Senator Speaker February 2016 O’Neill Middle School A Letter From Mr. Durbala
STUDENT APPOINTMENTS: Any time that your child will be leaving school early for the day or to attend an appointment please send a note to school. Your child should bring a note to the office when arriving at school for the day and they will be issued a pass to leave at the appropriate time. Parents must come into the building to sign out the child in the main office. Students may sign in without a parent when they return during the day. This procedure allows us to know where our students are at all times and keep O’Neill safe.
Dear Parents, I am happy to welcome everyone to the second half of our school year. We have had a great first half of the year! We have many exci?ng things planned and are looking forward to a terrific third quarter at O'Neill Middle School. On February 10 and 11 we will conduct our second round of Parent/Teacher conferences. Communica?on is vital to support our students and their learning. Students are only successful when they know that they are cared for and supported by both their teachers and parents. Teachers will no?fy parents any?me they have concerns about a student’s performance and parents are welcome to request a mee?ng at any ?me if they have significant concerns about their child’s progress. Only through open, honest, and ?mely communica?on can the school and home work together to fully support our children in their pursuit of educa?on. We spend only a frac?on of the day with your child and the informa?on that you share with us is invaluable as we paint a picture of how your child learns and deals with the successes and struggles that are an inherent part of the educa?onal process. Please be an ac?ve part of your child’s educa?on by talking daily to your child about his or her day at school, projects, assignments, and, of course, social life. RespecQully, Matt Durbala MaR Durbala Principal
** WEATHER REMINDER: Our weather this winter has been very mild compared to last year but it is s?ll winter. Students and parents are reminded that they should be wearing coats, hats, and gloves to school each day. With the onset of the winter weather season, we want to remind parents and community members about the many ways we provide no?fica?on should it become necessary to close school for the safety of our students. District 58 u?lizes an automated calling system to alert parents of school closings. Parents are encouraged to make sure that their child's school(s) has their most up-‐to-‐date contact informa?on. In addi?on to the automated calling system, District 58 also posts informa?on on its Web site, www.dg58.org, and places a message on the district's answering machine, which can be accessed by calling (630) 719-‐5800. In addi?on, the district no?fies the following radio/TV sta?ons from which the official announcement is made: WBBM (780), WGN (720), CBS Ch. 2, NBC Ch. 5, ABC Ch. 7, WGH Ch. 9, FOX 32, and CLTV. . Parents are asked not to call their child's individual school to check on whether classes will take place.
3rd Quarter News!
Seventh Grade Science began the second quarter finishing up the concepts of Photosynthesis, Cellular Respiration, and Ecosystems. Students also presented their GENIUS projects to the classroom! Genius Hour Projects entailed the students learning about a personal scientific passion. The Genius Hour Presentation forms ranged from google slides to raps, and also included Minecraft games and enactments on how to fight off a cougar! The topics were skillfully researched and students taught the classes an array of information including anti-matter and the intricacies of coding.
Science
Currently, in 7th grade science, the students are busy biology bees! They have been investigating cells and the cell theory. They have analyzed and interpreted data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on paramecium, a unicellular ciliated protozoan. After perfecting their microscope skills and creating their own wet mount cheek slides, they even saw swimming paramecium under the microscope. The Cell Theory was put to test investigating cells on to introduce the organicText bread and fingerprints in petri dishes. The students will close list below: up the cell unit with a cell analogy, comparing the organelles of a cell • Itemsuch one as the City of Chicago! Next up, the OMS to something • Item two await your students to progress through medical Hospital! Anxiously Item exams, three grand rounds, and patient files! We hope the school, • board Item four of Downers Grove will come out to support and medical• community • Item five doctors and nurses. Last year we had a great turn question our young out and hope for the same.
Topic
In 8th grade, it's time to start the Physics unit in Miss Hamilton and Dr. VanDyke's science classes! With egg drops, solar panel cars, St. Baldricks money raising, and Kahoot Challenges, it will be a competitive quarter between the two classes! Who will take home the big W in this quarter's competitions?? The students will be saying "Let me ATOM" (get it get it??) in the battle of the physics wits! Stay tuned for the final results...
