It's That Time Again! By TuAnh Nguyen & Melisa Tupkusic

Every February, Tyrrell Middle School comes alive with excitement about the annual Secret Valentine Flower Sale. It’s just the thing to liven up a dreary time of year. This fundraiser is run by Project Explore students, but the proceeds benefit all TMS students through the student activity fund. For just one dollar, students can send silk roses and matching valentines containing personalized messages to all of their friends and teachers at Tyrrell. Beginning the week before Valentine’s Day, Project Explore students will be selling these flowers and messages in the café during all lunch periods. Then, on Valentine's Day, they will be delivered to all homerooms.

This is a great way to make new friends, connect with old ones, or just send someone some cheer. Everyone surely enjoys receiving valentines...and yes, boys love receiving flowers, too! The only problem there has been with the Secret Valentine Flower Sale in the past is that the flowers always sell out before everyone has had the opportunity to buy them. More than 1,000 flowers will be sold! This shows how much Tyrrell Middle School looks forward to the flower sale every year. So if you don’t want to disappoint your friends, better buy early in the week, because once they’re gone, they’re gone!

Thanks to everyone who supports this annual sale. Whether you choose to send valentines to five friends or just one, you will be helping make TMS a better place, because caring is contagious!

Spotlight on...Mrs. Carroll By Evyn Callahan & Morgan Veronesi

This edition of The Tyrrell Times has the spotlight on Tyrrell’s most energetic and spectacular 8th grade special education teacher here at Tyrrell Middle School, and her name is Mrs. Carroll. Her favorite color is any shade of yellow, and her favorite Christmas carol to sing is, “Do You See What I See?” In her free time she enjoys cross-stitching. Cross-stitching is a popular form of counted thread embroidery which is usually in a square pattern. You may have not known, but Mrs. Carroll is also the coordinator of the TMS Dance Team, which means that she signs the whole team up for competitions and makes sure that everyone’s grades are up to par. Mrs. Carroll is very kind, and she doesn’t bite. So, if you want to go see her and her amazingly super smile that appears everyday, then go see her in Rm 303!

Looking Forward With Naviance By Serena Charbonneau & Angie Santos

Children should be able to explore a variety of career options. Some say middle school students are too young for this, but actually, their brains have developed to the point where they need to be thinking about the future. Naviance is a learning site where students may send and receive messages from guidance counselors, and also explore different careers online. When first logging on, visitors are greeted with a message welcoming them to this outstanding program. Next comes a quiz which asks many different questions about themselves.

We talked to Mrs. Hovland to get more info. Her main opinion of Naviance was, “ This site’s main purpose is to help students to learn more about themselves and their interests.” Mrs. Hovland also stated, “You will be able to explore different college and career options. On Naviance, you will be given a list of recommended sites that you may look at on the web.”

The fantastic feature is that students will be able to save the sites they visit and options they browse by simply saving it to a file on Naviance. Also, they will be able to look at this folder at any time, even next year. Keep in mind that students will be able to check Naviance in school and also at home. This will allow their parents to be part of this program also. So go ahead, and dare to dream about your future. It’s closer than you think!

Singing it Out By Anthony DeLuco

This year, the students of Tyrrell Middle School, along with many other students from schools around the state, are taking part in a singing challenge called Regionals. Regionals is a competition against yourself to see how well you can do. You go to your first rehearsal to practice a song for the audition. The music you learn at the rehearsal is the song the judges will critique you on. You are judged on tonality, pitch accuracy, rhythmic accuracy, technique, pronunciation, expression, scales, and sight singing. The results determine whether you made it in or not.

If you get past the judging, then you have to learn all of the other songs that the other schools have to study, learn, and sing to the judges. Once you learn these songs, you perform them at a spring festival along with the other people that made it. This festival will be held at Platt High School in Meriden on Saturday, March 2nd and Sunday March 3rd.

This is a great opportunity to really embrace your singing abilities and to challenge yourself to get better and work harder to achieve maximum potential. Even if you don't make it through to the finals, it’s a great challenge, and you should be proud for even
trying.

T - BONE Stankus By Gabby Leary and Emily Scarcella

Tom Stankus, also known as T-BONE Stankus, appeared at Tyrrell Middle School in his annual holiday sing-along. At the assembly, a variety of seasonal songs were sung such as “Dominic the Donkey”, and “Jingle Bells”. Our eighth graders were able to hit the dance floor, and show their moves to the traditional “12 Twelve Days of Christmas.” To end the show, the eighth graders and Ms. Bourdeau, a new teacher at Tyrrell Middle School, danced along to “The Unicorn Song” which has become a tradition at Tyrrell. To accompany T-BONE, the children of our TMS teachers twirled and danced their way around the gymnasium. Students can’t wait to welcome T-BONE back to our school next holiday season!

