The art classes have begun the unit on color. We have discussed the scientific theory of color waves and pigment. We will learn how to mix the three basic colors to make other colors and the relationship between colors and their complementary colors. The primary, secondary, intermediate, and tertiary colors will be put on graphic organizers. The values of the colors from light to dark and the intensity of colors from bright to dull will also be illustrated on charts. We will be studying color combinations such as monochromatic, analogous, and complementary.

Upon completion of the color unit we will copy a famous painting. Beginning with a drawing on 9”X12” paper, students will graph and transfer the drawing to a larger graph on 18”X24” paper. Next they will create a color combination chart to help decide what color combination to apply to their painting. We will also spend a couple of weeks in ceramics, making a bowl, vase, candy dish, and a pencil or jewelry holder, or planter.

The last couple weeks of the semester will be used to learn architectural drawing using a vanishing point. We will begin by drawing a few simple boxes in 3-D and then draw a house or a city block, depending on the choice of the class.

Parents, please ask your art student to bring their art work home from the first nine weeks. They did some wonderful self-portraits of which parents can be proud.

Drama classes have finished studying the Medieval and Renaissance theatre history. The famous Passion Play of Oberammergau, Germany and the two passion plays in America helped in observing how medieval plays might have been. (http://www.german-travel-uk.com/oberammergau.html) (http://www.greatpassionplay.com). 

We studied Shakespeare and watched “Taming of the Shrew.” His theatre has been rebuilt to show Shakespearean plays today. (http://www.shakespears-globe.org).

We learned about the techniques of the Japanese theatre, Kabuki. Kabuki theatre is a form of theatre from Japan with wild and dramatic make-up and costumes. Performing a short Kabuki play and watching a Japanese comedy called a Kyogen helped us realize what this kind of theatre is like and seeing a real kimono helped to visualize costumes. The final piece of history will be the study of theatre from the 1800’s to present day. 

Comedy and tragedy as forms of drama is the next unit to be studied. We will see “Arsenic and Old Lace” to help us understand the modern structure of plays.

Parents, please be ready to help with script memorization toward the end of April as we will be performing memorized group scenes in May.

Hello everyone! We will be extremely busy and active in April with several upcoming activities.  

Our pre-festival concert is on April 6, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. at Eisenhower Middle School. This performance will feature the seventh and eighth grade band, orchestra, and jazz ensemble. 

We will be participating in the ‘Night of Percussion’ on April 5, 2010 at Goddard High School. This performance will feature percussion ensembles from throughout the district including the seventh and eighth grade percussion ensembles.

Both the seventh and eighth grade bands will perform at the Pioneer League Band Festival which will be hosted by Prairie Hills Middle School on April 21. Students will also be performing solos and ensembles throughout the day so make sure you check the schedule if you have a group you don’t want to miss.  

On May 8 we will travel to World’s of Fun in Kansas City where the seventh and eighth grade concert bands will perform. After their performance they will enjoy the day in the park riding rides and having a great time. We look forward to this performance all year and it always is a very meaningful time for the students.

And finally on May 6 we will have our massed band concert with all the band students from the district at Goddard High School. It will be a performance to remember!

Also a final note on fundraising. There are a variety of ways your student can make money for their student account. Please visit the Goddard Pride Band link to find out more information.

• Students should check their account balance before filling out a Student Band Account Sheet.
• Student account balances are posted on the boards in the front of the band room.  If a student has money in his or her account, any redemption of money from the account requires completing a Student Band Account Form.  Please be certain the forms are filled out correctly.
• A student can only withdraw up to the total amount in the account.  Any spending above the account balance must be paid by check or cash at the time of the purchase.  No credit can be extended through the student accounts.

We are beginning our sewing unit and will be constructing a tote bag and a pair of shorts. 
A note has been sent home requiring two yards of woven cotton fabric be sent to school and due in class by Friday, April 2.  

Besides sewing, as part of our unit each student has been taught the proper procedure to perform laundry duties. Part of this unit includes complete responsibility for laundry duties at home for one full week. Be watching for this assignment to make its way to your household. 

For further information regarding classroom activities or due dates, please refer to my district website at wwwgoddardusd.com/staff/jbuchanan. 

As this final newsletter goes out, we are busy preparing for Pioneer League Vocal Music Contest on April 28. 
Congratulations to the soloists chosen to represent EMS at contest this year.

Our final event for the year is our Pops Concert on May 13 at 7:30 p.m. 

Please plan to come and celebrate the end of a successful year! The students have worked extremely hard! 
If you have any questions feel free to contact me via email at mbarr@goddardusd.com or calling EMS at 794-4150.

Students are working on designing and building a rocket. The students will split into small groups and work as a team to complete the project. These rockets will be made out of household items, which students will bring from home. Items might include cardboard, fishing string, various tapes, hot glue, etc. Students were required to research and design a nose cone, fins, and a recovery system for their 2 liter pop bottle rockets. During this activity, students will learn how aerodynamics and mass can affect the rocket’s flight. At the conclusion of the activity, classes will spend two days outside testing and launching their rockets. Most of the student’s rockets should fly between one hundred and one hundred fifty feet into the air.

The final project of the year will involve construction technology. Students will work in groups researching and building a toothpick bridge. At the end of the unit the bridges will be tested to determine the amount of weight each one can hold.

