News from the Principal

N O R T H H A V E N N O R T H H A V E N N O R T H H A V E N N O R T H H A V E N

M I D D L E S C H O O LM I D D L E S C H O O LM I D D L E S C H O O LM I D D L E S C H O O L

M I S S I O NM I S S I O NM I S S I O NM I S S I O N NHMS News F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

I T I S T H E M I S S I O N O F T H E

N O R T H H A V E N M I D D L E

S C H O O L T O G E T H E R W I T H T H E

C O M M U N I T Y T O P R O V I D E A

C O M P R E H E N S I V E , C R E A T I V E

A N D C H A L L E N G I N G E D U C A -

T I O N A L E X P E R I E N C E T H A T

D E V E L O P S I N D E P E N D E N C E ,

S O C I A L E M O T I O N A L G R O W T H

A N D A N U N D E R S T A N D I N G O F

A D I V E R S E S O C I E T Y

Best Buddies

Story on page 3

NHMS and

SARAH form

Recycling

Partnership

Story on page 10

You ROCK!!

Spirit Day

Pictures on page 14

NHMS

Students of the

Month

December

2013

There is a lot going on these days at

the middle school! I want to thank all

of you who came out to the town

mee&ng back in January where the

Middle School Building Project was

discussed. Staff at the middle school

was able to provide tours to those

who live in town in order to help

them understand the current condi-

&ons of the middle school and our

need to move our building project

forward. The town voted to allow the NHMS Building Commi1ee to move

forward and begin the design process. This was an important first step and

one that I hope will lead to a new middle school and the best possible learn-

ing environment for the children of North Haven. I want to thank the Build-

ing Commi1ee members who are volunteering their &me because they be-

lieve this is important for the town of North Haven.

Also, coming up in March, NHMS will be honoring other volunteers by taking

our PTSA Board members to the Connec&cut Associa&on of School Volunteer

Recogni&on Banquet at Aqua Turf. This has become an annual event and is a

great way to say “Thank You” to the hard working parents who make up our

PTSA Execu&ve Board. I encourage parents to become more ac&ve members

in our PTSA – whatever &me you can give is appreciated. See our informa&on

on our web page.

P A G E 2

News from the Maroon Team

Language Arts: The students completed a unit on diversity. They enjoyed mee&ng in their book club groups

to discuss their self-selected books on the topic. We are now working on informa&onal essays about stu-

dents’ topics of interest. We will be star&ng a new unit on courageous acts. Students will understand how

courageous acts have a las&ng effect on others and our world.

Social Studies: Maroon Team Social studies students

have begun to learn about the earliest civiliza&ons of the

Ancient World. We started with the civiliza&ons of the

Fer&le Crescent, from Sumer to the Israelites. The stu-

dents used Microso@ Publisher to create a “Time Ma-

chine Travel Brochure” to create a trip back in &me to

visit four of the civiliza&ons and provide their customer

with a unique trip based on the highlights of each civiliza-

&on. The brochures turned out amazing, and Mr. John-

son agreed that he would love to sign up to take their

trips back in &me to the Fer&le Crescent! Next we jour-

ney a li1le southeast to explore “Ancient Egypt – The

Land of the Pharaohs”.

Math: Chapter 3 is coming to a close with dividing deci-

mals and solving work problems. Coming a1rac&ons:

Rates and Ra&os!

Science: We have entered into our weather unit and are star&ng to find out what different factors affect our

weather. Students have just completed a lab on heat transfer and will take the informa&on discovered here

and apply it to our changing weather. We will be comparing what we learn to what is reported by the mete-

orologist on TV. Let’s see how close we can come!

