The art classes have finished copying a famous painting beginning with drawing their copy on a 9”X12” paper, graphing it, transfering the drawing to a larger graph on 18”X24” paper, and creating a color combination chart to decide the color combination to be applied to their painting. The results were stunning.
 The last couple weeks of the semester will be used to learn architectural drawing using a vanishing point. We will begin with a few simple boxes being put in 3-D and then move to a house or a city block, depending on the choice of the class.

Drama classes have finished studying comedy and tragedy as forms of drama. We watched and reviewed the play, “Arsenic and Old Lace” to help us understand the modern play structure. We studied a unit on acting rules, how to speak with different dialects, vocabulary for stage equipment and lighting. 

We are now ready to perform a memorized scene from an actual play script. Students will be assigned a part in groups of 3-5 and will recieve instruction as to movement and line interpretation before actually performing. 

Finally, students will watch a video of examples of pantomime.

It seems like such a short time but I have enjoyed working with the students this semester.
Enjoy your summer break and don’t forget that there is a summer activity booklet available in the school office or here that includes a listing of summer drama camps for your student.

The last few weeks of the semester have been highly eventful in the EMS band department. On April 18 the EMS Jazz band performed at the Wichita Jazz Festival where they were  adjudicated by a panel of professional jazz educators and performers. 

On April 19 the EMS concert bands travelled to World’s of Fun in Kansas City. They had a day of fun on the rides at the amusement park  and were adjudicated by a highly qualified panel of nationally recognized judges.

On April 23 the EMS Concert bands travelled to Robert Goddard Middle School for the Pioneer League Music Festival. The seventh and eighth grade bands,  selected ensembles, and soloists performed. Soloists,  chosen to play, were selected from the the EMS band students who submitted recordings which were also part of their semester grade. Ensembles were selected based on preparation over a three week period and the groups that were selected were the groups that had worked the hardest and accomplished the most on their own without the aid of the instructor. 

Following these activities the bands will combine with the Goddard High School bands, GMS band, and Challenger/Discovery bands for a very exciting and dramatic final concert.  The music will feature Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, Holst’s Mars, music from Gladiator, Star Wars, Transformers, and more. It will be a memorable concert and a fantastic way to end the year. Make sure you don’t miss it!

• 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.

In FACS, we have been busy finishing our sewing projects and preparing for our last unit, foods and nutrition. In the foods unit,  we will prepare peanut butter cookies, mini pizzas, and dishes using a pound of beef. 

The students have the ability to earn extra credit during this unit by preparing food at home and completing a worksheet asking a few brief questions about the experience. The worksheet is available both in class and online on my district website (www.goddarudusd.com/staff/jbuchanan). Each student may complete three papers which are all due no later than Friday, May 16.

Thanks for a wonderful semester and enjoy your summer break!
Jessica Buchanan
jbuchanan@goddardusd.com

As this final newsletter goes out, we are busy preparing for Contest on April 30 at Maize. 

As a reminder, all choir shirts will need to be washed and returned ON A HANGER after contest on April 30. Any damaged or lost shirts wil be $20 to replace.

Our final event for the year is our Pops Concert on May 15. Please note that the time has changed to 7:30 p.m. Students will need to be in the choir room by 7:15 p.m. T-shirts are ordered and will be worn with jeans for this performance. It will be held at Eisenhower Middle School and will feature both EMS and RGMS choirs.

Girls will need to bring a dozen cookies, brownies, etc., and boys will need to bring two 2-Liter bottles of pop.

Please plan to come and celebrate the end of a successful year! The students have worked extremely hard! See you then!

We have started a new unit in which students are learning about drafting and design. Students have drawn thumbnail sketches using border, object, center, hidden, extension, and dimension lines to layout the design of their Co2 car. Upon completion of their design, students will begin cutting out their cars. Once the cars are prepared for finish and painted, the students will race them and figure the car’s speed in miles per hour.

In the next unit, students will begin work on designing and building a rocket. The students will split into small groups and work as a team to complete the project. They will be 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 EMS physical education students are glad to see that spring is here! With warmer weather comes the opportunity to enjoy more outdoor activities. The boys have been playing tennis, softball, and speedball. The girls look forward to Frisbee golf and regular golf, along with tennis, softball, and soccer.  We will be finishing up our last round of fitness testing by the end of the semester. It is rewarding to see how much improvement many of our students make throughout the course of the semester. Not only are many of our PE students in better physical condition, but they also feel good about themselves and the progress they have made. We urge you to encourage your PE student to give their best effort daily through the end of school, and to continue to be active throughout the summer months. Thanks to the many parents who have given positive support and encouragement to their students to lead a healthy, active lifestyle.
 

