March 20: ArtWorks
April 2-9: Spring
Break
April 30: SHEF fund-
raiser at CD and Me,
7:00-12:00
May 8: Family Run/
Walk
Important Dates to
Remember
Spartan 300
Inside this issue:
Sports 1-3
Washington D.C. 4-5
Note from Principal 7
Team 8-1 8-9
Team 8-2 10-11
Team 8-3 12-13
Team 7-1 14-15
Team 7-2 16-17
Team 7-3 18-19
Encore 20-22
3rd Quarter: January 2010-March 2010 Volume 3, Issue 3
Edited and produced by Joanna Maas
For additional events and
dates to remember, see our
calendar posted on the
website
Principal, Beth Lind
Assistant Principal, Paula Sereleas
Dean of Students, Jim Letsos
Unfortunately, the team
saw their memorable 2009-2010 season come to an end on
February 13th, in the Elite 8 round of the IESA 8-4A State
Tournament, with a 50-36 loss
to the Junior Redbirds of Alton. The Spartans came out quickly
after the opening tip, building a 10-1 lead thanks to two threes
from J.T. Limon and solid de-fensive play. However, Alton
fought back in the final two minutes of the period, and
closed the gap to 10-8 at the end of the first quarter. The
second quarter saw more back and forth action, but the
Spartans were not able to hold
onto the lead, and went into halftime trailing 20-18. How-
ever, as they had done all year, the team came out of the break
After defeating the Homer
Mustangs 41-29 to win the IESA 8 - 4A Regional, the Summit Hill
Junior High Spartans eighth grade boys’ basketball team
advanced to the IESA 8-4A
Sectional Championship on February 10th to face Matteson
Colin Powell. The Spartans and Eagles fought back and forth
the entire first half and went into halftime tied at 23. The
third quarter began the same way, with both teams trading
baskets and defensive stops, but the Spartans’ used the final
two minutes of the third quar-ter to go on six to zero run and
took a 36-30 lead into the
fourth quarter. The Spartans began the fourth quarter the
way the third ended, building their lead to nine points, and
eventually holding off the late charging Eagles for a 48-41 win,
and the sectional title. In the win, the Spartans were led in
scoring by Julian Hylton’s 15 points, while Erik Eggert added
14 points and Colin O’Connell
had 10 points. The win im-proved the Spartans’ overall
record to 24-1 on the season, and advanced them to the IESA
8-4A State Tournament, where they played Alton on Saturday
(Feb. 13th) at 1:00PM at Morton High School in Morton, IL.
strong, and opened up the sec-
ond half with a 6-0 run to take a 24-20 lead on Alton. The
Junior Redbirds quickly an-swered with a run of their own,
and the Spartans found them-
selves down 31-28 after three quarters. Despite all of their
efforts, the Spartans could get no closer in the fourth quarter,
and Alton converted 7 out of 10 free throws down the stretch
to put the game out of reach. In the loss, the Spartans were
led by Julian Hylton’s 13 points and 10 rebounds. J.T. Limon
and Ken Christensen each added six points, while Colin
O’Connell and Holt Erikson
added five and four points respectively. The final record
for the Spartans was 24-2 on the season.
Spartans Win Sectional and Advance to Elite Eight.
Page 2 Spartan 300
Spartan
Sports
Top left: 8th grader Molly Thacker works with Kindergarteners and 1st graders on a half-time cheer. Right: The Biddy Basketball Cheer-leaders Group. Below: Front Row: Payton Lang, Jackie Farquhar, Mallory Moran, Jenni Buxbaum, Delaney Creamer, Alyssa Murray Second Row: Isabella Gutkin, Kris-ten Dye, Celisse Pennington, Mariah West, Brittany Booth, Bailey Doyle, Nadine Vaciatis, Third Row: Krista Stonesifer, Lexi Snedden, Rebecca Guinea, Erin Julius, Mimi Mack, Lauren Boman, Abby Moisan, Coach Carlson
Biddy Basketball is a fund-
raiser which allows junior high students to work with 1st, 2nd,
3rd, and 4th graders from Ar-bury Hills, Frankfort Square,
Mary Drew, Dr. Julian Rogus,
and Indian Trail and takes place on March 12th at Summit Hill
Junior High. On Saturday, March 6th, Summit Hill hosted
Biddy Basketball practice in
Biddy Basketball Cheerleaders Party in the U.S.A.
which junior high students
were given the chance to work with the elementary students
and coach them in both basket-ball and cheerleading.
Summit Hill Junior High’s
Spirit Squad cheerleaders assisted the Biddy Basketball
cheerleaders in learning three sideline cheers and two short
motivational cheers. The girls
The Summit Hill Junior
High Competition Cheerleading
Squad had a great season this
year. They were able to com-
Place at Alan B. Shepard High
School, and 4th place at IESA
State Competition. The eighth
grade girls were sad to see the
season end as the team headed
home from Springfield. Good
luck to all the eighth graders:
Brittany Booth, Rebecca
Guinea, Erin Julius, Lexi Sned-
den, Krista Stonesifer and Dan-
ielle Vieni. The team formed a
great bond and worked hard
together to accomplish many
firsts for Summit Hill Cheer-
leading.
were also taught a half-time
cheer and dance to Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the U.S.A.”
The girls did a fantastic job at practice. Thanks to 8th grader
Molly Thacker, and 7th graders
Bree Zyer, Bri Kowalczyk, Chloe Burch, and Alissa Volante for
coaching!
Year of Firsts for Competition Cheerleading
pete in a total of six competi-
tions and were awarded a tro-
phy at each one. Must recently,
they received 5th place in the
ICCA Cheerleading Champion-
ships on Valentine’s Day in
Springfield, IL. The girls did a
fantastic job and had a very
successful season. Throughout
the season they received many
trophies including; 3rd Place at
Lincoln Way North, 1st Place at
Pontiac where they qualified to
go to ICCA Championships, 2nd
Place at Andrew High School, 1st
Page 3 Volume 3, Issue 3
“There are really only
two plays:
“Romeo and Juliet” and
put the darn ball in the
basket.”
