November 2019 Newsletter

Dear Ahern Community,

In this season of giving thanks, I would like to take this

opportunity to thank you all for your support of our

students and the work we do together for them at the

Ahern Middle School. I am truly grateful for the

opportunity to lead this work in our school and to work,

in partnership with you, with the children of Foxborough

during their middle school years.

As we approach Thanksgiving, we continue to focus on

encouraging small acts of kindness and gestures of

empathy and compassion among students. Our new

positive referral system has been a great way to

recognize those students who are demonstrating the

wonderful actions that define our Ahern community.

Teachers have been referring students to the office for

these kind acts so administration can thank them,

encourage continued acts of kindness, and contact home

to celebrate the good news. We look forward to seeing

this work grow and the positive impact it is sure to have

on our school culture.

We have come to the end of Term 1, and we are proud of

the hard work and perseverance of our students. This is

a good time for students to reflect on the first term and to

set new goals for their learning. This year we will

continue to implement electronic report cards. Report

cards will be available each term through the

PowerSchool Parent portal. Directions for setting up an

account, if you do not have one, are on the FPS home

page. You need a specific code to access. If you do not

have one, contact guidance. If you do not have internet

access, please inform your child’s homeroom teacher or

guidance counselor and we will provide a printed copy. Term 1 electronic grades should be available by Nov. 8th

at 2:30 PM.

We will be holding parent-teacher conferences on

Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 25th and 26th. These are

early release days with dismissal at 11:37 each day.

Look for notices from your child’s 5th or 6th grade

homeroom teacher soon to sign up for a conference time.

Parents of students in grades 7 and 8 will be able to sign

up online on the Ahern homepage or teacher website.

Online signup will be open at 9:00AM on Monday,

Nov.4th.

Just a reminder, conferences are brief meetings with

your child’s teachers. For conversations that require

more time, scheduling a separate conversation at a

different time allows for longer conversations.

We look forward to seeing you at conferences. Have a

wonderful Thanksgiving!

We are only 8 weeks into the school year

and the Cafeteria stage is overflowing with

jackets, sweatshirts, hats, and lunch boxes!

Please ask your student to look for their

missing items! A table will be set up by the

front staircase with unclaimed items during

parent teacher conferences.

Items not claimed will be donated to

charity after the winter break.

C

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O U N S E L O R S’

Application Process for High School

As Term 1 is coming to a close, many students and

families are starting to plan for secondary education.

In addition to the option of FHS, Foxborough students in

grade 8 are eligible for admission (through an application

process) to Southeastern Regional Technical Vocational

High School in Easton, MA and Norfolk County

Agricultural High School in Walpole, Ma. Some families

may pursue admission to a private high school for their

child.

If your child is interested in attending a high school

other than Foxborough High School, it is important for

you to inform Mrs. Bailey, the 8th grade counselor, so

that all records and required documents for admission

may be submitted in a timely manner respecting each

individual school’s deadlines. Mrs. Bailey may be reached

at 508-543-1610 or baileyl@foxborough.k12.ma.us.

It’s hard to believe that we are wrapping up Term 1!

Current learning highlights include:

Grade 5: Students are finishing up their Narrative Units in both Readers and Writers Workshop before launching their first

novel study of the year, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt.

Grade 6: Our 6th graders are well into their first novel study of the year, Refugee by Alan Gratz. They are

using this as a mentor text for their memoir writing lessons and their social studies unit.

Grade 7:

Seventh graders are coming to an end with their Narrative Choice Reading and Writing Units. Can you believe they had a choice of 19 different novels to work with?!

Grade 8:

Students are past the halfway point of their Dystopian Unit with Hunger Games, The Last Book

in the Universe, and Fahrenheit 451.

Be sure to ask your student what they are reading, and encourage them to read for fun as

well. Reading before bed is a great way to shut down a racing brain before catching some ZZZZs!

~ Miss Breda Annis, M.Ed. (Literacy Specialist, Grades 5-8)

November 20th – 26th: The Ahern’s Annual Scholastic Book Fair! Please see the

attached calendar for times. You can also check out our fair’s website for

online shopping and eWallet options, https://bit.ly/2kMkwZC.

We are successful only because of our amazing volunteers! I’m in need of a number of volunteers! PLEASE CONTACT ME at annisb@foxborough.k12.ma.us

if you’d like to help.

• This Winter: The Ahern’s 2nd Annual Book Swap

In an effort to get awesome books into the hands of all of our students, we hold a Book Swap where students, teachers, and families can donate

gently used books. In return, students are given Book Bucks that they can use to buy “new” books! It’s a great way to clean off those bookshelves and get your child excited about reading!

