1. education
2. school

Spring 2013
Western Middle School
How to Survive the First Three
Weeks of Middle School
Corrin Hays
Have you ever felt
like you were all alone?
Going into middle
school, you probably
don‟t know many people. You lose old
friends and gain new
ones.
Gaining new friends
can be a hard thing to
do. The first thing,
which can be the hardest
thing to do, is to talk to
the kids that you don‟t
know. You‟ll be going
to school with them for
the next 9 months! We
talked to Ryan Carroll, a
6th grade student here at
Western Middle School.
He said, “I didn‟t think I
would have any friends
the first day of school
because I was afraid to
talk to everyone.” Usually, your friends have
friends that you don‟t
know. So sometimes
it‟s easy to make new
friends.
Losing old friends
can seem like a struggle
too, but the fact that I
have so many new
friends makes me happy.
If you really miss your
friends, try to keep in
touch with them. An
easy way to do this is
getting involved in afterschool activities. One
program that many middle schools participate in
locally is Head to Head.
It includes travelling to
other schools and other
schools travelling to
WMS. It is a good way
to see your old friends
separated by middle
school.
But you will never
feel alone here in middle
school- it‟s a big place.
lost. You can also ask a
teacher for directions to your
next class or event. A good
teacher to ask is Mr. Ueberroth. Don‟t be afraid of him.
He is very nice and funny.
You could also ask a student,
brother, or sister in an older
grade who knows their way
around the school. These
things can all prevent you
from getting lost at Western.
Some tips to help you
when you get lost at Western
Friends
Getting Lost
Lockers
Tardies
Teachers
Homework
Grades
RTC
Inside this issue:
Which Way?
Writeen by Ryan Carroll,
Rylee David, and Owen VanDriessche
Have you ever had that
feeling in your stomach when
you don‟t know where you
are? Here at Western Middle
School there are many ways
to prevent getting lost and
helping you find your way
back when you are lost.
Make sure that you go to
the orientation and get a
school map so you don‟t get
Special points of interest:
Recess
Where Did They Go?
By Noah McCreery and
Bay City Public
Schools
are to ask a hall monitor for
directions to your next class
such as Mrs. Angie. You
should not feel scared or
afraid to ask her since she is
nice, outgoing, and knows her
way around the building.
Even though some of your
classes are around the building, all of your core classes
are in the sixth grade hallway.
If you can find the cafeteria,
then you can find the gym
because they both are next to
Which Way Cont.
2
Recess is Over
2
Twist, Twist, Click
3
Tardies, A 6 Graders
3
Students Scared of
4
Homework: Good or
4
A or Fail
5
The Deaded RTC
5
Page 2
How to Survive the First Three Weeks of Middle School
Which Way Continued
Mrs. Angie: Hall Monitor
each other. If your locker is
on the 2nd floor, then it will
most likely be right by the
computer room. All you have
to do is look for a classroom
in a corner with the name of
Mr. Thorp. If you get lost on
the second floor, a good person to ask is Mrs. Cooley.
She has lots of the same qualities that Mr. Ueberroth possesses. If you have Mr. Heydenburg for band class, you
will be able to find the band,
art, and health rooms in the
high school wing. They are all
in the same general area. If
you can locate and find the
dreaded RTC room you will
be able to find the French
room. And, you also will be
able to find the library.
Now you will be an expert
on directions around Western
Middle School. Oh, no! Here
comes a stampede of high
school students. Better run!
Mrs. Ford: Middle
School Office Secretary
Recess Is Over; It’s Time for Lunch Hour!
Did You Know…?
45/60 people miss recess.
15/60 people don‟t miss recess.
Written by: Erica and Elizabeth
At 10:24 am, the commons
at WMS is like a ghost town.
But at 10:25, the long tables
are as crowded as New York
City… “Higher! Higher, “Jill
screamed as her best friend,
Jack was pushing her on the
swings. Suddenly, the chain
breaks and she hits the ground
with a big THUD! Jill suddenly snapped out of her daydream, and looked around at
the commons at Western Middle School. No more recess
for her!