~Abe Lemons
breaking game to Mokena 26-25 in the semifinals.
Down by 10 points in the 4th quarter, the Spartans re-
fused to quit and went on a 10-1
run to finish the game. Denis Moore sparked the comeback
by hitting 2 clutch three point-ers and Kyle Ostrowski gave an
all out effort on defense to create 4 points of his own.
Down by one point with a min-ute to go, the Spartans had had
two shots go in and out, but offensive rebounds and hustle
allowed the Spartans to main-tain possession. With only 1.7
The 7th Grade Boys Bas-ketball Team finished their
season 12-12 and began to play more and more as a team as
the season progressed. Ener-
getic and aggressive defense fueled the team and the
Spartans were able to get qual-ity wins this year at Bourbon-
nais Upper Grades School, Troy, Liberty, and against rival
Hickory Creek. The boys showed enough promise to
earn a number three seed in regional play. After defeating
Martino in the quarterfinals, the Spartans lost a heart-
seconds remaining on the clock, the Spartans ran a well
executed inbound play and Denis Moore took a great shot
that went half-way down before
it rimmed out. With the out-standing effort given, the boys
have reason to hold their heads up high.
Coach Hagen would like to thank the entire basketball
team for their effort and dedi-cation given throughout the
season. Every player on the team became better and better
after every game and Coach Hagen is proud of each player’s
7th Grade Girls Volleyball Has Another Successful Season
Right: The 7th grade girls volleyball team poses for a picture after earn-
ing another trophy.
of the state tournament in
Bloomington, Illinois. In the sectional title game, the girls
had to fight back numerous times from deficits as large as
eight points. The hard work
paid off with the 21-25, 25-22, and 25-23 victory. The 7th
grade Summit Hill Spartans are 18-5 for the season and are
lead by their three all-conference players: co-captain
Kylie Snyder, Rachel Burkman, and Amanda Rockrohr. Other
team members are: Morgan Giusto, Abby Greenwood, Carley
Hamann, Kayla Horlacher, Jor-dan Jackovich, co-captain Molly
Kilbride, Valen Manns, Abby
The 7th grade girls’ volley-
ball team is having a great season with three champion-
ships and an elite 8 appear-ance. The Lady Spartans have
won the Des Plaines Valley
Conference regular season championship and 3rd place in
the conference tournament while also capturing the IESA
Regional Championship on March 4th with their victory
over cross town rival, Mokena, 25-12 and 25-20. The season
continued with a grueling three set victory over Manteno on
March 8th to win the IESA Sec-tional title earning the Lady
Spartans a birth in the Elite 8
Moisan, Haley Ruch, Dana
Searle, and manager Emma Henley. The 7th graders are
coached by Mr. Keith McGrail.
7th Grade Boys Basketball Ends Season Strong
Page 4 Spartan 300
Washington
D.C.
Top Left: Brandy Benak, Alexis Meyer, Bryanna Johnson, and Marc Zyla lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. Bottom Left: John Orowick dons some Revolutionary War garb at Mt. Vernon. Below: Pictured in front of the White House are 8th graders who attended the field trip in Washington, D.C.
tery. After stopping at John F.
Kennedy’s grave, they watched a changing of the guard at the
Tomb of the Unknowns. After the changing, students Brandy
Benak, Alexis Meyer, Bryanna
Johnson, and Marc Zyla laid a wreath at the tomb. They
learned a lot at the Newseum, the National Cathedral and the
Holocaust Museum. Students took pictures at the White
House and saw the Franklin Roosevelt and Thomas Jeffer-
son Memorials. After dinner and games at ESPN Zone, we
headed back to the hotel to get some much-needed rest.
The third day was just as
busy. Students started at Washington’s home in Mt.
Vernon. They even saw Wash-ington’s teeth, and no, they
are not made of wood. After lunch, we finished with time at
the Smithsonian Institution’s American History Museum.
The museum displayed ruby
From February 26
through March 1, 127 eighth graders from SHJH spent the
weekend doing a whirlwind tour of Washington, D.C. It
was only supposed to be three
days, but winds in D.C. kept delaying flights, and 2/3 of the
group had to add an extra day! On the first day, they
visited the inside of the Capitol building and went up in the
Washington Monument. They saw the war memorials for
WWII, Korea and Vietnam, and climbed the steps of the Lin-
coln Memorial, where they stood in the same place Martin
Luther King Junior stood for
his “I Have a Dream” speech. After a filling dinner at Buca di
Beppo, students were es-corted around old town Alex-
andria and heard many ghost stories.
The second day started early, and everyone headed
for Arlington National Ceme-
slippers from the “Wizard of
Oz”, the flag from the War of 1812 for which Francis Scott
Key wrote the “Star Spangled Banner”, dresses from first
ladies, and so much more.
Summit Hill students exhibited excellent behavior
on the trip. Flight attendants, other passengers on the
planes, tour guides, bus driv-ers, and security guards all
commented on how good the students were. Great job
students! A very special “Thank
You” goes out to all our chap-erones for a great trip: Mrs.
Rodgers, Mrs. Schlesselman,
Mr. Strzykalski, Mr. Weber, Mr. Chrusciel, Mr. Evenhouse, Mrs.
Reed, Mrs. Bottomley, Mrs. Lane, Miss Canter, Mrs. Os-
trowski, and Mr. Letsos. We couldn’t have done this with-
out you all!
Eighth-Graders Enjoy Trip to Washington, D.C.
Page 5 Volume 3, Issue 3
To George’s House We Go!
thought day in and day out
walking up and down the creaking stairs to put his kids
to sleep or the last thoughts jumping into his head as he
headed out the front door to
lead a fledgling nation into battle. What was he thinking as
he looked out over the Poto-mac River, a truly magnificent
sight once the mind captures the concept that George him-
self probably walked ten thou-sand steps over the same
ground we covered. Is it true? Was he really here? How many
nights must he have pondered and worried and discussed out
loud to himself the decisions
that would eventually shape our country and thrust himself
into American history for-ever? One can only assume.
