TPMS May and June Events

TPMS May and June Events
May/June 2016
 May 2-6 —Staff Appreciation Week
 June 7 — TPMS Awards Ceremony, Blair HS,7 p.m.
 May 5 —Bike to School Day
 June 13-17— Final Exams
 May 6 & 7 — Seussical the Musical—7:00 p.m.
 May 8 —Seussical the Musical —11:00 a.m.
 June 17 —8th Grade Promotion Ceremony 1:30 p.m.
(Northwood HS)
 May 10 —PTA Meeting - 7 p.m.
 June 20—Last day of School—Dismissal at 12:20 p.m.
 May 17—18 — Instrumental Music Concerts 7 p.m.
 May 20 —Grades 6, 7 & 8—Field Trips
 May 24 — Spring Choral Concert, 7—8:30 p.m.
TA K O M A PA R K M I D D L E S C H O O L
Principal’s
 May 30 —Memorial Day—No School
“And a bird overhead sang Follow, And a bird to the right sang Here;
And the arch of the leaves was hollow, And the meaning of May was clear.”
Dear Parents and Guardians,
As we enter the final weeks of school you will notice that
the school calendar is buzzing with events that celebrate and
showcase the talents of our students and staff!
Congratulations to Ms. Epling and the TPMS Science Bowl
Team. They competed in the National Science Bowl and
placed 14th in the country. Congratulations also to 7th Grader Lara Ojha who is being recognized for her entry in the
2015 Mosaic Creative Writing Contest! Lara’s short story
received honorable mention in the short story category.
Thank you as well to Ms. Dina Beatty for supporting all students who made submissions from TPMS. Samantha Rodriguez was one of the 16 winners in the annual "A Picture is
Worth a Thousand Words" poster contest sponsored by the
Maryland Council on Economic Education. Congratulations
Samantha!
In other news at TPMS, students and the science department
staff organized a hugely successful STEM Family Science
Night. Our largest number yet of students and parents attended an evening that celebrated an enormous range of science, technology, engineering and math topics. The student
project presentations were impressive. Thank you to the
staff, students, and volunteers who made this event such a
success!
TPMS Drama Club presents Seussical, Jr. on May 5th and
6th at 7pm and May 7th at 11am. Doors open 30 minutes
before show time. The show is about 70 minutes long with a
10 minute intermission. Refreshments will be sold before
the show and during intermission. Proceeds from the refreshments will go towards support the arts at TPMS. Tickets for Seussical, Jr. are $5 for students and $8 for
adults. Tickets can be purchased at the show, but we are
encouraging our patrons to purchase tickets in advance at
www.showtix4u.com. We look forward to seeing you there!
Ms. Saftner would like to congratulate all her student’s that
competed in the April Rubik’s Cube Contest. The times
were amazing and it’s impressive that students finished the
Newsletter
entire contest in just 30 minutes. A special congratulations
to the top 6 finishers. In 6th place Leo Wang averaged 22
seconds, in 5th place Chris Tong averaged 15.7 seconds, in
4th place was Raymond Luo with 14 seconds, 3rd place for
Eric Chen at 13 seconds, 2nd place Maxwell Zhang with
12.7 seconds, and in first place with an average solve time of
12.3 seconds was Arthur Hu.
From May 9– June 3 students will complete the PARCC
Assessments. On their designated date, students will take a
portion of the PARCC during the first block of each morning. For all students not scheduled for testing, instruction
will continue as usual. If possible, please do not schedule
any out-of-school appointments during your child's designated testing dates.
PARCC English Language Arts (Literacy)
Grade 8 - May 9-11
Grade 7 - May 12, 13 and 16
Grade 6 - May 17-19
PARCC Math
Grade 8 - May 23-25
Grade 6 - May 26, 27 and 31
Grade 7 - June 1-3
Our choral and instrumental music concerts will take place
in mid-May. All grade levels will be participating in field
trips on May 20. Final exams will take place June 13—16.
June 17 will be a final exam make-up day. June 20 will be
the last day of school and a half-day for students. Information will soon be on its way to 8th Grade families about
the promotion ceremony on June 17 at Northwood High
School at 1:30 p.m.