EMS HEALTH TIP OF THE MONTH: We as a staff strongly encourage you as parents to make your student 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. The summer offers many opportunities for your student to stay active. Have them swim or ride their bike daily. The Goddard school system’s coaches also offer many summer camps for those interested in sports. You can find information and registration forms for these activities here.  Enjoy your summer - and keep moving!

We have completed “A Single Shard.” Students had mixed reviews over this class novel. We learned about character, motivation, and honor.

They have moved into their literature circle groups and each group has selected a novel. They’re responsible for reading and discussing it together in class.

All of the novels are fiction and have the following themes:

• What does it mean to be a person of “good character?”
• How important are the choices you make in life right now?
• Can you make a difference?
• Do people deserve a second chance?

8th Grade
Mary Kloefkorn

The reading classes are well into their literature circle novels. Ask your student to share which book they chose to read and why. This project will take us to the end of the year. Please encourage your student to keep reading and make their AR goal for the last nine weeks! Don’t forget  - AR tests must be taken by May 16! 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! Please take a minute to look at the article from Scholastic magazine about summer reading:

“3 Ways to Prevent Summer Slide”
By Francie Alexander

Many children, especially struggling readers, forget some of what they’ve learned or slip out of practice during the summer months. Try these strategies to help your reader improve his/her reading during the summer and beyond:

1. Six books to summer success: Research shows that reading just six books during the summer may keep a struggling reader from regressing. When choosing the six, be sure that they are just right — not too hard and not too easy. Take advantage of your local library. Ask for help in selecting books that match your child’s age, interests, and abilities. Libraries often run summer reading programs that motivate kids to read, so find out what’s available in your area.

2. Read something every day: Encourage your child to take advantage of every opportunity to read. Find them throughout the day:

• Morning: the newspaper — even if it is just the comics or today’s weather.
• Daytime: schedules, TV guides, magazines, online resources, etc. For example, if your daughter likes the food channel, help her look for a recipe on the network’s website — then cook it together for more reading practice.
• Evening: End the day by having your child read to you from the book he is currently reading (one of the six books mentioned above). Have him rehearse a paragraph, page, or chapter before reading to you. Rereading will help him be more fluent — able to read at an appropriate speed, correctly, and with nice expression.

3. Keep reading aloud: Reading aloud benefits all children and teens, especially those who struggle. One benefit is that you can read books your child can’t, so she will build listening coomprehension skills with grade-level and above books. This will increase her knowledge and expand her experience with text, so that she will do better when she reads on her own. 

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 continue to enjoy activities both in and out of class. and will continue using 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.

TECH 7
The purpose of this class is to teach students basic computer operations and applications. Proper keyboarding technique is emphasized the first two to three weeks and will continue to be touched on throughout the semester. We start by looking at searching the Internet effectively. Then we’ll move to word processing and learn how to create documents properly. After that we move to spreadsheets and then to presentations. In all we do I try to pass on little things that make life easier when using these types of software. Those students who have embraced proper keyboarding technique will be able to keep up well while the students who have continued with their own technique may and do begin to fall behind. Students are always welcome to come into the lab before/after school to catch up on assignments. If you have Microsoft Office at home and your student has a flash drive, I will check out a textbook and assignments can be taken home.

TECH 8
Students work in modules that connect technology with life. There are 18 modules and some module topics include Robotics, Electricity, Audio Broadcasting, and CADD. Each module is driven by computer based instruction with hands-on activities every day. This class is highly dependent on students working together in randomly chosen pairs, solving problems, and exhibiting self discipline to complete their work. The vocabulary, math, and careers papers that support each module tend to trip up a significant number of students. These papers are done outside the computer/hands-on activities during class. Almost all students have some time every day to work on these papers. 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.

Spring has sprung, and with it, contest season is upon us. Our students are working very hard to get ready for both the Pioneer League contest, and the final string concert at GHS. Pioneer League will be held on Wednesday, April 23 during the school day. Our pre-festival concert will be held at EMS (all groups, both band and orchestra) on April 10 at 7:00 p.m. We will have judges on hand to critique us and give us suggestions on what we need to do to get ready. Right now, I am working on lining up the best judges possible. When you see these folks at the concert, please take the time to thank them for what they are doing to help us make the Eisenhower instrumental music program the best that we can be.

Now is the time to consider what your student will be doing this summer. If music camps, lessons, etc., are in your considerations, and you have questions, please do not hesitate to call me.

Calendar Recap:

• April 10 - pre-festival concert

(Band 7, Band 8, Orchestra)
@ EMS at 7:00 p.m.
• April 23 - Pioneer League Solo and Ensemble contest

ALL LARGE GROUPS, SOLOS, AND SMALL ENSEMBLES PERFORM 
• Final string concert May 13, 7:00 p.m. at GHS – string players - grades 5 through 12 will be featured!