few course

changes, the cross country runners finally hit their stride in the conference meet at Sum-mit Hill‘s Runner Park on Tues-

day, October 6th. Even in the misty rain and blowing wind, the Spartans fought on. The

eighth grade boys took third place in the Des Plaines Valley

Stay tuned next issue for an update…

The cross-country team is led by Coach Smalter and Coach Sullivan.

Cross Country Team Makes Impressive Debut at Conference Meeting

“Most people never run far

enough on their first wind

to find out that they have a

second wind.” -William James

and they are now 5-1. The girls are working

really hard in practice and they have set some big goals for the season. Hopefully, they will experience a fun and rewarding

season! This year‘s members are: Rachel Burkman, Savannah

Filkins, Amber Gaynor, Ashley

The 7th grade girls‘ bas-ketball team was selected in

early September, and they are just getting the season started. They kicked off the season by winning their first four games,

but recently lost a conference game to Liberty. Bouncing back, the Spartans beat con-

ference rivals Hickory Creek,

Glaum, Abby Greenwood, Emma Henley, Kayla Horlacher,

Brandy Huppert, Valen Manns, Bailey Olsen, Haley Ruch, Millie Savic, Grace Sheetz, and Kylie Snyder. The team manager is

Carley Hamann, and the team is coached by Ms. Canter.

7th Grade Girls Basketball Team Starts Year off with Winning Record

Right: SHJHS runners round a corner ahead of competition.

Below: Runners from surrounding schools line up to start the race.

Page 4 Newsletter Title

“Endurance is

one of the

most difficult

disciplines, but

it is the one

who endures

that the final

victory

comes.” -

Buddha

jumping out to a 5-0 lead be-hind Jake Walenga‘s jump

serve. Strong hitting from J.T. Limon, Colin O‘Connell, Mike Balcerzak, and Brad McFarland upped the lead to 18-7 before

the 25-20 victory. Game 2 was a back and forth game with the Spartans leading by 3 or 4 pts

until opening up a late 24-17 lead. After some Spartan mis-cues, Mike Balcerzak pounded the game winner off of the

Liberty block with Jake Walenga assisting on the Kill for the 25-22 victory. The

The Summit Hill Junior High 8th grade boys‘ volleyball

team set the SHJH boys‘ volley-ball record for most wins in a career. The 8th graders fin-ished their junior high careers

an undefeated, 24-0. The Des Plaines Valley Conference back to back regular season and

conference tournament cham-pions had a record of 48-3 in games played during their 7th & 8th grade years combined!

In the conference champi-onship game, the 8th graders came out strong in game one,

Spartans finished the 2009 season 13-0 after defeating the

Patriots from New Lenox Lib-erty in that game. The 8th grade Summit Hill team members are: Mike Bal-

cerzak, Jimmy Dusek, Kevin Dusek, Scott Dusek, Austin Faller, Chris Filicette, J.T. Li-

mon, Brad McFarland, Colin O‘Connell, Ryan Swiecicki, Spencer Town, Jake Walenga, 8th grade coach Keith McGrail,

and 7th grade coach Kim Capretz.

Summit Hill Boy’s Volleyball Team Goes Undefeated with 24-0 Record

The 7th grade SHJH boys volley-ball team had a great season.

The Spartans finished in second place in both conference and the conference tournament. The team had an overall record

of 10-3. The entire team helped

contribute to an excellent sea-son. The team consists of the

following players: Mike Leonard, Kyle Lietz, Anthony DiSalvo, Vince Frodyma, Nick Pedraza, Austin Villari, Tim Jurgens, Sam

Hansen, Jake Chudzik, and Alex

Maksymiak. Nick Pedraza, An-thony DiSalvo, and Alex Mak-

symiak were voted All-Conference selections by the coaches in the entire confer-ence.

7th Grade Boys Volleyball Takes Second

Everything is off to a great start this school year.

Students have been demon-strating an extraordinary amount of school spirit. Re-search shows that when stu-

dents are excited about school, learning takes place at elevated levels. Students have demon-

strated they are polite and eager to take on personal re-sponsibilities. Such behaviors are a direct correlation to the

support they are receiving at home from their families. Keep up the great work! Our parent – school partnership can only

be strengthened as we con-tinue to work closely with one another. Thank you for your

support at our Curriculum Night. It was great to meet

many new parents to the junior high as well as see many famil-

iar parents who are first tim-ers to the new junior high home of the Spartans!

