MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL & MAIN OFFICE NEWS
JGW’s 1st VIRTUAL FAMILY TRIVIA/GAME NIGHT: JGW will be hosting a virtual trivia night via zoom on Thursday, March 4th from 7-8pm. Please see the attached flyer for details and sign up to participate on the following link (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc9J3NQyNDwySXjhYzR7ABRYYqSIAVZtlbXM8YPakDYhsyItw/viewform?usp=sf_link) We hope to see everyone there!
School Pictures: Picture retake day will be on Tuesday, March 23rd (Cohort A) and Thursday, March 25th (Cohort B). Any RLA students who want to have their pictures taken can come in between 3pm-4pm on either of those days.
NEWS FROM OUR NURSES OFFICE (Nurse Cartwright):
I want to encourage anyone who is interested to participate in covid-19 pool testing here at J. G. Whittier. Each week, we continue with our covid-19 pool testing for any staff and student who are interested. For those who have turned in a consent form, Cohort A and C are pool tested every Tuesday morning and Cohort B is pool tested every Thursday morning. Pool testing is a tool to help detect any asymptomatic covid cases within our school. Students are able to self-swab in the lower portion of thier nose. So far, students are doing a great job of participating each week, and thanks to family and staff vigilance, we have not identified any positive cases. Should a pool of swab come back positive, students/staff would be retested with our covid antigen testing in the school to determine who in the pool was positive. If you have not completed a consent form but are interested in having your child tested, please fill out both consent forms below, and turn them in to Nurse Kelsey. If you have any questions, I can be reached via email at kelsey.cartwright@haverhill-ps.org
ATTENDANCE:
CONTEST: JGW will be running an Attendance Contest beginning on Monday, March 1st and running through Wednesday, March 31st. The homeroom in each grade (5-8) with the highest attendance percentage for the month will win, and EACH student who has perfect attendance within that homeroom will win an individual prize from the Principal (ie: Large Pizza, Container of their favorite Ice-cream, box of donuts). For students who show major improvement in their attendance throughout the month of March, they can become eligible for prizes as well.
POSSIBLE STRATEGIES FOR GOOD ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION
Please review the list and choose strategies that fit your daily schedule.
- I will make attending and participating in school every day a priority.
- I will post my class schedule of classes and log-in information in a visible location near my desk or on the refrigerator.
- I will set alarms / alerts to remind myself to wake up on time and participate in classes.
- I will try to find a quiet place at home where I can participate in class and complete my school work. If I cannot, I will ask my school or community organization if they have a safe place where I can study and log into class.
- I will keep track of my attendance and absences.
- I will find a relative, friend or neighbor who can help me resolve a problem keeping me from attending or participating in school.
- If I am absent, I will contact my teachers to find out what I missed.
- I will keep healthy by wearing a mask, as needed, and getting a flu shot.
- I will set up non-sick medical and dental appointments for weekdays after school. If I must make a non-urgent medical appointment during the school day, I will try to attend school for the majority of the day.
- When I am struggling with a challenge that is keeping me from attending or participating in school I will confide in an adult at school and seek help.
- ATTENDANCE POLICY AND EXPECTATIONS: Here is a reminder of our attendance policy. In this new model of schooling where students are learning from both school and home, attendance and participation in all classes is one of our major concerns. Here are some things to know and we would greatly appreciate it if you reviewed all of these expectations and policies with your students:
- If you are absent for 10% of the school year, you are considered to be “chronically” absent. That means that if you have missed 4 or more days to this point.
- We have begun reaching out via mail with attendance letters for students that we are currently concerned are missing too much time.
- It is the expectation that all students are either present physically or signed on remotely at 8:30am each day.
- It is the requirement that students attend all of their classes for the duration of the class time. Leaving a meet/class early is equivalent to walking out of class without permission.
- In addition to sending home letters, we will also be setting up attendance meetings with students and families to address concerns and lend support, and in some cases we will be conducting home visits to do this as well.
