March 20: ArtWorks

April 2-9: Spring

Break

April 30: SHEF fund-

raiser at CD and Me,

7:00-12:00

May 8: Family Run/

Walk

Important Dates to

Remember

Spartan 300

Inside this issue:

Sports 1-3

Washington D.C. 4-5

Note from Principal 7

Team 8-1 8-9

Team 8-2 10-11

Team 8-3 12-13

Team 7-1 14-15

Team 7-2 16-17

Team 7-3 18-19

Encore 20-22

3rd Quarter: January 2010-March 2010 Volume 3, Issue 3

Edited and produced by Joanna Maas

For additional events and

dates to remember, see our

calendar posted on the

website

Principal, Beth Lind

Assistant Principal, Paula Sereleas

Dean of Students, Jim Letsos

Unfortunately, the team

saw their memorable 2009-2010 season come to an end on

February 13th, in the Elite 8 round of the IESA 8-4A State

Tournament, with a 50-36 loss

to the Junior Redbirds of Alton. The Spartans came out quickly

after the opening tip, building a 10-1 lead thanks to two threes

from J.T. Limon and solid de-fensive play. However, Alton

fought back in the final two minutes of the period, and

closed the gap to 10-8 at the end of the first quarter. The

second quarter saw more back and forth action, but the

Spartans were not able to hold

onto the lead, and went into halftime trailing 20-18. How-

ever, as they had done all year, the team came out of the break

After defeating the Homer

Mustangs 41-29 to win the IESA 8 - 4A Regional, the Summit Hill

Junior High Spartans eighth grade boys’ basketball team

advanced to the IESA 8-4A

Sectional Championship on February 10th to face Matteson

Colin Powell. The Spartans and Eagles fought back and forth

the entire first half and went into halftime tied at 23. The

third quarter began the same way, with both teams trading

baskets and defensive stops, but the Spartans’ used the final

two minutes of the third quar-ter to go on six to zero run and

took a 36-30 lead into the

fourth quarter. The Spartans began the fourth quarter the

way the third ended, building their lead to nine points, and

eventually holding off the late charging Eagles for a 48-41 win,

and the sectional title. In the win, the Spartans were led in

scoring by Julian Hylton’s 15 points, while Erik Eggert added

14 points and Colin O’Connell

had 10 points. The win im-proved the Spartans’ overall

record to 24-1 on the season, and advanced them to the IESA

8-4A State Tournament, where they played Alton on Saturday

(Feb. 13th) at 1:00PM at Morton High School in Morton, IL.

strong, and opened up the sec-

ond half with a 6-0 run to take a 24-20 lead on Alton. The

Junior Redbirds quickly an-swered with a run of their own,

and the Spartans found them-

selves down 31-28 after three quarters. Despite all of their

efforts, the Spartans could get no closer in the fourth quarter,

and Alton converted 7 out of 10 free throws down the stretch

to put the game out of reach. In the loss, the Spartans were

led by Julian Hylton’s 13 points and 10 rebounds. J.T. Limon

and Ken Christensen each added six points, while Colin

O’Connell and Holt Erikson

added five and four points respectively. The final record

for the Spartans was 24-2 on the season.

Spartans Win Sectional and Advance to Elite Eight.

Page 2 Spartan 300

Spartan

Sports

Top left: 8th grader Molly Thacker works with Kindergarteners and 1st graders on a half-time cheer. Right: The Biddy Basketball Cheer-leaders Group. Below: Front Row: Payton Lang, Jackie Farquhar, Mallory Moran, Jenni Buxbaum, Delaney Creamer, Alyssa Murray Second Row: Isabella Gutkin, Kris-ten Dye, Celisse Pennington, Mariah West, Brittany Booth, Bailey Doyle, Nadine Vaciatis, Third Row: Krista Stonesifer, Lexi Snedden, Rebecca Guinea, Erin Julius, Mimi Mack, Lauren Boman, Abby Moisan, Coach Carlson

Biddy Basketball is a fund-

raiser which allows junior high students to work with 1st, 2nd,

3rd, and 4th graders from Ar-bury Hills, Frankfort Square,

Mary Drew, Dr. Julian Rogus,

and Indian Trail and takes place on March 12th at Summit Hill

Junior High. On Saturday, March 6th, Summit Hill hosted

Biddy Basketball practice in

Biddy Basketball Cheerleaders Party in the U.S.A.

which junior high students

were given the chance to work with the elementary students

and coach them in both basket-ball and cheerleading.

Summit Hill Junior High’s

Spirit Squad cheerleaders assisted the Biddy Basketball

cheerleaders in learning three sideline cheers and two short

motivational cheers. The girls

The Summit Hill Junior

High Competition Cheerleading

Squad had a great season this

year. They were able to com-

Place at Alan B. Shepard High

School, and 4th place at IESA

State Competition. The eighth

grade girls were sad to see the

season end as the team headed

home from Springfield. Good

luck to all the eighth graders:

Brittany Booth, Rebecca

Guinea, Erin Julius, Lexi Sned-

den, Krista Stonesifer and Dan-

ielle Vieni. The team formed a

great bond and worked hard

together to accomplish many

firsts for Summit Hill Cheer-

leading.

were also taught a half-time

cheer and dance to Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the U.S.A.”

The girls did a fantastic job at practice. Thanks to 8th grader

Molly Thacker, and 7th graders

Bree Zyer, Bri Kowalczyk, Chloe Burch, and Alissa Volante for

coaching!

Year of Firsts for Competition Cheerleading

pete in a total of six competi-

tions and were awarded a tro-

phy at each one. Must recently,

they received 5th place in the

ICCA Cheerleading Champion-

ships on Valentine’s Day in

Springfield, IL. The girls did a

fantastic job and had a very

successful season. Throughout

the season they received many

trophies including; 3rd Place at

Lincoln Way North, 1st Place at

Pontiac where they qualified to

go to ICCA Championships, 2nd

Place at Andrew High School, 1st

Page 3 Volume 3, Issue 3

“There are really only

two plays:

“Romeo and Juliet” and

put the darn ball in the

basket.”

