Fall is a time for Change!

As our seasons change here in Western New York, so do our

students and school community. Middle school is full of change

and new beginnings. Some of our new students here are

experiencing all of that for the first time, and some of our

returning students are experiencing new things as well! The important message to remember with any change is to

stay positive during change.

Change can have such a wonderful and influential impact on the lives of our students. Staying positive is the key to

successfully navigating change. The other aspect that usually follows change is success! Success is a byproduct of

change, which involves a growth mindset and character building. If we had immediate success in change, we

wouldn’t build the character needed to sustain that success.

Here at ETMS one of the programs we utilize here is the Second Step Program. “The evidence-based Second

Step Program for Grades 6–8 helps schools teach and model essential communication, coping, and decision-making

skills that help adolescents navigate around common pitfalls such as peer pressure, substance abuse, and bullying

(both in-person and online). The outcome? Reduced aggression and support for a more inclusive environment that

helps students stay in school, make good choices, and experience social and academic success.” The Second Step

lessons are taught by our teachers with the support of the counselors and administrators. Our goal is to take a

proactive approach, teach our students about these issues, and model the proper behavior on how to handle these

various types of situations.

So as our leaves change, and we enter the winter season, let’s embrace the change that we are all experiencing.

Let’s work together to ensure our students’ success and the ability to build the character to sustain that success. I

encourage you to reach out to us here at ETMS, if you need help or have questions for us. When we are one team,

working together, we can ensure our students will be successful in a positive learning environment! We can be the

change together!

– Mr. Jordan Schmidt, Principal

Upcoming Events

November 9 - Half Day for Students

November 12 - Veterans Day Holiday

November 13 - Picture Retakes

November 21, 22, 23 – Thanksgiving

Principal’s Corner Edward Town Middle School 11/8/2018 Edition 2

Announcement

Our 10 wk. Grades will be available to view on the Parent Portal Friday, Nov. 16th (approx. 4pm)

If you are having trouble logging into the Parent Portal, please call 215-3003 for assistance.

News from the Nest

Team 6-1 Mrs. Acklin, Mrs. DiFilippo, Mrs. Gotowko, Mrs. Sabo

Students on Team 6-1 enjoyed their Halloween in school while focusing on the

difference between figurative and literal language. To begin, each class read a book of idioms written by a group of students in Reseda, California. Students then chose one of their own idioms to illustrate, telling the difference between the figurative and literal meaning. In true Halloween spirit, each student selected a different idiom to represent during a team breakfast. Costumes included, “When Life gives you Lemons, Make Lemonade”, “Hitting the Books”, “A Thorn in My Side," "Let the Cat Out of the Bag” and “Two Peas in a Pod.” As students continue to read the novel, Freak the Mighty, they search for idioms and discuss how they enhance the author's writing. Students enjoyed this team activity.

In math class, students have just completed a unit on rate and ratio. They discovered the importance of determining unit rate when shopping by deciding which items at “ETMS Grocery Store” were the best buy. They are currently beginning the unit focused on converting fractions to decimals and percentages.

In social studies class, we have been learning about the ancient civilization of the Indus River Valley and reading about the origins and beliefs of Hinduism and Buddhism. Our next unit will focus on ancient China. Students will learn about three philosophies that influenced rule in ancient China. They will even get to experience each philosophy in the classroom through role-play. It will be interesting to see which philosophy they prefer.

News from the Nest

Team 6-3 Miss Bauer, Mrs. Ponivas, Mrs. Qualiana, Mrs. Rider

As the first marking period comes to a close, we would like to share with you what we have been working on. In ELA, students have been participating in a writer’s workshop. Students are writing personal narratives about special moments from their lives. We are continuing to work on independent reading goals, learning how to use the ACES strategy, and practicing summarizing. We have also created Halloween cards that include simile poems.

In math, we have finally completed the ratio and rate unit. We now get to move on to the exciting, new unit involving decimals, fractions, and percents.

Students in social studies have been busy learning about ancient India. They have been doing an outstanding job at making connections between all of the ancient civilizations and cultures.