- The first step toward school success is attendance. You cannot be successful in school if you are not showing up. Please reach out to us so that we can set up a plan to best support you and your student(s).
- Please note that while it is good practice to make your student’s homeroom teacher aware of any absences or appointments, it is most important that you are contacting the main office of the school each and any time that your student is going to be absent. Also, please make sure to forward all doctor’s notes and other absent notes to our main office. Thank you!
- Please click the link here to be connected to an updated district attendance policy: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AWglC4E6i12t0XcDfnpZJtOtt-xb8V_RBq4djELxd5g/edit?usp=sharing
- Wi-Fi Issues: If you are having WiFi issues at home and your student cannot log onto a Google Meet at the moment, please email the teacher or call the school so an office staff member can pass the info onto the teacher. Teachers take attendance every period and when a student does not show up for class, they don’t necessarily know that the student is having a tech issue.
PTO UPDATES
Our next PTO meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, 3/10 from 6:00-7:30pm via Zoom. We are always looking to welcome new members!
CLUB NEWS:
NATIONAL JUNIOR HONOR SOCIETY (NJHS): The NJHS is putting on a school fundraiser selling popcorn. If we reach our goal school-wide, the NJHS would love to provide free slush to all students at lunch time in May. Here is the link where you would register your son/daughter https://your.mcmfundraising.com/signup/VDF5 If you have any questions, please contact me at lmackinnon@haverhill-ps.org and I can help you get set up.
Thank you for your help! Our next meeting will be Wednesday March 3 at 3 pm.
JR VIP: With our HHS Mentors, we are studying Diversity and Equity in school and society.
JGW CHORUS CLUB: Chorus meets every Wednesday after school from 3:00pm to 3:45pm on Mr. Gariepy’s Google Classroom. If your child is interested in joining Chorus please email him at robert.gariepy@haverhill-ps.org so he can add them to the Google Classroom.
COMMUNITY RESOURCES
HYBRID MODEL
GRADE 5:
Mrs. Sanguedolce: In math, we will continue Topic 6: Use Models and Strategies to Divide Decimals. In social studies, we will continue Chapter 6: Forming a New Government. We will learn about life in the late 1700s after the Revolutionary War.
Ms. Delong: Science – Students have been exploring the impact that changes to matter have on weight. They are also applying the law of conservation of matter through demonstrations.
All-Stars: Hunter Dyment (Yellow), Deanny Veloz (Red), Jonzel Contreras (Orange)
Social Studies – One theme this year has been the bias that is shown in political realm. We have looked at current biases with news outlets and are applying those skills to judge primary sources used by Patriots and Loyalists. Students are doing a great job in their deep dive into materials created in the late 1700s!
All-Star: Saige DeJesus (Yellow)
Mrs. LaCoste: Your fifth-grade writers have been working diligently on their informative writing pieces over the past two weeks. They’ve researched, organized, drafted, and done their best to perfect their 5 paragraph essays. Ask them about what they wrote about! They should be able to tell you at least 3 subtopics for their chosen topic. Most students will complete the assignment by the end of the week, but some may need to fine tune theirs into next week. Once complete, we’ll move on to study biographies. I did my best to include some mini-biographies this week to celebrate Black History month- but we’ll dive in deeper next week!
Orange Social Studies: We’ve been studying the foundation of our country and how it became the United States in 1776, during the Revolutionary War. The students have studied different battles and important figures in this historical time. Ask your student if the “Declaration of Independence” is still important today. Also- ask them where it was signed!
Don’t forget to sign up for Trivia night! We’re hoping to see many families participate!
Ms. Lees: Miss Kelly and Miss Lees are excited to see which fifth grade homeroom wins the attendance contest! Students who have been given a LexiaCore5 log-in should be working at least 45 minutes a week in the program. Parents- iReady Math and Reading are also terrific programs use in free time. Remember that Ms. Lees posts on Classroom Pages when she and Ms. Kelly are in a google classroom to help complete assignments and clarify lessons on remote Wednesdays. Please join! Before and after school time is available too – remember to ask!
