School News

8th Grade Parent/Guardian Night

By: Tanishka Mattarpathi and Trinity Pham

The South Windsor Public School is hosting a Parent/Guardian Night for TEMS Grade 8 students, parents, and guardians on Tuesday, January 10, 2023 at 5:00 P.M. in the school Auditorium. During the program, Ms. Dina Keleher and Ms. Krista Nordmark will be discussing the following topics :

• Preparation for high-school

• Why and how middle school is different from high school

• Main policies and procedures

• Expectations and culture

• 9th grade selection course process

• High school Course Catalog

• Clubs and activities for grade 9

• And much more information needed to know.

Throughout this program parents will also be given the opportunity to ask any questions and answers they may have. We hope to see you all!

Freak the Mighty - 7th Grade

By Suhani Kapil

Freak the Mighty- what a peculiar name for a book! A lot of people in the seventh grade were quick to judge the book by its cover. And the fact that it was an English assignment just made it more… meh. But as our unit progressed, the majority of the grade enjoyed the book! Freak the Mighty is the moving story of an unlikely but powerful friendship between two boys who couldn’t be more different. Or, in the words of a Scarlet student, “A little gremlin paired with a giant go on many enthralling quests as ‘Freak the Mighty’.” Throughout the unit, we explored different perspectives and how to illustrate them. We also focused on vocabulary and learning new words in general through independent reading. And once the book was completed, we got to watch the movie (The Mighty) just before break! Here are some students’ thoughts on the book and movie.

Comments on the book:

• “It was really well-written and showed a lot of internal struggles within the characters.” (Scarlet)

• “The book was good, had a lot of detail and was really sad in the end” (Crimson)

• “A very forcefully and hastily written book that I felt the writer really didn’t whole-heartedly write.” (Ruby)

• “The book was really good. I enjoyed reading the part where they were running away from Tony D, and I didn’t like the ending.” (Garnet)

• “Freak the Mighty was a very loving story that touched my heart and showed how friendships are something that should be cherished because some of them can be extremely valuable such as the friendship between Freak and Max themselves.” (Scarlet)

• “The book was very well written in terms of perspective. The plot was very involved, which I enjoyed, and was overall a thoughtfully written novel.” (Ruby)

• “Freak The Mighty was a great book and it felt sort of empowering when Max wrote the whole book of their adventures, as he was basically honoring Freak and the adventures they had.” (Garnet)

Comments on the movie:

• “The movie had very emotional scenes that could only be accomplished with live-action.” (Scarlet)

• “The movie skipped a lot of parts from the book but it captured the most important parts of it though.” (Crimson)

• “A messy and vague redaction of the book.” (Ruby)

• “It was very different from the book, but it was still really nice and I liked seeing it come to life.” (Garnet)

• “‘The Mighty’ was a very touching movie about Freak and Max, and all their adventures together, which I personally loved. Although the general plot of the movie and book was the same, there were some minor differences. For example, Freak met Max in preschool in the book, but in the movie Freak was Max’s tutor.” (Scarlet)

• “‘The Mighty’ left out quite a few details and was otherwise generally equivalent to the book. It definitely captured the spirit of the movie, and it was enthralling to see it visually!” (Ruby)

• “The movie, The Mighty, was clearly very different from the book, but it was nice to visually see the experiences that the characters face.” (Garnet)

TEMS Yearbook

By: Suri Nguyen

Earlier in the year in September, the 2023 TEMS yearbook, made by the yearbook club, was at its lowest price of $41 until September 30th. If you haven’t had the chance to pre-order the 2023 TEMS yearbook, now is the time to pre-order at www.jostens.com for $46 before they run out! The yearbook helps students share and preserve many memories made at Timothy Edwards Middle school. So a special thank you to the very hardworking yearbook students who have made the 2023 TEMS yearbook a reality!

Out of the Blue

By: Onelis Ramirez and Aarna Gupta

Timothy Edwards is hosting a literary magazine club, Out of the Blue. Out of the Blue is a club for those who are open to and interested in photography, writing poems, etc. In this club, you will be working in a creative and fun environment with those of similar interests. If you would like to join this club, contact Mr. Meyer or Mrs. Olsen. The google classroom code is kt4s2xc.

Out of the Blue meets on Mondays in room 222, Scarlet hallway. The club has also won a national award for excellence in literary magazines for ten whole years! Examples of artwork are comic strips, drawings and photography. Examples of writings are short stories, poems, and opinionated pieces.

In Out of the Blue, works are published and even have featured artworks and poetry from their very own Dr. Carter! Out of Blue also congratulates students’ efforts in their works and pieces. Signing up in advance is not needed and even joining the club is not necessary to submit to the maganize! If you like unity and teamwork, this club will definitely give you that.

Out of the Blue hopes that you will find it enjoyable and an experience to always cherish. The first meeting is on Monday, January 9th. The first meeting is for if you have any questions to ask Mrs. Olsen. This meeting will be taking place in room 222, Scarlet hallway. Out of the Blue is ready to rock and roll with your clear and compelling pieces/works. Once more, the google classroom code is kt4s2xc and Out of the Blue meets on Mondays in room 222, Scarlet hallway.