Door Decorating Contest By Steve Urbanski

This year, most homerooms at TMS participated in the Annual Door Decorating Competition. This is a good way to bring out some creativity while having some fun. In the past, the doors have had themes anywhere from a Caribbean Christmas to a basic Disney movie theme. During this activity kids get together as a class and decorate their homeroom doors. Judges then walk around and decide which door deserves first place. The winning homeroom is rewarded with a great prize.

This year the winners were Ms.Trovato and Mrs. Sanzo. They had a Fire vs. Ice design that really stood out. They had almost flawless doors. These doors won because of their creativity. One homeroom was fire and other was ice. Each of the students was assigned an elf or character to put their face on and then put on the door. These doors were truly amazing. There were many new, wonderful ideas this year so it was hard to pick only one door. All the doors were great. Thanks to all homerooms for participating.

Tyrrell Talent Showcase By Melisa Tupkusic

So, where did everyone go Friday, December 2nd? The Tyrrell Talent Show, of course! More than half the school, along with their families, filled the auditorium. The show included two hilarious emcees, Billy Nicol and Melisa Tupkusic, almost thirty amazing acts, a phenomenal stage crew, our awesome dance team, and the high school dance team. Mrs. Carroll, the person who made it all happen, stayed backstage with students the entire time, and helped them out with funny jokes and last minute nerves. Some of the acts were the Capristo twins performing a lyrical duet, 6th grader Amanda tapdancing to Boots, and the Tyrrell Dance Team Captains dance. All of these were followed by one last majestic performance…..King Lee and the Majestic Three, AKA Mr. Goldstone, Mr. Terry, Mr. Toller, and of course Mr. Kelsey. Bravo to everyone who performed... and many thanks to a great audience. For those of you who did not attend this year, don’t miss it next December!

Student Council Reported by Ryan Fishbein

The TMS Student Council has done two major projects this marking period. One of them is the holiday chain sale. The students sold chains for twenty-five cents each during all lunch waves, and each grade competed to have the longest chain. The grade with the longest chain got an ice cream sandwich treat the day that they came back from Christmas break. This year the 6th grade won the competition. The Student Council also ran a Blue Ribbon Sale where students sold blue ribbons to raise money to help stamp out child abuse. The sale of the blue ribbons ended Friday, January 27th.

Letters About Literature By Nick Comeau and Zach Lepore

The seventh grade Granite Team teachers, Mrs. Simon and Ms. Bourdeau, have entered their students in a national contest called Letters about Literature. This contest requires students to write a letter to the author of a book that influenced them. This letter must be a minimum of 300 words with a maximum of 600 words. Our reading teachers have been working with students on different techniques for developing their own perspective of things. Students created a ‘sloppy copy’, and eventually turned it into their final copy. A few of the most popular books the students have chosen are The Hunger Games, The Lost Hero, and the Maze Runner. These books have inspired the students in one way or another, whether looking at the world from a new perspective or now really wanting to pursue a certain dream. The purpose of writing these letters is not to compliment the authors, but to relate the books to their personal goals or beliefs. The six National Winners (two per grade level) will receive a five hundred dollar gift card to Target, and a ten thousand dollar LAL Reading Promotion Grant for their school or community library. The students are anxiously waiting to see how the Tyrrell students did in the contest. Fingers crossed!

7th Grade China Project By Brennan Zynda

The seventh grade students have had many projects that they’ve enjoyed, but so far, this China Project was probably their favorite project of the year. The students had to make a poster, a “Box of Knowledge,” or a PowerPoint showing what their invention/item was. The project had to include who created their invention, when their item became important, what dynasty this invention was created in, why this item was important, what materials were used to make this item, what purpose it served, how it affected society, if this object appeared in any other historical time, and whether or not this invention is still used today. Throughout this entire project, the students learned a lot about the history of ancient China. The entire seventh grade loved this project!

Seventh Graders Write Children’s Books By Preston Lavoie

The children’s books made by the students in Ms. Bourdeau’s, Mrs. Simon’s, Mrs. Werenko’s, and Ms. Mumley’s classes were a lot of hard work. After doing six-word memoirs to practice including morals in stories, students moved on to the children's books, because many children’s books have morals to teach. Some of the seventh graders’ books are really funny; and some have unusual characters. These include, Zola the Zebra, Patty the Pig, and Steve the Lace Less Shoe. As you can see, the students often used alliteration to bring their books to life. The books have a dedication page, a meet the author page, and of course include the drawings the students created. After working hard on the books in school and at home, the books were sent off to be published. The actual books should be received around February. Overall, it was a great experience for the students to get published and have their very own books to share with family members and friends.

