Hoofprint

by Margaret

The Martin Middle School has a great dance program. This is mainly because of the dance teacher, Mrs. Caves. She is nice to the students, professional, and she works hard. If it weren’t for her, lots of people would stop dancing at Martin.

Mrs. Caves respects the students about as much as the students respect her. She listens to them, she stays patient with them, and she helps all of them with everything they need to do.

Our dance teacher is very professional. If you’ve ever been to a dance performance, you know what I mean. All the kids look like they’ve been dancing their phrase all their lives. It’s because Mrs. Caves has spent hours working on each dance. She has to choreograph about 8 or 9 dances. She has to choreograph, teach, find music, and help everyone on every detail. Plus, she also has to take care of her little 5 year old boy too. Mr. Landry also works the lights, sound, and everything else.

Also, the dance elective would not be great without all the equipment. I mean the stage, the lights, the studio, the music, and everything else. Imagine sitting in the room with music coming out of a boom box! That is why I’m grateful for our dance program.

Everyone is always asking the question, “Why do I have so much homework?” A lot of people, kids, and parents think that homework does nothing and is just to make students miserable. Even though we don’t like to do it, think about teachers. They are only trying to help us.

We need to be prepared for tests, quizzes, Blue Diamonds, most importantly the EOG’s. If we didn’t have homework, how could we be prepared? How will we learn from our mistakes? We can’t learn what the correct answer is. So really next time your teacher gives you a really long and dreadful homework assignment, say “Thank you”, and think deeper into why they are giving it you. Think about how much they are helping you.

by Margaret

Bookadventure.com is a website that some Language Arts teachers use for grades. I think we shouldn’t have book adventures because we have to do it in school. Some people can’t do that because they have trouble finishing their work or have trouble understanding the work and don’t want to rush through it. We have to read 3 books every quarter, which causes us to rush through homework to get to reading and in 7th grade we have to also read The Outsiders which takes more time. Book adventure also counts for 2 test grades, in at least one team (Innovators). Book adventure also makes you stop reading for fun because you only have time for book adventure. Then it becomes a task to read. You stop reading unless it’s assigned. So I think we should stop doing book adventures right now.

Here at MMS, we should encourage a healthy diet. We all encourage eating breakfast a healthy way like fruit or cereal, but what about lunchtime? The cafeteria does not provide enough of a healthy choice of food. I think that we should provide more of a selection of fruits and vegetables. The produce should also be a little fresher and be required to take. I also think that there should be a smaller selection of cookies and dessert pastries for the sake of sugar rushes. Another good improvement would be not frying as much of the food. A little more non-fried food would be good. Many children suffer from obesity in America, and I think we should encourage better choices in the lunch room.

Here in Martin Middle School there are a lot of electives. Many of the electives are only offered in gifted and talented magnet schools.

Gifted & Talented Theme:

Description 1. Extensive elective menu for exploration of interests, acceleration, and rich, in-depth study in all subject areas to enhance the standard course of study.

2. Foreign language instruction offered through High School.

3. Expanded visual and performing arts opportunities

4. Extensive AP (advanced placement) course offerings in high school.

There only 3 middle schools that are GT schools in the county so you are lucky to be here. Some of the electives the school provides are Change the World Future Problem Solvers, Tar Heel Ghosts, and Electricity and Magnetism. The Electives are posted in different subject areas like Classic Mythology is listed under Language Art or American Woman is listed under Social Studies.

At Martin Middle School lunch seating is very organized. At lunch we all sit with our team and within our team we sit in periods. For this blog I interviewed some people and asked them what their opinion is on lunch seating and how they feel about it:

“I HATE lunch seating. I have no friends on my team and I have trouble opening up to people. So I am mad and want to sit with my friends (from) last year. So I say free seating every single day”. – Butterfly Girl 7th grade

“FREE SEATING. I say it's not fair for people to have to sit with people they don’t want to sit with. So free seating for everyone” – Pink Book Bag 7th grade

“I wish that I could sit with my friends. All my friends are on the Sharks and I hardly have a lot of friends on my team. It is just so frustrating”. – I like Stars 6th grade

“Well, the lunch seating is not so good. I don’t have a lot of friends and all of my friends are in different periods and that not cool”. - Monkey Man 8th grade

“I have a lot of friends. However there are none on my team. I am really tried of trying to make friends and all my other friends don’t have to”. – Best Friend 7th grade

You can see people have their opinions about the lunch seating. So I interviewed Mr. Soutter and I asked how he can make students get more of what they want.

