'Mulan' Cast Is Getting it Together for January 23

The cast of Mulan is getting ready for its January 23 show date (snow date: January 30). Come for the fun!

Wallace Presents Holiday Concert December 10

Under the direction of music teacher Louis Pontecorvo, Wallace Middle School's marching band, drum line, and dance team presented a holiday concert to the school community on Thursday, December 10. Congratulations and thank you to Mr. Pontecorvo and all the students who were involved for a wonderful evening.

(Thanks to the parents of drum line member Kimani Brown and to Mr. Pontecorvo's dad for the above photos. If you have photos to add to this show, please see Ms. Carlson in Room 337.)

Wallace Middle School's November Students of the Month

Wallace Middle School has a student-of-the-month program. Each month, one student per grade per house is selected based on the following criteria.

P ositive - Is respectful
A ttitudes - Accepts responsibility
W orking - Completes a high percentage of class work and/or homework
S afely - Follows school rules

Wallace Middle School's November Students of the Month

Yeshion House

Grade 6

Rouaa Sahbani

Grade 7

Brian Vallee

Grade 8

Kenny Tang

Accelerated Program

Grade 6

Brennan Sanders

Huckins House

Grade 6

Alexa Hap

Grade 7

Noely Gomez

Grade 8

Brittany Balek

Rapuano House

Grade 6

Destin Trammell

Grade 7

Christopher Matthews

Grade 8

Jacinda Kwater

Music Department

Destinee West

Ayanna Lee

Starstruck 8th Graders Visit CCSU Copernicus Observatory and Planetarium

Mrs. Rusnov's 8th grade science students were starry-eyed at the planetarium show at the Copernicus Planetarium and Observatory at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain. The students were starstruck by a spectacular night sky and regaled with tales of Greek mythology and constellations by Professor Craig Robinson. Students had a splendid lunch at Memorial Hall with CCSU students, and they took in panoramic views of the campus and college life. After lunch, students ascended the stairs high atop Copernicus Hall for a view through the observatory telescope. It was a truly memorable day filled with stars, planets, constellations, nebula, galaxies, and black holes. A day to "Get Your Geek On!" as the astronomy majors at CCSU say!

Yeshion House 8th Graders "Let it Fly" Before Thanksgiving

Mrs. Rusnov's 8th grade science students really "let it fly" before the Thanksgiving holiday break. Given the task of using household materials to design a package to protect a raw egg from a drop from the roof of Wallace Middle School, the students came up with some weird and wacky, but effective, designs. Students constructed some winning designs, and our intrepid custodian Mr. Carl did the toss from the roof.

Students anxiously awaited below to check out the results. Although not all designs were successful, a good time was had by all. Winners were The Feathered Dishwashing Glove (Joanna Vargas), The Hairy Soda Bottle (David Alvarez), Socks and Sneakers (Robert Eason), Chef Boy-ar-Dee (Jakar Stallings), and Cones and Parachutes (Patricia Myer).

Wallace Middle School Collects More Than 4,000 Food Items for Waterbury Food Bank

Wallace Middle School collected and delivered more than 4,000 items of canned food and dried goods to the Greater Waterbury Interfaith Ministries (GWIM) for its Thanksgiving food drive. Wallace Middle School students collected the food over three weeks. The top homeroom collected 288 items. Under the direction of teachers Robin Davitt, Ray Irrera, and James Thomas, members of Wallace's student council packed a school bus with the collected items. “We are extremely proud of our students and the generous spirit here at Wallace,” said Mr. Irrera. GWIM Food Pantry Coordinator John West was on hand to receive the collection. He remarked that this was a big collection and would go a long way to helping our neighbors.

Rapunzel Lets Her Hair Down for Wallace's Sixth Graders

Shakesperience actors Tasia Jones and Justin Harris brought the fairy tale of Rapunzel to life for Wallace's sixth-grade classes on Friday, November 20. Ms. Jones and Mr. Harris invited students Paige and Ricardo to try out their acting skills by playing the witch and Rapunzel, respectively, before their own performance.

