August 19: 1st day of

school

September 6: Labor

Day– no school

October 8: Teacher

Institute: Half Day

October 11: Columbus

Day

Important Dates to

Remember

Spartan 300

Inside this issue:

Show Choir 1

Notes from

Principal, Nurse,

Reading Specialist

and Librarian

2-3

Encore 4-5

Team 7-1 6-7

Team 7-2 8-9

Team 7-3 10-11

Team 8-1 12-13

Team 8-2 14-15

Team 8-3 16

4th Quarter: March-June 2010 Volume 3, Issue 4

Edited and produced by Joanna Maas

For additional events and

dates to remember, see our

calendar posted on the

website

Principal, Beth Lind

Assistant Principal, Paula Sereleas

Dean of Students, Jim Letsos

Below: (Show Choir Pictured from left to right): Front Row: Jillian Nast, Julie Meyers, Susan Liva, Maddie Witt. Second Row: Savannah Stiglic, Aly Martin, Mi-chelle Housh, Cathy Maschmeyer. Third Row: Casey Sawilchik, Sa-vannah Filkins, Brandy Benak, Katie Sheehan. Top Row: Alec Chase, Molly Ciszek, Lauren Vitiritti

Sawilchik. In April, the Show

Choir met with the Hilda Walker extracurricular music students

and answered questions about Show Choir and the music de-

partment in the junior high.

They were guest performers at the Hilda Walker Spring Con-

cert, as well. The Show Choir is looking forward to performing

at the Fall Concert, where the theme will be Disney songs.

The Show Choir had an-

other excellent performance on Tuesday, March 30th, 2010. They

opened the spring concert “Spring into Music” with the

Beatles‟ song “Here Comes the

Sun.” Their second number was the ever-famous song by Jour-

ney, “Don‟t Stop, Believing,” which featured soloists Molly

Ciszek, Cathy Maschmeyer, Alec Chase, and Casey

Show Choir Ends Year With Spring Concert and Mentoring

Page 2 Newsletter Title

Dear Parents/Guardians:

The Summit Hill faculty and staff extend our warmest

congratulations to the graduat-ing Class of 2010. Students are

wished only the best as they

begin their high school journey. It has been an exciting

year at Summit Hill Junior High, and we are looking forward to

working with the Class of 2011 and hearing tremendous news

as our eighth grade students begin their new journey in high

school. We have accomplished

much, and our students have

made excellent progress both inside and outside of the class-

room. As a staff, we are con-stantly looking to improve our

instructional delivery so that

every student at Summit Hill Junior High meets the bench-

marks set forth at the start of the school year.

As the year winds down, we thank all of our parents and

community members for their contributions, their energy, and

their problem-solving attitude.

Our partnership is only as good

as the amount of time and energy we invest to support

student success. We appreci-ate when our families provide

us feedback regarding our

strengths and ways we can continue to evolve as a school

both in and out of the class-room.

I continue to appreciate more and more working with

the students and parents of Summit Hill Junior High and I

know I speak for our staff as

A Note from the Principal

On Monday, May 10, the stu-dents pictured above attended

the Battle of the Books by read-ing and taking Accelerated

Reader quizzes on three of at least of the twenty

Rebecca Caudill 2010 nomi-

nated book titles. The 7th grade battled the 8th grade by an-

swering questions asked by the Tinley Park Young Adult librar-

ian, Ms. Jennifer Lowe. The 7th graders won by a score of 58-

56. This reading incentive

program was a great success as it challenged students to set

goals and achieve them

through reading. Several of our students read all 20

titles!! Over 1,000 circulations of these books took place at the

SHJH this year! A big “thank you”

to the Summit Hill Educational Foundation for issuing grant

money to purchase these titles and also to the SHJH SCO for

the incentive prizes that stu-

dents received; Students were given a prize for every 5,10,15,

and 20 books that they read and were able to pass the cor-

A Note from our School Librarian, Ms. Noonan

responding Accelerated Reader quiz,

Have a great summer and check out some of the great

programs at your Frankfort,

Mokena, or Tinley Park librar-ies. The Rebecca Caudill 2011

nominees will also be available if students want to get a jump

start for the 2010-11 school year.

well. We are grateful for the

opportunity to work with our Spartan students and support

them in their development as caring, competent, and respon-

sible citizens.

