1. No category

Brooks Center for STEM and Arts
Middle Magnet
Volume 1, Issue 3
March/April 2015
Renee Erickson, Principal
Becky Sailor, Assistant Principal
Allen Teague, Assistant Principal
Panther Parentgraph
WICHITA PUBLIC SCHOOLS USD259
Spring is in the air! As
we wrap up 3rd quarter
and head into 4th, instead of winding down,
we are winding up.
State testing will begin
shortly after Spring
Break. Please make sure
your students get plenty
of rest, eat a good breakfast and do their best on
these assessments. My
thought on testing is that
if we are holding students to high academic
standards each and every
day, we will perform
well on assessments.
Dress code—as was
mentioned in the last
edition of the Panther
Parentgraph, we are due
to vote on the dress
code. Next week, we
will mail one ballot per
family to your home
address. Please send
your completed ballot to
school with your student
by Wednesday, March
11.
Mrs. Sanborn
daughters moved out I
adopted Parker, a miniature
schnauzer, who I just had
to mention. I also play golf,
read, and am the current
Brooks’ fantasy football
super bowl champion. So
yes, I do have a small life
outside of school.
.I graduated from Kansas
State University and came
to teach 9th grade science at
Brooks Junior High in 1979
as Miss Young. In 1985 I
married the love of my life
Kevin Sanborn and had my
first daughter Kelli in 1989.
A short 15 months later, my
second daughter Jamie
joined our family. Both
have since graduated from
Kansas University. Kelli
now resides in Overland
Park, Kansas and Jamie is
in Austin, TX and will graduate with her Masters from
the University of Texas in
May. When my
When Brooks became a
middle school I moved to
7th grade science, which I
am currently teaching today. I am not going to give
my age, but I was born the
same year that Brooks was
built. You could say that
we have grown up together
and have both seen many
changes. When I started,
Brooks was a Junior High
with 7th-9th grades. It then
changed to a middle school
with, 6th-8th grades, and
then to a Magnet School. In
my time, it has had at least
three changes in its Magnet
themes.
——————————-
Getting to Know:
Throughout those years I
have been blessed to know
and work with many wonderful people and teach
some amazing students.
One thing that has never
changed for me is that I
have always been proud to
say I teach at Brooks.
The portables are gone, and
a new library and science
wing have been added.
Soon there will also be a
new gym and cafeteria!
Yes, I have been at Brooks
for many years and it has
given me many fond memories.
Inside this issue:
Full STEAM Ahead
2
6th Grade Team News
2
7th Grade Team News
3
8th Grade Team News
3
Celebrations at School
4
Calendar
4
Our mission is to create excellence in our
students’ lives in order to maximize their
ability to achieve success.
We strive for Excellence because …
Unity supports success.
Relationships are fundamental to life.
High expectations promote achievement.
Integrity promotes trust.
Learning never ends.
Professionalism demands excellence.
Freedom requires responsibility.
Full STEAM Ahead
This event is being sponsored by Cynthia
Rhodes.
On March 28,
Rachel Roth
from the Great
Plains Nature
Center will
present an
interactive two
hour program
working with the students and teaching
them about our native (and non-native!)
cavity-nesting birds. She will bring informative handouts and specimens to
look at, and will provide a quiz for the
students to complete at the end of their
time together.
Rachel is a Naturalist with the Kansas
Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism. She is on staff at the Great Plains
Nature Center.
On April 25, the Westar Energy Green
Team and Ben Postlethwait, Green
Team Coordinator, will provide the
Brooks Saturday STEAM program with
wooden bird house kits that can be assembled by the students. Each student
that participates will need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian to provide
assistance in assembly and construction
of the bird houses during that Saturday
morning. Students may need to bring
required tools, as well. Be watching for
more information on this upcoming fun
project.
State Testing Schedule
It is time to begin preparations for state
assessments. Please talk to your children
about the importance of performing to
the best of their ability each day. Plenty
of sleep and proper nutrition are also
keys to success. There are two new additions to the assessment schedule.
The math performance assessment will
be a problem solving task requiring
students to use multiple steps and provide explanations for answers given.
The multi-disciplinary task will require
students to read and use a variety of
sources to produce a 3-5 paragraph response to a given prompt. Prompts and
subjects will vary this year as the state
will be field testing the test items.