He said “The better they behave and do not get in trouble the more privileges they can get”. I also asked him how he feels about the lunch seating and he said “I like the plan that I made and hope people follow it”.

Recently MMS had the first day of football tryouts. Everyone was working hard. At first, Coach Zimmerman made the team run 2 laps to get everyone warmed up. When they weren’t in their line correctly they had to run 2 laps. Some people were left behind so the whole team had to run back and run with them. Next, they were doing exercises to help their leg muscles. Last, they got on the wall on sat half way down and then raised their hands. Then they stuck one leg out at a time, first the right leg, then the left leg. The coaches had a practice meeting after tryouts were over where they talked about how tryouts went, and how it’s going to be tomorrow. Lastly everyone went to the bus loop to catch the activity bus. Based on what I saw, I think that MMS is going to have a decent football team this year. The players that I saw were pretty good.

On October 2nd 2009, the first school dance will happen here at Martin Middle School. The dance has pretty much no theme, but it is not completely formal either. You can wear pretty much anything, but it has to be school appropriate. This blog will suggest what you should wear. Since you are dancing and you are going to get sweaty, you should first put on some deodorant. Girls, we think it would be nice for us all to wear a nice t-shirt and some very cool shoes. The rest is up to you (but keep it within the dress code). Guys, we think you should wear a nice polo and some comfy jeans. Remember the theme is nothing so don’t get to dressed up. Sixth graders don’t sweat it about your first school dance, not everybody has to have a date and it is not that kind of dance.

By: Lauren

The MMS band is taught by Ms. Wilson and is challenging but it is very rewarding. You do a lot of concerts and have a lot of fun!

There are four different bands. The beginning band, intermediate band, jazz band, and concert band. In beginning band you learn the basic of playing in a band and you learn all about your instrument. In intermediate band you improve your skills and you increase your knowledge. Jazz band is a band that the whole school loves. In this band you will learn all about jazz! At concerts everyone just gets a kick out of all the fun songs that they play. Some of the songs that they have played in the past are: Mission Impossible, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, Mustang Sally, and the Adams Family! This fun band is made up of the: saxophone, the bari sax, electric guitar, bass guitar, piano, drums, and more. As you can see they play a bunch of fun songs with a great touch of jazz! Concert is one of the highest bands (Jazz is the other). You play some of the hardest songs but you also play some of the funnest songs. Sixth graders may not audition for either concert or jazz band. You are only allowed to audition in seventh and eighth grade.

As you can see you will have a lot of fun in band. You will have to work hard, but it’s something that you will enjoy! I can assure you that you will love it!

E-Hoofprint Contributor Chris sat down recently with Coach Calabrese and here's what she had to say...

How long have you been at Martin? Coach Calabrese: “6 years.”

Were you born in here? Couch Calabrese: “No, I was born in Ohio.”

Do you like working at Martin? Coach Calabrese: “Yes.”

Did you ever work at another gym? “Yes, I also worked at Leesville Middle School.”

What do you like working at Martin Middle School? Coach Calabrese: “I like the student and staff at Martin.”

Did you ever go to college? Coach Calabrese: “Yes, West Liberty State College.”

What is your favorite sport? Coach Calabrese:”Football.”

Have you ever traveled to another country? Coach Calabrese:”Yes, Mexico and Canada.”

Do you play an instrument? Coach Calabrese:”No.”

Did you ever play any sports as a kid? Coach Calabrese:”Yes, volleyball, basketball, track, and softball.”