December, 2008
Advanced Language Arts
Mrs. Vecchione
Sixth graders have completed reading The Yearling by Marjorie Rawling. Class discussions have focused on Rawling’s very descriptive writing and marvelous use of similes and metaphors to describe both setting and characters. We have also spent much time discussing those well-developed characters, especially Jody, Penny, Ma Baxter, and the black-hearted Forrester brothers. The middle school was the location last week for the seventh grade mock trial as students put Jack Merridew on trial for murder for the crimes he committed in the plot of Lord of the Flies. Jack was portrayed by Bruce Johnson, and his rival for power on the island, Ralph, was played by Kallie Hannon. Other witnesses for the defense were the evil boys Roger (Tyler Johnson) and Maurice (Jarek Lenda). Witnesses on the prosecution side were the twins Samneric (Rachel Gomez-Peck) and the naval officer (Keegan Gilmore) who finally rescued the boys who were still alive. Every other member of the class had an attorney role, as each person was assigned a direct questioning, a cross examining, or an opening/closing argument role. The sixth graders in Mrs. Vecchione’s and Mrs. Smith’s classes served as the jury, and after careful deliberation, they found Jack not guilty of the murders of Simon and Piggy. The mock trial was the culminating activity following the reading of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. This month the seventh graders are reading and discussing Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. This selection is found in our seventh grade Junior Great Books, so we utilize the Inquiry Method where students read and ask questions as they read. Class discussions and writing assignments then attempt to answer these analytical and interpretive questions. Eighth graders are currently wrapping up their reading and discussion of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Students found the plot fascinating, but they were also amazed that the story was told by a young girl. Following the holidays, all three classes will work to improve their essay-writing skills as they prepare their submissions to the Cape Cod Classroom Times. Seventh grade students will get ready for the MCAS long composition which they will write in March. All students will continue to write in response to literature, including the Junior Great Book stories and the novels we read.
Model United Nations The Model United Nations team participated on Saturday, December 6, in the annual conference held at Northeastern University in Boston. Forty seventh and eighth grade students collaborated within committees dealing with the topics of malnutrition, child labor, the unlawful trade of wild animals, and the situation in Myanmar. Prior to attending the conference, students researched their countries, ranging from Norway to the Russian Federation to Tanzania, and their topics in language arts and social studies classes. Each two-person team then wrote a position paper which was presented at the conference. Students spent the day at the conference, debating solutions to the world problems, forming alliances with other countries, and writing resolutions which were put to a vote before the end of the day. At closing ceremonies, eight Nauset students were recognized for their exemplary work. Kate Sutton and Rachel Gomez-Peck received the Best Delegation Award for tackling the problem of malnutrition in the World Food Programme. Wesley Dancause and Keegan Gilmore received Best Delegation Award for debating the issues surrounding the illegal trafficking of wild animals in UNESCO. Rob Whitaker and Bruce Johnson received an honorable mention for their work on the dilemma of child labor in UNICEF, and Carolynn Walker and Marjorie O’Reilly were recognized for writing the best position paper in the World Food Programme.
Future Problem Solvers
The Future Problem Solvers teams have just completed their second practice problem of the year on Cyber Conflict and are awaiting their scores. Students come to school early one day or work on their problem during special area time each week. Currently, the middle school has two seventh grade teams. Kallie Hannon, April Poole, Rachel Gomez-Peck, and Emma Rogalewski make up the first team, and Rob Whitaker, Bruce Johnson, Jarek Lenda, Keegan Gilmore, Patrick Clinton fill out the roster of the second team. Members of the sixth grade team include Claire Roycroft, Reed Jenkins, Alex Bakker, and Silas Watkins. Students will familiarize themselves with the new topic, Space Junk, after the holidays as they will travel to Marlboro Middle School on January 31 to compete with all of the teams in the state. Nauset’s teams hope to once again make it to the state finals at Williams College at the end of March. Mock Trial Team
The mock trial team is just getting organized and welcomes interested seventh and eighth graders who like to argue. We are using the case provided by the Mass Bar Association this year which involves a young man or woman who commits murder. He/she attempts to plead not guilty using an insanity defense. Our worthy opponents will include the Lighthouse Charter School, Barnstable Middle School, and Nativity Prep of New Bedford. There will be before and after school practice sessions for lawyers and witnesses as we attempt to accommodate students’ busy schedules. December, 2008
Advanced Math
Grade Six Mrs. A. Smith The 6th graders have completed unit 4 in mathematics and have begun the 5th unit. In unit 4 we did factorization, explored sequences and the greatest common factor and the least common multiple was used for many open-ended questions. It was fun working on probability, knowing our chances of selecting the correct colored cube from a bag. We even found the probability of getting a certain color three times in a row and the chances of that happening were quite slim, but would you believe that one of the students did just that! What a lucky girl!
We worked in pairs on a project, finding foot sizes, calculating the mean, median, and mode of the foot sizes and displaying the results graphically. The students then had to prepare a newspaper or T.V. advertisement for a “hot” shoe of their pick. It was fun working in the computer lab, finding different shoes and doing some research on shoes. I do believe that we have some future entrepreneurs in our class.
December, 2008 Advanced Social Studies Classes Mrs. Hammond This school year started with the students learning about the election process for the elections offered a unique opportunity for students to not only learn about the political process, but also to witness the wheels of democracy in motion. We studied everything from political parties, to the political candidates running for office, the issues, the voting process and more. The students examined political cartoons, read newspaper articles, and gave presentations on various issues. They also wrote essays and were involved in debates. Eighth graders have been studying American history beginning with the causes of the American Revolution. We are presently learning about the formation of the American government by examining such documents as the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution. Seventh graders have been focusing on Ancient world studies beginning with the early societies of the Fertile Crescent. We are now studying Ancient Egypt. Sixth graders are studying Asia and the Pacific. India, Pakistan, Israel, and Saudi Arabia are a few of the countries that the students have been exploring. Current events have often come into play as we have studied these particular regions of the world. The seventh and eighth grade students recently attended the Model United Nations Conference that was held at Northeastern University on December 6th. In Model UN, students step into the shoes of ambassadors from UN member states to debate current issues. The issues that were addressed included trafficking of wild animals, the situation in Myanmar, child labor, and malnutrition. The students begin the day by students presenting their country’s position on the particular issue assigned to that group. The end result is the passing of a resolution to somehow address the topic. Prior to attending the Model United Nations Conference, the students spent many hours in class researching their topics, their country, past resolutions and treaties as well as writing the position paper.
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