Zoo of Natural Selection - May 11

Dear Pyxis Families,

On Friday, May 11, students from Team Pyxis and Team Aquila will be presenting their projects on heredity, genetics and natural selection. We will be setting up a "Natural Selection Zoo" in the library, where students will present an imagined species and the story of its evolution over time. Your child will be presenting at one of the following times. Your child can tell you whether they are group A or B.

Group B: 9:10 to 9:40
Group A: 9:50 to 10:20

I realize this is short notice; but better late than never, right? If you happen to be free during this time, perhaps you can swing by to check out what these young scientists have been working on.

Thanks!
Nathan Caswell
Team Pyxis
Milton Middle School
ncaswell@mtsd-vt.org
802-893-3230 x611

5/2 Humanities

The culminating celebration of our equality unit was an inspiring end to a powerful unit. Thanks to all for your attendance at the event and your support of your child as he or she explored this somewhat sensitive topic. It was so great to watch the new learning and insights that the students came away with. Thank you also for the feedback around the event itself; it has grown so large that we will need to consider how to use the space and schedule differently next time to better accommodate the crowds.

The students are now moving into a unit on Westward Expansion, being kicked off by our intern, Kim Jones. This unit will help students understand how our identity today was shaped by the idea of Manifest Destiny, and we will explore the effects that the ideals of expansionism have had on our nation's story. Please check in with your child and consult his or her planner for more information on expectations throughout this unit.

8th Grade Boston Trip Update

Dear families,

Boston is fast approaching and we will be having a mandatory meeting on Tuesday, May 15th at 6:00 p.m.  At this meeting we will go over student expectations and what each student needs to bring on the trip.

This Friday, May 4th, we will be having a dance from 6:45 to 9:00.  We hope that your student can attend.  We are looking for students to bring in baked good to sell at the dance.

On Saturday, May 5th, we will be having a car wash from 10:00 - 1:00 at the Four Seasons across the road from the Middle School.

Remember that each student need to complete 3 fund raisers.

Unfortunately, we were not able to raise enough money to see Shear Madness.  So we will be going to the Institute for Contemporary Arts instead.

Wednesday, May 24
7:00 leave Milton
11:00 arrive at Emerson
12:00 eat lunch on the Boston Commons
1:00 Museum of Science
5:15 Pizza at Emerson
7:00 IMAX Movie
8:30 Arrive back at dorms

Thursday, May 25
7:30 Breakfast
9:00 Small groups are exploring Boston
4:00 Dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe
5:30 Institute for Contemporary Arts
8:30 Arrive back at dorms

Friday, May 26
7:30 Breakfast
9:00 Pack Buses
9:30 Walk Freedom Trail
12:30 Boston Harbor Cruise
1:45 Head back to Milton
6:00 Arrive in Milton

Thanks,
Joe

Talent Show This Thursday!

Students within the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades have been working hard to make a talent show happen. The Talent Show will take place on Thursday evening in the MMS/MHS auditorium from 6:30PM to approximately 8:00PM. Admission will be a $3 suggested donation, and all proceeds go to the 8th grade trip to Boston. Please come and cheer our talented kids on tomorrow night, and thank you for your continuing support.

If you have any questions or concerns, please notify either Pete Wyndorf or Amira Bakr.

pwyndorf@mtsd-vt.org
abakr@mtsd-vt.org

Pizza Order Pick Up

The window to pick up Little Caesar's pizza orders will be on Thursday 3/22 from 4:30-6:00pm in cafeteria B.

Carnival and Fire Truck Pull - April 14

Dear Families of Milton Middle School Students,

The third annual Fire Truck Pull and Carnival is happening on April 14th, from 10:00 – 2:00, to benefit the 8th grade trip to Boston. There are many activities planned including carnival games, crafts, music, and food. We are looking for Fire Truck Pull Teams and craft vendors.

If you and nine of your friends or co-worker are feeling strong, create a team to pull a fire truck. To participate in the pull each team needs to raise at least $100. There will be trophies awarded for the fastest pull by a team that is under 18, fastest pull by a team over 18 and the most money raised. The team that raises the most money will also be awarded 10 vouchers for 6” subs from Subway. If you are interested in putting together a team please contact Amira Bakr at 893-3230 ext. 678 or abakr@mtsd-vt.org.

If you are crafty and you would like to sell your crafts, we are selling table space at $30 per booth. You will get to keep all of your profits from the sale of your items. If you are interested or know someone who may be interested, please contact, Joe Smith at jsmith3@mtsd-vt.org or call at 893-3230 ext. 217 by April 6th.

To make this day a success, we are looking for parents and other adults to help us. We will be in need of adults to help cook. If you can assist, please fill out the form below and return it to your student's Advisory Teacher or email me.

Please contact us if you have any other questions at abakr@mtsd-vt.org or jsmith3@mtsd-vt.org or (802)-893-3230 ext 217.