GRADE 6:
Mrs. Hamel: SS: We are now traveling down to South Africa where we will learn about blood diamonds, poaching and apartheid. We will look at the beautiful geography of this area and how it affects the lives of the people living in these countries. We will even travel over to the beautiful island of Madagascar and hopefully see some funny clips from the movie!!!
Science: We are continuing to take a deeper look into Body Systems; cells, tissues, organs and organ systems. We are investigating the question of “Why can you not function properly without one of your body systems?” It has been very interesting to see the ins and outs of the body and how truly amazing we really are!
Mr. Taylor: Things we hope to accomplish, but as we know, plans can always change.
We will finish our book, Ghost, this week. We will also be working on some grammar and hopefully starting some persuasive essays.
Ms. Sargent: We have been learning about variables, coefficients, and constants. We have also been using the distributive property of multiplication to solve algebraic equations. I’m sure if you ask, your child might have a great song to sing about constants!!!
Mrs. Guisti: Mrs. Guisti and Mrs. Cronin’s small group continues to receive support online when at home at 12:05. Please encourage your child to attend! This week we have worked on math concepts such as the distributive property. In ELA we continue to work on analyzing characters in the novel Ghost. Our small group continues to practice reading skills when applying decoding rules and using online reading programs. Students, remember to do your 45 minutes of online reading and 45 minutes of online math iReady each week.
GRADE 7:
Mrs. Berthiaume: In ELA, students read the novel Love That Dog by Sharon Creech. In-person students had the book in hand, while remote students had access to it online. The story, written in free verse, is about a boy who gains a new appreciation for poetry (the unit we’re currently working on). Tuesday, March 2, is the 100th day of school, so we will be doing a special activity for this occasion. It is also Dr. Seuss’s birthday on Tuesday, so there will be something interesting to do in Social Studies class!
Mr. Yanoff: The return from vacation can be a huge letdown, but Spring is approaching quickly! Red and Yellow groups are trying to shed the rust as we continue our work on the Distributive Property and complete the 7th Grade Benchmark. You people have shown a lot of resiliency and many of you are putting in 110% effort.
Mrs. MacKinnon/Mrs. Lane: Math: The students will be finishing topic 3-2. They will be analyzing percents as numbers. Students will be able to represent percents as ratios. They will be using bar diagrams to represent percent situations and use equivalent ratios to find percents. Students will also work with percents greater than 100 and less than 1.
Science: The students will be finishing up geoscience processes and moving into natural hazards predictions. The kids like this topic a lot because they can relate to it and the lessons are in real time. In this unit children will be making predictions into which countries are most predisposed to natural disasters, and what extra precautions can they take ahead of time? We will be watching videos about natural disasters and how they could be prevented, or how people could evacuate and lessen the death rate toll when they happen.
Thank you, Mrs. MacKinnon and Mrs. Lane
Ms. DiGloria: This week, students in Blue and Green ELA will be reading The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes, a narrative poem. We will be practicing our annotation and analysis skills through this poem over the course of the week. In Social Studies, we will be focusing on a broad overview of Greek history, starting with working on timeline skills and then diving into the lives of the early Greeks.
Ms. Bilmazes: Students have transitioned back from vacation mode to school mode. Make sure to keep up on assignments and ask for help. Yellow group will be continuing to work on poetry and begin MCAS practice, in preparation for upcoming testing Green group has completed poetry and is beginning nonfiction.
GRADE 8:
Mr. Lewis: In English, we have started reading To Build A Fire by Jack London. In this story, an inexperienced traveler braves the wilds of the Yukon Territory. We have been practicing the top-down chart, a graphic organizer that becomes increasingly more detailed as we complete it. In addition, our focus for this story is studying conflict, primarily character vs. nature and character vs. self.
In Civics, we are beginning the chapter on our Bill of Rights. This week’s focus is on the first amendment, in which we will be specifically looking at freedom of religion and speech. When we are finished with reading the chapter, we will read a Supreme Court case in which they interpret our freedoms.