~Abe Lemons

breaking game to Mokena 26-25 in the semifinals.

Down by 10 points in the 4th quarter, the Spartans re-

fused to quit and went on a 10-1

run to finish the game. Denis Moore sparked the comeback

by hitting 2 clutch three point-ers and Kyle Ostrowski gave an

all out effort on defense to create 4 points of his own.

Down by one point with a min-ute to go, the Spartans had had

two shots go in and out, but offensive rebounds and hustle

allowed the Spartans to main-tain possession. With only 1.7

The 7th Grade Boys Bas-ketball Team finished their

season 12-12 and began to play more and more as a team as

the season progressed. Ener-

getic and aggressive defense fueled the team and the

Spartans were able to get qual-ity wins this year at Bourbon-

nais Upper Grades School, Troy, Liberty, and against rival

Hickory Creek. The boys showed enough promise to

earn a number three seed in regional play. After defeating

Martino in the quarterfinals, the Spartans lost a heart-

seconds remaining on the clock, the Spartans ran a well

executed inbound play and Denis Moore took a great shot

that went half-way down before

it rimmed out. With the out-standing effort given, the boys

have reason to hold their heads up high.

Coach Hagen would like to thank the entire basketball

team for their effort and dedi-cation given throughout the

season. Every player on the team became better and better

after every game and Coach Hagen is proud of each player’s

7th Grade Girls Volleyball Has Another Successful Season

Right: The 7th grade girls volleyball team poses for a picture after earn-

ing another trophy.

of the state tournament in

Bloomington, Illinois. In the sectional title game, the girls

had to fight back numerous times from deficits as large as

eight points. The hard work

paid off with the 21-25, 25-22, and 25-23 victory. The 7th

grade Summit Hill Spartans are 18-5 for the season and are

lead by their three all-conference players: co-captain

Kylie Snyder, Rachel Burkman, and Amanda Rockrohr. Other

team members are: Morgan Giusto, Abby Greenwood, Carley

Hamann, Kayla Horlacher, Jor-dan Jackovich, co-captain Molly

Kilbride, Valen Manns, Abby

The 7th grade girls’ volley-

ball team is having a great season with three champion-

ships and an elite 8 appear-ance. The Lady Spartans have

won the Des Plaines Valley

Conference regular season championship and 3rd place in

the conference tournament while also capturing the IESA

Regional Championship on March 4th with their victory

over cross town rival, Mokena, 25-12 and 25-20. The season

continued with a grueling three set victory over Manteno on

March 8th to win the IESA Sec-tional title earning the Lady

Spartans a birth in the Elite 8

Moisan, Haley Ruch, Dana

Searle, and manager Emma Henley. The 7th graders are

coached by Mr. Keith McGrail.

7th Grade Boys Basketball Ends Season Strong

Page 4 Spartan 300

Washington

D.C.

Top Left: Brandy Benak, Alexis Meyer, Bryanna Johnson, and Marc Zyla lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. Bottom Left: John Orowick dons some Revolutionary War garb at Mt. Vernon. Below: Pictured in front of the White House are 8th graders who attended the field trip in Washington, D.C.

tery. After stopping at John F.

Kennedy’s grave, they watched a changing of the guard at the

Tomb of the Unknowns. After the changing, students Brandy

Benak, Alexis Meyer, Bryanna

Johnson, and Marc Zyla laid a wreath at the tomb. They

learned a lot at the Newseum, the National Cathedral and the

Holocaust Museum. Students took pictures at the White

House and saw the Franklin Roosevelt and Thomas Jeffer-

son Memorials. After dinner and games at ESPN Zone, we

headed back to the hotel to get some much-needed rest.

The third day was just as

busy. Students started at Washington’s home in Mt.

Vernon. They even saw Wash-ington’s teeth, and no, they

are not made of wood. After lunch, we finished with time at

the Smithsonian Institution’s American History Museum.

The museum displayed ruby

From February 26

through March 1, 127 eighth graders from SHJH spent the

weekend doing a whirlwind tour of Washington, D.C. It

was only supposed to be three

days, but winds in D.C. kept delaying flights, and 2/3 of the

group had to add an extra day! On the first day, they

visited the inside of the Capitol building and went up in the

Washington Monument. They saw the war memorials for

WWII, Korea and Vietnam, and climbed the steps of the Lin-

coln Memorial, where they stood in the same place Martin

Luther King Junior stood for

his “I Have a Dream” speech. After a filling dinner at Buca di

Beppo, students were es-corted around old town Alex-

andria and heard many ghost stories.

The second day started early, and everyone headed

for Arlington National Ceme-

slippers from the “Wizard of

Oz”, the flag from the War of 1812 for which Francis Scott

Key wrote the “Star Spangled Banner”, dresses from first

ladies, and so much more.

Summit Hill students exhibited excellent behavior

on the trip. Flight attendants, other passengers on the

planes, tour guides, bus driv-ers, and security guards all

commented on how good the students were. Great job

students! A very special “Thank

You” goes out to all our chap-erones for a great trip: Mrs.

Rodgers, Mrs. Schlesselman,

Mr. Strzykalski, Mr. Weber, Mr. Chrusciel, Mr. Evenhouse, Mrs.

Reed, Mrs. Bottomley, Mrs. Lane, Miss Canter, Mrs. Os-

trowski, and Mr. Letsos. We couldn’t have done this with-

out you all!

Eighth-Graders Enjoy Trip to Washington, D.C.

Page 5 Volume 3, Issue 3

To George’s House We Go!

thought day in and day out

walking up and down the creaking stairs to put his kids

to sleep or the last thoughts jumping into his head as he

headed out the front door to

lead a fledgling nation into battle. What was he thinking as

he looked out over the Poto-mac River, a truly magnificent

sight once the mind captures the concept that George him-

self probably walked ten thou-sand steps over the same

ground we covered. Is it true? Was he really here? How many

nights must he have pondered and worried and discussed out

loud to himself the decisions

that would eventually shape our country and thrust himself

into American history for-ever? One can only assume.