My guess is he thought like any man with a family. The
importance of truth, honor, and courage scream out like
Delayed. Cramped. Cold.
Is that how to sum up an ex-perience to our nation’s capi-
tal? Not a chance! At least not if you were one of the more
than 130 students and chaper-
ones that just experienced Washington, D.C. Yes, we could
talk about the cold weather that consumed us like a wet
blanket. We could talk all day about the exercise our gas-
trocnemius muscles received after walking nearly 15 miles.
And, we could squeeze in an honorable mention to our
friends of the friendly skies for cancelling our flights not
once, not twice, but three
times (sorry United). Despite all of this, I’d
rather talk about the history that we consumed in four days
of walking, talking, and survey-ing. It was my first time to
Washington, D.C. and it’s an experience I will remember
forever. The part from the trip that was the “coolest” for me
was walking through George
and Martha’s house at Mt. Vernon.
As our group made the walk up to the Washington’s
house, I couldn’t help but feel as though I would somehow
run into George himself com-ing down the path or tending
to his herd in the field. Dirt road, trees, fencing, and an
old Potomac River are what we found near the house. My
mind began racing as I en-
tered the home, some of which was completely original, un-
touched by refurbishing hands. I couldn’t help but think
what George must have
sirens in the darkness.
Whether the voices told him to lead the nation or not, he did.
If you listen carefully when you make the journey to his
house, you can hear them too!
Top: A crowd of people gather around George Washington’s house. Below: Students gather in front of a statue of Eleanor Roosevelt at the FDR Memorial.
Page 6 Newsletter Title
will be plenty of young hopefuls
ready to take their shot at a former legend!
Our Chess Club Members include: Jack Alvarez, Susie
Kreuz, Elizabeth Montalvo,
Nicole Suhm, Calvin Duong, Jack Quick, Joe Leone
Alex Arnott, Nate Kies
The 2010 Spartan Chess
Club has been meeting twice a week at Summit Hill Junior
High. At every meeting, play-ers, strategizing to outduel and
outsmart their opponents,
bring fierce competition to the table . Club members range
from seasoned veterans to beginning players, but all stu-
dents have grown in their knowledge and appreciation for
this great game. Young chess pros in the making have given
Mr. Hagen all that he can han-dle; however, Mr. Hagen has yet
to be defeated! Mr. Hagen’s father, a former high school
chess champion himself, will be
coming soon to a Spartan Chess Club meeting and there
Bryon Nush, Jimmy Kreuz
Matt Juskie, Allie Dunnett Kaelynn Moss, Courtney Suggs
Eric Myers, Mike Wells, Brittany Hall, Justin Broderick, Josh
Arvia, Eric Myers, Shar Taylor,
Omar Abu-Hijeh, and Emily Howard.
Chess Club—We’re Not Your Average Pawn!
Mrs. Condon and Mrs. O’Keefe– Reading Specialist
Family Fun Night Can
Increase Vocaulary Make learning new words a fun part of your family routine.
There are several popular games on the market that can
develop thinking and vocabulary skills through a fun and casual
atmosphere. By playing word games with your family, you can
combine family fun time and
word development at the same
time. You might have some of these games tucked away in a
closet or basement. Dust them off, make some popcorn, gather
the family, and find some time
to play! Try any of these games: Boggle,
Scrabble, Upwords, Catch Phrase, Scattergories, Imagine
It, Outburst, Taboo, Tribond, Password and/or Balderdash.
“When you see a good
move, look for a better
one.”
~Emanuel Lasker
Dear Parents/Guardians:
We are in the final stretch of the year as we enter fourth
quarter. I would like to express my appreciation to the parents
and staff for assisting me in
helping our students under-stand that the assessments
they have taken this year, NWEA and ISATs, are important and
the results are a critical fea-ture of their academic profile.
We continue to encourage stu-
dents to understand what the assessment results mean and
how it’s important to prioritize doing their personal best.
We are proud of the dedi-
cation and the effort expended by our students and our teach-
ers as they continue to work hard to display their talents
either in the classroom, in the performance arena, in compe-
titions and/or on the playing
fields. Our Spartan programs have been extremely success-
ful this year and this is directly correlated to the support from
our parents.
Parents, please remem-ber, sometimes the smallest bit
of encouragement and praise makes a huge difference in a
student’s attitude and perform-ance. Your active support at
Page 7 Volume 3, Issue 3
A Note from the Principal
SH Staff, Parents and Students,
I know individuals make New Years resolutions and do their best to keep them. Let me give some good information regarding diet changes. There are several manufacturers that come up short on the itemized list for the food labels. Therefore, please be very careful to check the food labels before
purchasing the items needed. There are some foods that sound healthy, but are packed with calories. For example, a plain yogurt naturally contains about 16 grams of sugar per cup. If you eat flavored yogurt, you could be downing 15 or more additional grams of sugar. Therefore, take plain yogurt
and add fresh fruit. Also, when the manufacturers remove the sweet stuff from sugar-free cookies and candy, they often add fat. So, if you’re craving a
cookie, a good substitute would be a graham cracker. They taste like cookies but have much less sugar (1 teaspoon). Another culprit in disguise is trail mix. One ounce of banana chips pack ten grams of fat (they're usually deep-fried). Yogurt-covered raisins are also not good diet choices because they
are coated with partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil, which, contains saturated and trans fats. Instead, you could toss your own trail mix with nuts, dried fruit (raisins or chopped apricots), whole-grain cereal,
and mini pretzels. Another guilty diet buster is ground turkey, which often includes fat and skin. A three ounce serving can contain 13 grams of fat---almost triple the amount in lean ground beef. Look closely at
labels! Extra-lean turkey is your best bet with 1 gram of fat and no saturated fat per serving. Can't find
it? Buy at least 92% lean ground beef. I am signing off now. Stay healthy, keep moving. ~Nurse Lucy
A Note From Nurse Lucy
There has been so much
excitement at the SHJH library as students are enjoying the 20
Rebecca Caudill 2010 Award nominees. This program has
been a tremendous reading
incentive for all students. A Summit Hill Educational Foun-
dation grant purchased four copies of each of the 20 titles.
