Our District's Tip Reporting Service

Safety is one of our district's top priorities, that's why we're using SafeSchools Alert, a tip reporting system that allows students, staff, and parents to submit safety concerns to our administration four different ways:

1.    Phone:            717.417.0305

2.    Text:               Text your tip to 717.417.0305

3.    Email:             1174@alert1.us

4.    Web:               http://1174.alert1.us

Easily report tips on bullying, harassment, drugs, vandalism or any safety issue you're concerned about. You can submit a tip anonymously online or by telephone.  More information, including the SafeSchools Alert Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, is available online at http://1174.alert1.us. Thanks in advance for helping to make our school community a safer place to work and learn! We appreciate your support.

News from 7-L

Team 7-L  BLOG UPDATE

Team 7-L Science with Mr. Dellinger

        In science we have moved into Life Sciences. In the past few weeks students have learned about the six characteristics of life, the classification system, and taxonomy.  Students have shown great interest in these topics and we have discussed the possibilities of bringing back the woolly mammoth and what makes a species unique.  Recently students had the opportunity to learn about microscopes and the macro-invertebrates that live in ponds and streams.  Students used pipets to suck up small invertebrates in the water and place them on slides.  Students were encouraged to take pictures through the eyepiece of the microscopes of their findings.

        Above are some images from the day of investigating the macroinvertebrate world under the scope.  Currently, students are completing an animal classification powerpoint.   

        Team 7-L Social Studies with Mr. Arigo

Mr. Arigo’s Social Studies classes have students working and presenting their own individual projects.  We are working on improving their speaking skills and discussing historical contributions of those significant personalities throughout Pennsylvania’s history.  Students worked on a Scavenger Hunt for credit while on the 7L field trip to Gettysburg checking out the major areas in the battle.  Mr. Arigo is also excited for students to knock him out in the dunk tank on June 2 during Fun Day.

Team 7-L Math with Mr. Flay

This is it!!!  This week we will be finishing Chapter 12:  3-D figures.  It has been a great year!  The photo above is from our recent field trip to Gettysburg!  Students’ and teachers’ alike had a wonderful time exploring the museum and battlefield!  I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable summer!  See you next year!

Team 7-L Academic Lit. with Mrs. Vasellas

Mrs. Vasellas' Academic Lit class have finished the year with an Argumentative Essay. Students had to research and decide which was better . . . paper bags or plastic bags. Students also had to do an outline for the supporting paragraphs, which included a counter claim.  A 4 Square for the introductory paragraph and a works cited was also required.

Team 7-L English with Miss Maxwell

Miss Maxwell's English classes have been working hard on a Superhero Narrative.  Students were asked to create either a superhero or a supervillian and write a story about his or her adventures! Students have not only been writing super stories, but also working on historical fiction.  Students just handed in a scrapbook project about a historical fiction novel.  Most of these assignments were fantastic!

Team 7-L Martin with Mr. Martin

As we approach the end of the year, we are wrapping up our final unit on First Aid and Safety Prevention.  Throughout this unit students have learned a variety of different skills related to many different first aid emergencies including: burns, wounds, weather emergencies, heat and cold related emergencies, allergic reactions, asthma, heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, musculoskeletal injuries, shock, poisoning, seizures, breathing emergencies, choking, and more.

In addition to these topics, we have discussed a great deal of different topics and issues throughout this school year including: physical, mental, emotional, and social wellness, tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs, non-communicable diseases, and much more.

I hope and trust this year has been a smooth transition for everyone and will be looked back upon with many fond memories and as an overall great experience.  I also want to take the time to say “Thank You” to students and families for making this teaching experience an unforgettable one.  This year was another great opportunity for me to grow as a teacher and person and I hope and trust this is also true for each student and family as well.  In addition, I hope health class has in some way helped everyone learn more about the importance of health in our lives and even contributed to each student learning more about themselves. I wish all of you the best of luck in everything that you do in life and hope you make wise choices and decisions to help you pursue all of your dreams.  Than

News from 7-N

Math with Mr. Dansberry

It's a time of mixed emotions here at the junior high - excitement for the summer, but the loss of connections made throughout the school year.  It has been an honor getting to work with your children this year.  We've had some frustrations as the year progressed, but we had a lot of fun too!  Thank you for sharing your children with us.  

As for the boring part...For period 1, we will be finishing the year previewing some material for next year - writing and graphing linear equations.  For periods 3-6, we will be finishing the year talking about multi-step equations and inequalities.  