I encourage you to continue

to be involved with your child‘s education as much as possible. Families can help each day by

sending children to school on time, well rested, and well fed. Please keep sickly children home as to not pass on the

germs to others. It is also important that you set aside time each night to support your child with a structured home-

work setting. Thank you for doing so much to provide a strong foundation for your

child‘s education.

Our school action plan includes continuing to use data

to make sound instructional decisions to support the unique needs of our student body. We will continue to refine our in-

tervention program through our RtI process. Our staff will continue to provide instruc-

tional strategies across con-tent areas to support best practices in the classroom. As always contact your child‘s

teacher(s) when the need arises. We look forward to productive Parent / Teacher Conferences early in Novem-

ber.

With warm

Regards,

Beth R. Lind

Page 5 Volume 1, Issue 1

A Note from the Principal

“The great wealth is

health.” -Virgil

Teachers, staff, students and guardians: Since the beginning of the school year, wellness has been stressed. Therefore, let me continue to

emphasize and repeat the importance of all of us continuing to educate good hygiene. The schools con-tinue to take steps to minimize the risk of infection by cleaning the buildings and making hand soap and sanitizer dispensers available. It is important that we all remember Respiratory Etiquette; cover the

mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing and sneezing. Please know the signs and symptoms of the

flu (or ask your nurse) and stay home when sick with a fever so as not to infect others.

A Note From Nurse Lucy

All Language Arts classes have received Library Orienta-

tion classes introducing SHJH Library Policies and Proce-dures in addition to learning about using our computerized

OPAC catalog searching for materials. The Accelerated Reader program is underway

and students have been in-

structed as to how to locate books at their reading level

with OPAC. Ms. Noonan ex-plained that all of the informa-tion instructed during orienta-tion is also located on her

teacher web page on the SHJH website. Students were also instructed as to the use of the

online database, EBSCO, where

they began searching for vari-ous sources of topics for re-

ports and research projects across the curriculum, includ-ing but not limited to biogra-phies, science fair, civil war,

etc. EBSCO can also be ac-cessed from home: https://search.ebscohost.com userID:

shjh password: lib.

A N ote from our S chool L ibrarian, M s. Noonan

“Fear is met and

destroyed by courage” This quote has been the theme that has been a common

thread in both the reading and writing components of the curriculum. In Ms. Beck‘s Lan-

guage Arts class students have been working hard applying ‗Close Reading‘ strategies with both fiction and non-fiction

selections in order to increase comprehension. In writing,

Handy ‗Great Beginnings‘ and ‗Writing Tools ‗are major play-

ers in the students‘ writing experiences. Congratulations to

all students for making a suc-cessful transition to the 8th

grade experience.

view. In language arts, the students are incorporating the

proper use of punctuation, which we are studying in Chap-ter 26 of the grammar text, into the narratives they are

writing. Students have been very creative in their first narrative efforts.

In Ms. Greene‘s 8th grade reading class, the students

have been reading short sto-ries by Ray Bradbury, Shirley Jackson and an excerpt from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

by Maya Angelou. We have been working with mood, figu-rative language and point of

Page 6 Spartan 300

Ms. Greene– R eading & Language Arts

Ms. Beck– Language Arts

Team 8-1

The math classes are starting out great! Students

have really been working hard. In Honors Algebrathey are working to simplify exponents, but soon will enter the world of

quadratics. Algebra 1B stu-dents are well into being able to solve systems of linear

equations. Their skills of graphing will soon be tested. Finally, in Algebra 1A, the stu-dents have just begun their

introduction to Algebra. They will soon begin to solve equa-tions.

Mrs. Furmanek– M ath

“It‟s a strange world

of language in

which skating on

thin ice can get you

into hot water.”

-Franklin P. Jones

“Our language is

funny- a fat chance

and slim chance are

the same thing.”

-J. Gustav White

In Mrs. McSpaden's Social Studies classes, we are learn-

ing about immigration in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Did you have ancestors that came in through Ellis Island? Was the

family name changed when family came to America? Do you have copies of pictures of

their life at the time? We would love to hear about it and see the pictures! Remember, his-tory becomes a lot more excit-

ing when there is a personal

story attached. Try reading a book with the entire family,

such as A House of Tailors, The Promised Land, or Maggie's Door. Create a family tree. Get involved!