Seventh–grade Social Studies Using NEWSELA

Each of our 7th

graders now has an account on a free subscrip&on website called newsela.com. Newsela

serves the dual purpose of informing students about daily news stories and building their reading compre-

hension and cri&cal thinking skills. Our social studies teachers choose the ar&cles each student must read,

and is able to judge the student’s comprehension of selected common core standards based on the results of

a short, 4 ques&on quiz the student takes a@er reading the ar&cle. Ar&cle topics fall in the categories of war

and peace, science, kids, money, law, health and arts, meaning there is a topic of interest for everyone. Check

out the site when you get a chance – it’s free!

P A G E 3

Best Buddies Ever heard of Best Buddies? It’s an awesome club that matches students with Intellectual/Developmental

Disabilities in one-to-one friendships with non-disabled peers. The Best Buddies Club at North Haven Middle

School is enjoying a wonderful year of fun-filled activities, and our membership has grown to 69 active mem-

bers! The year began in October with our group’s participation in the Best Buddies Friendship Walk and con-

tinues with group meetings, large and small. There are five Buddy pairs here at the middle school who get

together and have fun together both at school and outside of school. This is also the seventh year of the

partnership between our club and the Best Buddies at the ACES Village School here in North Haven. There

are now 22 buddy pairs between our two schools who visit each other for monthly a@ernoons full of games,

snacks, music and laughter. The club members are looking forward to holding the annual fundraiser selling

snacks at the school play in March and then joining the NHHS Best Buddies Club to end the school year hav-

ing fun at our joint picnic in June.

To promote Team Unity and School

Spirit, team t-shirts have been pur-

chased for all 6th and 7th grade stu-

dents in their respective team colors.

The unique tie-dye styled shirts feature

the North Haven Middle School name

and Indian logo on the front. Students

will be wearing these t-shirts on special

team days and on field trips. Special

thanks go to the North Haven Middle

School PTSA for their generous contri-

bution towards the cost of the shirts.

Showing their Team Colors

Red Team News

Physical Educa&on students have been par&cipa&ng fitness

ac&vi&es for term 2. Students have been exposed to ac&vi&es

that can be explored for fitness throughout their life&me. In-

cluded were ac&vi&es such as jump rope and circuit sta&ons.

We also explored the avenue of home fitness videos. Ask

your student how he or she performed on the Insanity fit test!

We are very proud of their efforts.

Looking ahead to term 3 a greater emphasis will be placed on

team sports. NHMS PE values sportsmanship, coopera&on,

and teamwork through play.

Physical Education Department News

P A G E 4

Ben Blumenthal and his father demon-

stra3ng INSANITY to our 7th grade physi-

cal educa3on classes.

In Red Team Language Arts students are reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and researching the history of

this &me period. They are comparing the fic&onal account of The Great Depression and racial segrega&on

with what they have learned in their research of these topics.

Students are also striving to be “AWESOME.” November AWESOME Awards went to: Kelly Fresher, Nick Mo-

ran, Shannon Reilly, Donato Crisan&, and Nick Cristante. December AWESOME Awards went to: Jackson

Frank, Chris&an Senberg, Diana Meneses, Emma Pniewski, and Isabelle Chagnon. January AWESOME Awards

went to: Alexa Mantovani, Ian Crowther, John Crispi, Alex Ciaburro, and Brandon DeLucia. Congratula&ons!

News from the Music Department On Saturday, December 7, 22 of our band students audi&oned for the Southern Region Music Fes&val at

Washington Middle School in Meriden. 11 of our students were selected to perform!

In the 6th

Grade:

Gillian Regan for soprano in treble choir, Ma7 Wabunoha for alto sax in jazz ensemble and Tim Yang for

clarinet in concert band

In the 7th

Grade:

Mark Caiafa for alto sax in concert band and Jack Opramolla for euphonium in concert band

In the 8th

Grade:

Ben Baumgartner for trumpet in concert band, Charlo7e Cecarelli for flute in orchestra, Ryan Griffiths for

tenor sax in jazz ensemble, Riley Powell for tenor sax in concert band, Sam Preschell for trombone in jazz

ensemble and Rajani Subramanian for trumpet in concert band.

