Last week Ms. Corriveau hosted a celebration of World Read Aloud Day. There were more than 500 visits to the library. Students joined Ms. Gilpatrick and Ms. Corriveau throughout the day for variety of read alouds.
Are there any motions delegates would like to bring to the floor?
"For posterity sake vote yes!" says Patrick Adams to the parliament in Mrs. Thompson's Social Studies class. In this simulation unit 7th graders have been divided into three groups: Patriots, Neutralists and Loyalists. They have been writing and giving speeches for and against various acts. This is the first of several speeches the students will be giving in their Social Studies class this year.
We have made it to the halfway point in the school year! Today the sixth graders stood at their lockers to see how they measure up. At the beginning of the school year teachers marked how tall students were on their locker. The measuring activity is repeated midway through the year and again in June. It is so fun to see the literal growth of the students.
Living in Maine and New Hampshire we are used to our winters being full of snow. This year some students are missing the snow. Last week some of the middle schoolers paused to enjoy the snow as it was falling.
January's genre of the month is here!
WHAT IS SCIENCE FICTION?
Science fiction stories are set in imagined, futuristic societies with advanced technology and science. The science behind the story should be somewhat believable, which is what makes it sci-fi and not fantasy.
WHY SHOULD YOU GIVE THIS GENRE A CHANCE?
Science fiction helps us escape reality and exercise our imaginations. It also helps us think about the present and future of science and technology.
See Ms. Corriveau in the MMS library for some Science Fiction recommendations! She has some good ones!
Good news from Marshwood Middle School
Renee Caverly December 22, 2022
Students at Marshwood Middle School are busy building robots in 8th-grade Robotics Class. Using EV3 Lego Mindstorm kits students build and program robots to do moves and turns. Students build models with gears and conduct experiments testing force and motion like real engineers.
8th grade Spanish One students have been hard at work on a project! They were asked to explore their identity and create three products to explain different aspects of who they are. The three products, all in Spanish, were a mind map, a self-portrait, and an essay.
Assessment: This project will count as a Presentational Communication grade worth 100 points (mind map = 20 points, selp-portrait = 40 points, essay = 40 points) The students used their self-protraits to help guide them as they had a conversation in Spanish with Señora Nelson or with a classmate.
The work students produced is impressive! As students completed the assignments they were displayed in the hallway here at MMS!
Congratulations to this year’s Patriot’s Pen Contest Winners! Christopher Neathawk, an eighth-grader, placed second while Nora Widerstrom, a seventh-grader, placed third. They will be the featured guests at a VFW dinner in February. Thank you to all the students who participated in the contest this year. Your efforts and enthusiastic participation is greatly appreciated, especially by our veterans.
Congratulations to the MMS Choruses on their successful concert last night! The choral students all performed a wonderful concert! Our next performance will be our school-day concert next Wednesday morning, December 21. It is not too late to see the concert. Check out the choral talent using this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvp6zbIUikg
A Letter from Superintendent John Caverly
December 8th, 2022
Dear Marshwood Community,
I hope this note finds you all well. It has been a wonderful start to the school year. To have our buildings in full use and students engaged in multiple opportunities has been such a gift. I must share with you: I am so proud of the work of our district staff over the past 3 months. They have worked tirelessly to create a safe learning environment for all learners that supports the individual learning needs of our students.
Prior to the fall break, our community faced a violent critical incident hoax at Sanford High School and Sanford Regional Vocational Center that brought forth our greatest fear, the safety of our students. As you know, the safety of our students, staff, and community is our top priority. In the wake of this event, the district has taken a number of steps to review our response and test our systems. We have met as individual schools, as district leaders, and with both the Eliot and South Berwick Police Departments. These meetings have been focused on reviewing our communication protocols and procedures to ensure the safety of all.
As part of that work, I wanted to notify the community that we will continue to focus on our building-level crisis planning. This includes age-appropriate safety drills in addition to our typical fire drills. What may be appropriate at Marshwood High School may be drastically different from what occurs in our elementary schools, based on the age and development of the students. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your child’s principal.