As a reminder, there are quizzes every Wednesday and students are always told a

week before tests and quizzes. Maps, terms, study guides, homework, and PDF forms of the chapters can all be found

on my website.

made quite a buzz, such as ‗Dollar Bill Bridge‘ and ‗Making

Goop,‘ to name a few. In Hon-ors Science, the students are busy working on their Science Fair Projects, which will culmi-

nate with in-class presenta-tions at the beginning of De-cember.

All of Mrs. Hollowell‘s science students have com-

pleted the first book, level "P", chapter three. Students have begun the journey into the second book level l (which is

also online), Chapter 1 begins with everyone's favorite, "Atoms, Chemical Bonds, and

Electron Dot Diagrams‖. By now, some of the labs have

Page 7 Volume 3, Issue 1

Mrs. Hollowel l– S cience

Mrs. M cS paden– S ocia l S tudies

particles and hold objects to-gether. Atoms combine by

forming ionic, covalent, and metallic bonds. Students then performed and recorded data on the fol-

lowing experiments, testing the properties of their gloop. Gloop Slime Rating, Slow Poke Test,

Quick Poke Test, Slow Pull Test, Quick Pull Test, Blob Test, Hang Test & Bounce Test

As a starter activity to the Interactions of Matter

(Chemistry), Mrs. Hollowell‘s, 8th grade students created ―Gloop‖ from Glue and Borax solution.

In this activity, they saw how the formation of bonds causes a change in the proper-

ties of glue. Different types of bonds create differences in the properties of substances. Par-ticles of glue can bond to other

G loop Tests Teach S tudents about C hemistry Facts

“Every great advance in

science has issued from a

new audacity of

imagination.” -John

Dewey.

Ms. Rodgers‘s Reading class has just completed Unit 1,

Coming of Age. Students were involved in many writing activi-ties which included a kinder-garten memory, a letter home

from a Soldier, and writing their memoir. Students have also created picture rivet

books and have created cross-

word puzzles using words from their vocabulary units.

In English class they are just finishing up their chapter on punctuation. Ms. Rodgers would just like to thank her

students for doing such a great job and wants to encourage them to keep up the out-

standing work!!!

Shirley Jackson. Currently, students are reading S. E. Hin-

ton‘s That Was Then; This Is Now, the follow-up novel to The Outsiders. The Honors Reading stu-

dents are exploring the theme of good vs. evil in their study of Robert Louis Stevenson‘s clas-

sic The Strange Case of Dr.

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. They have also completed creative re-

search biographical projects on Langston Hughes, and they are honing their expository writing skills as they each com-

plete the research element of their science fair project.

Students in Mrs. Miller‘s classes have been reviewing

and refining their reading and writing skills. While punctua-tion rules consumed most of first quarter English lessons,

reading classes reveled in passages from Langston Hughes, Mark Twain, Maya An-

gelou, Ray Bradbury, and

Page 8 Spartan 300

Mrs. M iller– Language Arts

Mrs. R odgers- Language Arts

Team 8-2

“All humanity is

passion; without

passion, religion,

history, novels, and art

would be ineffectual.”

-Honore de Balzac

The year has gotten off to a good start in Mr. Evenhouse‘s

class. Students have com-pleted their unit on the Recon-struction Era following the U.S. Civil War. We learned about

efforts to bring the country back together and improved our ability to read and write in

the process. We march on towards our goals with a unit

on the Westward Expansion of the United States during the

late 1800‘s. We are focusing on the importance of railroads, life in the West, and on the effects on Native Americans of the

expansion. We will use this material to improve our ability to read, process, and present

new information.

been working with Systems of Equations. They have learned

the three methods to solvin-Graphing, Substitution, and Linear Combination. The stu-dents have also been working

with real-life word problems on setting up systems of equa-tions and solving.

Students in Mrs. Zayed's 1A Algebra class are entering

the world of integers. Students will learn the various rules for: adding and subtracting, multi-plying, and dividing positive and

negative numbers— all without the use of a calculator. 1B Algebra students have

Students in the Honors Algebra class are just begin-

ning to factor polynomi-als. Students will be intro-duced to two ways of factoring-one that is time consuming

and the other quick and easy method (hopefully!)

This year the Foundation has generously donated Elmos

to facilitate our teaching and utilize resources. During the first couple of weeks of school, we have been

reviewing the scientific method and metric measurements with numerous lab activities. The

students have learned to work

together and share their ideas while writing their lab reports.