M A T H
It’s hard to believe that this school year is already half way over! We still have much more learning to do in seventh grade math. In Common Core 7 and Common Core 7 Double Block, the students are excited to be learning foundational algebra topics introduced in Chapters 5 and 6. We recently started Chapter 6 and have begun to explore the topics of equations and inequalities. Students are excited to use the inverse operations to finally solve an algebraic expression. In Math A, the students continue to work hard and keep up with the fast paced curriculum. All of the Math A students can identify like terms, coefficients, constants and simplify algebraic expressions. We are currently exploring how to solve equations and how to write an equation from a real-world problem. In Foundations, the students have just finished exploring the properties of proportions and proportional relationships. Next, we are moving on to study percents. We will use our new percent knowledge to calculate sales tax, tips, mark-ups, discounts and interest. Be sure to check our webpages for places to find extra practice, assignments and notes from class!
O’Neill math students are ready for Valentine’s Day
The students in Mrs. Messineo and Mrs. Magliola’s classes have been working hard and are to be commended for their accomplishments! In Common Core 8, we have just finished our chapter on Exponents. It is a very challenging chapter because there are many different concepts for students to master. We have just begun our Geometry unit! Students are working on completing a lot of vocabulary for this chapter. The students are surprised how much algebra they are using in Geometry. Some ways they use algebra include the Pythagorean Theorem and finding angle measurements. In Math B, students completed their first semester final exam. We are now in Unit 3 of the Math 1 book and studying Reasoning with Equations and Inequalities. Most of this unit is a review of algebraic concepts from Math A with some new concepts introduced. It is a fairly short unit. Geometry is our next major unit and will contain concepts from the eighth grade curriculum as well as the high school curriculum. Students are continuing to work very hard and are conscientious learners.
Annotate, text mark, margin notes, whatever you want to call it, Ms. Callaghan’s class has been doing it. This is a comprehension and analysis strategy that involves taking notes on your thought process as you read. We practiced this skill with the Neal Shusterman book, Full Tilt. We will continue to practice this weekly with a nonfiction article of the week. This will be a valuable skill for our students as they move on to high school. Prior to text marking, we completed a unit on poetry. We began by looking and listening to some songs, since songs are poetry set to music. Students then analyzed the songs and other poetry for a variety of literary devices and even wrote some poetry of their own. In language arts, we have continued with our Sacred Writing Time. One writing assignment this quarter was to write a bucket list. The focus of this assignment was to improve our sentence variety. Each item on the list had to be written in a complete sentence and each sentence had to start in a different way. This was challenging for some students, but helpful to all. In addition to writing, we continue our weekly vocabulary word parts and grammar mini lessons. Ms. Callaghan’s class continues to work toward their reading goals and each student has set a goal for our next MAP testing. Everyone is working hard!
~ Ms. Callaghan
READING / LANGUAGE ARTS M
A Note From Mrs. Saenz & Mr. Rennels’ Reading/LA Classes ...
Third quarter, here we come! In Reading class, we are beginning our Perspec?ve unit which includes a study of Human Rights and mul?ple, choice texts. Our next unit in February, we will be looking at nonfic?on structure and ar?cles using high interest texts. The students will con?nue prac?cing focused skills through mini-‐lessons. Finally, one of our favorite units of explora?on in Reading will begin towards the end of the quarter is our Genocide unit. During this unit, we will read the play, The Diary of Anne Frank, along with mul?ple informa?onal texts to gain background knowledge and to create new meaning from the atroci?es that occurred. Language Arts classes will con?nue to focus on mini-‐lessons through the study of research in February and spending ?me researching topics to later present in the quarter. We are con?nuing our book of “Confessions,” formerly known as the Autobiography Project. This style of wri?ng includes explanatory/informa?onal prompts, along with narra?ve and argumenta?ve wri?ng, and will take place throughout the third quarter un?l the month of May. Look for prompts to help your student stay on track with the wri?ng por?on of the Confessions book. Third quarter is a rather busy ?me in LA/Reading, and we look forward to journeying through the second half of the school year with our amazing students!
