Fairbanks Museum Schedule

This post applies ONLY to the 5th/6th grade students who start the day in my homeroom.  We will be going to the Fairbanks Museum on the following dates:

Jan 5th 8:05 AM ... The Solar System
February 2nd 8:05 AM ... Planetarium Skies - Tonight's Skies
March 2nd 8:05 AM ... The Human Body

Have a great week.

Jim Shea

Cream cheese and oreos!

Dear Students/Parents:

One last thing:  Sarah Boucher will be making some delicious goodies with all the students on Wednesday, Dec 22nd.  Mrs. Boucher has asked that each child bring in one pack of cream cheese and one box of oreo cookies on Tuesday or Wednesday.  These ingredients are apparently necessary for the low fat, low carloie goodies Mrs. Boucher is making with your child. 

Now go for your jog!

Jim

Geo Bee Contestants

I thought I should list the names of the 15 middle school students who won the preliminary rounds and will be in the GeoBee compeition later today:

Grade 5:  Chelsea Carcoba, Hannah Parker, Travis Gross
Grade 6:  Brodie Talbot, Logan Larose, Nick Blow
Grade 7:  Rian Boudreau, Bennett Cochran, Jared Fenby, Christina Cassidy
Grade 8:  Shane DeShone, Kyle Lamphear, Haley Loura, Ethan Sawyer, Keith Tilloton

Congratulations to all 15 contestants!

Thoughts from December 16th

Dear parents/Guardians:

Tomorrow afternoon, Friday the 17th, we will hold the GeoBee.  This is a national competition, sponsored by National Geographic, which tests students in grades 5 - 8 in their knowledge of world geography.  Parents/friends are invited to come and watch.  It will start at 1:05 pm in our auditorium.

We have 5 eighth graders, 4 seventh graders, 3 sixth graders and 3 fifth graders competing.  Of these 15 students, only one will move on to the Vermont State Championship at Middlebury College in April.  The winner of the Vermont State Championship will compete in the National Competition in May and try for a chance at the $25,000 prize. 

I am reluctant to say Danville will only have 1 winner because I believe every student who climbs onto the stage tomorrow is a winner. 

Some of the world's greatest success stories have been people who failed, picked themselves up, and pressed on.  You may want to watch (and show your child) this great youtube video: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6hz_s2XIAU&feature=email

Jim Shea
371-8068

The holidays are nearing...

but the midddle school students still have lots on their plates.

1.)  The Danvilel GeoBee takes place this Friday afternoon from 12:45 - 2:30 PM.  This geography competition is open to all students in grades 5 - 8.  The winner of the Danville compeition will compete next spring in the State Championship at Middlebury College.  So many middle school students were interested in competing we had to do "qualifying contests" in grades 5 - 7.  The students had to answer a 10 question mini-quiz, and the students who did the best on that quiz won the right to be in Friday's contest.  Parents are welcome to come watch the competition on Friday!

2.)  As you may know, students in grades 7 and 8 will be skiing and boarding at Burke this winter.  The papers for the Burke Mountain ski program have been delivered to Burke.  We are now waiting to hear from the people at Burke what days we can ski. We have a total of 44 students in grades 7 and 8 participating.

3.)  The students in grades 5 and 6 have a spelling test on Monday, December 20th.  They need to study (and learn) the handout I gave them.  The students are learning the past tense of some "irregular" verbs.  If you want to help your child study, here are the words:

1.  not keeped, but kept                                                  21.  not knowed, but knew
2.  not beginned, but began                                            22.  not spended, but spent
3.  not grinded, but ground                                             23.  not lighted, but lit
4.  not freezed, but froze                                                24.  not losed, but lost
5.  not breaked, but broke                                              25.  not maked, but made
6.  not throwed, but threw                                              26.  not readed, but read
7.  not bringed, but brought                                            27.  not rised, but rose
8.  not catched, but caught                                              28.  not selled, but sold
9.  not rided, but rode                                                     29.  not sinked, but sank or sunk
10.  not speaked, but spoke                                            30.  not bleeded, but bled
11.  not choosed, but chose                                            31.  not sleeped, but slept
12.  not drawed, but drew                                              32.  not meaned, but meant
13.  not ringed, but rang                                                  33.  not stealed, but stole
14.  not drinked, but drank                                              34.  not teached, but taught
15.  not feeled, but felt                                                    35.  not thinked, but thought
16.  not shaked, but shook                                               36.  not blowed, but blew
17.  not fighted, but fought                                               37.  not weaved, but wove
18.  not forgotted, but forgot                                            38.  not heared, but heard
19.  not creeped, but crept                                               39.  not writed, but wrote
20.  not hided, but hid                                                      40.  not drived, but drove

Have a great week!