On Tuesday, December 3, our 7th

and 8th

grade bands performed their winter concert. Our 6th

grade band

concert was snowed out on Tuesday, December 10, so they performed on Wednesday December 18 during

the school day. Coincidentally, this day was also shortened due to inclement weather. Unfortunately, their

January 21st

make-up concert was also snowed out…

P A G E 5

News from the Art Department Approximately forty pieces of North Haven Middle School student artwork has

been selected to be displayed at the Connec&cut Children’s Medical Center in

HarNord during the months of February and March.

The artwork will be part of the hospital’s Arts in the Environment program.

This program is a collabora&on be-

tween the hospital and a handful of

Connec&cut schools. Artwork exhibit-

ed in this program is displayed for a

designated period of &me and helps

to maintain a family centered healing

environment for pa&ents. The art-

work from our school will line several

hallways and will surely brighten the

day for many children, parents and

staff.

The artwork supports the hospital’s

mission: Connec&cut Children’s Medi-

cal Center is dedicated to improving the physical and emo&onal health of

children through family-centered care, research, educa&on and advocacy.

We embrace discovery, teamwork, integrity and excellence in all that we

do.

Congratula&ons to North Haven students for being selected and repre-

sen&ng our school in this wonderful program!

White Team News During December, the students in Science class on White team participated in a fund raising effort to raise

monies for the Heifer International. Heifer International is a charity organization working to end hunger and

poverty around the world by providing livestock and training to struggling communities. During this season of

giving, the students were able to raise $140.00. the students all voted and with this money, we were able to

purchase a goat and a flock of chickens for a family from a 3rd world country. They picked the goat as it

would provide milk, cheese butter and wool. They are also great pets for families with children. The flock of

10 -50 chicks they purchased will provide the family with eggs and protein for nourishment and a source of

income. What a great way for us to play it forward.

Starting next week in Social Studies, students will be engaged in a mummification experiment where stu-

dents will be placed in groups and will use different ingredients to test and see which one works best at

mummifying a slice of apple. Students will have to use skills they have learned in science class including

observations, hypothesis and conclusions among others to complete this activity.

P A G E 6

Green Team News

Green team geography students have just finished

presen&ng Travel Guides on a chosen country in

Asia. They studied cultural, economic and social as-

pects of their countries and presented their research

to the class in a digital format. Students used Power

Point, Prezi, and websites to display their guides.

Some also shared authen&c music, ar&facts or food

from their countries.

P A G E 7

Navy Team News Navy Team Language Arts classes have started a new unit &tled What Would You Do? Students chose from a selec&on

of personal reading books and will use them as the basis for discussing morals, values and ethics in real life situa&ons

such as Rachel’s Challenge, Apartheid, and the Holocaust.

Students in Science have been focusing on the solar system with special emphasis on the planet Mars. They are going

to research facts about Mars to determine if humans could actually live there and colonize Mars in the same way

America was colonized years ago.

Students in Navy team’s Social Studies clas-

ses are working on a project where they

are combining the powers of a branch of

the government with the powers of a super

hero. The poster Superheroes take the

form of humans or animals, and highlight

the powers par&cular to “Cons&tu&on

Man”, “State Government Man”,

“Execu&ve Super Women”, “Legisla&ve

Dog”, and other state and federal govern-

ment superheroes.

Navy’s Math classes have just finished an ac&vity on

dila&ons where they took a comic and dilated it and

drew to scale. A dila&on is a zoomed-in version of

an original shape, where the new version maintains

the exact same propor&ons as the original. We have

now started a unit on Linear Equa&ons and how to

graph and interpret real life situa&ons.

English/Language Arts: Mrs. Kendrick/Ms. Jucke7

Hello Everyone!