My guess is he thought like any man with a family. The

importance of truth, honor, and courage scream out like

Delayed. Cramped. Cold.

Is that how to sum up an ex-perience to our nation’s capi-

tal? Not a chance! At least not if you were one of the more

than 130 students and chaper-

ones that just experienced Washington, D.C. Yes, we could

talk about the cold weather that consumed us like a wet

blanket. We could talk all day about the exercise our gas-

trocnemius muscles received after walking nearly 15 miles.

And, we could squeeze in an honorable mention to our

friends of the friendly skies for cancelling our flights not

once, not twice, but three

times (sorry United). Despite all of this, I’d

rather talk about the history that we consumed in four days

of walking, talking, and survey-ing. It was my first time to

Washington, D.C. and it’s an experience I will remember

forever. The part from the trip that was the “coolest” for me

was walking through George

and Martha’s house at Mt. Vernon.

As our group made the walk up to the Washington’s

house, I couldn’t help but feel as though I would somehow

run into George himself com-ing down the path or tending

to his herd in the field. Dirt road, trees, fencing, and an

old Potomac River are what we found near the house. My

mind began racing as I en-

tered the home, some of which was completely original, un-

touched by refurbishing hands. I couldn’t help but think

what George must have

sirens in the darkness.

Whether the voices told him to lead the nation or not, he did.

If you listen carefully when you make the journey to his

house, you can hear them too!

Top: A crowd of people gather around George Washington’s house. Below: Students gather in front of a statue of Eleanor Roosevelt at the FDR Memorial.

Page 6 Newsletter Title

will be plenty of young hopefuls

ready to take their shot at a former legend!

Our Chess Club Members include: Jack Alvarez, Susie

Kreuz, Elizabeth Montalvo,

Nicole Suhm, Calvin Duong, Jack Quick, Joe Leone

Alex Arnott, Nate Kies

The 2010 Spartan Chess

Club has been meeting twice a week at Summit Hill Junior

High. At every meeting, play-ers, strategizing to outduel and

outsmart their opponents,

bring fierce competition to the table . Club members range

from seasoned veterans to beginning players, but all stu-

dents have grown in their knowledge and appreciation for

this great game. Young chess pros in the making have given

Mr. Hagen all that he can han-dle; however, Mr. Hagen has yet

to be defeated! Mr. Hagen’s father, a former high school

chess champion himself, will be

coming soon to a Spartan Chess Club meeting and there

Bryon Nush, Jimmy Kreuz

Matt Juskie, Allie Dunnett Kaelynn Moss, Courtney Suggs

Eric Myers, Mike Wells, Brittany Hall, Justin Broderick, Josh

Arvia, Eric Myers, Shar Taylor,

Omar Abu-Hijeh, and Emily Howard.

Chess Club—We’re Not Your Average Pawn!

Mrs. Condon and Mrs. O’Keefe– Reading Specialist

Family Fun Night Can

Increase Vocaulary Make learning new words a fun part of your family routine.

There are several popular games on the market that can

develop thinking and vocabulary skills through a fun and casual

atmosphere. By playing word games with your family, you can

combine family fun time and

word development at the same

time. You might have some of these games tucked away in a

closet or basement. Dust them off, make some popcorn, gather

the family, and find some time

to play! Try any of these games: Boggle,

Scrabble, Upwords, Catch Phrase, Scattergories, Imagine

It, Outburst, Taboo, Tribond, Password and/or Balderdash.

“When you see a good

move, look for a better

one.”

~Emanuel Lasker

Dear Parents/Guardians:

We are in the final stretch of the year as we enter fourth

quarter. I would like to express my appreciation to the parents

and staff for assisting me in

helping our students under-stand that the assessments

they have taken this year, NWEA and ISATs, are important and

the results are a critical fea-ture of their academic profile.

We continue to encourage stu-

dents to understand what the assessment results mean and

how it’s important to prioritize doing their personal best.

We are proud of the dedi-

cation and the effort expended by our students and our teach-

ers as they continue to work hard to display their talents

either in the classroom, in the performance arena, in compe-

titions and/or on the playing

fields. Our Spartan programs have been extremely success-

ful this year and this is directly correlated to the support from

our parents.

Parents, please remem-ber, sometimes the smallest bit

of encouragement and praise makes a huge difference in a

student’s attitude and perform-ance. Your active support at

Page 7 Volume 3, Issue 3

A Note from the Principal

SH Staff, Parents and Students,

I know individuals make New Years resolutions and do their best to keep them. Let me give some good information regarding diet changes. There are several manufacturers that come up short on the itemized list for the food labels. Therefore, please be very careful to check the food labels before

purchasing the items needed. There are some foods that sound healthy, but are packed with calories. For example, a plain yogurt naturally contains about 16 grams of sugar per cup. If you eat flavored yogurt, you could be downing 15 or more additional grams of sugar. Therefore, take plain yogurt

and add fresh fruit. Also, when the manufacturers remove the sweet stuff from sugar-free cookies and candy, they often add fat. So, if you’re craving a

cookie, a good substitute would be a graham cracker. They taste like cookies but have much less sugar (1 teaspoon). Another culprit in disguise is trail mix. One ounce of banana chips pack ten grams of fat (they're usually deep-fried). Yogurt-covered raisins are also not good diet choices because they

are coated with partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil, which, contains saturated and trans fats. Instead, you could toss your own trail mix with nuts, dried fruit (raisins or chopped apricots), whole-grain cereal,

and mini pretzels. Another guilty diet buster is ground turkey, which often includes fat and skin. A three ounce serving can contain 13 grams of fat---almost triple the amount in lean ground beef. Look closely at

labels! Extra-lean turkey is your best bet with 1 gram of fat and no saturated fat per serving. Can't find

it? Buy at least 92% lean ground beef. I am signing off now. Stay healthy, keep moving. ~Nurse Lucy

A Note From Nurse Lucy

There has been so much

excitement at the SHJH library as students are enjoying the 20

Rebecca Caudill 2010 Award nominees. This program has

been a tremendous reading

incentive for all students. A Summit Hill Educational Foun-

dation grant purchased four copies of each of the 20 titles.