Jim Shea
371-8068

Spelling Words for test on December 7

Hi everyone,                   

This is Logan Larose, Logan DeShone, and Zakary Shelburne.

This week's spelling words are: who's, ahead, their, figure, results, whose, perhaps, chance, except, probably, lead, thought, classroom, whole, necessary, simple, rules, method, sit, bought, radio, general, school, family, object, king.

This week's "Challenge Words" come from ancient Greece and were selected by Molly Copp.  The Challenge Words are: 

biopsy, android, odyssey, calypso, cosmetic, sarcasm, mathematics, rhinoceros, Olympian, biblical, diagnosis, dynamic, eureka, analysis, autopsy,

Thank you.

Sincerely,

L.D, L.L

Spelling Words for 5th/6th Graders: Test on Nov 22nd

Here are the spelling words for all 5th and 6th grade students.  The spelling test will take place on Monday, Nov 22nd. 

The challenge words come from the French language.  According to the Scripps Spelling Bee web site, "Before the  Modern English that we speak today was fully settled, the French of the Middle Ages - a direct offshoot of Latin - was widely spoken in the British Isles, as a result of the conquest of Britian by France in 1066."  Bon chance!

REGULAR WORDS:

interesting                  learned              there               sure          toward            closely

thousand         break           afraid           little         their         practice      heard   

animals       through          drive             forward         lead        chance         subjects

stones       beautiful          train        fresh       sight       pretty

CHALLENGE WORDS:

diplomat         rehearse             expertise             elite            entourage         collage

gorgeous           denim         ambulance          plateau        surveillance

camouflage          renaissance            chassis       rendezvous          mayonnaise

Challenge words for Spelling Test on Nov 12th

This week's challenge words come directly from the Scripps Spelling Bee.  This is what the Scripps web site has to say about them.  "Japanese is a relative latecomer among the languages that have influenced English, making it a welcome language of origin for spellers: Recently borrowed words are spelled more consistently than are those from languages that English has been borrowing from for centuries. Japanese is written in English according to the sound of Japanese words and is not influenced by the Japanese writing system, which uses symbols for words rather than letters." 

In fact, we had a visiting teacher from Japan in my classroom last week to teach the students about life in Japan.  She showed the students the Japanese alphabets (all 3 of them) and even made origami with many of the students.

Sorry I posted these words so late.  I'm at home today with a bad cold. 

Here are your challenge words:

ninja               karate                haiku                tycoon                sushi           samarai          

futon        tofu         teriyaki               honcho               tsunami           origami           

sayonara         sumo             shogun            hibachi

Call me if you have any questions.

Jim Shea

371-8068

Words for Nov 10th Spelling Test

Dear parents,

Here are the words for our next spelling test on Nov 10th:

Level 5 (Unit 4) words:

explain, then, friends, than, beautiful, there's, that's, farm, music, their, perhaps, travel, there, answers, notice, circle, watch, single, wrote, they're, often, whose, who's, I'm

Level 6 (Unit 4) words:

let's, chance, than, there, their, past, happened, they're, science, whole, women, people, sight, really, reach, thick, pretty, interest, produce, finally, then, million, earth, result, together, common

Within the next few days, I will add a set of "challenge words" for those that want more.

As you may notice, the Sitton words often repeat themselves.  Many of last week's Level 6 words are in the Level 5 list this week.  In addition, the Level 5 words are sometimes more challenging than the Level 6 words.  I attended a Sitton Spelling conference last week in Manchester, N.H., and the instructor recommended that I use just one book (not both Level 5 and Level 6) and challenge the stronger spellers with extra activities from that one book.  I've consulted with Karen Kennedy (our 7th grade Language Arts and spelling instructor) and she agrees.  Ms. Greaves and Ms. Boucher also agree that it would be better for our 5th/6th grade students if we used one book and gave the stronger spellers more of the challenging assignments.  There are many challenging activities in the Sitton Spelling Sourcebook. 

For those compelling reasons, this will be the last week that our 5th/6th grade students have 2 separate lists of words.   Starting next week we will all use the same list of words but those students who need more of a challenge will do more than simply memorize the list. 

Regardless of what grade a student is in, the stronger spellers will now be required to study prefixes and suffixes, proofread stories, write short stories using the spelling words, analyze words in order to make spelling inferences, improve sentence structure, examine homonyms, antonyms, metaphors, change irregular verbs into past tense, and examine how to make words plural.  If you want your child to have more challenging spelling homework, there are many Sitton Spelling assignments I can send home with your child so you can work with your child.  However, since we are trying not not overwhelm our students with too much homework, I won't send those assignments home unless you request.