No recess is a big transition from 5th grade to 6th
grade. A lot of you must be
wondering why we don‟t have
recess. Well, we asked Mr.
Pennell (Vice Principal at
WMS). He said that Middle
School is a transition into
High School, and that we
need to be ready. High
„Schoolers‟ don‟t have recess
so we need to get used to it.
Also, school would be longer
if we had recess. We want to
get out at 2:15, not 3:00!! But
in High School, we have an
open campus lunch. This
means we can drive and walk
anywhere to get food.
On the first day of lunch,
it‟s sort of stressful. You
don‟t know where to sit at
lunch. But, lunch at WMS is
fun! You can sit wherever
you want.. There are people
at lunch that are there to help
you with whatever you need.
Everybody at WMS is courteous and willing to help you
succeed.
You have a longer lunch!
A FULL half hour! There‟s
so many things that you can
do. You can talk, read, color,
draw, and even write! You
can spend your half hour anyway that you want! The
choice is yours (Just stay in
the commons).
Shh! Can you keep a secret? Besides your locker
combination, you need to
keep your lunch code a secret.
Your lunch card and code is
like a credit card! You use it
to pay for lunch, and you can
either scan it or punch in your
number on a keypad. You
only get one lunch code until
you graduate. Don‟t tell
ANYONE your lunch code!
It‟s a good secret to keep.
FOOOOD! Yummy,
right? Here at Western, there
are so many different lunch
lines that you can go into get
your food and lunch. The
lines have yummy food such
as subs, pizza and Bosco
sticks, soup and salad, tacos
and nachos, stir fry (Tuesday
and Thursday), and a line that
has different foods every day.
Also, sometimes there are
bake sales to buy sweet treats
from!
Jill and Jack sat at the
lunch table, and Jill smiles,
“This is much better than
recess!”
Page 3
Western Middle School
Twist, Twist, Click
By: Tyson Coles Emily
Holman and Jacob Berry
As I walked down the long
hallway the blue lockers
burned my face like a black
opossum laying on the hot
asphalt on a sunny day. I
forgot my combination and
my lock wouldn‟t open. I
didn‟t know what to do. Then
my first hour teacher gave me
my combination.
Don‟t be scared if you
forget your combination.
Your first hour teacher has a
list with your combination on
it. If your locker is far away
from your first hour teacher or
upstairs, Mr. Pennell and Ms.
Angie have a list of your com-
binations.
These are the Steps to Opening Your Combination Lock
1. Spin to the left through one
cycle three times.
2. Turn your lock right to the
first number. 18
3. Turn it left past the first
number and go to your second
number. 32
4. Turn it right to your last
number. 12
5. Open your lock.
Figuring out your lock is
simple. If you practice with a
combination lock over the
summer, it will help you a lot
when you get to middle
school. You can purchase
them at stores. It isn‟t as hard
as everyone says. You will
memorize your com within
the first week of school. One
tip I have for you is to go
slow at first or you could
mess up. Make sure you don‟t
give anyone your combination
even if they are your best
friend because they might not
be your friend the next day.
They could flip your lock
which makes it hard to open
and you could be late for
class.
When you get nervous
about something does it make
you feel like an opossum
burning on hot asphalt on a
sunny day? Or do you feel
more like a gazelle or a zebra?
You should just be confident;
it will be easy!
Tardies, a 6th Graders Worst Nightmare
Written by: Emily Gadille
and Mia Bacigalupo
All of a sudden, Mr. Pennell comes on the loud
speaker. Kids are running
through the halls yelling. “Oh
no, it‟s a tardy sweep!”
One of the most things
people are afraid about when
coming to middle school is
being tardy. Well this article
is about how NOT to be tardy.
Here are some words from the
assistant principle Mr. Pennell
who is in charge of tardy
sweeps:
Q: Are there special days that
you run a tardy sweep?
A: It is completely random. I
do more sweeps to the grades
that need practice.
Q: How do you keep track of
the kids that get caught in a
tardy sweep?
