LIFE AT THE LOCKE … Issue #32 2020-2021
May 9, 2021
Dear Parents/Guardians, Staff, and Students,
Happy Mother’s Day!! I hope you are all having a great weekend. We have another busy week ahead 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
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
SCHEDULE THIS WEEK
We are back to following our 4-rotation. Check your schedules on Aspen for quarter 4.
Monday – D Day
Tuesday – A Day, Covid Pooled Testing
Wednesday – B Day
Thursday – C Day
Friday – D 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.
MASK REMINDER
Just a friendly reminder to have your students change their masks daily when coming to school. Now that we're all back 5 days a week, it's more important than ever to keep up with good hygiene. If a student does not have a clean mask for the day, they may report to the Main Office in the morning to obtain a new one. Thank you!
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/
LITERARY MAGAZINE – submissions needed
Ms. Cabral is looking for submissions to be entered in this year's literary magazine! Submissions can be any artwork or written work, as long as it's school-appropriate. Examples of submissions received in the past include poetry, horror stories, original short stories, digital art, paintings, research essays, etc. There is no limit on how many items you can submit, so please submit as much as you'd like! Submissions can be emailed to Ms. Cabral at pcabral@billericak12.com. Submissions are due by May 15. Please reach out to Ms. Cabral with any questions.
Want to see last year's magazine for inspiration? Check it out here!
7th GRADE YEARBOOK
7th-grade students: If you have not already done so please see the attached form to fill out some questions for the yearbook. The form is due by May 12th. You must be logged into your school Google account to access the form. Thank you.
https://forms.gle/
BILLERICA SUMMER ENRICHMENT CAMP
Summer Camp is back!!! Students in grades K-7 are invited to enjoy a wide variety of activities and some socialization with friends. Camp runs from 6/23-7/28 and is from 8-12 at the Marshall. Community Pass will be the only method to register. If interested please register at the following link:
https://register.capturepoint.
All Billerica families have a Community Pass account, but if you have never registered your account please send an email to Communitypass@billericak12.
If you have any questions about camp please contact PJ McCarthy at PJMcCarthy@billericak12.com
CHORUS – NEXT FALL
Current 5th and 6th graders: Sign Up to take Chorus next year here. Chorus class meets twice a week during the school day. Want to learn more? Check out these videos by current members of Chorus explaining Why They Love Chorus!
Questions: mraleigh@
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 and mailed to remote students. See the complete list here:
SCIENCE AWARDS
Exciting news: 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
More exciting news: Rishith Ravi and Dustin Ehwa were finalists at the Massachusetts Invention Convention. They will now move on to the National Convention! Congratulations!
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.
MCAS TESTING
The state has changed the dates for the MCAS testing window. All students will now be participating in the MCAS assessment. Students will be tested on the following dates:
May 18th – ELA, Grades 5,6,7
May 19th – Math, Grades 5,6,7
May 20th – Science, Grade 5
Make-ups – The week of the 24th
All students, including remote students, are expected to participate in MCAS testing. Remote students will be able to take the test at home.
MATH PROBLEM OF THE WEEK
Last Week’s Answer: We will give the answer next week. We need more submissions!
Mia’s Math
One day in math class Mia invented a problem for her classmates to solve. She said, "My mom's and dad's ages are 3 years apart. I'm exactly 1/4 of my mom's age, and I'm 24 years younger than Dad. How old am I?"
Mia was surprised when her classmates came up with two different ages that fit her clues.
What answers did her classmates find?
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, May 26th at 6:30.
A link to the meeting will be posted soon!
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 need to return library books should please return them to the brand new bin in the lobby. If you have any questions, please email Ms. Cabral at pcabral@billericak12.com
UPCOMING DATES
- May 18th – MCAS all grades ELA
- May 19th – MCAS all grades Math
- May 20th – MCAS 5th grade Science
- May 24th – Book Fair starts
- May 26th – Early Release, 11:40 Dismissal
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