They have been exploring den-sity, mystery boxes and making dollar bill bridges. Motion will be all around us soon while the

students measure speed, ac-celeration, and momentum of objects.

Mrs. Szymanski‘s goal is to provide a positive educa-

tional atmosphere for aca-demic growth and to encourage every student to take responsi-bility for his/her actions. Your

continued support to provide such an equipped, exciting laboratory environment is

greatly appreciated.

Page 9 Volume 3, Issue 1

Mrs. Zayed– M ath

Mrs. S zymanski– S cience

Mr. E venhouse– S ocial S tudies

“History is a guide to navigation in perilous

times. History is who we are and why we are

the way that we are.” -David C. McCullough

In Language Arts, students have been reading non-fiction

stories while analyzing figura-tive language and plot struc-ture. In Ms. Marinucci‘s English

classes, the basics of punctua-tion and capitalization are be-

ing explored in preparation for writing personal narratives.

will work on building charac-terization, plot, and setting.

In Reading, we‘ve analyzed several short stories, a mem-oir from Maya Angelou, and a biography on Harriet Tubman.

The students have also spent some time re-familiarizing themselves with figurative

language. In the next quarter, we will begin a novel study.

Students have been work-ing hard at the start of their

eighth grade year! We have been working on vocabulary, including understanding root words, prefixes and suffixes.

Students have been working on the ―Power of Punctuation‖ and have been transferring those

skills into their student mem-oirs. We will soon begin writing detailed narratives, where we

Page 10 Spartan 300

Ms. Canter– Language Arts

Ms. M arinucci– Language Arts

Team 8-3

In Algebra 1A we are working on evaluating and

solving algebraic equations and inequalities, organizing data using a table or graph, and incorporating problem solving

plans to solve real-life prob-lems. In Algebra 1B we reviewed

linear equations, and we are now solving and graphing ine-qualities. In all classes, we have

been learning and participating in a new game or activity re-lated to the current topic of study. The plan is to have a fun

filled learning year!

Ms. Bottomley– A lgebra

Below: Jimmy Hartanovich and Amanda Hofstra cut and label "variable" pieces in Ms. Bottomley's Algebra class.

“When someone asks you, „A penny for

your thoughts?‟ and you put your two

cents in, what happens to the other

penny?” -George Carlin

It takes a

village to raise

a child.

Students in Mr. Chrus-ciel‘s classes started the year

picking up where they left off last year, examining the results of the Civil War. The students have also been exploring the

changes that came after the

war during the Reconstruction period. This includes topics

such as segregation, amend-ments to the Constitution, and economics of the North and South. We will end the quarter

researching the new challenges

and issues that emerged for the United States at the start

of the 20th century, such as immigration and westward expansion.

We have just finished up some doing some fun and inter-

esting labs on volume, mass, and density. We have also used the SI system, commonly known as the metric system, for doing

all of our measurements. We have some awesome labs com-ing up about speed, velocity,

and acceleration. We will con-tinue studying motion by look-ing at force and friction and gravitational pull, including

Newton‘s laws.

Page 11 Volume 3, Issue 1

Mrs. S chlesselman– S cience

Mr. Chruscie l– S ocia l S tudies

Above: In Mrs. Schlesselman's Science class, Sara Fleming and Shar Taylor work on a "measuring liquid volume." Right: Mike Doherty, Krutin Kundaria, and Dominic Witkowski work to-gether to complete the "measuring liquid volume" lab in Mrs. Schlessel-man's Science class.

in a crime scene investigation. Whether we‘re identifying

teeth prints left on a jelly doughnut because it was poi-soned (we make up our own fun scenarios), or we‘re identi-

fying foot-prints left in mud at the center of a crime, you can get down to the bottom of it

all. If you love doing labs and activities without getting a grade on it or being tested,

this is the club for you! So throw on that black trench coat

and come on out to the CSI Forensics Club. Our next meet-ing is October 19th. Science club with Mrs. Schlesselman in room 223 is the place to be! By: Fredie Toussaint

Have you ever wanted to be that one person at the scene

of a crime that says ―What happened?‖, or ―Let‘s get to work‖? Well, here‘s your oppor-tunity to get in on all that fun!

Here, at Summit Hill Junior High, you can be involved in the Junior Forensics Science Club

sponsored by the fun and great Mrs. Schlesselman! In this club we learn and grasp the basics

Do You H ave What I t Takes To B e CSI?

