TBMS Weekly Newsletter - Issue 24-25.34

SEVENTH GRADE

In English language arts, seventh graders are ending the year with The Outsiders. Students have enjoyed reading about teens from a different era. We began by building background on the text through an interactive presentation that familiarized them with rodeos, fashion, social movements, and slang prevalent in 1960s Oklahoma. After reading chapter two, students completed a narrative retelling of events from an alternative character’s point of view. Through this assignment, they are honing their skills of taking on a character’s voice, writing authentic dialogue grounded in setting, and building tension through conflict that results in character mental change.

In Flex, in addition to academic support, students have had band and chorus rehearsals to prepare for their spring concert. On Thursday, the seventh grade will participate in a “clap in” for our student athletes when they return from the Special Olympics. Finally, students will end the week with collaborative game play. 

EIGHTH GRADE

In English language arts, students continue to read Lee’s novel while analyzing passages about courage in To Kill a Mockingbird.  This year, all students have honed skills in close reading through fifteen core literary devices: diction, connotation, denotation, syntax, imagery, sensory details, concrete language, tone, mood, simile, metaphor, personification, repetition, allusion, and anecdote.  We are learning about how Harper Lee uses these devices to create foreshadowing, defined as hints or clues of the plot yet to unfold.  We zero in on how the author intensively foreshadows the mysterious crime at the novel’s end in earlier scenes and chapters -- in Deer’s Pasture, Miss Maudie’s garden, and Arthur Boo Radley’s tree. 

In Flex, students started the week with a collaborative review for the MCAS mathematics test, which begins this Friday.  They worked together with diligence, skill, and academic spirit.  On Thursday, grade eight students will collaborate to lead school-wide support of the Special Olympics, which happens that day in Maynard.  Grade eight students will make signs and posters to support athletes.  Finally, our grade eight students also have continued academic support during Flex this week.

UNIFIED ARTS

The middle school choruses and bands are excited to share their hard work with the community at our concert on May 7th at 6:30 pm.  It will be a celebration of musical skill and the joy of performing in an ensemble!   

7th & 8th grade theatre classes are polishing up final drafts of their original small-group plays and are preparing for class presentations. The demonstration of creativity and humor has been fantastic!