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J.E .BROWN M IDDLE SCHOOL

DECEMBER 1, 2010 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 3

THE DOLPHIN DOSE

NEWSLETTER

Got milk? Got MATH!? Have you ever heard of a working lunch? Brown Dolphins have not only taken ownership of the con-cept, they are mastering it! A working lunch is one of the many tactics Dolphins are employing to meet math head on.

After con-ducting pre-assess-ment tests and evaluat-ing prior year test scores, Brown educators mobilized to develop strategies that would support all students mastery of middle grades math concepts.

In addition to “Wonderful Wednesdays”, and Georgia State After School All-Stars, some students attend “Connections” Math courses; a math class in addition to their daily schedule. The ic-ing on the cake however, is the number of students who scurry to receive assis-tance from their teachers and Instructional Coaches

during their LUNCH pe-riods.

Students and staff alike have

taken the notion of “if you build it, they will come” to an entirely different level. Brown educators established a channel for eager stu-dents to receive additional support and they have responded favorably. In fact, in just a few short weeks, the evidence has come to bear. Students and classes are receiving “kudos” and “shout outs” from their math

teachers during morning and afternoon announcements for jobs well done. And, al-though statistics generally show that males outperform females in mathematics, a recent math com-petition between the sixth grade single gender male and female academies marked notable strides among the females.

Regardless of the outcome of the

math competition, all Dolphins

are winners. Bravo to all for going the extra mile and

investing in bright futures.

Instructional Coach, Dr. Feagins, III & 6th Grade Students

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Upcoming Events...

Principal’s Roundtable (9:00 AM) December 3, 2010

Brown vs. Harper Archer (10:00 AM Home) December 11, 2010

Local School Council Meeting December 15, 2010

Brown vs. Bunche (5:00 PM Away) December 15, 2010

Winter Program (6:00 PM) December 16, 2010

End of First Semester December 17, 2010

Winter Break December 20—31, 2010

Semester Break January 3, 2011

Teacher Work Day January 4, 2011

Second Semester Begins January 6, 2011

Kwanzaa Korner The National Black Arts Festival presents “Kwanzaa Korner” - an interactive learning experience where children learn about Kwanzaa through hands-on activities. Kwanzaa Korner in-cludes a workshop for parents interested in learning how to apply arts-based character building and teacher developed hands-on-activities to Kwanzaa principles throughout the year—at work, at home, and at play.

Pre-registration is required for all persons interested in at-tending. However, the workshop is free!

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Expand your horizon this holiday season!

You have probably re-turned from the Thanks-giving holidays rested and full! For many Thanksgiving is not only a day to give thanks and acknowledge our history, but also a time of rest and reflection before jumping back into the rigors of school and work. Now that you have had this time, what are your plans for the Winter holidays? More of the same?

This year, do something different; expand your horizon! How? Venture out. Besides, there is only SOOO much eating and sleeping you can do! Fol-lowing are a few forgot-ten hotspots for the holi-day season.

For more than 50 years the Fox Theatre has hosted Tchaikovsky’s classic two-act ballet, “The Nutcracker”, com-bining Christmas and a truly memorable venue.

Accompanied by the At-lanta Young Singers of Callanwolde, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra per-forms annually for kids

during the holiday sea-son. Together, their per-formance is laced with season favorites such as: “Christmas Time is Here,” “Deck the Halls,” Shepherd’s Pipe Carol,” “S’Vivon” (Spinning Top), Bach Concerto for Two Violins and others.

Thirsting for more? Since 1978, the Center for Puppetry Arts’ holi-day shows have mes-merized children and adults around the world. This year will be no exception! For 2010, the center will feature “A Muppet Family Christmas” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”.

If you are in the market for something more re-laxed, take a walk through Centennial Olympic Park during the winter holidays to gasp in awe at Atlanta’s win-ter wonderland. OR, at-tend Atlanta’s Festival of Trees where interior de-signers decorate the halls as children enjoy antique carousel rides.

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If you want to help keep yourself from getting type 2 diabetes — or just be healthier in lots of other ways — take these steps:

Chow down on good-for-you foods. Try to eat foods that are low in fat and

high in other nutrients — like whole-grain cere-als and breads, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and lean proteins. These super foods provide you with the nutrition you need to grow but are also great for helping you get to or stay at a healthy weight, which can help prevent type 2 diabetes.