This year will be a year of many accomplishments for

your child in Mrs. Goebel‘s Language Arts class. It will also be a year of celebrations as students grow and learn as

individuals in the classroom community. Whether large or small, each new skill is worthy

of recognition. It is encour-aged that you recognize and celebrate at home as you see the academic and social growth

in your child this year.

I know that my teaching must begin with making your

child feel comfortable in the classroom environment. We must help each other come together into a learning com-

munity made up of unique indi-viduals. Each child comes here with their own learning style,

interests, history, strengths, weaknesses, and hopes. The first few months here, at SHJH, have been very excit-

ing and busy as we began set-

ting up classroom routines and getting to know each other. It

takes some time to shake the cobwebs out of our heads and get going again after the sum-mer. We have an inspiring year

ahead of us with much to learn and I look forward to a suc-cessful school year! Our

―Goebel Goal-Getters‖ will always have a goal to achieve and will do so with leadership and dedication!

venomous snakes in our state. The students used the laptops

to compose the final draft and bibliography of their essays. If you spot an unfamiliar snake in

your garden or while walking in the woods, perhaps one of our

SHJH 7th graders can identify it for you.

The students in Mrs. Berg-mann‘s 7th-grade Language

Arts classes recently com-pleted an expository essay on the topic of Illinois snakes after reading the selection

―Rattlesnake Hunt‖ in their literature text. Each student selected one of the thirty-nine

species of snakes found in Illinois to research using book, periodical, and Internet re-sources for information about

features, habitat, diet, and behavior. For example, Steven B., Luke D., and Ashley G. chose the Timber Rattlesnake which

was the main snake character of the story and one of four

Page 12 Spartan 300

Mrs. Bergmann– Language Arts

Mrs. Goebel– Language Arts

Team 7-1

“We cannot hold a

torch to light

another‟s path

without

brightening our

own.”

Ben Sweetland

“The aim of education should be to teach us how to think, rather than what to think

– rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load

the memory with thoughts of other men.” Bill Beattie

plore adding, subtracting, mul-tiplying, and dividing integers

and real numbers. In Honors Algebra, we have learned how to solve multi-step equations and how to write those equa-

tions to solve real-life prob-lems. Next, we will be graphing linear equations and functions.

In Mrs. Christensen‘s seventh grade math classes,

we have been working diligently this quarter! In Pre-Algebra, we have learning how to multi-ply and divide powers, and soon

we will be learning scientific notation. In Algebra 71A, we are graphing points on number

lines. Next week, we will ex-

Look for all classes to be build-ing and dropping their Mars

Rover from the top of the 2nd story, as well as, launching rockets.

Page 13 Volume 3, Issue 1

Mrs. Christensen– M ath

votes from his peers was…Sir Isaac Newton. The other

classes worked on a Star inter-net scavenger hunt, and were able to locate coordinates for landmarks using Google Earth.

All classes are actively learning about Astronomy. The

honors group just finished their

campaign for WORLD’S GREATEST ASTRONOMER and

gaining the title with the most

Mrs. Ostrowski– S cience

**Science Fair News**

Please make sure that you are

aware of the due dates as they

come and go quickly. All

students should be testing,

and researching for their

project.

“An experiment is a

question which science

poses to Nature, and a

measurement is the

recording of Nature‟s

answer.” -Max Planck

“In most sciences, one

generation tears down

what another has built and

what one has established

another undoes. In

mathematics alone, each

generation adds a new

story to the old structure.”

-Hermann Hankel

Since the school year began, room 169 has hit the

floor running! Mr. Barnas‘ reading and language arts classes are off to a wonderful start! In language arts, stu-

dents began the school year by writing their own ―I Am‖ poems and presenting them to their

classmates. Throughout the first quarter, students have mastered the fundamentals of nouns, the four different types

of sentences, and compound

and complex sentences. Stu-dents are enjoying using the

Smart Board that is in Mr. Barnas‘ classroom. Students enjoy practicing grammar drills on the interactive board. Stu-

dents will begin quarter two with composing a creative Halloween story.

In reading, students have finished their nonfiction unit. Students worked together while creating story maps and pre-

senting them to the class. Stu-

dents will end the quarter with an oral book report. During the

course of quarter two, Mr. Barnas and Mrs. Heiden are looking forward to team teach-ing, ―The Landlady.‖ Finally,

students will end quarter two with reading their first in-class novel, The Outsiders!

concentration in reading this quarter is non-fiction, so many

non-fiction essays have been read. In two weeks, the honors class will begin reading the novel, The Pigman, by Paul

Zindel.