It pains me that we live in a world where we need to be concerned about school violence, but we cannot turn a blind eye to this. It is the district's goal to strike the balance between creating a safe environment for all, while not creating fear for anyone or compromising our primary purpose of educating children. As always, I appreciate the community support as we work together to keep our community safe.
Thank you
John Caverly
Superintendent of Schools
MSAD 35
Good News from the Marshwood Middle School and Marshwood High School Music Rooms
Choral Students Perform At Eliot Tree Lighting
Music teachers, Mrs. Bisson and Mrs. Michaud, joined students from the MMS and MHS choirs that sang carols at the Eliot Tree Lighting ceremony. Our district appreciates the town of Eliot for inviting the students and is proud of these hard-working and dedicated students for participating.
Michelle Simpson recently requested a flag be flown over the US Capitol, through the office of Congresswoman Pingree.
She thought it would be a nice thank you to the students and staff for all of their continued support to Veterans and First Responders. Michelle stated “I wanted to say thank you to MMS for organizing and hosting the recent Veterans Day Celebration. As a Veteran myself, I was honored to be a part of the celebration and humbled to learn Marshwood Middle School has been hosting this event annually since 2021.”
The US Flag is displayed in the front entryway with a certificate that states:
"This is to certify that the accompanying flag was flown over the United States Capitol. This flag was flown at the request of the Honorable Chellie Pingree, Member of Congress, in appreciation of Marshwood Middle School students and staff, for their devoted support of Veterans and First Responders."
Students on the 7 White Team had their own balloon parade in the hallway before the Thanksgiving break. Prior to the event, students met in Advisory groups and read or listened to the story Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade. This week students took on the challenge of creating their own balloon design. The balloon could be a character from their favorite book, movie or even an original design. For an additional challenge, students were asked to suspend the balloons in air just like the balloons int he Thanksgiving Day Parade. Take a look at some of their creations.
Who can? Marshwood Middle School Can! The Student Council is thankful for the success of our annual food drive. We were able to donate over 1,000 food items to the Footprints Food Pantry. To help celebrate our success, the school mascot came to visit the students!!
A big thank you to Mrs Balsiger for filling the halls of MMS with various student-created art exhibits.
The results are in from this week's State of Maine mock election! Almost 400 students participated, choosing the next Governor and District 1 U.S. Representative for the State of Maine.
In the race for governor, Sam Hunkler received 58 votes, Paul LePage received 89 votes, and our incumbent Governor, Janet Mills, received 217 votes for a landslide victory.
For the District 1 Representative to Congress, Edwin Thelander received 142 votes, and our incumbent Representative Chellie Pingree won with 207 votes.
Thank you to Mr. Rowe and the Social Studies teachers for arranging the opportunity for our students to participate in the mock election.
7th graders on both teams are participating in a read aloud of Andy Weir's book The Martian. Ms. White and Ms. Stauffer are sharing chapters with the students in science class weekly. The book (and eventual movie showing) provides a great connection to the topics students have been (and will be) exploring in science class this year, and highlight themes of ingenuity, tenacity and scientific thinking as a way to solve seemingly unsolvable problems. Want to know more about The Martian, ask the MMS 7th grader in your life!
The MMS school councelors have been working hard to help students find ways to relieve stress. The newest bulletin boards have been designed with this goal in mind. Students and staff are encouraged to take a minute or two out of their day to work on this collaborative coloring page. There are quite a few benefits to coloring here are a few:
relaxes your brain and improves brain function.
improves Motor Skills.
improves Focus.
reduces Anxiety.
relieves Stress.
Theater Day in Sixth Grade Social Studies
The students in the sixth grade Social Studies classes have been participating in a fun and engaging literacy-based Readers' Theater activity. Over the past two weeks students have had multiple opportunities to practice with their groups. Today was performance day and the sixth grader showed off their reading fluency!
Marshwood Middle School is a busy place. After-school activities have kicked into high gear. Students are staying after for Student Council, Yearbook Club, Soccer, Field, Hockey, Cross Country, PE Games, and more. If your student is looking to connect more with school there are a lot of options at MMS. Looking for more information check out this link https://www.rsu35.org/o/mms/page/intramurals-and-clubs