LIFE AT THE LOCKE … Issue #23 2023-2024
February 11, 2024
Dear Parents/Guardians, Staff, and Students,
I hope you are enjoying the warm weather this weekend, but it looks like winter will be back this week. Happy Super Bowl Sunday and Happy Valentine’s Day! We have one more week until winter break and we have a busy 5 DAYS OF LEARNING ahead this week! Let’s see what’s happening …
We will not publish the newsletter next week. Have a great vacation!!
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @LockeMiddle and INSTAGRAM: locke_middle_school
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated."
-- Coretta Scott King
SCHEDULE THIS WEEK
Monday – C Day – Activities, HW Club, Late Buses, School Council 5:00 PM
Tuesday – D Day
Wednesday – A Day – Activities, HW Club, Late Buses, PTO meeting 6:30
Thursday – B Day – Activities, HW Club, Late Buses, Ice Cream Social, 6:00 PM
Friday – C Day – Faculty/Student Basketball Game
SPIRIT WEEK IS HERE!!
Spirit Week will be the week of February 12th – 16th. Please see the attached themes for the week.
HOOPS FOR HEART TOURNAMENT FUNDRAISER
Our Physical Education staff is having a fundraiser for the American Heart Association. Our annual basketball tournament will be held during Spirit Week. Collection forms were sent home this week. You can also donate on-line at this link. Any donations are greatly appreciated.
TRINKET SALES
Valentine’s Day trinkets will be sold on Tuesday and Wednesday during lunch. The cost is $2 each.
AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITY CAR PICK-UP
Car pick-up for after-school activities will be at 2:45. If you are picking up, enter and exit via Urban Street and loop around the circle as we do for regular car pick-up. Students can enter cars between the two crosswalks.
LATE BUS PICK-UP
Students will report to the cafeteria for late bus pick-up. Late bus runs will run on every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The buses usually arrive at the Locke at 3:10 PM. We have 3 late buses. The late buses have different stops than the usual routes. Please see the late bus routes.
PENNY WAR RESULTS
Thank you for all of your donations. The results are in! We raised $4047!! The winning homerooms are:
Grade 5 – Room 245, Ms. Call
Grade 6 – Room 115, Ms. D’Amato
Grade 7 – Room 231, Ms. Fournier
SCHOOL LUNCH
Please see the attached lunch menu for the week.
QUARTER 2 UNIFIED ARTS GRADES
Quarter 2 ended on January 24th. The following courses are on a 45-day schedule this year: art, drama, health, music, shop, and technology. Final grades for quarter 2 classes were posted to ASPEN by and will appear on the trimester 2 report card issued in March.
LOCKE FAMILY NIGHT
We are having an ice cream social in the cafeteria on Thursday, February 15th from 6:00 – 8:00 PM. Please see the attached flyer for more information. Tickets can be purchased at the door (cash or Venmo) or ahead of time at this link:
https://forms.gle/
PTO CORNER
The PTO welcomes all families to the Locke. We will be meeting monthly to plan several events throughout the year. We are always looking for volunteers to help plan great programs that will benefit our students. You must have a valid CORI on file to volunteer at school. Please see the minutes from our last meeting. Our next meeting is Wednesday, February 14th at 6:30 PM in the Locke Library. Please see the attached dates for all of the PTO meetings during the year.
ENGINEER VISIT TO 5TH GRADE
Town engineer, Christina Papadopoulos, will visit fifth grade students this week to teach a hands-on lesson about stormwater and talk about the process of becoming an engineer. This will be the third year in a row she has visited fifth grade for this presentation which is highly engaging and informative. Students will learn about the process of becoming a civil engineer and study outfalls, culverts, storm drains, sewers, and watersheds. They will learn how pollutants from all over make it into waterways and discuss strategies that can be used to reduce stormwater pollution.
LOCKE MONSTERS ROBOTICS UPDATE
Thank you to everyone who supported our Chipotle fundraiser on Wednesday, January 31st! The money that was raised will go towards the purchase of materials to build the robots and/or to register for competitions.
On Saturday, February 3rd, the Locke Monsters robotics team competed in their third VEX Robotics competition of the 2023-2024 season. The Locke Monsters fielded four different robots that were each designed, built, programmed, and operated by a team of students. It was a busy day, with each team being interviewed by the judges, competing in 6 different qualification matches as well as skills competitions. All of the teams made it to the elimination rounds and showed great spirit, sportsmanship, and problem-solving skills over the course of the day. All of the teams have made dramatic improvements from their performances in our first competition in December. Many of the students are new to robotics this year and it has been truly amazing to see the progress they have made.
Special congratulations to Ishaan Rana, Stefano “Junior” Zammitti, Nikhil Gandhi, Colin Baldwin, and Srihaas Mynampati. The members of team 8025B earned the second highest skills score for the day and also made it to the finals of yesterday’s competition. They were defeated in an extremely competitive match, but making it to the finals secured them an invitation to the Southern New England Regionals later this month.
Congratulations also to Amir Akhmedov, Sean O'Connor, Max Sweeney, and Cassie Berube. Team 8025C had had a great season, fielding a competitive robot at each competition. They were invited to the Southern New England Regionals after their great performance at the robotics competition in January.