Please continue to monitor your child’s homework completion and check Parent Portal on a regular basis. We are looking forward to the next 30 weeks with all of your wonderful children.

Team 6-2 Mrs. Budzich, Mrs. Gramza, Mrs. J. Miller

Team 6-2 is soaring! Students have become familiar with the routines and procedures of ETMS. We are becoming responsible, safe, and respectful and following the Falcon Fundamentals. To celebrate fall and the end of the first marking period, we had a team party including treats and entertainment.

In ELA, we are reading the fantastic novel Freak the Mighty and are exploring various topics including bullying, friendship, and heroism. We are currently working toward writing solid middle school paragraphs and will soon be diving into essay writing. When we finish our novels and upcoming essays, we will begin our nonfiction unit of study. In this unit, we will read a variety of texts and learn strategies good readers use when reading for information. In Social Studies, the students have been exploring the ancient civilizations of Egypt and India. We have written poems about Hinduism, illustrated bricks to demonstrate the teachings of Buddha’s Eightfold Path, and created posters to show the achievements of the Gupta Empire. The work has been both fact-filled and creative, and the effort has been great. Next stop...Ancient China!

Students have become masters at writing and solving ratio problems. We learned about a variety of strategies including tape diagrams, proportions, and ratio tables. Students looked at different problems and determined which strategy worked best with each problem type. It was hard work but rewarding. Weekly reviews continue and the morning help session is in full swing. Students are welcome to come every Thursday morning at 6:45. We are now starting to work on percentages and looking at the relationship between fractions, decimals, and percents.

News from the Nest

Team 6-4 (Part 1) Mrs. Braham, Mrs. K. Miller

Time Sure Flies When You Are Having Fun! News from Team 6-4

It is hard to believe that the first marking period is coming to a close and that the holidays are just around the corner. Team 6-4 has been one busy bunch of students since our last newsletter. Each ELA class is fully engaged in a reading novel which has led to some very interesting discussions on character development. Essay writing has begun and, for their first essay, the students wrote about the obstacles that were faced when trying to introduce pizza and sushi to the United States. The students enjoyed writing about this yummy topic!

In math class, we are wrapping up our unit on ratio and proportions and are diving right into the study of decimals, percents, and fractions. Make sure your child has completely memorized the chart of these conversions for this unit as it will help them to succeed in this chapter. It is also recommended that the students try to develop a routine where they are completing one lesson per week for Imagine Math as ten lessons are required by the end of each marking period.

Social Studies class finds us in the midst of our unit on Ancient Egypt and Energy is

the unit of study taking place in our science classes. As you can see, our students are quite busy!

News from the Nest

French Classes – Mrs. Gedeon, Ms. Yash

What’s going in French?

7th graders are having fun while learning how to describe themselves and their friends. They are excited to move beyond the basics like greetings, numbers, telling the date and their birthdays. Soon students will embark on a totally new project that they will submit online! Stay tuned.

8th graders just completed a very challenging task where they had to create and present a complex monologue about activities they do with their friends and on their own. This really showcased what 8th grade French students are capable of.

Writing & Research Skills – Mrs. Bubar

Students in Mrs. Bubar's Research & Writing Skills class painted inspirational messages on rocks after writing I AM poems. The messages are meant to inspire others and to add positivity and beautification to our school. Thanks to our principal, Mr. Schmidt, the students recently had the opportunity to "plant" their rocks in our official ETMS Rock Garden this past month outside the cafeteria. Each year, every seventh-grade class will add inspirational rocks to the garden.

News from the Nest

School Counselors – Mrs. Lombardo and Mrs. Yeates

On November 8th some of our WEB Leaders attended the

Kids Escaping Drugs 12th annual Summitt. Students participated in

various workshops involving activities on team building, self-esteem,

empowerment and making healthy lifestyle choices. They also learned

ways to promote positive choices within our school community.

News from the Nest Mrs. Failing, Mrs. Pluff

October has been a fun month for Mrs. Failing and Mrs. Pluff’s classrooms! In ELA, we have been learning about comprehension skills to become better readers and writers! In Math, we have been working on long division and algebraic expressions. In Social Studies, we are learning about Americans exploring the West in the 1800s! In Science, we have been finishing the Scientific Method! All students are enjoying exploring different grade level specials!