Students are earning free treat day certificates for every five
nominees they read and com-plete an Accelerated Reader
Quiz. They are earning $5.00
Border Gift Certificates for every 10 books read and a Mar-
cus Theatre pass for every 15 books read. A surprise will be
given for the students who
read and take AR quizzes on all 20 titles. The SHJH SCO has
supported the Rebecca Caudill program by providing all of the
prizes for students. A special book cart has been designated
in the SHJH library to house these books in order to pro-
mote the program and also to
save students’ time when they are in the library. See my
teacher web page from the SHJH home page for a list of
the 20 titles.
Also, The EBSCO online data-base has been used by many
classes for research on a vari-ety of topics in all core subject
areas. Students access EBSCO
at: https://
search.ebscohost.com
username: shjh ; password: lib.
A Note from our School Librarian, Ms. Noonan
This database can be accessed
from home or school. Using an online database provides credi-
ble resources and sources of information from professional
journals, magazines, an ency-
clopedia, newspapers, etc., which is essential for students
who are learning research skills as they prepare for high
school and college. I teach students EBSCO use throughout
the year.
home significantly affects your
child’s school experience. As always, if you have a concern
with your child or would like to share a comment or have a
question answered, please
contact us. We are here to help! Have a safe and fun-filled
spring break.
~Mrs. Beth Lind
Ms. Beck’s students
should be commended for their growth and progress in the
area of writing. They have suc-cessfully implemented strate-
gies to develop well focused
pieces of writing with depth
and “out of the box” thinking. Students will continue to
gather strategies to add to their Writing Tools and make
continual progress throughout
the fourth quarter. Students
are reading a class novel which will serve as a source of writ-
ing inspiration.
when he is brought to live on a
ranch with a man named Walter Landis. It is a book that many
of my former students have given good reviews.
In grammar, we are just
beginning chapter 24, “Making
Ms. Greene’s reading
classes are beginning a novel study. We will be reading the
novel, Bearstone. Bearstone is the story of a young Indian boy
named Cloyd. The novel looks
at the experiences Cloyd faces
Words Agree.” Chapter 24
covers subject-verb agreement and agreement between pro-
nouns and antecedents. We will also continue our work in the
Vocabulary Workshop work-
book.
Page 8 Spartan 300
Ms. Greene– Reading & Language Arts
Ms. Beck– Language Arts
Team 8-1
My math classes have
been moving right along giving everything their all! The stu-
dents should be proud and keep up the hard work! They did a
great job preparing for ISATS!
In Honors Algebra, they
have begun to realize rational
equations are the key to open-ing the door to advanced alge-
bra topics. Algebra 1B has discovered the world of poly-
nomials. The students are able
to add, subtract, and multiply
view actual footage from the
previous Torino 2006 games, as well as the Vancouver 2010
winners. Athletes and scientists were interviewed, explaining
the physics behind every sport.
With the recent Vancouver
2010 Winter Olympics, we were very lucky to be able to take a
closer look at the secret behind the sports: Physics = science +
math! Students were able to
Mrs. Furmanek– Math
Mrs. Hollowell– Science
them, but little do they know
that factoring is coming soon. In Algebra 1A, the students are
up to their ears in linear equa-tions. They can graph them,
but will they be able to write
them?
We are continuing our
discovery of activities that use physics. Students have been
asked NOT to even attempt the Tablecloth trick without per-
mission and supervision!
In Mrs. McSpaden's class,
the students have wrapped up the WWII unit. Thanks to those
who brought pictures, artifacts,
and stories. For the next few weeks, we will be working on a
research project related to
WWII. All research, writing, editing, and typing will be done
Page 9 Volume 3, Issue 3
Mrs. McSpaden– Social Studies
evil side of man's nature and
turns himself into the nasty and villainous Mr. Hyde, the terror
of London! The laughs roll on as this farce spoofs Robert Louis
Stevenson's classic, DR. JEKYLL
AND MR. HYDE. An outrageous plot, terrible jokes and riotous
stage action combined to make this jolly entertainment a spoof
to remember.
On Saturday, January 30,
the Summit Hill Drama Club presented its night of “Science
Gone Wrong.” The Drama Club presented two one-act plays,
“Under Jekyll’s Hyde” and
“Attack of the Giant Grasshop-pers.”
In “Under Jekyll’s Hyde,” Dr. Henry Jekyll, a respectable
London doctor played by David Blakeman, experiments with the
Drama Club Productions Mix Science and Humor Together
Top Left: Pamela (Savanna Steck) and Abby (Tara Enright) get caught by Miss Shreke (Breánne Peacock) while trying the face cream. Bottom Left: Officer Seek (Brianna Cappos) takes on the evil Mr. Hyde (David Blakeman) Above: The cast of “Under Jekyll’s Hyde”
In “Attack of the Giant Grasshoppers,” students are at the science fair, and the exhib-
its are goofy: vegetarian pira-nha fish, Hamburger Helper
face cream and avocado-
flavored popcorn. Unfortu-nately, Pamela, played by Sa-
vanna Steck, has her green potato project rejected and she
vows revenge. Meanwhile, on the remote island of Malibula,
something awful has happened
at the "Unusual Bug Research
Center." The once friendly grasshoppers have turned
nasty. What has this to do with the science fair? The face
cream has the grasshoppers
as a prime ingredient. Anyone who slaps on the goop becomes
a grasshopper! The trapped students pin their hopes for
rescue on Captain Cracknuckle and his SWAT team.
in class. Wednesday quizzes
will resume on March 24 with Terms 1-65.