Mrs. Heiden's language arts classes have gotten off to

a good start. They are busy reviewing subjects, predicates, nouns, and pronouns. Further-more, the students are busy

writing stories in groups using their vocabulary words. The

Page 14 Spartan 300

Mrs. Heiden– Language Arts

Mr. Barnas– Language Arts and R eading

Team 7-2

have been getting ready to solve equations using all the

strategies they‘ve learned so far. Pre-Algebra has been

Mrs. Blevins‘ honors classes have been working on

writing and graphing linear equations. Algebra classes

deepening their knowledge of fractions, ratios and propor-

tions.

Mrs. B levins– Algebra

“The essence of mathematics is not to make simple things

complicated, but to make complicated things simple.”

-S. Gudder

Ms. Trotta‘s social studies classes have been learning

about early American history. The Honors students started the year by researching a Na-tive American tribe . They were

allowed to pick their groups and each group was able to pick their own topics to re-

search, i.e., food, clothing, housing. They planned out their presentations and delivered wonderful information to the

class through videos, Power-Point presentations, dioramas,

posters and songs. The students in my other classes got very creative while completing their explorer trad-

ing cards. Students wrote interesting facts about famous explorers like Magellan, Colum-

bus and Polo, and then drew pictures and symbols to repre-sent their lives.

the three main types of galax-ies. Students should know that

our galaxy is the Milky Way Galaxy, and that it is considered to be spiral. We will then learn about the formation of our

solar system.

WELCOME TO THE STEMEN ZONE: In science class, stu-

dents are beginning their jour-ney into the stars. The students will be learning about Main Sequence stars, and how the

hottest stars are not colored red. Students will also discover

Page 15 Volume 3, Issue 1

Mrs. S temen – S cience

Ms. Trotta– S ocia l S tudies

Top: Brandy Huppert uses a furry visual aid to help with her presen-tation. Bottom Left: Lauren Bowman, Elizabeth Brtis, and Brenna Moli-nare present with unique arti-facts of their Native American tribe. Bottom Right: Kim Zralka and Alyson Conrath use posters, books, and jewelry during their presentation.

The students have had a wonderful start to the school

year! We are currently work-ing on nonfiction texts. Through our reading we have learned a great deal of new

information. The students have

also completed work on their autobiographies that were

wonderfully written. We will be continuing our studies of non-fiction throughout the first quarter. I look forward to a

fabulous year of learning!

doing a little bit of everything. We‘ve also been focusing on

writing openings and closings to make our essays a bit more enjoyable for the reader. The second quarter will see the

arrival of fictional narrative writing, as well as MORE vo-cabulary.

In reading, we‘ve been looking at all different types of

narratives, all of which are in the nonfiction realm. The stu-dents have been reading their AR novels, and are really look-

ing forward to the start of short stories in the second quarter.

We‘d like to welcome Mrs. Battistoni from Governors

State University! She is student teaching with us until Thanks-giving, and she hit the ground running the first week.

In English, we‘ve been covering a slew of topics; from research to vocabulary, we‘re

Page 16 Spartan 300

Mr. S ullivan– Language Arts

Ms. M cCarthy– Language Arts

Team 7-3

from space! You may find the results interesting. After inte-

gers we are going to start solving equations. In Pre-Algebra class, we have been working with scien-

tific notation and the solar system. We have been combin-ing what the students have

learned in science with what

In algebra class we have been working with integers.

We will be doing more experi-ments like the hot-air balloon investigation as the chapter progresses. Science has been

a big part of the last few days in class. Ask your students about the temperatures here

on Earth and how the differ

we are learning in math. Ask your students about the plants

that we have created using proportions and how huge Jupiter came out to be! After we finish up our fraction, deci-

mal, and percent chapter we will be investigating rates, ratios, and probability.

Mrs. Kelly– Algebra and P re-Algebra.

junctions. We are currently working our way through our

vocabulary book one lesson at a time, making sure to make it even more exciting by playing interactive vocabulary review

games. Next, we are beginning a research writing unit to go along with our nonfiction unit in

reading. Students have been focusing on personal narra-

tives and other thought-provoking essays in our text-book and learning new reading strategies along the way. Our

reading material will serve as the template for their upcom-ing research essays.