I firmly believe that this new path will challenge all of our 5th/6th grade students more.  Merely memorizing a list of words does not help our children become better writers and communicators.  Our children must learn how to use words as tools for communication in this 21st century.  These added exercises will help achieve that.

Sincerely,

Jim Shea
371-8068

October 29th Parent Letter

Greetings.

I just returned from a great conference in Manchester, N.H.   The conference was all about the Rebecca Sitton Spelling Program, which is the spelling program we use at Danville School for grades 3 - 8.  I was able to learn more about the Program and ask some pointed questions to the Sitton experts. 

Today (Friday) I will give the students a spelling assessment (that does not count toward their grade) and then we'll review latitude and longitude once again.  I would say that 95% of the students now understand latitude and longitude, and I'm hoping they will all ace the geography quiz next Wednesday. 

The kids should study their spelling words this weekend because they have a spelling quiz on Monday.  On Monday evening I will post their new spelling words.

Have a safe Halloween.

Mr. Shea
371-8068  (cell ph)

Geography quiz and Spelling Test

I will be at a conference in Manchester, New Hampshire on Thursday, October 28th.  In addition, Mrs. Kennedy's 7th grade students have asked to host a fall celebration on Friday, October 29th, from 1:00 to 2:30 PM.  (Students are NOT supposed to wear any costumes.)

Some of my 5th/6th grade students asked if they could have more time to study before the next spelling test.  Therefore, I AM POSTPONING THE SPELLING TEST TO MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1st. 

IN ADDITION, I AM POSTPONING THE RE-TAKE OF THE GEOGRAPHY (LATITUDE/LONGITUDE) QUIZ TILL WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3RD.    If your child needs extra help after school to study for the geography quiz, please contact me to set up a time.

Sincerely,

Mr. Shea
371-8068

Monday ice cream party

ICE CREAM PARTY:  I just wanted to let you know that the 5th/6th grade students have asked (and the teachers agreed) to have an ice cream party Monday at 1:00 P.M.   This will be our way of celebrating the end of NECAP exams.  All of the 5th/6th grade classrooms will be celebrating this way.  Each student in my home base room has been asked to bring in one thing for the party.  (Just ask your child what they agreed to bring.)  If your child cannot bring something in, don't worry.  Just email me (JShea@Danvillek12vt.us) and let me know what your child isn't able to get.  I'll make sure I pick it up at Hastings or Marty's on the way in to school on Monday.  Not a big deal.   I will bring strawberries and bananas, too.

NECAPs: Although the 6th and 7th grade students have finished their NECAP exams, 5th grade students still have a 1 hour writing exam on Monday morning.  Please make sure that your 5th grade son/daughter gets to bed early on Sunday night. I don't want any of our students to fall asleep (like actor James Franco) during class.



If any student has missed any of the NECAP tests, they must make up that test on Tuesday.  If your child is one of those who missed a day, please make sure they get to bed early Monday night as well. 

7th GRADE ELECTIONS:  We will be holding an election in my classroom on November 2nd.  The 7th grade students will select their two student council representatives, and I am allowing any 7th grade student to run for Danville Student Council.  I will give the students a chance to campaign and make speeches.  Only two 7th grade students will be elected, and those two will occasionally have to miss a science or social studies class for student council meetings.  They will be responsible for making up any and all work they may miss, so the students who run for student council must be willing to stay caught up in their studies.  If you have any questions about this, please feel free to email me. 

BEAR MEAT:  Lastly, if anyone knows when the Danville Game Supper takes place, please let me know.  I believe it takes place some time in November at the Methodist Church.  I missed the food last year and I really want to get a chance to try some moose and bear meat.  Thanks.

Jim Shea
(802) 371-8068  (cell)

Spelling Words for Next Quiz

Spelling Words for Thursday, October 28^th Quiz

Level 5 Words for Unit 3:

easy, friends, upon, without, week, there’s, country, it’s, language, explain, energy, United States, area, another, beautiful, English, spring, little, lost, certain, usually, special, its, every

Level 6 Words for unit 3:

various, its, opposite, except, broken, rules, different, always, it’s, often, whose, certain, there, son, born, we’ll, sense, produce, meant, who’s, important, you’re, temperatures, your, pull, thought

October 15th Letter

October 15, 2010

Greetings.  The past week has been very busy.

