Green Hill Gazette

Every Thursday during lunch and recess for the 7th and 8th, Coding Contortion meets in the office in either the room at the first corner or the second corner for the meeting place. There you can eat your lunch and talk to the others in the club (obviously about coding). At the half point of the period, the club goes down to the Tech Ed room (unless you haven’t finished your lunch in which case, you can stay and finish your lunch).

In the Tech Ed room you get a chance to do coding like code.org or scratch programing, code academy, or any other coding websites on the computers. You can also do ¨researching¨ which is playing games (my favorite part) and getting ideas from them to help you create something yourself. Currently there are nine students participating in the club and there are open slots for anyone interested in coding (and contorting! Ha Ha Ha. I am laughing so loud that you can’t hear me).

Coding is a very important thing to know for many reasons. Coding will make you think more, sharpening your problem solving skills, yet more than 90% of schools don't teach it. All it takes is some effort and time to do it. In coding club, you get time to create what you want, like a game of some sort or just whatever (and “research”). Just by coding, you will think more. Many places don't give you this chance, but this school is giving you the chance. So take advantage of it, and join Coding Contortion for your own benefit.

Coding Contortion by Adam Boscarino

Evening of the Arts

Monument Valley Student Newspaper

June 2015

On April 30th, from 6:30-8:30pm, eleven students from Monument Valley were chosen

to participate in the 3rd Annual Evening of the Arts. The event was hosted by Renais-

sance Art School in Great Barrington. It was held at Crissey Farm.

The 11 students who were chosen were:

Jack Bertelli, Andrew and Annika Wainwright, Lexi Gonzales, Adam Boscarino,

Sophia Smith, Tallulah King, Sebastien Franck, Sam Schroeder, Michael Walsh,

And Antonia Taylor. The students were chosen for creativity and visual arts.

You can see some of their artwork on the school’s website in the photo gallery.

Final 2104/2015 edition Edited by Abby Z :)

"Imagination is only limit on what can be made"

in future MakerSpace By Haley Couch

 Here at Monument Valley, Mr.Doren, Mrs. Malone-Smith, Mrs.Astion, and Mr. Briggs, planned an amazing educational opportunity. The school was recently awarded a grant for $14,764.00 to purchase 3D printers and develop curriculum to incorporate them into a MakerSpace. 

You may be wondering what a MakerSpace is. A MakerSpace is a place for students to “make and be creative”. Here, at Monument Valley the existing Tech Ed. Room, at the end of the music hallway, will be renovated and redeveloped to encompass 3D printers and the wood/metal shop. Ben Doren, principal, stated, “I have a vision to revive the Tech Ed program”. His vision has been in the works for about 5 years, since the program was abolished through budget cuts. He said, “There is never enough [money] in the operating budget to do what we want.” This endeavor was accom-plished through the aforementioned grant, the Technology and Innovation Grant. The grant was awarded to the school on ---. Before the Tech Ed class was ended, 5 years ago, it was a part of the Exploratory rotation that now en-compasses Art, Physical Education, Music, Tech and Health. The Tech Ed class used to teach students how to use the “old technology” like saws, hammers, drills and many other tools. Students used to also learn how to work with metal and the tools that go with it. Doren plans to re-vive this, and incorporate the new technology. Each class will have access to the printers. The printers and area will be closely watched at the beginning, and the younger kids, 5th and 6th graders will receive intensive training on how to use the printers and the technology that goes along with it. Many 3D printer compatible technologies, like 3DTIN and Google SketchUp, are being tested to see how they would fare in the school environment. Donna Astion, enrichment coordinator, also gave her view on the MakerSpace. “The educational benefits are that students will have access to current important technology and will have a chance to design, collaborate and create together. We will work on real world issues, the first topic this year is future cities and urban farming.” She also is EXTREMELY happy that the school was awarded the grant. “I hope students will be very curious, excited and grateful and inspired to have a makerspace!” They both have grand views on this and hope it will be used as an immense educational opportunity.

SDI teams building the future, and a sample of some 3D printed items

Mary Poppins is the MVM Spring Musical. It will be performed on June

and is Mrs. Ross’s final show at MV.

The cast for Mary Poppins is big:

Emma Adelson , Giana Bertelli, Chloe Charbonneau, Ruby Citron, Tessa Climo, Jackson Cunningham,

Kate Goble, Eliza Keenan, Meghan Kinne, Greta Luf, Paige Lussier, Madeline Mason, Talia McElhiney,

Bradley Mead, Calista Nelson, Olivia Ruggiero, Sam Schroeder, Paige Scott, Ryan Sullivan, Darby Taylor

Sophia Tenuta, Anika Thiemann, Olivia Thiemann, Amber Troiano, Maya H. VanSant, An-nika Wainwright, and finally, Mira Webber.

People and things seen at MVM…….

Page 5 Green Hi l l Gazette June 2015

Math

buddies h

ard

at work

8th grade community challenge!

7th Grade brought in some inter-esting items!

Cats on the wall.

Learning US geography in living color….gr. 6 Social Studies with Mr. Naventi

Close-up of gr. 7 collage…..

“August” calendar art

Recently, students in fifth grade researched animal rights.

Students read non-fiction about animals and animals rights and then focused on circuses and circus animals.

Here are some of the letters to the editor they wrote when learning about the circus held in Dalton each year.

Grade 5 Animal Rights Unit: Letters to the Editor

Monument Valley Student Newspaper

Elsa, Jackson, Savanah and Liam pictured. Many letters follow.

Ms. Gillis estimates about 80% were in favor of banning the ani-mals in circuses, with 20% in favor of having animals perform.

Keeping us Organized and Ready ! It’s Calendar Time

Page 11 Green Hi l l Gazette June 2015

May 27 Orchestra Concert (so well played!)

May 29 Dress-up Dance ( you looked great!)

June is National Candy Month, and National Dairy Month!

June 1 Howe Cavern trip, Gr. 6

June 2 Rocky Road Ice Cream Day

June 2-5 8th grade trip to Washington DC

June 5 National Doughnut Day

June 7 Chocolate Ice Cream Day

June 9 Band Concert

June 11-12 Mary Poppins Musical

June 12 Spanish students off to Spain! Adios!

June 11 Student Council Outing

June 14 National Strawberry Shortcake Day, and Flag Day

June 16 7th grade trip to Boston Hello Beantown!

June 17 Family Fun Carnival, and National Eat Your Vegetables Day

June 17 Grade 8 DC showcase

June 18 Paul McCartney’s birthday

June 19 8th grade graduation

Grade 5 Field Day

June 22 Goodbye school! Hello summer! (Half-day of school)

June 23 (1982) It was 117 degrees below zero on the South Pole

DiD YoU KNoW? We have three teachers retiring this year….Mrs. Rice, gr. 7 Social Studies., Mrs. Tesoniero, Computer teacher, and Mrs. Ross, music teacher. We will miss them very much!

Marching Band On Memorial Day May 25th 2015, our band marched in the parade along with the high school marching band. The four parades that we marched in were the Housatonic parade, then the West Stockbridge parade, then the Great Barrington Pa-rade, and lastly the Stockbridge Parade.

The song that the MVM marching band played was called Mili-tary Escort with the trumpet playing the melody. Luckily the 25th was not that hot of a day but was still hot enough to be sweating after the end of the first parade we marched, making the others even worse heat-wise. Otherwise, it was well worth marching in the parades. By Adam Boscarino

Thanks to the Exploratory Team for decorating the gym! And thank you to Mrs. Malone Smith and Ms. Gillis for the pictures!!!

That’s all for now. See you next year!