Specialist S'more

Students are enrolled in one special a term, cycling through Music, Art, Health, and Tech Ed. They'll have us around twice a week and will be working on a variety of projects that connect to and go beyond what they're learning in cluster. On their off days, students will be in Physical Education. Joining us on this S'more are the Library Media Center and Maker Space as well as the World Language team! There are also links to Performing Music information at the bottom.

We'll be posting updates throughout each term on all things specials related. Additionally, there's contact information for each teacher throughout. Feel free to explore!

As we enter the last week of school, students are wrapping up their final units! 6th graders are continuing with the ukulele, mastering a handful of chords that will unlock hundreds of songs, 7th graders are finishing up their Music Ancestry projects, and 8th graders are just about done with their promotional fliers for their Musical Events in Protest project!

If a student is absent at any time, they should check Google Classroom to see what they missed!

(Last Updated 6/11)

Grade 6: Students have wrapped up their learning about structures and bridge types, and the related forces and loads they experience and must withstand. They have taken their term assessment and ended this week making structures to hold a variety of loads, as members of small design teams. See some of today's photos attached!

Grade 7: This past week students learned about the forces that impact transportation devices and flight in particular; thrust, drag, gravity, and lift. They have made some excellent drawings indicating many transportation devices' subsystems; propulsion, control, guidance, structural, suspension and support. They ended the week reviewing for the unit assessment which they will take next week to wrap up the year.

Grade 8: Students broke for DC and Watertown Week having formed groups and begun building and programming their Lego Mindstorms robots. They were immersed in explorations around a variety of sensors, CPUs, and motors (inputs, processors, and outputs), and will continue with these in our final week together next week.

I hope your students had a good year both in Tech Ed, and throughout our Watertown Middle School experience!

(Last Updated 6/9)

6th grade: This week students began talking about themselves. For some students this is a simple task and for others it is a bit more challenging. We focus on self-image in 6th grade, so that students can feel confident and comfortable with who they are. Having a positive self-image is the foundation for healthy decision making! Students will be working on a self-image project as their final assignment for the term.

7th grade: The final unit of the term is Marijuana. Students are identifying short and long term effects of marijuana. We are taking a look at the laws around marijuana and defining the term “gateway drug”. A big focus when learning about marijuana is how THC affects the developing teen brain.

8th grade: The final unit for 8th grade is decision making. We have discussed positive/negative influences and who/what is affected by the choices teens make. Next week we will be having our SRO come into class and discuss how what we have been talking about in health class connects with the law.

(Updated 6/8)

It is hard to believe that we're going into our last week of school and this will be our last Newsletter of the year! If you missed the K-12 Art Show in Person at the Watertown Mall, you can see photos of it here. It was such a wonderful show with so much impressive work to showcase! We also currently have our second year of the “Minumental Art Show” displayed in WMS Library. The only requirement is that all work must measure 2"x2". Students can choose from a wide variety of materials and subject matter and it's fun to see where each student goes with this project!

6th grade: Students are working on their Animal Projects. All students chose an Animal that they are excited to learn how to draw and got reference photograph print outs to work from. Students started with Thumbnail Sketches for their Animals project. While looking at photographs of those animals, they broke them down into simple shapes and tried out different compositions until they found a favorite plan. Once students finish their Thumbnail Sketches they have a choice of making their Animals as either: Shaded Pencil, Colored Pencil, Watercolor, Oil Pastel or Collage. Each material has its own set of directions to follow. Students map out their animal composition in pencil first so that they have a chance to make edits as needed. Then they move on to the final material, adding colors, shading and details to both the animal and the background. Students have been working hard, and the results are looking quite exciting!

Learning Targets: ANIMALS
1. Artists draw realistically by breaking things down into simple shapes first.
I WILL take time to look at the animal image in front of me, SO I CAN identify the simple shapes that make it up, and start to draw my animal from those simple shapes.
2. Artists edit their work, they don’t expect the first thing they draw to look perfect right away.
I WILL take time to look at my paper, compare it to the animal image I’m looking at and be honest with myself about what looks good, and what needs fixing SO I CAN edit, refine and change what’s on my paper, to match what I’m seeing.

