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Raider Family News
February, 2024
See What's Happening Around SBRHS...
Each month moving forward, we will highlight the amazing things that are occurring in our school. This month we highlight the Wellness & Special Education Departments.
Health I
A new semester means a new group of students in Health I. Students will begin exploring the characteristics of a R.A.I.D.E.R. (Resilience, Academic, Independent, Digital Citizen, Empathy, and Respect) and will connect the various topics such as, time management, self awareness, and self advocacy, to their everyday lives for personal growth.
Health II
Students in Health II just started the course at the end of January. The first unit of study is the Social and Emotional Health Unit. During this unit, students will learn ways to build self-esteem and maintain good mental health. We will also learn about mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety and how to help and support those who are struggling with their mental health. We finish the unit learning about stress and exploring and practicing ways to manage stress with productive and positive stress management strategies!
Stress Management
Two groups of students have started Term 3 with the Wellness Department’s Stress Management elective. We start the course with starting a daily gratitude journal and thinking about a stress management goal that students will work on throughout the entire semester. One of the first tasks to help create this goal is designing a vision board. Check out the example below! One last thing worth mentioning for what students will work on at the beginning of the semester is learning about the journey of the stress response. Students will learn about the neuroscience of stress. They will learn about the sympathetic and parasympathetic responses to stress and the importance of both responses. Did you know about the vagus nerve? The vagus nerve is the largest cranial nerve and is also known as the “wandering nerve” since it “wanders” to many different parts of the upper body. We will talk about how to activate the vagus nerve, which is part of the parasympathetic nervous system that encourages us to “rest and digest.” If you are feeling stressed, here are some ways you can activate the vagus nerve and calm your stress: putting your favorite song on and belting out the lyrics, cold water immersion (even splashing your face with cold water helps), exercise (especially interval and endurance training), foot massage, yoga, laughing, eating foods with fiber and taking deep breaths!
Life and Relationships
With the halfway point of the school year in the rearview mirror, Mrs. Vanada’s Life and Relationships classes are beginning to explore fetal development and pregnancy. After learning all of the important foundational components, students will learn about birth and childcare. As part of the childcare topic, grade 11 and 12 students in Mrs. Vanada’s elective will have the opportunity to take care of a simulation baby, known as the RealCare Baby. Students will learn and practice various skills with the RealCare baby such as feeding, rocking, burping, and diaper changing an infant. The program not only provides a learning opportunity for students to discover the physical commitment caring for an infant can take, but also the social and emotional impacts as well.
Physical Education
Grade 9
We are excited to welcome back instructors Bob, Bill, and Skip! They have been leading the CPR Training courses at SB for the last 19 years!
The CPR and AED Training will begin on Monday, March 11-15th. All Freshmen PE classes will meet in the Distance Learning Center during their PE period.
*Any student (grade 10-12) who is interested in the CPR certification class, please contact Mrs. Mollicone. molliconea@sbregional.org
Yoga
Our classes have been exploring the mind/body connection through the practice of yoga postures, breathing techniques, meditation, and relaxation.
Breathing Meditations
During yoga, we address the importance of pranayama.
Below are a few breathing exercises that we practice in class.
Students of the Transition Program have been working at a multitude of different job sites on and off campus. During the week, they go off campus to Tractor Supply, Full EnVision Farm, Highland Restaurant Supply, and more. Students can be found on campus assisting the kitchen with breakfast duties, taking out trash after lunch, washing windows, and much more. These jobs help highlight the importance of learning job skills and prepare students to successfully enter the workforce.
Anthony Rodriguez refilling condiments in the Student Dining Center.
Ethan Terra has been enjoying many job sites including the Somerset Public Library. Ethan assists with craft projects, putting away books, and cleaning the young readers section. Most recently, he picked out cat themed books for the Library’s “Adopt a Reading Pal Program” where young readers will “adopt” a plush cat and pledge to read to them.
Alexavier Garcia and Breanna Nye unpacking computer equipment at Berkeley Middle School.
Alexavier Garcia going to dump old hay at Full EnVision Farm.
Emily Oliveira preparing trays for the SBRHS kitchen staff.
Ethan Terra organizing the clothing department at Tractor Supply.
During BRB this cycle, Special Education teachers are collaborating with the Robotics Class to make a robot for a Valentine's day project. Students will make flowers to put in a vase that the robot will deliver to the students.