Have a terrific summer celebrating successes and

making plans for continued success in the future! Watch

the website for upcoming dates.

~Mrs. Beth Lind

Page 3 Volume 3, Issue 4

SH Staff, Parents and Students,

School is almost out; therefore it‟s a good time to get your life in balance again. Find your balance between the right food and physical activity. A healthier you isn't just about eating healthy, but it is also about the physical activity that you do. The overall health and fitness of each individual in-

cludes their regular physical activity. The activity that you do controls the body weight by balancing the calories you take in as food with the calories you expend each day. So remember to be physically active for at least 30 minutes most days of the week. Also, increasing the intensity or the amount

of time that you are physically active can have an even greater health benefit and may be needed to control body weight. For some people, sixty minutes

a day may be needed to prevent weight gain! In fact, it is advised that children and teenagers should be physically active for 60 minutes a day or most

every day. Stay healthy and have a great summer.

~ Nurse Lucy

A Note From Nurse Lucy

Summer Reading and

Vocabulary Fun! Welcome to Summer Vaca-tion! As a reminder from the

Reading Specialist, please keep reading over the summer. It

will keep your brain active and ready for the fall. Reading can

be relaxing and fun. The public

library in your town may offer summer reading programs.

Check it out. For more great fun on rainy

days or those hot day when

going outside is impossible, try playing word games to keep

your vocabulary skills strong.

By playing word games with

your family, you can combine family fun time and word devel-

opment at the same time. There is a new game called Banana-

grams that is similar to Scrab-

ble but simpler, quicker, and more portable. (Available for

$14.99 at Walgreens)

Mrs. Condon and Mrs. O’Keefe– Reading Improvement Team

Other games that increase

vocabulary are: Boggle, Scrabble, Upwords

Catch Phrase, Taboo, Scatter-gories, Imagine It, Outburst,

Tribond, Password, and Balder-

dash.

Try these tips:

Keep saturated fats (sodium, trans fats, and cholesterol) low.

Get enough of these: potas-sium, fiber, Vitamins A & C,

Calcium, and Iron. Use the % Daily Value (DV)

column when possible: 5% DV

or less is low, 20% DV or more is high.

Check servings and calories/ double servings will double

calories and nutrients, including the % DV's.

Make your calories count.

Look at the calories on the label. When one serving of a

single food item has over 400 calories per serving it is high in

calories.

Don't sugarcoat it. Since sugars contribute calories with

few, if any, nutrients, look for foods and beverages low in

added sugars. Read the ingre-dient list and make sure that

added sugars are not one of the first few ingredients. Some

names for added sugars

(caloric sweeteners) include

sucrose, glucose, high fructose corn syrup, maple syrup, and

fructose. Know your fats. Look for

foods low in saturated

fats. Keep total fat intake be-tween 20% to 35% of calories.

Reduce sodium (salt) In-crease Potassium. Research

shows that eating less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium

( 1tsp of salt ) per day may reduce the risk of high blood

pressure.

Nutrition— Know the Facts. Always Check Food Labels.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

If you eat 100 more food

calories a day than you

burn, you'll gain about 1

pound in a month. That’s

about 10 pounds in a year.

The bottom line is that to

lose weight, it's important

to reduce calories and

increase physical activity.

Page 4 Newsletter Title

Encore

Sadly, the year has come

to a bittersweet end and Mrs.

Yiakos's second period French

students are ready to move on

to high school.

We have had a wonderful

year and the French students

have come a long away with

their grammar and comprehen-

sion. We are ending our last

week with oral presentations

from the students teaching

various lessons from

our twelve units and playing the

role of Mrs. Yiakos.

They have done a wonder-

ful job with visual aids such as

Power Points and posters, and

Mrs. Yiakos– French

Above (pictured from left to right): Front row: Emily Hodges, Alex Hodges, Maggie Conroy, Katherina Reynolds, Sho-shana McClarence. Second row: Alyssa Martin, Fredeurika Toussaint,Mary Ciszek, Elizabeth Warkocki, Chloe Lyen, Kelsey Hanson. Third row: Kevin Morrow, Courtney Suggs, Katrina Mixson, Bryanna Johnson, Randi Reynolds, Kristin Kovieckis.

of course imitating Mrs. Yiakos!

