ELA with Miss Davis: ​Sixth graders just finished reading and discussing a class novel, Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. They worked on making inferences, asking questions, and being respectful listeners and participants during the weekly discussions. To finish the unit, students are writing about how characters have changed or grown throughout the story, as well as writing a summary that is free from their own opinions or judgements. We also “enjoyed” the movie version, which is drastically different than the book. This allows students to practice the standard of comparing and contrasting a text to it’s film version. The students had A LOT to say about how much was changed in the movie. Over vacation, students will be enjoying their own books that they have chosen to read.

Math with Mrs. Davis: ​In Math, these hard working students are excelling in our algebra unit. They have learned the parts of expressions, the difference between expressions, equations and inequalities and are now rewriting algebraic expressions in simpler terms. For example: 9 + 5h + 8h + 7d – 2d + 4 + 3 (2d+6h) can be simplified to 13 + 31h + 11d by using the “stacking method.” Fun stuff!​Students are also deepening their understanding of the language of algebra by adding words, meanings and examples in their math dictionaries. It has been a busy year in math and so rewarding to see such eagerness for learning from these 6th graders.

Social Studies with Ms. Killam: This month in 6th grade Social Studies, we have started Ancient Egypt. We started with learning about how pyramids are built and how ancient Egyptians made them to be tombs.We will be continuing this unit after the break, by studying the mummification process and other aspects of the civilization.

Science with Miss Crockett: ​In science, we just wrapped up a unit on the scale and formation of the solar system and are starting our Earth science unit. Students are learning about Alfred Wegener’s theory of continental drift and the mechanism for plate tectonics.They are excited to build convection currents on Monday!

Announcements:

Sports:​ Basketball game schedules are on the TMS Website. Alpine and Nordic skiing have begun! Ski and Ride after school!​ ​Continues and ends Feb. 28th. Please contact the Middle School office for more information.

Community Book Club​ for parents, guardians, students, community members, teachers, grandparents, uncles and aunts. Please contact Mrs. Lilly at ​lillya@sad44.org​ or the Middle School office for more information. First meeting is January 22nd, 6:30-7:30pm. The book for the month’s ​Tuck Everlasting​ by Natalie Babbitt.

Late Bus:​ Departs TMS at 5:00 all winter sports season long, Monday-Friday.

MKA​: After school activities run Monday through Thursday until the late bus. The calendar of events can be found on the TMS website. The cost for MKA is $25.00/trimester or $75.00 for the year. Free and reduced lunch students are on a sliding scale.

After School Academy (ASA):​ Students can get homework help, redo assignments and/or assessments, or just have extra work time! Each grade level meets after school on Tuesday until 4:00 and students are provided a snack. Students need a note to stay after including a plan on how they are going home following ASA. ASA meets every Tuesday.

Box Tops for Education​: Please save your Box Tops for Education labels and have your students turn them in with their RAP teachers! The collection days are the last Wednesday of every month. Even if you don’t have a student at TMS, but would still like to support our students, Box Tops can be collected and dropped off in the Middle School office at your convenience! Our Student Leadership is taking on the task of clipping and counting this year for us, thank you!

Reminders:

Transportation changes: If students have a change in their transportation plans, they are required to have a handwritten note or an email to our school secretary, Mrs. Scotti by 9 a.m., please no phone calls.