Studies and Reading. Amazing
creativity was shown as stu-dents depicted the novel and
the time period by creating scrapbooks, designing Power-
Points, interviewing grandpar-
ents, collecting artifacts, build-ing 3-D representations, and
directing videos. Our next cross-curricular
unit connecting Social Studies and Reading will involve the
World War II time period with a
focus on the Holocaust. Stu-
dents will be reading The Diary of Anne Frank while research-
ing the Holocaust and selecting culminating projects to reflect
their learning. A highlight of
the unit will be a visit from Mr. Sidney Finkel who will address
the 8th grade students on May 6th. Mr. Finkel’s perspective as
a survivor of the Holocaust will give our students a first hand
account of the tragedies he endured.
In Mrs. Miller’s and Mrs.
Rodgers’s classes, students have just finished their cross-
curricular unit on the Great Depression by reading No Promises in the Wind by Irene
Hunt. Students responded to the chapters by taking part in
literature circle roles followed by small group and large group
discussions. Their culminating project for the unit earned
them points in both Social
Page 10 Spartan 300
Mrs. Mil ler– Language Arts
Ms. Rodgers– Language Arts
Team 8-2
“Perserverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.” ~Newt
Gingrich
It has been an exciting
time for Social Studies in Mr. Evenhouse’s class. We have
finally entered the 20th century of history and are enjoying
being able to make connections
with what we are learning. We began by talking about World
War One and focusing espe-cially on the United States’
involvement. From there we
discussed the Roaring Twenties
and the Great Depression. We focused our attention during
the Great Depression on FDR’s response as well as on trying
to understand how the depres-
sion affected people on an individual level. We will be
finishing the quarter up with a look at the Second World War
and the Holocaust.
working on quadratic equations
and FACTORING! The honor students will
take a cumulative test on eve-rything they learned from last
year and this year, and will
Mrs. Zayed's math classes
have finished up their Geome-try unit. Students in the 1A
class will be exploring the world of graphing and slope,
while students in 1B will be
move on to Algebra 2. In Alge-
bra 2, they will have the oppor-tunity to review, as well as
further their algebra skills such as solving system of
equations involving three vari-
we’re exploring the Earth’s
layers, Pangea, plate tectonics, the New Madrid seismic zone
and safety precautions for earthquakes. A Problem Based
Learning (PBL) model will be
utilized to teach the informa-tion. The students will be re-
quired to research information and write a 1-2 page expository
paper for the PBL unit. Their
final project will involve a PowerPoint presentation,
poster or a short movie clip. As I tell the students, “it’s all
down hill from here” as the
school year is starting to wind down.
H2O and C6H12O6 are well-
known compounds in our eve-ryday lives. We have been
exploring the world of chemis-try and chemical reactions.
The students lit matches and
extinguished them during the foamite lab and burned Flaming
Hot Cheetos to measure an exothermic reaction. Next
Page 11 Volume 3, Issue 3
Mrs. Zayed– Math
Mrs. Szymanski– Science
Mr. Evenhouse– Social Studies
“No one can possibly have lived through the
Great Depression without being scarred by it.
No amount of experience since the depression
can convince someone who has lived through it
that the world is safe economically.” ~Isaac
Asimov
ables, solving matrices, using
determinants and Cramer's Rule to solve system of equa-
tions, and use inverse matrices to decode messages.
Ms. Marinucci's class has
been working on ISAT practice and persuasives and will soon
be studying the novel Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a novel about
the Holocaust. For the final
quarter, expect more writing practice and literature circles,
where the students choose
their own novel to study and present creative dramatical
projects. The students worked hard on their ISAT tests and I
thank them. This is a great
group of kids!
Page 12 Spartan 300
Ms. Marinucci– Language Arts
Team 8-3
We have made it through
our exploration of the causes and results of World War II and
the Holocaust. The students have also been exploring the
changes that came after the
war. This includes the United
State’s new global responsibil-
ity as protector of Western democracy, American social
reform and equal rights. Along the way we will examine how
and why America became in-
volved in Korea and Vietnam.
extended responses. The stu-
dents are learning and applying math test-taking strategies.
When ISAT is finished, Algebra 1A students will be graphing
linear equations and functions.
After working hard, the
Cougars have completed the Geometry unit! They have also
been focusing on preparing for ISAT by taking practice tests,
and practicing short, as well as
Algebra 1B students will be
exploring exponents and expo-nential functions.
Happy Pi Day!! (March 14 = 3.14 = first 3 digits
of pi)
ing earthquakes and our risks
in the Midwest. This will culmi-nate with student’s group pres-
entations as well as individual student research papers. Look
for more exciting details to
come!
We have just wrapped up
our exciting chemistry tour, ending with the ever popular
“Flamin Hot Cheeto lab”. New and exciting things are going to
be happening in science class!
We will be taking on a problem based learning activity involv-
Ms. Bottomley– Algebra
Mrs. Schlesselman– Science
Mr. Chrusciel– Social Studies
“Those who cannot remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.”
~George Santayana
they will compare and contrast
his work. In doing so, they will examine mood, tone, theme,
and symbolism. After Spring Break, we will continue to focus
on symbolism and characteri-
zation while reading a class novel.
We’ve strengthened our
writing skills in both persuasive writing and narrative writing.
We’ve also been working on poetry and the “art of perform-
ance poetry.” Students are
now beginning to focus on the work of Edgar Allan Poe, and
Ms. Canter– Language Arts
Page 13 Volume 3, Issue 3
Above: In Ms. Canter’s Language Arts class,
students had fun performing “Casey at the Bat”
during a poetry unit. Pictured above from left
to right are: Amanda Kemp, Brittany Booth,
Molly Thacker, Nick Garcia, Ms. Canter, JaMarr
Sanders, Jimmy Dusek, Austin Grossi, and Matt
Delgrosso.
Right: Poetry performers in Ms. Canter’s Lan-
guage Arts class pose for a picture. Pictured
from left to right are: Sarah Berger, Gina Krze-
biot, Kaitlyn Kilpatrick, Amanda Cleofe
A few students in Mrs.
