GoodShop.com

News from the Walsh PTO --

What if Walsh Middle School earned a donation every time you searched the Internet? Well, now it can! GoodSearch.com is a new Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up!

GoodShop.com is a new online shopping mall which donates up to 30 percent of each purchase to your favorite cause! Hundreds of great stores including Amazon, Target, Gap, Best Buy, eBay, Macy's and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop and every time you place an order, you'll be supporting Walsh. And if you download the GoodSearch – toolbar, Walsh will earn money every time you shop and search online - even if you forget to go to GoodShop or GoodSearch first! Add the Walsh Middle School toolbar at:

http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/mode/

Consider making GoodSearch you internet home page.

The Meaning of Life...or, How to Start Off a Great School Year!

Ms. Ruth Reedy - Team 6Z

Ms. Janet Anderson - Tech Ed

Ms. Reedy found a wonderful short little video to help us all start this new school year off on the right foot. It gives us something to think about to help make this new year a positive and enjoyable one for all of us here at Walsh Middle School - students and teachers alike.


Find a couple of minutes to watch the video all the way through...write down some of the ideas that you like...and, save that list. Maybe post it on your bedroom door, or a mirror that you look at every day. Every now and then this year, take another look at the list and see if you've started to include some of these wonderful things in your life.

Enjoy!

Here's to a great school year for everyone!!

 Be Happy....

Exercise...

Help Others...

Love Yourself...

Set Goals...

Find People you Love to Be With...

Smile, it will help others around you smile too!

Get in Touch With Nature...

Work Hard...

Get Good Nights Sleep...

 Learn New Things!

Have a Sense of Wonder....

and, more....

Have a great school year, everyone!!!

Rube Goldberg Engineering Challenge!

This spring two students from Walsh joined others from Fuller and Cameron and participated in an interesting Engineering Challenge. 8th grader Henry Chickering and 7th grader Matt Beaudet were selected to be the Walsh students to work on this great project.
They joined Chris Stournaras, Lucxas Quesnel and Eric Jacobson from Fuller, and Anna Kennedy and Ryan Davenport from Cameron.

The students met for several practice sessions at Fuller Middle School with the Tech Ed teacher and Rube Goldberg Team Advisor, Mr. Phil Reitz. For the past several years the three Framingham Middle Schools have joined and put their creative efforts together and faced up to the Rube Goldberg Machine Design Contest at the Fay School in Southborough. This competition is held in conjunction with MIT in Cambridge and has grown from 16 schools to almost 25 schools from the New England area all meeting together on a Saturday in the spring at the Fay School.

Each year students are posed with a new challenge that plays off of the works of the artist/engineer, Rube Goldberg. If you know his work, you'll realize that it is just a little bit quirky! Drawing and publishing most of his cartoons in the 1930's - 1960's, Goldberg loved to poke some fun at how overly technological our society was becoming. He drew machines and devices that had multiple steps, far more than were really necessary to complete an otherwise simple task.

A few of the challenges in the recent years have included - "Pouring 8 ounces of water onto a plant." "Turning the pages of a book." And, this year's challenge which Henry and Matt worked on was to - "Staple three pages of paper together." 

All these may sound simple enough, but the main criteria that makes it a "Rube Goldberg" device is that it often will have 20 steps or more to complete the task! Picture swinging pendulums, marbles rolling, a Slinky that turns into a curling and curving slide, weights dropping, balloons popping, lots of duct tape...and, much, much more! All to get 3 pieces of paper stapled together! On the day of the competition each competing school team is given the exact same materials and challenge -- to build a device of their own creation that includes multiple steps and completes the exact same task....though each school team seems to go about this in very different ways! Throughout the afternoon, judges are roaming around asking teams questions about their contraptions and even taking notes as to the work and creativity involved. By the end of the day winners in different categories are announced to a gymnasium full of teams and families!

This year's crew from Framingham didn't win the competition, but they certainly came up with a very creative looking contraption that did the job in an admirable amount of steps and had a fun time doing it! But, winning isn't really what this kind of competition is about. It really is a chance for our students to do some critical and creative thinking; working together as a team to build a fun and challenging device; and just a chance to enjoy using our minds to expand beyond our everyday thinking and patterns. Thinking outside of the box!

How about you? Are you ready to think outside of the box?! Just check in with the Framingham Team and ask them how challenging, creative and fun a time it was to work on one of these crazy and quirky devices!!

Red Sox Season and MCAS Practice Sites!

