OVERLAND TALES
“SCHOOL
DISTRICT
27J, REACHING
O U T
I N
Gifted & Talented PAC
Please plan to attend the next meeting of
the 27J Gifted and Talented Parent
Advisory Council.
When:
Monday, May 10, 2010
6:00-7:00 p.m.
Where:
Bromley East Charter School
356 Longspur Drive
Brighton, Colorado
720-685-3297
For more information, please contact:
Cindy Dunning Gifford: cdgifford@sd27j.org
2010-2011
Information on registration for the 20102011 school year will be mailed to parents
and students in early August. Included in
our back-to-school letter will be information
on registration times, school fees, school
start times, supply lists, student data
sheets, etc. Please watch your mail for this
important information.
Student schedules for the 2010-2011 school
year will be available in Infinite Campus in
late July.
Report Cards
Fourth quarter report cards will be mailed
in late May. Please be sure that all of your
child’s books are returned and/or fines are
cleared as report cards will be held until
these matters are taken care of.
A L L
D I R E C T I O N S
Overland Trail Middle School
455 N. 19th Avenue
Brighton, CO 80601
303-655-4000
”
May 2010
PAC News
Our new PAC officers for the 2010-2011
school year are: Jodi Morales-President;
Lynette Merich- Vice President.
PAC wishes to extend a sincere THANK
YOU for the tremendous support that our
parents have shown this year. We look
forward to an exciting 2010-2011!
8th Grade Picnic
This year’s year end celebration for our 8th
graders will be held on Wednesday, May
19th. There will be a picnic/bbq from 4:30
– 6:00 p.m. A dance will follow the picnic
from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Special Celebration
Our registrar, Ms. Elizabeth Martinez, is
retiring after 31 years of service to our
school district. There will be a celebration
in her honor on May 18th. Please feel free
to stop by anytime between 10:00 a.m. and
3:00 p.m. to help commemorate her
retirement.
Overland Tales Page 2
ACADEMIC TEAM & EXPLORATORY NEWS
TEAM 6A
Math - Geometry unit & wrapping up the year
in Math.
Social Studies - Oceania (Australia & New
Zealand) & Antarctica.
Science - Weather fronts, storms, and
predicting the weather.
Language Arts - We are studying drama—I
Never Saw Another Butterfly. This play is
about the Holocaust and the poetry written
by the children in Terezin (a work camp).
We are excited about our current 6th graders
maturing and moving up to 7th grade. We are
thrilled about our new 6th graders and are
looking forward to a great year!!!
TEAM 6B
The 6B teachers are sad to see another year
ending. We would like to commend our soon
to be 7th graders on a great year. This year
was one of the best at Outdoor Education
both behaviorally and the enthusiasm level
of the students. Our trip to the zoo was also
a great success thanks to our chaperones
and volunteers, as well as the behavior and
maturity of our students. Although we are
sad to see the end of the year arrive, we are
proud to see such a great group continuing
on in OTMS tradition.
We would also like to extend a big welcome
to our incoming 6th graders. We are looking
forward to an exciting start to their middle
school experience. Please feel free to
contact the school if you have any questions
about the upcoming year. We are excited
and very enthusiastic for the 2010-2011
school year.
TEAM 7A
Thank you to all who participated so
beautifully in our 2nd Annual Whoa! Dude!
OTMS Science Expo on April 22nd. We
had a fascinating day-30 working mentor
visiting scientists, Little Shop of Physics,
Creative Chemistry Show, Junk Box
Engineering Challenge, and our own science
expo. Our own student projects added to
the richness of the day. Winners at the
seventh grade level were: 1st Place-Biogas
(Tennyson Dahlman, Brandon Medina,
Hayden McNulty), 2nd Place-Backyard
Ballistics (Brianna McCullough, Alyssa
Lozano), 3rd Place-Making Paper (Kyleigh
Small, Ashlynn Redd), 4th Place-Bacterial
Growth and UV (Ray Armijo), and Dog Spit!
(Jessica Penna).
On Wednesday, May 5th, 7A will be out of
the building for the day on a field trip to
Dinosaur Ridge, Red Rocks, and a fossil
hunt at the TXI plant in Boulder, Colorado.
We are looking forward to a fun filled day
of exploring and investigating rock
formations and geological anomalies. We
will be interpreting the geologic history of
the Front Range and looking at dino
tracks/bones. It will be a rigorous outing,
and all students attending have been
advised to wear proper shoes and clothing,
with an eye on the prospective weather
Overland Tales Page 3
report! Students should each pack a healthy
and filling lunch, so that their energy levels
will not wane before the end of the trip.
Watch for your student’s permissions slip.
It is due by Friday, April 30th. We are also
needing a couple of chaperones for that day.
If you would like to accompany us, please call
Mrs. Aden at 303-655-4028, or email at
maden@sd27j.org.
As we approach the end of the school year,
students have been advised not to take their
vacations before the school year has ended.
There is still plenty of school work to do!
Students are expected to attend classes on
time, bring materials to class, behave
appropriately, and wear clothes that conform
to the school dress code. What better way
to end the year than with a report card
chock full of good grades?!
TEAM 7B
Mrs. Bradfield – Social Studies
We are just finishing our unit on Ancient
Greece next week and I am excited to begin
our final unit on Ancient Rome right after.
Throughout our lesson on Rome, we will be
studying the geography and their history
that led them to be such a magnificent
empire. We will end by learning about what
it was like to be a gladiator back then and do
some fun activities to go along with that.