Students are earning free treat day certificates for every five

nominees they read and com-plete an Accelerated Reader

Quiz. They are earning $5.00

Border Gift Certificates for every 10 books read and a Mar-

cus Theatre pass for every 15 books read. A surprise will be

given for the students who

read and take AR quizzes on all 20 titles. The SHJH SCO has

supported the Rebecca Caudill program by providing all of the

prizes for students. A special book cart has been designated

in the SHJH library to house these books in order to pro-

mote the program and also to

save students’ time when they are in the library. See my

teacher web page from the SHJH home page for a list of

the 20 titles.

Also, The EBSCO online data-base has been used by many

classes for research on a vari-ety of topics in all core subject

areas. Students access EBSCO

at: https://

search.ebscohost.com

username: shjh ; password: lib.

A Note from our School Librarian, Ms. Noonan

This database can be accessed

from home or school. Using an online database provides credi-

ble resources and sources of information from professional

journals, magazines, an ency-

clopedia, newspapers, etc., which is essential for students

who are learning research skills as they prepare for high

school and college. I teach students EBSCO use throughout

the year.

home significantly affects your

child’s school experience. As always, if you have a concern

with your child or would like to share a comment or have a

question answered, please

contact us. We are here to help! Have a safe and fun-filled

spring break.

~Mrs. Beth Lind

Ms. Beck’s students

should be commended for their growth and progress in the

area of writing. They have suc-cessfully implemented strate-

gies to develop well focused

pieces of writing with depth

and “out of the box” thinking. Students will continue to

gather strategies to add to their Writing Tools and make

continual progress throughout

the fourth quarter. Students

are reading a class novel which will serve as a source of writ-

ing inspiration.

when he is brought to live on a

ranch with a man named Walter Landis. It is a book that many

of my former students have given good reviews.

In grammar, we are just

beginning chapter 24, “Making

Ms. Greene’s reading

classes are beginning a novel study. We will be reading the

novel, Bearstone. Bearstone is the story of a young Indian boy

named Cloyd. The novel looks

at the experiences Cloyd faces

Words Agree.” Chapter 24

covers subject-verb agreement and agreement between pro-

nouns and antecedents. We will also continue our work in the

Vocabulary Workshop work-

book.

Page 8 Spartan 300

Ms. Greene– Reading & Language Arts

Ms. Beck– Language Arts

Team 8-1

My math classes have

been moving right along giving everything their all! The stu-

dents should be proud and keep up the hard work! They did a

great job preparing for ISATS!

In Honors Algebra, they

have begun to realize rational

equations are the key to open-ing the door to advanced alge-

bra topics. Algebra 1B has discovered the world of poly-

nomials. The students are able

to add, subtract, and multiply

view actual footage from the

previous Torino 2006 games, as well as the Vancouver 2010

winners. Athletes and scientists were interviewed, explaining

the physics behind every sport.

With the recent Vancouver

2010 Winter Olympics, we were very lucky to be able to take a

closer look at the secret behind the sports: Physics = science +

math! Students were able to

Mrs. Furmanek– Math

Mrs. Hollowell– Science

them, but little do they know

that factoring is coming soon. In Algebra 1A, the students are

up to their ears in linear equa-tions. They can graph them,

but will they be able to write

them?

We are continuing our

discovery of activities that use physics. Students have been

asked NOT to even attempt the Tablecloth trick without per-

mission and supervision!

In Mrs. McSpaden's class,

the students have wrapped up the WWII unit. Thanks to those

who brought pictures, artifacts,

and stories. For the next few weeks, we will be working on a

research project related to

WWII. All research, writing, editing, and typing will be done

Page 9 Volume 3, Issue 3

Mrs. McSpaden– Social Studies

evil side of man's nature and

turns himself into the nasty and villainous Mr. Hyde, the terror

of London! The laughs roll on as this farce spoofs Robert Louis

Stevenson's classic, DR. JEKYLL

AND MR. HYDE. An outrageous plot, terrible jokes and riotous

stage action combined to make this jolly entertainment a spoof

to remember.

On Saturday, January 30,

the Summit Hill Drama Club presented its night of “Science

Gone Wrong.” The Drama Club presented two one-act plays,

“Under Jekyll’s Hyde” and

“Attack of the Giant Grasshop-pers.”

In “Under Jekyll’s Hyde,” Dr. Henry Jekyll, a respectable

London doctor played by David Blakeman, experiments with the

Drama Club Productions Mix Science and Humor Together

Top Left: Pamela (Savanna Steck) and Abby (Tara Enright) get caught by Miss Shreke (Breánne Peacock) while trying the face cream. Bottom Left: Officer Seek (Brianna Cappos) takes on the evil Mr. Hyde (David Blakeman) Above: The cast of “Under Jekyll’s Hyde”

In “Attack of the Giant Grasshoppers,” students are at the science fair, and the exhib-

its are goofy: vegetarian pira-nha fish, Hamburger Helper

face cream and avocado-

flavored popcorn. Unfortu-nately, Pamela, played by Sa-

vanna Steck, has her green potato project rejected and she

vows revenge. Meanwhile, on the remote island of Malibula,

something awful has happened

at the "Unusual Bug Research

Center." The once friendly grasshoppers have turned

nasty. What has this to do with the science fair? The face

cream has the grasshoppers

as a prime ingredient. Anyone who slaps on the goop becomes

a grasshopper! The trapped students pin their hopes for

rescue on Captain Cracknuckle and his SWAT team.

in class. Wednesday quizzes

will resume on March 24 with Terms 1-65.

