Another Successful Career Fair at Bethany Middle School

Even though I retired last June, I could not resist the appeal of returning to my school to take pictures of this year's career fair. There were 28 wonderful presenters who donated time, energy, and talents to give our students glimpses of just a few of the many career opportunities that await them. Each presenter did three different sessions so our students could be exposed to a number of different personalities. We thank them all for their dedication.
I had such fun taking pictures - a labor of love. This evening I used my Shutterfly account to create a physical book that will be a nice reminder of the event. Shutterfly also offered me the opportunity to embed an electronic copy of the photo album on my blog. Enjoy! Mrs. Stanley

Click here to view this photo book larger

Turn your favorite photos into a photo book at Shutterfly.com.

If no picture shows, click on the link that asks you to view the photobook in a larger size. It will open in Shutterfly with the option to go to "full screen," which is nice. I hope you like it.

China Trip Revisited

In April of 2012, several students from the middle schools in Orange and Bethany traveled to China under the guidance of Bo Wu, Mandarin Chinese teacher, Dr.Dellinger, principal at Bethany, Kathy Fuller-Cutler, principal at Orange, and John Randall, science teacher from Bethany. The kids had a wonderful time, and as a culminating activity upon their return, they worked with me to create a Voice Thread remembrance of the trip. They submitted 3 or 4 of their favorite photos to me, which I uploaded to a VoiceThread project. Each student then signed into his/her VT account and added narration to the photos submitted. It was really a nice way to remember the highlights of the trip. Now, nearly a year later, the students have decided they would like to have a reunion to discuss fond memories. I am embedding the video created from the VT in this post. It is about 19 minutes long, but it is an example of a great collaborative project. The actual VT is still open, and students might add reflections to it. Enjoy!


Mrs. Stanley - missing all of you!

Another Great School Year Comes to a Close

Our last day of school was June 22, 2012. All in all, we had a great year. The eighth graders had experienced a wonderful, if very hot, stepping up ceremony the day prior. On Friday all students arrived at  7:30 am. It was a time for tying up loose ends, saying fond good-by's to teachers and fellow students, signing yearbooks, and prepping for summer days ahead. Then when the bell rang for dismissal at 10 am, teachers and other staff gathered to send the kids off with our annual "wave." You can tell from the video that good feelings were experienced by all. I hope everyone is having a great summer. I wish a great school year at BMS for our returning 7th graders - now 8th and that our 8th graders will have great success at the senior high.
Enjoy the video captured on my iPad and edited in iMovie app on the iPad.



Mrs. Stanley :)

News from Dr.Emmanuel Kamanzi

In an earlier post, we blogged about Dr. Emmanuel Kamanzi's visit to Bethany Middle School where he addressed the 7th graders on life in Rwanda and how he came to work in pediatrics at a clinic there. After his visit, the seventh graders held a fund raiser to help patients at the clinic in Rwanda. Dr. Emmanuel recently contacted Ms. Manzelli to report on how the funds had been put to good use. It is so amazing how much good was accomplished as a result of our students' generosity. Here is Mrs. Manzelli's message to the staff:

"Earlier this year, the 7th grade social studies classes collected money for Dr. Emmanuel Kamanzi, who came to visit and speak to our students. Dr. Kamanzi is a pediatrician working at a hospital in Rwanda. Dr. Andre Sofair, a parent of one of our 7th grade students, works with Dr. Kamanzi , and the Sofair family travels to Rwanda each summer. Attached is a photo of Dr. Kamanzi and the hospital social worker as well as the report of how our donation was spent. $275 went quite a long way to help the children in Rwanda!"