It's springtime in New England and we all know that that means the arrival of BASEBALL season! The Red Sox have been practicing for a couple of months now getting ready for Opening Day and the 2010 season. If you're a Sox fan you've probably been following Spring Training and have seen how all the ball players put in a lot of time and effort working out and practicing the skills that will be key to helping them do well on the baseball field.

Just like the Red Sox have their big season ahead of them, the MCAS Testing season is also upon us.

Teachers at Walsh, like the Coach of the Red Sox, Terri Francona, have been preparing us all year for these testing sessions. Different subject lessons and projects that our teachers have us work on throughout the year are all efforts to help us learn; learn how to problem solve; develop new ways to think; and get familiar with the content and format of the MCAS tests. Along with learning some good test-taking strategies all grades are now practiced in answering not only multiple-choice questions, but also how to write a good essay response to the "Open Response" questions.

Think about learning how to throw a baseball - do you think Josh Beckett always pitched that hard and fast?! Or, learning how to ride a bicycle for the first time - nobody just jumps on a bike the first time and rides away without some practice! In the same way  it helps to practice, practice, practice and study some of the possible questions that may come up on your grade level MCAS test.

The Boston Public Library has put together a good practice site that you may find helpful to go to to review some of the MCAS questions from past years. This is not to add more to your school workload, but just like before your Little League baseball season, you might want to get yourself ready for the MCAS season by warming up just a little more.

So, practice up. We're sure it will help ease any anxiety you might have, and it may even help you learn a little thing or two!

*Parents may like to try some of these questions too, see how you well you do!

http://www.bpl.org/teens/mcas/index.htm


One more thing - let's hope the Red Sox have practiced well and give us another great season!

Go SOX!

Walsh Literacy Specialist Julie Gorman Honored

On March 18, 2010, Walsh Middle School’s Mrs. Julie Gorman was honored at the annual Salute to Framingham dinner at the Sheraton. Many educators and business people from Framingham came together to honor students and educators in Framingham. Mrs. Gorman received a well-deserved “YOU ARE SPECIAL” award for her devotion and hard work on behalf of Walsh’s students.

During her 35 years of teaching, Mrs. Gorman taught remedial reading, reading workshops, language arts and literacy. She helped develop curriculum, worked on MCAS, and was Language Arts Department Head for many years. Over the years
she mentored new teachers and encouraged students to believe in themselves and do their best. We think you'll agree that Mrs. Gorman  has always taken a sincere interest in all her students and it truly shows in their respect and affection towards her. She is loved by students and faculty alike.

The evening included FHS students receiving awards, the FHS line drummers, cheerleaders, a delicious buffet, and the awards to three local men who have supported Framingham schools for years: Arthur DelPrete, George Hulme, and Richard Chesmore.

All of the Framingham teachers who received awards were heartily applauded by their co-workers and families, but none more boisterously than the Walsh contingent cheering for Mrs. Gorman! She truly deserves this award! Mrs. Gorman is retiring after this school year and is irreplaceable. Congratulations to Mrs. Gorman, and thank you for all your work over the years helping so many students and teachers! You will be missed.

(photo - "Salute to Framingham-You Are Special" Recipient - Julie Gorman)

Dormia Author, Jake Halpern, Visits Walsh!

By Judy Welch
Librarian Assistant


Welcome to the World of Dormia - -
"Ordinary sleepwalkers wake up in the living room or in the kitchen eating ice cream. But twelve-year-old Alfonso Perplexon tends to wake up tightrope-walking along a set of power lines or clinging to the top of a massive, wind-blown pine tree. No one in his hometown of World's End, Minnesota has seen anything like it, until one wintry evening an old man arrives at Alfonso's doorstep with an astounding explanation."


from Jake Halpern's -  Dormia


On Thursday, March 11th, Walsh was fortunate to have a very engaging and entertaining author as a guest speaker. His name is Jake Halpern and he offered to visit our school and speak with our students. Halpern already has 2 published books, more for adult readers. The book he discussed at Walsh is called Dormia. It is a fantasy fiction book, his first for 5-8 graders. Halpern is also a producer and commentator on National Public Radio as well as a professor of journalism at Yale University, which is his alma mater.

Halpern is a very interesting young man and an up-and-coming author who grabbed the attention of the 6th grade Walsh audience and kept it for the entire hour! Can you remember the story he told right at the beginning when he asked us to listen and see if we could figure out what part of his story was a lie? As he said in his presentation yesterday, he takes little memories here and there from his personal life and puts them in his fiction. We heard about his visit to the middle of nowhere in Poland to meet his future wife's interesting family; a trip to Egypt where he experienced a sandstorm feeling and watching the sand pile up around him while trying to stay protected in just a nylon camping tent; and, he also shared with us his memory of a college roommate who had "Sleep Terrors" that Halpern experienced firsthand in the middle of the night in his dorm room...regularly accompanied with loud screams, often right in his face! Some part of all of these experiences in his life have ended up in his books in one way or another.