Studies and Reading. Amazing

creativity was shown as stu-dents depicted the novel and

the time period by creating scrapbooks, designing Power-

Points, interviewing grandpar-

ents, collecting artifacts, build-ing 3-D representations, and

directing videos. Our next cross-curricular

unit connecting Social Studies and Reading will involve the

World War II time period with a

focus on the Holocaust. Stu-

dents will be reading The Diary of Anne Frank while research-

ing the Holocaust and selecting culminating projects to reflect

their learning. A highlight of

the unit will be a visit from Mr. Sidney Finkel who will address

the 8th grade students on May 6th. Mr. Finkel’s perspective as

a survivor of the Holocaust will give our students a first hand

account of the tragedies he endured.

In Mrs. Miller’s and Mrs.

Rodgers’s classes, students have just finished their cross-

curricular unit on the Great Depression by reading No Promises in the Wind by Irene

Hunt. Students responded to the chapters by taking part in

literature circle roles followed by small group and large group

discussions. Their culminating project for the unit earned

them points in both Social

Page 10 Spartan 300

Mrs. Mil ler– Language Arts

Ms. Rodgers– Language Arts

Team 8-2

“Perserverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.” ~Newt

Gingrich

It has been an exciting

time for Social Studies in Mr. Evenhouse’s class. We have

finally entered the 20th century of history and are enjoying

being able to make connections

with what we are learning. We began by talking about World

War One and focusing espe-cially on the United States’

involvement. From there we

discussed the Roaring Twenties

and the Great Depression. We focused our attention during

the Great Depression on FDR’s response as well as on trying

to understand how the depres-

sion affected people on an individual level. We will be

finishing the quarter up with a look at the Second World War

and the Holocaust.

working on quadratic equations

and FACTORING! The honor students will

take a cumulative test on eve-rything they learned from last

year and this year, and will

Mrs. Zayed's math classes

have finished up their Geome-try unit. Students in the 1A

class will be exploring the world of graphing and slope,

while students in 1B will be

move on to Algebra 2. In Alge-

bra 2, they will have the oppor-tunity to review, as well as

further their algebra skills such as solving system of

equations involving three vari-

we’re exploring the Earth’s

layers, Pangea, plate tectonics, the New Madrid seismic zone

and safety precautions for earthquakes. A Problem Based

Learning (PBL) model will be

utilized to teach the informa-tion. The students will be re-

quired to research information and write a 1-2 page expository

paper for the PBL unit. Their

final project will involve a PowerPoint presentation,

poster or a short movie clip. As I tell the students, “it’s all

down hill from here” as the

school year is starting to wind down.

H2O and C6H12O6 are well-

known compounds in our eve-ryday lives. We have been

exploring the world of chemis-try and chemical reactions.

The students lit matches and

extinguished them during the foamite lab and burned Flaming

Hot Cheetos to measure an exothermic reaction. Next

Page 11 Volume 3, Issue 3

Mrs. Zayed– Math

Mrs. Szymanski– Science

Mr. Evenhouse– Social Studies

“No one can possibly have lived through the

Great Depression without being scarred by it.

No amount of experience since the depression

can convince someone who has lived through it

that the world is safe economically.” ~Isaac

Asimov

ables, solving matrices, using

determinants and Cramer's Rule to solve system of equa-

tions, and use inverse matrices to decode messages.

Ms. Marinucci's class has

been working on ISAT practice and persuasives and will soon

be studying the novel Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a novel about

the Holocaust. For the final

quarter, expect more writing practice and literature circles,

where the students choose

their own novel to study and present creative dramatical

projects. The students worked hard on their ISAT tests and I

thank them. This is a great

group of kids!

Page 12 Spartan 300

Ms. Marinucci– Language Arts

Team 8-3

We have made it through

our exploration of the causes and results of World War II and

the Holocaust. The students have also been exploring the

changes that came after the

war. This includes the United

State’s new global responsibil-

ity as protector of Western democracy, American social

reform and equal rights. Along the way we will examine how

and why America became in-

volved in Korea and Vietnam.

extended responses. The stu-

dents are learning and applying math test-taking strategies.

When ISAT is finished, Algebra 1A students will be graphing

linear equations and functions.

After working hard, the

Cougars have completed the Geometry unit! They have also

been focusing on preparing for ISAT by taking practice tests,

and practicing short, as well as

Algebra 1B students will be

exploring exponents and expo-nential functions.

Happy Pi Day!! (March 14 = 3.14 = first 3 digits

of pi)

ing earthquakes and our risks

in the Midwest. This will culmi-nate with student’s group pres-

entations as well as individual student research papers. Look

for more exciting details to

come!

We have just wrapped up

our exciting chemistry tour, ending with the ever popular

“Flamin Hot Cheeto lab”. New and exciting things are going to

be happening in science class!

We will be taking on a problem based learning activity involv-

Ms. Bottomley– Algebra

Mrs. Schlesselman– Science

Mr. Chrusciel– Social Studies

“Those who cannot remember the past are

condemned to repeat it.”

~George Santayana

they will compare and contrast

his work. In doing so, they will examine mood, tone, theme,

and symbolism. After Spring Break, we will continue to focus

on symbolism and characteri-

zation while reading a class novel.

We’ve strengthened our

writing skills in both persuasive writing and narrative writing.

We’ve also been working on poetry and the “art of perform-

ance poetry.” Students are

now beginning to focus on the work of Edgar Allan Poe, and

Ms. Canter– Language Arts

Page 13 Volume 3, Issue 3

Above: In Ms. Canter’s Language Arts class,

students had fun performing “Casey at the Bat”

during a poetry unit. Pictured above from left

to right are: Amanda Kemp, Brittany Booth,

Molly Thacker, Nick Garcia, Ms. Canter, JaMarr

Sanders, Jimmy Dusek, Austin Grossi, and Matt

Delgrosso.

