LIFE AT THE LOCKE … Issue #30 2020-2021
April 25, 2021
Dear Parents/Guardians, Staff, and Students,
We had a successful “reopening” with full classrooms for the first time in over a year. I wanted to thank our staff, students, and families for following our new guidelines and for their support in making our 1st days back a smooth transition for all. It has been an incredible year with many challenges and we have all come together to support each other. I hope you all had a restful week and a chance for some well-needed downtime. We have a full week for students with 5 DAYS OF LEARNING! Let’s see what’s happening …
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @LockeMiddle and INSTAGRAM: locke_middle_school
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Children are apt to live up to what you believe of them.” -- Lady Bird Johnson
SCHEDULE THIS WEEK
We are back to following our 4-rotation. Check your schedules on Aspen for quarter 4.
Monday – B Day
Tuesday – C Day, Covid Pooled Testing
Wednesday – D Day
Thursday – A Day
Friday – B Day
FULL RETURN
We returned to full in-person learning before vacation. Please see this document regarding protocols, scheduling, and transportation. In order to have a safe and rewarding learning experience, please follow the guidelines contained in the document. I appreciate the efforts of our staff and families as we navigated through many challenges to student learning this year. As we move forward, please contact me with any questions or concerns.
REPORT CARDS
Trimester 2 report cards were published on Thursday, April 1st to the Aspen portal. Please sign off on report card envelopes and return them to your homeroom teacher so that we can verify you have seen the report.
POOLED COVID TESTING
We will continue with Covid testing this week on Tuesday. All students and staff that have signed up will be tested on Tuesdays moving forward. Please complete the attached form if you would like your child to participate. We are encouraging all students to participate. For more details, please see the district’s website.
https://forms.gle/
STUDENT ACADEMIC AWARDS – TRIMESTER 2
Congratulations to students for achieving high honor and honor roll status for Trimester 2. See the attached lists:
Also, certificates for the Student of the trimester were given out before vacation. See the complete list here:
SCIENCE AWARD
Exciting news! We are so proud of our young engineers on Team 7A here at the Locke Middle School! They all entered this year’s Fluor Tallest Paper Tower Engineering Challenge and Max Carpenter’s tower won a 1,000 dollar grant from Fluor! #FluorChallenge See the attached photos.
6th GRADE ARTICLE
Congratulations to our 6th-grade students for their hard work on their research paper! Please see the article in the minuteman describing the project.
BOOK FAIR
The Book Fair is back! It will be held the week of May 24th. Please see the attached flyer for more details.
NEW CHROMEBOOKS – ALL STUDENTS
All students have been issued a new Chromebook and will use it during their time at the Locke Middle School. For many reasons, we want all students to use the school-issued Chromebook. We consider it the same as a class textbook that all students need to have. Student need to bring their Chromebooks in everyday and charge them overnight. If students still need to pick-up new Chromebooks, please follow the procedure below:
Full in-person students:
If you have not picked up your Chromebook yet, please bring your paperwork to the main office. Please return any district Chromebook and charger if one was issued.
Remote Students:
Please contact the main office at 978-528-8650 to schedule a time for pick-up.
MCAS TESTING
The state has changed the dates for the MCAS testing window. 5th graders will be tested on the following dates:
May 18th – ELA
May 19th – Math
May 20th – Science
The dates for 6th and 7th grade are to be determined. We will have more specifics soon regarding logistics. All students, including remote students, are expected to participate in MCAS testing.
MATH PROBLEM OF THE WEEK
Last week’s answer: 36 students
What’s my number?
It is a multiple of three, five, and seven. No digit occurs more than once. Here are some more clues:
- The digit in the tens place is a square number.
- The digit in the hundreds place is a cube.
- The digit in the hundred thousands place is both a square and a cube.
- Only the digit in the hundreds place is larger than the digit in the ones place.
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, April 28th at 6:30 PM. Here is the google meet link: https://meet.google.com/iqx-
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!
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
- April 28th, 6:30 PM – PTO Meeting
- May 5th – Staff Appreciation Day
- May 18th – MCAS 5th grade ELA
- May 19th – MCAS 5th grade Math
- May 20th – MCAS 5th grade Science
- May 24th – Book Fair starts
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