TMS Students Win Sumdog Contest By Joe Filippone

All Project Explore students at Tyrrell Middle School participated in an on-line math contest on sumdog.com which is a website filled with some pretty great math games. The competition took place from December 5th to December 15th. Students from all over the country took part in the competition. There were so many schools trying to win the grand prize that schools were divided into regions. Tyrrell was in the Connecticut and Rhode Island territory. Tyrrell was a frontrunner at the start, but found themselves in a tight race for first place with New Milford Middle School on the last day. In the end, Tyrrell finished on top. Our top scorers contributing to the win were Kaylee Hale, followed by Simon Kubrynski, and Alex Hale. In fact, they were in the top ten in the overall competition! Tyrrell won the 1st Place trophy and an $850 prize for the school . Nice job!

Chorus Behind the Scenes By Chloe Chance

The students who participated in the winter chorus concert have been working hard on their songs since the beginning of the year. In fact, they started the holiday songs on the very first day of music classes in September!
This year’s winter chorus concert featured five songs, covering all of the winter holidays. Some were upbeat, while others could have put you to sleep. But there was always a really interesting switch every time the chorus changed from one song to the next. Some students really got into the holiday season when they showed up wearing Santa hats, elf ears, or reindeer antlers. Students really like working with Mrs. Jones. And it was obvious that the audience really enjoyed the winter chorus concert by the overwhelming applause at the end of the show! If you like to sing, like to be a member of a group, and like to hear those applause, you should seriously think about joining chorus. Then you will be the one onstage next year!

The Wonderful Winter Concert By Zoe Beckley & Gina Vaccarelli

The talented students of the Tyrrell Band performed a seasonal winter concert on Monday, December 19th. It was held in the school’s auditorium at 7 o’clock in the evening. Over seventy students participated in the concert. This was the first middle school concert for Tyrrell’s new band teacher, Mrs. Curtiss. As a joke, she decided to start the show off with the elementary school all-time favorite...Hot Cross Buns!
The real program included such songs as Huron Carol, Christmas Classic, and Christmas Sleigh Ride. The band played their Christmas music in unison. There were also opportunities for the more advanced students to play short solos. When the band played a medley of holiday songs, of course, the audience was invited to sing along. Both the students and the audience got into the holiday spirit by enjoying the seasonal songs. Altogether the concert was a huge success.

Science Students Measure Up! by Evan Guerrera, Alex Hale & Dan Kubrynski

When Mrs. Bove-Virr’s and Mr. Jones`s science classes were learning about measurement, students got to design a new classroom as a project. All 6th graders were given a partly finished science room design which they then had to finish. This assignment was done to practice measuring because students had to have the exact measurements, the same as the actual room. After the measuring was completed, students got busy making their own designs for what they would like the classroom to look like. The only criteria was that they had to have the room seat 25 students, and they had to label what they drew with the key they created. All of the students worked exceptionally hard on this project because they knew it would be taken as a test grade. Everyone that participated in this assignment said they enjoyed it. For the most part, the sixth grade students did a splendid job!

A Christmas Play By Caitlin Frosolone

Mrs. Uccello’s honors reading class recently read the book, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The purpose of reading this book was to learn about how characters can change in a story if something remarkable happens to change them. As a reward for reading this difficult book, Mrs. Uccello took her students to see “A Christmas Carol” at the Palace Theater in Waterbury. The Palace is a very fancy place, so everyone dressed in their very best outfits. Students of the Waterbury Arts Magnet School put on an amazing play. Mrs. Uccello’s students were so glad they got to go on this exciting field trip. They had a great time reading the book and watching the play!

Super Spanish Projects By Raven Cody & Jayda Cavanaugh

In Senorita Martineau’s sixth grade Spanish classes, the students got to do various projects during the month of December. The purpose of the projects was to help learn all the vocabulary words in Unit 1. These words included all colors, numbers, animals, classroom objects, weather words, and even the words for the four seasons. The students enjoyed making posters, game boards, and dictionaries. Some even worked on skits. Everyone agreed that assignments like this one make learning fun!

