LIFE AT THE LOCKE … Issue #19 2020-2021
January 24, 2021
Dear Parents/Guardians, Staff, and Students,
I hope you are enjoying the weekend. We are back with a full week and 5 DAYS OF LEARNING! Let’s see what’s happening …
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @LockeMiddle and INSTAGRAM: locke_middle_school
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Today on this January day, my whole soul is in this. Bringing America together. Uniting our people. Uniting our nation. And I ask every American to join me in this cause. – Joseph Biden in his inauguration speech
QUARTER 2 ENDS THIS WEEK
Quarter 2 unified arts classes end on Friday, January 29th. Students will start quarter 3 classes next week.
I-READY TESTING – This week
Your child will begin I-Ready diagnostic testing this week. The scheduled dates are:
Cohort 1:
ELA: January 28th
Math: January 29th
Cohort 2:
ELA: January 25th
Math: January 26th
Students will be taking the assessment at home. Students log in through their Billerica classlink page. In order for this to be successful with at-home iReady assessing, we ask parents to not help their student with the Diagnostic Test. The results will help teachers drive their instruction to best suit the needs of your child. The following link is a quick video to watch explaining the importance of not helping at home. I-Ready Diagnostic Testing Video
I-Ready is an online program for math and reading that will help your student’s teacher determine your student’s needs, personalize their learning, and monitor their progress throughout the school year. I-Ready allows your teacher to meet your student exactly where they are and provides data to increase your student’s learning gains.
The I-Ready Diagnostic is an adaptive assessment that adjusts its questions to suit your student’s needs. Each item a student sees is individualized based on their answer to the previous question. For example, a series of correct answers will result in slightly harder questions, while a series of incorrect answers will yield slightly easier questions.
STUDENT COUNCIL – COOKIE CONTEST!
The student council is having a cookie decorating contest. Please see the attached flyer for information.
TRIMESTER 1 REPORT CARDS
Trimester 1 report cards were published to the Aspen Portal. The report can be found on your Aspen home page under published reports. For parent account login assistance or to re-set your password, please email: portalhelp@
HONOR ROLL AND HIGH HONOR ROLL – Trimester 1
Congratulations to students for their accomplishment of earning honor or high honor roll during trimester 1. Please see the lists on our website. The criteria for honor roll is an 80 or above in all subjects and for high honor roll it is 90 or above in all subjects. Certificates were mailed to our full-remote students.
MATH PROBLEM OF THE WEEK
Last week’s answer: 48 miles in February
VALENTINE’S CHOCOLATES
When Mork visits Mindy on Valentine's Day, he's planning to bring her a one-pound box of chocolates. He knows that when they share a one-pound box of chocolates, it usually lasts for two weeks. When she eats a one-pound box of chocolates on her own it lasts for six weeks.
How long should a one-pound box of chocolates last if Mork eats it alone?
Note: Assume they don't eat faster or slower when they are alone.
Send your answers to Mr. Garas – tgaras@billericak12.com – Show your work! Your answers will be put into a drawing for a dunkins card! (and the famous math certificate!)
PTO UPDATE
Hello from the Locke PTO!
Our next PTO meeting is on Wednesday, February 24th at 6:30.
A link to the meeting will be sent out soon. Please join us!
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You can keep your family safe while supporting the Locke by ordering one of these handmade masks. They are comfortable, very breathable, and can even be customized!
SCIENCE COMPETITION UPDATE
Report from Mrs. Parker:
Several Billerica students took part in a Hopkinvent Lemelson-MIT 24 hour Inventathon over the weekend which was a free online event where students brainstormed, designed, and presented their own invention ideas related to the topic of Covid 19. The topic was given to the students at 4 pm on Friday and they had to create and present their invention by 4 pm on Saturday. This type of event allows for diverse perspectives about a problem to solve and gives the students freedom to be creative. They received mentoring and feedback about their ideas throughout the process. At the end of the Inventathon, the students made a presentation to a set of judges for awards and recognition. All the students did well, and I wanted to let you know about several from Billerica who were at the top of their divisions.
Christian So (Senior - Billerica High School and co-coach of the Locke Monsters Robotics team) & Shishir Sudhaman (Hopkinton High School) received first place in the High School Division with their MagicTip invention to assist with online digital writing during the Covid 19 pandemic. The video below is the presentation of their invention idea.
Students Dustin Ehwa (8th grade Billerica High School) and Rishith Ravi (7th grade Locke Middle School), who are both members of the Locke Monsters Robotics team, received first place in the Middle School Division at the Inventathon with their Techno temperature wristband invention. The video below is the presentation of their invention idea.
I wanted to share this news with you as it is so exciting to see Billerica students continue to persevere and succeed at the highest level even in these difficult times.
TRANSITIONS
We are establishing a more structured timeframe for making student transitions between models of instruction. (hybrid to remote or remote to hybrid) Transitions will now take place on the Monday of the 1st week of each month. Any requests that are submitted prior to the 15th of the month will take place on the 1st of the following month. Please send requests to Mr. Garas, tgaras@billericak12.com
Requests Submitted | Transition Date |
January 16 – February 15 | March 1 |
February 16 – March 15 | March 29 |
March 16 – April 15 | May 3 |
No requests accepted after April 15 | |
LIBRARY INFORMATION –Books are still available!
Check out library books from the Locke library! The process for requesting library books online has become even simpler! Using Destiny Discover in your BPS Quick Links, you no longer need to log into the library catalog. Please see Ms. Cabral's updated instruction video on the Locke library website: https://
Returning library books: Students who still have library books that were checked out last year should please return them to the main office. There will be a library book bin for you to return the books. Late slips will be going out for overdue books this week. Any books that are from elementary school can still be returned in the bin. If you have any questions, please email Ms. Cabral at pcabral@billericak12.com
UPCOMING DATES
- I-Ready testing… January 25 – February 5
- Quarter 2 ends (Last day for unified Arts Classes) … January 29, 2021
- Quarter 3 begins (Unified Arts Classes Change)…February 1, 2021
- February Break – February 15th – 19th
- Return to School – February 22nd
- PTO Meeting – February 24th, 6:30 PM
If you have any questions, please contact me at tgaras@billericak12.com or call at 978-528-8655.
Have a great week!
Warmest regards,
Tony Garas, Principal