Dates for these assessments:
March 23rd: 7th grade science
March 24th: 6th and 8th grade social
studies
March 25th and 26th: 6th – 8th grade
multi-disciplinary performance task
through language arts classes
March 27th: 6th-8th grade math performance
April 13th-16th: 6th-8th grade math
assessment
April 27th-30th: 6th – 8th grade English language arts assessment
6th Grade Team News
Social Studies
Social Studies is studying
Ancient Greece and will be
soon starting the famous
Document Based Question
which makes students
choose whether they would
rather live in Athens or
Sparta. It is a question for
the ages and the students
will be passionate about
their opinions, which they
will back up with facts, evidence and examples.
Page 2
Math
Math has wrapped up their
Rates & Ratios Unit. We are
beginning Statistics! There
is a LOT of new vocabulary
in this unit – study up! ☺
P A N T H E R PA R E N T G R A P H
7th Grade Team News
The 7th grade AllStars want to
extend a HUGE thank you to
all the parents, grandparents,
and other family members who
attended conferences in February! We truly appreciate your
commitment to helping your
child succeed.
Student of the Month winners
are:
 Character: Chris McPhaul
 Behavior: Austin Russell
 Academics: Bruce Clark
 Purple Rule:Natassja
Washington
tire Brooks Staff came out and
voted for which projects they
felt exceeded expectations.
The winners and their categories are:
 Sabastain Malla and
Michael Sonexarth for Best
Technology
 Larin Clement for Best
Powerpoint
 Vanessa Green for Best
Book, and Melanie Perez and
Sydni Kennedy for Best Trifold.
We are pleased to announce
the winners of the STEAM
Earthquake Projects! The en-
Way to go AllStars!!! Winners
received custom made medals
hanging on a Brooks lanyards
from our 3D printers!!
Be on the look out for information
concerning the following upcoming events:
 State Assessments for ALL
core subjects (Math, English,
Science, and Social Studies)
begin immediately following
Spring Break. Please make sure
your student gets plenty of sleep
and eats a good breakfast.
 Spring STEAM project! Details will be going home with students early April.
New incentive for Positive Behavior during 4th nine weeks will
be a field trip!! More details will
be given as we enter the last
nine weeks.
8th Grade Team News
Math—
Students
will be
working on
bivariate
data and geometry (perimeter, area,
volume, and surface area). Parents
extra help is here. Please ask your
kids to show you their blendspace
to see video examples and extra
help with all of their assignments.
Please help us keep students on
track with their homework so this
does not become a problem.
Science—Students will be studying
physics by documenting distance,
speed and time by graphing linear
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 3
models and creating mathematical
equations that relate them.
Social Studies—Students are working on Manifest Destiny and there
will be a traditional test and vocabulary quiz. There will also be a
DBQ that we will be writing during
that time. We will also start to
study the North and the South and
the age of reform. We will also be
putting together a factbook and ipoems for
chapter 14.
required to read 1000 pages this
quarter. Students should be reading
at least 15-20 minutes daily. Our
current unit is “Influence” and we
are evaluating the influence of classic literature and more contemporary pieces with in-class reading
and novel studies outside of class.
We are also studying the influence
Anne Frank has had on our thinking
about WWII and
the Holocaust.
Language
Arts— Students are
Page 3
Celebrations at School
WICHITA PUBLIC SCHOO LS USD259
We’re on the web:
http://
brooks.usd259.org
Please contact your student’s administrator prior to bringing treats to school for a
birthday or other special occasion.
There are certain days and times that are
more conducive for these activities and
must be approved in advance. Thanks for
your cooperation!
Calendar of Upcoming Events
March
Thursday, 3/5
PTSO, 6:00-7:00 in the library
Choir Concert, 7:00-8:00, auditorium
Friday, 3/6
Willy Wonka (rescheduled from 2/27), 7:00 p.m., auditorium
Saturday, 3/7
Willy Wonka (rescheduled from 2/28), 7:00 p.m., auditorium
March 16– 20—Spring Break
Thursday, 3/26
Band Concert, 7:00-8:00, auditorium
Tuesday, 3/31
Track @ Wilbur, 3:30
April
Thursday, 4/2
Tuesday, 4/7
Friday, 4/10
Tuesday, 4/14
Friday, 4/17
Monday, 4/20
Wednesday, 4/22
Friday, 4/24
Wednesday, 4/29
PTSO, 6:00-7:00 in the library
Choir Concert, 7:00-8:00, auditorium
Track Meet @Brooks, 3:30–6:30
Orchestra Concert, 7:00-8:00, auditorium
District Choir Festival
Track Meet @Brooks, 3:30-6:30
No School—Conference Release Day
No School—District In-Service
District Orchestra Festival, Northeast Magnet, All Day
Progress Reports Issued
Track Meet @Brooks 3:30-6:30