Mrs. Yiakos would like to wish

them good luck in high school and

to future endeavors. It has been

my pleasure being your French

teacher this 2009-2010 school

year! I will miss you dearly.

“Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.”

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Page 5 Volume 1, Issue 1

Volume 3, Issue 4

phony.” Advanced Strings

rounded out the orchestral part of the concert with

“Singin‟ in the Rain,” Themes from Harry Potter, and “Viva la

Vida,” by Coldplay. After the

concert, all three groups con-tinued to meet during zero

hour through the second half of May where they worked on

music theory, sight reading, and bowing techniques. Strings

will start again in the fall, and is open to all 5th through 8th

grade students.

Summit Hill Strings had a

wonderful spring performance on March 30, 2010. Beginning,

Intermediate, and Advanced Strings all had featured per-

formances on the concert. The

Beginning Strings impressed the audience with the tradi-

tional song “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” and Beethoven‟s

famous tune “Ode to Joy.” Intermediate Strings per-

formed the centuries old “Tallis Canon” as well as the theme

from Dvorak‟s “Surprise Sym-

The Director‟s Awards are

recognition given to the 8th grader displaying exceptional

leadership skills and who is a helpful team player. The Band

Boosters presented six- $100

scholarships, three per grade. 7th grade recipients were Jon

Jellison, Elena Mooth and Cindy Rozak. 8th grade recipients

were David Smith, Kyle Stanuch and Savanna Steck.

Our music department‟s third Musical Revue was pre-

sented on two consecutive evenings, May 14 and 15 and was

a huge success! The musicals included in our review this year

were Mamma Mia, Les Miser-ables, Hair, Mary Poppins, Dr. Horrible‟s Sing-along Blog and

Oklahoma. The students really

took ownership of this year‟s

show, suggesting pieces to include and doing their own

choreography (thank you Jamie Choi and Brandy Huppert!).

We spent just 5 weeks putting

together the entire production, each group meeting one day a

week until the dress rehears-als. We even brought over the

6th grade members to watch our second dress rehearsals,

which was fun for everyone. Also included in the production,

besides the performers on stage, were the pit band, stage

crew, light and sound crew and MCs, all 100% done by the stu-

dents themselves. Congratula-

tions to everyone on a great show!

Ms. Coughlin– Band

The SHJH Bands had a

great year that ended with many accomplishments and

great performances! The Symphonic band com-

peted in the Illinois Grade

School Music Association State Organizational Contest on April

25th and received a Superior Rating! Our two junior high jazz

bands presented an outstanding performance at their Jazz

Coffeehouse on May 4th. The Concert and Sym-

phonic bands presented their year-end Spring Concert on

May 10th. There were several awards presented, as well.

Receiving the Director‟s Award

for the Concert Band was Mi-chelle Housh and for the Sym-

phonic band was Brandy Benak.

Ms. Goddard– Concert Band, Show Choir, and Strings

“A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.”

- Leopold Stokowski

“Music washes away from

the soul the dust of

everyday life.”

~ Berthold Auerbach

3-2-1. Blast off into sum-

mer! What an extremely fast school year we‟ve had. As my

first year at the junior high comes to an end, I would like to

thank you for such a warm

welcome and for making my transition such a success! I

now have many more special highlights to add to my teach-

ing collection! Here‟s what we were up to fourth quarter:

Students in Mrs. Goebel‟s class decided to take the op-

portunity to write for our class newsletter again this quarter.

Here are their perspectives: “Our favorite activity in

Mrs. Goebel‟s gifted class was

when we read the most inter-esting folktales online. This

was fun because it was an introduction to our next read-

ing unit, Myths, Legends and Folktales. Creating „character

cubes‟ as part of our Character

Analysis unit was our favorite topic because it was fun to

learn, and the activities we did for this topic were exciting and

different. The most useful

information we gained this quarter was the information

from our Civil War novels. It was helpful because it related

to what we were learning in social studies. Every so often,

we have ten minutes of free time in class that we earn due

to our good behavior. That is one special event we love in

Mrs. Goebel‟s class!” “In Mrs. Goebel‟s Reading

and Language Arts classes, our

favorite activities were partici-pating in G.R.E.A.T. and making

vocabulary posters for novels and stories. Our most inter-

esting topic learned was by far reading „The Outsiders.‟ This

novel was one of the best we‟ve

read, especially with the activi-ties that went along with it.