A Hallway Rainforest By Taylor Dalton & Amanda Morelli

Did you ever walk by Mrs. Wright’s and Mrs. Garbus’ social studies classrooms and wonder, “Am I in a rainforest...or a school”? The creative students in the sixth grade wing used their artistic skills to decorate the white school walls with the various levels of the rainforest. Classes voted on a team leader to guide them through their decorating journey. The bright students created impressive visuals using their choice of interesting plants and unique animals. Each plant or animal was used to create the well-detailed layer of the forest his or her class was assigned to. Some of the visuals include origami and beautifully drawn images. Next time you are walking by the fun-filled sixth grade classrooms, be sure to take in the gorgeous sight of the hallway rainforest!

Student Leadership Conference By Evan Guerrera & Alex Hale

In early January, twelve very lucky Project Explore sixth graders were chosen to attend the CAS Student Leadership Conference at Naugatuck Valley Community College. It was fun for the students to try to find their classrooms in the huge campus building. The students participated in three different workshops aimed at teaching about decision-making, communicating, and problem solving. These activities made their leadership skills spike to unknown levels! The students also had time for a lunch break and a closing performance by a member of the circus. He called students from the audience to help him with his many stunts, and it was pretty funny. This was an amazing experience for all twelve sixth graders, and it should help them throughout the remainder of their lives.

Character In a Bag by jessica Bylyku, Selina Capozzi, & Regan Richard

Sixth grade Diamond Team reading students in Mrs. Nicol’s and Mrs. Mascetti-Johnson’s classes completed a project in December called “Character in a Bag”. Students were assigned to make a bag decorated with objects that would best describe a chosen character from the short story Ta-Na-E-Ka. The purpose of this project was to focus the students’ minds on how to recognize character traits, and what items can be used to represent them. The students presented their creative and clever projects to other students during their reading classes. One could tell by all the smiles on everyone’s faces that they really enjoyed that. Way to go Mrs. Nicol and Mrs. M-J!

Team Read Update! by David Lofgren

Sixth grade students who were hall of Fame readers got to participate in the reading reward for the first marking period which was a free breakfast (including hot chocolate), and an opportunity to play games with their friends. For about an hour and a half, students met in the café and played games like Yahtzee, Clue, and many others. What a great way to spend a morning at TMS! If you missed this reward, start reading so you won’t miss out on the next one! I’m sure the teachers are planning something great, and I want to see you there!

Miss Connecticut Visits TMS by Erin MacDonald, Caitlin Mahoney, and Jillian Noack

In December, the Tyrrell sixth graders got a visit from Miss Connecticut. She came to the TMS auditorium to discuss the importance of cancer awareness, even for young adults. She read the students a book that she wrote herself, which was about a little girl surviving cancer. After the book, Miss Connecticut had the students work together in homerooms to complete two questions, ‘What facts did you learn after reading the book, and what is your homeroom most passionate about?’ The point of the lesson was to show how important it is to protect yourself from cancer by eating healthy and exercising daily.

Tyrrell Cheerleaders Show Their Spirit by Evyn Callahan

The Tyrrell Cheerleading Team has once again begun another great season. These girls are depending on coach Anna Bartoli, Amber their choreographer, and team captains Bianca Bartoli, Racheal Bisaillon, Brianna Heston, and Gianna Polzella to lead them to victory. The cheerleading team has been working particularly hard on their competition cheer, which they come back after school to work on for about two hours, three days a week. They also enjoy going to the TMS boys’ and girls’ basketball games to show their school spirit. During one of these Tyrrell games, I decided to ask 6th grader, Amber Belval some questions about the cheerleading team. When I asked her what she would like the team to accomplish this year, she replied, “To get first place in all of our competitions, and be great cheerleaders for the boys’ and girls’ basketballteams.” I also wanted to know what her favorite part of cheerleading was. Amber informed me, “Being able to work as a team.” Judging from how well this squad performs together, I’m sure many of these girls on the team have the same thoughts. Best of luck on your upcoming competitions!

TMS Boys Basketball by Ryan Fishbein

The Monday that we came back from Thanksgiving break the TMS boys basketball team started their season off. The team consists of all eighth graders except for Justin Fernandez, the only 7th grader on the team. “I don’t feel left out being the only 7th grader,“ states Justin, “many people congratulated me on this accomplishment.” He told us that their practices are held Monday through Thursday with no practice on Friday. However, there can be games held on any day of the week. The team has to dress up for the away games. During home games they can wear regular clothes. The team is undefeated so far and hopes to keep it that way until the end of the season. Tyrn Flowers is one of the best players on the team. Chris Spring, Rob Pisani, Nick Hassan, Matt Finke, Nate Filippone, Chris Maisto, Matt Warren, Matt Delbuono, Cole Phelps, Jack Rocco, Zach Ligi, and Shamari Thomas make up the rest of the team. The people who control this wild house of a team are Mr. Blacker and Mr. Terry who are both 8th grade teachers. We hope that the Tyrrell basketball team has another successful year.