Right: Poetry performers in Ms. Canter’s Lan-

guage Arts class pose for a picture. Pictured

from left to right are: Sarah Berger, Gina Krze-

biot, Kaitlyn Kilpatrick, Amanda Cleofe

A few students in Mrs.

Goebel’s class took the oppor-tunity to write for our class

newsletter again this quarter. Here are their perspectives:

“’I-SAT, YOU-SAT, WE ALL

SAT FOR ISAT!’ was our main focus this quarter in Mrs.

Goebel’s gifted class. Our groups were all given a topic to

teach to the class. The best part about teaching the class

was making the ISAT lesson posters! We found that our

favorite activity this quarter was our vocabulary lessons

from our Vocabulary Workshop book because it taught us new

words and we were able to

remember them and use them in our writing. Poetry is our

newest unit and we now know how to read and understand it!

We didn’t think we really en-joyed poetry until now! We also

read the novel, “The Watsons

Go to Birmingham” and learned

about the issues people faced in the 1960’s. One of our spe-

cial treats this quarter was receiving our free time. We

earned stickers for excelling in

class and deserved it!”

“This quarter in Mrs. Goebel’s reading and language

arts class, our favorite activity was reading the novel “Fever”

and completing the fun projects that went with it! One specific

project that we completed was

Tic-Tac-Toe where we were able to create advertisements,

songs, and collages. Poetry is our newest topic that we have

learned about and enjoy. We were able to write What Would

Happen If… poems that truly

showed our creativity! One

cool tool we’ve used throughout the year is called Q-TIPS, which

we’ve used to help our daily writing. The most useful infor-

mation that we’ve gained is

from reading for Accelerated Reader because we can read

for enjoyment and learn at the same time. Finally, using our

“Eggspert” classroom game system keeps our learning

exciting and fun!”

guage Arts students have also

been focusing on their inde-pendent reading. Two Inde-

pendent Novel Studies (INS) are being completed this quar-

ter. The first INS was differen-

tiated by choice of genre: ei-ther fiction or nonfiction book

reports. These are currently displayed in the classroom to

share. A biography is the as-signment for the second INS,

but the product has been differ-

entiated. Students may choose to report on their selected

biography via a report form, a time-line, or a comic strip.

Work is in progress for the

biography projects at this time. The students have enjoyed

being able to choose their own projects, and we all look for-

ward to viewing the final prod-ucts.

This is such a busy time of

year! The 7th-grade Language Arts students in Mrs. Berg-

mann’s classes have been working very hard to prepare

for ISAT. Practice in Coach

books, writing to extended response prompts, and hands-

on activities help the students hone their reading skills and

concepts. In addition to the extra preparation, the Lan-

Page 14 Spartan 300

Mrs. Bergmann– Language Arts

Mrs. Goebel– Language Arts

Team 7-1

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”

~ Lewis Carroll

cepts of alternate interior

angles, alternate exterior an-gles, corresponding angles,

vertical angles, and adjacent angles. We will be having a pi-

reciting contest in class on

March 12! The overall winner will earn a real pie!

Team 7-1’s math classes

have been full of geometry activities! We measured our

bedrooms and bathrooms at home to determine the perime-

ter and area. Also, using

masking tape on the floor to form parallel lines and trans-

versals, we mastered the con-

Page 15 Volume 3, Issue 3

Mrs. Christensen– Math

brochure on the information

they have learned. In the future the students will attempt to

recreate a Jurassic Park. Do you think it’s possible? The

honors class will debate clon-

ing. What side are you on? Lastly, the Beebops and dogs

will be on the loose when we finish learning the ins and outs

of heredity.

We have welcomed Mr.

Zenawick from GSU as our student teacher for the semes-

ter. He has joined our class just in time to teach the stu-

dents about cells and their

processes. Classes have fin-ished the mitosis songs and

posters. To bring the informa-tion to the “real” world the

students have chosen a cancer to research and are creating a

Mrs. Ostrowski– Science

To prepare for our up-

coming math competitions in March , the seventh grade

math team has been conquer-ing some tough ath problems in

the areas of Order of Opera-

tions, Fractions/Decimals/Percents, etc. Wish us luck for

our first contest on March 17th!

Math Team Gearing Up for Competit ions

Did you know that we

completed the ISATs in the first week of March? In Mr. Barnas’

and Mrs. Heiden’s classes we prepared for the tests by writ-

ing extended responses and

reading short stories and an-swering test questions. Since

ISATs are finished, we will be working on poetry and persua-

sive writing.

Page 16 Spartan 300

Mr. Barnas- Language Arts

Team 7-2

By: Ellie Brtis

and Jackie

Farquhar

“Education makes a people easy to lead, but

difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to

enslave.”

~Lord Brougham

Geometry! Slopes! Equa-

tions! In Mrs. Blevins’ math classes we learned the basic

concepts of geometry, in order to prepare us for the ISATs.

We also learned about slope-

intercept form and solving linear equations.

Mrs. Blevins– Math

Ms. Trotta’s social studies

classes are flying through American history. We took the

U.S. Constitution test in Janu-ary and now we are learning

about our first presidents. We

will be taking the IL Constitution test in the 4th quarter, so we

will know how our state and national governments run by

the end of the year!

Page 17 Volume 3, Issue 3

Ms. Trotta– Social Studies

Mrs. Heiden's language

arts classes have gotten off to a good start. They are busy

reviewing subjects, predicates, nouns, and pronouns. Further-

more, the students are busy

writing stories in groups using their vocabulary words. The

concentration in reading this

quarter is non-fiction, so many non-fiction essays have been

read. In two weeks, the honors class will begin reading the

novel, The Pigman, by Paul

Zindel.

Mrs. Heiden– Language Arts

In Mrs. Stemen’s

science classes we have been learning about the periodic

table. We made flashcards for every single element, and have

been participating in different

labs! In Honors science, we

made baby storybooks for an

element and in the regular science classes we adopted an

element.