This is our final newsletter of this school year. I wish you a
wonderful end of the school year and a fantastic summer!
Sincerely,
Alicia Deeny
Principal
6TH GRADE NEWS
Field Trip to the Smithsonian! Permission Slips due May 16.
The trip is Friday May 20
TAKOMA PARK
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Science
6th grade science is currently working our last unit, Energy and Waves. Students will be investigating electricity, circuits, magnetism, and the properties of
waves. Our trip to release the trout into the
Patuxent River at Brighton Dam was a huge
success. We had about 50 students join us
to release about 150 trout that we had raised
from eggs starting
back in January.
INSIDE THIS
ISSUE:
Science
1
Social Studies
1
Computer
Science
1
English
2
Mathematics
2
Digital Literacy
2
M A Y 2 0 1 6
Social Studies
This month in Social Studies, we will finish
our unit on Economics in Ancient and Modern China. Our focus will include the dynastic cycles of ancient kingdoms in China
and geographical influences on culture. We will take the principles of settlement, government, and economics that we
have studied all year to analyze how culture
impacts us all.
6th Grade Magnet Students will finish the
year with physics and engineering projects. We have been working on rubber
band powered cars, and will soon be working on catapults, if time allows. We will
definitely be ending the year by designing
Rube Goldberg machines, so if you have
extra Legos or Duplos, marble track, or toy
cars that you would be willing to donate to
the cause, we’d love to have them! Donations can be dropped off in the office, or
brought to room 110. Thanks so much!
Computer Science
Students just completed the Microsoft Excel
segment of the curriculum. During the segment, students applied their mathematical and
researching skills to create excel spreadsheets.
We also learned how to use formulas, graphs
and charts to represent data.
6th grade students are currently learning about
Cyber-Safety, Cyber-Security and CyberEthics. Some of the subjects that we are covering include how to keep safe online, be a good
cyber citizen and the various types of malware. We will be entering the Python coding
phase of the curriculum, during the first week
of May. Students are excited to learn Python.
Students continue to use Turbo Typing to enhance their word processing skills and speed.
English
Happy 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare! William Shakespeare and many of his famous
plays and sonnets are filling the 6th grade classes this quarter. Students are immersed in the life of
Shakespeare, learning about the Elizabethan period of history and studying excerpts from some of his
most well-known plays, among them A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Comedy of
Errors, and As You Like It. Students are reading aloud excerpts of the above plays and wrestling with
Shakespeare’s elegant and sometimes incomprehensible English. The moment when students understand that Shakespeare’s plays are full of humor and portray real-life situations like fights between
parents and children is a moment to behold as a teacher! Students come to life when they realize human emotions and relationships haven’t changed much in 400 years. Long live the Bard and may his
words ring true with young people for 400 more years!
Digital Literacy
This Quarter, Digital Literacy students will focus on “The IFC – Issued For Construction Unit.”
The students will be able to understand figurative language, analyze and evaluate the strength of an
argument via peer feedback and revision. Presently, we are applying learned test strategies to
PARCC Assessment practice tests.
Mathematics
Math CC6
The month of May is an exciting time for Math 6. During the middle of the month, the students will take their
English and Math end of the year PARCC assessment. We will also be continuing the final push of the math 6
curriculum by continuing our examination of geometry, particularly our examination of the volume and surface area of three dimensional prisms. There will be two unit assessments on these topics toward the beginning of the month. Then we shift our focus to the final time this year toward another examination of dividing
numbers. Finally, the month of May and the month of June will conclude with a study of statistics and analyzing data and data distributions. As always, if you have any questions regarding specific plans and dates of assessments please refer to edline and email your child's teacher with any other questions. It has been a great
school year and the Math 6 teachers thank you for all your support throughout this school year.
Magnet IM: May will begin with a wrap up of Unit 6 (Linear Equations) and students will take the unit test
during the second week. The remainder of May will introduce students to Other Operational Systems. They
will study Zahl systems (and have a project based on this topic) and will learn how to convert and calculate in
base systems other than base 10. June will return students to geometry topics of plane figure transformations
and congruence. Please check Edline for assessment dates and topics. All dates are tentative as we navi-
gate around PARCC testing during the month of May.
