Thomas Grover Middle School: Difference between revisions

Browse history interactively

← Previous edit

Content deleted Content added

VisualWikitext

Inline

Latest revision as of 16:06, 26 September 2015

Redirect to:

West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District

From a school: This is a redirect from a school article that may have had very little information or did not meet notability criteria. The information from this article may have been merged into a list of schools or an article on the appropriate school district or geographical location.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+#REDIRECT [[West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District]]
-{{Refimprove|date=November 2007}}
+{{r from school}}
-{{Infobox School
-|name           = Thomas R. Grover Middle School
-|image          = ThomasGroverSchool.jpg
-|imagesize      = Thomas R. Grover Middle School.
-|motto          = "Valuing our tradition of excellence"
-|established    = 1999
-|type           = [[Public education|Public]] [[Middle School]]
-|affiliation    =
-|district       = [[West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District]]
-|grades         = 6th through 8th
-|principal      = Brian Harris
-| asst principal = Jack Collela and Lisa Grippo
+[[Category:Middle schools in New Jersey]]
-| enrollment     = 1,182 (as of 2005-06)<ref name=NCES/>
-| faculty        = 110.6 (on [[full-time equivalent|FTE]] basis)<ref name=NCES/>
-| ratio          = 10.7<ref name=NCES/>
-|athletics      = [[Soccer]]<br>[[Basketball]]<br>[[Lacrosse]]<br>[[Tennis]]<br>[[Field Hockey]]<br>[[Cross country running|Cross Country]]<br>[[Wrestling]]<br>[[Track and field|Track]]<br>[[Baseball]]<br>[[Softball]]<br>[[Cheerleading]]<ref>[http://www.west-windsor-plainsboro.k12.nj.us/athletic_program.html West Windsor Athletic Information]. Accessed February 10, 2009.</ref>
-|colors         = {{colorbox|Black}} Black <br/> {{colorbox|Gold}} Gold <br/> {{colorbox|White}} White
-|mascot         = Jaguar
-|campus type    = TGMS
-|information    = 609-716-5250
-|free_label2    = On a usual day:
-|free_text2     = 7:40 to 2:46
-|free_label3    = On a half day:
-|free_text3     = 7:40 to 12:12
-|location       = 10 Southfield Road<br>[[Princeton Junction, New Jersey|Princeton Junction]], [[New Jersey|NJ]] 08550<ref name="a">[http://newjersey.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,2,fid,2059809,n,Thomas%20R%20Grover%20Middle%20School.cfm New Jersey Hometown locator]</ref>
-|country        = [[United States]]
-|coordinates    = {{coord|40.2729|N|74.5949|W|type:edu}} <ref name="a" />
-}}
-'''Thomas R. Grover Middle School''' is located in [[Princeton Junction, New Jersey|Princeton Junction]] in [[Mercer County, New Jersey|Mercer County]], [[New Jersey]], [[United States]]. It is part of the [[West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District]], and serves grades six through eight. The school is named in honor of Thomas Roy Grover, the son of the late Pete Grover, a local farmer who died in 2009. Thomas, a graduate of the school district, died at the age of 22 while serving in the Vietnam War. He received two Purple Hearts and a Silver Star for his service. Grover's mascot is a jaguar, and their school colors are gold, black, and white.
-As of the 2005-06 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,182 students and 110.6 classroom teachers (on an [[full-time equivalent|FTE]] basis), for a [[student-teacher ratio]] of 10.7.<ref name=NCES>[http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=3409660&ID=340966001104 Grover Middle School], [[National Center for Education Statistics]]. Accessed August 3, 2008.</ref>
-==Facilities==
-The two-story school building was built in 1999. The building, designed by Faridy Thorne Fraytak Architects/Planners, with {{convert|175000|sqft|m2}}, was built to accommodate as many as 1,150 students. The first principal of the school, Steven Mayer, served as principal from 1999 to the end of the 2006 school year.<ref>[http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-68647672.html] Brief article in "American School and University" periodical, November 1, 2000, article summary accessed from the "High Beam Research" Web site, September 10, 2007.</ref>
-== Awards and recognition ==