Team 8025D, consisting of Dhyey Patel, Elise Skelton, Shaurya Kaila, and Omkar Deshpande make a great team. They always show tremendous teamwork with each other and with other members of the Locke Monsters robotics team. They are consistently competitive and chose team 8025A as their alliance partner in yesterday’s elimination rounds.
Team 8025A consists entirely of “rookies.” Jackson Russell, Saanvi Thapa, Saanvi Rana, Shomili Ghosh, and Samanvi Rekapalli are all in their first year as members of the Locke Monsters Robotics team and they have shown tremendous growth. It has been a pleasure to watch them throughout the season.
There is still the possibility for the 8025A and 8025D teams to qualify for the Regional competition, but we won’t know that until later this week. Mr. DeBenedetto and Mrs. Tolleson are extremely proud of all that these amazing students have accomplished so far this season. A special thanks to Mr. Jim O’Connor and Mr. John Berube who served as mentors during our after-school practices. Also, Mr. Sandip Rana, who is always available to help students in “the pit” at the competitions. Finally, thank you to all the parents and guardians who have supported the students and been there for the long competition days. We could not have done this without your support.
7th GRADERS – FALL SPORTS INFORMATION
Below are the start dates for the Fall 2024. Team Meetings are in June for the fall teams.
- Football and Cheer -- Friday 8/16
- Soccer/ Cross Country/ Volleyball/ Swim & Dive, Golf -- Monday 8/19
- Winter Season always starts the Monday after Thanksgiving.
ESSAY CONTEST
The Billerica Adventure Series Corporation is sponsoring its annual essay contest related to the environment. Please see the attached flyer for more details.
MATH PROBLEM OF THE WEEK
VALENTINE’S DAY
Monique and Martha wanted to buy their mother a box of candy for Valentine's Day. They emptied their piggy banks and discovered that Monique had twice as much in her bank as Martha had in hers. Together they had a total of $10.50. How much did each girl contribute to the total?
Last week’s MPOW answer -- Clouds=19, Sun=8, Groundhog in Hole=32,
Groundhog with hat & TV=any two numbers whose sum is 13 (ex. 7 and 6), ?=416
Congrats to Elise Skelton, Brianna Fallon, Madeline Chiaradonna, Brooke Daly, and Lucy Robertson
Show all work. Submit your answers to Mr. Garas for a chance at a Dunkin gift card and the highly coveted math certificate!
RIDDLE/JOKE OF THE WEEK
Last week’s answer: Why is it annoying to watch TV with a groundhog? Because he always HOGS the remote!
This week – "What did the tortoise say to the other tortoise on Valentine's Day?"
FROM THE BILLERICA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Wanted! Substitute Teachers!
If you are looking to earn additional income and need a flexible schedule, then Substitute Teaching may be the perfect part-time job for you! Please visit our website at www.billericak12.com and go under 'Human Resources' and 'Employment Opportunities" to apply.
FROM THE COMMUNITY
The Lions Club is collecting old pairs of glasses. If you have any old glasses, you can turn them in to the main office. Thank you.
REMINDERS
UPDATED -- CAR DROP-OFF
Student car drop-off will be in the lower lot beginning at 7:10. STUDENTS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO EXIT CARS UNTIL 7:10. PLEASE WAIT FOR MY SIGNAL TO LET STUDENTS OUT OF CARS. ALSO, ONLY MAKE A U-TURN AT THE END OF THE LINE. Parents are to enter VIA URBAN ST (off Baldwin Road), drop students off at the sidewalk, make a U-turn, and exit via Urban Street.
CHROMEBOOKS AND GOOGLE CLASSROOMS
Students are required to bring their school-issued Chromebooks to school every day. Students should charge their Chromebooks overnight. All teachers will be setting up a Google classroom for their students where assignments will be posted and where assignments can be turned in electronically. If your child does not have a Chromebook, please contact the main office at 978-528-8650.
ABSENCES
If your child is going to be absent, please call 978-528-8650 to report the absence. You can leave a voicemail at this number which goes directly to our secretary. You may also email our secretaries, Ms. Brewster at nbrewster@billericak12.com or Lucy O’Brien at lobrien@billericak12.com
BUS ASSIGNMENTS
Students who ride the bus can only ride on their assigned bus in the morning and afternoon. Students are not allowed to ride different buses to be with friends after school.
The bus routes for the year are listed at this link.
If you have any questions regarding bus assignments, please contact our assistant principal: Phillip Peters: ppeters@billericak12.com -- 978-528-8654
UPCOMING DATES – ALL DATES ARE ALSO ON THE MASTER CALENDAR ON THE LOCKE WEBSITE
- Monday, February 12th – Locke Site Council, 5:00 PM -Library
- February 13th and 14th – Valentine’s Trinket Sales at lunch
- Wednesday, February 14th – PTO Meeting, 6:30 PM – Library
- Thursday, February 15th – Ice Cream Social, 6:00-8:00 PM
- February 14th and 15th – Engineer visits to 5th grade
- February 12th – 16th – Spirit Week, Hoops for Heart Week
- Friday, February 16th – Staff/Student Basketball Game
- February 19th – 23rd – No School -- Winter Break
- Monday, February 26th – Return to School
If you have any questions, please contact me at tgaras@billericak12.com or call 978-528-8655 Have a great week!
Warmest regards,
Tony Garas, Principal