W.E.B. News

WEB students met with their 5th graders at the beginning of

October to share highlights from the start of the year. They

chatted over tasty Italian Ice provided by our fabulous

cafeteria staff.

November’s Upcoming Event: Our Leaders will be presenting an Academic Follow Up to their

5th grade peers.

WEB is a yearlong program with four

components that contribute

to its ongoing success:

• 5th Grade Orientation

• Academic Follow Ups

• Social Follow Ups

• Leader Initiated Contacts

This month, we truly want to thank our

incredible Ahern Staff – our 5th and 8th

grade teachers, our cafeteria staff, and

our administrators for their support!

The 5th graders are anxiously awaiting

their next WEB Meeting with their

leaders, and it is all thanks to the

investment of our 8th grade WEB

Leaders and our staff who make this

possible!

~ WEB Coordinators (Mrs. Lauren Bailey, Ms. Leigh Ricci, and Ms. Breda Annis)

The Ahern Drama Club (ADC) is

proud to present this fall’s comedy play

entitled, “The Walking Dwarves”!

Don’t miss this kid friendly version of our favorite fairy tale

characters and the undead! Come see Snow White, the Queen, Magic Mirror, 3 Little

Pigs, Red Riding Hood and many more as they deal with the inevitable zombie apocalypse

that we should all be preparing for!

Shows are Friday, December 6th at 7:00pm and Saturday, December 7th at 2:00pm and

again at 7:00pm. Tickets are $10.00 and can be purchased in advance online at

www.ticketstage.com or at the door!

NEWS FROM THE LIBRARY When an Ahern student asks us in the library why they should bother reading a book, our quick and simple response is: knowledge, stress reduction, memory improvement, using imagination, focus, concentration, and a bunch of things to help you improve as a student....Next Question!!!

Student responses: I like reading books because.....

• they take me to a new world

• they give me ideas

• so I can recommend them to others

• they (stories) make me feel free

• I like hearing characters points of view

• I love history and historical fiction

• they're interesting

• sort of exciting to see what happens next • books are fun

While use of the library by 7th and 8th grade students during the "20 minute" sessions (around lunch) is growing day by day, we can still do better. Please encourage your child to take advantage of the peace and quiet to read, study, or complete assignments.

Monday afternoon Book Club is off to a great start!

We are in the middle of watching and discussing how the lives of the characters in Pride and Prejudice are the same and different from ours. As time goes on we will be moving towards sessions of "cultural literacy". Drama, music, history

(especially women's), and poetry. Although the group is large, we can always find seats for anyone interested in reading and stretching their knowledge base. Plus, it's fun!

STUDENT COUNCIL NEWS

The Student Induction Ceremony and Potluck dinner happened on October

17th. It was a great night for Student Council. Everyone took pride in

accepting the responsibility of being in student council. We enjoyed a great

meal and Kahoot.

Next, we’ll be taking on the Food Drive!

Homeroom reps will be sharing ideas of what to bring in, and items that cannot be included. It will run

from November 4th to November 22nd. The class with the most items will win a movie with popcorn.

We are hoping that giving people this opportunity will encourage them to donate more food to the Food

Drive.

Dear Music Families,

We are excited about our school year. Here are a few tips to help your child

be successful in Chorus, Orchestra or Band:

SOME TIPS FOR MOTIVATING YOUR STUDENT:

* Listen to him/her play! Ask what we are working on in class, and ask them to

show you how they are doing with it.

* Be very generous with your interest and praise.

* Make it a daily goal to take the instrument out of the case and put it together.

This is the hardest part about practicing at home. Once it’s out, chances are it’ll

get played. Make it a routine.

* Have them teach you how to play their instrument! They will actually learn a lot of

how to do it themselves by having to teach a "beginner".

Please mark your calendars for our upcoming concerts:

12/05 – 8th Grade Band/Choir/Orchestra, Ahern 6:30PM

12/17 – 5th Grade Choir/Orchestra, Ahern 6:30 PM

12/20 – 5th Grade Band in School Concert, Ahern 10:15AM

Our launch of Project Lead the Way (PLTW) classes are off to a fantastic start!

Our four new classes from the PLTW Gateway curriculum include Medical Detectives, Design and

Modeling, Green Architecture, and Computer Science for Innovators and Makers. So far this year, our

Medical Detectives students have learned to check vital signs, ask questions to identify symptoms, and

provide patients with a diagnosis as well as treatment options.