-*In April 2005, a sixth-grade student at the school won the $25,000 first-place national championship of the [[Reader's Digest National Word Power Challenge]], a vocabulary competition. A total of 1.6 million fourth through eighth grade students nationwide participated in the event.<ref>[http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-131692253.html "New Jersey Student Wins Third Annual Reader's Digest National Word Power Challenge(SM); Ming-Ming Tran of Princeton Junction, New Jersey Awarded $25,000 College Scholarship."], news release, ''[[Reader's Digest]]'' Association Inc., Pleasantville, New York, April 19, 2005, distributed through PR Newswire, as quoted in a summary at "High Beam Research" Web site, accessed September 10, 2007.</ref> As of recently, she remains the youngest award winner.
-*In March 2007, a seventh-grade student at the school won the New Jersey State Championship in the fifth annual Reader's Digest National Word Power Challenge.<ref>[http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-word-is-out-princeton-student-wins-new-jersey-state-championship-in-nations-premier-vocabulary-competition-51660652.html] "The Word is Out! Princeton Student Wins New Jersey State Championship in Nation's Premier Vocabulary Competition"</ref>
-*A TGMS student [[List of winners of the Mathcounts competition|first place]] in the 2007 New Jersey state contest of the National MathCounts Competition.<ref>[http://www.mathcounts-nj.org/07_results/State_07.htm "New Jersey MathCounts / 2007 New Jersey State Competition Results"], at the New Jersey MathCounts Web site, accessed September 10, 2007.</ref> The second and third place students were on the New Jersey state team competing for the National MathCounts Competition in 2006.<ref>[http://www.west-windsor-plainsboro.k12.nj.us/pressReleases/MathCounts.pdf] Untitled news release dated March 20, 2007 from the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District, first sentence: "Ten teams and approximately 54 individuals participated in the State Mathcounts competition", accessed September 10, 2007</ref> In 2000, TRG students won first and third place, while the school's team coach was selected to coach the New Jersey state team in the national competition. In 2009, a student won a first-place finish in 8th grade.<ref>[http://www.mathcounts-nj.org/Press_Rel1.htm "New Jersey Student Team to Compete in National Mathematics Finals in Washington, D.C."], news release from the New Jersey MathCounts Web site, dated March 14, 2007, accessed September 10, 2007.</ref> The MathCounts team has taken 1st place in New Jersey 7 of its [[Mathcounts historical results|first 10 years in existence]], and the coach has led the New Jersey state team to 2 national 3rd-place finishes.
-*The 2009 Science Bowl Team took first place in the regional Science Bowl at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. The team competed in the National Middle School Science Bowl Competition in Washington D.C. and was ranked 7th place. The 2012 Science Bowl team won first place in regional Science Bowl and won 7th place at the national competition. The 2013 Science bowl team took third place in the regional Science Bowl at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.
-*In 2013, the National History Day team of TGMS had a number of winning participants, with the winning participants being awarded a Blue Ribbon. All these students went on to compete at the New Jersey National History Day Competition.
-== Curriculum ==
-Grover Middle School (GMS) students take classes in music, art, performing arts, media, health, computer, life skills, and technology. Students also participate in choir which is Spotlight for girls and Encore for boys which meets every other day, orchestra, and band programs that provide group and individual instruction. The elective program includes a class in which students produce their own television program via an intra-school cable network. There is also "AE Flex," an addition to the school schedule. During AE Flex, students get to catch up on work, and take a break from the school day. Some students also can go to PRISM.
-===World Language===
-Students in Grover are required to pick one [[language]] for the 3 years they will be at the school. Languages offered are [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[French language|French]], [[Chinese language|Mandarin Chinese]] and [[German language|German]].
-===Band/8th Grade Band===
-In 2011, the Eighth Grade Wind Ensemble won first place in the AA division with a rating of superior at the Music in the Parks festival at Six Flags Great Adventure. Grover currently uses Essential Elements for a practice book. The band and the orchestra perform together, and the band is required to wear the TGMS Music shirt. The band consisted of about  200–300 children in the 2011–2012 school year. "A day" and "B day" bands are  actually one band. They rehearse separately but perform together.
