By: Olivia Lopez and Carson Pavloff
Summer vacation is just around the corner, and we decided to survey our school about what their plans are for summer. Based on the survey results, the three most popular summer activities were swimming, video games, and reading. The most popular was video games. Other popular activities include attending summer camp, going on road trips, and sleeping in. Beyond activities, 70% of survey takers are planning to go somewhere during summer vacation. Some of these include Varsha Lakshmanan who’s going to Atlanta, Nolan who is heading to France, and Daniel who’s planning to go to Cancun. Several other people are heading up north. Yellowstone seems to be a prominent destination. Furthermore, many students have other various interests they enjoy doing in the summer. Lily Mannering partakes in water balloon fights, Charlotte Cotta likes to celebrate the 4th of July, and Xavier Wloch participates in robotics. Many other people included how they like to hang out with their friends and family. Overall, this year’s summer is looking to be eventful for those in GATE. Is this a possible way for people to make up for the loss of time in 2020? Or perhaps, as one student put it, summer vacation’s main purpose is “relaxing without a care in the world.” By: Carson Pavloff
In Mr. Bigelow’s ELA class, they are working on their color essays. Each person selected a color, and then they made thirty notecards on the history of that color. Then they made a rough draft in the TIQAC format, which stands for: Topic sentence, introducing the quote, quote, analysis, and conclusion. Mr. Bigelow always says to have your analysis at least double the size of your quote. Mrs. Breeden’s advanced social studies class has just started eighth grade United States history. They have taken the pre-test, and now they are learning about Jacksonian Democracy. That entails learning about the tariffs, the trail of tears, and the Texas Revolution from Mexico, but after ten years, Texas swiftly joined the United States. In Ms. Lowe’s drama class, they wrapped up their improvisation unit, in which Ms. Lowe gave the students a prompt, and they had to act it out from just that prompt, and a lot of the improvisations were very entertaining and funny. They are now starting their radio unit, where they are currently brainstorming for their projects. Their projects have to have a plot. Some of the students have already started their script. An example of a radio project that the students were given was a lion interviewing a mouse, and the lion gave the mouse a “hot tub,” which was then filled with carrots and salt. Let’s just say that it was a lunch break for the lion. In Mrs. Zimmermann’s ELA class, they are learning and studying the people from Ancient Greece. Then they are making life-sized people, who will have the same details that they had all of those years ago. An example of this would be the famous Greek poet Homer. They would make the curly hair, the headband, and the humongous beard. In Mr. Tossey’s gym class, students from all grade levels have wrapped up their basketball unit. The students learned the rules, how to shoot the ball properly, how to play defense, and to dribble and pass the ball. They are entering their volleyball unit. They are learning how to serve the ball, how to spike the ball, and how all of the rules to volleyball. Editor's Note: If you do not see your class on this document, it is because nobody clicked the amazing forms on the right side of this page! Unfortunately, if we don't receive any responses, we will not be able to write about your class. Happy reading!
By: Carson Pavloff Ms. Breeden’s AP social studies class have just wrapped up their Ancient China unit. They learned about Chinese philosophies such as Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. Confucianism is about setting a good example, Daoism is about letting nature do its thing, and Legalism is strict and believes that all people are naturally evil. They participated in a debate about which philosophy is the best for certain rules in the school, and all three philosophies won once. Mr. Bigelow’s science class finished up their chemistry unit. They learned about the periodic table of elements, they learned about cellular respiration, which is about humans producing energy, and endothermic and exothermic reactions, being reactions that produce and release energy. They are reviewing plant and animal cells, which they have previously worked on. Ms. Burmann’s STEAM class is learning about concussion awareness. They are recording FlipGrid videos to raise awareness. They are also making water filters for people and places in need of them. Good job to them for taking such a big role and being so kind and helpful. Ms. McDermid’s art class is painting chameleons with all sorts of different colors,, and they are working on their self portraits with a mask on in the portrait. It’s great what they’re doing so we can spread awareness about Coronavirus and recognize that it isn’t just another flu. By: Carson Pavloff
If you read the GATE Gazette Jr, please make an effort to fill out forms that are given to you. They are optional, but they help out a lot. We only got a few responses in all of the student work forms, so if you have any spare time, please fill out the forms! Mr. Bigelow’s sixth grade ELA class has been working on their technology unit. They have been studying Ray Bradbury and his writings. They have gone over the likes of “The Veldt,” “The Pedestrian,” and “All Summer In A Day.” They are working on their essays about how technology affects humans. Ms. Breeden’s social studies class is in their Ancient India unit, they are learning about the Caste System, and Indian religions. They worked on identifying if people from cartoons were in a Caste System. They also learned about monsoons and what they bring to India. Ms. Gierman’s ELA and art classes are collaborating and they are learning about an artist of the student’s choice. They are learning about them, studying their pieces, and writing about them. Lastly, they try to replicate that artist's style in a drawing of their own. Ms. McDermid’s third grade science class was learning about buoyancy. They were trying to make paperclips float. Some of the students who tried, did it successfully. Good for them! Ms. Merrill’s class has a thing called magic numbers. Everyone in her class gets a number. Ms. Merrill will say three magic numbers. Whichever numbers are called will go to Ms. Merrill’s zoom at a designated time. It is a mystery on what happens, but we will know soon. By: Olivia Lopez