TMS Girls Basketball by Kaitlyn Lofgren

The TMS girls basketball team did very well this year! With the help of coaches, Mrs. Nicol and Mrs. Stevenson, the girls had a great offensive and defensive lineup. The captains, Briana Japs, Amanda Japs and Ally Hickey were a great help to the coaches with warm-ups and other tasks that were needed.
For every home game, the girls showed their team spirit by wearing their uniform tops and their sweatshirts to school. For away games they dressed to impress with dress pants or skirts. The school spirit continued with Bri and Amanda Japs, Maddie Greenstein, Megan Doubleday and Ally Hickey starting off each game in their game faces trying to intimidate their opponents!
We wish the 8th graders good luck in high school, especially Stats Roth. You will be greatly missed by all. Go Tyrrell!!!

Breaking Dawn: Pt. 1...a movie review by Lauren Romeo

In the first ten days, the fourth installment of the Twilight Saga brought in a grand total of $221 million. The movie (rated PG-13) stars Kristen Stewart as Bella, a teen head-over-heels in love with vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). Bella’s werewolf friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), however, is opposed to Edward’s marriage proposal and wants nothing to do with them. When Bella becomes pregnant with a dangerous half human, half vampire child, Jacob vows to protect her. This movie is full of drama and even some comedy, as well as intense scenes. It’s the perfect flick for teenage girls and women who have read the books, but keep in mind that this is not recommended for young children. Even though Rolling Stone gave this movie one out of four stars (just for the record, it was a man who reviewed it), I would give it three stars with its only downfall being that it was a little slow and overly-dramatic at times. However, I argue that this is the best movie yet because it has just enough romance and tons of action. If you have read the books or watched the other movies, Breaking Dawn: Part 1 is definitely worth checking out.

Big Bang Theory...a TV review by Emily Cofrancesco & Megan Doubleday

The Big Bang Theory is an hysterical sitcom about two amazingly smart geeks who live together and share extremely funny memories. Their neighbor Penny is a very pretty actress wannabe who fails to realize how nerdy Leonard and Sheldon really are. Sheldon is a very strict man who sticks to the schedule. He is an uptight, obsessive compulsive physicist. Leonard is very nerdy but does get some girls, until he chases them away with his bad jokes and his corny personality. Their two friends, Howard and Raj add a funny twist, with their quirky attitudes. As you watch this show you can’t stop yourself from laughing at the group’s outrageous personalities. This really funny show is recommended for an older audience due to its advanced vocabulary.

Adele...a music review by Christine Allison

Remember the hit songs Rolling in the Deep, Someone Like You, or even the newest song out right now, Set Fire to the Rain? Well, these songs and many more are featured on the Adele 21 album. You’ve probably recognize Adele for her great voice and alto tone. She can make any song interesting with just opening her mouth to sing. On her album, there are many meaningful songs that all speak of her past experiences and times. Adele has made a great name for herself in the music business with all that she has to offer to us music lovers out here. Her album came out on January 2011, but is still generating today’s radio hits. Be sure to check out Adele’s album, Adele 21.

Divergent...a book review by Kayla Mayo

Divergent, written by Veronica Roth, is an action-packed adventure with all sorts of shocking events. The main character Beatrice, or Tris must make a choice that will set her entire life on one course...literally! When she chooses to become one of the risk takers her entire world is turned upside down. She falls for a bad boy and puts her future in grave danger. The choices she makes during tough times will make or break her. Some of the decisions made by the characters will break your heart! Every time you think you’ve got the story figured out it takes a turn for the better or the worse. You can make this book whatever you want by viewing all of Roth‘s writing choices. You will be on the edge of your seat as you witness betrayals, romantic situations, heart-wrenching decisions, and revenge that will make you cringe. Edgy personalities and jealousy change some of the characters into monsters, and the reader is left trying to figure out who can really be trusted. This book will keep you wanting more.

Students of the Month

January
Christie Allison, Amanda Morelli
Brandon Conroy, Alyssa Murphy
Megan Fennell, Justin Proteau
Nathan Filippone, Nicholas Roth
Christopher Ligi, Gina Vaccarelli
Brendan Manzolli, Brennan Zynda


December
Evyn Callahan, Matt Mastropietro
Carrigan Costello, Allie Mix
Matt DiBrino, Stephanie Mix
Ryan Fishbein, Cole Phelps
Ally Hickey, Alexa Phillips
Emily Homewood, Lauryn Santos