MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL & MAIN OFFICE NEWS
RETURN TO SCHOOL: We are currently preparing to invite all middle school students who wish to return to in-person learning 5 days a week. It is our intent to invite any 5th & 6th grade student who wish to return to school full time starting on Monday, April 12th. We will then be welcoming back any 7th & 8th grade student who wish to return to school full time starting on Monday, April 26th.
In order for us to make sure that we can make the appropriate preparations, please take just a couple of minutes to fill out and submit this survey. You will have Wednesday, March 17th to submit this survey for each of your students. Please only fill out the survey one time for each of your students at JGW. More details will follow….Stay tuned.
We greatly appreciate your attention to this important matter.
(Haitian-Creole) https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScaN9mPIyVboSnEJgcra6slzoUKLzrMqDZSpg0DXgEEtbjoAA/viewform?usp=sf_link
(Portuguese) https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfLEkeJAKtheGE5Y2S9b154P1mcnp7DlOpy8tY9aT55LL7meg/viewform?usp=sf_link
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.
HALLOWEEN IN MARCH: See Flier Below (Prizes will be given to all winning costumes!)
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 their 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
With April break approaching, please be advised of the Massachusetts travel guidelines if you plan on travelling outside of the state at all to a high-risk state. All guidance can be found at https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-travel-order These guidelines are subject to change so please visit this link for the most up to date guidance
| COVID-19 Travel Order www.mass.gov |
All visitors entering Massachusetts, including returning residents, who do not meet an exemption, are required to:
- Complete the Massachusetts travel form at the link below prior to arrival, unless you are visiting from a lower risk state designated by the Department of Public Health. As of right now, there are no lower risk states, but this is subject to change.
| Massachusetts Travel Form | Mass.gov All individuals over the age of 18 and unaccompanied minors entering Massachusetts, who are not coming from a COVID lower-risk state and do not fall within certain, limited exemptions, must complete this form upon or prior to entry to the state … www.mass.gov |
- Quarantine for 10 days or produce a negative COVID-19 test result that has been administered up to 72-hours prior to your arrival in Massachusetts.
If your COVID-19 test result has not been received prior to arrival, visitors, and residents must quarantine until they receive a negative test result. If you have received a COVID-19 test result, please send results to the school nurse at kelsey.cartwright@haverhill-ps.org. It can also be faxed to 978-372-5999.
ATTENDANCE:
CONTEST: JGW is running an Attendance Contest which began on Monday, March 1st and will be 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 (i.e.: 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, 4/14 from 6:00-7:30pm via Zoom. We are always looking to welcome new members!
JG Whittier PTO is now listed as a charity on AmazonSmile. What does this mean? You shop. Amazon gives. Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the charitable organization of your choice. AmazonSmile is the same Amazon you know. Same products, same prices, same service. Support your charitable organization by starting your shopping at smile.amazon.com. Please support JG Whittier PTO by using the following link when you shop, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/90-0135139 or by selecting John Greenleaf Whittier PTO as your charity of choice.
AmazonSmile customers can now support John Greenleaf Whittier Middle School PTO in the Amazon shopping app on iOS and Android mobile phones! Simply follow these instructions to turn on AmazonSmile and start generating donations.
- Open the Amazon Shopping app on your device
- Go into the main menu of the Amazon Shopping app and tap into ‘Settings’
- Tap ‘AmazonSmile’ and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process
If you do not have the latest version of the Amazon Shopping app, update your app. Click here for instructions.
To see the impact of your marketing, visit the AmazonSmile Metrics Dashboard for John Greenleaf Whittier Middle School PTO. Simply log in at org.amazon.com and click the “View metrics” button.
CLUB NEWS:
NATIONAL JUNIOR HONOR SOCIETY (NJHS): The NJHS is holding a Popcorn Fundraiser from now until March 16th. Please see the link below, so you can sign yourself up, and help us reach the goal of $1,000. If we reach the goal, The National Junior Honor Society will give the whole school FREE slush at lunch. Also, the top 3 sellers will win a $50, $25, or $10 visa gift card. The orders will be delivered on April 5th. If you have any questions before, please email Mrs. MacKinnon. Here is the link where you would register your son/daughter: https://your.mcmfundraising.com/signup/VDF5
COMMUNITY RESOURCES
HYBRID MODEL
GRADE 5:
Mrs. Sanguedolce: In math, we will begin Topic 7: Use Equivalent Fractions to Add and Subtract Fractions. In social studies, we will begin Chapter 7: A Growing Nation.
Ms. Delong: Science – Our scientists have finished their unit on Changes to Matter and will be starting our last unit on this topic; Mixtures. Students are expected to participate in experiments to determine if combining two or more substances resulted in the creation of a new substance (therefore a chemical reaction) or not (resulting in a mixture). Our students have really enjoyed the labs this year, and I have a feeling that they are going to like this upcoming unit!