Mr. Bigelow’s chemistry class has been learning about the elements in an interesting way. Students were assigned to choose an element from the periodic table and design either a superhero or supervillain of that element. For example, if the element were a gas, the character might have surrounding clouds of smoke. If the character’s element was a certain color, the character might wear that color. Finally, students were tasked with creating a backstory for their character using the knowledge of their research. Meanwhile, Ms. Gierman and Ms. Lowe have been scheming a project which will begin after Christmas break. Students will choose from a list of 25 artists and create a research paper and presentation about them. Additionally, students will create their own art pieces inspired by the artist they chose. Once students have presented their showcasing, the class will go on a virtual trip to the DIA to celebrate the culmination of the project. “We are really excited!” Ms. Gierman states. Ms. Burmann’s classroom has been working on book clubs for reading. Each club is analyzing the main character’s journey and the obstacles they overcame. Then, each club compares their character to another persona known as Milo from the book Phantom Tollbooth. Previously, the class had read Phantom Tollbooth together and interpreted Milo’s journey. Now, students are practicing comparing and examining by themselves. Ms. Merril’s class has been finishing the final components of their three-dimensional dream treehouse model for math. Students used cubic measurement, adding furniture, windows, and other elements to create their own personal design. In Ms. Zimmerman’s 3rd and 4th graders went on a virtual field trip to several national parks. They used Google Earth to explore and read nonfiction articles about each park. By: Olivia Lopez
As we enter the holiday season, students have been working hard on all sorts of literature, drawings, and even fundraisers! Read on to learn more about the fun things GATE students have acquired over the past month. Mr. Bigelow’s classroom has been focusing on something new in science: sustaining a healthy body. Students were asked to choose one aspect of health, whether it be mental, physical, social, etc, and develop a proposal to present to the entire class about a project that would improve wellness. Some of these proposals were for example holding an art contest to create more social interactions or having students take photos of nature to encourage activeness. All of these were in an attempt to help learners build and maintain a stronger immune system. Ms. Gierman’s classroom created a mock election to study government, and those elected went on to find a worthy cause for their area. They decided to develop a fundraiser for Lighthouse of Oakland County, a charitable organization that helps respond to the immediate needs of those experiencing homelessness/poverty. The class’s goal is to raise $3,000 and you can donate to them here. It’s safe to say that this year’s election wasn’t the only one! Merril’s classroom along with Mcdermid and Zimmerman have been getting into that thanksgiving spirit by learning about the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. They read the book Balloons Over Broadway which tells the story of the puppeteer who created them. They then further investigated the origins as well as what changed overtime. Finally, students were tasked with drawing their own balloon creations. “I have to say their balloon drawings are spectacular” Ms. Merril states. Ms. Burmann’s class has just finished their novel study of Phantom Tollbooth. This story is about the character of Milo, who finds himself in a mysterious fantasy land. The class discovers what the main character teaches the reader on how important it is to have an imagination, the importance of learning, and “how to not get stuck in doldrums” as Ms. Burmann puts it. Ms. McDermid’s students have been getting down to all things literature! Students are studying non-fiction reading by learning about the text features that further help the reader understand. In addition, they themselves are writing about informational books that students are experts in. To do this, students are also learning about the rap response to answering questions: restate the question, answer the question, and prove you are right. By: Olivia Lopez
Despite our current circumstances, GATE is still going strong in the means of education. Read on to discover some of the fun projects our students have been busying themselves with. Ms. Breeden’s Social Studies classroom is diving into the mysterious death of Otzi the iceman, one that occurred 1,500 years ago, to be exact. Following their unit on Prehistory, Otzi was a man that lived during the Bronze Age and was found as a preserved mummy in the snowy terrain of the Alps. The question given to class was this: how did he die? Split into groups, students used various sources to develop a theory of their own to present. Some of this included freezing to death, altitude sickness, murder, or even sacrificial reasons! One thing for sure, Otzi’s death did not fall in vain to the middle schoolers of GATE. Ms. Gierman’s classroom has been reading “The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle”, a tale about a voyage of society, consequences, and accused murder. The class has been analyzing the story and working on creative choice board activities such as researching about the 1800s, drawing what they thought the main character looks like, creating a character list, finding new vocabulary, and even learning about the author. Together, Ms. Gierman’s class unpacks the mystery of the fateful journey out to sea. Ms. Burmann’s classroom has just finished their unit on different regions of Native Americans. The students' final project was to create a diorama. Due to the separation, they shared their creations to the class virtually using Flipgrid to record themselves. Students gave a presentation talking about how certain tribes would live. These dioramas varied in materials some using paper, clay, or even Legos! With Flipgrid, the class is able to look at presentations at any time, anywhere. Beyond viewing, they can even comment with a video of their own, another way for students to connect virtually. Ms. McDermid’s class has been “getting in the groove of virtual learning.” In math, specifically, students are using rotations during Zoom meetings, and working independently when not. This provides students a similar environment to that of normal school. The students even get some exercise with Mr. Tossey who comes in on A days to learn math while doing physical activities. Ms. McDermid says that she is “so proud of their hard work.” Ms. Merrill’s students, or rather authors, are writing their first writing piece that reflects over a small moment that took place in their life. They also use tons of literature online resources to help them such as Raz-Kids and Newsela. As Ms. Merrill puts it, students have been working on their “reading grit” and work on analysis. And so while students are adapting to their new learning situation, they’ve still built in customs that create for a fun community. |