Students in the Design and Modeling have learned about the Design Process, modeling, multi-

view dimensions, and designing a foot orthosis model for individuals with cerebral palsy.

The engineers in Green Architecture have learned how use an architectural ruler, create a

classroom drawing to scale, and to recreate our classroom using Autodesk Revit, which

is available free for all students.

Students in our Computer Science for Innovators and Makers classes have learned about algorithmic and

computational thinking, block-based coding using MakeCode, and programming a Microbit to display a

custom message. We look forward to watching our students excel in these new classes.

CSIM (Computer Science Innovators & Makers) for 7th & 8th Grade With Mrs. Isaksen

Students in this CSIM PLTW (Project Lead the Way) class have been using tutorials to understand various programming blocks, creating their own simple message to display on microbit led boards, developing flowcharts, writing algorithms, understanding why having precise directions are important for computer programs, and are just starting to work with peers to debug problems in programs.

AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

See Ahern website for updates to Activity Calendars

1 Day 6

No After School Activities No Late Buses

4 Day 1 Directed Study Library Practice Club Music Ahern Lightening Chorus Gr 5,6 Chorus Literature Circle Library Art Club Room 157 Mindful Monday Gr 5,6 Rm 112 Board Games Gr 5,6 Room 125 Snap Block Coding Lab B

5 Day 2 Directed Study Library Jazz Band Gr 6,7,8 Music Drama Club Auditorium Lego Robotics Gr 6,7,8 Room 232 Beginning Jazz Music Recycling Main Stairs NHS Tutoring Room 101

6 Day 3 Directed Study Library Drama Club Auditorium Ahern Singers Gr 6,7, 8 Chorus Minecraft Lab B Set Crew Room 157 Student Council Room 138

7 Day 4 Directed Study Library Ultimate Frisbee Back Field Mindfulness/Crafts Room 206 Girls Who Code Room 254 Shorthand/Steno Club Room 251

8 Day 5

No After School Activities No Late Buses

11 No School

Veteran’s Day

12 Day 6 Directed Study Library Jazz Band Gr 6,7,8 Music Drama Club Auditorium Lego Robotics Gr 6,7,8 Room 232 Beginning Jazz Music Recycling Main Stairs NHS Tutoring Room 101 Set Crew Room 157

13 Day 1 Directed Study Library Drama Club Auditorium Ahern Singers Gr 6,7, 8 Chorus Minecraft Lab B Do More for Doolittle Gr 7 216

14 Day 2 Directed Study Library Drama Club Auditorium Mindfulness/Crafts Room 206 Girls Who Code Room 254 Shorthand/Steno Club Room 251

15 Day 3

No After School Activities No Late Buses

18 Day 4 Directed Study Library Practice Club Music Ahern Lightening Chorus Gr 5,6 Chorus Literature Circle Library Art Club Room 157 Mindful Monday Gr 5,6 Rm 112 Board Games Gr 5,6 Room 125 Snap Block Coding Lab B

19 Day 5 Directed Study Library Jazz Band Gr 6,7,8 Music Drama Club Auditorium Lego Robotics Gr 6,7,8 Room 232 Beginning Jazz Music Recycling Main Stairs NHS Tutoring Room 101 Stage Hands (2:30-4:30) Rm 157

20 Day 6 Directed Study Library Drama Club Auditorium Ahern Singers Gr 6,7, 8 Chorus Minecraft Lab B Set Crew (Final Mtg) Room 157 Stage Hands (2:30-4:30) Rm 157

21 Day 1

No After School Activities No Late Buses

22 Day 2

No After School Activities No Late Buses

25 Day 3

Early Release Day 11:37 a.m.

26 Day 4

Early Release Day 11:37 a.m.

27 Day 5

Early Release Day 11:37 a.m.

28

Thanksgiving Day

No School

29 Thanksgiving Recess

No School

2019

November

Entrée Choices: Warrior Sampler (Nuggets, Nachos &

Cheese, & Onion Rings)

Chicken Parm Sandwich

Buffalo Chicken Caesar Salad

Served with

Veggie Sticks & White Bean Dip

Fresh Fruit & Veggie Bar Ice Cold Milk

Entrée Choices: French Toast Sticks &

Sausage

Toasted Cheese Sandwich

Grilled Chicken Salad

Served with

Sweet Potato Homefries

Fresh Fruit & Veggie Bar Pudding Cup

Ice Cold Milk

Entrée Choices: Pasta Bar!