Science All-Stars: Jacob Cloutier (Yellow), Harper Mundy (Red), Sean Sicard (Orange)
Social Studies – What is most important to our country? How do we fight for our ideals? These are questions that Yellow Group will be pondering in the next few weeks as we intertwine primary sources, readings, and Hamilton to demonstrate the founding of our country. I am continuously blown-away by the insights that our young historians are sharing in our class discussions!
Social Studies All-Star: Julia Bourque
Mrs. LaCoste: This week in fifth grade ELA students continued to learn about biography by reading a short book about Marie Curie and her accomplishments in science, during a time that women were NOT thought of as scientists. Ask your student to tell you about her! In our reading we also identified prepositions and prepositional phrases and completed some activities to strengthen our understanding. Please continue to encourage your student to read for 20 minutes per night- whether or not they have “homework” posted on their Google Classroom.
In Orange SS, we’ve completed chapter 5- The Revolutionary War. Originally, a test was scheduled for this week, but when I found out that fifth graders had tests in EVERY other subject, we decided to push this test back to Tuesday, March 16. Until then, we’ll study by creating a study guide, playing a Kahoot trivia game, and by participating in an online Jeopardy tournament. Sharpening study skills is just as important as learning the material!
Ms. Lees: Next week will bring a new Unit in Science, Math and Social Studies for Orange Group. In ELA they will continue with Biographies and writing skills. 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 to 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! Let’s keep good attendance 5th Grade!
GRADE 6:
Mrs. Hamel: Social Studies: We have moved from the continent of Africa into Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean Islands. We will be looking at how the geography of these areas influence the way people live. We will take a close look at landforms and waterways and focus our attention on the Ring of Fire, The Sierra Mountain Ranges and the Panama Canal.
We will also explore the climates of this beautiful area and see why these places are popular vacation destinations!
Hop on Board as we head towards Mesoamerica!
Science: We have begun to look at the Cell and its Organelles. Focusing our attention on how each organelle plays an integral functional role in keeping cells performing at their best. We will begin our project on Cell City and Building 3-D cells- so stay tuned for some fun exploration into the working of a Cell!
Mr. Taylor: Things we hope to accomplish, but as we know, plans can always change.
Onto different things! We will continue to be working on grammar and start exploring persuasive essays.
Ms. Sargent: Students have done a magnificent job solving algebraic expressions. We are now moving into finding solutions for equations. Students will substitute numbers into equations and explain whether there is one solution, multiple solutions or no solutions given for specific equations. Students who have regularly completed their math packets will notice this is what they have been working on all year.
Mrs. Guisti: This week, Mrs. Guisti and Mrs. Cronin’s small groups have been working on reading persuasive passages as exemplars to eventually write persuasive essays. In math we are solving for the value of a variable by using the inverse of multiplication and division. Mrs. Cronin continues to support students in science and social studies. On Wednesdays, students should be doing their reading iReady, lexia or read live for 45 minutes by the end of the school day. Math iReady minutes should be done by the end of the day on Friday for a total of 45 minutes. Computation packets should be worked on each day and can be turned in after one week. Please come to our online google meet at 12:05 for extra help/small group when you are remote.
GRADE 7:
Mrs. Berthiaume: In ELA, we are preparing for the MCAS using the online practice site. Every Wednesday, students should be working on i-Ready. In Social Students, students created ancient Grecian hoplite shields (Google Drawing). They look fantastic!
Mrs. Trombly: Mrs. Trombly‘s math classes are starting geometry topic eight with scale drawings and scale models. Science classes are finishing up natural disasters.
Mr. Yanoff: Happy times are coming! Soon we will back in school with normality being restored. You need to stay Whittier strong and keep up with your studies. Red and Yellow are working on solving two-step equations with an eye focused toward Geometry.
I cannot wait to see a full, smiling classroom. Work hard! We are so close.
Mrs. MacKinnon/Mrs. Lane: Math: The students have moved onto Topic 4. Students will learn to generate equivalent expressions and they will learn to understand algebra. They will write and evaluate algebraic expressions that represent real life situations. They will represent and recognize expressions and learn the order of operations.
Science: The students are finishing natural hazards and predictions. The students continue to study how humans can predict natural disasters, in order to prevent human harm. They learn what extra precautions they can take ahead of time to try and prevent destruction.
Ms. DiGloria: For students in Green and Blue ELA, next week we will be moving on and jumping into our last of the poetry unit, a poem by Edgar Allan Poe called Annabel Lee. Once we wrap up with that, we will be moving into a unit on reading skills and nonfiction texts. In Social Studies, we will continue our work with Greek government to start off the week and then move into a focus on the two most important Greek city-states: Athens and Sparta. Grades close on March 25th and students should be completing missing work if they want to bring up their grades.