Ms. Deblasis: In Math, we will be continuing our work on analyzing and solving linear equations. Specifically, we will be working on understanding the y-intercept of a line.
In Science, we will be continuing our unit on Structure of Matter looking at atoms, elements, molecules, and compounds more in depth.
Mr. Blaustein: Green & Blue ELA: I anticipate we will be taking our “A Retrieved Reformation” test on Wednesday, March 3. So, we will reschedule our iReady session for Thursday.
We begin our next story “Raymond’s Run”, on Friday, March 5. 22021.
Green & Blue Civics: We will take the Chapter 2 Test this Friday 2/26. We will begin [Chapter 3] our formal study of The Constitution Monday, March 1, 2021.
Ms. Sullivan: In Math, we will be continuing our work on analyzing and solving linear equations. Specifically, we will be working on understanding the y-intercept of a line.
In Science, we will be continuing our unit on Structure of Matter looking at atoms, elements, molecules, and compounds more in depth.
Ms. Senior: The final week of February brought with it Slope Intercept Formula and finding the Y axis in Mathematics. In ELA, the Jack London work “To Build A Fire” was still on the burner as grade 8 students sharpened their skills to support claims with evidence.
SPECIALISTS:
Physical Education: (Mr. Demarais): We will be continuing with our racket skills unit followed by a volleyball unit. Please continue to dress for the weather as we will continue to begin each class with a one mile walk outside.
Art (Ms. Boulger): Red Grades 5/6/7/8
ART classes Orange 5/6, Blue 7/8, Green 7/8
The students are working on individual art projects based off of written proposals and pieces are coming out amazing! If your child needs supplies such as paper, watercolors, crayons, markers, please contact her and she will arrange to have art supplies available. Please remind students to bring in completed Home assignments to put on display.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact Ms.Boulger at emily.boulger@haverhill-ps.org
Artwork by Ashley Garcia
Health (Mrs. Reynolds):
grade 5- We are beginning a new Unit on Nutrition that will cover my plate and the 5 food groups for the first 2 classes this week.
grade 6 – We are beginning a new unit on Smoking and Vaping and the dangers of both.
grade 7 – We are beginning a new unit on Cyber Safety, Cyber Bullying and Internet Smarts for Teens
grade 8 – We are continuing on in our Mental Health Unit, with a focus on Teen Depression warning signs, risk factors and symptoms.
Music (Mr. Gariepy): Hi JGW Friends & Families!! I hope everyone had a great vacation. Over the next few music classes we are wrapping up the musicals we are watching in class. Please make sure that your child is answering the questions and finishing the assignments to the corresponding musicals that they are watching in class. They should also be attending class when they are at home during their normal class times. If anyone has any questions, feel free to email me at robert.gariepy@haverhill-ps.org
Techonology (Ms. Boulger): Yellow Grades 7/8
Students are currently learning about safety and technology as well as working on technical skills. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Ms. Boulger at emily.boulger@haverhill-ps.org
REMOTE LEARNING ACADEMY
GRADE 5:
Ms. MacDonald: Science- We have exciting stuff going on in science this week! Students are learning how matter changes. After seeing how matter can physically change, students will also get to see how matter can chemically change. I will be mixing certain substances on camera for the students so that they can see chemical reactions. I love this topic because it is a lot of fun for students! If students are interested in re-creating any of my labs from this week and last week at home, please reach out to me via email and I can explain the procedures!
Social studies- Students have transformed into jurors in our class. They are sifting through various types of evidence (articles, testimonials, and pictures) to understand both sides of the Boston Massacre. Students will decide this week if the British Soldiers are guilty or not guilty!
** Please remember that a daily work checklist is posted each day in the stream section of all your child’s Google Classroom pages. Please go over this each day with your student.
Ms. Duquette: Reading: We are coming to the end of the novel, Hatchet. Students have been doing a wonderful job with working on story vocabulary and application of reading skills through our class discussions. Our current focus is on the cause and effect relationship as we analyze this section of the novel.
