Social Studies Survey and MCAS Testing

Thank you to all parents and guardians who responded to the survey that I emailed yesterday. I am grateful for the feedback you have provided.  I will use the results to continue tayloring my course to the needs of my current and future students. If you have not taken a moment or two to answer the survey, I encourage you to do so.  Please see the email titled Parent/Guardian Feedback for the link I sent it out on 3/18/14 at 1:06 PM.

Thank you Glasgow Caledonian University for this fantastic visual: http://gcucareers.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/making-feedback-work-for-you/

Just a reminder that we are in the middle of ELA MCAS Testing.  Academic scheduling will be impacted on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week.  We will be back to our regular schedule on Friday.

Virtual Field Trip

Beacon team students went on a virtual field trip to Ancient Egypt today.  Utilizing the school's computer tablets students were able to explore the ruins of Old & New Kingdom Egypt.  

At the end of the experience students were able to provide feedback to the teacher about the activity.  Feedback was overwhelmingly positive from students many of whom wrote about how much they enjoyed the ability to "walk" around and experience the achievements of Ancient Egypt.

" I really liked going through the pyramid of Khufu and getting to see the other pyramids and Cairo from the top of the Great Pyramid."
                                                                                  Student Reflection

Want to see the monuments of Egypt for yourself?  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/explore-ancient-egypt.html  
After opening the site click the Launch Interactive button and start exploring.

Apple Mummy Project

As we prepare to start out apple mummy project in class I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the parents and guardians who were able to bring in supplies for this historical experiment.  As you can see we have plenty of baking soda and apples and at least enough salt to do the first step of the project.  We will begin this project later in the week.  I look forward to updating you on this fun and interesting project.

Thank You

The Beacon Team Remembers JFK

The flag at Nichols Middle School and flags across the Common Wealth of Massachusetts are flying at half-staff.  Today our students discussed the life, assassination, and legacy of President John F. Kennedy.

In Social Studies

• Mr. Kotouch discussed some of the basic information about President Kennedy.  He helped students to understand the importance of this moment in the history of our nation, and discussed the question of "where were you the day president Kennedy was shot?"
• Mrs. Oteri shared with students her recollection of how teachers and school administrators reacted to the news of President Kennedy's assassination when she was in preschool.   
• Students viewed a clip from CNN Student News which discussed the assassination and the legacy of President John F. Kennedy.  http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/
• Students were able to discuss questions they had and other students were able to help answer the questions brought up during the conversation.  

In ELA 2

• Mrs. LaPerriere's students listened to John F. Kennedy's final speech in Boston, students then discussed this speech. 

"It makes me sad to think about all the things that President Kennedy said he wanted to do in this speech but never got the chance."

                                                                                                        ELA 2 Student N.M.

  

• After watching President Kennedy's final speech in Massachusetts, students then viewed a media clip of Walter Cronkite announcing the news of President Kennedy's death live on the news.   The renowned broadcaster visibly lost his composer during the broadcast.  This led to a class discussion about news reporting and a discussion about seminal moments in history and the role and duty of the media to report the news no matter how challenging the situation.

 .    

Interesting Historical & Mathematical Statistic

• 28.9^% Less than one-third of Americans were of age to recall personal memories from the day JFK was shot.
  http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/11/22/where-were-you-when-jfk-was-shot-only-28-9-of-americans-can-answer-that/  

Welcome to the Beacon Team Blog.

We will use this site to keep you informed of homework, project dates, and upcoming assessment dates.  In addition we will use this blog to share with you interesting things which are happening in our classes.  Please click on the tab of your child's class to the right in order to check homework and upcoming due dates.  If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email one of the teachers on the team.