And here is the report from Dr. Kamanzi:

"The money served to assist sick children from very poor families and has been very helpful. It was spent as following:

No	Name and Age of sick child	Disease	Reason for spending money	Money spent in RWF
1	Olive, 11 years	Heart disease	Medications	1,926
2	Monique, 13 years	Heart disease	Laboratory exams	3,000
3	Cesarie, 12 years	Heart disease	Medications	5,050
4	Baby Diana	Neonatal infection	Medications and lab exams	14,670
5	Valens, 3 years	Cancer	Hospitalization fees	14,761
6	Immaculee, 7 years	Heart disease	Transport from hospital and back to hospital for surgery	10,000
7	Elie, 4years	Cancer	Transport – appoint for chemotherapy	10,000
8	Desiré, 4 months	Renal disease	Hospitalization fees	19,870
9	Bertrand, 7 years	Renal disease	Lab exams and medications	20,934
10	Babies Claudine, twins	Neonatal infection	Milk	12,000
11	Baby claudine2	Neonatal jaundice	Lab exams	12,000
12	Redempta, 14 years	Heart disease	Medications	15,000
13	Monique, 13 years	Pneumonia	Transport back to home	1,100
	TOTAL			141,511 (US$ 237,198)

The parents were very grateful and the children as well. The children sent to all of you a big SMILE after the recovery for some of them! GOD BLESS YOU ALL and NICE holidays!"

Dr Emmanuel
and finally - his picture with the social worker who helped distribute the funds:

Amity Middle School's Pre- Relay for Life Fundraiser

It was a gorgeous day on Friday, April 13 -not at all unlucky! The students had a revised schedule so that they finished all classes by 12:50 pm. Then the special program started. The students first watched a short video clip from Britain's Got Talent showcasing the remarkable talent of 17 year old Jonathan Antoine- an opera star in the making. It was to remind students not to judge someone or make fun of them because of physical appearance. Here is a link to the clip. It's worth watching: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsNlcr4frs4

Next Mrs. Mahon went on the PA to thank the students for the money they had raised the previous couple days and to let them know that donations were still welcome. In fact, luminary bags were available to decorate for a $5.00 donation. The luminary bags will light the track at the actual Relay for Life which is being held on Friday, April 27 at the High Plains Community Center in Orange. The proceeds from our fundraiser will be added to the ones collected at the actual event which starts at 6:00 pm with the luminary ceremony at 9:00 pm. All proceeds will benefit the American Cancer Society and will go for more research to put an end to this terrible disease.

BREAKING NEWS! Just in! - Mrs. Mahon said that Bethany Middle School raised 2,087 dollars. That is an amazing amount considering the short time that the fundraiser lasted. Remember, you can still contribute at the actual event taking place this Friday, April 27.

Enjoy the pictures of the students and staff enjoying a wonderful day, getting lots of exercise, and contributing to a great cause. Thanks to all the students, staff, band, and chorus who made the event so successful. A special thanks to Mrs. Mahon and the Life Art's Team for initiating and organizing the event.
Hopefully, many of you will show up and participate in the event this Friday.

Belated Post #4 -The Lady Pirates of Captain Bree

On Thursday and Friday evenings, March 29 and 30, lots of hard work came to fruition in the fantastic presentation of the musical production, The Lady Pirates of Captain Bree. Directed by Maria Douglass and involving a large number of our Bethany stars, it was a production of merit. On Monday, April 2, the entire staff and student body at Bethany Middle School also got to enjoy the show. Kudos to everyone involved. It was truly enjoyable. Below are just a few of the highlights of the extravaganza.

Bethany Students are Avid Readers!

Bethany Middle School Students are to be congratulated. Dr. Dellinger received  a letter from Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor, congratulating AMSB  for being among the top performing schools in the Governor’s 2011 Summer Reading Challenge. According to Dr. Dellinger, "Congratulations to our reading consultant Eileen Kazdan, media specialist Faith Miller, and the 99% of our students who contributed reading more than 533,099 pages last summer, which averaged to 1,418 per student!  Governor Daniel P. Malloy and Commissioner Pryor will recognize some of our top readers at an  awards ceremony on May 11 at the Connecticut State Library."
Then to top off the news, Mrs. Kazdan initiated a spring reading challenge. Using the theme, "Reading is Magic because...," Mrs. Kazdan challenged the students to read 1,000 books before April 6, 2012. If they met the challenge, they would be rewarded with an terrific magic show by Danny Magic. Well, they not only met the challenge but exceeded it by 300 books.
On April 11, right before our spring break, Danny Magic had the kids enthralled and laughing with his wonderful comedic magic routines. There was an assembly for Grade 7 and one for Grade 8, so we got to see two teachers be good sports and allow Danny Magic to do an "off with their heads" illusion. Great fun was had by all. I hope our students used the spring break to read even more great books. 

