April 17 Fine Arts Showcase: 6:30--8 p.m.
April 21 No School: Patriot’s Day
April 22--25 No School: Spring Break
April 29--May 2 Spring Book Fair: Special Buy-One-Get-One-Free promotion for summer reading
April 29 Evening Edition of the Spring Book Fair: 6:30--8:00 p.m.
April 30 Gr. 5 and 7 Transition Open House

May 7 Alborado Assembly
May 9 Mid-Term Grades Close
May 12--15 MCAS Math, grades 5--8
May 16 Progress Reports Issued
May 19--22 MCAS Science and Technology for grades 5 and 8
May 21 Coffee Chat for 4th grade parents
May 23 Pequot Museum 5/ 6 C
May 27--29 MCAS History and Social Science (grades 5 and 7)
May 27--29 MCAS Make-up Testing
May 16 Progress Reports Issued
May 26 No School: Memorial Day
May 27--30 Terra Novas for grades 5 and 6
May 27 TIO trip to Peace Abbey
May 28 Spring Concert 7 p.m.
May 29 In-school concert
May 29 Scholar Leader Dinner in Worcester
May 30 Howe Caverns 5/ 6 D
May 30 Fun Friday/ Dance

June 3 ` June 3 MADD Assembly
June 3 Presidential Awards 7 p.m.
June 5--6 Grade 8 Class Trip to New York
June 7 Parent Boosters Trip to NYC
June 11 Science Fair 5 p.m.
June 11 Ice Cream Social 5:30 p.m.
June 12 Field Day for grades 5 & 6
June 12 Mystic Aquarium 7C
June 18 Field Day for grades 7 & 8
June 18 Semi-Formal Dance
June 19 Continuation Ceremony

Although regular classroom support will continue, activity periods will be centered around helping students prepare for the upcoming MCAS exams in math, science and technology, and social studies.

Rachel Connell, Haley Hill, Michael Lupario, Mairead Poulin, Elissa Wright, and John Waskiewicz (“The Toy Squad”) will represent W.B.M.S. in the Sally Ride Toy Challenge. They are working on a toy they call “Dodge It!”. This toy will be enrolled in the “Get Out and Play” category because it’s going to be a blast! (There are other categories like “Toys that Teach”, and “Games for the Family”.) “Dodge It!” is a cylinder-shaped, ball-shooting, hydro-powered toy to have fun with outside. With this design, the team has made it to the East Coast Nationals, which includes kids from all over the U.S. They’ll have a chance at the grand prize!
Grades five through eight compete, and last year a team called the Roadrunners from Brighton, Michigan, won the grand prize with their invention, “Bop the Bird”. Like the “Dodge It!”, it was in the “Get Out and Play” category.

White Brook’s Toy Squad hopes to win an invitation to Space Camp among other prizes like medals and trophies. They will be flying to Alexandria, Virginia, which is about 500 miles away from Easthampton! They’ll stay in a five star hotel to get a good rest for their incredible brains before the big day. Everyone here at W.B.M.S. wishes them good luck!!!
For more information, you can visit the website at www.TOYchallenge.com.

On March 10th, the Easthampton School Committee enjoyed a video presented as part of White Brook’s “State of the School Address”. Brandon Paige, a tall, lanky sixth grader, dressed up as Abraham Lincoln and delivered a variation of the Gettysburg Address that had been ‘revised’ to mirror the history of White Brook Middle School. His speech was followed by a series of video clips representing each of the teams at White Brook. There were also still shots which captured students and faculty members at work on popular activities and clubs within the school.

A great deal of work went into the production of the video. Following a planning session with principal Salzman, volunteer videographer Kathie Stewart worked with teams of students and their teachers to tape sections of the production. Classroom teacher Laura Giuggio spent hours editing, adding special effects, and working on sound dubbing.

Everyone was impressed with the cooperation of the W.B.M.S. students who joined in with cheerful enthusiasm. In addition to being shown on Channel 5, the video will be appearing on the school’s website within the next month.

Both Easthampton bands that recently competed at the Enrico Fermi High School Jazz Festival won silver medals. In addition, outstanding musicianship awards were presented to Tyler Connelly, Jacob Ingraham, and Joel Turcotte.

Mark your calendar for the week of April 29th through May 2, which is Spring Book Fair Week. April 29th is the date for the Evening Edition that begins at 6 p.m. This is a popular event because of the buy-one-get-one-free promotion which is especially helpful to students who are selecting books for their summer reading programs. Lists of suggested titles for each grade level will be available at the Evening Edition of this book fair.

Again this year, the W.B.M.S. Media Center was effectively transformed into a venue reminiscent of a 60’s New York style jazz club. In addition to student performers who played in trios, quintets, and sextets, there were guest performers Mark Weissman from the U.S. Air Force’s Band of Liberty as well as Bill Chapman, a guest drummer who is music director at Taconic High School in Pittsfield. Easthampton faculty members rounded out the list of performers, with superb solos by Patrick Lennon on trumpet, Joe Whalen on bass,Jeff Bucs on piano, and a vocal by Kate Zemba.