Writing: Students have started to fill in a two column notes organizer to gather information that will be used to answer an essay question after we finish reading the novel.
Grammar: We continue to spiral through all of the parts of speech that we have already covered this year and this week we added conjunctions.
Please make sure students are keeping up with their independent work assignments and that they are turning them in. Simple reminders about this at home can help! Also, all students should be putting time into independent reading daily.
Ms. Spadaro: This week, students have reviewed multiplying fractions by whole numbers, fractions, and mixed numbers in preparation for the Topic 8 Assessment next week. Students have been given extra time in class to complete missing assignments. Please check in with your child to make they have completed any missing work.
Students have access to Reflex Math, which is a fun game-based platform to practice math fact fluency. It is critical for students to know their facts as concepts are becoming more complex. Please encourage your child to use this platform both in and out of class!
GRADE 6:
Ms. Consolazio: In social studies class, we will be finishing chapter 3 lesson 3. Students will have an assessment on chapter 3 lessons 1-3 next week. I will do a review on Quizizz the day before the assessment. Reminder, to access the textbook please go into ClassLink. The textbook is red and labeled McGraw Hill.
In science class, we will continue learning about cells. Students will learn about plant and animal cells and the differences between unicellular and multicellular organisms. Just a reminder, participation and attendance are very important to be successful in class.
Mrs. Simes: I hope that everyone enjoyed their February Vacation!
In math, students have completed the district’s math benchmark for Grade 6. We continue to work within Topic 4 and will begin to write and solve one-variable equations. All students should continue to access their i-Ready individualized paths on Monday and Thursday during Success Block. Intervention groups continue to meet during the week. In science, students will be presenting their edible animal cell project. Then, they will begin to explore our body systems and how they work together to maintain homeostasis. After school help continues on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 2:45 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me at michele.simes@haverhill-ps.org.
Ms. Riley: In ELA next week, we will work on argument writing. This will last for approximately two weeks or so. After that, we will move into biographies. We did finish working on our character unit. The students did a great job! We will touch base upon all topics covered at the end of the year. Please continue to ensure your child is accessing i-Ready. In addition, please have your child contact me if they are missing assignments so we can make arrangements to complete them. Not all assignments are on Google Classroom, so it would be appreciated if you could access SchoolBrains as well.
GRADE 7:
Ms. Marciano: ELA: We will wrap up our poetry unit by reading and analyzing “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou. Students will be able to discuss the rhyme scheme, similes, metaphors, and theme of the poem.
SCIENCE: We have started Unit 8: Geoscience Processes. Students will discuss and learn how the Earth has changed over time.
Mr. LeGrand: Math: This week, we will continue our focus on writing and evaluating algebraic expressions and using algebraic expressions to represent real-world and mathematical situations. Please encourage your student to spend a minimum of 45 minutes per week working on i-Ready.
Social Studies: Last week, we started our study of the physical geography of Southeast Asia. This week, we will take a closer look at the individual countries that make up the subcontinent of Southeast Asia.
GRADE 8:
Mr. Harris: Math – We have begun our unit on Functions! Students are focusing on learning what a function is and how to identify it, along with the different ways to represent them (tables, graphs, equations)
Science – We are finishing up our unit on Earth Materials, and will be moving into our study on Natural Resources and Earth Systems. This unit has a strong focus on our climate and climate change, and will involve a project (done in class).
Mr. Marinella: ELA– ELA has been pulling double duty, splitting our focus on two very important things. First, we are still reading “Flowers for Algernon”. Charlie has started to make some growth that we are tracking, but we are also thinking about how he is being treated by others. This week we have also started to look at a new style of writing, Argumentative writing. This is all about making a claim, providing a reason, and supporting that with evidence. We started by thinking about things we are passionate about and arguing for or against an issue. We will continue by looking at how to create a strong argument, how to pick the best evidence, and how to package it up into a great piece of writing.
