April 2011

Dates to Remember

Wednesday, April 6  

 Seventh Grade Career Day

Eighth Grade Field Trip to the 

Moakley Federal Courthouse

and the Fire Museum     

 
Thursday, April 7 
Faculty Meeting Schedule
School Starts at 9:00 
 
April Vacation
April 18-22

Thursday, April 28
Faculty Meeting Schedule
School Starts at 9:00

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Quebec  

by Robert Mullen '16 

 

In February, my Junior Bruins hockey team was invited to the Pee-Wee Hockey International Tournament in Quebec City, Canada.  There were teams from all over the world including Finland, Switzerland, Israel, Canada and the United States. Along with the great hockey games that we played, we also learned a lot about Quebec.  One of the first things I learned was that 85% of the people speak French. Quebec was founded by  Samuel de Champlain, a French explorer and diplomat on July 3, 1608.  Quebec is one of ten provinces in Canada.  It was named after the word Kebec which means where the river narrows. Canada's name means little village.

Robert Mullen

My team went on a walking/bus tour of Old Quebec.  We saw a lot of old buildings.  We learned that a builder can do whatever they like to the inside of a building, but they can't change the architecture on the outside. For example, there was a McDonalds that we barely noticed.  It was part of a group of buildings that looked like old town houses.  It had a small McDonalds sign on the front of the building. That was it.  No big golden arches or parking lot to let you know you were there.  We also visited the Plains of Abraham where famous battles were fought.  We went to the edge of the Plains which overlooks the St. Lawrence River.  In the distance, we could see the Appalachian Mountains.

 

Quebec City had a lot of ice sculptures and artwork along the street.  This was part of The Winter Carnivale that lasts for eight days.  One day we visited the Parliament, which is like our capital building.  We got to visit the blue and red rooms. We learned a little bit about how Quebec's government works.  We also went to the Huron Indian Reservation.  A woman spoke about the first settlers of Quebec; she did not speak very good English so it was hard to understand her.  We also learned an Indian dance.

 

One of the days, we went snow shoeing and dog sledding.  I learned how to drive a dog sled.  Dog sledding is much easier than driving places in the harsh winter.  Snow shoeing was cool because your boot didn't fall into the deep snow when you are walking.  We sort of floated on top of the snow.  After, we went to an old small lodge and ate fresh bread with maple butter on it.  It was very sweet, but I liked it.

 

We also visited Saint Anne de Beaupre, which is a church known as a place of miracles.  Visitors to the church leave behind their canes, crutches and walking aides as proof to their healing.  There is a wall in the church that was covered with crutches.  In the church, which is the biggest church I've ever seen, there was a plaque on the ground where Pope John Paul had kneeled to pray.   

 

Another interesting part of the trip was that my teammates and I had to stay with a Billet Family.  It was interesting trying to communicate with my Billet Family, since they mostly spoke French.  Everywhere we went people spoke French.  Even the hockey games were all announced in French. I traded and collected pins from teams all over the world.  Although, I enjoyed my trip immensely, I am glad to be back in America.  I will never forget the experience.  It will stay with me forever.


Quebec City

 

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Interview

With Mr. Smith

by Patrick O'Leary '15 

 

How is the track team doing?

Track is great.  We have a good number of middle school students.  We have a record number of around 10.  That has been the most since around 2006 or 2007.

 

How are your geography classes going?

Geography is excellent.  We have done a great deal of hands-on activities.  Weather maps where the students make a weather scene and show the class like they are a meteorologist.  We have also learned about Chinese land forms.  With all of these activities, students are given an opportunity to demonstrate their public speaking skills. 

 

How do you like the Smartboard? 

The Smartboard is excellent for the students to be able to present projects.  It is also good to research material.  We use it for the geography bee so we could ask different questions each day to the students. 

 

What are you doing for the unit on Boston?

The unit for Boston is very interesting.  The main focus was how Boston was filled in.  It has grown so many times its size.  It is  interesting to see what parts of Boston were filled in, when they were filled in, and why they were filled in.   We have looked at landmarks that were once underwater.  The Boston Public Library, the Prudential, and parts of Storrow Drive were all at one time underwater.

 

What are you doing with the students right now? 

Presently we are working on Canada.  Then, we will be moving into a unit on Africa.  Also, students are creating power-point presentations for certain provinces in Canada.

 

Mr. Smith and Patrick O'Leary

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Grade 8 Speech Team winners at Natick's Wilson Middle School Speech Competition:

Kevin Lynch (Randolph); Dominic Jerry (East Boston);Kevin O'Toole (Newton);Ryan Nelson (Norwood); Angelo Conti (Newton); Anthony Panaggio (Milford). Fifty-one 8th Graders competed at this event. 

Twenty-six Gr. 8 parents volunteered to judge speech categories other than their son's.

 

Dear Parents,

 

Spring is upon us, and I want to update you on a number of activities we have planned for the next few months.  On April 6th, we will have Seventh Grade Career Day and on May 4th, we will have Eighth Grade Career Day.  On these days we bring in several parents to talk about their occupations.  They tell the boys what preparation is needed to go into a particular field, what a typical day on the job is like, and what skills are necessary to succeed.  This is a wonderful way for our students to learn firsthand the opportunities they have open to them.  We separate students by grade for Career Day so that we can have small workshops with several guest speakers.  This gives students a chance to ask more questions and learn more about each occupation.  When one grade is having Career Day the other grade is out of the building on a field trip.  This year, the eighth graders will be going on a field trip to the Moakley Federal Court Building and the Fire Museum in Boston on April 6th.

