Growl

From the Principal...

Our teachers are preparing grades to report Progress Notes for our students with the 5th Six Weeks data….can you believe we are so close to the end of this school year? PLEASE look for grade information in the mail and/or in the SAM Book. Summer School information was mailed to parents for the students who are in jeopardy of being “invited” to attend that learning opportunity. For many of our students, it is not too late to move to having passing grades.

We have GREAT news….our 8th grade students had a 96% pass rate on the Reading TAKS Test!!!! We are very proud of our students and teachers! We had 58% of our student earn a Commended Rating on the Test!!!! Our 8th grade TAKS Math Test will be administered on Tuesday, April 8th. We need for our kids to believe and achieve….come to tutoring, work hard in class, be at school EVERY DAY, and come to school on April 8th ready to do your very best!!!!

The next TAKS Tests will take place on Tuesday, April 29 (6th and 7th grade Math); Wednesday, April 30 (6th and 7th grade Reading plus 8th grade Re-Test for Reading); Thursday, May 1 (8th grade Science) and Friday, May 2 (8th grade Social Studies). We are striving to regain our Recognized Campus status and need EVERY student to help that happen. We are well on the way to achieving this goal with our 8th grade Reading Scores!!!! If you have any questions or need any help with tutoring, please contact our school or go to our Web Page. We are here to do “WHATEVER IT TAKES” to achieve student success. I want to take a moment of personal privilege to thank our AMAZING staff for all that they do to give students the tools that create successful outcomes!

Our students have a few more weeks to read our Lone Star Book and take the tests to qualify to attend the Lone Star Field Trip on Friday, May 9th.

Because I have made the decision to retire in June, a new principal will have the opportunity to join the Berry Team. That announcement should be made at the April 14th Board Meeting. We will post the information on our Web Page when it is available.

Due to Mrs. Turley’s pregnancy, she is now waiting at home to deliver her new baby. We will make an announcement at school and on our Web Page when Mr. and Mrs. Turley become parents. We are pleased to say that Mrs. Bivins, our former Assistant Principal at Berry, came out of retirement to return to our office to help with Mrs. Turley’s duties. We are very happy to have Mrs. Bivins back on the Berry Team!

THANKS for your continuing support to your students and our school. Please encourage your students to be in school each day.

6th GRADE

Explorers...

Registration for 7th grade will be happening in science classes on April 9th & 10th. Mrs. Melton has been teaching our kids positive affirmations to get us in the right mindset before TAKS. Ask your student about their affirmation.

Math: TAKS is coming in just 4 weeks! Parents can go to tx.msmath1.com to check out practice questions and information about preparing for the test.

Science: Our students are studying Earthquakes and Volcanoes in addition to helping prepare for Math TAKS

Social Studies: Students are learning about Modern Europe!

Reading: Students are using context clues and text evidence to unlock the mysteries of reading comprehension. TAKS tutoring is available after school Monday - Thursday.

English: In additional to helping prepare for the Reading TAKS, students are writing a persuasive paper about issues they want to change at school or in our community.

Discoverers...

Math: TAKS is coming in just 4 weeks! Parents can go to tx.msmath1.com to check out practice questions and information about preparing for the test.

Science: Our students are studying Earthquakes and Volcanoes in addition to helping prepare for Math TAKS

Social Studies: Students are learning about Modern Europe!

Reading: Students are using context clues and text evidence to unlock the mysteries of reading comprehension. TAKS tutoring is available after school Monday - Thursday.

English: In additional to helping prepare for the Reading TAKS, students are writing a persuasive paper about issues they want to change at school or in our community.

7th GRADE

Voyagers...

Math-We are now down to TAKS crunch time! For the next several weeks, students will be reviewing each objective. For some, the practice may feel monotonous, but for most, the review is much needed and hopefully appreciated! Look for lots of homework practice pages. Encourage your child to underline key words, THINK about what is being asked, formulate a plan on how to find that information, and show all work. Also, many students have been given a letter indicating that they need to come to TAKS Tutoring/9th Period every Monday and Thursday, 3:30-4:30. Students were chosen to attend if prior performance indicated a need for remediation. Please make sure your child is attending if a letter was received. Only 25 more days til TAKS!

