Robotics Club

I’m very proud to report that Winter Hill did very well at this year’s Somerville Robotics League citywide competition on Saturday. The competition challenge was called Reef Relief and student teams were tasked with designing a robot that would collect pieces of trash to move to one area and breeze block pieces to another area of the board. 

We had the top scoring individual team: 5th graders Mikey, Sekou, and Felix, who also won a second award for moving the most breeze blocks.

The top scorer for moving the most trash pieces: 5th grader Jadiel

There was a second innovation category to compete in where students made robot project and had to present their project to a judge with the help of slides they created and we had a team win second place overall in that category:  5th graders Greta, Lucy, Kaylee C. and Amiyah   

We were so close to winning second place school but were edged out in the last few minutes of competition.   6th graders Cyrus and Eve’s robot just missed winning an individual award as well. 

A congratulations to all of our competitors who came on Saturday:  Grade 7-Keira, Grade 6-Victoria, Cyrus, Michaela,  Mila, and Juan, Grade 5- Greta, Lucy, Amaiyah, Jadiel, Mikey, Sekou, Felix, and Emely A.

A few members of our team couldn’t make it on Saturday but still were a big part of our amazing team and designed robots for the challenges: Grade 8: Max, Grade 7: Jason, Grade 6: Maia, Alex, Grade 5: LJ, Anthony

Our SHS robotics team mentors were amazing and chose to come to Winter Hill specifically because they loved our team and weren’t former students.  We wish Alison and Gina well as the high school prepares to begin their own competition season.  Many adults from other schools came up to me saying how impressed they were with our team’s robots and how they behaved throughout the long day.  

Ms Lori and I had a great time coaching and look forward to next year’s season!

Winter Concert

On Friday, students in grades K-8 performed in two concerts at East Somerville to demonstrate the skills they've been learning in Ms. Steir's music classes. We saw students playing recorders, keeping steady beats, singing in rounds, and so much more! Many students recognized the songs played by band and orchestra with the popular KPOP Demon Hunters song and Queen's 'We Will Rock You'. The concert ended with our beautiful tradition of singing 'Peace' in the many languages represented in our Winter Hill community. The concert was recorded by EDTV and can be found in their archives. 

Ms. Day's Homeroom

5th graders participated in our annual Balloons over Broadway project the day before Thanksgiving. We listened to the book “Balloons over Broadway” and learned about the history of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. Students then planned and designed their own balloon floats and marched in a parade to show off their creations!

Annual Turkey Bowl

Mr. Bliss organized a fabulous turkey bowl for our 6th-8th graders. The weather held out for all games and we even got some sun! The students had a blast and it was great to get a visit from Ms. Barros. 

Biogen Field Trip

Ms. Moore’s 7th grade classes took a field trip to the Biogen Colab this week. Students got to complete a lab using gel electrophoresis to figure out which dye colors make up the brown M&M. We also were able to observe which dye molecules were the smallest and which were the largest. We had a great time learning about what Biogen does and completing the lab!

Ms. Luna's Science Class

Ms. Luna's 6th Grade Science classes have been learning about the Theory of Continental Drift and Pangaea and are working in groups to create posters depicting what Pangaea would have looked like based on the 3 pieces of evidence they have learned about: Fossils, Climate and Landforms.  They are cutting out the continents and arranging them based on that evidence to get an idea of what Pangaea could've looked like. 

Ms. Scafidi's Math Class

In 8th grade the students just finished up learning about Dilations of shapes and scale factors. They are now transitioning into working with proportional relationships and slope.

Ms. Murphy's Science

In science, students are learning about cells, ecosystems and genetics. In the 8th grade, students are growing seedlings of Fast Plants that show genetic traits within 72 hours. The students are making hypotheses, collecting and analyzing data and drawing conclusions about how traits are passed from generation to generation. They will present their findings in a presentation that includes speaking in front of the class and answering questions. 

Mr. Donington's Social Studies

In Social Studies, students are learning about the origins of democratic ideas in what would eventually become the United States. This includes the ideas of Enlightenment thinks like Hobbes, Locke, and Montesquieu that were brought over by British colonists. It also includes the governing system of the indigenous Haudenosaunee or Iroquois Confederacy (just in time for Indigenous Peoples' Day). We're looking at instances in which these democratic ideals were not upheld, including the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and trying to understand those inconsistencies and what we can learn from them. Lastly, in our homework series on developing academic skills, students also created posters teaching each other how to complete 5-step processes. 

Soccer Without Borders

Soccer Without Borders has started! Students in grades 5-8 are invited to sign up and play. The boys' team practices Tuesday and Thursdays and the girls' team practices on Mondays and Wednesdays. Practices are at Foss Park and start 3pm. 

Ms. T and Ms. Weaver's Class

All newcomer students in grades 6-8 participated in a team-building field trip. We went to the woods! There, we played community-building games, tried high ropes courses, and grounded ourselves in nature. All of our students tried something new! This experience will be one we won't forget and will continue to reflect on throughout the year. 

Ms. Bernstein's Class

7th graders in Ms. Bernstein’s Ancient Civilizations class were learning about the Harappan Civilization from 2500 BCE, and learning how to make inferences from historical artifacts. 

Ms. Moore's Classes

This week in 7th/8th grade science, we explored the scientific method. We observed videos of paper airplane competitions, asked questions about what makes them fly so far, researched how paper airplanes fly, wrote a hypothesis, conducted an experiment, analyzed our data, and wrote a conclusion based on our data. The pictures are all from our experiment, where we tested our modified planes against a control plane we made. What a way to soar into the school year! 

WELCOME BACK WILDCATS!