Goebel’s class took the oppor-tunity to write for our class
newsletter again this quarter. Here are their perspectives:
“’I-SAT, YOU-SAT, WE ALL
SAT FOR ISAT!’ was our main focus this quarter in Mrs.
Goebel’s gifted class. Our groups were all given a topic to
teach to the class. The best part about teaching the class
was making the ISAT lesson posters! We found that our
favorite activity this quarter was our vocabulary lessons
from our Vocabulary Workshop book because it taught us new
words and we were able to
remember them and use them in our writing. Poetry is our
newest unit and we now know how to read and understand it!
We didn’t think we really en-joyed poetry until now! We also
read the novel, “The Watsons
Go to Birmingham” and learned
about the issues people faced in the 1960’s. One of our spe-
cial treats this quarter was receiving our free time. We
earned stickers for excelling in
class and deserved it!”
“This quarter in Mrs. Goebel’s reading and language
arts class, our favorite activity was reading the novel “Fever”
and completing the fun projects that went with it! One specific
project that we completed was
Tic-Tac-Toe where we were able to create advertisements,
songs, and collages. Poetry is our newest topic that we have
learned about and enjoy. We were able to write What Would
Happen If… poems that truly
showed our creativity! One
cool tool we’ve used throughout the year is called Q-TIPS, which
we’ve used to help our daily writing. The most useful infor-
mation that we’ve gained is
from reading for Accelerated Reader because we can read
for enjoyment and learn at the same time. Finally, using our
“Eggspert” classroom game system keeps our learning
exciting and fun!”
guage Arts students have also
been focusing on their inde-pendent reading. Two Inde-
pendent Novel Studies (INS) are being completed this quar-
ter. The first INS was differen-
tiated by choice of genre: ei-ther fiction or nonfiction book
reports. These are currently displayed in the classroom to
share. A biography is the as-signment for the second INS,
but the product has been differ-
entiated. Students may choose to report on their selected
biography via a report form, a time-line, or a comic strip.
Work is in progress for the
biography projects at this time. The students have enjoyed
being able to choose their own projects, and we all look for-
ward to viewing the final prod-ucts.
This is such a busy time of
year! The 7th-grade Language Arts students in Mrs. Berg-
mann’s classes have been working very hard to prepare
for ISAT. Practice in Coach
books, writing to extended response prompts, and hands-
on activities help the students hone their reading skills and
concepts. In addition to the extra preparation, the Lan-
Page 14 Spartan 300
Mrs. Bergmann– Language Arts
Mrs. Goebel– Language Arts
Team 7-1
“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”
~ Lewis Carroll
cepts of alternate interior
angles, alternate exterior an-gles, corresponding angles,
vertical angles, and adjacent angles. We will be having a pi-
reciting contest in class on
March 12! The overall winner will earn a real pie!
Team 7-1’s math classes
have been full of geometry activities! We measured our
bedrooms and bathrooms at home to determine the perime-
ter and area. Also, using
masking tape on the floor to form parallel lines and trans-
versals, we mastered the con-
Page 15 Volume 3, Issue 3
Mrs. Christensen– Math
brochure on the information
they have learned. In the future the students will attempt to
recreate a Jurassic Park. Do you think it’s possible? The
honors class will debate clon-
ing. What side are you on? Lastly, the Beebops and dogs
will be on the loose when we finish learning the ins and outs
of heredity.
We have welcomed Mr.
Zenawick from GSU as our student teacher for the semes-
ter. He has joined our class just in time to teach the stu-
dents about cells and their
processes. Classes have fin-ished the mitosis songs and
posters. To bring the informa-tion to the “real” world the
students have chosen a cancer to research and are creating a
Mrs. Ostrowski– Science
To prepare for our up-
coming math competitions in March , the seventh grade
math team has been conquer-ing some tough ath problems in
the areas of Order of Opera-
tions, Fractions/Decimals/Percents, etc. Wish us luck for
our first contest on March 17th!
Math Team Gearing Up for Competit ions
Did you know that we
completed the ISATs in the first week of March? In Mr. Barnas’
and Mrs. Heiden’s classes we prepared for the tests by writ-
ing extended responses and
reading short stories and an-swering test questions. Since
ISATs are finished, we will be working on poetry and persua-
sive writing.
Page 16 Spartan 300
Mr. Barnas- Language Arts
Team 7-2
By: Ellie Brtis
and Jackie
Farquhar
“Education makes a people easy to lead, but
difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to
enslave.”
~Lord Brougham
Geometry! Slopes! Equa-
tions! In Mrs. Blevins’ math classes we learned the basic
concepts of geometry, in order to prepare us for the ISATs.
We also learned about slope-
intercept form and solving linear equations.
Mrs. Blevins– Math
Ms. Trotta’s social studies
classes are flying through American history. We took the
U.S. Constitution test in Janu-ary and now we are learning
about our first presidents. We
will be taking the IL Constitution test in the 4th quarter, so we
will know how our state and national governments run by
the end of the year!
Page 17 Volume 3, Issue 3
Ms. Trotta– Social Studies
Mrs. Heiden's language
arts classes have gotten off to a good start. They are busy
reviewing subjects, predicates, nouns, and pronouns. Further-
more, the students are busy
writing stories in groups using their vocabulary words. The
concentration in reading this
quarter is non-fiction, so many non-fiction essays have been
read. In two weeks, the honors class will begin reading the
novel, The Pigman, by Paul
Zindel.
Mrs. Heiden– Language Arts
In Mrs. Stemen’s
science classes we have been learning about the periodic
table. We made flashcards for every single element, and have
been participating in different
labs! In Honors science, we
made baby storybooks for an
element and in the regular science classes we adopted an
element.
