Hi all,
We are almost there - summer! Students are finishing the academic year in good style (for the most part:). Please check the calendar for end of the year celebrations. Student laptops will be turned back into the school on Wednesday, June 14 for 8th grade and Thursday, June 15 for 7th graders.
There are some last minute assessment taking place next week - please see below for updates.
Fusion Team Fall 2017 Overnight Field Trip - for 7th Grade Families
Current 7th grade Fusion students have a wonderful opportunity - an overnight camping trip with the rising 7th grade (current 6th grade) next September 14-15. The team is renting DAR State park (yes, the entire state park) for the night, which means every student will have space in a lean-to if inclement weather is a possibility. On Thursday, the team will visit Ft. Ticonderoga, spend the night at DAR State park, and then visit Lake Champlain Maritime Museum.
Any chaperones for the trip should contact Mr. Pless; a trip like this does not happen without many chaperones. The team can coordinate with work schedules (ie, if you can only chaperone one day and the overnight, that can be accommodated). The team has requested the soccer games scheduled for the afternoon of September 14 be rescheduled.
Any questions should be referred to Mr. Pless.
8th Grade Boat Trip
Please see the accompanying letter about this event. The trip will be finalized in the next few days.
7th Grade Field Trip to Sandbar State Park
Please see the accompanying permission form - students received a yellow copy at school the past two weeks.
Calendar
June 13 - Grade 8: Algebra Final Exam (8:00 - 10:30 in the cafeteria)
June 14 and 15 - Laptops returned, full audit of computers
June 16 - Grade 8: Great Escape Trip
Grade 7: Field Trip to Sandbar State Park (rain or shine:)
June 19 - Awards Ceremony in the morning (8th grade)
Spirit of Ethan Allen Boat Trip (8th grade)
Recognition Night (8th Grade) - Students should be at BRMS no later than 6:30pm
Last Day for 8th Graders (unless they are helping with Field Day - must have permission from
field day coordinators to help)
June 20 - Last day of school - Field Day activities
7th Grade Water Balloon Launch Challenge (Mr. Pless has yet to be hit - 5 years and counting)
September 14-15, 2017: Fusion Overnight Field Trip to Ft. Ticonderoga - DAR State Park - Lake Champlain
Maritime Museum
Curriculum Updates
LA
7 - We have been reading a book together in class. Students have been participating in written responses as well as class discussion related to themes and use of figurative language in the book.
8 - We are wrapping up the picture book unit. Students have done a wonderful job creating beautiful, funny and insightful stories and illustrations. We will be sharing these together in class next week.
Math
7: Students with have their last assessment on Tuesday the 13th. This will be from their current unit, Filling and Wrapping. It will cover Surface Area & Volume of Right Prism and Circumference & Area of Circles. We will wrap up the year with exploring probability through playing and creating probability based games.
CMP: Students with have their last assessment on Tuesday the 13th. This will cover simplifying, adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing expressions as well as using these skills to help solve equations. In the hopes of driving home the transformational power of math, I am planning to wrap up the year by viewing the movie Hidden Figures. Please let me know if you have any questions about the film.
Algebra: Students will have their final exam on Tuesday the 13th in the cafeteria from 8:00-10:30 am. This will cover material from the last half of the year. This includes Systems of Equations, Transformational Geometry, and Statistics. In the hopes of driving home the transformational power of math, I am planning to wrap up the year by viewing the movie Hidden Figures. Please let me know if you have any questions about the film.
Science
7 - We finished our assessment of the health of the Browns River and found the River to be healthy enough to release our Brook Trout! Students released 64 fish last week; every student was able to release at least one of their own! We wish them well this summer! We continue to serve as stewards of the Browns River by helping to eradicate Japanese knotweed that has invaded the river banks. Our final week will explore trade-offs that humans make in balancing the needs (and wants) of humans, biodiversity, and ecosystem services.
8 - Students are finishing up their unit on Chemistry with demonstrations of a chemical reaction next Mon, Tues, and Wed. Please be advised that students should not be practicing any reactions at home that require special safety precautions or adult supervision. More details of next Friday’s field trip to the Great Escape will be coming next week.
Social Studies
*Just a quick shout-out to Nicole Menard. At the last minute she was able to fill in for Mr. Pless from Wednesday to Friday. We will be lucky to have her come back to BRMS at some point in her career.
7 - Students finished their Ideal Cities, reflecting on the process of planning and creating a livable city that can survive a natural disaster. Students are working on their last assessment, a current event project called Past, Present and Future Perspectives, in which they self-select a current event and relate how that event can be seen from at least two different perspectives. Students will have until Wednesday morning to finish this project.
8 - Students continue to investigate the Civil War, linking events to three causes of the Civil War. The district assessment can be taken (in class, on paper) at any point from now until Wednesday afternoon, June 14. On Thursday afternoon June 15, 8th graders will watch the Academy Award winning film “Glory” as a culminating activity for the Civil War unit. There are several scenes in the film that depict violent and racist situations in context to the Civil War time period - please contact Mr. Pless if you have questions or concerns with your child watching this film.
