The Mapletogian
Volume 19 Number 4 December 2009
Happy Holidays From
Maple Avenue Middle School
Maple Avenue Music Show
Writing Workshop for 7th and 8th Grade Students
The Maple Avenue Musical Club will present its annual show during the weekend of February 5 ~ 7, 2010. This year’s presentation is the stage adaptation of “Willy Wonka”. Performance times are Friday, (2/5) at 7 PM, Saturday, (2/6) at 7 PM, and Sunday, (2/7) at 2 PM. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased ahead of time (call 339-1348). Tickets can also be purchased at the door on the evening or day of each performance.
The musical cast for “Willy Wonka” is very talented this year. They are also diligently and enthusiastically rehearsing in order to provide everyone with a terrific experience. Special effects and a rolling candy cart will add to the fun! Definitely mark your calendars for this always enjoyable event. We hope to see you on the first weekend of February!
Winter Books: Something To Read On a Cold Day
By Annie Getz
Homecoming
By Cynthia Voight
This book is about four siblings,
Dicey, James, Maybeth and
Sammy. After their father leaves
their family things get tough, their
mother loses her job and is
depressed. In final desperation
their mother abandons them.
Traveling with 11 dollars to a faraway town, where they hope their aunt will take care of them, their money for food runs out. While traveling the siblings learn that it is the most important to have each other, I recommend this book to anyone that likes adventure and survival books. This book can be found at the Saratoga Springs Public Library and our school library.
Hurt Go Happy
By Ginny Rorby
Deaf since the age of six and
banned to learn sign language
Joey Willis struggles to catch
what is going on in both school
and home. Then one day Joey
meets Charlie a kind older man
with Sukari his rescued pet
monkey. Their friendship blossoms with Charlie teaching Joey to speak in sign language. One day Charlie dies Joey is devasted, and Sukari’s fucher is put on the line, how can Joey save Sukari when she can’t even understand most people’s conversations. I recommend this book for animal book lovers and this book can be found on Amazon. Thank you to http://www.christievilsack.org/summer_book_club/images/hurt-go-happy.jp http://www.sd68.k12.il.us/schools/orchard/lmc/Book%20Covers/homecoming.jp for providing the cover pictures.
Have-A-Heart Club
* wrapping books at Barnes and Noble on December 12 & 13 from 2-6 both days - all money to support Empty Stocking Project
* The Warming Tree in the main lobby - all hats/scarves/gloves/mittens to go to Franklin Community Center - a picture with some kids can be taken at your convenience
* Mistletoe will be sold during lunch periods for $2.00 a sprig to benefit Empty Stocking Project December 14 - December 23
Coming in 2010: An Expanded Writing Workshop for 7th and 8th Grade Students
For the past three years seventh grade students and their parents have been meeting to write and publish memory-based stories as part of the Partners in Writing Workshop. The popular workshop (over 100 participants in 2009) will be offered again this year, and it will be expanded to include eighth grade students as well.
The 2010 workshop will be held weekly from mid-February to the beginning of April. Once the stories are written and the books are printed, there will be a publication party for the distribution of the 2010 book of stories. The party gives some of the new authors a chance read their stories aloud along with the opportunity to celebrate together with pizza and cake. (Now that’s a creative combo!)
Registration forms will be available on-line in January. Questions? Contact Mrs. Hopkins.
JOIN THE MOVEMENT
BY ELI FISHER
You’ve probably seen the logo on nearly every classroom door in the school and those t-shirts that the teachers wear on some days. Yes, Act with Respect Always. The idea was created by Mr. Johns, a sixth grade social studies teacher in Hathorn Springs and tennis coach, whom
interviewed. This is how
he explained the purpose of the shirts and idea: You join
the movement of respect, you get the gear as a way of
telling people about it. This makes you a sort of
ambassador to respect. Mr. Johns said that
he has a passion for respect and this gave him the idea,
which he has been working on for over a year. He hopes that people will not be afraid to talk about respect.
The shirts are available for purchase all year (despite the November 20th deadline on the order form). You can pick up an order form from Coach Johns in room P220, Coach Decker in room F187, or gym Coaches Hall, Snyder, or Testa. They can be returned to all of these people also. The proceeds will go to the following organizations Faith Family Friends, Billy Grey Ride for Research, O’Donnell Scholarship Fund, Lung Cancer Research for MD Anderson – Houston, TX, SUNY Potsdam Scholarship Fund, Hoops For Hope, CR Wood Cancer Center – Glens Falls, Breast Cancer Research, Hand Up Club here at Maple Ave, American Cancer Society, and more.
THANK YOU TO SARATOGA GUITAR SHOP
Matt McCabe, owner of the Saratoga Guitar Shop..father of our student Charlie McCabe (8th grader)...has donated 2 guitars to Mrs. Kish's art room for our still life drawings.
The guitars, though unplayable, are in beautiful condition for our student-artists to draw. Thank you to Matt McCabe for helping to enhance learning at Maple Avenue Middle School.
School Sports
By Ben Palmateer
Ok, so as you might already know, Saratoga played their hearts out in the game against New Rochelle. Even though that they lost the game, it was still an excellent triumph. Saratoga worked extremely hard to get where they were in the season, if they had one that game then they would be in the state tournament! New Rochelle was
rated number 2 in the state, and before the game against
Saratoga they had just beat the number one team! During
the game, Saratoga was once ahead 14-0, but since New
Rochelle had such powerful offensive and defensive lines, No one could have stopped them! It looked like the game was all over with about 4 minutes left
in the 4th quarter, but then Saratoga made an amazing
catch and scored a touchdown! Of course after that, there wasn’t a lot of time left, but Ryan Vaughn nearly saved the day with an amazing onside kick that Saratoga then recovered. In the end, New Rochelle ended up winning the game, and they will continue to states.
Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for next month’s school sports article!
Congratulations to the Following Maple Avenue Students
Submitted by Mrs. Amy Burns, Art Teacher
The following students are to be commended on their
collaborative still life for November’s Parent University
Summit held at Maple Avenue: Jennifer Powers, Justin
Penman, Melissa Tyler, Jamie Oliver, Sara Willner-
Giwerc, Lexi Hellwig, Danelle Tucker, Amelia Lee, Erin
Dooley, Karen Toivonen, Olivia Denooyer, Jaqueline
Ernst, Analise Safford, Kathryn Mansfield, Leah
Woods, Shania Hayward, Madison Schermerhorn,
Deirdre Dunham, Jeremy Katz, Bailey Motola,
Madelyn Staffanson, Urvashi Desai and Brittany
Harran.
To promote the theme of “Tolerance” students agreed on an oil pastel still life. Look closely…what do you see? How does their work reflect the theme of “Tolerance?”