Students were surprised to learn that in Shakespeare's time women did not perform but men filled their roles. For that reason, Ms. Jones and Mr. Harris said, gender was not a deciding factor on who played what role in this play. Instead, each of the actors performed a variety of roles--both male and female--according to their similar personality traits.

The actors asked the children to consider the choices the characters made in terms of the six pillars of character--trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.

Thanks to theater arts teacher Susan Smyth for arranging this experience for Wallace's sixth graders.

Click here for more about Shakesperience.

Click here for more about the six pillars of character.

Tasia Jones

Justin Harris

In the Style of Handel: Eric Simmons

(Eric plays a trumpet solo in the above video.)

Eric Simmons, a seventh grade student in the Rapuano House, has been accepted to play trumpet for the Southern Region Middle School Music Festival. Eric was accepted from the hundreds of students who had auditioned for a place in the band on November 7, 2009 at the Winter Green Magnet School in Hamden. The concert will take place February 27, 2010, at 3 p.m. at Haddam-Killingworth Middle School in Higanum. Tickets are $7.

Eric with music teacher Louis Pontecorvo.

Wallace Student Attends Wrestling Event

(Click on the image to enlarge it.)

Wallace Announces Students of the Month for October

Wallace Middle School has a student-of-the-month program. Each month, one student per grade per house is selected based on the following criteria.

P ositive - Is respectful
A ttitudes - Accepts responsibility
W orking - Completes a high percentage of class work and/or homework
S afely - Follows school rules

Wallace Middle School's October Students of the Month

Huckins House
Brandon Hima (Grade 6)

Matias Barra (Grade 7)

Jayson Matos (Grade 8)

Rapuano House
Marcos Rivera (Grade 6)

Angelica Torres
Kristi Gega (Grade 8)

Yeshion House
Kalyrin Rivera (Grade 6)
Sydney Craig (Grade 7)
Michelina Pace (Grade 8)

Accelerated Program
Dea Ballij (Grade 6)

Theater Arts
Brittany Balek
Denzel Mitchell

'Mulan' Cast Hams it up During Rehearsal

The cast of Mulan takes a break from rehearsal to ham it up for the camera. Here are just two sides of our multi-faceted students who are working under the direction of theater arts teacher Sue Smyth.

The cast will perform Mulan January 23, 2010. The snow date will be January 30, 2010. Save the date!

What's the Big Idea? Ask Ms. Spizzoucco's Students

Students in Ms. Spizzoucco's sixth-grade language arts class created 3D book reports by covering cereal boxes with wrapping paper so that the boxes looked like books. Then they illustrated covers for their books and wrote summaries for the front and back covers. Along the spines and page edges, they identified main ideas, and asked thoughtful questions. Students were proud of their work and eager to share their accomplishments.

Combat Veterans Share Their Experiences with Wallace's Eighth Graders

(The above video includes some of the questions students asked of veteran Jason Coppola and his answers.)

Wallace Middle School eighth graders were treated an assembly that featured representatives of the Veterans Administration and combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. Veterans shared stories of their combat experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq and answered students' questions.

"The assembly enabled students to gain insight on the importance of Veterans Day, how veterans have molded and shaped our country, and how they continue to protect our freedoms," said eighth-grade social studies Raymond Irrera, who organized the event.

Crosby High School’s ROTC Color Guard presented our flag for the national anthem and the Plege of Allegiance.

Above Photo (left to right): Social studies teacher Raymond Irrera stands with veterans Peter DiMaria and Eric Trinidad, Wallace Building Principal Louis Padua, and veteran Jason Coppola.

Wallace Kicks Off 'Fuel Up to Play 60' Competition

Health teacher Donna Phoenix introduced Wallace Middle School students to Fuel up to Play 60 during assemblies in the auditorium on Monday, November 9. With the help of Crosby High School football players, the mascot of the New England Patriots, and the Wallace Drum Line (directed by Louis Pontecorvo), Ms. Phoenix kicked off this program designed to take action for health. Click here to read more about this program and to register.