I would like to introduce myself. My name is Allison Jucke1. I have been interning here at North Haven Middle School

since the beginning of the year, and am excited to have begun my student teaching with Mrs. Kendrick in Language

Arts. I graduated from Quinnipiac University last May with my Bachelor’s degree in English, and will be gradua&ng

again this May from Quinnipiac and will receive my Master’s degree in Secondary Educa&on. I am already enjoying my

&me here as a student teacher as we have introduced and delved into the unit en&tled: “What Would You Do?” In this

unit, we will be reading through the lens of Moral Decisions, considering them from all perspec&ves and angles. We

will be reading individual reading books, short stories, poems, and view some visual texts in order to deeply under-

stand Moral Decisions and their implica&ons. If anyone has any ques&ons or concerns, feel free to contact me at: juck-

e1.allison@north-haven.k12.ct.us I look forward to a wonderful experience teaching this unit!

History: Mr. Tancre3

Sage Team social studies students have formally submi1ed their le1ers of protest to Mr. Piazza last week. In class we

have been studying how the American Colonists sent le1ers of protest to King George III to request repealing 13 acts

of Parliament. Sage Team students were protes&ng two rules that they would like to see either changed or repealed.

Some of the complaints included: the dress code, the op&on of class elec&ves in the Middle School, cell phone use,

opening the small courtyard off of Café B during lunch, and that students should be allowed to choose which café they

sit in. Through this assignment students are learning about their First Amendment rights of freedom of speech “and to

pe&&on the Government for a redress of grievances” by construc&ng sound arguments.

Science: Ms. Jacob

Remind101 is a service that helps teachers communicate with students using their phones (or email if that is the pre-

ferred mode of communica&on). It is a one-way text messaging system. With Remind101, all personal informa&on is

confiden&al. Teachers will never be able to see your phone number, nor will students and parents see theirs. Ms. Ja-

cob has been using this to send out reminders for assignments to students. If you, a parent or guardian, are interested

in receiving these messages, please follow the instruc&ons below. This is not mandatory for students. It is simply an-

other form of communica&on besides my web page. You can unsubscribe or opt-out at any&me.

Remember, you cannot send me messages. If you need to contact me, please email or call. For advanced level classes,

enter this number 302-526-4028 and text this message @e5e73 or to receive messages via email, send an email to

5e73@mail.remind101.com. For average level class, enter this number 302-526-4028 and text @41a237 or to receive

messages via email, send an email to 41a237@mail.remind101.com.

Math: Ms. Wohler

As the year progresses, the classes are

learning all different math concepts, but

more importantly, they are learning how

to prove the informa&on is correct and

not to just immediately look for an equa-

&on. They are discovering the equa&ons

themselves and proving the equa&ons do

make sense.

Pre-Algebra learned about the Pythago-

rean Theorem “a2 + b

2 = c

2” and used rec-

tangular objects in the room to prove the

theorem worked.

Sage Team News

P A G E 8

P A G E 9

In Science, students are about to embark on their journey with real-life Atlantic salmon. The salmon eggs were deliv-

ered in mid December in a developmental stage called eyed-eggs. The salmon have developed enough so that their eyes

are able to be seen through the egg case. A new unit on weather has begun. Start taking notice of the weather as it

changes and see if you can make any connections.

In Language Arts, students read Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea and a choice Nutmeg book during the first quar-

ter. Blue Teamers wrote narra&ves and took the point of view as a middle schooler in today’s challenging world as

they learned to develop plot and conflict… Our vocabulary is BOOMING with our new online program called

“Membean.” We are currently exploring two essen&al ques&ons surrounding diversity (1) how do I make a difference

in my world? and (2) why is there conflict in the world? Students are reading Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Cur-

&s as a core (class) text and a choice book to model our learning and book talk. Our next wri&ng challenge: EXPOSITO-

RY. Happy 2014 and please check Ms. Crismale’s webpage for

con&nuous updates and a showcase of student work!