To jump start the year, we began by assessing our gram-

mar knowledge with a Gram-mar pre-activity, which was a precursor to our ―Breakdancing Sentences" unit.

From there we started on the ‗parts of speech‘ train, stop-ping at the noun and pronoun

Ms. Wydra– English

We have just finished the Age of Exploration, where stu-

dents were given the opportu-nity to travel and trade like the early Explorers! Students are now learning about the early

colonization of America! We will be studying where and

when the first colonies were established and students will

take virtual tours of these areas. Students will have the opportunity to simulate the creation of a colony. Based on

my trip to Virginia this past summer, I will supplement the

text with new and interesting resources from the areas of

the earliest colonies. We will then move into the creation of the first 13 colonies!

stage. Supernovas, light-years, black holes, neutron stars and

solar flares are just some of the interesting topics that sparked some very serious and complex discussions. This high

interest area is one that stu-dents seem to really enjoy, and you will be amazed at all the

facts they know. We just learned a new song about some of the facts of the solar sys-tem.

We are now entering our Milky Way Galaxy as we learn about the three different types of galaxies and how they impact

neighboring galaxies. We have just begun our Galaxy Books

that contain facts on the ellipti-cal, irregular and spiral galax-

ies. Please ask your child what facts they can fill you in on – you will be amazed. I am very proud of our Junior Astrono-

mers and encourage them to work hard daily! Just a quick reminder: our

2nd Annual Star Party will be held on October 23, 2009, right on the soccer field at Summit Hill Junior High. We have had a

tremendous response to this. Looking forward to seeing you out that night and as the as-tronomers have told me, ―Clear

Skies‖!

Our Junior Astronomers are well into studying the solar

system and the various compo-nents that make it up. We started out learning about our early astronomers and

wrapped up that section with an Astronomer‘s Debate. Even though Ptolemy was the origi-

nal theorist on our Solar Sys-tem, Copernicus won hands down. The students did a fabu-lous job with this and some

even dressed in costume. We just finished up a unit about stars and learned about their life cycle. Our students

made some beautiful Star Fam-ily Photos that illustrated each

Page 17 Volume 3, Issue 1

Mrs. Hartley– S cience

Mrs. Lane– S ocia l S tudies “We shall not cease from

exploration and the end of

all out exploring will be to

arrive where we

started...and know the

place for the first time.”

T.S. Eliot

This is Mrs. Lane‘s first year as the sponsor of National

Junior Honor Society. There are approximately fifty mem-bers of the Summit Hill chap-ter. This year we have an ex-

ecutive board that has been elected by the members. This is a student board that will aid

Mrs. Lane in facilitating fund-raisers and service projects during the year. Congratula-

tions go to our 2009-2110 board:

President –T.J. Gaertig Vice President –Kaitlyn Leone Treasurer – Alex Littleton Secretaries – Erin Julius

Kristina Ricker This year NJHS will be

doing approximately one ser-vice project per month. Our first project this year will be a

book drive to promote Teen Read Week! NJHS will be col-

lecting used books though the week of October 19-23. These books will be sent to various locations, including the library

of our new Mary Drew Elemen-tary building. For further NJHS information, parents can con-

tinue to check Mrs. Lane‘s web-page on the Summit Hill District website.

S ervices Through N ational Junior H onor Society

Mrs. Yiakos's French exposure had a blast this term learning a

variety of things about French and its culture. Some of the things that the students learned were greetings, family

members, and identifying body parts with our beautiful skele-ton Madame Maxine. The stu-

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Mrs . Yiakos – French

Encore

Mrs. Condon‘s 7th Grade Study Skills class and Mrs.

O‘Keefe‘s 8th grade Study Skills class have learned many new strategies this year. They were asked to write about a

strategy that they have learned this year. This is Nicolle Frigo‘s wonderful re-

sponse: Question Answer Re-sponse (QAR) is a strategy

used to analyze types of ques-tions. If you use this strategy, you will become better at an-swering questions because you will know where to go to get it. There are four types of ques-tions. The first is Right There. The answer is right there in the text, usually in one or two sen-tences. To answer this type of question, scan the text to lo-cate the information. The next

type is Think and Search. The answer is in the text, but you need to think about the ques-tion‘s answer and then search for supporting evidence. The third type of question you might see is Author and Me. The answer is not in the text. To answer questions like these, you have to think about what the author says, how it relates to you, and how these fit to-