Limit fast food and sugary sodas. Eating lots of calorie-laden fast food and sugar-filled beverages — like sodas, juices, and iced teas — can also lead to a lot of weight gain.

Get up and go. Staying active and decreas-ing the amount of time spent in sedentary activities (like watching TV or playing video or computer games) can also help to prevent type 2 diabetes. You don't need to join a gym or commit to three sports every school year — being active can be as simple as walking the dog or mowing the lawn. Try to do something that gets you moving every day.

If you have questions about your weight, ask. If you think you may be overweight or you're just wondering what being healthy is all about, a doctor or a registered dietitian can help. These health care pros can help you find out what your weight goals should be and how to get there — and stay there.

Did you know there is more than one type of diabetes? Did you know Diabetes can show up without warning and can be deadly? The statistics are staggering. Approxi-mately 1 in 400 to 600 children and adolescents in the United States are burdened with Type 1 Diabetes. While about 2 million adolescents between the ages of 12 to 19 have been diagnosed as pre-diabetics.

What is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a disease that affects how the body uses glucose pronounced: gloo-kose), a sugar that is the body's main source of fuel. Like a CD player needs batteries, your body needs glucose to keep running. Here's how it should work.

1. You eat.

2. Glucose from the food gets into your bloodstream.

3. Your pancreas makes a hormone called insulin (pronounced: in-suh-lin).

4. Insulin helps the glucose get into the body's cells.

5. Your body gets the energy it needs.

The pancreas is a long, flat gland in your belly that helps your body digest food. It also makes insulin. Insulin is kind of like a key that opens the doors to the cells of the body. It lets the glucose in. Then the glucose can move out of the blood and into the cells.

But if someone has diabetes, the body either can't make insulin (this is called type 1 diabetes) or the insulin doesn't work in the body like it should (this is called type 2 diabetes). The glucose can't get into the cells normally, so the blood sugar level gets too high. Lots of sugar in the blood makes people sick if they don't get treatment.

What is the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes?

Type 1 diabetes can't be prevented. Doctors can't even tell who will get it and who won't.

In type 1 diabetes, a person's immune system attacks the pancreas and destroys the cells that make insulin. No one knows for sure why this happens, but scientists think it has something to do with genes. Genes are like instructions for how the body should look and work that

are passed on by parents to their kids. But just getting the genes for diabetes isn't usually enough. In most cases, something else has to

happen — like getting a virus infection — for a person to get type 1 diabe-tes.

Type 1 diabetes isn't contagious, so you can't catch it from another per-son or pass it along to your friends. And stuff like eat-

ing too much sugar doesn't cause type 1 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is different. Some-times, you can prevent type 2 diabe-tes.

In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas can still make insulin, but the body does-n't respond to it in the right way. This problem is usually related to being overweight. In the past, mainly over-weight adults developed type 2 diabe-tes. Today, more kids and teens have type 2 diabetes, probably because more kids and teens are overweight.

Getting to a healthy weight is one way to help prevent type 2 diabetes. Making

healthy food choices and getting enough exer-cise are other good steps to take. If a person makes better food choices and becomes more physically active, it can help prevent diabetes from becoming a problem.

Some people are more likely to get type 2 diabetes than others based on things that can't be changed. For example, people with a Na-tive American, African American, Hispanic/Latino, or Asian/Pacific Islander racial/ethnic background are at higher risk for getting type 2 diabetes. And people who have family mem-bers with type 2 diabetes are also more likely to develop it.

What can you do to prevent diabetes?

HELPFUL HEALTH HABITS… DIABETES. STUDENTS, ARE YOU AT RISK?