One special event that we were able to participate in was

The Outsiders Mock Trial.

Every student was chosen to be a character from the novel and

an actual trial was performed in class. It was an excellent

way to recreate one of the most influential parts of the

novel. The most useful informa-

tion we‟ve gained this quarter was learning Extended Re-

sponse tips. These tips will help us in the future and are

easy to follow when writing a

response to a question.” Here‟s to a wonder-

ful summer! Remember to keep reading and visit next

year when you are upstairs as 8th graders!

its lessons in both literature

and life. Students meet in Lit-erature Circles to discuss the

chapters they have read inde-pendently and answer ques-

tions, define vocabulary, de-

scribe characters, and more. The students have also used

the laptops to research the author and discover who S.E.

Hinton really is. After they have completed their final tasks of

plotting a timeline and making a

map, the 7th-graders will design a 60‟s brochure to present

some of the culture and cus-toms of the decade such the as

nation‟s leaders, newsworthy

events, and pop phenomena. Are bell-bottoms really back in

fashion? To conclude, the 7th-graders want you to remember

the words of Johnny Cade, “Stay gold.”

“Greaser . . . greaser . . .

greaser. . . . O victim of envi-ronment, underprivileged, rot-

ten, no-count hood. . . . Juvenile delinquent, you‟re no good!”

The 7th-grade Language

Arts students are currently reading S. E. Hinton‟s novel of

gangs and growing-up, The Outsiders. Though written in

the 1960‟s, this novel fasci-nates our SHJH students with

Page 6 Spartan 300

Mrs. Bergmann– Language Arts

Mrs. Goebel– Language Arts

Team 7-1

“It’s okay… We aren’t in the same class. Just don’t forget that some of

us watch the sunset too.” -Ponyboy from the novel, The Outsiders.

using different methods such

as graphing, substitution, and linear combinations. Other

classes have been writing equations for lines in slope-

intercept form, point-slope

In the seventh grade math

classes, we have been wrap-ping up the year by working on

projects. This quarter, some classes have been solving

systems of linear equations

Page 7 Volume 3, Issue 4

Mrs. Christensen– Math

Mrs. Ostrowski– Science

played the drums, Mr. Weber, a

7th grade Resource Teacher, played the keyboard, Mr. Smal-

ter, a 7th grade Social Studies teacher, played the cowbell,

and Joe Richter, a 7th grade

math student played the elec-tric guitar!

The performing students seemed to have a great time,

and the audience really enjoyed the show. Integers Rock!!!!

Mrs. Christensen, one of

the 7th grade math teachers at Summit Hill Junior High in

Frankfort, IL wrote a song called “Integers Rock” to help

her students learn how to add

and subtract integers. She and 130 of her students practiced

singing the song in class, and then as a team, they performed

it in front of the whole school at an assembly on Wednesday,

May 19th. Mrs. Christensen

Integers Rock!

per and their backboard. This

presentation was similar to the one presented in class. The

students worked extremely hard to get to and through the

Regional Session to qualify for

State. Projects ranged from

behavioral science about the size of your plate and how

much is consumed, the use of grey water to clean plants,

stroup effect, and pollution absorption, to the tension place

on the tendons of the knee depending on the angle of the

position.

On May 7th and 8th twelve

students from SHJH competed in the State Science Fair com-

petition at University of Illinois. The students were competing

in a paper session which re-

quired the students to be judged strictly on their final

paper and oral presentation using an overhead projector.

The final papers were mailed to judges prior to the oral presen-

tation which allowed for more time to review the paper. The

project portion of science fair required the students to have

three copies of their final pa-

Here are the students and

the awards received:

Jack Quirk- 2 gold‟s (a gold in both paper and project ses-

sion)

Brenna Molinare- Gold

Tony Costella- Gold

John Larson- Gold

John Scott-Gold

Justine Ivanov-Gold

Emma Cunningham-Silver

Abby Greenwood-Silver

Allison Daly-Silver

Kyle Stanuch-Bronze

Tyler Houlebeck-Bronze

Jill Allen-Bronze Great job everyone!

form, and standard form.