The last week of school we will celebrate the
end of the school year with our Passport
Party, where all students who did not miss or
turn in any late assignments for the entire
year will be invited to come and celebrate
together!
Mrs. Pair - Math
Pre-Algebra – We just finished Chapter 7
on a review of fractions and using formulas.
Our last chapter is Chapter 8 where
students will be able to apply some of their
Pre-Algebra skills to Geometry applications.
Students will see the need for Algebra in
the “real world”.
Algebra – Students have worked very hard
the last few weeks learning how to graph
parabolas, write their equations, and
interpret their information based on a
situation.
In the next chapter we will
introduce basic ideas of inequalities.
Mr. Parsons – Language Arts
We recently finished our unit on poetry,
which I hope showed students that there is
an incredible amount of freedom and
creativity to be found in writing and
reading poems. We have moved on to
studying grammar, which will probably take
us throughout the rest of the year. While
the vast majority of people (including me)
aren’t particularly excited about grammar
we discussed why it is important to know. I
let students know that even if they don’t
plan on going to college, grammar is
important for communicating clearly in
every situation in life, especially when
completing job applications and being
interviewed because it shows that you are
an educated candidate for any job. We are
also continuing with our Anchor book
reading,
journaling,
and
literature
discussion groups.
Overland Tales Page 4
Mrs. K - Science
In class, we’re finishing the year in studying
ecology and classification. Topics yet to be
studied include plants, food webs and
energy, adaptations, and classification.
Congratulations to all of our 7th graders on
their amazing Science Expo Projects. Thank
you parents for supporting and mentoring
your son or daughter throughout the
project. In addition to learning about the
topic of their choice students gained
valuable skills in research, experimental
design, and working in groups. All of the
teachers and judges were very impressed.
The 7th grade winners of the science fair
were:
1st Place: Biogas - Methane HarvesterHayden McNulty, Brandon Medina, &
Tennyson Dahlman.
2nd Place: Potato Gun and Fuel - Brianna
McCullough & Alyssa Lozano.
3rd Place: Paper from Leaves - Ashlynn Redd
& Kyleigh Small.
Runners Up: Katie Allen & Nikki Montano;
Jessica Penna; Ray Armijo; Jolina Spencer
& Eva Zenteno;
Honorable Mention: Kelly Parrish, Rylee
Hoel, & Anna Vuyk;
Laura Lipsky and
Britney Walls.
7th grade winners & their methane collector.
The day of the expo was fun for all and our
7th graders represented OTMS with class
and enthusiasm.
FIELD TRIP!
7B is going to the Rocky Mountain Bird
Observatory and Barr Lake on May 5th.
RMBO has provided us with a generous
scholarship. The field trip fee is only $1 per
student. Bring a sack lunch and good walking
shoes! WE STILL NEED A FEW
CHAPERONES
please
email
ckowalewski@sd27j.org or call 303-6554010 ASAP if you can help us!
TEAM 8A
Math - In our Algebra class we have just
started Chapter 9, which deals with
inequalities. Students have been learning
the difference between equations and
inequalities, and now we are beginning to
graph linear and quadratic inequalities. With
the end of the year coming up we will have
one exam for Chapter 9 and a
comprehensive final exam. We will begin
Chapter 10, but may not finish the entire
section.
In Pre-Algebra we have begun Chapter 9
dealing with graphing linear equations.
Students have been learning how to
recognize patterns in an x-y table, and now
we are transitioning into the meaning of
slope. By the end of the chapter, students
should be able to graph equations in the
form y = mx + b. For the Pre-Algebra class
we will have one more major exam this year.
Overland Tales Page 5
It will cover the topics in this latest chapter
along with some review questions.
We will learn how magnets are made and
how experiment with magnetic properties.
Thanks,
Gus Ruybal aruybal@sd27j.org
303-655-4037
Lee Chow mchow@sd27j.org
303-655-4030
Language Arts - In language arts, we are
still working on Drama. This is Unit Five in
our Reader’s Journey.
We are currently
reading our anchor books and planning on
performing parts of these plays in class. In
addition, students should be working on their
free choice book project.
This project
should be completed on EDU 2.0 (internet
based classroom) by May 10. As a culmination
to our unit on drama, we will watch William
Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing.
We are also eagerly looking forward to the
end of the year when our 8th graders
officially become high schoolers. I hope you
all have a great summer and a great high
school career.
Marty Spritzer mspritzer@sd27j.org
(303)655-4020
Science - In science, we will be finishing off
the year with our last two physics units.
First, we will take a look again at electrical
energy and examine how electricity is used in
common circuits. The students will conduct
experiments on series and parallel circuits.
They will also build simple electric motors
and use computer simulations to expand our
learning.
Next we will take a look at
magnetism and its relationship to electricity.
Social Studies - Students will be very busy
this last month of school. Team 8A eighth
graders will take a test over all the wars,
dates, and presidents in United States
history. They will be focused on the Civil
War with a project, guest speakers, and
several detailed worksheet packets to
finish up the year. Please continue to stay
actively involved in your student’s learning
and know he/she will be very busy finishing
up the year. Students will have an end-ofyear test over all the year’s materials.
There will be two review sessions if your
student chooses to attend. All are invited
to attend the guest speakers’ presentations
and actively participate in our classes.
Colleen Heitman cheitman@sd27j.org
303-655-4018
May 2010
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
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5
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7
8
9
10
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7:00-Choir Concert
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7:00-Band Concert
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15
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17
18
19
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Last Day of School
Early Dismissal-11:30
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27
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29
4:30-8th Grade
Picnic/BBQ
6:00-8th Grade Dance
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