One of our first projects of the semester was creating name tags. Each name tag had to have 2-3 letters that went above the top margin and could be cut out with and X-Acto knife, giving it a 3-D affect. Art classes also finished several weeks of drawing techniques: drawing to scale by doing a self-portrait, learning how to shade, drawing objects in correct proportion, and overlapping to make them look like they are going back into space. Students drew a representation of a shiny object and created an overlapping abstract design. 

Next, students will study a famous artist. A special showing of Norman Rockwell paintings will be shown at the Wichita Art Museum beginning March 7. Students attending this exhibition may submit a short half page review of their favorite Rockwell painting and an explaination of why they liked it, for extra credit. Our next unit is ceramics.

Drama students began the study of theatre history with the Greek Theatre of 5th century B.C. and studied plays by Sophocles, Euripides, and Aeschylus. 

To increase our understanding of the physical Greek Theatre we will be making a 3-D model of an Ancient Greek Theatre, discovering the similarities and differences between Greek and Roman Theatre, and will be performing a Greek play. Ask your student for the time and date and feel free to join us.

Students will soon be delving into the Medieval/Renaissance period. The plays of this era were performed after 500 years of  being banned and were performed on stages in a cathedral. As the crowds grew larger, the stages were moved outdoors. The playlets, when performed together, could last up to two weeks. The intermissions would be every night when the people went home at dark. 

When the crowd became too large for an area, the stages were put on wagons called pageant wagons. These carried actors around the town, like a parade, so many people could view the small plays in order, as the wagons passed. 

As we study the Renaissance period, famous for writings of Shakespeare, we will watch one of his plays, “Taming of the Shrew.”

Extra credit will be given to drama students who attend a Goddard High School play production. Students will need to get their play progam signed by a cast member at the end of the play and return it to me.
 

One-Act Plays EMS drama students, past and present, will be presenting one-act plays on Friday, March 5 at 7:00 p.m., at the Robert Goddard Middle School auditorium. Tickets will be available at the door. You won’t want to miss this production!

The semester has gotten off to a busy start! We are preparing for our concert on February 15 at Eisenhower Middle School at 7:00 p.m. We will be featuring music of ancient times. 

Also the EMS Jazz band has begun rehearsing and will be performing at the February concert and on a handful of other occasions throughout the year.

Auditions for high school color guard will be  on Thursday, January 29 and will continue through February 5 each night from 7:00-9:00 p.m. Also auditions for the high school marching band will take place at the end of February for the eighth grade.

Orchestra students are also preparing for their concert on February 15 at 7:00 p.m. We are working on a variety of different types of music for this concert. It promises to feature something bluegrass.

Students wishing to perform a solo at Pioneer League in April need to be working on their solos now.  We will be selecting finalists to perform at the end of February.

More information on Band and Orchestra can be accessed on the Goddard band website.

• 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 welcome two additional Wildcat fans, Ms. Emily Theis and Ms. Emma Gorges from Kansas State University to the classroom. Both ladies will be completing their student teaching this semester with me at EMS/GMS. Emily will be with us through March and Emma will join us in March through May. We look forward to new ideas and projects for FACS class this spring. Go Cats!

In Family and Consumer Sciences, we have completed our unit on child development and babysitting. We have reviewed age appropriate activities and snacks, as well as safety of infants (birth - 1 year), toddlers (2-3 years), and pre-school aged children (3-5 years). Please take an opportunity to sit down with your son or daughter and review your behavior expectations of your teen while they are on the job as a babysitter.

Our current topic in class is families. We are studying the different types, traditions, beliefs, and values of families. As part of our assignments in class, students will be constructing a family tree and making additional pages in their scrapbooks all about their own family experience. Please be locating pictures of your family participating in family traditions including birthdays or holidays. Other topics that we will discuss requiring pictures includes friends, pets, vacations, etc. Your student will get more information about the project requirements in class.

In mid-March, we will begin our foods and nutrition unit. Students will learn basic cooking techniques and proper measuring procedures. In addition to food labs, they will also learn about healthy eating habits and evaluate their current diet and the effects it has on their health. 