Other classes have just fin-ished a chapter on graphing

inequalities.

Pictured Left: Students participate in a school-wide assembly to help perform the song, “Integers Rock,” written by Mrs. Christensen,

What a year it has been in

room 169! Mr. Barnas‟ English classes worked with writing

persuasive papers, and stu-dents now have a better under-

standing how to correctly use

capital letters and commas in their writing. Students also

came up with their own adver-tisement and tried to convince

their classmates to purchase their product. Also, students

were given time to review their

60 plus journal entries and write one reflective journal

about the whole school year. In reading, students con-

cluded their novel study for

Fever 1793. Students now have a better understanding as to

why Mr. Barnas began the unit with the words friendship, hope, perseverance, self-reliance, sadness, and thieves on the

board. Students did a fantastic

job completing a jig-saw activ-ity while teaching their class-

mates historical events during the time of the yellow fever

epidemic! Lastly, students had

a wonderful time attending our team field trip to Naper Settle-

ment. The field trip tied directly to our curriculum in social

studies and reading.

Page 8 Spartan 300

Mr. Barnas- Language Arts

Team 7-2

By: Brenna

Molinare and

Matt Prusak

Mrs. Blevins‟ Algebra

classes finished the year by completing chapter six, which

involved solving and graphing inequalities. Her Pre-Algebra

classes completed chapter

three, learning how to solve multi-step equations. The Hon-

ors classes completed chapter nine, so they finished the year

by solving and graphing quad-ratic functions.

Pre-Algebra and Algebra

classes made and flew sled

kites using measuring and proportions. Honors students

were assigned construction companies and given a budget

to work within. They built

bridges out of toothpicks to see which bridge had the best con-

struction and held the most weight. They used team work,

scale drawings and accounting skills to complete their bridges.

Mrs. Blevins– Math

“Hullo there, good

man!” called

grandfather. “There

is no place for the

dead up here. Hullo!”

-quotation taken from

the novel, Fever 1793.

Page 9 Volume 3, Issue 4

Ms. Trotta–

Social Studies

In Mrs. Heiden‟s English

classes, students wrote awe-some persuasive essays and

came up with topics such as “going green” and “four day

school week.” Students fin-

ished a capitalization unit and

worked hard on a preposition

unit. In reading class, students finished reading “Rikki-Tikki-

Tavi,” which students loved since it was an animal story.

They also read the play

“Monsters on Maple Street.”

Mrs. Heiden– Language Arts

The Honors class loved reading The Outsiders, and

doing activities centered around the book. All students

worked well in literature groups and finished the year

on a positive note!

Mrs. Stemen‟s science

students had a great last month of the school year. The

students started out learning that there are ages of rivers

just like people. There are

young, mature, and old rivers.

We then began swimming in the

ocean. The students learned that the part of the ocean that

they can stand upon and walk on is the Continental Shelf, and

the Abyssal Plain is the bottom

of the ocean. We learned that

Mrs. Stemen– Science

there are 3 main types of ma-

rine life: plankton, nekton, and benthos. We reviewed what

students have learned from the movie, Finding Nemo, the Inter-

tidal Zone, the Sublittoral Zone,

the Bathyal Zone, and the Abys-

sal Zone. Our students also

were artists and drew what the ocean looks like beyond what

we can see above the water.

Ms. Trotta‟s class finished

up the year by working on a Civil War research paper.

Students learned how to para-phrase, write proper para-

graphs, and cite sources, while

learning much about many famous civil war figures. Stu-

dents are now prepared for 8th grade where they will learn

about “Reconstruction” after the Civil War.

Pictured Right: Students pose for a picture during their Naper Set-tlement field trip. This field trip linked social studies with reading.

just finished our unit covering

everything from Edgar Allan Poe to Robert Frost, and hyper-

bole to alliteration. The stu-dents did a beyond admirable

job breaking down the meaning

in a work of poetry, looking at poetic elements, and writing

epitaphs and haiku. I‟m very excited to see how they per-

form next year in this genre. Please have a safe and

healthy summer, and we‟ll see you in a few months, Class of

2011!!!