A: I send a list to the attendance office and I give the
kids a pass to get back into
class
Q: What are the consequences
of being caught in a tardy
sweep?
A: If caught in the morning,
lunch detention. If caught
after lunch then lunch detention the following day.
Q: Where do you go right
after you get caught?
A: I take them to the office
and then give them a slip back
to class.
Now here are some words
from someone who was
caught in a tardy sweep.
Q: When you heard the announcements come on, what
was going through your
mind?
A: If I got caught, which I
did, I was afraid of what my
parents would say.
Q: What made you late to
class?
A: My teacher let me out late
and I had to go back to my
locker.
Q: What would you have
done differently?
A: I would have gotten books
for both of my classes.
Q: What did you do in deten-
tion?
A: Since it was lunch detention I ate and stared at the
wall.
Remember, right, left, right!
Mrs. Bailey: Principal at
WMS
Tips to not be late for class:
1.
While you are at your
locker take books for two
classes or for the whole
morning so you don‟t
have to go to your locker
too much.
2. Don‟t procrastinate or
else you will be late.
3. If you have to go to the
bathroom before class,
ask the teacher to take a
bathroom pass in case
there is a tardy sweep.
4. Don‟t tell anyone your
lock combination or else
your lock could be
flipped which can make
you late for class.
“Tardy sweep, tardy sweep!”
I can‟t feel my legs. I‟m running through the halls like a
mad-man. Oh wait; it‟s for
7th grade!
Mr. Pennell: Assitant
Principal at WMS
Page 4
6th Grade Teachers
Mrs. Almanza
Mr. MacGregor
Mr. Mika
How to Survive the First Three Weeks of Middle School
Students Scared of New Teachers
Written By: Trenton
McLean and Bret Williams
My body quivered as I
stood in front of my first
hour class, worried about
the teacher within. It was
the first day of school.
Are you nervous about
teachers like this? Well
don‟t be because sixth
grade teachers are the best.
They are extraordinary
kind, and helpful. An example that shows their
caring attitude is if you
need help with homework,
assignments, or you just
don‟t get it, our 6th grade
teachers will let you come
in during the morning,
after school or during
lunch to work on the assignment or homework
that you were stuck on
with them.
All together there are
ten sixth grade core teachers. The math teachers are
Mr. Ueberroth, Mr. MacGregor, and Mrs. Verellen.
Science teachers are Mrs.
VanDriessche, Mrs. Almanza, and Mrs. Verellen.
Mrs. Chipman, Mrs.
Arsenault, and Mr. Mika
are the social studies teachers. And the English
teachers are Mr. Martin,
Mrs. Arsenault, and Mr.
Dillon. Don‟t like some of
your teachers? That‟s
okay because you go to a
new class every hour. You
might have up to six teachers including the exploratory teachers. You will
have one per marking pe-
riod. These teachers are
Mrs. Bascom (Health), Ms.
Muler (Art), Mr. Thorp
(Computers), Mr. Olsen
(P.E.), and Mrs. Seitz
(French).
The sixth grade teachers
are amazing as you can
see,
but
the
same
may
not
be
said
about seventh grade. I
guess we will find out next
year!
Mr. Dillon
Mrs. Arsenault
Mr. Ueberroth
Mrs. VanDriessche
Mrs. Verellen
Mrs. Chipman
Mr. Martin
HOMEWORK: Good or bad?
Written by,Zachary Simmer
and Drew Treymann
Have you ever had lots of
homework and procrastinated? Well, that‟s not going
to fly in middle school. The
best time to do your homework is when you get home
from school so you don‟t have
to do it last minute, and it
doesn‟t help if you have
sports or extra-curricular activities. Sometimes you use
your homework as a study
guide for tests.
It is smart to use your class
time wisely so you will have
less homework. If you have
homework that is not finished,
try to get it done in the morning or at lunch. For us, we
get math homework almost
daily and we start with that.
We strongly suggest starting
with the subject you have the
most homework in.
