Thursday, January 14, 2016

2016 HMS Spelling Bee

Congratulations to the following students who participated in the 2016 HMS Spelling Bee Finals: 

5th Grade Finalists: Lilijana Allen and Ben Sanborn
6th Grade Finalists: Stefan Bell and Eero Hoffsten 
7th Grade Finalists: Evan Lucca, and Davis Young
8th Grade Finalist: Cloe DeCristoforo and Will Nicholas
 

These students are to be commended for their knowledge and perseverance during this competition!

Congratulations to Stefan Bell and Evan Lucca, FINALISTS in 2016 Spelling Bee! Stefan and Evan will participate in the County Spelling Bee.

Special thanks to Mrs. Kilpatrick for her facilitation of the HMS Bee. 

Thanks to Holly Allen for these photos:

Stefan Bell, Molly Kilpatrick, and Evan Lucca





Lilijana Allen, Cloe DeCristoforo, Eero Hoffsten, Stefan Bell, Evan Lucca, Davis Young, Ben Sanborn, Will Nicholas-not pictured here given his participation in a ski event

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

2016 HMS Geo Bee

Monday, January 11, 2016

7th/8th Grade Math Team Competes in Saco

Jay Harrington, 7th/8th Math Team Advisor shared the following information about a recent meet. Congratulations to all!

Before break, the 7th Grade Math Team travelled to Saco Middle School, fielding a competitive team for the first time in over two years. The cafeteria was packed wall-to-wall! The team voted to take a competitive disadvantage so that they could compete against each other boys vs. girls. Both groups solved some really tough, complex problems. I would recommend asking the girls if you want to know which group scored the highest! 
 
A great time was had by all and we're looking forward to next month's meet at The Middle School of the Kennebunks.

Inline image 1

The "Boys" Team: (left to right) G.W. Ruth, Evan Van Lonkhuyzen, Michael Krah, Erik Borda, and Evan LuccaThe "Girls" Team: (left to right)Anushka Canfield, Natalie Teare, Parker Harnett, Puja Patel, and Zoe Siegel

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Yarmouth Digital Media Club featured in the Forcaster

Please enjoy the article below, which was featured in the Forecaster on 12.28.15.

Yarmouth school club puts digital media skills to work


YARMOUTH — A lot of kids use digital media in the classroom and at home. At Harrison Middle School, students have made it part of their extracurricular activities, too.The goal of the Digital Media Club is to “mostly just develop some skills around video production, but also to show them it can be fun,” said Mike Arsenault, the instructional technology integrator who advises club members.

According to Arsenault, more than a dozen students participate, most of them fifth- and sixth-graders. The club, which was started last year by a student who now attends Yarmouth High School, was able to buy technology and equipment with a grant from the Yarmouth Education Foundation. Around $6,000 from YEF was used to purchase cameras, Final Cut Pro video editing software, cases, tripods, shoulder mounts, microphones and an iMac computer.

“My goal is to introduce the kids to the tools so they can use them in the classroom,” Arsenault said. The kids mostly work on video production in the club, but Arsenault said they’re free to work on a variety of things, such as photo editing, animation and using GarageBand software. “A lot of this is creating whatever they feel like creating,” he said.

One thing the club recently created was a video with 317 Main Community Music Center. Arsenault said the club was approached by Amy Sinclair, the music center’s director of marketing and communications, about collaborating on the project.“She was great working with kids through the shoot and with editing after the shoot,” Arsenault said.

Five students worked with 317 Main to create Project Wonderland, a holiday video showcasing musicians at the center. The students did camera work and editing, and were also in the video.Seventh-grader Eleanor Zimmerman said she used a lot of skills she already had when working on the video, but also learned new things about editing. “I really like editing,” she said. “It was really fun.” Arsenault said he was impressed by the work the students did on the project. “I knew it’d come out well, but I was pleasantly surprised,” he said. “They did a great job with it.”

The club doesn’t have any plans to partner with community organizations in the future, but will focus on doing school projects, Arsenault said. “There’s always so many great things going on within the school, but we don’t always promote them enough,” he said.

Although Arsenault wants to do more digital media projects at Harrison Middle, the school already is known for its innovative technology. It has been named an Apple Distinguished School since 2007, with the exception of the 2013-14 school year. According to Arsenault, the award is presented to schools that have innovative learning and teaching, ongoing professional learning, a flexible learning environment and also show visionary leadership.

Arsenault, who’s a Google Certified Innovator, said the club is a great way for kids to learn about digital media but, more importantly, it’s a way for them to see that creating things with technology is fun. Zimmerman said the club has taught her both of Arsenault’s objectives. “Sometimes I wonder if I can do something on iMovie and Mr. Arsenault always knows, and helps me,” she said.

Kate Gardner can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 125 or kgardner@theforecaster.net. Follow her on Twitter: @katevgardner.


Mike Arsenault, Harrison Middle School’s instructional technology integrator, works with fifth-graders Finn Snow, left, Jackson Stewart, and Tommy Dollarhite at the Dec. 14 meeting of the school’s Digital Media Club.