In Social Studies we completed the unit on Early Man with

our OTZI The Iceman Journals. Then we were off to the Fer&le

Crescent; the birth place of civiliza&on. In December students

used Microso@ Publisher to produce an on-line travel bro-

chure to highlight some of the ancient civiliza&ons in Mesopo-

tamia.

In Math, our Blue Teamers have been hard at work using

different materials and strategies learning about Math!

They’ve been studying the first couple of chapters in our Math

“In Focus” textbooks; comple&ng a set of warm-up problems

called the Do Now based on a pro-gram called Calendar Math

that infuses Algebra and Geometry into a monthly calendar,

prac&c-

ing con-

cepts

through

an online ques&on and answer tutorial website called IXL and

hopefully having fun through it all earning &ckets for “good”

things they do that give them the opportunity to win weekly

class raffles! Life in C12 is “good!”

In Spanish and Italian class, students can introduce them-

selves and others, ask and answer personal iden&fica&on ques-

&ons like name, age and birthday, begin and end basic conver-

sa&ons, tell &me and give important dates, and describe the

weather. In the next few months, students will learn about

meal &mes, order food and drinks, and state their food and

drink preferences. At home, parents should encourage their

children to teach them a new word in the target language every

day, explaining is learning! Students should also review their

vocabulary flash cards every night.

Blue Team News

North Haven Middle School

and SARAH Recycling Partnership

We are pleased to announce that North Haven Middle

School is partnering with SARAH Recycles to help pro-

tect our environment while at the same &me helping

to create jobs for SARAH Par&cipants.

You may have no&ced the green recycling bins in both

the cafeterias and faculty areas. North Haven Middle

School is now partnering with SARAH Recycles by do-

na&ng the refundable bo1les and cans that the facul-

ty and students deposit in these recycling containers.

A SARAH Recycles work crew will collect the cans and

bo1les on a weekly basis and will then process them

at a reverse recycling center in East Haven. Every nick-

el from these cans and bo1le goes directly to create a

paycheck for the SARAH workers.

Last year SARAH Recycles processed over 777,000

cans and bo1les. This is a WIN-WIN program that we

are pleased to par&cipate in.

Our program here at North Haven Middle School is an

expansion of the partnership with the Town of North

Haven which was created several months ago. Cus-

tomized large steel recycling bins are located in vari-

ous loca&ons.

P A G E 1 0

Library Notes January is proving to be a very busy &me in the library. The Green Team with Miss

Mullaney researched countries in Asia and then used either PowerPoint, Prezi or

Weebly to make a mul&media presenta&on to share with their class. Mrs.

Zaehringer’s science classes researched weather disasters and then created an in-

forma&ve brochure to highlight their findings. Mrs. Zambrello’s geography classes

studied the economy, health, government, history and educa&onal prac&ces for

countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and will go on to prepare a persuasive PowerPoint to

share their research with their classmates

P A G E 1 1

Puzzle Piece Mural in D Hall Friends of Rachel Club News

The Friends of Rachel Club has started off the New Year by displaying hands in the cafeterias made by our

entire student body, along with our staff. Each hand contains a response to the ques&on, “What would you

do if you had just one minute to spread kindness?” In addi&on, one of the main hallways is colorfully

adorned with linked puzzle pieces of posi&ve messages created by students and staff alike. These joined

pieces reflect the spirit of connectedness found within North Haven Middle School.

This month, The Friends of Rachel Committee will kick off their 2nd Annual "100th Day" Food Drive to help

with our local food bank. Please be sure to check the school website next month for more details and dates.

Club members each chose a former elementary school teacher to write a le1er of apprecia&on, for having

had a posi&ve impact on them. Starting in January, the Letter Writing Committee will be meeting on alter-

nating Tuesdays from the previously scheduled Thursday Friends of Rachel Club meetings.

