In the Science Lab

Our 6-7 team spent a couple of days in the science lab analyzing soil to determine whether or not it was capable of growing plants for our Global Food Chain unit this marking period. See for yourselves what they discovered!

Crime Scene Investigators

Our 7th grade classes participated in a crime scene investigation project for their Unit 1 assessments. An actual crime scene was created in the school for students to analyze and compile data. They were to take their analysis and investigative work to decide who committed the crime and compile the evidence together. Take a look at some of their work!

Visit to the Dairy Farm

Our 6th grade classes visited, VDS Farms, LLC, a local dairy farm to start off their Unit 2 stories for their ELA classes. Students were given a list of questions to ask the farmer who conducted the tour and also took notes along the way. They had quite an experience!

Important dates as the new year starts

The school year is fast approaching and teachers and students alike will soon be getting into the swing of things. Are you ready to see all of the changes that have come to Milwood Magnet School during summer break? We have had many new renovations to make our biotechnology focus even stronger and put technology at the forefront of our students' learning experience.

The first opportunity of the school year for students to get a look at their class schedule, meet their teachers and get their lockers is September 2, at 6:30 pm, during the Ice Cream Social. This opportunity is generally very beneficial to students as a way of getting ready for the beginning of school. Students who are not able to attend will get the same information on the first day of school.

Other important dates as we begin the school year:

Tuesday, September 8th, will be our first day of school. Michigan law doesn't allow for schools to begin any earlier than the day after Labor Day. The first day is a half day. We will have three entry points, one for sixth graders in the back courtyard and two more for the 7th and 8th graders at the west side basketball courts. There will be lists posted at each entry door that will outline who everyone's advisory teacher is.

Teachers will come outside on the first day and will have a sign identifying who they are. The students will assemble with their designated teacher and will enter the building at approximately 7:30. The first half day will be spent entirely with the advisory teacher. We will review building procedures and expectations for behavior and responsibility thoroughly with all students. Teacher will walk out with their students at dismissal time, 10:35. Our first full day of school will be on September 9th.

Our official date for open house is Thursday, September 24, at 6:30 pm. This will be an opportunity for students to tour the building with their parents after they have been in school for a couple of weeks. Parents will have this opportunity to meet staff members and ask questions about school operations. We hope to see you then.

Upcoming events: Video Game Carnival

In just two weeks, Milwood Magnet School and the MMS Parent Advisory team will host its first video game night!



We are still looking for volunteers to lend their Wii and a game, their time, or resources for the evening, which will be May 15, 2009 from 5:30 - 9 pm. If you're interested, please contact Mary Hoyle at the school.

WGOM: Have you checked in on the salmon lately?

They have gotten big and will continue to double their size as the end of next month approaches, when we will release the salmon at a designated release location. The 7th grade students at Milwood Magnet School have enjoyed having salmon in the classroom and have gained a lot of knowledge from this project.

Earth Day 2009

In honor of Earth Day 2009, we have compiled a few resources to better help you and your students help the environment.

What is the importance of Earth Day and what does it mean to us?

Did you know...

38% of kids feel that the U.S. needs to improve what they're doing to protect the environment.
53% of kids feel that the global climate change is the most important environmental issue facing the world today.
47% of kids most admire a world leader who makes the environment a priority.
51% feel that their communities could better help the environment by using solar panels on new public buildings.
66% feel that it is the environment is their responsibility.

Source: Scholastic's 2009 Environmental Report Card

A few websites with fun environmental activities for you and your family:
Earthdaytv.net: lots of videos and information on Earth Day.
Waste Management's ThinkGreen.com for students grades 6 - 8.

How much energy do your appliances consume when they're not being used, but still plugged in?
Standby Power will show you the watt usage for many common appliances.

Opening today in theaters:
Disney's Earth follows three animal families around the planet and shows just how fragile our life and our planet really is.

Earth day 2009 from Zoltan Ladanyi on Vimeo.

Tech Tuesday: Blog Spotlight, pt. 1

Just what is this blogging thing?

Blog is a contracted form of weblog. In short, it has many uses and is most commonly described as a website that offers commentary, descriptions of events, graphics, or video. A blog is maintained by individuals and the information is generally displayed in reverse chronological order.

