Library Technology: Sam Musher, [email protected]
6th Grade: Students in Science will be completing their Scientist Workshop presentations and preparing to present in class on June 8. They have chosen to research topics from the evolution of dogs to the effect of space on astronauts’ bodies, and have considered how to choose pictures to engage their audience in their presentation. I look forward to seeing their work!
7th Grade: Students in ELA are reading
The Outsiders, and in a couple of weeks they will write and perform short scenes from the play to their classmates. Students will consider which scenes are the most important in the book and why, and work to get the essence of those scenes in their theatrical adaptations.
8th Grade: Last week, ELA students learned to use the blogging tool Blogger. This week, they’ll post the editorials they’ve written on a shared 8th grade ELA blog, and post comments on each others’ work. They will practice engaging in appropriate conversation online, including respectful disagreement.
Health & Wellness: Justin McNulty, [email protected]
6th Grade: Students will be ending the year with Nutrition. The will be learning about the effects of sugar on the brain and body. They will also be putting together their own school lunch menu as part of a final project for the unit.
7th Grade: Students are wrapping up their Sexuality Education Unit. They will be doing a brief unit on Substance Abuse Prevention and Transition to 8th Grade.
8th Grade: Students will soon be finishing their Substance Abuse Prevention Unit and will very possibly have students from the CRLS STARS Peer Leaders take time from their busy schedule to talk with the 8th graders about the transition from 8th to 9th grade and have an open Q & A from the 8th graders.
French & Spanish: Sarah Bilodeau, [email protected]
6th Grade French: Students did an amazing job on their presentations about Paris monuments! Thanks to ALL students who made presentations during gallery walks and also to those who brought French snacks to share to make our experience even more authentic. The class made thank you notes which were sent home to families - and
merci encore! Students are beginning their final speaking project about inviting a friend to an activity and planning a visit to Paris - all in French!
On a fait un bon travail cette année - bravo!
7th Grade French: Students created invitations to their favorite holiday - we even invented some new celebrations like a tomato festival as well as honored existing celebrations in France and the US such as
La fête nationale and MLK Day! This month students prepare their final dialogue where they make plans to attend a party with a friend. We will make acrostic poems for our final project this year!
Vous avez beaucoup travaillé cette année - bravo!
7th Grade Spanish: Students designed their own city map and gave directions to a friend around their neighborhood in Cambridge - all in Spanish. =We are beginning our final dialogue project where we invite a friend to do a favorite after school activity and give directions about where to meet. We are working on using the verb “ir” to tell where to go and also talk about future plans. We are practicing using prepositions such as “de” and “a” correctly in a variety of contexts, but particularly while giving or listening to directions around the city. For a final project, students will make acrostic poems to describe themselves in Spanish as a review of our work from earlier this year!
Muy buen trabajo - bravo!
8th Grade French: Students wrote short stories in French about an imaginary day in Port-au-Prince or Paris. Most chose to use the past tense in their narration in order to meet the 8th grade benchmark of narrating in the past. We created graphic organizers of our stories, mapped out our illustrations and finally put them into “books” form
with colorful illustrations that incorporate what we learned in our last unit about Haiti or France. Congrats to the students who stuck with the project even as we approach June of our 8th grade year! Our final project will be to share our stories by reading aloud in small groups and taking notes on the stories we hear as well as asking questions and giving compliments in French.
Bonne chance pour l’année prochaine, les “huitèmes”!
Spanish: Mr. Paras, [email protected]
Grade 6: We are coming to the close of the school year and will be reviewing much of the stuff that was covered this year. Students will go over relevant questions and the answers to those questions. We will cover all the topics that we have learned this year. Then, we will move onto the verb ser and adjectives of description. In class we will work on describing people then students will create a poster describing the person they chose. This may but is not limited to a famous actor, a musician, a cartoon character, etc. Finally, we will learn about definite and indefinite articles and how to use them with nouns.
Grade 7: In grade 7, we will be reviewing questions about topics that have come up this year and in the past. Students will review questions on the topics that have come up in our textbook this year. We will also cover questions on topics such as weather, time, numbers, days and months, etc. Later, students will review ar, er and ir verbs as well as some irregular verbs such as ser, ir and tener. Lastly, we will introduce ar verbs in the preterite tense.
Grade 8: In class, students will have a chance to come up with questions about certain topics that are given to them. They will create questions and then the answers to those questions. Students will then go over all the verb tenses that have been learned throughout middle school such as present tense, irregular verbs, stem-changing verbs, etc. We will then learn more about the preterite tense. AR, Er and Ir verbs will be taught to get our learners ready for next year. Lastly, we will review topics that students feel they need a little more practice with.
Theater Arts: Ms. Elguindy, [email protected]
6th grade: Sixth grade students are wrapping up the year by putting together all the performance skills they have learned with a final project. They will discuss and observe examples of live theater to see what is engaging and entertaining by watching the live recording of the Broadway show “The Newsies” in class followed by a discussion. Then they will create their own performances using material they can adapt to create their own original performance.