1.)     The students have been knee deep in NECAPs for the past 7 days.  The 6^th graders just finished their NECAP exams yesterday (Thursday).  The 5^th graders have one more day left to complete their writing portion of their NECAP exams.  I think the kids are doing a great job!

2.)    I enjoyed meeting many of the parents during parent conferences last week.  It was great to discuss your children with you.  You have great kids!

3.)    Some of you asked when your child might be able to re-take the geography (latitude/longitude) quiz.  I had hoped to give the students the opportunity to take it again on October 20^th, but other educational events are pushing that quiz date back.  So I will give the students who wish re-take that quiz a chance on Friday, October 29^th.

4.)    Students who do not wish to re-take the geography quiz can keep their existing quiz grade.  (There were quite a few A’s.)  Those grades will get entered into my grade-book as a TEST.  This will help reward those students who got a good grade the first time.   

5.)    Just so everyone is aware of how I calculate grades, tests count for twice as much as a quiz.  Tests and quizzes will be worth 75% of a student’s grade.  The other 25% of a student’s grade will be class participation.

6.)    I’ve been doing my best to make sure that the students have no homework during NECAPs.  Hopefully your child will be able to get back in the swing of doing homework next week. 

7.)    The Danville Middle School will be starting a homework club in about 1 week. We will let you know what days students can stay after for extra help.  We’ll probably have this available for middle school students 2 days a week.

8.)    If you ever want your child to stay after school and get extra help in spelling or social studies, please feel free to contact me.  I am willing to stay after school almost any day to help students.

9.)    This week our 7^th/8^th grade Spelling Team won the local spelling bee.  Congratulations to those students!  They will move on to the Regional Championships in a few weeks.

10.)                        The next Spelling Test for 5^th/6^th grade students will take place on Thursday, October 28^th.  I will post those words on this blog later today.

Have a great weekend.

Jim Shea

371-8068

A 4 minute movie we watched today

During our lessons on latitude and longitude, the students learned the location of many countries.  Today we watched this short 4 minute youtube video so the students can see the beauty of these countries.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY  The students got to experience everything from Australia to Zanzibar. 

Photos from our September 29th hike at Groton State Forest

October 1st Letter to Parents

October 1, 2010

Greetings.

A.)  Despite all the rain and cooler temperatures we've had recently, this past week has been great.  Perhaps the best day of the week was Wednesday when all of the students in grades 5 – 7 went hiking at Groton State Forest.  We split up into 3 groups and each group hiked different trails.  The foliage was amazing, no one got lost, and the weather cooperated nicely.

B.)  Next week all of the students in grades 5 – 7 have NECAP tests.  We will give the students a NECAP test on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings, and then more NECAP tests the following Monday and Tuesday.  These NECAP tests are administered to students throughout all of New England, and allow us to see how our Danville students are doing compared to students in other schools across New England. 
C.)  HOMEWORK:  Because the NECAPs are important, and because we want your child fully rested for the NECAP exams, we will not give your child any homework next week.  We ask that you make sure your child gets to bed early each night.  The NECAP test will only last about 1 hour a day, but we want your child do their best on it.  Thank you.

D.) SPELLING QUIZ:  Because we pledge not to give our Middle School students homework next week, I will not give my 5^th/6^th grade students a spelling test for

      the next 2 weeks.  We will work on some spelling exercises in class during the next 2 weeks, but there will be no homework, quizzes or tests during NECAPs.  The next official spelling test will be in 3 weeks.  I’ll post the next set of spelling words on this blog next week.

E.)  LATITUDE/LONGITUDE QUIZ:  Although some of my students did quite well on the last geography quiz, some struggled on it.  I’ve decided to let students re-take that geography quiz if they wish.  Since NECAPs take place for the next 7 school days, I have decided to postpone the geography quiz until October 20th.  Rest assured that we will be practicing with longitude and latitude in class over the next 3 weeks, so the material will remain fresh in their heads.

F.)  PARENT CONFERENCES:  You can have a parent conference with us next Thursday, October 7^th, from 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM, or next Friday morning.  (Danville students do not have school on Friday, October 8^th.)  If you want a parent conference, please call Janice or Sonia in the Main Office and they will schedule it.  These conferences are intended to give parents a quick (10 minute) picture of how your child is doing.  If you feel that you need more than 10 minutes for a conference, please tell Janice or Sonia and they can schedule a time on a different day.
G.)  I will be taking the 5th/6th grade students in my home base class to the Fairbanks Museum next Wednesday, October 6th.  They will learn all about "Weeds and Seeds".  We will leave school at 8:15 AM and return by 10:15 AM.  We will join Ms. Rapoza's class on this fieldtrip.

Have a great weekend!  