Choir is off to a great start! Please mark your calendars today for this year’s performances. The dates are:

• February 16, 7:30 p.m. - Concert - EMS Commons
• April 28, Pioneer League Vocal Music Contest (more information to be released at a later date)
• May 13, 7:30 p.m. - Pops Concert - EMS Commons

The students are already halfway through their initial safety tests. This unit will take approximately two weeks including two exams. Students are required to pass these exams with a score of at least ninety percent. Once the students have past both safety tests, passed the tools identification test, and are familiar with the shop procedures, they will begin their first project. Students will choose a pattern that will be used for the scroll saw project. During this project students will learn cutting techniques, prepare wood for finishing, and apply finish.

In the next unit, students will learn the process of drafting and design. They will begin by drawing out a few design thumbnail sketches. Using border, object, center, hidden, extension, and dimension lines, students will layout the design for their Co2 car.

Once the cars have been prepared for finish and painted, students will race them at the end of the unit to determine the speed of their cars.

We have started the new semester off by getting the PE students oriented to the procedures of class and a daily routine. Both classes have begun fitness testing which gives each student a baseline for their fitness level, much like a pre-test in a math class. Each student will establish some personal goals for improvement. We strive to meet our fitness goals throughout the semester by playing games and doing cardiovascular activities, as well as strength building exercises. Fitness tests will be given again during the fourth nine weeks. We hold high expectations for effort and improvement in all areas, and encourage extra activity at home. Ask your student to explain how the fitness tests are done at school.

Activities covered during February and March may include: pickleball, basketball, soccer, badminton, aerobics & dance, and other fitness games.

A reminder to parents that your PE student is expected to meet their specified uniform requirements for each day of class. Any color of sweats can be worn when we go outside on cool days. Students are expected to bring home their PE clothes each Friday for cleaning. Also, your student’s clothes should have their name or initials somewhere on their clothing items for ID. Many clothes end up in our lost and found box.
 

EMS HEALTH TIP OF THE MONTH: The average American teenager consumes one pound of sugar per day! This can lead to a weight problem for many teens. Cutting out one can of soda pop a day can lead to a loss of 10 pounds in a year. Monitor the amount of sugar your student consumes, and see if there are ways to reduce that amount. Encourage them to drink water instead of pop when they are thirsty. It’s cheaper, and they will be much healthier. We have new machines at school this year that offer bottled water and healthier drinks.

The seventh grade reading students are finishing up a unit on figurative language. Ask them what a HUGE exaggeration is called - we had fun with those! Students constructed fortune tellers to help them review for the figurative language test. Our next unit is Word Parts. They will be learning, using, and reviewing prefixes, suffixes, and roots. We should be ready to begin our class novel, “The Outsiders,” by the first or second week of March. Their first nine weeks AR reading goals are due by March 12. Students should be bringing their AR books home and reading nightly to help them reach their goals.

8th Grade
Mary Kloefkorn

We are getting into the swing of the new semester in reading! After finishing up “The Twilight Zone,” we will be moving on to text types and word parts. We will begin our class novel, “The Giver” next.

Below is a list of AR due dates for the rest of the year. Please talk to your student about their goal and encourage them to be reading! 

Third Nine Weeks AR Goal Dates:

• January 22 – 25%
• February 5 – 50%
• February 20 – 75%
• March 12 – 100% - GOALS DUE!!!
• Fourth Nine Weeks AR Goal Dates:
• April 2 – 25%
• April 23  – 50%
• May 7 – 75%
• May 25 – 100% - GOALS DUE!!!

Hola padres! This month in Spanish, the students have been learning the capitals and names, in Spanish, of all 20 of the Spanish speaking countries in the world and Brazil. 

Also, this upcoming month, we will be learning Spanish words for colors, numbers 0-199, days of the week, months of the year, and the Spanish alphabet. Everyone is doing quite well and working hard towards learning as much Spanish as possible during their semester of class. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at cgabbert@goddardusd.com. 
Hasta Luego!

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.

As the new semester begins we will be busy preparing for our concert on February 15 at Eisenhower Middle School at 7:00 p.m.

We will also begin preparing for the Pioneer League Festival. Students will need to have their solos selected and discuss their selections with the orchestra staff for approval. We will only have a few openings for contest so only the most prepared students will be allowed to perform at festival.

All eighth grade students need to make sure they have their schedules ready for high school orchestra. The orchestra staff are ready to assist students with any questions that they may have.