The 6th graders not only were riveted with all of Halpern's stories, they asked him some very good questions about being a writer, how he comes up with his stories, and tried to get him to give them some more clues about how the story of Dormia develops! (But, unfortunately, he didn't reveal any more to us...we're going to have to read the book! Which isn't really a BAD thing - if it's anything like the author's presentation, I'm sure it's going to be a good read!)

Autographed copies of his book are for sale. Students should have received one of the orange order sheets from their homeroom, or you can inquire at the front office. The Walsh library also has two copies available. Walsh is very grateful for Jake Halpern's visit, which was a resounding success!

Visit the World of Dormia website.

http://www.worldofdormia.com/

Remember he mentioned that there will be two more books in this series and that on the website you can participate in a contest where you can offer suggestions for names of future characters!

By the way, we're sure 7th and 8th graders will be captivated with the Dormia series as well!

Walsh 8th Grade Student Wins Boston Globe Scholastic Writing Awards!

By Ms. Migliano

On February 14, 2010, students from around the state were honored for creative achievement at the Boston Globe Scholastic Art and Writing Awards held at the John Hancock Hall in Boston.

The program is designed to recognize and encourage students in the creative arts by offering scholarships and visibility. Students in grades 7-12 spanning public, private, and parochial schools in Massachusetts submitted works of art and/or writing to the contest.

In the writing category, the organization received almost 400 pieces of written work which judged by teams of Massachusetts educators. These jurors awarded over 150 awards to selected students, honoring them with either a Gold Key, Silver Key, or Honorable Mention award.

Three of these awards were bestowed upon Walsh 8th grade student, Madeleine Barowsky. Madeleine received a Gold Key for "Jirah", a science fiction short story; a Silver Key for "Katy", a fictional short story; and an Honorable Mention for "My Silent Language", a personal essay.

This prestigious contest is very competitive, and Madeleine's creativity and work ethic rose to meet the occasion. She stayed after school on many occasions to seek feedback on her submissions, constantly striving to improve her revisions and meet her own standard for excellence. All of her hard work certainly paid off, and we here at Walsh couldn't be prouder!

To view the full list of all the Scholastic winners and honorable mentions, please visit the following link:

http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2010/02/14/full_list_of_the_scholastic_art__writing_awards_winners_and_honorable_mentions/?page=6

Madeleine's stories are included in the March issue of the Walsh Wildcat E-Zine.

http://my.hsj.org/Schools/Newspaper/tabid/100/view/frontpage/schoolid/1402/articleid/340209/newspaperid/1378/Walsh_8th_Grader_Wins_Boston_Globe_Scholastic_Writing_Awards.aspx

We hope you enjoy her writing as much as we do!

Access Your Student Documents From HOME

GOOD NEWS!!

Students can now access documents saved at school, from a home computer!

An example - you start working on a project for LA in the library computer lab at school. When you get home from school you'd like to (maybe even have to!), continue working on your LA project that is saved in your school account in your LA Folder which you created in MY DOCUMENTS. Following the instructions below, from home you will now be able to reach your school computer account and your My Documents/LA Folder...where you saved your work from school. You can open it at home, work on it some more, then save it/"Upload Files" and place the updated document back into My Documents.

INSTRUCTIONS -
Instructions on connecting to your school documents from a home computer can be found on Walsh's main page. Look for the gray menu bar at the top of the pageselect STUDENTS and then My Documents.

If you work on one of your school documents from your home computer and make changes, make sure to use the Upload Files button at the top to put the changed document back in your My Documents folder to be available for you to use the updated version in the future at school.

LINK:
https://docs.framingham.k12.ma.us/

What a HELPFUL new feature!! Thanks to the FPS IT Dept. for making this possible!!!

"Pop Art" Class With Mrs. Kelley

Is that a foot-long Tootsie Roll? Did I see a box of Irish Spring Soap that would fill up your bathtub, and a bag of Hershey's Milk Chocolate that would feed the the whole 7th grade? If you've seen these extra-large items that are on display down in the office lately, you know what I'm talking about! And you can check off on your checklist that you've seen all of these oversized items with the 2 1/2 foot long pencil which is made of papier mache, just like all of the other cool items that Mrs. Kelly's 7th grade classes have just completed!