GRADE 7
NEWS
Takoma Park Middle School
7611 Piney Branch Road
May 1, 2016
Volume 8, Issue 7
Grade 7 May Newsletter
What’s Happening in Class?
World Studies
In World Studies students are learning about the
transition from a traditional economy to a market
economy as Europe shifted from the Middle Ages
to the Renaissance. We will examine the motives
of explorers and Renaissance people who left their
homes in Europe and Asia, and began exploring and
trading with the rest of the world. We will also
study the triangle trade, and the market economy
conditions that facilitated this trade. The unit will
end with a study of colonies, which will bring
students to the shores of North America and get
them ready for 8th grade U.S. History. Following
the Unit 4 test, we will watch Invictus, a movie
that follows Nelson Mandela, in his first term as
the South African President, as he attempts to
unite the post-apartheid nation by asking the
national rugby team to win the 1995 Rugby World
Cup (your child should have shown you a permission
slip for this film, which needs only to be returned
if you do not want him/her to participate).
English/Reading
In English 7 students are currently studying
works in the “Expressions” unit; the major text
for this unit is A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Students will be performing scenes from this play
in class and analyzing plot and character features
as well. A focus on Shakespeare’s Sonnets, irony,
dramatic irony, and use of iambic pentameter will
help the students appreciate the writing in the
play.
.
Computer Science
In Intro to Computer students are creating
websites which include photos, video links, text,
and web apps. Animoto was introduced so that
students could produce their own videos which
can be incorporated into the websites.
In Magnet CS 7, students finished the unit on
text file and lists, though these topics will be
revisited in future projects. Defining functions
and using the main function in Python has been
started. Dictionaries and the recursive function
will conclude the new topics for Python.
Science
In Science, kudos to the 7th graders on a
fantastic assemblage and presentation of their
projects! They really did a phenomenal job in
their public demonstrations! In class, we are
growing corn to identify the genetic traits of
golden and silver corn. We will then conclude this
year by looking at The Earth’s History.
In Magnet Science students are completing the
Body Systems unit.
Students have been
responsible for actually teaching their classmates
about an assigned body system. They have had to
design a presentation, notes page, classwork,
home work, and assessment for their respective
body system. Our next unit will be Forensics.
Students will use some of the skills and
knowledge they acquired during the school year
to solve a classroom mystery. This unit is filled
with biotechnology, labs activities, and science
application. Students will be interviewing
suspects, analyzing evidence, and developing a
conclusion with a respect to a classroom crime.
This unit is truly the highlight of the year.
Grade 7 May Newsletter Page 2
What’s Happening in Class?
Mathematics
In Magnet Algebra students have the opportunity
to extend Units 6/7 and complete an optional unit
on Rational Expressions and Equations. At the
same time, we will complete Quadratic Functions by
learning how to solve any quadratic equation. Some
answers will involve irrational and imaginary
answers. A unit test can be expected in the middle
of the month. At the end of the month, we will
begin a small unit on data analysis while PARCC
testing takes place.
In IM students are beginning Unit 6: Other
Operational Systems. This unit will introduce
concepts that are very unfamiliar to students.
Please make sure students keep notes organized.
Our last unit is Unit 7: Probability. This unit will
also be started this month and end in June.
In Math 7 students will be completing Unit 5
which is algebraic relationships. In Unit 5
students have been learning how to identify linear
functions and complete a function table. In midMay students will begin Unit 6 on measurement.
Students will determine the degree of precision of
a measurement. Student will learn how to
determine the effect of geometric dimensions on
area, surface area, and volume.
In Algebra students will continue working with
Unit 4, Quadratic Relationships. Topic 2 focuses on
the structure of quadratic expressions including:
transformations, polynomial operations, factoring,
completing the square, and properties. Topic 3
focuses on solving quadratic equations using tables,
factoring, graphing, and the quadratic formula. In
addition, the Pythagorean Theorem and the
distance formula will be studied.
Goal Setting
THE W'S OF GOALS
Each goal you set should state what you will do and when
you will do it. For example, a goal relating to writing a
research paper might be stated as follows: I will finish
gathering information for my research paper by November
20.
Your goals should be:
1. within your skills and abilities. Knowing your strengths
and weaknesses will help you set goals you can accomplish.
