THE EAGLE POST
Volume 2, Issue 5
April 2015
EAST WHITTIER MIDDLE SCHOOL PTSA
Principal Aldana’s Corner
East Whittier Middle
School students and
staff have work diligently to meet state academic standards. In a
few days our students
will be administered the
Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium
(SBAC) in Language
Arts and Mathematics.
EWMS will have a modified testing schedule
that will allow students
to successfully complete each portion of the
SBAC. Our testing window begins April 20th and
ends May 8th. A nutritious
breakfast, enough sleep
and arriving to school on
time will better prepare
our students during testing. The administration
encourages all our students to “Do Your Best
on the Test.” And remember, EWMS Eagles
are:
Empowered to Achieve
Grow and Learn, Eagles
will SOAR!
Ms. Aldana
June 5
Last Day of School
11:30 dismissal
Important Dates
April 14
Progress reports mailed home
Don’t forget...
April 16
PTSA meeting in library 4:30
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April 17
School Dance 2:45 - 4:00
April 21 & 22
EWMS Theater Spring Play
Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are Intervention days starting
at 2:50 in the SAC.
Apr 27-May 8
State testing
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Wear your college shirt on Tuesdays
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Wear your Eagle shirt or blue and
yellow on Fridays
May 7 & 8 EWMSIMP Pops Concert 7:00
May 14
Art Show 5:00-7:00
May 19
Incoming 6th grade night
May 20
EWMSIMP Music Awards 5-9pm
May 21
Academic Awards, PTSA meeting
May 22-25
No School
May 29
8th Grade Dance
Page 2
THE EAGLE POST
EWMS students travel
By Emily Santo
EWMSIMP wins gold
Two groups of EWMS Eagles traveled during spring break this year.
Mrs. Dunn traveled to Washington
D.C. with 7th and 8th grade students
to see the sights and learn about our
great nation’s capital. Our Eagles
were able to tour the Senate, the
White House, the Capitol and the
Washington D.C. students with Mrs. Dunn
Smithsonian to name only a few of
the many exciting places they visited.
Mrs. Carnahan traveled with the EWMSIMP
wind ensemble and string orchestra to New Orleans to compete with high schools from around
the nation in a music festival. In addition to having a great time seeing the sights of New Orleans, our exceptional music department once
again came home with all gold awards!
We are very fortunate to have such
dedicated teachers at EWMS who give
their own time to provide these wonderful learning experiences to students.
Thank you to Mrs. Dunn and Mrs. Carnahan and to all the staff that served as
chaperones and supported these
amazing travel opportunities.
EWMS wind ensemble and string
orchestra competed in New Orleans
Community Street Banners
By Samantha Maldonado
Every year the Whittier Cultural Arts foundation asks artists to create
a design representing a specific theme to be painted onto a street
banner for the Community Street Banner Project. This year’s theme
is “Be Active”. They received over 540 entries;
some of those chosen were from Ms. Green’s
art classes! The banners will be displayed all
over Whittier for everyone to see during the
months of May through July. A big thank you to
Ms. Green for the opportunity of a lifetime to
represent East Whittier Middle School.
Art here
VOLUME 2, ISSUE 5
Page 3
Model United Nations Conference
By Mr. Yarbrough
EWMS will be hosting its 2nd Model United Nations Conference of this school year on April 23,
2015. For the upcoming MUN Conference, East
Whittier Middle School, Granada Middle School,
Washington Middle School, and California high
school students will be debating the Islamic
State. The schedule for the event is as follows:
3:45-4:00
4:00-6:30
6:30
Introductions in the SAC
Committees in Room 46 and Room 48 (rooms may change)
Back to SAC for pizza and awards
Students will likely engage in General and Substantive Debate, Unmoderated/moderated
Caucus, Resolution Writing, and Voting Bloc. Students will practice parliamentary procedure, methods of negotiation, and learn active diplomacy through this highly rigorous process.
It should be a lot of fun!
Historic Mosaics at EWMS
By Beth Saltikov
Did you know EWMS is home to eight historic
mosaics created in the 1930s? In 1933, president Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Works
Progress Administration (part of the New Deal)
to put unemployed Americans back to work after
the Great Depression. The WPA gave American
artists temporary financial assistance in exMr. Gardiner, Ms. Green, Ms.
change for creating murals and other art for pubBranca, Mr. Strand, and Mr.
Moore attended the event
lic buildings.
Seven of these artth
On April 9 , PTSA hosted
a presentation
works
are in our in the auditorium to inform our
community about theseschool
beautiful,
historic
library,
and mosaics. A panel of four artists
and educators discussed
various
aspects
one is in an office. of the New Deal era, the WPA,
and mosaic art. After the presentation, attendees moved to the library for
a reception which included viewing the art, talking with the presenters,
and experimenting with mosaic tiles.
If you have not seen these mosaics,
they’re worth a trip to the EWMS
library. Thank you to parent Rosie Jasis
and the PTSA for organizing this welldone and informative event.
Students creating mosaics
The Eagle Post
8th Grade Dance
The dance is fast approaching and the committee
is busy preparing for the best 8th grade dance
ever! Here is a list of items we need donated:
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EWMS PTSA Board
President: Lori Allemand
Leis
Vice President: Susan Santo
Glo-stick necklaces and bracelets
Cases of water and soda
Candies (mini, individually wrapped)
Gift cards (for door prizes, $5, $10, $15, etc.
Cash donations
Treasurer: Letty Lincon
Historian: Michelle Fernandes
Secretary: Yolanda Coronel
Parliamentarian: Rosie Jasis
Please contact Mimi Hock with questions:
[email protected]
History of Whittier
By Olegario Pantoja
Driving around town and
reading some of the street
signs, I became curious about
how some of the streets, as
well as the city most of us call
home, got their names. The
need to satisfy my curiosity
prompted me to find out a
little about the history of Whittier.
The city’s origins date back to
1784 when a Spanish soldier
received a land grant to encourage settlement in California. After a series of events
that saw the size of the area
grow and shrink, Whittier fin-
ally became incorporated in
1898. In 1895, the city was
named after the Quaker poet
John Greenleaf Whittier. As a
matter of fact, several street
names have been derived
from Quakers (i.e. Greenleaf,
Penn, Philadelphia and Bailey).
All over town, orange trees
can be found lining people’s
yards. Did you know that
Whittier was one a thriving
citrus ranch? In addition,
Whittier was at one point the
largest producer of walnuts in
the United States. One of the
most successful agricultural
growers in Whittier were the
Mendenhalls who grew oranges for Sunkist and walnuts for Blue Diamond.
Red Cars” was a trolley system that transported over a
million people a year to and
from Los Angeles. Makes you
wonder why the trolley system was discontinued.
There are many more interesting facts to discover about
the city of Whittier. Take
some time to find out more
about the place we call home.
Some places to start are:
www.cityofwhittier.org and
www.whittiermuseum.org/
timeline
The agricultural success of
the city led to the expansion
of railroads into Whittier
around 1890. By 1904, “Big
Newsletter Contributors: Samantha Maldonado, Emily Santo,
Susan Santo, Olegario Pantoja, Beth Saltikov, Mr. Yarbrough, and Mrs. Woodward