With warmer weather on the horizon, the PE classes will begin to venture outside for activities.  Tennis, softball, speedball, and soccer will be just some of the upcoming Spring activities. With the unpredictable Kansas weather, students are encouraged to have a sweatshirt and sweatpants for the cooler days. We will finish up with our second round of fitness testing by the end of the school year and are looking forward to seeing the results and any improvement in each individual’s fitness. 
 

EMS HEALTH TIP OF THE MONTH: We as a staff strongly encourage you as parents to  urge your student to stay active this summer. We often see a number of kids who are pretty physically fit by the end of the school year, only to lose a lot of what they have worked to gain by being too sedentary over the summer. Find some activity along with your student that they enjoy. It does not have to ba a sport. Encourage them to ride their bike, take walks, go to the swimming pool, or anything that prevents them from being a summer couch potato. Enjoy your summer.

The students in seventh grade reading have begun their class novel, “A Single Shard.” This story takes place on the west coast of Korea in the small village of Chulpo during the mid-to-late twelfth century. The novel’s protagonist is an orphan boy named Tree-ear. Tree-ear becomes an apprentice to an elderly potter, Min, and must make a dangerous trip to Songdo on Min’s behalf.

Once the this novel is completed we will begin our literature circle unit. The literature circle unit allows students to work cooperatively in book study groups where they divide the daily tasks of reading and discussing their novel. Each group will be responsible for presenting an “out of the box” performance for their peers. Their presentations will be designed to create interest for their novels.

Students are continuing to work towards their Accelerated Reading goals. They should be bringing their AR books home for homework if needed. 

8th Grade
Mary Kloefkorn

The reading classes are well into their class novel, “The Giver.” Once this novel is completed we will begin our literature circle unit which will take us to the end of the year. We will also be setting new AR goals which will be higher than the last nine weeks. Please encourage your student to keep reading throughout the nine weeks so that they meet their goal. A great way for students to keep their skills and enjoyment level up during the summer is to keep reading. Whether that’s joining the public library summer reading club, or making a few trips to a bookstore, the results will be well worth the time and effort! 

As the semester comes to an end, the students continue to learn a great deal of vocabulary in Spanish.  They will use all of the vocabulary that they have learned this semester to complete a final project the last couple of weeks. They have also started to work on basic verb conjugation and will continue to work on it until the end of the semester.

Students will enjoy activities both in and out of class and will use their Spanish in class and at home as much as possible. Also, the students will be having an annual Cinco de Mayo fiesta at the beginning of May. They will get to cook authentic Mexican, Spanish, and South American cuisine and bring it to class for each of their individual fiestas and possibly receive some extra credit points!

If you have any questions concerning the class, please feel free to call me at 794-4230, ext. 2707.

If you are looking for a less expensive way of acquiring Microsoft Office for your home, you may want to check this website: http://www.ccvsoftware.com/students. You can purchase Office 2007 Professional for the SPECIAL price of $99 which will save you $399 if you bought it retail. There are other deals as well. If you have a college student, they can get it and more for $59 at this website: http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx

TECH 7
We have spent the last few weeks working with the Internet; how to search effectively, how to find reliable resources, and how to handle resources that aren’t their own. We have just begun working on word processing.

The easiest part of class is over! We are heading towards more independent work. History shows that those kids who struggle with staying on task and working with friends in the room will begin to have more difficulty getting their work handed in.

Keep updated by visiting: http://www.goddardusd.com/staff/ddick/tech7.htm

TECH 8
Students work in modules that connect technology with life. This class is highly dependent on students working together in pairs and solving problems together. The vocabulary, math, and careers papers seem to be tripping up numerous students. These are done outside the module during class time and almost all students will have some time daily to work on them. We also have a makeup day at the end of each rotation that can be used for this. The biggest problem seems to be the lack of capital letters at the beginning and punctuation at the end of sentences. Writing proper sentences is a school wide goal at EMS.

Modules and partners are normally assigned by the Synergy software. At the end of the first nine weeks, those students achieving an A or B in the class are given the opportunity to choose a module and partner to work with.

Any work missed due to absences or ‘lack of time’ during a class period must be made up before or after school as there is no way to send this work home.
Keep updated by visiting: http://www.goddardusd.com/staff/ddick/tech8.htm.

Hello everyone! We will be extremely busy and active in April with several upcoming activities.  

Our pre-festival concert is on April 6, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. at Eisenhower Middle School. This performance will feature the seventh and eighth grade band, orchestra, and jazz ensemble. 

The EMS orchestra and string ensembles and solos will perform at the Pioneer League Music Festival which will be hosted by Prairie Hills Middle School on April 21. Students will also be performing solos and ensembles throughout the day so make sure you check the schedule if you have a group you don’t want to miss.  

On May 8 we will travel to World’s of Fun in Kansas City where the seventh and eighth grade orchestra and concert bands will perform. After their performance they will enjoy the day in the park riding rides and having a great time. We look forward to this performance all year and it always is a very meaningful time for the students.

And finally on May 10 we will have our massed orchestra concert with all the strings students from the district at Goddard High School. It will be a performance to remember!

Also a final note on fundraising. There are a variety of ways your student can make money for their student account. Please visit the Goddard Pride Band link to find out more information.