Hands down THE favorite art project in 7th grade is the POP ART papier mache project.

The students learn about the Pop Art movement of the 1950’s & 60’s, as well as learn about artists such as Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg. Students choose a well-known product that they will then reproduce in class. Because the students select what product they want to replicate, they become so invested in this long-term very hands-on project.
 

After they select their product, students begin to construct the 3-D sculpture by using papier mache. They experience the challenges of good craftsmanship; font; design; images; and logo design, in addition to color mixing and detail-oriented painting. This project requires the students to put forth a lot of effort. With all this creativity and effort, they learn some great things from an interesting period of US Art, and are very proud of their end results!

 

Come by and check out some of the student projects in the front office at Walsh. All of the students seem to love working in this type of medium and, we think you'll agree, the extra-large love and quality shows in their work!

 

Great job!!

Check this website out for more information about POP ART -

http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/popart/

.

Google Docs

Good news for anyone who doesn't have the Power Point program loaded on their computer - it's called Google Presentations, and it's a FREE part of a series of program applications that you can use when you sign up for a Google GMail account.

If you've looked into buying Power Point, it can cost over $75 for the Student version, or over $200 if you buy the whole Microsoft Office package (that includes Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Publisher).

Google Presentations works the exact same way as Power Point does, so you'll be familiar with its layout and how to set it up.

Google Docs (short for documents), has other features that you'll appreciate too. For example, you can make your own web-page with Google Sites, which is quite easy to use. You can also make your own Blog, if you'd like, using Google's Blogger program.

http://www.google.com/sites/help/intl/en/overview.html

You can also upload files from your desktop or create word documents, spreadsheets, forms, and Power Point presentations right in Google Docs. Google Docs has a unique sharing feature that can come in really handy when you and a friend are both working on a school project together, as it allows you each to work on the same document while working separately from your own homes! Kind of like working on a Wiki (Don't know what a Wiki is? Stay tuned, we'll be introducing that cool techno-tool to you in a future blog post!)

http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/

Walsh Skateboarder Mike Hanley Teaches How to do a Tre Flip

You've seen these guys around school...you know, the ones who bring their skateboards to school so they can meet up after school and ride together.

Some afternoons they bring a camera with them and take videos of each other skating.

Here's a video where Mike Hanley teaches you how to do a Tre Flip. I like how he breaks it down step-by-step, so that you can better understand how to do it. The camerawork is good and steady too, so you can better see where to place your feet on the skateboard. I also like that Mikey shows messing up his Tre Flip, too. Like anything that you want to learn - it takes practice, practice, practice...and, that means messing up lots of times!

http://www.youtube.com/user/BreakFastClubSkate#p/u/2/feNM64Woj7o

Here's another video where Mike, Duarlys, EJ and Gabe show you some of their skateboarding stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRgn4jpEGWk&feature=related

Free Rice.com

Everyone here at Walsh knows of the devastating earthquake that hit the country of Haiti, and many of you joined in and contributed to the fund raising efforts that the Student Council and Guidance Department led earlier this month. We all are proud to know that as a group we collected $2000 that has been donated to the Haitian Health Foundation.
http://www.haitianhealthfoundation.org/

Some of you might be interested in continuing to help out this poor country that has a long ways to go toward recovering. The site http://www.freerice.com/ is a wonderful site that provides vocabulary, math, language, and geography game-quizzes that you can participate in. The best thing is, for every correct answer that you get in these game-quizzes, ten grains of rice will be donated to poor countries of the world. Right now most all of the donation efforts of this site are going to Haiti...so, that's how you can continue to help out. These game-quizzes are geared so that if you get a wrong answer it doesn't take away any of the rice that you have gained. They show you the correct answer and then will bring it up again later to see if you have learned it.

The rice is donated through the United Nations World Food Programme. The site doesn't ask you to sign in/log-in, or ask for any personal information. It just knows when people are playing and records totals for you, then adds it to their daily totals, which you can check out by clicking on "Totals" at the top of the page. The month of January 2010 the total came to - 1,451,006,720 grains of rice, and I know some Walsh students contributed about 15,000 to that number!

Some Walsh students sit down every weekend and play until they've reached 1000 grains of rice. One rainy weekend a couple of students reported that they just couldn't stop playing and reached over 100,000!

You can learn lots more by going to the Frequently Asked Questions/FAQs....section at the top of the site.
(aha!...so, that's what FAQs means?!)

Free rice.com.....give it a try.
Post your totals in the "Comments" below...let's see how we all do this week.

You can use your computer for some good and....you might even get a little bit smarter!