Sorry...

I wanted to apologize for not posting for a few months.  Being at a new school and taking on a ton of responsibilities has kept me from posting like last year.  I am coaching multiple sports, leading some after school clubs, taking some professional development as well as working on my ESL endorsement and taking classes at the University of Chicago.  Fortunately, I have ton of blog posts coming up soon that will go over the past few months of the school year.  These will include interesting projects, sports, and unique school activities.  Stay Tuned......!!!! Mr. Parsons

Football Season

Our Peirce Panthers football season ended last week with a playoff loss.  Overall we finished our season at 5-4, but reached the Semi-finals of the Ravenswood-Ridge sports network.  To put that into perspective, we were one of the final 32 teams in the entire city left participating in football.

As a first year coach at Peirce I was uncertain what the team would be able to accomplish on the field.  Last year's team did not make the playoffs so I knew we had our work cut out for us.  We finished the regular season with a 3-3 record, defeating Brenneman, CMSA and Blaine while losing to Goudy, Hamilton and Uplift.  I knew our record did not reflect how hard these boys had worked all year.  We had lost those three games on the last play of each game and any of the three could have gone either way.

The playoffs proved that we were a good team.  We defeated Lagassiz 28-8 and then defeated Stockton 20-12 to reach the semi-finals.  In a rematch with Goudy we were defeated 24-12.  It was a hard fought game in tough conditions that Goudy ended up putting away in the second half after leading only 6-0 at halftime.

Aureliano Macedo catches a TD on our lineman pass!!

A tough Panthers defense readies for action

Defense ready to make a stand

I learned so much as a coach and mentor as well.  I hope to improve as a teacher and prepare them for life on and off the field.

While other teams may have been faster and were certainly bigger, we played with a ton of heart and played our game.  It may sound cliche, but it is the truth.  The boys worked hard in practice, helped each other out, and were mentioned numerous times for having upstanding sportsmanship.

I will miss the nine graduating 8th graders next year.  These boys will have success at the next level playing football.  They are: Elvis Martinez, Luis Correa, Marc Macedo, Aurelliano Macedo, Jonathan Minaey, Reno Delaflor, Christian Jones, Fernando Reyna and Keon Coleman.

Health and PE Update

First of all I want to take the time to apologize for not updating this blog much sooner in the school year.  I hope to update this weekly with photographs of class projects, individual student work, updates from our sports teams and the new school yearbook I will be leading for After School All-Stars.

The end of the first quarter is a few weeks away.  I want to make sure all the students and parents realize that Health class is a separate grade from the Physical Education grade.  Both classes meet on the same day and are usually split at 35 minutes each during our block schedule.

I am excited to announce that we were able to procure some brand new Health textbooks for the first time in many years.  This will add significantly to our Middle Years Program.  We are moving forward with our health topics and students will see a significant increase in the intensity of the workload as it will not only be challenging, but require them to do some work outside of the school day.

2011 School Year!

This summer was one of both great news and sad news for me personally.  The sad news happened when I had to say goodbye to my students and amazing co-workers at St. Sylvester School in Logan Square.  It was one of the betters years of my life and I am thankful for the opportunity to work at an excellent school with such great people.

Although this was a difficult decision to leave, I am truly excited and blessed to be a new member of the staff at Helen C. Peirce International School in Andersonville.  An outstanding and growing school with wonderful diversity that has a great track record and wonderful interaction with parents and the community.  I am looking forward to joining an excellent and highly motivated staff and meet the needs of all of my students.

I am looking forward to a wonderful 2011-2012 school year and can not wait to get started!!

Mr. Parsons

Summer Reading

The Dominican Reading Group will be reading the novel Al Capone Does My Shirts over the summer.  They were assigned a packet that highlighted multiple reading skills that we will focus on for next year.  The book can be found at any Chicago Public Library and can also be routed to your nearest branch for you convenience.  Please get a jump start on this so you can enjoy your summer.  I look forward to working with a new group of eager and excited readers in the fall!!  Please contact me if you have any questions.  Here is a quick link right to the book:  Chicago Public Library

Mr. Parsons

Reading Characters in Decoupage!!

The Dominican Reading Group finished their literature circle units by completing decoupage art of characters from their novels.  Decoupage is an art form where you glue paper onto other objects.  Often times this will be done with furniture or house ware products.

The students had 3 different novels, Park's Quest, The Watson's Go To Birmingham, and Snow Treasure to choose characters from.  The books were perfect for this type of project because each book had multiple characters with varying ethnic backgrounds.

The Snow Treasure Group

The Watson's Go To Birmingham Group

The Park's Quest Group

8th Grade Class Trip

I was fortunate to be able to go with a class I will miss dearly next year on their class trip.  We camped at Starved Rock in Utica, IL.  It was an enjoyable trip and the students learned so many new things.  Team building by putting their tents up was their first obstacle and they accomplished this task with a little nudge from their teacher :)  Overall, the students had fun being away from the city, hiking, playing soccer and baseball, sitting by a campfire and chasing raccoons away all night.

The bus trip to Starved Rock and passing over the Illinois River.

Here are a few pictures of the 8th grade class camping and enjoying some snacks after accomplishing their first task.  (Note the tents in the background)  A little friendly game of soccer between the boys and the girls took place on a wonderful open area of the campground. 

The hiking portion of our trip consisted of a 2 mile trek through the trails at the Starved Rock State Park.

The sunset at the top of Starved Rock.

 

What a wonderful way for the students to end their middle school careers.  A very peaceful, serene, and exciting journey for them to share together.