Mrs. Stemen– Science

down their figurative language

and delving into their use of the poetic word. The students have

been doing an impressive job breaking through the

“nonprose” styles of some

pretty big time poets. Even though the junior high mind

would rather think about vam-pires or PS3, our poetry unit

has been quite successful so far.

The writing has not

ceased! After just finishing up persuasive essays, we are now

into our “mind-opening” poetry writing. We will enter our

yearly contest to see how many

students will be published in the Celebration of Young Poets

anthology. And speaking of poetry…

Noyes, Poe, and Service are not safe! We have been breaking

Page 18 Spartan 300

Mr. Sull ivan– Language Arts

Team 7-3

ferent chapters in the book.

In Algebra we will be learning about Chapter 5: Writ-

ing Linear Equations and Chap-ter 6: Solving and Graphing

Linear Inequalities. The stu-

dents will be graphing a lot during these chapters so they

need to make sure they have their graph paper handy.

In Pre-Algebra we will be learning about Chapter 3: Multi

After completing Chapter

4: Graphing Linear Equations and Functions in Algebra and

Chapter 2: Solving Equations in Pre-Algebra, we started our

Geometry Unit. The students

have learned about perimeter, area, circumference, volume,

surface area, distance, mid-points, and transversals. We

will be finishing this unit by mid-March and moving on to dif-

-step Equations and Inequali-

ties. Students will be learning how to solve more complex

equations. Students, please be re-

minded that if you need extra

help or more clarification about a topic, I stay after

school almost every day…You just need to let me know.

Mrs. Kelly– Algebra and Pre-Algebra.

selected Tic-Tac-Toe projects,

which brought out their artistic and musical talents. Currently

we are working on a poetry unit, which is exciting for us

because we are the detectives

and the poems are our myster-ies that we have to decode

through the use of poetic de-vices.

For Language Arts, we have been writing non-stop,

sharing stories about our

worst day of school for our

personal narrative prompt and making convincing and power-

ful arguments in our persua-sive essays, as well as continu-

ing to refine our literary re-

sponse writing and analytical skills. Overall, the past three

quarters have been a success and the final quarter will be the

culmination to a fantastic year of learning and maturing.

After reviewing the ele-

ments of fiction in short sto-ries, students in Ms. Wydra’s

Reading and Language Arts classes put their knowledge to

the test reading Fever, 1793, a

novel about a girl who lives through the horrors of the

Yellow Fever epidemic in Phila-delphia. After reading the

novel, students displayed their understanding of the story by

working on a series of student-

Ms. Wydra– English

We are currently working

on the concepts of "Westward Expansion" and

"Industrialization". Students are studying how the U.S. gov-

ernment acquired the lands

west of the Mississippi and how the lands were slowly devel-

oped by pioneers. We will soon

incorporate the novel Weasel in

advisory which deals with the problems of moving the natives

off of their land. As for Indus-trialization, students will learn

of advancements in machinery

which allowed for the growth of factories and factory towns

along the rivers in the northern

states. Students will learn the

benefits of Industrialization through a "Paper Airplane

Factory" simulation. As we near Spring Break, students

will be learning about Illinois

government and they will be taking the Illinois Constitution

test.

next week for all to view.

Life Sciences bring a new and vast array of fresh con-

cepts. We are beginning with the Animal and Plant Cell. We

have constructed the cells and

have taken a journey to the “Organelle Trail”. Students

recreated a Western town and compared different establish-

ments at the time with the animal cell parts. This analogy

will help them cement these important building foundations

of Biology. We did “Genetics with a Smile” Lab, in which the

students created a smiley faced based on dominant and

recessive genes. The Bee Bop

Lab also paralled Genetics and used alleles, genotypes and

phenotypes. The Punnett

Square was introduced and we look forward to investigating

Mitosis, Meiosis, Cellular Activi-ties and more. The students will

be classifying the animal king-

dom and this unit incorporates our “Design Your Own Experi-

ment” with earthworms. Note taking skills are being strength-

ened as we fine tune these strategies for 8th grade.

I am so proud of our 7th grade students and their in-

quiry method that they have developed through labs and

discussions. Our Junior Biolo-gists are now heading down a

very exciting path and I hope

they enjoy the adventure and learn as much as they can.

Our 7th grade students

have just left the world of Chemistry and are heading into

the exciting arena of Biology – Life Sciences. Our Junior

Chemists focused on

The Periodic Table of Elements, the make-up of the atom, physi-

cal and chemical changes, and the states of matter. We par-

ticipated in labs and practicals, in which we identified elements,

compounds and mixtures. Teacher demonstrations were

performed to identify the types of changes that occur. The

students culminated this unit with an Element Baby Book that

included all that we learned

throughout Chemistry. They will be on display in the library

Page 19 Volume 3, Issue 3

Mrs. Hartley– Science

Mrs. Lane– Social Studies

Page 20 Spartan 300

Encore

This term, there has been

a lot of fun going on at the forensic science station in Mrs.

Hauser’s class in Summit Hill Junior High! In forensic science

you learn about forensic sci-

ence and do activities related to it.

When I interviewed my two partners at the forensic

science station, I asked what their favorite activity had been

so far. They both simultane-ously replied, “fingerprinting!”

Fingerprinting was one of the main activities and things you

can learn about at the forensic science station. The main rea-

son you learn about finger-

printing at the station is be-cause real forensic scientists

use fingerprints to identify people. The fingerprint can be

used to identify people because everyone’s is different! So, as

one of the main activities at the

station, we have to take our

partners finger prints and put them on an identification card

identical to the ones that real scientist and FBI agents use!

Fingerprinting is just one of the

many activities in forensics! When I asked my partners

about any other favorite activi-ties in forensic science, one of

them said “using the pro-scope.” The proscope is a

device that is used by forensic scientists to help find fiber on

materials. The proscope does this by using its very powerful

lens, and showing magnified images of whatever object you

are looking at on the computer!

The proscope and discovering fibers are so important to

forensic science because fi-bers are collected on everyone

and can give you good evidence and clues for a crime. There is

also one more interesting thing

Mrs. Hauser– Applied Tech

in forensic science though!