2. realistic. Setting a goal to learn the spelling of three
new words a day is realistic. Trying to learn the spelling of
fifty new words a day is not realistic.
3. flexible. Sometimes things will not go the way you
anticipate and you may need to change your goal. Stay
flexible so when you realize a change is necessary you will
be ready to make the change.
4. measurable. It is important to be able to measure your
progress toward a goal. It is especially important to
recognize when you have accomplished your goal and need
to go no further. Failure to measure your progress toward
a goal and recognize its accomplishment will result in effort
that is misdirected and wasted.
5. within your control. Other than when working as part of
a group, accomplishment of your goal should not depend on
other students. You can control what you do, but you have
little or no control over what others do. You may do what
you have to do, but if others don’t, you will not accomplish
your goal.
Many times your parents, teachers, and counselors will set
goals for you. Be accepting when they do. These are people
who know what is important for you and are very concerned
with your success. They can also help you accomplish the
goals they set.
SET GOALS IN SCHOOL THAT PROVIDE YOU WITH
DIRECTION AND LEAD TO SUCCESS.
May 2016
8th Grade Newsletter
“We know what we are, but know not what we
may be.”
~William Shakespeare
ENGLISH
“It always seems impossible until it’s done” (Nelson Mandela). The end of
the school year approaches, and students must persevere in order to finish
the year on good academic footing. English students continue their study of
Shakespeare and As You Like It. Students may also be performing dramatic
readings of Shakespeare’s sonnets or non-fiction texts related to the Civil
War, as a United States History connection, or the USSR, as an Animal
Farm connection to finish up their work from Unit Three. They will then
prepare for both the end of middle school and the beginning of high school.
U.S. HISTORY
In United States History, students are working on their Civil War Lap
Books. Each student has chosen a fictional character of their choice to follow
through the Civil War period, describing his or her life before, during, and
after the war. All checkpoints, research information, and the rubrics are on
Edline and on individual teacher websites. Students will have in-class opportunities to do research and put together the final products. We will also
have a debate on the causes of the Civil War using primary source documents as evidence. This debate will start as a DBQ with a written essay.
Then, students will use the information for a highly interactive, round-robin
debate. The last topic of the year is Reconstruction—or how the nation heals
from a civil war. This last topic is where ninth grade U.S. History picks up
next fall!
ALGEBRA-PREP
We will continue Unit 4, Plane Figures: Measurement and Area, by identifying corresponding parts and finding missing measures of similar triangles;
identify congruent triangles and their corresponding parts,; find the missing
angles and classify quadrilaterals; find the areas of parallelograms, triangles, and trapezoids; classify polygons; determine the sum of the measures
of the interior and exterior angles of a polygon; find the circumference and
area of circles; and find the area of irregular figures. We will then begin our
Algebra Transition Unit with laws of arithmetic, applying properties of exponents, solving linear equations in one variable, and interpreting timedistance graphs.
ALGEBRA 2.0
During May and June, algebra students will be working on Unit 3, Descriptive Statistics, which builds upon prior experience with center, variability,
scatterplots, and linear trends in data, by providing more formal means of
how a model fits data. Students will use regression techniques to describe
approximately linear relationships between quantities and look at residuals
to analyze the goodness of fit. Then it’s on to the last unit, Generalizing
Function Properties. Students will investigate Piecewise, step, absolute value, square root, cube root, and fractional functions.
MAGNET GEOMETRY
Our final unit of study is circles. We will discover, apply, and
prove theorems related to angles and segments in circles, such
as tangents, secants, and chords. Sketchpad will again be used
to explore geometric relationships. As a final project, students
will be creating skits to demonstrate an application of a geometry topic.
MAGNET ALGEBRA 2.0
Our final unit is modeling with functions. We will review all the
types of functions we studied this year and learn how to determine the most appropriate model for a given problem. As a final
project, students will be creating skits to demonstrate an application of an algebra II topic.
Come to 8th grade Homework Club!
After school on Thursdays with Ms. Taylor in Room 306
HONORS GEOMETRY
During these next two months, students will continue to prove basic theorems about circles,
including that a tangent line is perpendicular to a radius, the inscribed angle theorem, and
theorems about chords, secants, and tangents as they relate to segment lengths and angle
measures. Students will then study relationships among segments on chords, secants and
tangents as an application of similarity.