Also as a little reminder to our interested friends, this is a wonderful opportunity to showcase your works and pieces. Out of the Blue is an astonishing club to join and make friends. If you are intrigued by Out of the Blue, attend the meeting on Monday, January 9th. See you there and make sure that you join the fun!

Out of the Blue Wordsearch:

Words: Olsen, Meyer, Poem, Creative, Scarlet, Literary, Artwork, Award, Photography

How to Survive 6th Grade

By: Annaliese Leroy and Nibha Bala Gowda

We all know how challenging 6th grade can be. It can be a big change from what you are used to in elementary school. Even though 6th grade won’t always be the best, it can still be fun. We have gathered some of the best tips from people around the school about how to get through 6th grade. Below are some tips given from people around the school on how to get through 6th grade

-Do your work/homework on time. (Said by Kinsley Wood)

When you get your homework in on time, it can result in having more free time, less stress at home and good grades on completion. Not doing your work and homework on time can result in less free time, more stress at home and bad grades on completion. Study shows that if you do your homework, it helps students take control of their workload and increase their time management skills.

-Check Google Classroom everyday. (Said by Mr. Lepak)

Google Classroom is a common place to find assignments. Google Classroom is good to check consistently because you can check for any assignments you haven’t done and can help if you are sick so you can have all the work you miss done and not worry about it when it’s the morning of the due date.

-Don’t worry too much about your grades. (Said by Mr. Lepak)

If you worry about your grades too much it can make you feel like you always need to have your grades improved. This can result in stress and thinking that you are not smart if you have an A-. I recommend checking your grades once a week maximum but a good time to check is some Fridays.

-Stay silly! (Said by Ms. Fisher)

Studies show that if you stay silly it can help cope with stress, and be able to laugh at ourselves and break our habits of taking ourselves too seriously. Even though it’s good to be silly, don’t overdo it in class.

-Avoid getting detentions. (Said by Vedanth Manchala)

-Don’t be scared to talk to your teachers. (Said by Mrs. Pantages)

Teachers are resourceful and reliable. They usually can help with whatever situation you need.

-Have good friends. (Anonymous)

Having good friends is really important. Friends can help you when you are struggling or need some help.

-Have Fun.

Remember to always have fun and always look at the bright side.

-Don’t get in trouble (Said by Addison Shepard)

Seventh Grade Bullets

By: Suhani Kapil and Asmi Kulkarni

African Union Conference

We can all agree that the African Union Conference was the most memorable assignment in Social Studies! It created rivalries and alliances. Seventh grade social studies teachers probably witnessed the most student participation in this activity, not just in class, but outside. You see, this project had students very opinionated. Often, there would be ‘friendly’ arguments concerning the project and that a certain committee was superior. You could hear chatter about it, from the gym lockers all the way to the cafeteria. The project is a ‘conference’ in which representatives from each committee (government, environment, education, disease, war, and poverty) will explain why they believe their issue to be the most important to address facing Africa. “It was a very informative, collaborative project that I had a lot of fun doing!” says a Crimson student.

MathCounts

This year, MathCounts winners primarily consist of seventh graders. A shout-out to Girish Prasad, Ishan Agarwal, Gian Handa, Aarav Pruthi, Satvik Koppu, Henry Venne, and Jude Pohl! As well as eighth graders Akhil Shunmugaraja, Karthik Srikumar, and Eshaan Dey! Amazing job to everyone who participated!

T.E. Basketball Games So Far

By: Aashray Veerapaneni

Boys

Game 1: The Cougars were soundly defeated by Manchester in the first game of the season 54-29. They were losing for all of the game but were able to make a 13-0 run in the game.

Game 2: Final score 47-49 as the cougars won, just sneaking out of overtime, in a very close game against Suttfield. Since they were defeated in their first game, this was the Cougars’ first win of the season.

So as of January 2, they are 1-1, but after the win against Suffield they are looking to go on a streak. They have 10 games remaining in the season (regular season), their last game of the regular season being 2/2/23. For more schedule information see this link: Timothy Edwards Boys Basketball Schedule.

Girls

Game 1: The Lady Cougars were able to win their first game against Illings.

Game 2: The Lady cougars beat Suffield in a close overtime game. They were able to sneak out, though, with a final score of 40-44.

As of January 2, the Lady Cougars are 2-0 to start the season, and they hope to keep the streak alive and keep winning. They have 10 games remaining in the season (regular season), their last game of the regular season being 2/2/23. For more schedule information see this link: Timothy Edwards Girls Basketball Schedule.

Attending Games

Remember if you would like to go to basketball games then fill out the google form (it will be posted at 6 pm before the day of the game). There are a limited number of spots and late arrivals are not accepted. Keep that in mind. The google form will be on the T.E website read through it for more info on when to leave your class and exceptions during the game/expectations for rides home. Seeing away games is not provided by T.E (unless you’re on the basketball team clearly). Hope you attend a game or two this year. Let’s Go Cougars!