Jim Shea   

(cell ph: 371-8068)

September 24th Letter

September 24, 2010

Greetings.

This week in social studies all of my students took a geography quiz which focused on latitude and longitude.  I am still correcting these quizzes, and should have the back to the kids by Monday.  Although many students did well on the quiz, there were several students who struggled.  For that reason, I will allow any student who wants to re-take the quiz next week, and I will average their 2 grades together.

I also gave the 5^th and 6^th grade students their first spelling quiz on Wednesday.  I will grade those this weekend and have them back to the kids on Monday as well.

Kettle Pond Hike: Hopefully your child brought home a permission form which you need to sign that will allow them to go on a hike at Kettle Pond on September 29^th.  All students in grades 5 – 7 will be going on this easy hike.  If you haven’t seen the form, it means it’s probably still in your child’s backpack.

Fairbanks Museum:  I will be taking my home base class to the Fairbanks Museum on the morning of September 30^th.  We will learn what science tells us about the creation of Earth.

In addition, school photos will be taken on either September 30^th or October 1^st, depending on who is your child’s homeroom teacher.  (It is September 30^th for my home base students.)   

Homework:  Have your child study their spelling words.  If they lost the list, you can find it on my blog.

I have started a web site (it’s actually a blog) that contains all the news, photos and homework assignments for my students and their families.  If you have internet at home, you can check out this blog whenever it’s convenient.  You can find it at http://danvillemiddleschoolshea.blogspot.com

Have a great weekend.

Jim Shea     (cell: 371-8068)

Spelling Words for Level 6 Students

Sitton Spelling Words for level 6:

Unit 1: (September 20 – 25)                                                        Unit 2: (September 28 – Oct 1)

although                                                                                                             anyone

you’re                                                                                                                   afraid

animal                                                                                                                   because

single                                                                                                                    especially

opposite                                                                                                              women

millions                                                                                                                 their

they’re                                                                                                                 let’s

there                                                                                                                     lets

their                                                                                                                      whose

girl                                                                                                                          science

born                                                                                                                      millions

addition                                                                                                               sense

special                                                                                                                  history

suppose                                                                                                               caught

enough                                                                                                                 found

known                                                                                                                  uncovered

either                                                                                                                    animals

friend                                                                                                                    there

information                                                                                                        doesn’t

cattle                                                                                                                     earth

may be                                                                                                                 material

because                                                                                                               than

sense                                                                                                                    happened

young                                                                                                                   a lot

difficult                                                                                                                 piece

however                                                                                                              rule

Spelling Words for Level 5 Students

Sitton spelling words for Level 5:

Unit 1 words:  (September 20 – 25)                        Unit 2 words: (September 28 – Oct 1)

fields                                                                             it’s

mark                                                                              grew

buy                                                                                listen

everything                                                                    among

inside                                                                            single

years                                                                              its

told                                                                              groups

later                                                                              sure

its                                                                                 follow

it’s                                                                                 does

window                                                                        clear

important                                                                      ask

heat                                                                             several           

through                                                                         build

there                                                                               their

their                                                                               they’re

they’re                                                                           check

water                                                                             written

hundreds                                                                      together

which                                                                              there

own                                                                              surface           

music                                                                             most

friends                                                                           faces

warm                                                                              first

September 17th update

September 17, 2010                                      

Greetings.

SOCIAL STUDIES: The 5^th, 6^th and 7^th grade students made great progress this week with their study of geography.  They will have a geography test on Sept 20^th or 21^st (depending on which day they have me for social studies).  The test will focus on map reading and longitude/latitude.   They should know how to read and write coordinates (longitude and latitude) since we have spent days reviewing this.  I will give the students a map and the coordinates (longitude and latitude) of a particular country or city, then they will have to tell me which country or city the coordinates are referring to.   I will also ask them to write the coordinates of a particular city or country.  (They don’t have to memorize any maps as I will provide a map.)  They will also have to know (memorize) the following terms

A.) Equator                     B.) Longitude           C.) Latitude

D.) Tropic of Cancer     E.) Tropic of Capricorn     F.) Prime Meridian

G.) International Date Line

SPELLING:  If your child is in the 5^th or 6^th grade, they will have a spelling test next Wednesday, September 22^nd.  I have inserted a list of their spelling words into this Friday Folder, so you will have an opportunity to help your child study their words this weekend.  In addition, I have added the words for the spelling test the following week as well.

It was great seeing many of you at the Open House/Carnival last night.  Feel free to contact me at any time if you have a question or concern about your child’s progress.  Have a great weekend.

Jim Shea  (cell: 371-8068)