Mrs. Stemen– Science
down their figurative language
and delving into their use of the poetic word. The students have
been doing an impressive job breaking through the
“nonprose” styles of some
pretty big time poets. Even though the junior high mind
would rather think about vam-pires or PS3, our poetry unit
has been quite successful so far.
The writing has not
ceased! After just finishing up persuasive essays, we are now
into our “mind-opening” poetry writing. We will enter our
yearly contest to see how many
students will be published in the Celebration of Young Poets
anthology. And speaking of poetry…
Noyes, Poe, and Service are not safe! We have been breaking
Page 18 Spartan 300
Mr. Sull ivan– Language Arts
Team 7-3
ferent chapters in the book.
In Algebra we will be learning about Chapter 5: Writ-
ing Linear Equations and Chap-ter 6: Solving and Graphing
Linear Inequalities. The stu-
dents will be graphing a lot during these chapters so they
need to make sure they have their graph paper handy.
In Pre-Algebra we will be learning about Chapter 3: Multi
After completing Chapter
4: Graphing Linear Equations and Functions in Algebra and
Chapter 2: Solving Equations in Pre-Algebra, we started our
Geometry Unit. The students
have learned about perimeter, area, circumference, volume,
surface area, distance, mid-points, and transversals. We
will be finishing this unit by mid-March and moving on to dif-
-step Equations and Inequali-
ties. Students will be learning how to solve more complex
equations. Students, please be re-
minded that if you need extra
help or more clarification about a topic, I stay after
school almost every day…You just need to let me know.
Mrs. Kelly– Algebra and Pre-Algebra.
selected Tic-Tac-Toe projects,
which brought out their artistic and musical talents. Currently
we are working on a poetry unit, which is exciting for us
because we are the detectives
and the poems are our myster-ies that we have to decode
through the use of poetic de-vices.
For Language Arts, we have been writing non-stop,
sharing stories about our
worst day of school for our
personal narrative prompt and making convincing and power-
ful arguments in our persua-sive essays, as well as continu-
ing to refine our literary re-
sponse writing and analytical skills. Overall, the past three
quarters have been a success and the final quarter will be the
culmination to a fantastic year of learning and maturing.
After reviewing the ele-
ments of fiction in short sto-ries, students in Ms. Wydra’s
Reading and Language Arts classes put their knowledge to
the test reading Fever, 1793, a
novel about a girl who lives through the horrors of the
Yellow Fever epidemic in Phila-delphia. After reading the
novel, students displayed their understanding of the story by
working on a series of student-
Ms. Wydra– English
We are currently working
on the concepts of "Westward Expansion" and
"Industrialization". Students are studying how the U.S. gov-
ernment acquired the lands
west of the Mississippi and how the lands were slowly devel-
oped by pioneers. We will soon
incorporate the novel Weasel in
advisory which deals with the problems of moving the natives
off of their land. As for Indus-trialization, students will learn
of advancements in machinery
which allowed for the growth of factories and factory towns
along the rivers in the northern
states. Students will learn the
benefits of Industrialization through a "Paper Airplane
Factory" simulation. As we near Spring Break, students
will be learning about Illinois
government and they will be taking the Illinois Constitution
test.
next week for all to view.
Life Sciences bring a new and vast array of fresh con-
cepts. We are beginning with the Animal and Plant Cell. We
have constructed the cells and
have taken a journey to the “Organelle Trail”. Students
recreated a Western town and compared different establish-
ments at the time with the animal cell parts. This analogy
will help them cement these important building foundations
of Biology. We did “Genetics with a Smile” Lab, in which the
students created a smiley faced based on dominant and
recessive genes. The Bee Bop
Lab also paralled Genetics and used alleles, genotypes and
phenotypes. The Punnett
Square was introduced and we look forward to investigating
Mitosis, Meiosis, Cellular Activi-ties and more. The students will
be classifying the animal king-
dom and this unit incorporates our “Design Your Own Experi-
ment” with earthworms. Note taking skills are being strength-
ened as we fine tune these strategies for 8th grade.
I am so proud of our 7th grade students and their in-
quiry method that they have developed through labs and
discussions. Our Junior Biolo-gists are now heading down a
very exciting path and I hope
they enjoy the adventure and learn as much as they can.
Our 7th grade students
have just left the world of Chemistry and are heading into
the exciting arena of Biology – Life Sciences. Our Junior
Chemists focused on
The Periodic Table of Elements, the make-up of the atom, physi-
cal and chemical changes, and the states of matter. We par-
ticipated in labs and practicals, in which we identified elements,
compounds and mixtures. Teacher demonstrations were
performed to identify the types of changes that occur. The
students culminated this unit with an Element Baby Book that
included all that we learned
throughout Chemistry. They will be on display in the library
Page 19 Volume 3, Issue 3
Mrs. Hartley– Science
Mrs. Lane– Social Studies
Page 20 Spartan 300
Encore
This term, there has been
a lot of fun going on at the forensic science station in Mrs.
Hauser’s class in Summit Hill Junior High! In forensic science
you learn about forensic sci-
ence and do activities related to it.
When I interviewed my two partners at the forensic
science station, I asked what their favorite activity had been
so far. They both simultane-ously replied, “fingerprinting!”
Fingerprinting was one of the main activities and things you
can learn about at the forensic science station. The main rea-
son you learn about finger-
printing at the station is be-cause real forensic scientists
use fingerprints to identify people. The fingerprint can be
used to identify people because everyone’s is different! So, as
one of the main activities at the
station, we have to take our
partners finger prints and put them on an identification card
identical to the ones that real scientist and FBI agents use!
Fingerprinting is just one of the
many activities in forensics! When I asked my partners
about any other favorite activi-ties in forensic science, one of
them said “using the pro-scope.” The proscope is a
device that is used by forensic scientists to help find fiber on
materials. The proscope does this by using its very powerful
lens, and showing magnified images of whatever object you
are looking at on the computer!
The proscope and discovering fibers are so important to
forensic science because fi-bers are collected on everyone
and can give you good evidence and clues for a crime. There is
also one more interesting thing
Mrs. Hauser– Applied Tech
in forensic science though!