If you get stuck on homework, teachers offer to help
before and after school, as
well as during lunch. You will
have a better understanding of
your homework.
We took a vote out of 12
students and a teacher. Ten
people hate homework, two
people don‟t care, and one
person loves homework
(teacher) . If you get your
homework done, you will
have more free time and get
better grades. Also more of a
study guide for a test. DO
YOUR HOMEWORK!
Page 5
Western Middle School
A or Fail!
Written by: Paige Bricault
and Megan Mann
Have you ever been worried about not passing a class
because of a bad grade? Well
you‟re not alone, many people
that are worried about not
passing do better than what
they thought. We can help so
that you aren‟t completely
terrified about your grades at
school!
We have interviewed some
teachers that will have an
effect on your grades. Some
questions that we asked them
included; do you give any
tests the first month of
school? Would you have a lot
of homework the first week/
month? Do you have a lot of
things graded the first week/
month? We have also interviewed some students of
Western Middle School to
help you better understand
how the first week/month of
school goes. Some questions
that we asked them consisted
of, what did you think about
the first week of school? How
often do you have late work?
Do you think the teachers
should change their way of
grading?
First we interviewed a
student named Corrin. She
said that the first week of
school was nerve-racking.
We also interviewed a student
named Bret and he said that
he has never had late work!
The last student interview was
Erica. Sometimes she wishes
that teachers would change
their way of grading.
As for the teachers that
we interviewed, we asked
questions to a honors teacher
and regular education teacher.
4 easy ways to get good
grades are…
1. Make sure you do your
homework.
2. Study for your tests
(take good notes).
3. Pay good attention in
class.
4. Don’t be scared to ask
questions if you don’t
understand
what’s
going on.
When you take a test isn‟t
it a good feeling when you get
that paper back with an “A”?
Well, it‟s a good feeling to
me. It‟s great when you get a
good grade because you know
you did a good job in class
and you don‟t have to have
anything taken away by your
parents like when you get a
bad grade. Don‟t be afraid to
ask a teacher a question about
the lesson if you don‟t get
something. If you do get a
bad grade you know that you
will have to put more time
into studying, ask more questions, and review the material
at home!
Now you see that grades are not so
scary. Just always make sure you pay
good attention in class and always do
your best work!
QUESTIONS
Mrs. VanDriessche
Honors teacher
Mr. Macgregor
Teacher
Do you give any tests
the first week/month?
Yes, a pretest that is
not graded
No
Would you give any
homework the first
week of school?
No
No
Do you have a lot of
stuff that’s graded the
first week/month of
school?
Not really
Nothing first week,
some 1st month
How do you take the
saying “failure is not
an option growth is
our destination”?
I allow reworks, retakes, reteach if students want a better
grade.
Grades reflect
weather you are failing or growing.
The Dreaded… RESPONSIBLE THINKING CLASSROOM!
By: Hayden Blair and Josilyn Welch
Have you been worrying about getting sent to RTC? Well, if you read
further you will see that if you follow
the rules and participate in class, RTC
won‟t be a problem for you.
Here are three easy steps to not to
get sent to RTC:
Be on time.
Do your work and participate.
Follow the teacher‟s rules.
If you follow these simple steps, you
will not get sent to RTC. But if you get
sent to RTC, here is the procedure
that you will go through.
1. You enter the room and sign in.
2. You will be handed a form to
fill out.
3. You sit at your desk and do
your work until the hour is over.
4. You fill out the form with a plan
for you behavior.
We interviewed Ms. Ulrich, (the
RTC supervisor), and here are some
of the questions we asked her:
Q: Should most kids be worried
about being sent to RTC? A: If you
don‟t behave, yes. It is not a fun
place to be. I call your parents
and so does your teacher. Q: What
are the consequences of going to
RTC? A: Your parents get phone
calls and sometimes you get sent to
Mr. Pennel. Q: What happens if
you are sent multiple times? A:
After three times, your counselor is
notified. After four times, you are
given a block suspension.
What will you do to prevent getting
sent to RTC?
Mrs. Ulrich:
RTC Coordinator