Time flies when you‟re

having fun… This year just seemed to fly by, huh? And

what a year it‟s been. First off, a BIG congrats to

Taylor Herrmann, who won her

age division in the International Bicycle Essay Competition.

“Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding” won her the top prize, and you can read

her story at www.ibike.org. We

also had 39 students get their

poems published in the anthol-

ogy, A Celebration of Poets. Speaking of poetry, we

Page 10 Spartan 300

Mr. Sull ivan– Language Arts

Team 7-3

As we wrap-up the end of

the year we are finishing Chap-ter six: Solving and Graphing

Linear Inequalities in Algebra and Chapter three: Solving

Linear Equations and Inequali-

ties. We are also constructing a kite using proportions and

ratios. We will be testing to see if our kites work at the end

of May.

The end of the year fastly

approaches. It does seem that the year has gone by at a fast

pace. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to have taught

all of our students this

year. You all have worked very hard and have learned so

much. I hope that you have a fabulous summer holiday. Be

safe and enjoy!

Mrs. Kelly– Algebra and Pre-Algebra.

ing around their poems to see

which one they ended up with; students also supplied an addi-

tional copy of each poem they selected to put in our 2009-

2010 Class Poetry Anthology.

Next we read The Outsid-ers and spent time at the end

of the quarter producing pro-jects that attempted to answer

the “unanswered” questions in the novel.

In Language Arts, we fin-

ished up 4th quarter by fine-

tuning our grammar skills. In order to learn prepositional

phrases, students memorized the most common prepositions

to the tune of “Yankee Doodle.”

Students then presented their songs to other teachers in

Team 7-3‟s hallway. Now every time students hear “Yankee

Doodle,” they will think of their prepositions… I hope!

Wow! I can‟t believe it‟s al-

ready the end of the school year, which unfortunately

means our time together is almost up! To conclude our

poetry unit that we worked on

for an entire quarter, students “wrapped” up their favorite

poem they wrote throughout the unit and a favorite poem

from a published author to use in our “Poetry Gift Exchange.”

Students had a lot of fun pass-

Ms. Wydra– Reading and Language Arts

Students have been busy

studying the Civil War and all of its many interesting fac-

ets. Students have learned about the many causes and

effects of the war. We have

spent time learning about the important battles of the war,

the casualties, the diseases, and the men and women who

served both the Union and Confederate forces. The stu-

dents have enjoyed viewing actual photographs of the bat-

tle fields, the generals, the

wounded and dead soldiers, and

the destruction of the south. We read picture books

about Gettysburg and the young drummer boys, watched United

Streaming videos, and we are

concluding the year with a research project. Students

have chosen a topic that inter-ests them, and I am taking

them through the steps of put-ting together the research

paper. Students will conclude the unit by presenting their

topic to the class along with a

visual display!

This has been a wonderful year for Team 7-3. The stu-

dents have been an absolute pleasure to teach, and they

have kept me busy with insight-

ful and well-thought-out ques-tions! I have spent quite a bit

of time this year surfing the web and my History books

trying to find the answers to some of their questions! It is

my hope that you all have a wonderful summer. I will see

you in the fall!

with the honor of having a

guest speaker come talk to all of our 7th graders regarding

our endangered species. Jaime McInerney, a conserva-

tion biologist and owner of

Reptile Rampage, arrived on Friday, May 14th and brought in

a variety of animals that have been brought in from their

natural habitats. His job is to take them into his possession

and nurture them back to health. Mr. McInerney then

places them in zoos or hope-fully back into their original

ecosystems. We were mes-merized as we were able to see

a 200 year old tortoise, a snap-

ping turtle, rare amphibians and reptiles, and even an opos-

sum. We will be continuing

oceanography in the classroom by focusing on marine life and

its precious balance in our ocean‟s habitat. A final R.A.F.T.

assignment will be focused on

as we continue to learn more

about these creatures through an oceanography movie and

note taking. I am pleased with our

junior scientists this year and

hope they have gained a variety of information. We began with

Astronomy, then moved onto Chemistry, Biology and now

Oceanography. Our labs were many and varied. We designed

our own experiments with earthworms, created BeeBop

creatures using alleles and phenotypes from Genetics, co-

wrote and illustrated Element Baby Books, went on a Planet

Walk, graphed the sea floor,

and even made Oobleck on Halloween. I hope they retain

the wonderful and intriguing concepts in Science and bring

that knowledge on with them as they enter 8th grade and their

high school years. Have a won-derful summer and keep ex-

ploring.