In forensics, my group learned a lot about the history of
crime solving and investigating. One fact that I know no one else
would ever have guessed that my
group learned in forensics, was that Mark Twain, was the first
person in the United States to raise awareness of the impor-
tance of fingerprint taking! Also, we learned that many places
around the world require you to scan your fingerprint! Even Disney
world does, to make sure that you didn’t share or sell your passes to
someone else! Forensic Science is a great
experience at Summit Hill Junior
High and it has taught me and many others the fascinating lives
of forensic scientists! Forensic Science is definitely an interesting
profession and is a very good learning experience for everyone!
Bottom: Krutin Kundaria, Jarod Glawe and Alex Maksymiak dust for fingerprints.
draw these same boxes with
more detail to become furni-ture. Each student was given a
$2000 budget to design their dream room. Requirements for
the room consisted of a few
simple furniture items: a bed, side table, dresser, and a lamp.
Two gallons of paint were an automatic $40 from the stu-
dents’ budgets, but all molding, floors, windows, and doors did
not affect the students’ budget so they could focus on the
furniture. The rooms were colored
using color pencils. Students studied value and blending
techniques during this process,
creating highlights, shadows, and everything in between.
Finally, the students cre-ated a poster with images of
their original furniture from magazines and catalogs, their
budget breakdown, and their room drawing. The students
were extremely successful with their dream room projects and
I am very proud of how they
turned out. Great job Term Three!
Art Students Design
their Dream Room on a
Budget!
What would your room
look like if you were able to design it any way you wanted?
Third term art students experi-enced this challenge involving
vocabulary, math, science, problem solving skills, and
creativity all in one project! We began the project with
a “practice project.” Students studied one-point perspective
vocabulary in relation to the
project. For those of you who do not know, perspective is a
science involving proportion and the study of the size and
space of objects in relation to one another. They created a
simple box design which was shaded using permanent
marker to create a pointillism technique with our value study.
The classes carried these
same ideas over to their next project entitled “One-point
Perspective Dream Room” in which they used perspective to
Ms. Doyle– Art
Volume 3, Issue 3
Pictured Dream Rooms: Top: Lauren Bowman, Right: Nick Niendorf, Bottom left: Katie Lowery, Bottom right: Casey Ervick.
Page 21
Spartan
UPCOMING DATES: March 27: Spaghetti Dinner at HW, 3-8 pm,
last concert begins at 8pm March 29: Percussion Ensemble Concert 6:30
pm at SHJH April 16: Jazz Bands will perform at Frankfort
Square School Art Fair, 6:30 pm April 24: IGSMA State Contest, hosted at SHJH
May 4: Jazz Coffeehouse Concert, 7pm, SHJH May 10: JH Bands’ Spring Concert & Awards,
7pm, SHJH May 14 & 15: SHJH Music Department Musical
Revue, 7 pm, SHJH
Page 22
Bands will be competing in the
IGSMA District VI Organizational Contest, hosted in Manhattan.
Each band will perform three pieces and be judged by a panel
of three adjudicators. If they
receive a first division rating, they are eligible to compete in
the IGSMA State Organizational Contest on Saturday, April 24th.
Summit Hill JH will be one of the state contest sites this
year! Do you enjoy fun music?
Do you like spaghetti? Then our annual Spaghetti Dinner is for
you! On Saturday, March 27, the Band Boosters will be present-
ing their 17th annual Spaghetti
Dinner at Walker school. Dinner will be served from 3:00 until
8:00 and our district’s four concert bands will be perform-
ing throughout the day. Our
junior high Concert Band per-forms at 6:30 and the Sym-
phonic Band will take the floor at 8:00 pm. Tickets are $6 and
are available from any band
member or at the door. This is the sole fundraiser that the
Band Boosters do each year. Funds raised support the band
program in our district for grades 5 through 8.
Our Percussion Ensemble will be presenting their “Night
of Percussion” Concert at 6:30 pm on Monday, March 29 in the
band room, featuring our three percussion ensembles. They
will be playing pieces ranging
from “Lions, Tigers and Bears” to “Fresh Trash” on giant alu-
minum trash cans. This is a fun concert that the groups have
been preparing for all year long. Be prepared for LOUD!
Ms. Coughlin– Band
On Saturday, February 13,
approximately 60 band stu-dents participated in the Illinois
grade School Music Association Solo & Ensemble Contest. There
were 49 entries and our stu-
dents earned a total of 45 first division ratings! In addition,
four entries received perfect scores! Earning these perfect
scores were seventh grader AJ Brattoli for his tuba solo; a flute
duet by seventh graders Amanda Jackson and Alison
DeBruyn; a flute duet by sev-enth graders Nicole Collopy and
Brittany Patla, and a clarinet quartet composed of seventh
graders Josh Arvia, Montana
Johnson, Jon Jellison and eighth grader Alec Chase.
On Friday, March 12, the SHJH Concert and Symphonic
included a variety of vocal
warm-ups, vocal exercises, and rehearsal of choral repertoire.
Two of the students’ favorite pieces were “Here Comes the
Sun” by the Beatles and “Don’t
All three sections of Encore
Choir were met with great success during the third term!
Students learned about music theory, sight singing, and good
vocal technique. Daily classes
Stop Believin’” by Journey. The
students capped off the end of the term with performances
for Mrs. Christensen’s math classes.
Mrs. Goddard– Choir
Left: (Left to Right) Front Row: Delaney Creamer, Ashley Bettenhausen; Second Row: Paige Kurkechian, Michelle Housh, Maddie Witt, Savanna Steck, Nicole Suhm Third Row: Lisa Lederer, Lauren Leganski, Kaitlyn Kilpatrick, Katie Sheehan, Bailey Olson, Abbey Coleman, Luke Dahleen, Bree Zyer, Autumn Marcin-kowski Above: (front to back) Jennifer Michuda, Jillian
Nast, and Kara McCauley