Hockey player, B.J. Crombeen was diagnosed with diabetes at

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Parents’ Points… Coping with Juvenile Diabetes

Having a child diagnosed with diabetes is a life – altering event. Your life will never be the same. However, it is very important to keep everything in per-spective. Managed properly, diabetes should not prevent your child from do-ing anything that other kids do. Put on your ‘game face’. Your child's attitude about diabetes will be in large measure a reflection of your attitude, so it's vitally important that you approach diabetes management as matter-of-factly as possible. For parents with combative toddlers, this can be very difficult, but it is very important. Do not blame yourself for your child's diabetes--it's not your fault. Al-though research exist that does support diabetes prevention, at this time, there is nothing you could have done to prevent it. You might be able to prevent your other children from devel- oping dia-betes, so be sure to read about Research into Preven- tion. Seek opportuni- ties to have your child par-ticipate in diabetes studies. Though your child may not find a cure or experi-ence imme- diate benefits, evaluating your child as well as siblings of children with diabe- tes are our best hope to find a way to prevent this dis-ease. Speak to your child’s doctor or diabetes team about participating in scien-tific studies. Your child might not receive an immediate benefit from partici-pating in a study, but other children will. Be proactive about your child’s health. If your child attends school or day care, you'll need to help teachers or day care providers understand diabetes and how to care for your child's needs. Finally, do not forget that you have a life separate from your kids. No matter how young your child is, find a baby sitter with whom you feel comfortable and teach her how to care for your child's diabetes. Ask your relatives if they'll learn too, so you can take an occasional night or weekend getaway. Diabetes is a 24-hour-a-day disease. Therefore, you must find a way to take a break from it now and then.

HOW MANY AFRICAN AMERI-CANS HAVE DIABETES?

3.7 million; 14.7 percent of all non-Hispanic blacks ages twenty and older have diagnosed and undiagnosed dia-betes

11.8 percent had diagnosed diabetes accord-ing to age adjusted 2004-2006 na-tional survey data

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BROWN’S BOOK BEAT!

6th Grade

It’s All Greek to Me

Joe, Fred, and Sam are trans-

ported back in time to Mount

Olympus while performing in a

school play about ancient

Greece. Needless to say, they

aren't much of a threat when

they try to use their cardboard

thunderbolts on Cerberus. In-

stead, the boys use their wits,

and a Ding Dong in the case of

the three-headed dog, as they

quickly slip in and out of danger.

Children who know Nike is the

Greek goddess of victory will

double over with laughter when

Sam Orpheus, friend of Nike,

introduces his chums as Fred

Cyclops, follower of Reebok, and

Joe Paris, cohort of Fila. Humor

continues as the friends help

hide a nervous Zeus, who is wor-

ried that his wife, Hera, will blab

to the other gods if she finds out

he lost his thunderbolts. Diony-

sus wants to party and Ares

wants to fight, but the real trou-

ble starts when Zeus challenges

Joe to give his golden apple to

the fairest of all goddesses. This

entry in the series is guaranteed

to sail off of library shelves.

7th Grade

Waiting for Anya

In a village in southern France,

only a few miles from Spain, Jo

discovers that the Widow Horcada

is sheltering Benjamin, her Jewish

son-in-law, who is helping to

smuggle Jewish children over the

border. He is also waiting for his

own child, Anya, from whom he

was separated. When a garrison of

German soldiers is sent to occupy

the village in order to stop the

flow of refugees into Spain, Benja-

min needs the cooperation of the

entire village to save the children.

What Jo and the others learn,

though, is that the Germans are

human and that there are more

similarities than differences among

them. Readers do not see battles,

but will witness their effects when

Jo's father returns a sick and bitter

man; they do not see the horrors

of the death camps--it is enough

to know that those who are taken

away will not be seen again. Eve-

rything is seen through the eyes of

one young, compassionate boy.

8th Grade

The Great Wide Sea

Soon after their mother’s death,

15-year-old Ben and his two

younger brothers are stunned

when their father sells their

home, buys a sail-

boat, and

an-

nounces that they will live on

board and cruise the Bahamas

for the next year. Wrenched

from everything he knows and

forced to obey his father-

captain’s orders, Ben starts out

angry and finds no escape. As

he says, “We were always to-

gether.” When their father sets

a course for Bermuda and dis-

appears overboard one night,

the boys have little time to

wonder if he jumped or fell be-

fore they’re struggling to stay

afloat in a fierce Atlantic storm.

Lost at sea in a damaged boat,

they find their way to an island

where they are stranded with

little food, little water, and little

hope of rescue. Herlong’s first

book is a great survival story

and a fine portrayal of family

relationships in a time of crisis.