MAGNET SCIENCE
Students are investigating geologic events, rocks, and minerals. Students will identify and
categorize different types of rocks and minerals. The rock cycle and weathering are also
scheduled for this month along with various labs to reinforce the concepts discussed in
class.
SCIENCE
In science we will be finishing up our Earth’s materials and surface processes unit which
rocks and minerals and erosion. We will then be studying Earth’s history and global change.
This will include a study of fossils and the process involved in fossilization, divisions of geologic time, relative and absolute dating techniques, and climate change. These topics will
include labs on half-life, fossil identification, relative dating, and global climate change activities. This is the last unit of the marking period.
World Languages Department May/June Newsletter
Please be aware that all French and Spanish classes will still have a final exam during the
last week of school this year. Students will receive study guides to prepare for these exams
the first week of June. Please avoid making earlier vacation plans or scheduling
appointments during your exam block. Exams can only be given during exam week. The
written final exam schedule is as follows:
Monday, June 13: Periods 2 and 8 exams
Tuesday, June 14: Periods 3 and 5 exams
Wednesday, June 15: Period 4 and 6 exams
Thursday, June 16: Periods 1 and 7 exams
Friday, June 17: Makeup exams
Oral exams will be administered in class during the week of June 6-10. Please let your
teacher know if you already have any conflicts with these dates.
Spanish
Spanish 1A/B (Señora Kim and Señora Carroll):
Students will finish a unit on the House and Chores and will start their final unit for Spanish 1,
La Ropa y Las Tiendas, the clothing and stores unit. In this unit, students will share their
preferences about clothing, gifts and shopping experiences. Students will learn and apply several
grammar points including Direct Object Pronouns (DOP’s), demonstrative adjectives, and more
stem-changing verbs. Parents, May is a very busy month. Please make sure that your child stays
on top of his/her work for class. It is necessary for students to study vocabulary outside of class.
Oral and written semester exams are coming fast at the beginning of June! Please refer to Edline
for grades and due dates and deadlines of assessments.
Spanish 1A (full year)—Sra. Carroll
Students have finished the unit on School and will have concluded a unit on FOOD by the end
of May. Vocabulary revolves around food preferences, food categories, and meals. Students will
learn –ER and –IR verbs as well as review -AR verbs. This unit also introduces the concept of
Stem-Changer verbs. This last unit of the year reviews many of the structures and grammar
concepts learned throughout the year. Parents should check Edline for student progress and any
missing assignments, and check agenda books for homework. Students should be practicing
vocabulary outside of the classroom by naming food items, food groups, snacks and meals at
home in addition to reviewing all vocabulary from past units to begin preparing for the
exam. Final exams will be the week of June 13. These exams will cover everything students
have studied this year, since August. Specific dates for Period 4 and 8 will be posted on Edline
but PLEASE keep June 9 – 16 clear for Oral exams and the MCPS written exam. A student must
take this exam to be considered for promotion to Spanish 1B.
Spanish 1B (full year)—Sra. Vogel
Students just began the last unit of the year, Clothing and Shopping. The unit focuses on
clothing and accessory vocabulary and clothes worn for different seasons and occasions.
Students will practice asking and telling the cost of clothing items using big numbers 100-1000.
Students are learning to describe clothing and how it fits. Parents should check Edline for
progress updates and agenda books for homework assignments. Please email me at
[email protected] with any questions.
Spanish 2—Sra. Guevara, Sra. Vogel & Sra. Kim
In May, students will complete a unit on Cooking experiences in which they use affirmative and negative
commands to give recipes. We will end the year with a unit on travel. Students will be able to use the
preterite and imperfect past tenses to describe their experiences. Students should check Edline regulary,
write assignments in agenda books, and bring workbooks to class daily. The pace of the class moves
quickly and students are encouraged to continue to study every week night for 10-15 minutes in order to
help build vocabulary and ease with structures. This is especially important as semester exams are
approaching rapidly at the beginning of June. There are many resources on Edline for them to practice
such as Quizlet, an online flashcard website which allows students to make flashcards for vocabulary but
also verb conjugations as well. For Ms. Guevara’s classes, please see her quarter calendar for exam dates
and deadlines. Her students may also complete the monthly optional formative assignment, ¿Dónde está
Sra. Guevara? which students can find on Edline or posted on the board in the classroom.