English with Miss Kohlbus and Mrs. Dansberry

In English, we are in the process of writing and editing our narrative stories. Students are letting their imagination run wild and I can't wait to read these fabulous stories your students have created. The final draft will be due on Friday, May 23rd. Students will have time to share their stories in class and we will continue to incorporate past concepts with new concepts in a fun way for the remainder of the school year. Although my time was short lived with your students, it has been a pleasure to get to know them and I wish them the best of luck in 8th grade!

Social Studies with Mr. Whiteford and Mrs. Dansberry

Special thanks go out to Morgan S. from our 6th period class for writing this blog entry.  Great job, Morgan!

Lately in Social Studies we have studied the Thirteen Colonies. We started by talking about Jamestown and how tobacco impacted that original colony. Then we moved on to Plymouth. We talked about the Pilgrims and how Plymouth impacted the colonization of America. Next, we talked about the New England Colonies, which included New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine and Vermont. We talked about how religion impacted these colonies. Then we moved south to the Middle Colonies, including Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware and New Jersey. Finally, we got to the Southern Colonies, which include Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and South Carolina. We went more in depth for each colony. We are super excited to go to Gettysburg for our school trip.

Math with Mr. Josuweit

We are focusing on solving equations for the rest of the year since it’s a major building block for Algebra. There won’t be many more assignments this year so it’s imperative that your student complete every assignment and study for every quiz and test in order to be successful. It was a pleasure working with you and your student this year and I wish everyone much continued success and happiness in the future!

What’s happening in Academic Literacy?

We are in the process of putting together a research project. We investigated the topics of starting school later (a very poplar idea among the teenagers) and the topic of living forever. We’ve learned some interesting things about both issues and I think we all agree that citation is both important to do and also a little bit tricky.

~Mrs. Mahan

Science With Miss Taylor and Mr. Josuweit :)

With two and a half weeks left in the school year, we are all ecstatic that we finally finished  our units in physics.  We actually get to do one full unit of biology!  In the next two weeks will will discuss how we know if something is alive (along with an original characteristics of life song by Miss Taylor), as well as discover those little things inside a cell that we call organelles.  It has been a fun but busy year, and I think we are all ready for a nice summer break!

High School Orientation--Mark Your Calendars!

Parents of students for the Class of 2018 -- mark your calendars for Wednesday, August 13th at 6 pm for the Orientation Program which will be held at the Senior High.  It is at this Orientation Program that your son/daughter will be able to:  meet his/her guidance counselor; tour the high school and become more acclimated with their new school; obtain first-hand information about what to expect at the high school, while meeting administrators.  Most importantly, your child will receive his/her schedule for the 2014-15 school year that evening.  The building will be open for students to use this time to "walk through" their schedule.  We hope to see you at this event as we begin a new school year!

Spring Food Drive

PRIDE

Congratulations PRIDE winners!

As a reward for hitting 5000 PRIDE tickets, every student and teacher received a free ice cream!

What a great day to enjoy a PRIDE reward!

Volunteering

A group of 8th graders recently spent time performing various tasks at Red Lion Area Community Services.  They washed floors, organized clothing, moved furniture, and even fixed the sound system.  The RLACS staff were grateful for their hard work and look forward to having students volunteer again.

JH Pride Continues

News from 8-N

6th Grade Visitation

On May 6 and May 8 6th graders and their teachers visited the junior high!  When the students arrived, they were put in groups with other 6th graders from various schools in the district.  The 6th graders were treated to a presentation about life in the junior high and they were given a tour by members of our student council.  After the morning presentation, 6th grade students enjoyed lunch in the cafeteria and they were then sent to a 7th grade classroom.  During this time, the 6th grade students met a 7th grade teacher and some 7th grade students.  For the remainder of the afternoon, the 6th and 7th grade students and teachers went outside and enjoyed some team building activities.  At the end of the day, the 6th grade students even got to ride the buses home with the junior and senior high students!  Overall, each day was a great success.  Special thanks to everyone who was involved who made the day a great day!

News from 7-O

News from 8-O

8O Blog

Science

We are on the weather unit.  Students have been conducting mini experiments with air pressure. Students crushed a soda can, filled a cup with water and placed an index card over it. They then turned it upside down to see if the water would stay in.  Students also used suction cups to figure out how much air pressure the automobile glass the suction could hold.  Students also are learning about the layers of the atmosphere.

