For the Week of 3/6 - 3/10

Welcome Message from Dr. Clapp
Classroom Peeks
Drive to Thrive
HKMS Happenings
Ways to get Involved
and...Upcoming Events!

Dear HKMS Families,

Happy middle school education month! One of the essential features of middle school is the interdisciplinary team. This team is usually made up of a math, social studies, science, language arts, and special education teacher. We are lucky enough to also have a world language teacher connected to each team. Additionally, our fine and practical arts teachers also join together as a cross-disciplinary team. Each team has a team leader that organizes, manages, and guides team activities and meetings. The team leaders also participate in instructional leadership activities and trainings to help advance our strategic priorates.

This week the team leaders, Mrs. Mohr, and me participated in "learning walks." Sometimes called "instructional rounds" these walks are akin to the medical rounds process many hospitals use. As we walk, we observe various instructional practices, ask questions, notice trends, look at student work, and learn from each other. This can be one of the most effective professional learning procedures schools can adopt. As you check out the Classroom Peeks section you might notice team leaders like Mr. Macaluso (grade 8) in with 6th-grade French students, or Mr. Breyer (FPA) asking questions of grade 8 math students. Following the walks we debriefed our findings. Here are just a few of the comments which were very revealing:

"Seeing my students in FPAs gave me amazing insights!"
"It is remarkable how many choices our students have throughout their day."
"Our students really have a demanding day."
"The work, the classrooms, the activities are really engaging and fun, and so much different then when we went to school."
"Our students are lucky to go to school here!"
"So many of the activities promote but mask meta-cognition with fun and engaging tasks."

We also collected data about the implementation of "High Impact instructional Strategies" which are an essential element of our school improvement plan. The data continues to show growth as more and more teachers implement these impactful strategies into their daily practices. It was an invigorating experience for all involved. We are planning on expanding learning walks so all teachers will have opportunities to observe and learn from their peers and their students in different venues.

Amazingly, we are officially 2/3 through the 2022-23 school year! Though it seems far off we will soon be sending out dates about our closing ceremony, end-of-year celebrations, field trips, and concerts. We will also be heading into our "testing season" where many of our high-stakes state testing and our own end of year assessments. It is a very exciting time of the year, I hope you enjoy the ride, I know the students will!

Wishing you and your family a wonderful weekend!

Sincerely,

Steve Clapp

Principal

Helen Keller Middle School

Find your strength, build upon it, and share it!

Grade 6

Mrs. Harington's scholars are translating our school schedule and classes into French! You may notice that there were some guests popping in to chat with our French students about their learning activities.

Mr. Bernardi's historians are designing their own Olympic god/dess along with all their powers and mythology!

¿Qué hora es? Telling time is an essential skill in all languages and our young Spanish students seen here practicing some of the basics (including how to read an analogue clock).

Sixth grade scientists are conducting experiments about conduction, insulation and convection.

Grade 7

Dr. Baca's scientists are putting the finishing touches on videos they will be sharing with SSES 4th graders about plate tectonics and earthquakes!

Ms. Mancini's mathematicians are completing test review, while both conferring with her and entering their initials into the 150 number lottery for each problem they accurately completed! The more correct answers the better your chances to win!

Grade 8

A wonderful and informative display from Mr. Jockers' writers who have summarized non-fiction books using a cause and effect lens.

Mr. Crawford is preparing the students for an upcoming math performance task. In this guided activity, student are working together, checking their answers and receiving direct help.

Ms. Solis' French students are leaning how to ask and answer question related to food, shopping and stores.

FPA

7th-Grade PLTW students prepping for the Egg Drop Challenge!

What is neurographic art? It involves sketching out freeform lines or 'neuro lines. ' Artists believe this process can enable the connection between the conscious and unconscious!

Mr. Dolecki's percussion students banging their way through a new piece!

Mrs. Gidley's singers reflect on their participation and effort at the end of class. This self-score is compared to Mrs. Gidley's rating which fosters a meaningful conversation between the performer and conductor!

At HKMS we believe all students should be thriving whether performing below, at, or above grade-level standards. This section will highlight just one of the ways we support learners and/or extend their thinking.

ILA Workshop

By Dana Aponte, HKMS Language Arts Specialist

Every student is encouraged, supported, and expected to push themselves and to learn and thrive at Keller. Students in the ILA workshop had a great opportunity to continue to develop and transfer their skills through engaging and meaningful lessons with clear expectations. Students in seventh grade, who have been diligently working to understand and utilize various types of figurative language, were asked to "break out" of an activity to solve the code by applying these skills. Students were asked to look at figurative language stated by famous figures in history, poetry, and many other medians to demonstrate their ability to identify the use of figurative language and evaluate the importance of this type of author's craft. Students use the various stations and their abilities to challenge themselves to solve a breakout room and to uncover a mystery word.

While the seventh graders were working hard to apply their knowledge of the author's craft to new texts, sixth graders in ILA Workshop continued to tackle the difference between a main idea and a theme in a story, how the two ideas are unique, and how they help students comprehend what is being read. Each student was able to sort various statements from a story to determine whether the statement was a main idea or theme and then justify their answers with support. Once students had a strong grasp on what the main idea and theme were, they were challenged to take their thinking to the next level by applying the same strategies to various Disney songs. Each student had to choose two songs they wanted to analyze and they utilize the lyrics of those songs to identify a main idea and theme, and as well as to evaluate the similarities and differences between the two songs. Students are not only asked to do this challenging work, but also expected to recognize and justify why their answers are correct and why they are important to the text and the students' overall learning. No matter what reading level a child is at, they are always encouraged to push themselves to thrive and go beyond what they think they can do.

Nathanial ended up with quite a weekend last week. He was one of the leads in the school play with 3 perfomances. He then tied for 9th-place in the CT state spelling bee finals! Way to go Nathanial!! Please take next weekend off!

March is middle level education month!

"13!" The HKMS musical was amazing!!!

Congratulations to the entire cast, crew, and adults involved!

Tri-District Concert

This year's Tri-District Concert will take place on Thursday, March 23rd at Joel Barlow High School. The concert features groups from all of the ER9 schools, and is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our K-12 music program. HKMS students in Jazz Band and 6th, 7th and 8th grade Chorus will be performing this year. Chorus families, please take a moment to fill out the following Google Form (to the left) so that Mrs. Gidley knows which students are able to attend.

Attention all 8th Graders!!

The 9th grade class council of Joel Barlow High School is hosting an 8th and 9th grade dance on March 31st!!

From our Friends at the Easton Public Library...

Please register ahead of time using this link: https://www.eventkeeper.com/mars/xpages/xp_newpopevent.cfm?zeeOrg=EASTONPL&EventID=7130915&sw=1280

The library's new display features books turned into movies! Great timing with film award season.

School Spiritwear Store!

https://stapleskellerspiritwear.com/

Keller Educational Discussions

Do you have an area of expertise middle schoolers can learn from? Do you like sharing? We want you to give a KED-Talk! Click here for more information and to sign up!