In forensics, my group learned a lot about the history of

crime solving and investigating. One fact that I know no one else

would ever have guessed that my

group learned in forensics, was that Mark Twain, was the first

person in the United States to raise awareness of the impor-

tance of fingerprint taking! Also, we learned that many places

around the world require you to scan your fingerprint! Even Disney

world does, to make sure that you didn’t share or sell your passes to

someone else! Forensic Science is a great

experience at Summit Hill Junior

High and it has taught me and many others the fascinating lives

of forensic scientists! Forensic Science is definitely an interesting

profession and is a very good learning experience for everyone!

Bottom: Krutin Kundaria, Jarod Glawe and Alex Maksymiak dust for fingerprints.

draw these same boxes with

more detail to become furni-ture. Each student was given a

$2000 budget to design their dream room. Requirements for

the room consisted of a few

simple furniture items: a bed, side table, dresser, and a lamp.

Two gallons of paint were an automatic $40 from the stu-

dents’ budgets, but all molding, floors, windows, and doors did

not affect the students’ budget so they could focus on the

furniture. The rooms were colored

using color pencils. Students studied value and blending

techniques during this process,

creating highlights, shadows, and everything in between.

Finally, the students cre-ated a poster with images of

their original furniture from magazines and catalogs, their

budget breakdown, and their room drawing. The students

were extremely successful with their dream room projects and

I am very proud of how they

turned out. Great job Term Three!

Art Students Design

their Dream Room on a

Budget!

What would your room

look like if you were able to design it any way you wanted?

Third term art students experi-enced this challenge involving

vocabulary, math, science, problem solving skills, and

creativity all in one project! We began the project with

a “practice project.” Students studied one-point perspective

vocabulary in relation to the

project. For those of you who do not know, perspective is a

science involving proportion and the study of the size and

space of objects in relation to one another. They created a

simple box design which was shaded using permanent

marker to create a pointillism technique with our value study.

The classes carried these

same ideas over to their next project entitled “One-point

Perspective Dream Room” in which they used perspective to

Ms. Doyle– Art

Volume 3, Issue 3

Pictured Dream Rooms: Top: Lauren Bowman, Right: Nick Niendorf, Bottom left: Katie Lowery, Bottom right: Casey Ervick.

Page 21

Spartan

UPCOMING DATES: March 27: Spaghetti Dinner at HW, 3-8 pm,

last concert begins at 8pm March 29: Percussion Ensemble Concert 6:30

pm at SHJH April 16: Jazz Bands will perform at Frankfort

Square School Art Fair, 6:30 pm April 24: IGSMA State Contest, hosted at SHJH

May 4: Jazz Coffeehouse Concert, 7pm, SHJH May 10: JH Bands’ Spring Concert & Awards,

7pm, SHJH May 14 & 15: SHJH Music Department Musical

Revue, 7 pm, SHJH

Page 22

Bands will be competing in the

IGSMA District VI Organizational Contest, hosted in Manhattan.

Each band will perform three pieces and be judged by a panel

of three adjudicators. If they

receive a first division rating, they are eligible to compete in

the IGSMA State Organizational Contest on Saturday, April 24th.

Summit Hill JH will be one of the state contest sites this

year! Do you enjoy fun music?

Do you like spaghetti? Then our annual Spaghetti Dinner is for

you! On Saturday, March 27, the Band Boosters will be present-

ing their 17th annual Spaghetti

Dinner at Walker school. Dinner will be served from 3:00 until

8:00 and our district’s four concert bands will be perform-

ing throughout the day. Our

junior high Concert Band per-forms at 6:30 and the Sym-

phonic Band will take the floor at 8:00 pm. Tickets are $6 and

are available from any band

member or at the door. This is the sole fundraiser that the

Band Boosters do each year. Funds raised support the band

program in our district for grades 5 through 8.

Our Percussion Ensemble will be presenting their “Night

of Percussion” Concert at 6:30 pm on Monday, March 29 in the

band room, featuring our three percussion ensembles. They

will be playing pieces ranging

from “Lions, Tigers and Bears” to “Fresh Trash” on giant alu-

minum trash cans. This is a fun concert that the groups have

been preparing for all year long. Be prepared for LOUD!

Ms. Coughlin– Band

On Saturday, February 13,

approximately 60 band stu-dents participated in the Illinois

grade School Music Association Solo & Ensemble Contest. There

were 49 entries and our stu-

dents earned a total of 45 first division ratings! In addition,

four entries received perfect scores! Earning these perfect

scores were seventh grader AJ Brattoli for his tuba solo; a flute

duet by seventh graders Amanda Jackson and Alison

DeBruyn; a flute duet by sev-enth graders Nicole Collopy and

Brittany Patla, and a clarinet quartet composed of seventh

graders Josh Arvia, Montana

Johnson, Jon Jellison and eighth grader Alec Chase.

On Friday, March 12, the SHJH Concert and Symphonic

included a variety of vocal

warm-ups, vocal exercises, and rehearsal of choral repertoire.

Two of the students’ favorite pieces were “Here Comes the

Sun” by the Beatles and “Don’t

All three sections of Encore

Choir were met with great success during the third term!

Students learned about music theory, sight singing, and good

vocal technique. Daily classes

Stop Believin’” by Journey. The

students capped off the end of the term with performances

for Mrs. Christensen’s math classes.

Mrs. Goddard– Choir

Left: (Left to Right) Front Row: Delaney Creamer, Ashley Bettenhausen; Second Row: Paige Kurkechian, Michelle Housh, Maddie Witt, Savanna Steck, Nicole Suhm Third Row: Lisa Lederer, Lauren Leganski, Kaitlyn Kilpatrick, Katie Sheehan, Bailey Olson, Abbey Coleman, Luke Dahleen, Bree Zyer, Autumn Marcin-kowski Above: (front to back) Jennifer Michuda, Jillian

Nast, and Kara McCauley