Science-We are continuing our study of the human body systems, including the circulatory and nervous systems. We will be moving on to the respiratory system, and then on to some basic genetics.

English-We are working on a research paper on Texas heroes. We are spending time in the library completing research that will result in the final composition.

History-This six weeks we will be discussing a variety of topics...

Frontier Wars and Cattle Drives

Agriculture and Industry

The Oil Boom

World War I

Reading-We are practicing for the April 30 TAKS reading test by answering TAKS formatted questions on Point Blank. This novel is the second from the Alex Rider spy series. Alex is a teenage James Bond with plenty of slam-bang action and high tech gadgets.

News from the Lone Star Reading contest - Thirty Voyager students have completed five or more novels and many more are still reading. The reward field trip is on May 9th at Celebration Station!

Challengers...

Math-

Science-Challenger students are studying human lungs as well as the heart and its functions.

English- In Miss Jenkins’ English class, students will continue participating in literature circles using the novels King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table and The Bronze Bow. Students will also research Texas heroes in the library in order to write a research paper.

History-Discussing Life in Texas after the Civil War. Roles of Women.

Reading- The students have read a variety of books this year and they've done an awesome job of responding to their reading with some very creative book reports. We brought our book report activities to a close by having the students create a puppet version of the person they were reading about from their biography books. They are now on display in the 7th grade hall. This gives the students an opportunity to casually share their book reports with others when asked about them in the hall, which is a great way to spread the word about good books!

8TH GRADE

Pathfinders...

History info... The History Mentor program has started in order to get students ready and confident about the History TAKS
Test on May 2nd. The program runs Tues., Wed., and Thurs. before and after school. It encourages students to review history content by playing games. We will spend this six weeks studying the Civil War and then we will concentrate on our TAKS review activities. Our AT students will complete their last project dealing with the Civil War.

In science, we are getting ready for the TAKS test. I have TAKS tutoring every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 3:30 to 4:00. I have games to play to reinforce the TAKS objectives.

8th Grade Math is working on TAKS until our Math TAKS Test April 8th, and then we will begin working on beginning Algebra, such as the distributive property, combining like terms, and writing one, two, and multi-step equations. Algebra is also preparing for TAKS and after test will begin working with quadratic equations. I am also tutoring for TAKS before and after school through April 7th every Monday through Thursday.

Pathfinder English classes completed their Historical research project, and will conclude the 5th six-weeks with a unit on “The Hiding Place,” a story about Corrie ten Boom’s heroic journey to help the Jewish during the Holocaust.

Navigators...

Math- Math is reviewing for the TAKS test that will be given on April 8.

Science-Science classes are studying Physical Science and chemistry. The

students are preparing for the TAKS science test to be given on May 2.

English-AT will studying The Red Badge of Courage and finishing a research

paper. The regular English classes will be reading and studying a short

story "Floweres for Algernon" and finishing a research paper. We have just

completed the States TAKS reading and had an excellent passing rate.

History-In history the students are studying the Civil War and preparing for

the State's TAKS test which will be given on May 2.

7/8th GRADE

ELECTIVES

ICT...

ICT: We are currently finishing up registration for Horn High School. Our next project will be our Budget project. Students will be assigned a job and will have to plan out how to live on that income. The students will learn to budget their money for housing, transportation, clothing, utilities, and other miscellaneous expenses. The students will learn how to write checks and to enter information into a check and savings register. Next Six weeks we will be working on our Portfolios and Interviewing skills. We will need parent volunteers for the Interview activity so please look for a letter to go home at the end of April.

LIBRARY...The library has been busy collecting books for children in Kenya. Currently, we have received over 800 books. The Berry library also wrapped up the Book Fair last week. Keep reading those pages. We still want to reached our goal of 1 million pages read this year.

CHOIR...

Choir- The Berry Choir is staying busy!!! We are participating in UIL competition this week. This is a competition that requires the students to be passing all their classes. They will sing three songs, by memory for a panel of three judges. We will also be required to sight- read. That means sing a brand new song, using our ‘do, re, mi’ syllables. We, including me, will never have seen this piece before. This competition will be one that pushes all of us to do our very best. The 6th grade girls are preparing for a spring musical review. Never a dull moment here in Bear Country!!!!!!