Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Net Zero

         John Hollar, the Mayor of Montpelier, came in on the 27th to speak to kids about the Net Zero project. Net Zero is a project that will create a reusable source of energy, and eliminate fossil fuels in Montpelier. There are only a few types of energy that can be reused, such as solar power, wind power, hydro-power, and biofuels. There are three things that energy is mainly used for: heating, transportation, and electricity. The easiest to completely replace with reusable energy would be electricity. John Hollar would like to see Montpelier be the most energy efficient capital in the US.

Mysterious Mr Sirius

Mysterious Mr Sirius, owner of the unique new design company, science class, has called for two  products from each team of diligent architects. Each team of students is to collaborate in the making of  an Electromagnetic Fishing Pole and a Stylish and Effective Game Piece for Mr Sirius's recently created magnetism game. Every student will need a good understanding of magnetism, circuits, and design to make a satisfying product for Mysterious Mr Sirius, and a few short but thorough reports on the things we learned in the process. Luckily, we've taken  notes in our Science journals to help us complete the tasks! Good luck to all builders!

Friday, November 21, 2014

Star, Our New Team Mascot

Team SIRIUS has a new mascot. Star is a black and white dog. Each month she is given to a different student who shows spirit and imagination towards the team. Star will then live in the TA of the chosen student.This month the chosen student for team SIRIUS was Grace. This month Star will live in Mrs. Scott's room, because Grace is in her TA.  Next month she will pass Star to the next student of the month in Team SIRIUS, and will probably help in deciding who the next honored student will be.


Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Political Parties

   Over the last several weeks in Social Studies we have been learning about Political parties. We so far learned that the first political party was the Federalist Party, closely followed by the Anti-Federalists. We've also learned about the qualities and beliefs of  Republicans and Democrats. We will continue learning about their qualities, opinions, beliefs etc. this week in class.

Sugar Consumption

The 7th grade math classes have been working on a sugar consumption unit. We have been learning about what too much sugar can do to you. Throughout the unit we learned how to read labels, find out all the different forms of sugar, and how to spot them. At the end of the unit Mr. Scott gave us the weekend to make an info-graphic about everything we learned. You got to chose any type of beverage or food to make a poster on. Through the unit Ms. Zurowski and Ms. Murphy came to speak about sugar consumption. This unit was a lot of fun.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Energy Card Game

In science class, the 7th and 8th graders are playing a card game to think more about how energy gets to their home. In this game we need to heat our water, have lights and electricity, get to where we need to go (transportation), heating our home, and cooking. The point of the game is to put cards in a certain order from the "source" to one of the cards actions we need in our home. It was a little confusing at first, but in the end, we learned a lot, and it is a lot of fun.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Dog Star Drama

              The Dog Star Drama club had their first play on Monday, November 10. Their first play was about the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. They read the poem but then they took the time to re-write the entire poem, still keeping all the important information, but adding some humor. They acted out the whole play using very few props, and the background was only a drawing on the white board. Although they keep things simple, it worked. Dog Star Drama did a very good job on the play they put on.

Math Class Pumpkin Carving


 At the end of October, for a fun activity, the 7th grade math class began sketching out spooky jack-o-lantern pictures. We then found the coordinate points of our drawings on four quadrant graphs and wrote the coordinates down. We glued our pictures, colored, and the coordinate points onto large pieces of construction paper of various colors. On Tuesday, October 28th, we brougham  in pumpkins and carved out our drawings on to the pumpkins. We all took them home on the following Friday and they lit up on steps at night.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

American Studies

In Social Studies we have been studying the United States government. Current Events such as the Ebola Outbreak, Edward Snowdens' revelations of the United States spying program, and the election in the Senate have all spurred relation to different branches of government. Another way we have connected to the government is through current music. Mr Griffith has played songs such as "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (Youtube Link), Schoolhouse Rocks' "I'm Just a Bill" (Youtube Link), and even a rap of the Bill of Rights (Youtube Link). These songs and many more have helped enrich our learning on Team Sirius.
Bill from Schoolhouse Rock dreams of becoming a law someday.

Erin Malloy


Erin Malloy came to MSMS on Monday the 3rd. She explained how she tries to help others feel warmer in the winter. She works for VEEP (Vermont Energy Education Program).  Erin helps other by educating them in energy and how to store as much heat as possible. She is also trying to help people understand that if we conserve heat we will be able to save energy and this helps stop global warming. Erin Malloy will be returning next Monday, November 10th to finish the remainder of the groups that she missed last Monday.