Hudson – Students in Kate Tobiasson’s class seventh grade English Language Arts class at the Quinn Middle School recently competed a unit on persuasive writing. As such the students chose topics of interest to them and wrote a letter to the editor on that topic.
Here in the first part in this series – more letters will be printed in future issues of the Community Advocate.
Dear citizens of Hudson,
Each year more and more trees in our town are vanishing. Trees are being torn down to make room for new developments. Bringing down trees is destroying hundreds of years of work, and the image of Hudson.
One of the many assets to Hudson is nature. The trees make Hudson beautiful. Just recently a house next to my own was ripped down and along with it came over 50 trees. Now stands a house with only four scraggly trees nestled in the corner.
In Central Massachusetts alone 25,000 trees are estimated to be cut down each year. Worse, after trees are cut down the most go to a dump. They just end up sitting there, rotting. All around the town they are killed, burning more fossil fuels and harming our home.
Trees regulate rain patterns too. When they need water they can release a chemical into the air that brings rain. Not only do we need trees for oxygen, and shade but to keep our plants growing. We need rain to water our crops and without rain, lots of food will not be available.
To stop this problem Hudson should put a ban on how many trees can be cut down per year. This will keep the image, shade, and weather cycle of Hudson the same and prevent further problems. Attention must be brought to this issue. We need your help.
Sincerely,
A concerned citizen,
Amelia Dufour
To the Department of Education,
In schools across Massachusetts, students are unprepared for the yearly MCAS testing that takes place during the months of April and May. Perhaps this is because it is too early and not all the necessary material is covered or there just isn’t enough time to review the topics learned throughout the course of the year leaving the students at these schools feeling unprepared.
According to a recent study, students who study before their exam are more likely to score higher than those who don’t. However, at Quinn Middle School, most students are rushed to cover all the material in each class therefore not holding a firm grasp on it. This results in low test grades and unhappy parents. In order to earn the test grades they deserve, students need more time to prepare for the tests.
Given the time of about eight months teaching all the mandatory material seems accomplishable. As studies show, skills take time to develop, and practice is important. However, with the recent cut of some class time in Hudson, the teachers are limited as to what they can teach.
It is possible for the students of Hudson Public Schools to reach the success their parents are hoping for. If the MCAS tests were held off until the last month of school, the students would have an additional two months to learn and review the material that will be shown on the MCAS tests. With your help, we can watch our students’ test grades increase.
Hoping for a more educated tomorrow,
Angelina Percuoco