We went on our first service learning trip to Greg’s U-Pick and learned about pumpkins, apples, and many other crops. We went on a hayride to gain knowledge about the farm, and we picked pumpkins and walked through a corn maze. Students and staff had a fabulous time! We have been continuing our monthly Coffee/Muffin Sale at ETMS for the month of October as well. Students continue to work hard to raise money for service learning trips! Students are fostering and learning the needed skills to grow their life skills from their involvement in these sales and our learning based field-trips. Students are learning to take the lead and have more responsibilities with each sale! Our goal for our November learning trip will to go to a grocery store to shop for our Thanksgiving lunch at school!

Our students’ hard work was celebrated this month during our monthly incentive to celebrate their achievement of at least an 85% of positive behaviors on our Class Dojo System. Also, the last day of the month was Halloween and we had a Harry Potter themed celebration! Students are striving towards becoming more independent and achieving the goals set for them and goals they are setting for themselves! We continue to be excited for the 2018-2019 school year!

Team 7-1 Mrs. Bender, Mrs. Carson, Mr. Creamer, Mr. Evarts, Mrs. Gleason, Mr. Hanzly, Mrs. Jordan, Mrs. Sipowicz, Mr. Steinel

Team 7-1 Hard at Work!

As the first marking period is coming to an end, our wonderful

students have been working hard at highlighting their skills in their academic areas.

In ELA, students have been reading first-hand accounts of the Titanic disaster. In doing

so, they have been learning how positive changes can emerge out of tragedy. In keeping

with the theme of change, students have started learning about the American Revolution

and those factors that caused this monumental event to occur. Fun with numbers is

always the anthem in math! Students just finished lessons on proportions and ratios and

will be starting a unit on positive and negative numbers. As any parent of a seventh

grader knows, they are constantly in motion! That will certainly be the case in science

over the next few weeks, as students will be studying Newton’s Laws of Motion, while

doing many inquisitive, hands-on activities! In addition to the terrific things going on in

each class, students are continuing to work on character education activities designed to

teach tolerance and empathy.

As we start our second marking period we want to make sure our kids are being

academically successful. Please remember to sign up for the Parent Portal if you haven’t

already! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

News from the Nest

Team 7-2 Mr. Goehle, Mrs. Jasper, Mrs. Jones, Mr. Myers, Mrs. Zamorski

News from Team 7-2

The first ten weeks flew by, and we are now moving full steam ahead into second quarter. The back-to-school jitters are gone, and Team 7-2 has really been working hard!

In Social Studies, students have been studying European Exploration and Colonization. The students created fake Instagram pages and presented their explorer to the class. They also created and presented infomercials to attract people to the English colonies. Looking ahead, classes will be studying the events leading up the American Revolution.

All of the math classes have finished up with ratios and proportions. Next, they will be learning about integers: how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide them. From there, students will move on to adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing positive and negative fractions and decimals.

In English Language Arts, students read about the Titanic and created PowerPoint presentations analyzing what went wrong that fateful night. Students also worked together to include solutions they would have presented to the president of the shipping company. They finished the quarter by entering The Twilight Zone, reading a play called Monsters are Due on Maple Street. Students will finish the quarter working on a theme essay about the play, as well as writing thank you letters to veterans, which will be presented on Veterans Day. The second quarter book report will be due in January. More information is to come.

In science, students have been exploring the concept of Density. Students participated in a boat design contest- and the winning team's boat was able to carry over 400 pennies! They worked on labs that found the density of different materials and compared those to the density of water. Finally, they’ve been using their math skills to measure and calculate mass, volume and density.

We have really enjoyed getting to know all of the students, and we have noticed that several students are displaying really positive qualities. To encourage more positive attributes throughout the year, Team 7-2 will be presenting Student of the Month Awards to students on team for positive behavior and character. For the month of October, the following students were recognized for being helpful without being asked: Aiden Bruch, Catherine Smith, Luke Watkins, and Lauren Soto. For the month of November, the character trait team teachers will be looking for is being grateful and thankful. Students will be awarded a certificate and Falcon Bucks for the school store. Congratulations!

