April 29, 2015

Baseball April 28th update

On April 28th 2015 Moran faced Washington Middle of Meriden. Behind strong pitching from Caden Cloutier and Ryan Lincoln, the Moran mustangs won 11 to 0.  Moran produced their runs behind solid hitting from Jesse Johnson, Jordan Davis, Tim Tangari and Matt Battiste. Moran improves to 1 and 1 on the season and faces Depaolo of Southington this Friday May 1 at 3:30.

April 28, 2015

Here are the latest Eagle’s Feathers…(Don’t forget the general “From around Moran” section below!

From around the Team…

1)      In Science class, we have begun our Environmental Science unit.  Students have been discussing the organization of the environment and have gone on a science walk to identify organisms, populations and communities and to tell how these factors can become an ecosystem.  Furthermore, they have been categorizing parts of the environment as either biotic (living) or abiotic (non-living).  We have had some tricky factors come up such as are factors such as: ashes, wood chips and seeds biotic or abiotic?  Can you decide?

2)      In Spanish students are learning about Family and Festivites native to Spanish-speaking countries.http://phschool.com/atschool/realidades/pdfs/repaso/L1_Capitulo_5A.pdf

3)      In math class, students have learned how to find the area of parallelograms, triangles, trapezoids, and composite shapes.  There was a quiz on Monday to assess students’ skills of finding area of these shapes. Next we will look at finding area of shapes on the coordinate plane and surface area of prisms and pyramids.  Chapter 4 in the Big Ideas book can support you at home.

4)      In ELA class, students will be organizing Island of the Blue Dolphins journal questions by themes based on previous lessons.  As a class, students will write an essay (Pre- Performance Task) based on the journal questions.  Students will then have a district Performance Task on argumentative writing based on the last unit, Courageous Characters.

5)      In Social Studies students will present their work on a project on China.  Students have been scheduled all next week to “take over” the class and teach the class what they learned about China and how life in China is similar and different to the U.S.  All students received a shared google file with the details of the project (and it can also be found on the Social Studies page of my website and it is called “Wang is Coming!”)  The Communication Section of my website has a video of me explaining some keys parts of the project as well and is found in the link called “Watch Mr. Schweighoffer.”

From around Moran…

1)      SBAC testing started for 6th grade students this week!  All students need a book to read after they have finished their test.  It is a great time to visit the library to get a reading book!  (Also, a great time to read many books for their reading log for Mrs. Bohlman’s class!)

2)      Permission slips are due for our last field trip to Quassy Amusement Park.  Please make checks out to “James Moran Middle School” and all money and permission slips have to be returned by Friday, May 15th.   **If any parent would like to chaperone the trip, please contact your child’s homeroom teacher!**

3)      With warm weather (hopefully) upon us soon, all students should make sure they are adhering to the Moran Dress code.  Also, only water bottles are allowed (and recommended) for students to keep in the classroom to stay cool; students will not be allowed to make continuous trips to the water fountain.

4)      Ms. Foss wanted to inform the Moran community about the upcoming Parent Orientation for parents of fifth graders who will be coming to Moran next year.  A copy of the invitation is attached here: 5th grade parent orientation night letter

5)      Parents who have specific concerns about their child’s placement for next year should contact the main office immediately and send in a letter explaining their concerns to Mr. Piacentini, Ms. Foss and Ms. Funaro.  The team has no input on student placement for next year.

 

April 23, 2015

2015 Nutmeg Book Award Voting

Students can now vote for the 2015 Nutmeg Book Award in both the intermediate and teen categories. Students can access the ballots through their school email or the MVP news site at tiny.cc/mvpnews. This is a wonderful opportunity for students to decide a major publishing award in Connecticut. The final winners will be announced in May. Also announced in May will be the twenty nominees for 2016. These titles would be excellent selections for independent reading and will be included in our middle school recommended summer reading list.

April 23, 2015

Softball results

Starting Pitcher, Riley Wolcheski deserved a better outcome after giving up only 4 hits and 2 walks in 5 innings, but the Lady Mustang bats were quiet.  Moran just couldn’t put enough hits together, even though Christiana Amorone doubled and Mia Ferry and Sam Fers each singled in the opening day loss at Cheshire.

Aleiya Noone made 2 spectacular and run saving catches in center field, while Ferry had 3 put outs from Second.

The Lady Mustang have their Home Opener vs Kennedy Thursday April 23rd.  Come support your team

April 23, 2015

Baseball results 4/21

On April 21 2015 Moran took on Dodd Middle School of Cheshire. The Moran Mustangs fell 3 to 0 behind a strong performance on the mound from Ryan Lincoln. He went 5 innings strong. Kevin Vining came in relief shutting down the Cheshire offense. Moran was only able to manufacture one hit which came from Jesse Johnson. Moran takes on Kennedy of Southington on Thursday April 23rd at 330. Please come support your Moran Mustangs.