Our junior oceanogra-

phers worked extremely hard preparing for their Problem

Based Learning (PBL) presenta-tions. Our topic was endan-

gered species. Students have

been researching and collabo-rating all of their information

into a Power Point format, a newspaper article, a poster, or

even a movie. We focused in class on the possible extinction

of our polar bears and have learned how Global Warming is

a huge factor in this devastat-ing possibility. I am proud of

their hard work and efforts and we have all become more

aware on how to help protect

our planet. Go Green is an essential key element in reduc-

ing the threats of Global Warm-ing. Our junior oceanographers

are making a conscious effort to adhere to this and spread

the word throughout our com-munity.

We culminated our unit

Page 11 Volume 3, Issue 4

Mrs. Hartley– Science

Mrs. Lane– Social Studies

language arts classes have

been working on improving spelling and vocabulary. We

are all looking forward to a relaxing summer and the be-

ginning of a new school year in

August.

Our reading classes are

finishing up the year reading several folktales. We are read-

ing “Chicoria,” “Brer Possum‟s Dilemma,” “Coyote Steals the

Sun and Moon,” and “Why the

Waves Have Whitecaps.” Our

Page 12 Spartan 300

Ms. Greene– Reading & Language Arts

Team 8-1

Mrs. Furmanek‟s math

classes have been moving right along giving everything their

Mrs. Furmanek– Math

all! The students should be

proud and keep up the hard work! The end is near! In Hon-

ors Algebra, they have begun to match wits with matrices.

Soon they will be using

Cramer‟s Rule. Algebra 1B has begun to

realize rational equations are the key to opening the door to

advanced algebraic topics. In Algebra 1A, the students are up

to their ears in linear equa-tions. They can graph them,

but will they be able to write them?

“I’m somewhat of a teller of tall tales

myself, but occasionally I enjoy

listening to an expert. Please carry

on.” -Anonymous

“Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theatre.”

-Gail Godwin.

Page 13 Volume 3, Issue 4

Mrs. Hollowell– Science

We All Ready for Earthquakes),

we are prepared! Duck, Cover & Hold On! In our Lava Volcano

Brochure, students individually selected a volcano, role-played

as a member of a high-

We are happy to announce

that we have completed our Earthquake PBL papers and

Presentations! Yeah! We are pleased to share with you that

not only are we AWARE-(Are

adventure travel agenc and

created an eye-catching, infor-mative three-fold brochure

highlighting what the Volcanic area has to offer the adventure

traveler.

Pictured Below: In order to keep her students engaged, Mrs. Hollo-well has students participate in a variety of science experiments.

the Holocaust through the

reading of „The Diary of Anne Frank‟ and Sevek: the Boy Who Refused to Die. We were hon-ored to have Sidney Finkel, a

Holocaust survivor and author

of the biography, Sevek, speak to our 8th grade students

again this year. In the honors reading

class, the novel „Night‟ by Elie Wiesel was read. Students

were able to relate Wiesel‟s Holocaust experiences with

those of Sidney Finkel. Great discussions have been the

result of reading Lord of the Flies by William Golding. In this

novel, a group of stranded

British school boys take vary-ing approaches to survive the

rigors of survival on a tropical island.

English classes have been perfecting subject/verb agree-

ment and practicing expository writing. An interesting photo

and/or writing project has

students reflecting on the

changes they have undergone since first entering the Summit

Hill school district as a young child.

This has been an amazing year, and it is with confidence

that we send this year‟s class of graduates on to high school.

They truly have unlimited po-tential!

Mrs. Miller‟s reading

classes have seen how small events in life can become

monumental and distorted when people jump to conclu-

sions. They discovered this

while reading Nothing but the Truth by Avi. As an extension

of the novel, they created newspaper pages focusing on

various aspects of a reporter‟s job. They also completed their

cross-curricular unit studying

Page 14 Spartan 300

Mrs. Mil ler– Language Arts

Team 8-2

worked very hard and all the

projects were outstanding! Students continue to work

on their writing and are cur-rently focused on expository

writing. Students are finishing

the year with a That Was Then, This is Now essay on them-

selves. Students have also finished all 15 Units in their

Vocabulary Book and were

excited over this accomplish-ment. Ms. Rodgers would just

like to thank her students for making her third year at Sum-

mit Hill Junior High fantastic!