News from the Nest

Team 8-1 Mrs. Benk, Mrs. Braun, Mr. Coulter, Mr. Creamer, Mr. Hanzly, Mrs. Jordan, Mrs. Marotta, Mr. Pavan, Mrs. Sirianni, Mrs. Zimmerman

News from Team 8-1

Mr. Coulter’s science students are learning about the vast expanses of space as we embark on our study of astronomy. Students will learn about our place in the solar system, the galaxy, and the universe. We will investigate many of the newest discoveries concerning the search for nearby solar systems and earth-like planets.

Mrs. Marotta and Mrs. Sirianni's Math 8 students have finished learning about exponents and scientific notation and are now learning about transformations. These transformations include translations, reflections, and rotations. Needless to say, there is a lot of graphing going on in our classrooms! Not only are they learning that these transformations create congruent images, they are also learning why they are congruent and are proving congruence.

The Algebra students on Team 8-1 are already finishing up their third unit of study. With 11 units to finish before year end, students are finding that they need to put in more time at home than in previous years. Currently we are working on a Functions Unit, where the students are relating algebra to real world problems and finding that one output is a function of a particular input. They also recently used their graphing calculators for the first time. It was an exciting moment when the students learned that all the work that they did by hand, in creating graphs, is now done with a few strokes of the hand on the graphing calculator!

While Mrs. Benk is recovering, Miss DiMatteo has taken over her classes. Their Social Studies students have just finished studying the Progressive Era and are getting ready to begin a unit on the Spanish-American War. Extra credit opportunities are available weekly.

Mr. Hanzly’s Social Studies students have been exploring and analyzing the roles westward expansion, the second industrial revolution, and immigration played in expanding the United States. Students have completed readings, participated in discussions, and synthesized primary sources on these topics. Coming up next, our classes will study the Progressive Era and the lead up to World War I.

Mrs. Braun’s ELA students have been considering the topic of Technology addiction. After reading an informational article, they participated in an activity where multiple points from the article were discussed. The student’s found that they could relate, personally, to some of the information presented. The story, “The Veldt”, by Ray Bradbury was read aloud as a class and was compared to the article. As the students discussed the dangers of too much technology, they were shocked to hear that this story was actually published in 1950!

News from the Nest

News from the Nest Team 8-2 Mrs. Callahan, Mr. Chimera, Mrs. Jamieson, Mr. Kaderli, Mrs. Moran, Mr. White

Team 8-2 students are exploring the difference between Earth's rotation and Earth's revolution. They are exploring how stair trails, the change in circumpolar constellations throughout the year and seasonal constellation are proof of both motions.

Chorus – Mr. Fick

VOCAL MUSIC NEWS

Four Niagara-Wheatfield students were selected to represent our district in the Junior High

Area All-State Chorus held in Akron last weekend!

Congratulations to Brayden Cox, Hannah Simonin, Nicolette Faller, and Andrew Giandomenico!

All are invited to support our musical, “The Wizard of Oz”, by purchasing a T-shirt complete

with our cast list! If you are interested, you may order directly online! https://www.customink.com/g/tdu0-00bm-g2rv

News from the Nest

Art – Miss Culligan

6th Graders recently finished their paper mache owls and have started on their

Shadowboxes. The Shadowbox project teaches students about perspective.

7th graders have finished their "All-About-Me" boxes (see photo) and their "Op Art

Cube" while learning about the "Op Art" movement in Art history.

Here are left to right: Raymond Zhang, David Harding and Joey Gavacs.

News from the Nest

News from the Nest Art - Mrs. Neville

Students in Studio in Art are working on Line Landscapes using four techniques: scumbling, stippling, hatching and cross-hatching. They use these techniques to create texture, value and aerial perspective in order to make their landscapes realistic. Students in Grade 8 have finished making Book Pumpkins and they turned out amazing! If they haven't brought them home yet, ask your child to bring them home soon; they would make a wonderful Thanksgiving centerpiece! They are also finishing up their Romero Britto inspired Zentangle Pattern Project. They will learn about positive and negative space next and will carve their own rubber stamps! Students in Grade 6 have been learning some sewing skills in order to create a soft sculpture of a pizza slice! They learned how to do the running stitch, the back stitch, the whip stitch and the blanket stitch. They have impressed me with their skills and their pizzas look almost good enough to eat ;)!

