Our Spartan Elf : Victoria Dolanch!

One of our Spartan students, Victoria Dolanch, organized a toy drive for the Children's Hospital! What a noble and sweet idea! Victoria got the whole school involved in this initiative, and many toys were donated to children who will not be able to go home for the holidays.

Way to go, Victoria!

Glopsnerch Essay

Spartan students are busy creating a gift for someone - a glopsnerch! They are writing essays, describing what a glopsnerch is, what it can do, how to care for it, and who is receiving it as a gift. These essays are done in class. We are following the entire writing process, and it will take us about 2 weeks of class time.

Students may also build a model of their glopsnerches, and bring them in for up to 10 bonus points in class! Several models have been turned in already, and they are excellent!

Language Arts: Nonfiction Unit

Students in Language Arts are reading nonfiction pieces during our Informational Reading Unit. We read two articles on sharks and an informational piece on the Black Death in our textbook, and we will read a few additional pieces on Jackie Robinson in the upcoming weeks. This unit helps students develop and practice nonfiction reading strategies that will help them succeed in all of their academic classes.

In addition to our article analysis, students completed a cross-curricular mini-unit on nonfiction articles with Mrs. Drakeley's English classes. Students read articles on an online newspaper for teens called Tween Tribune. After reading two articles of their choosing, students wrote and posted replies to the articles that will appear on the website.

Students will also have the opportunity to practice their research skills as part of this unit by completing a scavenger hunt in the library using reference resources to answer trivia questions.

Language Arts: Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie

In Language Arts, students are reading the novel Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick. This novel is about a boy named Steven who is dealing with his little brother Jeffrey's diagnosis of cancer. Fans of this book might enjoy reading the sequel, After Ever After, which focuses on Jeffrey in remission.

Science: "Expanding Your Horizons" STEM Conference

Five Spartan students attended the “Expanding Your Horizons” (EYH) conference at Robert Morris University on October 15. Katie, Nikki, Cat, Alexa, and Natalie participated in the nationally recognized conference for girls in 6^th-9^th grade who are interested in future Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers.

During the all-day conference, the Spartan girls attended hands-on workshops developed and led by RMU faculty and leading industry professionals. These included “Perfume Science”, “Regeneration Science”, “Explosions and Chemical Reactions”, “Unisphere Planetarium”, “Call my Random Number”, and “Endangered Animals”. Additionally, a speaker from the Society of Women Engineers gave a motivational talk about her successful career path during the lunch break.

According to Alexa, “The conference was inspirational and fun. I definitely recommend it for young girls who are interested in STEM careers. I spent time with friends, met interesting new people, and gained valuable knowledge.”

Katie returned with information about a middle school summer camp sponsored by the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative. The camp, titled, “A Starfish Can Grow a New Arm, Why Can’t I?” is tentatively scheduled for July 2012. It will be held at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Biotechnology and Bioengineering. Please see Mr. Cornali if you are interested in learning more about this summer science opportunity!

September Spartans of The Month

Congratulations to Rodney and Sarah, our "Spartans of the Month" for September 2011. Keep up the great work!!!

Language Arts: A Wrinkle in Time

Students in Mrs. Wright's Language Arts class are reading the novel A WRINKLE IN TIME. We will conclude this independent novel with a performance task early in the month of October.

Language Arts: Literary Elements and the Short Story

Students in Mrs. Wright's Language Arts class are busy reading short stories in our textbook. In addition to improving our reading comprehension, this unit focuses on developing literary analysis skills.

Spelling Bee

The CMS Spelling Bee will take place on October 19th. Please see Mrs. Drakeley or Mr. Miller by September 30th to get the list of words and sign up. Click here for more information.

2011-2012 Yearbook Sale

The 2012 CMS Yearbook is now on sale for only $28 until the end of September. Students can return completed order forms to their homebase teacher, or parents can order online by clicking on the image below. Don't miss your chance to get the 2012 yearbook at the lowest price of the year!

CM Fit Day

Spartan students will be joining the rest of the 7th grade to take part in the annual Fit Day at CMS. Students have received letters about this and should have brought them home for parental review. Letters outlined the day's schedule, had a permission slip to be signed if the student wants to participate in a half mile competitive run, and gave a lunch menu for the day.

Please ask your child to see the Fit Day letter if they have not already given this to you.

Subjects and Predicates

Spartan students are learning about subjects and predicates in English class! This video was shown in class, but is a nice review of how to pick out the simple subject and simple predicate in a sentence. Please use it to give yourself a review, if necessary!

Welcome 2011-2012 Spartans!

Welcome back to an exciting school year in Sparta! Our theme for the school year is The Spartan Team: Transforming Ordinary into Extraordinary. We believe that your experience as a Spartan will be truly extraordinary.

Remember to check our team blog for important updates and reminders.

We look forward to a great school year!

Spartan Team Awards

Spartan achievements were recognized at our team award ceremony held on Tuesday, June 7th. We would like to wish a special congratulations to our subject award winners: Taylor (English), Julia (Language Arts), Garrett (Science), Kari (Social Studies), and Nick (Algebra Connections). Nick also received our prestigious Spartan of the Year honor. Congratulations to our award winners and all of our Spartans on a successful 2010 - 2011 school year!