Civics– Civics is currently looking at the new additions to the Constitution. The US Constitution is a living document, things are being added/changed/removed all the time. We are focusing on several Amendments that were added to the Constitution that extended rights to many of the different people in the country. Starting with the Amendments that grew from the Civil War, and others that came from the Civil Rights movements. Both groups sought to help give rights to people who needed them, but they also had some unintended consequences that we will be exploring, as well.
Ms. Blanchette: Middle schoolers are continuing to learn grade level curriculum. Students should continue to attend google meet classes and complete their online assignments. Extra help sessions are offered daily to assist students with completing their assignments. Check my google classroom for more information. Please reach out with any questions or concerns. I look forward to another great week in the Remote Learning Academy!
ART: Orange and Purple Grades 7/8
The students are working on individual art projects based off written proposals and pieces are coming out amazing! If your child needs supplies such as paper, watercolors, crayons, markers, please contact her and she will arrange to have art supplies available. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Ms.Boulger at emily.boulger@haverhill-ps.org
Artwork created by Halie Purington
Health: grade 7- Beginning a unit on Cyber Safety, Cyber Bullying and Internet Smarts for Teens
grade 8 – Starting a unit on Violence Prevention
SCHOOL SUPPORT STAFF
Guidance (Mrs. Vlahos): The virtual interviews for high schools continue and I am so proud of all the 8th grade applicants that have interviewed so far! Essex Tech interviews are March 4th Haverhill High School CTE interviews are Tuesday March 2nd. All applicants scheduled to interview have been given their interview appointment times and join links. We have been doing lots of practice and I am confident any 8th grade student interviewing will do well- Best of luck! Any questions regarding interviews please contact me by email at jvlahos@haverhill-ps.org.
I continue to be available to connect with and support all middle school students and families. Please do not hesitate to reach out via email at jvlahos@haverhill-ps.org. I look forward to continued work with all students in support of having a healthy, safe, and successful school year!
Student Support Coordinator (Mr. Newell): I am available for help with chrome books, attendance concerns and everything in general. Please contact me at jonathan.newell@haverhill-ps.org
Student Adjustment Counselor (Mrs. Midolo): Great job to my student leaders this week who ran our social groups like the SUPERSTARS that they are.
Next week we will focus on “Setting Boundaries”.
To most students, boundaries are the lines drawn between states or nations. Your child will also learn that boundaries also pertain to relationships—rules that tell us what we can and can’t do. We will discuss how boundaries apply in families, school, and society.
We will also talk about the types of rules pertaining to boundaries, for example—rigid (hard-and-fast), clear (firm but appropriate), and fuzzy (inconsistent or nonexistent).
As always, if you have any questions/concerns, please feel free to reach out @ tmidolo@haverhill-ps.org
Middle School Support Program (Mrs. Leydon & Mr. Diffin): Hope everyone had a good week back after vacation! Please remind your children to continue to check all their Google Classrooms including their MSSP one daily for any and all updates. We have been talking in groups about time management and how arriving to class on time and leaving on time are very important. If they need a short break in between classes/meets to please remind them to set a timer on their chromebooks. Reach out to us with any questions or concerns.
Parent Liaison (Ms. Arias-Reyes): Quiero dejarles saber que continúo estando disponible para ayudar a las familias de JGW. Si tienen alguna pregunta o preocupación no duden en contactarme. Mi número de teléfono es (781) 666-4085 y la dirección de correo electrónico es maria.ariasreyes@haverhill-ps.org.
Student Support Center (Mrs. Greenwood): We had a busy week in the SSC. Students are utilizing the supports and we love to see it! The SSC is available for both in school and remote learning days. Please log on the classroom page for more details. Have a great weekend!
Reading Coach/Interventionist (Mrs. Guthrie): It has been a pleasure to view the accomplishments of the students in intervention classes. I am thrilled to see the amount of participation and involvement the students are showing! Starting this week, we have a new “Donut Ding-dong Ditch” competition! Ask your student about it!