This concert has been shown on Easthampton Community Access Television. You can check their program schedule by clicking on the link that appears on the W.B.M.S. website, and you can even click on one of E.C.A.T.’s links and enjoy the entire performance online!

Groups of students and teachers from all of the teams were invited to participate in a variety of cleverly constructed activities at the Learning Differences Fair, which was held on March 13th in the library. Each activity was designed to help sensitize participants to the experiences of students who have different types of learning disabilities and difficulties in the areas of reading, math, writing, and attention. The fair was held a week after the Learning Differences Assembly where students had a chance to hear the life stories of adults who had grown up with different learning abilities. Both programs have helped White Brook students and teachers understand that we all have strengths and weaknesses. We want to thank all of the students and adults who were courageous enough to discuss their life experiences in order to promote greater tolerance of learning differences. If you our your family would like to try the activities and learn more about learning differences, go to www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstood minds and check it out!

Students and teachers at W.B.M.S. all celebrated Sweater Spirit Day on March 20th, which would have been the 80th birthday of Mr. Rogers, the soft-spoken, sweater-wearing host of the popular young children’s TV show “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood” . Participants in spirit day wore sweaters as a way of celebrating the fact that each and every one of us is a very special person.

Congratulations to Stephanie Suchecki, an eighth grade Cougar, who is the third place winner in the NIE Kids in Print Writing Contest for grades 6 - 8. On March 25th Stephanie, with her parents and her teacher, Mrs. Estock, attended a reception at the Springfield Museum. The winners each received a certificate and an 8” x 12” color picture of themselves which had been published in the Kids in Print section of the Republican on March 4th. The 6 - 8th grade students wrote essays on how students can be leaders.
Stephanie has given us permission to reprint her winning essay below.

Leadership, what builds our nation, Leadership, what keeps us aware, Leadership, what keeps us involved. Leadership is very important. Anyone can be a leader. It’s not just adults that are leaders but many kids these days have become leaders, and will be leaders for days to come. To be a leader, you have to have done or been doing something that has helped your state, your town, your community or just maybe your neighborhood. You can become a leader in a variety of ways. You can help stop littering, you can fight for clean water. Even a small thing like telling the truth, can make a difference. Like I have said, there are a ton of ways to become a leader and show leadership.

One way kids can show leadership is by donating or setting up a drive. When I say drive I mean a food drive, a clothing drive, a can drive, etc. You can donate many things including clothes, food, money and toys. These things that you donate go to good causes, or are sent to a charity in your community. Donating is what helps out many people in the U.S. People who donate and set up different types of drives are true leaders. Kids my age can set up any type of drive. For example they could get involved and organize a non-perishable food drive at their school, and many kids do that. It’s nice to see that kids do care about what’s happening around them, and not just worry about their lives.

Three times a day, seven days a week. That’s how many meals a normal person may eat. But some aren’t that fortunate and do not have money for that much food. That’s why a good item to donate is food. Kids can set up food drives and also donate food themselves. Food drives are good ways to help people that are in need. It is especially helpful during the holidays. Kids organizing food drives really does help the community, and shows what kind of leaders they are. For example my school held a food drive. It was very successful and we were able to collect a great amount of food for the ones in need. Kids themselves can also donate food. Food is always needed, so seeing kids trying to help is always nice to see.
Another good item to donate is clothing. Clothing is a necessity for everyday living and some people cannot afford it, especially the homeless and low-income families that have many children. Many times during the winter there will be house fires and some families aren’t that fortunate and lose all of their possessions including their clothes. That’s where clothing drives come in. Kids can even donate clothes that don’t fit them anymore. There are areas where you can drop off the clothes, but kids can also drop them off at the Salvation Army. Like I have said, kids can also organize a drive for clothing in their school or community. If they were to start one in their school, it would help out a lot and it would probably encourage for more of those types of drives in the school and school district. Some kids do that and I think that’s really great.

From house fires to poverty there are always people out there looking for donations. Even the smallest donations can help. Some people also donate money and that also helps just as much as a can of soup or a winter jacket. When you donate, you know that you are doing the right thing because you are helping someone that is in need, and it makes you feel good. Kids that grow up as a leader will get very far in life or even might become the president someday. That’s why donating is a good way for kids to show their leadership, and to get the idea of being a leader.

Breakfast is served every morning at WBMS from 8:00 until 8:20 a.m. Breakfast sandwiches, pancakes, and French toast sticks are some of the entrees, along with milk, juice, and hot chocolate. A la carte breakfast foods are also available. A full-price breakfast costs $1.00. If you are already receiving a free or reduced lunch, you are eligible for free or reduced-price breakfast (which is 30 cents). In order to continue offering breakfast at WBMS, we need to increase student participation in this program. Please consider joining us for breakfast in the East Unit Cafeteria.