CMS Book Swap

Spartan students participated in the Book Swap, held on Thursday, May 26th. Students donated used books and were able to select books from the donations. The event provided Spartans with great summer reading! Here are some pictures from the Book Swap.

Speaker: Biodiversity and Threatened/Endangered Species

Jennifer Halchak from Washington County Conservation District came to speak to the Spartan students on Friday, May 27th. The presentation focused on a local view of biodiversity and threatened and endangered species in our own backyard, in Canonsburg and in the state of Pennsylvania. The topics discussed provided an excellent follow-up to the Spartan cross-curricular unit on Endangered Species.

Spartan Field Trip: The National Aviary

Spartan students had a great day at The National Aviary on Monday, May 23rd. In addition to touring the facilities, students attended a program called "Birds of Prey." Here are some pictures from the event

Spartan Field Trip: Adopt a Bird

Spartan students collected money to sponsor Barkley, an Eastern Screech Owl, who lives at the National Aviary. Students got to meet Barkley on our field trip to the Aviary.

Book Swap Alert!

Want some new books for summer reading? Have some old books you have already read? Then join us for Canonsburg Middle School's Second Book Swap!

A Book Swap is an event where students bring in books to exchange. Everyone in the school is invited to bring in used books to swap for books other students donate. Our goal is for every student in the school to bring in one book to exchange so that everyone has a new book to read this summer.

Bring in your used Middle School Level books to Mrs. Wright (301) or Mrs. Drakeley (303) from May 16-20. You will get a ticket for each book you bring. On May 26 & 27, you will have a chance to select one book for each ticket you have.

This is a great opportunity to get your personal library refreshed for Summer reading!

Comma Usage Unit

Students in Mrs. Drakeley's English classes are finishing up the final touches on their endangered species research papers, and are getting ready to gear up for the last large project!

We will be starting a Comma Usage unit on Thursday, May 12. Information to the students is forthcoming!

Cover2Cover Meeting: The Maze Runner

Cover2Cover Book Club members participated in our last meeting of the school year on May 5th. We discussed James Dashner's Book, The Maze Runner, and participated in book-related activities. Here are some pictures from the event.

Crazy Hair Day

Spartans let their hair down . . . or made it stand up . . . to participate in CRAZY HAIR DAY on May 6th.

Spartans of the Month: April

The Spartan team would like to congratulate Kelci and Marcus for receiving our Spartan of the Month award for April. Way to go!

Spartans Give a Hoot Thematic Unit

Spartans are beginning our Spartans Give a Hoot! Thematic Unit.
In the upcoming weeks, Spartans will be participating in classroom activities in each of their core classes relating to Environmental Conservation and Endangered Species.

Students started the unit by researching an endangered animal in English; they are now writing research papers on their animals.

In language arts, students are reading the novel HOOT, featuring the endangered burrowing owl, while studying literary elements.

In Science, students are beginning a unit on Environmental Conservation and the affects of habitat loss on the world's animals.

Students are studying areas of the world impacted by environmental loss in Social Studies.

In Algebra Connections, students made bar graphs using environmental facts and statistics.

Here are some pictures from the unit kick-off, held on Friday, April 29th.

Engineer Your Life

Females interested in a future career as an engineer? See the link below to learn more!

http://www.engineeryourlife.org/cms/inspiringwomen.aspx

Language Arts: Poetry Unit

Students in Mrs. Wright's Language Arts class have been studying poetry for the past month. Here, students are working in groups to analyze a poem and make a Poetry Glog using the online poster-maker Glogster. Students presented their Glogs to the class.

Spartans of the Month: March

Congratulations to Garett and Andrew, our Spartans of the Month for March!

Travel Brochure

Spartan students are starting a new project in English class. They will be creating an essay and travel brochure based upon a real or imaginary vacation spot!

Students can either describe a favorite vacation they've been on or create their very own vacation spot. They will write a four paragraph essay about this spot, highlighting amenities, lodging, activities, dining options, etc. They will also use their persuasive techniques to persuade others to book a trip to their location.

After finishing the essays, students will create a travel brochure, highlighting the most important information about the vacation spot.

We will be working on this project in class for the next two weeks. Projects will be due on Friday, April 15.

Cover2Cover Meeting

Spartan students participated in a book club meeting after reading the book Fablehaven. All Spartans are welcome to join Cover2Cover to participate in our next meeting. We will be reading the book The Maze Runner. See Mrs. Wright with questions!

Spartans Go Green

Spirited Spartans celebrated St. Patrick's Day by going green. These little leprechauns found a pot full of PSSA gold at the end of their rainbows! How lucky!

Queen Bee

Congratulations to Breanna! She will be representing the Spartans as Canonsburg Middle School's Spelling Bee Candidate. Good luck, Breanna!

Crazy, Wacky Color Day

Look at these CRAZY and WACKY Spartans wearing multi-colors! Rainbow-riffic!

Spartans of the Month: February

Congratulations to Lindsay and Luke, our Spartans of the Month for February! Keep up the great work!

Cooperative Learning in Sparta!

Spartans students are working in cooperative learning groups in Language Arts and Science!