Art: Ms. Lee, [email protected]
6th graders finished their tissue paper stained-glass cutout project. Some students also made smaller versions to decorate other teachers’ classrooms. We are now working on an Op Art (short for optical art) project in which they create 3-D spheres on a 2-D surface. Students experiment with how shadows and the placement of curvy and straight lines matter in creating a 3-D effect on paper. After this project, 6th graders will end the year with some personal collage projects.
7th graders worked on a pinhole artwork project in which they created a sketch on colored paper, then used an awl to poke tiny holes throughout the image. On dark-colored paper, holes clustered together create a highlight whereas on light-colored paper, more holes create a shadow-like effect.
The majority of 8th graders have finished their self-portraits or symbolic self-portraits and are working on self-directed painting projects. Some students are touching up their self-portraits by making cleaner lines and refining edges, while others are working on painting a subject/an image of their choice. This is an opportunity for students to pursue their personal artistic/creative interests before heading to the high school.
String Orchestra: Brittany Phillips, [email protected]
The 6th grade orchestra did a great job in their concert earlier this month. They have grown enormously this year, and are on their way to being a strong 7th grade orchestra ensemble. In an effort to end the year on a strong note, students are learning new bowing techniques and adding scale patterns to their repertoire. Students are working on hooked and slurred bowings while learning about the difference between legato and staccato. We will wrap up the year strengthening our sight reading skills while working on the well known Offenbach piece, “Can-Can.”
The 7th grade orchestra performed very well in the concert on May 2nd, and are continuing to work hard as the end of the school year approaches. We are currently studying a blues progression in A major, and learning about improvising on the A pentatonic scale. We will wrap up the year with a funky tune called, “E String Blues.” Additionally, students will have opportunities to strengthen their tuning, vibrato, and composition skills. I am looking forward to working with them next year as the 8th grade, advanced orchestra ensemble!
The 8th grade orchestra is closing out the year strong. We wrapped up our study of “Star Wars” and quickly jumped into the pop tune, “See You Again” by Charlie Puth. We are hoping to perform this challenging piece with the chorus at 8th grade graduation. It has been a wonderful year with the 8th grade orchestra, and I have no doubt that they are ready for the challenges and triumphs that will come along with the CRLS orchestra. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions about the different music options at the high school, or if you are having any problems registering for the orchestra with Ms. Umbro.
Band: Mr. Wroge, [email protected]
6th Grade Band: We have begun an improvisation unit. During this unit we will watch clips of people improvising in many different genres to study the habits of great improvisers. We are using the Duke Ellington tune “C-Jam Blues” as our jump off point for improvising. Students will learn jazz rhythms and how to use the Blues Scale for improvising through “C-Jam Blues”.
7th and 8th Grade Bands: We have begun work on our group projects. Students split themselves into groups and have chosen a piece of music they will perform together. Students could choose from any genre of music. The idea behind this project is to give kids some agency behind their music education with the hopes that creativity will be the final outcome.
Chorus: Joshua DeWitte, [email protected]
6th Grade Chorus: Students performed well in their spring concert on May 3. I was impressed with their hard work and expressive performance. Students have begun working on a musical time capsule which they will revisit at the end of each school year. The time capsule is a mix of songs that best represent who they are at this moment in their lives, a sort of musical selfie. Students are also preparing songs for 8th grade graduation. This performance is an optional performance for students who want to participate. The dress code is black pants and a white top.
7th Grade Chorus: Students performed well in their spring concert on May 3. I was impressed with their hard work and expressive performance. Students have begun working on a musical time capsule which they will revisit at the end of each school year. The time capsule is a mix of songs that best represent who they are at this moment in their lives, a sort of musical selfie. Students are also preparing songs for 8th grade graduation. This performance is an optional performance for students who want to participate. The dress code is black pants and a white top.
8th Grade Chorus: Students performed well in their spring concert on May 3. Students have begun working on a time capsule which contains artifacts from their lives until this point. Included in the time capsule is a musical mix of songs that best represent their experience in middle school. Their time capsule is due by the end of the school year. They can turn in a shoe box or sealed envelope. I will store their time capsules until their Senior year, 2022, at which point I will return them. Students are also preparing songs for their graduation.
Music Studio: Mr. Fairbanks, [email protected]
6th Grade: We are closing up the year with continuing our building of music literacy through bucket drumming and jamming along to different genres of music, including hip hop and reggaeton. We're also going to use our drum circle to exercise improvisation and our ability to hear and respond to each other.
7th Grade: We are currently working on a project where we are seeing how instruments of the orchestra are being used in different genres of music. Students chose several instruments to listen to and learn about, along with searching for artist that are known for their ability to play. Some students will present what they learned about the instruments they chose by adding information to their website, creating their own music on computers, and creating their own instrument store.
8th Grade: Students are taking part in Music Shark Tank, a project where students get into groups and with the music job given, they are to come up with a business idea to present to a wealthy donor. Students must understand their job, the job of their teammates, and work together to create a unique idea to present on a slideshow or website. Ask your student what idea their group is proposing.