Have it your way with a variety of sauces

Turkey Bacon Ranch

Flatbread

Greek Salad

Served with Seasoned Mixed

Veggies Soft Breadstick

Fresh Fruit & Veggie Bar Ice Cold Milk

Entrée Choices: Chicken & Biscuits

Bacon Cheese Burger

Chicken Caesar Salad

Served with

Mashed Potatoes Sweet Peas

Fresh Fruit & Veggie Bar Sugar Cookie Ice Cold Milk

Entrée Choices: Variety of Pizza

Choices

Pulled Pork Sandwich

Turkey BLT Salad

Served with Sweet & Tangy Broccoli

Salad Marinated Chic Peas

Fresh Fruit & Veggie Bar Ice Cold Milk

Taco Tuesday

Entrée Choices

Taco Boat

Pizza for One

Asian Chicken Salad

Served with Seasoned Black Beans Fresh Fruit & Veggie Bar Strawberries & Creme

Ice Cold Milk

Entrée Choices Rotini & Meat Sauce

Ham & Cheese

Croissant

Buffalo Chicken Caesar Salad

Served with

Roasted Broccoli Italian Bread

Fresh Fruit & Veggie Bar Ice Cold Milk

Entrée Choices Waffles and Scrambled

Eggs

Chicken & Cheese Quesadilla

Chicken Caesar Salad

Served with Seasoned Potato

Wedges Fresh Fruit & Veggie Bar Warm Cinnamon Sugar

Apples Ice Cold Milk

Entrée Choices Variety of Brick Oven

Pizzas

Fish & Cheese Sandwich

Chicken Tender Salad

Served with

Red Pepper Strips Cucumber Wheels

Fresh Fruit & Veggie Bar Ice Cold Milk

Entrée Choices: Variety of Pizza

Choices

Teriyaki Chicken Breast Sandwich

Chicken Tender Salad

Served with

Red & Green Pepper Strips

Fresh Fruit & Veggie Bar Graham Crackers

Ice Cold Milk

Menus for

November 2019

PRICES:

Lunch 3.00

Reduced Lunch: .40

Milk .50

Breakfast 1.50

Reduced

Breakfast .30 Menu Subject To Change

Questions, comments or

concerns,

Call Janice Watt

Food Service Director

At 508-543-1656

Breakfast is available from 7:40-8:00

Full price: 1.50

Reduced: .30

No charge for free students

Breakfast choices are:

Breakfast Sandwiches, Smooth-

ies, Cereal, Yogurt, Muffins,

Bagels, Juice, Fruit & Milk

Entrée Choices: Mashed Potato Bowl &

Roll (Popcorn Chicken on Mashed Potatoes &

Corn)

BBQ Chicken & Cheddar Sub

Asian Chicken Salad

Served with Golden Corn

Fresh Fruit & Veggie Bar Mini Rice Krispy Treat

Ice Cold Milk

Entrée Choices Souper Tuesday Grilled Cheese

Sandwich

Stuffed Crust Pizza

Southwest Chicken Salad

Served with

Campbell’s Tomato Soup

Cape Cod Chips Fresh Fruit & Veggie Bar

Ice Cold Milk

Entrée Choices: Chicken Parmesan &

Pasta

Egg & Cheese Croissant

Turkey, Cranberry & Cheddar Salad

Served with

Garlic Green Beans Texas Toast

Fresh Fruit & Veggie Bar Ice Cold Milk

Entrée Choices: Tangy Tangerine

Chicken

Sausage, Egg & Cheese Bagel

Chicken Tender Salad

Served with

Garlic Edamame Teriyaki Noodles Glazed Carrots

Fresh Fruit & Veggie Bar Ice Cold Milk

Entrée Choices: Variety of Pizza

Choices

Chicken Tender Wrap

Chicken Caesar Salad

Served with Caesar Salad Pasta Salad

Fresh Fruit & Veggie Bar Ice Cold Milk

Early Dismissal. Lunch will

Early Dismissal. Lunch will

Assorted Deli Sandwiches

Assorted Hot Sandwiches

Yogurt Lunches

Fruit Smoothies

Water

Switch Fizzy 100% Juice ORANGE LEAF YOGURT ON

FRIDAYS

2.00 PER CUP

Do you LOVE the food business, but hate the hours???

Consider being a substitute for the food service program!

Great hours for parents: Be home when your kids are home!

Excellent staff! Fun work!

Flexible schedule! Contact Janice Watt, Food Service Director, for more info

wattj@foxborough.k12.ma.us 508-543-1656