-===Orchestra===
-For several consecutive years, the Eighth Grade Orchestra won first place in the Music in the Parks festival at Six Flags Great Adventure, with a higher cumulative score than all other musical groups of all types and ages groups. The orchestra is required to wear the TGMS Music shirt. The orchestra consisted of about 150–200 kids for the 2011–2012 school year. A day and B day orchestras comprise one orchestra which rehearses separately but performs together.
-===Electives===
-Sixth and seventh graders choose one extracurricular class, and eighth graders choose two extracurricular classes. In sixth and seventh grade, students have their electives every other day (see [[Thomas R. Grover Middle School#A Day and B Day Classes|A day and B day]]) and have physical education class in place of the days that do not have electives.  Eighth grade students have electives opposite each other in somewhat complicated 2-day schedules.
-===Cycle Classes===
-Cycles are classes that each student is assigned to every other year. Each cycle lasts an equal fraction of the year. In sixth and seventh grade, cycle class occurs every day. In the sixth grade, the five cycles are Art, Computers, Health, Study Hall, Life Skills and Music. In the seventh grade, there are six cycles: Art, Computers, Health, Life Skills, Music and Technology. In the eighth grade, cycle is every other day, and there are only three courses: Art, Health and Music.
-===PRISM===
-PRISM (Performance Revealing Individual Student Magic) is the school's Gifted and Talented program. Unlike most Gifted and Talented Programs, there is no entrance test. Programs that PRISM offers are Future Problem Solving (FPS), National History Day, and the Inquiry Project. The first two are competitions and the latter is an exposition.
-== Student life ==
-The students are divided by 'teams' that are named T, G, M and S to represent the initials of the school. The number of the grade of the team is first, followed by the letter, so for example, Team "T" of the seventh grade is Team 7T, while Team "G" of the eighth grade is Team 8G. Each team consists of 4 teachers and at least 1 special education teacher. The teachers teach Math, Science, History, and IRLA.
-=== A Day and B Day Classes ===
-A and B Day Classes are 40-minute classes which alternate every day. These classes alternate so that students may take more courses over the school year versus a singular day system.
-=== Schedules ===
-Since the district combined reading and [[language arts]] for the middle school curriculum, there are 4 basic subjects, taught within a "team": IRLA ('''I'''ntegrated '''R'''eading and '''L'''anguage '''A'''rts), Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science. Students certified as "advanced" through a test from the [[primary school|third grade]] have a separate mathematics class, the Advanced and Enriched Mathematics program. In seventh and eighth grade, some students may qualify for the Honors Math program, which is slightly more advanced than the regular class. These four classes are 52 minutes each, the other three classes (one of four world languages, a cycle class, and an elective, and Physical Education) have 40 minutes, and lunch & recess are 40 minutes. (An extra 4 minutes are built into first period for morning announcements).
-As of the 2010 school year, "AE Flex" is given each day for 30 minutes. It is a time in which students can do homework, study, finish their work, and read, go to a teacher, or go to PRISM. As a result, each team period is shortened to 52 minutes. (The past ones were 57 minutes.)
-=== Special Education Programs ===
-The school has [[Special education]] Programs that aid students with difficulties. These programs include the Literature Lab where students struggling in [[Language Arts]] practice to improve their knowledge on that subject to normal, required standards, the Math Lab where students improve their mathematics skills, and the ACES class where children diagnosed with [[autism]] learn and socialize with other autistic people in the school.
-== Clubs and extracurricular activities==
-The school has many after school programs, also known as clubs, ranging from Homework tutorial to  Debate Club. All clubs must be supervised by a teacher. A club usually has a range of about 20-25 students. Most clubs are applied for by the students in Autumn and Spring via paper, although some may require special nomination, like First Period Paws. Other activities include [[Science Olympiad]] and [[MathCounts]] and Student Council.