Ms. Bilmazes: Ms. Bilmazes- grade 7 Academic Support. Students have been working diligently in their classes. Make sure to keep up on assignments and ask for help, as grades close on March 25. Yellow group has begun MCAS practice, in preparation for upcoming testing Green group has completed The Highwayman quiz and will begin nonfiction next week.
GRADE 8:
Mr. Lewis: English class has started a 5-paragraph essay on a subject each student has an interest or passion in. While students have creative freedom to choose what they wish to write about, it must be school and age appropriate. As this week concludes and next week begins, we will be structuring out essays using a variety of graphic organizers.
Civics continues our studies on the Amendments. We spent a significant amount of time of freedom of speech and have transitioned into some other major rights we have as Americans.
Ms. Deblasis: Math: This week we will be starting a lesson on connecting representations of functions. Please be sure to check School Brains to check for missing assignments.
Science: This week we will be starting a new unit on physical and chemical properties . We will be learning about density and exploring differences between chemical and physical properties. Please be sure to check School Brains for missing assignments.
Mr. Blaustein: Green and Blue ELA: We are finishing our pre-vocabulary work and are preparing to read and analyze Raymond’s Run.
Green and Blue Civics: We are completing the Lesson on Creating A New Constitution. The quiz will be Tuesday or Wednesday and we will begin examining the Preamble and the purpose of each article of the Constitution.
Ms. Sullivan: Math: This week we will be starting a lesson on connecting representations of functions. Please be sure to check School Brains to check for missing assignments.
Science: This week we will be starting a new unit on physical and chemical properties . We will be learning about density and exploring differences between chemical and physical properties. Please be sure to check School Brains for missing assignments.
Ms. Senior: ELA students began to read and plot a story map of the short story “Raymond’s Run” while other ELA students explored a work by Kurt Vonnegut. In Mathematics it was all about ‘Function’ or ‘Not a Function’ with inputs and outputs of x and y.
SPECIALISTS:
Physical Education: (Mr. Demarais): With the warm weather coming hopefully the field will be dry enough to begin having our entire classes outside! We have been and will continue to begin each class outside for our one-mile walk. Our next unit will be volleyball.
Art (Ms. Boulger): The art teachers of HPS is collecting artwork created by students, either at school or at home to put together a virtual art exhibit. If you have any artwork that you would like to submit any artwork please send photographs to Ms.Boulger at emily.boulger@haverhill-ps.org
Artwork created by Maddox L.
Health (Mrs. Reynolds): finishing our last units before the term ends. Please use free time to catch up on missing work to improve your Health grades.
Music (Mr. Gariepy): Hello!! I hope everyone is doing well. As we wrap up trimester two, any and all late work is due. We will be wrapping up projects and playing review games over the next few classes. Have a great weekend!!
REMOTE LEARNING ACADEMY
GRADE 5:
Ms. MacDonald: In science we will start our next topic on mixtures. Students will identify the difference between a mixture and a chemical reaction. Students will be investigating their own mixtures the following week so stay tuned for information on how they will be able to do that at home!
In social studies, we will begin chapter 5. Chapter 5 introduces us to the Revolutionary War. The kids have done a great job understanding what caused the colonists’ desire for independence; Now we get to see how that plays out!
Ms. Spadaro: This week, students used multiplication to divide fractions and whole numbers. Next week, students will complete and review Topic 9. Please check in with your child to make sure that they have completed all Topic 9 assignments and notebooks.
GRADE 6:
Ms. Consolazio: In social studies class, we are finishing up Chapter 4 Lesson 1 on early humans and the agricultural revolution. Students learned how life was during the Paleolithic Age. Next week, in Lesson 2 students will learn about the agricultural revolution. 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. Student are learning about what cells are made up of and the differences between plant and animal cells. Just a reminder, participation and attendance are very important to be successful in class.
Mrs. Simes: In math, students continue to work within Topic 4. This week we will be writing and solving inequalities. All students should continue to access their i-Ready individualized paths on Monday and Thursday during Success Block, as their activity is counted towards their grade. Also, intervention groups continue to meet during the week. In science, we continue to explore our body systems and learn how they work together to maintain homeostasis. We have learned about the skeletal system consisting of our bones and joints. To show understanding, students have been given a choice board to choose a fun project from. This coming week, we will learn about the muscular system and how this works with the skeletal system to help us move. After school help will be 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. Have a nice weekend.
Ms. Riley: It is hard to believe it March and the term is almost over! Grades close on March 25th. Please be sure to check SchoolBrains and Google Classroom for any missing assignments. Next week we will continue to work on persuasive writing and move into biographies soon. Please also continue to ensure your child is accessing i-Ready weekly.