Danny works the crowd!

One of the many brave student volunteers!

Good sport - Mr. Goldstein!

Good sport - Mr. Thees!

This optical illusion had everyone a gasp!

Thanks to Mrs. Kazdan for organizing such a great reading challenge and for securing such wonderful entertainment.

Belated Post #3- Energy Balance 101

As I've mentioned in previous posts, students in our district are very fortunate to have access at school and at home to the Discovery Education Network. Not only can students access a wealth of streaming videos, pictures, audio files, interactive explorations, etc., but DE also partners with different agencies to bring live learning experiences to our students.
On March 16, 2012, Mrs. Mahon's and Ms. Dubay's classes participated in a live stream from Energy Balance 101 presenting the "Morning Ultimate Warm-Up Challenge." The students gathered in the cafeteria near the large monitor and watched the stream from there. The only drawback was that the volume of the broadcast was very soft, so the kids couldn't move and hear what was being said at the same time. No matter! Movement was the focus of the day. Phys Ed teachers from several different schools presented what they hoped were winning warm-up routines, and our students were invited to follow along. As you can see by the pictures below, even though the kids were not entirely sure what they were supposed to be doing, they followed the demonstrations and had a good time, and they MOVED! Mission accomplished!

In case you'd like to watch the recording and be able to see and hear the recording of the live stream, you can find it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtXP5zTDEu4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtXP5zTDEu4
Here is a link to the Energy 101 website with lots of great ideas for achieving and maintaining good health.
http://www.energybalance101.com/http://www.energybalance101.com/

Belated Post #2 - Hunger Games Celebration

Mrs. Miller, our media specialist, and several teachers organized a very successful Hunger Games event that took place on Thursday, March 8. Here is a link to the details on Mrs. Miller's Book Blog:
http://amitybooktalk.blogspot.com/2012/03/hunger-games-party.htmlhttp://amitybooktalk.blogspot.com/2012/03/hunger-games-party.html
If you watch the video at the end of the post, you will feel the excitement of the students when Mrs. Miller announced that all who had participated in the Hunger Games activities would be going to see the premiere showing of the movie on Friday, March 23. Not only did they get to see the movie, but there was a great party after with pizza and snacks and drinks and cake. A wonderful time was had by all. Kudos go to Mrs. Miller for organizing such a wonderful experience. The kids and the teachers loved the movie, by the way. They felt it was very true to the book.

Belated Post #1 - Dumpling Making

 On a current note, twenty-two of our students are currently in China during our spring break accompanied by our principal, the principal from Orange Middle School, a science teacher, and Ms. Wu. They have been having a wonderful experience, sightseeing and learning about Chinese culture with their buddies from Century School. Tomorrow they visit the Great Wall of China before flying back home on Sunday.
Now to the belated post!
On Valentine's Day Ms. Wu's 7th grade Mandarin Chinese Class students had the opportunity to learn how to make authentic Chinese Dumplings. Ms. Wu brought in dumpling wrappers and a bowl of chopped scallion and  scrambled egg that she had prepared at home. She then taught the students how to properly dampen the wrapper so it would stick, fill it with just the correct amount of filling, and pinch it closed so that it wouldn't spill out its delicious filling when it was boiled. We were so fortunate to have Ms. Wu's mother assisting. She was on an extended visit from China, and the students greatly appreciated her warmth and expertise in assisting them. Enjoy the experience through the photos below.