We highly appreciate your help and hope to see you at the carnival!

Sincerely,

Joe Smith
Amira Bakr

8th Grade Boston Reminder

Dear Parents/Guardians,

The final installment for the 8^th Grade Boston trip is due Friday, April 6^th.  At that point, you should have paid a total of $100.  If this is an issue, please contact us and we can make alternative arrangements.  No student will be denied going on this trip due to financial concerns.  April 6^th is also the last day to get a refund if your student will not be going.

The emergency health information form must also be returned by April 6^th.

We still have over $5000 to raise for Boston.  The next big fundraiser is the Fire Truck Pull and Carnival on April 12^th.  We are looking for teams and vendors.  Please contact Joe Smith at 893-3230 ext. 217 or jsmith3@mtsd-vt.org for more information.  More information will follow shortly.

Sincerely,

Joe Smith

Pizza Fundraiser

Dear Families,

I want to thank everyone who came out and supported our students at the spaghetti dinner and the played.  We raised $932 for the trip to Boston meaning we have less the $5,000 to raise.

I also want to inform you that our Little Caesar Pizza, Pizza Fundraiser is underway.  Students received the order forms in advisory.  They are due back to their advisory teacher on March 13.   Pizza kits should to be picked up at the school on Thursday March 22.  More information will follow about the pick-up.

Customers can order online at www.pizzakit.com. At checkout, they will be prompted to put in our fundraiser info:

Group ID: 87681
Fundraiser ID: 242788
Name of Organization: Milton Middle School

As incentives we are offering the following:

• 3 top sellers in the school will receive two 2-for-1 passes to the Pump House at Jay Peak.
• Anyone who can sell $400 worth of product will have met the fundraising requirement.
• If everyone in an advisory participates in the fundraiser, that advisory will receive a pizza party.

Thanks,
Joe
jsmith3@mtsd-vt.org

Spaghetti Dinner 2/23

Dear Families,

This is to remind you that the Spaghetti Dinner will be February 23rd from 5:00 - 7:00 followed by the Phantom Tollbooth at 7:00. The cost of the dinner is by donation and the Phantom Tollbooth is $5.00. You do not need to go to both.

In order to make this dinner successful, WE NEED TO GET THE WORD OUT and encourage people to attend. Please spread the word at your place of worship, around town, at work, etc. The more people we can get to come the better. Because everything is donated, all of the money raised goes directly to the Boston trip.

We are looking for the following items to be donated.

Parmesan Cheese
Salad Dressing
Salad Ingredients
Drink Mix
Baked goods for dessert
Bread

If you make a donation and/or your child helps out at the dinner this will count towards one of their 3 fund raisers.

Thanks,
Joe Smith

jsmith3@mtsd-vt.org

Portfolio Conferences Coming Up!

Dear Pyxis Families,

How time flies! We are already well into the third quarter of the school year and it is already time for our second round of Portfolio Conferences! Educational research tells us that children benefit greatly from having meaningful conversations about their learning with important adults in their lives.  To that end, we hope that you can attend a Portfolio Conference where your child will present to you artifacts of his or her learning – work from each class that he or she has thoughtfully selected to demonstrate learning and growth.

In addition to presenting artifacts of academic growth, your child will also discuss their progress with the Universal Habits we have been working on this year: Managing Self, Relating to Others, Constructing Knowledge, and Participating and Contributing.

For your convenience, we are scheduling conferences on the evening of Thursday, February 23, and on the morning of Tuesday, March 6. Anyone is welcome – parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors.  If no adult is able to attend on these dates, we will gladly make arrangements for you to conference with your child at another time.

Please visit http://bit.ly/pyxisconferences2 to indicate your preferred conference times.

If you wish to meet one on one with Pyxis teachers, we would be more than happy to schedule a meeting when we see you at your child’s Portfolio Conference.

We look forward to seeing you!

Sincerely,

The Teachers of Team Pyxis:
Karen Allard
Nathan Caswell
Jana Fabri

Bottle Drive Fundraiser This Saturday!

I want to thank everyone who participated in the calendar raffle. We sold 702 tickets, raising over $7,020! This was by far the most successful fundraiser we have ever done.

Bottle DriveOn February 11th, we will be going around town to collect bottles. If you are interested in helping drive or if you would like to have your bottles picked up please contact Rob DeCicco at rdecicco@mtsd-vt.org or 893-3230 ext. 622 or Joe Smith at jsmith3@mtsd-vt.org or 893-3230 ext. 217. You can also drop your bottles off at Rene’s starting on February 4th and tell them that you would like to donate the bottle refund to the 8th Grade Boston trip.