Forty-two Wallace Eighth-Graders Visit Harbor Yard, in Bridgeport

Forty-two of Wallace's eighth-grade students visited Harbor Yard in Bridgeport to watch the Sound Tigers play hockey on Wednesday, November 4. Students experienced first-hand the real life educational applications of math, science, geography, and spelling in a fun, interactive environment.

Wallace Robotics Mission Statement

Mission Statement: Our team believes and takes pride in everyone’s accomplishments. We pledge to speak positively about each other and our school at every opportunity. We look for ways to make new ideas work, not for reasons why they won’t. We will help anyone or any team in need with all of our resources.

Cross-Country Team Has a Great Season

Wallace's Cross-Country Team had a great year. The boys became the city champs on Friday, October 30, at the last meet of the season.

FOCUS Visits the Kellog Envrionmental Center in Derby

FOCUS students traveled to the Kellogg Environmental Center in Derby, CT to evaluate the impact of human activity on water quality. They began by collecting and analyzing data on living species found in pond water. Then they identified point (specific source) and nonpoint (less definitive like runoff) pollution sources and performed water quality tests to investigate common water pollutants. They concluded their experience by using what they learned about the combined effects of pollutants on water quality to design a town with optimum water quality.

Soccer Teams Brings the Trophy Home

Wallace's soccer team closed the season by clinching the citywide championship. Go Lions!

Eighth-Graders Celebrate Halloween

Wallace's eighth-graders celebrated Halloween together on Friday, October 30, at the annual Boo Bash.

Waterbury Civic Pride Day

The Wallace Middle School Marching Band participated in the Waterbury Civic Pride Day parade on October 25, 2009

Wallace Opens Doors to Red Ribbon Week

"Dream, Believe, Achieve, Succeed." With this theme of Red Ribbon Week, Wallace Middle School students decorated the doors of their home room classes to show their support for a healthy, drug-free lifestyle.

Red Ribbon Week, which ran from October 22 to October 29, is "a unified way for communities to take a stand against drugs and show intolerance for illicit drug use and the consequences to all Americans," according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

The Red Ribbon celebration pledge is “no use of illegal drugs, no illegal use of legal drugs.”

"This is an important message, and this was a worthwhile, enriching activity for students as well as for the whole school community," said Building Principal Louis Padua.

The door decorating exercise was the second of a two-part event. "The impetus of the first part of this event involved getting the students to have their parents write messages to them about living a healthy, drug-free lifestyle," said Prevention Specialist Jackie Davis. She added that statistics show that students whose parents directly address the issue of drug abuse with their children are 50 percent less likely to become drug abusers.

For the second part, homeroom classes decorated the doors "to make a visible commitment as a school to live a drug-free, healthy lifestyle and to communicate to students that we have high expectations for them," Davis said.

The hardest part of the whole project has been judging the students work, she said. "They all did a great job." The doors were judged on overall creativity, the message conveyed, and student involvement in creating the final product. "Collectively, the doors that were chosen contained attention-grabbing messages, exciting graphics, 3-D figures, pictures of the students, and analogies that connect everyday experiences with the decision to choose positive futures over a life of substance use," Davis said. Ultimately, she did select three doors as the best. From Rapuano House, she chose the homeroom of Jessica Dizenzo,

from Yeshion House, the homeroom of Jennifer Magnavice,
and from Huckins House, the homeroom of Robin Davitt.


Special Education teacher Vincenct Dizenzo's class also received special recognition for their door. “They are not technically a homeroom, but they did a phenomenal job and won a pizza party along with the other three homerooms,” Davis said.

Click here for more information about Red Ribbon Week.

The Run-a-Thon Goes On: Cross Country Team's Is Undaunted by the Downpour

The cross-country team wants to order hooded sweatshirts, so the team held its first-ever Wallace Run-a-Thon after school on Wednesday, October 28, to defray the cost for each team member. The team ran despite the chilly downpour and raised more than $800.

Origami Club Sees Stars

Students who participate in Wallace's Origami Club teach each other how to fold various types of stars at the October 28 meeting. The club meets every week, and the students teach each other different patterns as well as learn them from their teacher.