She would also like to wish them all the best of luck in high

school!

Ms. Rodgers‟s reading

class has completed Unit 8, Drama. Students have just

completed reading The Diary of Anne Frank. Students ended

the unit by completing a culmi-

nating project which consisted of a PowerPoint Presentation, a

Scrapbook, or a Poster on the Holocaust. The students

Ms. Rodgers– Language Arts

“He who asks a question is a fool for a minute; he who does not remains a fool forever.”

-Chinese Proverb

As we wind down the

year, we are getting into some more recent history. We have

recently completed our study of World War Two and the Civil

Rights movement in the United

States. Now, we are exploring the presidencies of Eisen-

hower, Kennedy, and Johnson. We are also examining the

Korean and Vietnam Wars during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.

As we finish the quarter and

year, we will work our way up

to present day by studying the Modern Era and the War on

Terror in the United States.

For the final lap of the

year, Mrs. Zayed's math stu-dents have be working

hard. The 1A students have wrapped up Volume 1 of the

Algebra book, while the 1B stu-

dents entered the fun world of Factoring and Simplifying Ra-

tional Expressions. The Honor

Students have been covering various concepts in Algebra

2. These students had the chance to encode and decode

secret messages from their

peers. All in all, it has been a

they discovered many things.

One of the most important things is that Illinois sits on the

New Madrid and Wabash Valley fault zones and that these

zones have a history of produc-

ing major earthquakes. They gained a new understanding

about measurement using the Richter and the lesser known

Mercalli scale. Groups pre-

sented their newly acquired information and their possible

solutions to the problem. They gained new insight into working

together, researching a topic,

and presenting in front of their peers and administration. The

presentations were awesome! Good job students!

In eighth grade science,

we have been wrapping up our new and exciting PBL unit on

Earthquakes. Students were presented a letter from a citi-

zens group AWARE, Are We All

Ready for Earthquakes. They were to decide in teams if we in

the state, county and school are prepared. Along the way,

Page 15 Volume 3, Issue 4

Mrs. Zayed– Math

Mrs. Szymanski– Science

Mr. Evenhouse– Social Studies

“If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday.” -

Pearl Buck

very successful and productive

year! I hope all my students have the best of luck in high

school and life! Remember the concepts you learned this year

will come up again next year!

Spartan Page 16

Team 8-3

The following Cougars deserve a big “Shout Out” for being named “Cougar of the Week” during the school year. Congrats, Cougars, for your outstanding efforts!

Cougars of the Week:

The teachers on Team 8-3 would like to thank the Cougar students for an outstanding year! It has been

our pleasure to work with such an amazing group of students. We are very proud of all that you have accom-plished, and we are confident that you will continue to be successful. We congratulate you and we celebrate you

for all that you have done and for all that you have to offer. It has been enjoyable working with you this year, and we wish you all the best as you move forward! Go Cougars! Go Spartans!

“Put your future in good hands - your own.”

~Author Unknown

Congratulations!

Ms. Bottomley Mrs. DiNolfo Ms. Canter Mrs. Marinucci

Mr. Chrusciel Mrs. Schlesselman

Aaron Bidochka

Alex Hodges

Alexis Meyer

Alyssa Jimenez

Amanda Kemp

Ashley Hays

Astar Morgan

Becca Curtis

Billy Wheeler

Brandi Hoffman

Brittany Booth

Conor Grove

Dana McGillivray

Elly Waleski

Erin Julius

Ihab Mousa

Izey Cobian

JaMarr Sanders

Jon Mazanec

Justin Lennhardt

Katie Cooke

Krutin Kundaria

Kyle Weber

Lauren Leganski

Luke O'Donnell

Maggie Conroy

Marc Zyla

Matt Delgrosso

Matt Kramer

Matt Kuchta

Mike Rissley

Molly Thacker

Natalie Estrada

Niki Wagner

Osvaldo Salazar

Richie Randall

Sam Pietruszynski

Scott Dusek

Shawn MacDougall

Thomas Gilchrist