READING / LANGUAGE ARTS (Continued) In Mrs. Panico (Kostellic) and Mrs. Ferroli’s Language Arts classes, students are currently working on an Argumentative Speech about an interesting place. Students will need to provide three reasons as to why the place is interesting and then support each of those opinions with at least three facts. Students will also be asked to acknowledge another place that might be interesting and provide support for this second claim as well. Eventually students will be asked to reaffirm their original thesis statement or claim with further facts. Also, we continue to be involved with word parts and leveled vocabulary words, as well as grammar lessons. In Reading, students are finishing a Historical Fiction Genre Study by reading The Outsiders. Students have been text marking the novel with a focus on setting and how the setting of the book affects the characters and the story itself. This week, we are involved in the final assessment that involves a fishbowl discussion, the completion of a MEL-Con, and a compare and contrast activity between the book and the film. Most students have very much enjoyed the book and are excited to see the film later in the week! The Gifted Reading/ Language Arts class has been diligently reading and evaluating poetry for the last few weeks. We have reviewed poetic terms and have been examining famous pieces of literature including authors Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, Maya Angelou, and many others. From here, students began identifying their own poetry and applying the rules of critical analysis to determine a central theme. Furthermore, we will be creating a poetry dedication book as our final assessment, which will include authentic pieces of poetry. Later in the quarter, we will begin looking at classic literature and the famous allegorical text, Animal Farm, by George Orwell. In this unit, we will focus on the structure of society and use and abuse of power. The novel will be read for understanding and critical interpretation, and then students will demonstrate their interpretation of the theme through a presentation on human rights. While we are only halfway through our journey of the school year, the Gifted Reading and Language Arts class have grown and progressed tremendously since the beginning of the year. We look forward to our continued journey of success for the second half of the school year! ~ Mrs. Saenz
F O R E I G N
L A N G U A G E
The eighth grade foreign language exploratory class, French I and Spanish I courses introduce students to the target language along with the cultures of the countries where the languages are spoken. The emphasis is on developing meaningful communication skills that students can use in real life situations. Listening, speaking, writing and reading skills are practiced on a daily basis. Class activities are varied and meet the needs and interests of our students.
Foreign Language Study Strategies
There is a great deal of memorizing in foreign language learning. Figure out ways to study / memorize that work best. Examples: • Create a vocabulary list of words down the left side of a sheet of paper. Try to write the English in the column to the right. Check to see if you are right. Now fold the paper so you see only the English and to the right try to write the foreign word. Follow this procedure until you know the list of words. • Write each word and its definition several times until you know it. • Make a picture dictionary. Instead of writing a definition, draw a picture Try to find a clue or "hook" to help you remember. For example, in Spanish, vender = to sell. Think of a vending machine that sells you things.
ORGANIZE Look for ways to organize the material you are learning. For example: • Make flashcards: using index cards, write the foreign word on one side and the English equivalent on the other. • Categorize: As you learn new words, group them into categories (such as nouns, verbs - or places, foods, etc.) • Color code: On your flashcards, use one color pen for one category and a different color for another category.
GO OMS!
BOY’S VOLLEYBALL With Ared eyes and bed hair the 8th grade boys volleyball team pulls on there knee pads and Aghtens there shoes, it’s a 6:30AM pracAce. Guys dart across the court to get the ball that’s descending from its highest point in the air. But it’s sAll another 3 feet away, they know it they don’t get down and dirty it won’t be in Ame. With a thud, skid and arm stretched out they reach for the ball before it hits the ground, then hop up, trot back to their spot and, most likely, do it all over again. Volleyball is becoming a way of life for Billy Brown, Brendan Doyle, Brad Gall, Anthony Galindo, Joe Hardy, Evan Jordan, Jackson Lester, Mitch O'Halloran, Trent Phifer, Ben Skibbe, Kyle Vogt, Nic Zappala, Managers: MaW Gross, Peter Kowalski and Coach Reitsma The season starts Feb 4 with a match against Westlake, come out and cheer on the team.