The Math Mafia is having so much fun in their Triangle Unit. They have covered the theorems and postulates for angles and sides of triangles and have enjoyed two different “around the room” activities that focused on missing angles using the Interior Angle Sum Postulate, and finding the length of a missing side using the Pythagorean Theorem. Students had to work together to complete each task that was posted around the room before they could move to the next task. It was a great way to work as a team and support each other. These students are working hard and enjoying their time together!
This term, Mrs. Garcia's ELA class has been working on opinion writing...mountain life or beach life? An unusual pet? Kid or adult? City living or farm living? Cool school mascot? What would YOU choose? We're also learning a lot from our Scholastic Action magazine subscription. Did you know jeans have been around for hundreds of years and started out as work pants? Riveting! In science, we have been exploring cells, the fossil record, and comparative anatomy. We had some zoo ambassadors visit - Odin the Opossum and Spuddy the Russian tortoise. We loved hanging out with them! Finally, our life skills class has been learning a ton about our digital footprints, how to stay protected online, and ways to balance media with our personal lives.
Attention Class of 2024--Future Plans
In the upcoming months, SBRHS would like to celebrate your future plans. Please click on this link and tell us what you plan on doing next year (college, branch of military or workforce/career path). We will celebrate these successes in various ways, including X (Twitter,) our website, etc. as we get closer to the end of the year. We realize this request might be a bit early for some of you so expect emails in the future regarding this. All seniors must complete this form. We are so excited to see all the "places you will go"!!
Spring Sports Sign Ups Are Open
The 2024 Spring Sports FamilyID online registration is now open!
Important dates/notes:
- The deadline to register online and to get your paperwork into Mrs. Medeiros (athletic trainer) is March 11, 2024. She can be contacted at medeiross@sbregional.org.
- Spring Sports begin on Monday, March 18, 2024.
- Coaches will be having informational meetings about their sport after school in the coming weeks and tryout/practice times for the week of March 18th will be shared.
- Grade 9 students, Grade 11 students, and transfer students who did not play a Fall or Winter sport this year at SBRHS will have to take an Impact test before trying out. This test can be taken from home. More information on the Impact test can be found in the FamilyID registration.
- Don't get left on the sideline on the first day. Register now!
Here is the FamilyID link to register:
https://www.familyid.com/organizations/somerset-berkley-athletics
If you have any questions about Spring sports, please contact the applicable coach below or email me at francisj@sbregional.org.
Softball: Sally McKinnon
Baseball: Jay Martin Please email JV Coach Steve Meehan for any questions at this time
Girls & Boys Outdoor Track: Keegan LaRue and Julie Riding
Unified Track: Tammi Hipolito and Molly Keith
Girls Tennis: Kristin Curry Please email Athletic Director Joe Francis for any questions at this time
Boys Tennis: Doug Chapman
Girls Lacrosse: Emily Travis
Boys Lacrosse: Phil Strangolagalli
Two Students Accepted into the MMEA Allstate Music Festival
Somerset Berkley is thrilled to announce that two students were accepted into the Massachusetts Music Educators Association Allstate Music Festival this past weekend. Roman Raposo and Kyle McKinnon were both accepted into their respective ensembles and will now go to represent SBRHS at the Allstate Festival in March.
Emerging Young Artists & Designers Winners Announced
Congratulations to Autumn Chasse, Emilly De Souza, Abbey Melo and Avery Stevens whose work was selected for the UMASS CVPA Emerging Young Artist's Exhibit! This is a huge honor as only 199 works were selected out of 808 entries. The Emerging Young Artists + Designers 2024 Juried Exhibition is online. Starting January 26, it will be featured on the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ website: www.umassd.edu/cvpa/explore/emerging-young-artists
Student Achievement Award Recipients
The following students were recognized by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for their progress on the MCAS test. Congratulations to them and their families!
Andraya Borden
Caleb Cabral
Chloe Chen
Riley Doucette
Andrew Dupont
Aubri Gouveia
Jessica Hagen
Ashley Lin
Kyle Lin
Sherry Lin
Andriana Logakis
Isaac Louro
Jackson Souza
Aaliyah Valadao
World Language Students Visit Berkley Middle & Elementary Schools
Students from Mr. Gleason's Spanish IV class created lesson plans and went to Berkley Middle and Elementary Schools to teach a lesson in Spanish to the students.
Save the Date--Walk the Walk for Autism
The SBRSD/SPS Walk the Walk Committee for Autism and Neurodiversity Acceptance will take place on Saturday, May 25th at SBRHS from 9-11 a.m.