News from the Nest

8th Grade Class information– Mrs. Gleason

11/30 - is 8th Grade Niagara Chocolate Pick-Up

Student Council – Mrs. Gleason & Mrs. Zamorski

The Edward Town Middle School Student Council held a pumpkin decorating contest on October 16, 2018 to help celebrate the fall season. Students were invited to participate in painting their pumpkins with the following prize categories in mind: Most School Spirit, Most Unique Pumpkin and Neatest Pumpkin. Almost 20 students participated and, even though it was a little messy, fun was had by all! Winners of the prizes were all students in our 6th grade. They were Logan Dolling for Most Unique Pumpkin, Sureshi Sood for Most School Spirited Pumpkin and Amelia Soliday for Neatest Pumpkin.

All students are welcome to join the ETMS Student Council. Anyone interested should contact either Mrs. Gleason or Mrs. Zamorski in room M209.

News from the Nest

Edward Town Middle School Parent Group (HSA)

2292 Saunders Settlement Rd. Sanborn, NY 14132

November 1, 2018

Hello Parents,

Wow, what an October!

The Fall Book Fair (Oct 2nd-4th) earn over $1,100 straight profit for our parent group which we will increase to over

$1,700 by taking the Scholastic Dollars Option. We enjoyed meeting many parents on the Book Fair’s closing night

after they had visited the teachers for Open House.

The Great American Cookie Dough/Magazine Sale added to this success as our students collected a gross total of

almost $19,000 in sales. The top 5 Sellers for the Cookie Dough/Magazine Fundraiser were Neo Nickles with $1344

sold, Logan Carter with $778. 30, Alana Hall with $610.80, Maya Polek with $522 and Rhianna Broeker with $500.

On Tues 10/30th, our 5 winners attended the Limo Lunch along with the 24 other students who had qualified by

selling 20 items or more. The Cookie Dough Orders are scheduled to arrive on 11/15/18. We need volunteers to help

us sort the order if anyone can help out between 12:30-2:30pm. Cookie dough orders of 3 boxes or less can be sent

home on the bus. Orders over 3 boxes must be picked up at school in the ALC Room between 2:30pm and 7:30pm.

Spirit Wear Orders grossed a little over $5,500 for the fall. Another sale will be held in the spring featuring warm

weather spirit clothing. We expect the Fall Spirit Wear to arrive after Thanksgiving. Volunteers will also be needed

to help sort the Spirit Wear orders.

The Box Top Drive collected more tops than any drive in recent memory. Thanks so much for saving those box tops!

The prize winners were Maddie Copeland (1rst Prize hoodie), James Zatkos (2nd Prize long sleeve T-shirt) and

Alexa Wilson (3rd Prize drawstring bag). Special Thanks to Lori Metro for all of the hard work she did organizing

the Box Top Drive.

The Halloween Dance held on 10/26 was a blast! The kids won large candy prizes for best costumes, danced to all

the old Halloween Favorites (“It’s Just a Thriller! Thriller Night!”) and guessed which monster pictures on the wall

were really teachers in disguise. They also ate donuts and candy - A LOT OF DOUGHNUTS AND CANDY! As

always, we are much obliged to all the staff and parent volunteers who helped at the dance.

Ms. Darla Bubar won the $25 gift card lottery for teachers joining the ETMS HSA. Any other teachers and parents

wishing to join our group can do so by contacting Secretary Kelly Jaacks at msechsa.etms@gmail.com.

We wish you and your family a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

-Jessica Dray, ETMS HSA President

-Rebecca Goris, ETMS HSA Vice President

-Rachel Clause, ETMS HSA Treasurer

-Kelly Jaacks, ETMS HSA Secretary

News from the Nest