Thank you,
Joe Smith

Academic Eligibility for Activities

On Team Pyxis, we support and celebrate all the activities that make us well-rounded and active individuals. We are happy that so many of our students play school sports, participate in the middle school play, help with student council, etc! While we want all of our students to pursue a wide range of interests and activities, we must also ensure students attend for their academic responsibilities. To that end, we will hold students to a "three strikes" academic eligibility policy. A "strike" is recorded each time a student fails to complete an assignment on time. We will inform parents after the second strike. Upon receiving a third strike, the student will lose academic eligibility for one week so that he or she can get caught back up with academics. After the week off, if the student is back on track, he or she may return to the activity.

If you have any questions about this policy, don't hesitate to contact us.

The Teachers of Team Pyxis

1/12 Humanities

There are some exciting things happening in class right now:

-Students have completed the first book of their spelling program and are in the process of taking the post-test to move onto the next book. Please check PowerSchool to see if your child is caught up with the requirements for this.
-We wrapped up our class reading of The Hunger Games last week to a round of applause by the students. What a fantastic read. It has helped to set the backdrop for our discussion of the role of government. Students are culminating their reading of the book by creating a representation of some aspect of the novel.
You are invited to a gallery walk of their work next Friday (1/20) from 1:30-2:30 in the library.
-Students are continuing to build their knowledge of the formation of the U.S. government. Students have been researching a delegate to the Constitutional Convention and we will be holding a Mock Sock Convention next week. Please check PowerSchool to see if your child has completed the various aspects of this assignment - the overview, the biography, and the script.

If your child starts making strange requests of you - needing spare socks, dirt, food, googly eyes, etc. - don't be alarmed. Our two ongoing projects are craft-heavy right now and I've encouraged folks to scrounge and reuse what they can. Thanks for your cooperation.

8th Grade Boston Update

Dear Parents/Guardians,

This is a reminder that the second installment of $25 for the Boston trip is due on January 20^th.

I also wanted to give you a quick update on our fundraising efforts.  As of today, we have raised over $12,000.  However we still have a little over $15,000 to go, so we need to continue the good effort in raising the funds to ensure that we are able to go on this trip.  We are currently selling the tickets for the Calendar Raffle.  We will also be doing a bottle drive after the weekend of the Super Bowl and a Spaghetti Dinner, which the date is still to be determined.  Please remember that each student does need to participate in at least three fundraisers or sell 20 calendar raffle tickets.

There has also been a change to the itinerary for the Boston trip.   Blue Man Group was sold out and therefore we will be going to see Sheer Madness instead, which is a comedy whodunit, where the audience is part of the show. 

As a reminder, the date for the field trip is from May 23-25, 2012.  You can pay the remainder of your balance at any time.  The third installment of $25 will be due February 24^th and the final installment will be due April 6^th.  A full refund will be offered until April 1^st.   No student will be denied going on this trip because of financial concerns.   If you need a scholarship, please let us know.

Below is the tentative itinerary for Boston:

May 23  7:00 a.m.  Leave Milton Middle School
11:00 a.m. Arrive at Emerson College
1:00 p.m.  Go to Museum of Science
5:00 p.m. Pizza at Emerson College
8:00 p.m. Sheer Madness

May 24 Small group exploration of Boston: Students will break into groups of 8-10 and visit different museums, such as the Mass Museum of Art, Franklin Zoo, Fenway Park, etc., based on their interests. Do you have any info about dinner that night – will this be on the students?

May 25 9:00 a.m.  Leave Emerson College, walk Freedom Trail, eat lunch at Faneuil Hall
1:00 p.m.  Boat cruise of Boston Harbor
3:00 p.m.  Leave Boston
7:00 p.m.  Arrive back in Milton

If you have any questions, please contact your student's team's Boston representative:

Aquila – Tom Keblin ext. 646 tkeblin@mtsd-vt.org
Cassiopeia – Joe Smith ext. 217 jsmith3@mtsd-vt.org
Pyxis – Jana Fabri. ext. 658 jfabri@mtsd-vt.org
Tucana- Amira Bakr ext. 678 abakr@mtsd-vt.org

Thank you,
Joe Smith

Science Test on Thursday 1.12

Students will take a major unit test in Science on Thursday. Student should study their notes on the following concepts learned in class:

• Feeding relationships, food webs and trophic levels.
• Food energy, photosynthesis and cellular respiration.
• Cell structures.
• Diffusion.

8th Math Unit Test on Friday

The 8th grade will take the unit test, covering many of the 8th grade algebra standards, on Friday. This is a major assessment for the 2nd quarter. Students are reminded to review their work from the Moving Straight Ahead and Thinking With Mathematical Models books, and to be sure to complete all of the practice assignments this week. Be ready to do your best!

Christmas Tree Pick-up

Dear Families,

On January 7th, we will be doing a Christmas Tree Pick-up. Donations will be accepted for the 8th Grade Boston trip. If you are interested in having your tree picked up, please contact Joe Smith at jsmith3@mtsd-vt.org.

Families, if you could please spread this information in you neighborhoods it will be greatly appreciated. Also we will be looking for a few parents with pick-up trucks to help out.

Thank you for your continued support and I hope you have a Happy New Year!