There are many types of blogs:
Personal: This type of blog is a journal of sorts, where an individual writes entries about his or her day in a sentimental manner. Few personal blogs become famous, although it is a fast and easy way to keep in touch with friends and family who you are unable to see on a daily basis.
Corporate: This type of blog is most commonly used by a business for marketing, branding, or public relations. The Lancer Letter falls under the categorization of corporate blog because it is used for the purpose of public relations with our parents and community members.
Question Blogging: A qlog answers questions that are submitted via an online form of some type, an email, or a VIOP telephone call.
A media blog: A blog that contains videos is called a vlog, one containing links is called a linklog, blogs containing photos are called photoblogs, shorter blogs with mixed media types are called tumbleblogs, and those written with typewriters, scanned in and posted are called typecasts.
A device blog: Blogs written with different devices have different classifications, as well. A blog written via mobile phone is called a moblog.
Genre blog: Blogs can focus on particular subjects, such as politics, travel, fashion, projects, education, niche, classical music, dreamlogs, art, music, or spamming (called a splog).

Source: Wikipedia.com

Are you interested in starting your own blog but don't know where to begin? Here are a few different free blog hosting sites and their benefits:

Blogger.com: Undisclosed amount of space to publish your blog. Owned by Google, Blogger.com combines with your Google account to enable you to publish photos and videos seemlessly. Each Google account has 1024 MB of space for file storage. You are able to purchase additional space (10 GB for $20/year up to 400 GB for $500/year). Setup and customization are fairly simple for Blogger and it allows you in incorporate Google's AdSense to help you earn money if you choose to do so with your blog, as well as Analytics to track who is viewing your blog. All of Bloggers features are free to use with no fees added on.

Wordpress.com: WordPress allows 3 GB of storage for your blog and all files associated with it for free. You are able to purchase additional space (5 GB for $20/year, up to 25 GB for $90/year). Setup is relatively easy, as is personalization with templates. You cannot, however, edit any templates with a free account so you are limited with that. The customizable CSS upgrade is an additional $15/year. Because Google owns Blogger, AdSense is not able to be used with WordPress, but it has built in blog stats to help you track who is viewing your blog.

There are other free blogging websites, but the listed two have been reviewed by many and are deemed the most popular, offering the most features, with little-to-know out-of-pocket cost for additional features. If you know of any other websites, please feel free to provide a link to it in the comments.

Stay tuned for next week's article on Blog Widgets!

WGOM: Welcome Back & a Field Trip!

We hope everyone had a fun and refreshing Spring Break! We return to Milwood Magnet School with a renewed focus to educate and learn. Before we left, our 8th Grade A&B teams went on a Gear-Up field trip to Western Michigan University. Students were able to explore the campus via a tour, where they saw everything from the Waldo Library, to a realistic dorm room, to a taste of campus life by having a lunch in a WMU cafeteria.

Students walked away from the experience knowing more about college than they did before the visit and had an idea of the preparations they would need to make in order to be ready for college. They were also able to get more information on what the Kalamazoo Promise will pay for in regards to college, as well.

Upcoming events: Wii Game Night

Milwood Magnet School Parent Advisory is organizing the first Wii Game Night. More details to come!




Today is the last day of school before Spring Break. We will return on Monday, April 13.

Tech Spotlight: Recommended Free Font Sites

In conjunction with the technology spotlight in the April newsletter, here are a few sites that offer free-ware fonts for download:

• 1001 Free Fonts
  


• DaFont.com


• Urban Fonts


• Font Freak


• Font Diner
  

If you're interested in purchasable fonts, here are a few sites to try as well:

• Fonts.com


• Font Garden


• LinoType

As always, please be careful with any file that you download.

6th Grade Biotechnology Unit 4 Presentations

Students on our 6th grade team researched a disease and predicted its impact on the population in Science. In Social Studies, they researched a particular region of Mexico and its interdependence with the United States. In Math, they correlated data from their research into a pie graph. In English, they wrote a story that tied both their Science and Social Studies research together. They presented all of their information together to a group of their peers recently.

Upcoming events: Literacy Night

Milwood Magnet School staff has been working hard to prepare for Literacy Night! Join us as we enter the world of The Uglies, based on the series by Scott Westerfeld. Watch the short video, below, for planned activities.

Alternatives to Internet Explorer

Has Internet Explorer not been meeting your needs? Are you the type of person who enjoys trying new things? Why not try a different web browser? I thought it might be helpful and fun to write about some of the other browsers out there and hopefully peek your interests enough to try a new one.

Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox (or just Firefox) is probably the most popular alternative to Internet Explorer. It has a very large user base, most likely because it is one of a few open-source web browsers (This means that the software is created and updated by the community, not a corporation. Anyone can alter the source code, or functionality of the browser). Firefox has many features that make it a worthwhile alternative, some of them being tabbed browsing, themes and add-on extensions. This last one, add-on extensions is probably the most appreciated feature. Firefox add-ons are user created utilities that extend the way that Firefox works. They add functionality that was not there before, and basically make the browsing experience either more personal, more productive or more enjoyable. To try out Mozilla Firefox, download it from the Mozilla website here: http://mozilla.com

Google Chrome

Google Chrome is a relatively new browser on the scene, but is gaining a lot of popularity and showing real potential. Created by the web company, Google, known for it's famous search engine, the browser boasts a few features not available in the other contenders that really make it stand out. Chrome introduces dynamic tabbed browsing, which means if a page locks up, it will just close the tab, not the entire browser. Another feature is the searchable address bar. This allows the user to type not only a webpage address into the address bar, but perform a keyword search as well, just like you would do on a search engine. Finally, the web browser has a special "Incognito Mode." This is a function that, when invoked, will not save any history, web cache, passwords or an personal data at all when browsing. This is especially appealing to those users who guard their privacy very dearly. Google Chrome is availible only for Windows XP or Vista at the present and can be downloaded here: http://google.com/chrome

Tech Tuesday: Photography Tips

Were you surprised with a digital camera over Christmas? Have you been trying to take award-winning photos with it? Or at least figure out how the whole photography thing works? Do you need some tips to get started but don't want to pay for costly classes?

We can't promise to make you an award-winning photographer, but we can offer a few tips! In general, here are a few things to remember:

* Photography is best accomplished during daylight hours. Dawn and dusk are the ideal time because that is when the lighting is best, but if you aren't able to during those hours, using a shaded area or anytime on a cloudy day will also work. The key is to use indirect lighting. If you take a photo with light directly overhead, you will notice harsh shadows. If you can't find indirect light or a shaded area, the best thing to do is use your flash. It will help to subdue the intensity of the shadows.

* Move your camera rather than use the zoom, if you are able. If you do have to use the zoom, try not to zoom as high as the camera will let you. Most standard digital cameras have 3-6x optical zoom. Anything above that is digital zoom, which is the same as cropping a photo with photo editing software. Most images taken using the digital zoom will be grainy and blurry.

* Hold your shutter button down halfway for a second or two before taking the photo. This allows the camera to automatically adjust the exposure, focus, and white balance settings. If you notice on your camera's screen that the image is still blurry, you may be too close to the object to take a clear photograph. Most cameras can handle and detect focus up to 3" away from an object. If you are closer than 3", then the photo may turn out blurry.

Photographing people:
* Frame in the head and shoulders or a full body.
* Using a flash in a dark room will cause redeye. Use the redeye setting on your camera's flash, if it has one, to help combat this problem. Otherwise, try to avoid taking photos in a dark room or after dusk outside.

Photographing places:
* Try to remember the rule of thirds. This will help the composition of your photos. Imagine a grid of four lines, making nine squares on your viewfinder. Important elements in your photo should be placed along one of the lines or an intersection of two lines.
* Use a tripod when you can. This will allow for straighter photos and less blur in low-light situations.

Photographing things:
* Use a plain background, especially if you are wanting the main focus of the photo to be on the item you are photographing. For dark objects, a lighter background is ideal. For lighter objects, a darker background is ideal.
* Use good lighting. Try to take the photo during daylight hours and without a flash, if possible.

WGOM: Family Computing Program!

Milwood Magnet School has begun the implementation of its Family Computing Program. This program offers families the opportunity to take part in the construction of a computing system for personal usage. The intent of this program is to expose current Milwood Magnet School families to technologies offered by the school, as well as bridge the "Digital Divide." Through this program, families will be given exposure to multiple computer-based tools that include: the Parent Internet Viewer (PIV) system, the Milwood Magnet School web site, and teacher blogs. The FCP offers the opportunity for academic growth in 21st century skills, as well as provides tools for parental support through the demystification of technology.

For more information, or to apply to be a part of our Family Computing Program, please visit Milwood Magnet School's FCP page.

WGOM: New visitors at Milwood!

The 7th grade science classes welcomed a couple of visitors this past week into their classrooms.

This little guy is a painted lady butterfly, still in larvae, or caterpillar, form. Students will watch the caterpillars through the pupal stage and hatch to become a butterfly.

The praying mantis is another visitor that made its arrival this week. It comes arrives as an egg case and will hatch into multiple mantises. This should happen in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned as we keep you updated on the care of our visitors!

WGOM: Check in on the Salmon!

Have you checked in on the salmon lately?



We're happy to be back in action again on The Lancer Letter and bring you more updates in the coming weeks.