Academic Literacy

In Academic Literacy students are learning to evaluate arguments.  Students will analyze what makes an author’s argument valid, and this week they will look at several arguments and determine the validity of the argument.  Next, students will look at how do author’s treat the same text differently.  We will read three different pieces of writing from different time periods on the same topic and analyze the authors’ arguments within each piece.

Ms. Suppa's English Classes

Right now we are reading the classic young adult novel, The Outsiders, which S. E. (Susan Eloise) Hinton started writing when she was only fifteen years old and finished when she was sixteen (and still a junior in high school).  In addition to The Outsiders, Hinton has written four other YA books, children's books, and adult fiction. 

In Health class, students are shown presenting their organ reports to the class. They started by researching an organ becoming ‘an expert,’ followed by completing a power point presentation and finally are presenting it to the class.

Dear Math parents,

I have enjoyed having your children in my class this year. Although we only have days left of school, I will continue to teach, as well as enjoy each moment I have left with them. I hope your child enjoyed learning math as well as the moments that made us laugh in class this year. .

Love, Mrs. Lee

Social Studies

In Social Studies, we are in the 1830's time period.  We are making our way westward and learning about the Alamo, the Gold Rush, the Mexican War, the Oregon Trail and the Mormons.  After that, we will begin to study the reforms and the compromises made over slavery.  At the end of the year, will do a brief preview of the Civil War, which is where ninth grade Social Studies will start. 

We continue to study current events through political cartoons.  Many students have created quality cartoons, which is a requirement for the fourth marking period. 

After our trip to Washington D.C. students will be creating a magazine cover with a picture they took in Washington.  The picture will include seven facts they learned while in Washington.  They will then present their cover to the class.

News from 7-I

Mr. Schreckengast’s Science Class

Right now in Mr. Schreckengast’s Science classes we are studying Light and Sound.  We have learned about how wave energy works and the light and sound are carried by waves.  Light is carried by transverse waves and sound travels by longitudinal waves.  We will be having the unit test for LIght and Sound Thursday, May 1st.  We will then begin a unit on Electricity.  Learning about electric current and how to make parallel and series circuits.

Health with Mr. Martin

As we move forward into the last marking period, we are starting our next unit on First Aid and Safety Prevention, which will help students be better prepared to deal with some of life’s unfortunate and unexpected circumstances that any of us may face at a moment’s notice.  As our teens are growing up, they are given greater responsibility by being left alone or in charge of younger children.  This makes it all the more imperative as to why they need to know what to do in the event of an emergency.

Students will learn a variety of different skills related to many different first aid emergencies including: burns, wounds, weather emergencies, heat and cold related emergencies, allergic reactions, asthma, heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, musculoskeletal injuries, shock, poisoning, seizures, breathing emergencies, choking, and more.

All people can benefit from basic first aid and safety prevention education, and I once again encourage parents to talk your children about these and other important health and safety issues.  

English with Mrs. Henze

Recently in class, each student drew a picture

of one haiku he/she wrote for class, and then that picture was displayed in the classroom.  I was impressed with the poems and pictures!  As we continue in the fourth marking period, the students will be writing a fictional narrative, and we will end the year with a unit comparing historical fiction to actual historical accounts of various time periods/events in history.  

Social Studies with Miss Eason and Mrs. Elicker

The students were assigned a Southern Colonies Roadmap, in which the students read various portions of their books at different speeds. To make the experience more enjoyable for the students, the Roadmap was put on the board (as it can be seen in the photographs). As the students answered the questions on the Southern Colonies Roadmap, they went to the to the front of the class and moved a pop-culture character on the board that was assigned to their team. At the end, the students could hit a button that went “Ding!” to inform the class of their accomplishment and could record their place (like 1st place, 2nd place, etc.).

The Roadmap’s information consisted of: the founders of certain Southern Colonies, Bacon’s Rebellion, who settled where, and why colonies were settled.

Afterward, the students picked up a Southern Colonies Booklet and filled it out with a partner.

Academic Lit with Mrs. Vasellas

Students have begun their Unit 4 Assessment - Argumentative Writing. After choosing paper bags or plastic bags, they will be writing a multiparagraph essay to argue which is better for the environment. They have to research their topic, complete an outline, and prepare a works cited.