Hands of Kindness

P A G E 1 2

Students in geography on the Violet Team are currently studying

the region of Sub-Saharan Africa. Their task is to provide an over-

view of their country's history and then choose one of the Millen-

nium Development Goals (MDGs) to focus on. They will choose

between "Ending Poverty and Hunger", "Providing Primary Educa-

&on", or "Reducing the Spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseas-

es". Inves&ga&ng current programs that are in place in their

country, and then recommending one of them for con&nued

funding, will be the focus of their Power Point presenta&ons to

the "Africa Microloan Associa&on".

Language Arts students on Violet team have

memorized their prepositions—many saying all

of them under 10 seconds. Violet team is read-

ing the shocking true story of Phineas Gage: A

Gruesome story of Brain Science” and looking

into how to answer questions with reasoning.

Violet Team News

Yellow Team News The Yellow Team is having an exci&ng and busy year. In our English classes we are exploring several essen&al

ques&ons regarding individual and community ethical decisions and choices. As we con&nue to read and ponder

selected novels, short stories, poems, plays, and essays, as well as inves&ga&ng the life influ-

ences and publica&ons of persons, who exhibit this process, our discussions will delve deeply into the reality

that ethical decisions and choices , at &mes, are difficult

Mrs. Laster’s Science class is doing more than “Thinking globally”. They are exploring the Solar System

through a close look at the terrestrial planets and the gas giants. Sorry Pluto.

In Mrs. Baron’s 8th

grade math classes, students have been learning how to solve mul&-step equa&ons for the

missing variable. Next up, students will be learning how to graph linear func&ons on the coordinate plane. Students

should con&nue to keep up with their IXL computer assignments. Algebra classes have finished linear func&ons and,

a@er a quick unit on Pythagorean Theorem, will be moving on to systems of equa&ons.

Mr. Go1’s Social Studies class is just finishing its unit on the US Cons&tu&on. By now the students should be

well versed in “the supreme law of the land”. It’s hard to believe the year is half over!

P A G E 1 3

The Connec&cut Associa&on of Language Teachers (otherwise known as COLT) annually hosts a poetry recita&on con-

test, for students from grades 7-12. This year North Haven Middle School is proud to send 6 students to this contest,

o@en referred to as the “Olympics of World Language”. 8th

grader Francesco Spirli will be compe&ng in French. The

students compe&ng in Italian are 7th

grader Jenna Grasso and 8th

graders Ysabel Gilmore-Farmer and Laura Borrel-

li. 7th

grader Jenna Mahmoud and 8th

grader Charlo1e Cecarelli will compete in Spanish. We wish these students

well, as they prepare for their upcoming compe&&on to be held at Central Connec&cut State University on March

17th

.

The World Language Department is sponsoring a celebra&on of Na&onal World Language Week here at NHMS during

the first week of March. All students in the World Language classes will make symbols of their ethnic heritage to dec-

orate the halls. Among other ac&vi&es there will be daily announcements in different languages and ethnic foods in

the cafeteria.

Students in the World Language Department have been busy so far this year studying gree&ngs, foods, celebra&ons,

daily ac&vi&es and adjec&ves to describe ourselves and others. Many classes have produced presenta&ons on the

Spanish-speaking countries of the world, including Mrs. Arboleda’s 7th

grade students who studied La&n American

countries. Students learned where the countries are located, the currency they use, and found out about a famous

dish from each country. They provided recipes and even prepared the foods for their classmates to taste. This out-

standing cultural ac&vity proved to be both fun and educa&onal.

In the sixth grade, Mrs. Ierardi’s classes of Italian and Spanish concluded lessons on the Christmas season in America

and abroad and then studied food and meals. They learned to talk about their food and drink preferences, ask oth-

ers about their favorite foods and discuss tradi&onal meals.

News from the World Language Department

Le@ to right standing: Ysabel Gilmore-Farmer, Francesco Spirli and Laura Borrelli

Seated le@ to right: Jenna Mahmoud, Jenna Grasso and Charlo1e Cecarelli

P A G E 1 4

“You ROCK” Spirit Day

January

17th