 

As you know, this year we have been doing an interdisciplinary teaching unit on Boston.  As part of that unit, our students have visited or will visit several places within the city that gives them a better understanding of our unique history:  Freedom Trail, Black Heritage Trail, Fire Museum, City Hall, Museum of Fine Arts, and the State House. Also, we have had and will have numerous guest speakers visit Donahue Hall to share some of their expertise on the city. 

 

Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Savage, and Mr. Cormier

We want to thank Mr. Frank Sullivan from the Boston Fire Department for his help in scheduling many of these events.  Recently, he was able to arrange to have Boston author Mr. Neil Savage speak to our eighth graders about many of the political figures from Boston who had a profound impact on the history of our country.  Mr. Savage is the author of: "Extraordinary Tenure: Massachusetts and the Making of the Nation."    

 

All of these activities will culminate in an event in June-Student Showcase Night, which will be on Wednesday, June 1st.   This will be a chance for our students to display some of the projects they have been working on throughout the year.  It will also be an opportunity to recognize students for many of their accomplishments and contributions to the CM community. 

 

I look forward to seeing many of you at our Career Days.  Your support throughout the year has been overwhelming, and we are very grateful.

 

Sincerely,

 

Donald A. Cormier, Head Teacher
 

Museum of Fine Arts

David Kenny

 

by David Kenny '16  

On March 6th, the seventh grade went on a field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. We went to the new wing of the Museum, known as "Art of the Americas."  Many of my classmates had not gone before, but I had visited the other parts of the Museum many times myself.

The Seventh Graders at the MFA

The new wing is so large that we only visited the "Art of the Colonial Americas" gallery, where you can find many portraits, along with furniture, clocks, and pottery. The gallery is mostly portraits of important political figures, such as George Washington, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, John Quincy Adams, and the Copley family.  John Singleton Copley did many of the portraits.  He painted some of my favorite portraits in the gallery, including "Boy with a Flying Squirrel," "Paul Revere," and "Mrs. Richard Skinner."  I liked how well he painted the people and how realistic they looked.  In "Boy with a Flying Squirrel," I thought it was funny how the squirrel was gnawing on a nut while the boy held the chain leash.  The painting of "Paul Revere" is not very fancy, just a painting of him working on a silver bowl. The "Sons of Liberty Bowl" by Paul Revere is also in the museum gallery.  This is very interesting to me because in English class we are currently reading "Johnny Tremain," a book about a silversmith who meets Paul Revere and some of the Sons of Liberty.  The painting of  "Mrs. Richard Skinner" was interesting because it had a lot of detail and you could see how people dressed back in colonial times.

There were several paintings of George Washington.  I recently read a biography of George Washington. I was able to see how he was depicted as very heroic and almost perfect when he was in office.  In real life, his time as president was difficult.

Then we went to the painting room where we were able to paint our own political pictures.  Everyone was given a piece of cloth-like paper and a palette of paints. We each did our own painting. It is much more difficult to paint than draw, and takes a lot more time.  It made me appreciate the art we had seen even more. The paintings we saw must have taken a long time to finish.

I was glad to be able to see the new wing at the Museum of Fine Arts. There is so much to see, I hope to be able to go back soon.

Boston City Hall & Police Headquarters 

by Justin LaRose '15

 

Justin LaRose

On March 7th, my classmates and I went on a field trip to Boston.   We got off the buses in front of Faneuil Hall.  As we walked toward the City Hall we went through the mysterious steam structures commemorating the Holocaust.  As we approached City Hall, I looked up and I saw a very peculiar looking building.  We walked in the front door and went through security.  We then proceeded to walk up the stairs and was greeted by Mr. Adam Webster from the Boston City Council.  We then entered the City Hall Council Chamber.  It was not lavishly decorated for it had one purpose, a place for people to get things done.  We were spoken to by two men, one was City Councilor Matt O'Malley the other was City Councilor John Connolly.   They asked us questions as to what the budget of Boston might be, and what do they spend the money on.  They also selected some of my classmates to sit at some of the seats the council members would sit at.  Then Mr. Juan Lopez from the Boston City Council talked to us about the city itself and the way it had changed over the years.  The City's population has changed dramatically and is now 650,000 people.   

Eighth Graders at Boston City Hall

After we exited the council chamber we went to the office of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) on the 9th floor in City Hall.  The BRA is responsible for approving and monitoring all new development within the City.  The office we visited had a scale model of Boston.  The model has been changed over the past forty years based on all the new buildings and developments that have been completed.   We had a chance to see where future projects are being planned.  We also had a chance to take several pictures of the model as Mr. Lopez spoke to us about Boston's ever-changing landscape. 

Eighth Graders Viewing at the Boston Redevelopment Authority

Eighth Graders at the Boston Redevelopment Authority

 

After lunch my classmates and I went to the Boston Police Headquarters. Officer Calderone arranged for our field trip and was also our tour guide. We went to see the evidence section where the suspects are booked and fingerprinted. Then we got to see the dispatch unit where all the 911 calls come in from citizens in distress.  Finally, we got to see the forensics section where the suspects are fingerprinted digitally, the officer then showed us the room where the suspects are lined up in front of a witness and then the accused is singled out.  The glass you see the suspects through is actually a one-way glass.  The suspects cannot see you but you can see the suspects.  After my classmates and I had seen each department we then went to the Media Room where the Police Commissioner meets with members of the press.  There, Superintendent-and-Chief Daniel Linskey spoke to us about what it means to be a police officer.  He said that being a police officer carries a lot of responsibility and that the best part of the job is helping people.  We want to thank CM parents Mrs. Trish Gill and Mr. Larry Calderone for helping us plan these trips and giving us this unique opportunity.
 

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