Math with Ms. Therrien

Both the Advanced Pre-Algebra and Pre-Algebra classes are studying Geometry. Chapter 11 will involve two-dimensional shapes (angles, polygons, area, perimeter) and Chapter 12 will involve three-dimensional shapes (volume and surface area). We will also be learning about Pythagorean Theorem.

News from 8-I

8-I Blog - April/May 2014

Mr. Conover's Math classes have been working on exponents.  We have been working on multiplying and dividing simple monomials.  We are going to be getting into more difficult monomials including those with negative exponents, tougher coefficients, and even powers of powers.  It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks to finish off the school year!  Stay tuned!

Mr. McIntyre's English class is currently reading The Lighting Thief.  The is looking at how events and character types can help us to identify the theme.  The class is also using the novel to review concepts covered earlier in the year.  For example, the class has looked at sections of text to identify tone and mood, as well as literary elements such as foreshadowing.  Students have also written summaries of selected chapters.  In the future, the students will be analyzing the differences between the novel and the film.

Mrs. Quinones’ Social Studies classes are quickly passing the time, not only outside of class, but inside as well.  We completed the Westward Expansion project, completing the map of the United States to fulfill our Manifest Destiny of having all land from sea to sea.  Now we are laying the foundation for the Civil War.  It didn't just happen overnight!

Students are counting down the days until we visit Washington, DC.  We are excited to travel to the nations capital, hoping to tour the monuments as well as visit a few of the museums.  Who knows?  With any luck we will see the president!

Student Council and PSO are hosting the 8th grade evening dance this week.  It's funny how the students call it "formal" yet we have always said it's just an evening dance.  Regardless, the teachers love chaperoning this dance to see our students dressed up.  It's sure to be a nice evening full of dancing, snacks and photo ops.

Student Council will be having Penny Wars the week of May 12th.  This year the money raised will go to the Make a Wish Foundation.  So start cleaning out those sofa cushions!  Pennies are positive while all other money is negative points.  The team with the highest points will earn a reward from Student Council.  Good luck to all of our Junior High teams but my money is on 8I.

Ms. Eckert’s English classes are experiencing the culture and times of the 1960’s as they read S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders. This coming of age story is always a memorable way to end the year with our 8th graders, as they truly can identify with the peer pressures of social groups, who just happen to be called Greasers and Socs.  Look for your child to mention that we had a classroom rumble and that he/she needs to find 1960’s clothing in order to dress up for Soc Day, meaning dress like a “prep” (Tuesday, May 20th) and Greaser Day, meaning dress like a “hoodlum” (Wednesday, May 21st). Both dress up days will be fun and even earn students extra credit, should they go to the trouble to bring our book alive in the halls of the JRHS. We will end the year comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences between the novel and the movie!

Mr. Stambaugh’s Health classes

are researching and preparing a powerpoint presentation on a specific organ of the body. As we begin learning about individual systems, the students that have organs in those systems will present their findings to their classmates. This will continue until all the systems of the body are covered!

Mrs. Kelly’s Science classes have finished up their chapters on earthquakes and volcanoes and are starting the geologic history unit.  So far, they have learned about half life and radioactive decay using licorice and M & M's.  They will also be making personal timelines to compare to geologic history and will need help identifying some key points in our lives as 8th graders.  After this chapter, students will learn about astronomy and oceanography for the remaining time in the school year.

Mrs. Morgan’s Math Classes…

In Algebra AB, we are working through the rest of the material in our curriculum to get ready for our Keystone Exams which will take place on May 15th and 16th.  Only students in the Algebra AB class will be taking the Keystones.  In Algebra 1A, we are busy learning how to write linear equations given any information about a line.  In Pre-Algebra 2, we just finished a unit on graphing and we are now working on an Exponent Unit.  Most students are keeping up with the work, but some are starting to think summer is already here.  Have you seen a homework record for math class lately?  If you have any doubts as to whether or not your child is keeping up in math class, please check your child's record.  This is an example of a homework record that we like to see.

In Mrs. Strayer’s Academic Literacy class students are writing posts on our new class blog site as a forum to share their opinions, to practice and improve argumentative writing skills and to give and receive feedback to and from their peers.   Ask your child about his or her class blog to learn more about class discussions and reading assignments!  Students are also analyzing forms of media for its effectiveness in delivering information. We will be considering print media, the Internet, and listening to audio of notable speeches for their effectiveness in delivery and influential qualities and techniques.  Of course, not to be left unscrutinized is the blog itself - A modern day vehicle of expression for every man and woman.