Welcome

 Lyman Moore ,

eighth grade students! 

 

What changes can I expect in eighth grade? 

Lyman Moore Middle School remains the largest Portland middle school with over 550 students.  That is roughly 180 students or so in each grade, equally grouped into two Houses per grade.  The Houses remain the Katahdin House and the Cadillac House named after two famous Maine mountains.  Each House continues with the same core subjects, Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, Math, Foreign Language and Physical Education but the "electives" which are called "Related Arts" are different in 8th grade. 

This year, the "Related Arts" classes are two:  Art, with Ms. Barbara Loring, and Technical Education, with Mr. Rodney Richard. 

We continue with foreign language choices of:  Spanish, French, or Academic English.  Academic English is for those students who already speak a language at home other than English but need assistance with the demands of academic learning in English.   While our regular Academic English teacher is on leave to India for two years, we are pleased to welcome Mr. Ray St. Pierre and Ms. Stacey O'Donahue as teachers for Academic English this year. 

Other teachers who work with eighth grade students include chorus, music, special education, our Learning Strategist Ms. Erin Frazier who coordinates specialized plans and testing and our Teaching Strategist Mrs. Kathy Ballwho collaborates with teachers on many projects.   We are also very proud to have our Chapter 104 teachers as part of our team!

Scroll down and check out other areas of this site to see other changes you can expect in eighth grade!!!!!

How is it different from seventh grade? 

Making connections to the future and to high school is the key in eighth grade.  You will hear references to high school curriculum and habits of work.   Parents, students and teachers all feel this difference!  This is the exciting, yet also challenging time of increased responsibility and growing up.  Some differences students report from seventh to eighth grade include:

• Things begin to make more sense!
• More options for After-School activities
• Changes in friendships and intensity of those friendships -- your best friend and you may decide to go to different high schools and that independence surprises you and your parents.  Or on the other hand, you depend on people to "be there" when you thought you were used to going it alone and your sudden need for reassurance surprises you and your parents and your friends. 
• You begin to articulate who you "are" and what matters to you.  You get mad.  You pull away.  You get excited.  You dive in.  You confuse yourself and inspire yourself.  It's not easy being in 8th grade, but the mixture of feelings is N-O-R-M-A-L!
• You will experience the increased responsibility for your own school work.  Last year, you adjusted to the fact that teachers no longer reminded you again and again to turn in something or to find out about homework  if you were out sick.  This year they begin to expect you to speak up about your views and to do so clearly and with thoughtful reasoning.  You might enjoy a discussion (and you thought it was an argument!) with a teacher who you didn't really get to know before.  You're standing up for yourself about how you learn - and you'll see that you have more choices about what to learn and how to learn.  Projects, ideas, the way to demonstrate learning -- these will be areas that you can choose your own style much more in eighth grade.  
• Reading reamins a BIG deal at Lyman Moore (with Wide Reading and in Language Arts, Social Studies) but also you will find that when you dive in and explore a topic you enjoy or one that holds your interest, your reading improves, your understanding improves - and your ideas crystalize.   
• Meetings with teachers and parents will continue to happen during teacher House meeting time if you or your parents have a concern to address with all the House teachers together.  With these increased responsibilities for class participation and learning, you or your parents may want some increased communication as well and we can help make that happen.    

Who, What, Where, When and stuff:  

• WHO:  Lyman Moore now has two Houses in each grade and the Houses are called "Katahdin House" and "Cadillac House" in each grade.  Students in "Katahdin grade 8" House have "looped up" with their same peers and most of the same teachers and students in "Cadillac grade 8" House have also looped up with their same teachers and peers, same classrooms.  This way, Lyman Moore adopts a model used by the other two Portland middle schools, where each House becomes what is called a "vertical team" of students who stay together, in theory, for their whole three years of middle school life. 

 Katahdin House:  (previously called Mitchell House in sixth grade)  The Katahdin House grade 8 teachers this year are:  Rob Miller, Science; Lauren Cormier, Social Studies; Trudy Brown, Language Arts; and John Fabish, Math.

Cadillac House:  (previously called Acadia House in sixth grade).  The CadillacHouse grade 8 teachers this year are:  Pam Trieu, Science; David Hilton, Social Studies; Fionna Hopper, Language Arts; and Melissa Green, Math.

• WHAT:  Seventh grade students take  science, social studies, language arts, math and physical education. The "Related Arts" classes for seventh grade are:  Art; and Technical Education.  Katahdin-8 begins the year with Art, and Cadillac-8 begins the year with Tech Ed. 

 

• WHERE: The Katahdin grade 8 House is on the second floor of the building, where the Katahdin grade 7 House also is.  The Cadillac grade 8 House is on the first floor of the building, right in the same hallway as World Culture -- the Spanish, French, and Academic English classes. 

 

• WHEN:  The school day begins at   8:15 a.m. and ends at  2:25 p.m.  Student may enter the building at this point, at 8:10 a.m. (unless they come early for breakfast or for homework help -- available by request with many teachers and very frequently with me, school counselor!) and our school dismisses at 2:25 p.m.  We still have a SHORT DAY EVERY WEDNESDAY  for students while teachers participate in professional development and training -- Wednesday dismissal is 1:25. 

On Wednesdays, every Wednesday, students will be released at 1:25 p.m. The regular buses will run at the end of the day and the whole bit, it's just that it's an hour earlier.  Sports, practices and other after school activities will NOT begin until after the one hour of teacher development time, or may not happen at all on Wednesdays ---  we'll announce what activities are canceled and what activities will start late.   We will have NO LATE BUSES on these early release Wednesdays!

 

• OTHER STUFF: 

SCHOOL BUS:  The best way to check about the school bus is by contacting Portland School's Transportation Department directly at 874-8240 because some of the transportation requirements have changed this year.  In general, Middle School students must live greater than TWO miles from school to be eligible for the bus.  

 CAFETERIA:  All eighth graders have lunch at the same time in the cafeteria but we have a big change here.   We now no longer have one line for hot lunch and one separate line for a'la carte lunch.  Both lunch lines have the same options.  Students who want the hot lunch ($1.75 per day), students who qualify for free lunch (.00 cost) or reduced lunch (.40 cents per day) are all in the same serving line and students who want the salad and a'la carte side items, are also all together in the same serving line.    Houses generally sit with students only from that House, however, students who earn a "Falcon Pass" can join the students from the other House.