GRADE 7:
Ms. Marciano: ELA: We are beginning our NonFiction unit in ELA. Students will be learning about text features and text structures.
SCIENCE: We have started Unit 9: Natural Hazard Predictions. Students have been discussing how natural disasters can destroy the land that surrounds us. Students will be completing a CER and unit assessment at the end of the week.
Mr. LeGrand: Math: Students will learn to combine like terms with integer coefficients and two variables. They will also learn to expand expressions using the distributive property.
Social Studies: We are continuing our study of South East Asia. Students will explore the many challenges faced by the newly independent countries of South East Asia after colonization and many wars, including the Vietnam War.
GRADE 8:
Mr. Harris: Math – we are about halfway through our unit on Functions. Students will begin to learn how to construct functions to model linear relationships, and about intervals of increase and decrease.
Please check in with your student and on schoolbrains to see any missing work.
Science – we are continuing our unit on climate change. Students are in the middle of a research project, where we look at data together that shows how the world’s climate is changing. Students will also need to look at data on their own, and draw their own conclusions. We will have a class discussion about that data, and students will then use all of these resources as the evidence for a CER.
Please check in with your student and on schoolbrains to see any missing work.
Mr. Marinella: ELA– This week our main focus has been understanding the different parts of a good argumentative essay. How to write a great thesis and hook to make our readers want to read our writing and making a pro and con list of the topic we want to write about. To end this week, we are going to begin writing our essay using a graphic organizer to coordinate our ideas. Ask your student about their topic and what they are going to use to convince their readers!
Civics– Civics has moved into the Civil Rights movement, a time when people in the country were fighting for basic liberties, rights, and respects. We will be looking at the major leaders and events, and the laws that help bring an end to Jim Crow and legal segregation. Civics will also be starting the Civics Project in the coming days. This is a district wide research project where students will explore a topic or issue that is important to them and they want to see changed.
Ms. Blanchette: Students are hard at work learning grade level content. Please note that grades for trimester 2 are closing on March 25. Reach out to a teacher if you have any questions regarding your student’s assignments and grades this trimester. As a reminder, I have extra help sessions throughout the week. You can find more information on my google classroom including extra help session times and schedules. Students should be attending all their google meet classes and completing online assignments. I look forward to another great week in the Remote Learning Academy!
ART: RLA Fine Arts Orange and Purple Grades 7/8
The art teachers of HPS are collecting artwork created by students, either at school or at home to put together a virtual art exhibit. If you have any artwork that you would like to submit any artwork please send photographs to Ms.Boulger at emily.boulger@haverhill-ps.org
Artwork created by Cameron Stevens
Health: finishing our last units before the term ends. Please use free time to catch up on missing work to improve your Health grades.
SCHOOL SUPPORT STAFF
Guidance (Mrs. Vlahos): I continue to be available to connect with and support all students and families throughout the school week via Google Meet, by email and by phone. If desired, please email me to connect and request a check in and I will coordinate a meeting with you. I look forward to our continued work in supporting you and your student in 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): Please continue to encourage your child to attend our weekly social groups. The link and times to “google meets” can be found on my google classrooms page.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me @ tmidolo@haverhill-ps.org.
Stay safe and be well!
Middle School Support Program (Mrs. Leydon & Mr. Diffin): Hope everyone is enjoying the warmer weather! Grades close in a couple weeks so please make sure all work is being or has been submitted in order to receive credit. Please reach out to us if you need any help! Our daily groups are going well and it’s great to see everyone. Our RLA and 8th grade groups are almost at full attendance, but please remind your children to check in since we still do have some recurrent absences from groups. It’s been a wonderful way for the students to still interact with their peers even when on different schedules. Let us know if you have any questions and/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. ¡Que tengan un feliz fin de semana!
Student Support Center (Mrs. Greenwood): Great Job this week kids. Let’s do it again next week.
HOURS 9:00-11:30 and 1:00-2:30 EVERYDAY.
1. Ask your teacher
2. Start a SmartPass
3. Log out of class and into SSC link
WITH YOUR TEACHER’S PERMISSION, YOU MAY LEAVE CLASS TO LOG IN TO THIS CLASSROOM TO TAKE A 10 MINUTE BREAK DURING CLASS-TIME. YOU CAN ALSO RECEIVE ACADEMIC SUPPORT WITH MS. GREENWOOD AND MS. CHRISTINE
Reading Coach/Interventionist (Mrs. Guthrie): 5th and 8th grade intervention classes have been involved in a friendly competition called “Ding Dong Donut Ditch.” It is a weekly award for 2 students per class who have perfect attendance for the week. Winners are announced on Friday, and Friday afternoon I drop off a donut (usually in a mailbox) around 3:00 afterschool. I have been so proud of the students’ efforts- they work hard and made sure to be in class on time. Parents, thank you for all your support. I am thrilled to be here.