7th grade: Students are working on their Mandala Projects. First, students research Mandalas and choose some favorite inspiration images. Then, they try out a few different ideas in Thumbnail Sketches before moving on to their Rough and Final Draft. Rough Drafts map out the structure of the Mandala in pencil first and then in either black or colored ink. Final Drafts follow a Color Scheme that applies the Color Theory ideas we’ve learned from our Color Wheel work.
Students have a “final material” option of using Marker, Colored Pencil, Watercolors or Oil Pastels. The shading, color variations and blending is the “fun part” we are looking forward to next week!

Learning Target: MANDALAS
1. I can apply what I know about Color Theory to make my viewer notice specific things about my artwork.
2. I can apply what I learned from Zentangles to create complex patterns by fitting shapes together in interesting ways.

8th grade: Students are working on their Photorealistic Portrait Projects. Students have learned how to break their photograph into a basic 4-box grid and are using their analyzing skills to draw a portrait based on a photograph of their choosing. We started by mapping out the head, neck and shoulders outlines. From there, we moved on to mapping out the features guidelines and individual features. Precision with the head, neck and shoulders and the guidelines lays the groundwork for drawing the features as the correct size and in the correct placement according to what we see in our photographs, this is the key to making our Portraits Photorealistic! Students have the option to add some shading time permitting, but the main goal is to find the details of the features that make that person look unique.

Learning Target: PORTRAITS
I can use gridding and other drawing “tricks” to analyze my portrait reference image and draw a pretty realistic version of that image. I will refine and change what is on my page as necessary until I have an image that captures the essence of my portrait.

Art In-Depth 3-D: This course focuses on sometimes longer and sometimes more in-depth and complex projects. We will work through the artistic process and examine and critique our work as we develop complex and refined final projects that focuses on materials outside of typical drawing and painting materials.

Many students have been excited to put their mark on the school by designing and painting ceiling tiles. They get to choose the subject of these paintings and for which teacher or classroom they would like to have them displayed in. Students sketch their ideas first, get approval of their plans and then paint a ceiling tile using the same techniques they would use to paint a canvas or a panel. These tiles are colorful and fabulous so far!

For students who are not painting a ceiling tile, they are working on positive/negative images and magazine pottery bowls.

Art In-Depth 2-D: This course focuses on independent projects based on student interest; examples being realistic drawing, color rendering, painting and printmaking projects. We will work through the artistic process and examine and critique our work as we develop complex and refined final projects.

Many students have been excited to put their mark on the school by designing and painting ceiling tiles. They get to choose the subject of these paintings and for which teacher or classroom they would like to have them displayed in. Students sketch their ideas first, get approval of their plans and then paint a ceiling tile using the same techniques they would use to paint a canvas or a panel. These tiles are colorful and fabulous so far!

For students who are not painting a ceiling tile, they are working on a project with a medium of their choice, with students exploring big mixed media watercolor paintings, scratch art engravings and mandala stone painting. The last project for most students will be magazine pottery bowls.

(Updated 6/8)

Happy Last Week of School! This week we will be finishing up the Pacer and playing some cooperative games. We hope you have a fun summer! Go out and find a fun way to get active! See you all in the Fall.

(Last Updated 6/8)

Library volunteers celebrated Ms. Cole's departure with a party including balloons, flowers, cookies, and, of course, shelving books! We'll all miss her next year, and wish her the best of luck in the future.

(Last Updated 6/9)

Arabic: Grades 6 & 7 are working on a final cumulative project called, The Creative Book. In order to best showcase what they have learned this year, students are utilizing the WMS Makerspace materials and practicing new ways of representing their knowledge using varied materials.
Grade 8 students are working with technology as well. They have completed a restaurant skit involving coding and will present their projects next week.

Please see pictures of students below hard at work in the Makerspace. Thank you to our brilliant librarian, Ms. Cole, and talented IT and digital learning specialists, Ms. Brenon-Hodas and Ms. Spillert, respectively. Your guidance and expertise helped make these projects possible!

Italian and Spanish: Grades 6 & 7 students will finish acting out their restaurant skits using the original menus they have created. These menus reflect their knowledge of the important elements of Latin American and Spanish cuisine, such as tapas. Students are also learning how to get and give directions around town as we conclude our City unit. In the last week of school, students will showcase what they have learned this year by playing games and engaging in other fun activities. Grade 8 students are engaging in dialogues to show the knowledge they have gained over the past three years at WMS!

(Last Updated 6/8)