Mrs. Condon and M rs. O ’Keefe– 7 th & 8th Study S kil ls

Below: Samuel Kwarteng, Marc Huladek, Nick Burkman, Hannah Bennett, Breanne Peacock pose with Madame Maxine, the skeleton and their French projects.

dents had pen pals with the other French exposure classes

and wrote postcards to them weekly without identifying themselves till the end of the term. The students also cre-

ated French scrapbooks of what they learned throughout the term, and then shared them

with their classmates. We also got a chance to sample some

French food, as well. Mrs.Yiakos enjoyed teaching French and will miss her first term stu-dents dearly but she looks for-

ward to her second term stu-dents.

gether. Finally, the last type of question is On My Own. Like Au-thor and Me, the answer is not in the text. To answer this form of questioning, you need to draw from your own experiences. You can, however, use examples from the text. So before you answer a question, think about what type of question it is. That way, you will know what you are looking for and how to look for it.

Brothers into their stories and created a collaged book to

represent these changes. Eighth and ninth period studied Impressionism and recreated a famous painting using rolled

paper dots to mimic the style of Georges Seurat. The Zero Hour students then ventured into their Pop Art project

where they created a 3D card-board painting and researched and presented their chosen

With a new art teacher on board, this has been an exciting

first quarter for Summit Hill Junior High‘s art program. The students have accomplished so much in a short period of time.

Art began with the task of completing an altered fairy tale project in which students modi-fied an old fairy tale to accom-

modate today‘s luxuries and incorporated celebrities such as Taylor Swift and the Jonas

artist. The other art classes also studies Pop Art, but cre-

ated food and animal sculp-tures based on Georges Rodri-gue and Claes Oldenburg. Both classes recently

completed an oil pastel Impres-sionism style self-portrait, studying the features of the

human face as well as experi-menting with value in terms of grayscale. Finally, the Zero Hour students will soon be

completing a papier-mâché bowl molded using the top of a balloon. This project will test the students‘ knowledge of

elements and principles of art. Art club also started at the beginning of Septem-

ber. We are currently finishing up a charity project, painting furniture for CASA. I hope the students have

enjoyed their art classes as much as I have and I wish them luck in their new schedules!

Ms. Doyle– Art

Volume 3, Issue 1

Above: Darren O‘Hanlon and Robbie Harrington take a moment away from their projects to pose for the camera in art class. Right: Papier-mâché projects completed in Ms. Doyle‘s class. Bottom: Altered fairy tale books designed in Ms. Doyle‘s class.

“Art does not solve problems but makes us aware of their existence. It opens our eyes to see and our brain to imagine.”

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C h o i r

Microsoft

The 2009 Summit Hill School District 161 Fall Concert was a big success with "Broadway" as

the theme. The opening act was the Summit Hill Show Choir and Jazz Band performing the

song "I Got Rhythm" by George Gershwin. This is the first time the Show Choir has ever per-

formed with live music. Come out and see the Show Choir perform at the winter concert on

December 8th. -By Alec Chase.

Above: On Sunday, Sept. 27, the Summit Hill Junior High School Marching Band and ColorGuard participated in the Lincoln-Way North Homecoming Parade. It was a great day for a parade and the students were cheered on as they marched around the subdivision surrounding Lincoln-Way North High School and the Frankfort

Square Park District building.

Bottom Left: On Saturday, Sept. 26th, 18 band and choir students from SHJHS participated in the Van-derCook College of Music Middle Level HonorFest in Chicago. The day began at 7:45 am when the stu-dents assembled at SHJH and headed into the big city. Upon arrival, the students were divided into one choir and two bands and began rehearsals. They received their music that same morning and prac-ticed all day, culminating in a concert presented for their family and friends later that afternoon. They were also treated to a performance by the Vander-Cook College of Music choir and concert band. There were 29 schools represented in the band and 17 in the choir. Summit Hill participants are: Row 1 (front): Victoria Clifford, Nicole Suhm, David Smith, David Williams. Row 2: TJ Gaertig, Tara En-right, Savanna Steck, Molly Cisek, Jimmy Kreuz. Row 3: David Woods, Kyle Stanuch, Lauren Vitiritti, Katie Sheehan, Jesse Holman. Row 4: Bethany Domb-

kowski, Alec Chase, Brandy Benak, Kerrie Coughlin.

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