Spanish 3— Sra. Guevara
In early May, students will finish a unit on mysteries of archaeological sites by presenting a
legend and taking their final unit test of the year. Students will finish the year with a unit on the
environment called “Our Planet” in which they use the subjunctive to give advice and caution
about environmental hazards and conservation. In this unit, they will review the major grammar
concepts of the semester with a culminating summative debate. We will then begin reviewing for
the final exam in early June. Please see the quarter calendar for exact dates. Parents should
check Edline and agenda books regularly. The pace of the class moves quickly and students are
encouraged to establish a routine of studying every week night for 10-15 minutes in order to help
build vocabulary and ease with structures. There are many resources on Edline for them to
practice such as Quizlet, an online flashcard website which allows students to make flashcards
for vocabulary but also verb conjugations as well. Students may also complete the monthly
optional formative assignment, ¿Dónde está Sra. Guevara? which students can find on Edline or
posted on the board in the classroom.
French—Mme Finklea
French 1
In May and June, French 1 students will be learning to communicate about the home (rooms in
the house, furniture) and chores that they do (or don’t do!). Parents should check agenda books
for HW and encourage students to study vocabulary at home. Parents should also check Edline
and weekly student progress reports. If your child has a C or below on a weekly progress report,
please sign it and have your child return it to me! Our county-wide semester exam will be during
the last week of school. I will send details via Edline. Students must pass the 1B exam in order to
continue in French 2 next year.
French 2
French 2 students will learn to communicate about health and fitness in the present and past
tenses. They will be able to describe all kinds of disgusting illness symptoms and relate what
happened in an accident. Parents should check agenda books for HW and encourage students to
study vocabulary at home. Parents should also check Edline and weekly student progress reports.
Our county-wide semester exam will be during the last week of school. I will send details via
Edline. Students must pass the 2B exam in order to continue in French 3 next year.
French 3
In French 3, we will be finishing our year with a unit on art and movies. This is a favorite for
everyone! Parents should check agenda books for HW and encourage students to study
vocabulary at home. Parents should also check Edline and weekly student progress reports. Our
county-wide semester exam will be during the last week of school. I will send details via Edline.
Students must pass the 3B exam in order to continue in French 4 next year.
Arts Department May/June Newsletter
Art – Ms. Spera
FACS – Ms. Davis
Computer Applications
Ms. Galley
Dr. Taliff
Ms. Wu
Contemporary Communications and TV
Studio – Mr. Wilson
World Beat Music and Chorus
Mr. Liddle
Orchestra & Band
Ms. Pasquale
Congratulations to the 43
students who participated in the
Black-Eyed Susan Voting Party!
Takoma Park Middle School
Media Center News
May 2016
Return Our Books!
Dear Students and Parents,
As the end of the year draws near, it’s time to clean out your locker,
search under your bed, and find those overdue books! The deadline
for returning all books to the Media Center is Monday, May 23!
“What about that book I checked out on Friday, May 20?” you ask.
That book is also due on May 23. The deadline for turning in all Media
Center materials is May 23. Lost books can be paid for at the
circulation desk.
Sincerely,
Ms. Phelan
Adam A.
Varun S.
Bella J.
Hannah Z.
Grace E.
Juliet G.
Audrey P.
Kadiatou S.
Shrujana K.
Tsion W.
Toby B.
Kevin Z.
Akuma B.
Tara F.
Brandon W.
Indira F.
Amanda L.
Molly M.C.
Yiyi L.
Ikram M.
Johanna P.
Aviva B.
Anita L.
Bibhu L.
Danny S.
Isabella F.
Jennifer L.
Alex Y.
Anna Grace O.
Emmanuel K.
Shalom A.
Lauren L. C. Y.
Camille W.
Jasmine X.
Suveena S.
Belinda L.
Yanelee F.
Kelly L.
Karen Y.
Jason H.
Victoria X.
Liang L.
Jennifer R.