-===Jagazine===
-"The Jagazine" is a magazine published three times in the fall-winter, spring and near the end of the school year (3 times during the school year). "The Jagazine" is produced and edited by students mainly from the after-school club called Publishing Club led by Mrs. Cohen. These newspaper-type issues only cost 25 cents. Publishing Club also sells an anthology of poems in June called the Spotted Folio.
-===First Period Paws - Grover’s TV Broadcast===
-First Period Paws(FPP)is a video production and broadcasting program that provides students with the opportunity to learn the art of communication, the fundamentals of video production and the basics of broadcast writing by creating and presenting live broadcasts that are seen by both students and teachers throughout the school every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning. This program teaches kids how to use editing machines to make their own videos that can sometimes be seen on the show.
-===Quiz Dish===
-Quiz Dish is First Period Paws's challenge show.
-===AMIGOS===
-The AMIGOS <nowiki>(Addressing Middle School Issues by Giving Options to Students)</nowiki> are a group of hand picked 8th graders. These 30 or so students are picked from their 7th grade teachers and counselors because they show desirable traits. They help with 6th and 7th graders and also host fundraisers to raise money. For example the AMIGOS work with the SUNSHINE Fund, Help us Help our own. This fund is one of Grover's "charities" that give money to the unfortunate families of Grover by selling paper paws and hanging them around the cafeteria.
-== Competitions ==
-GMS is an active competitor in multiple academic competitions, including Science Olympiad, Science Bowl, MathCounts and Future Problem Solving. They actively participate in state and national competitions for National History Day and ROGATE programs.
-=== Science Olympiad ===
-All grades may participate in this competition. It takes place every Tuesdays and Thursdays. This is by testing only and once in, more tests are given in order to determine the competition team. A student will need 2 events to go onto the state round.
-=== Science Bowl ===
-As of the 2010-2011 year, only 8th graders are allowed to participate in [[Science Bowl]] (previously, 7th and 8th graders were allowed to participate.) Participants are selected by a set of exams and afterwards by number of points earned in mock competitions. Maximum five students are allowed to go on to Regionals; first place at Regionals will go on to Nationals.
-=== MathCounts ===
-All grades may participate in this competition in the form of a club. Hopefuls are screened by a series of practice rounds taken from previous MathCounts competitions, and the official team is announced in January. The official team goes on to more practices and then to actual competition. There is another option available, as an after school activity, where there are simpler problems that give students a chance of competing against other students nationally. Math Club, as it is called, is a branch of MathCounts.
-=== FPS(Future Problem Solving)===
-Part of the school's PRISM program, students take an active role in solving problems of the future. As of now, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders may participate. There are no requirements as to who may join. There are multiple teams with at most 6 people on one team.
-==A and E program==
-The Advanced and Enriched (A and E) math program is taught across both middle schools in the district. The program is enriched with topics from geometry and combinatorics integrated into the curriculum.
-== References ==
-{{reflist}}
-== External links ==
-*[http://www.west-windsor-plainsboro.k12.nj.us/grover/index.html Thomas Grover Middle School]
-*{{NJReportCard|21|5715|035|Thomas Grover Middle School}}
-*[http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_list.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=3417700 Data for the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District], [[National Center for Education Statistics]]
-*[http://www.publicschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/53388 Thomas R. Grover Middle School statistics]
-*[http://teamyoa.tk TeamYOA]
-*[www.ww-p.org West Windsor- Plainsboro Regional School District Website]
-{{wwp schools}}
-[[Category:Schools in Mercer County, New Jersey]]
-[[Category:Public middle schools in New Jersey]]
-[[Category:West Windsor Township, New Jersey]]