Dear Families,

Hello and welcome to Carteret  Middle School Think Tank! My name is Mrs. Lopes, and I am extremely excited to be your child’s Think Tank  teacher and/or SPARK teacher! A little bit about me: I am a proud first generation American citizen, with parents who originated from Portugal. Portugal is my second home, and I love spending summers there!  I have a four-year old daughter that keeps me up on my toes when I am not working! This is my sixteenth year teaching in Carteret Public schools, and my third year teaching at the Middle School! Carteret has had my heart, from the amazing faculty and staff, to every unique student I have had the pleasure of being around. There is nothing I would rather do, and I can't wait to get started! 

With SPARK, students are identified at the end of last year and beginning of this year based on their academic performance and teacher recommendation. We then go through an extensive process to identify those students to see if they meet the criteria. If students are eligible, and with parent consent, students will be pulled three periods a week from their regular classes to work on higher order activities and projects. In 5th grade, the unit of study of Inventions and Innovation! Our 6th grade unit is all about SHARK TANK and Entrepreneurship! Please reach out to me via email if you have any questions regarding the SPARK program, as well as Honor Society for our school. 

This year in technology, or what I would like to refer to as our STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) class, your child will  learn many 21st century skills with me, as well as learning to work collaboratively with several hands on STEM projects, and Project-based learning that will help enforce their math, science, technological, and social skills, while problem solving real-life problems and discussing real social issues! Students need these core skills in today's global community, and what better way than to be engrossed in hands-on learning! In this class, we give students the opportunity to take ownership for their learning, moving towards being developers of knowledge rather than consumers of knowledge. This class gives students a space where they can learn and be motivated to be problem solvers! Students will learn about the importance of STEM education, learn about different types of engineering fields, and the engineering process, learn computer science and coding, while also applying all that knowledge into multiple engineering and robotics stations! 

As always, the start of a new year brings promise and growth for everyone in all areas. This growth can be obtained to its fullest potential as long as we all work together. If I can assist you in any way to make this the best year for your child, please feel free to contact me, at alopes@carteretschools.org. I will be sure to reply back at my earliest convenience.

Here's to a great school year!

Mrs. Lopes

Think Tank/Spark Teacher/Honor Society Advisor

Carteret Middle School