Monday, January 30, 2012

Souper Bowl of Caring

As the AFC and NFC champs prepare to face off in this years big Super Bowl game, Norfolk Middle School students kicked off the "Souper Bowl of Caring" today. Students are encouraged to bring spare change to raise money to support our local Salvation Army's "Pack Away Hunger."
This is an effort to help raise awareness and make a difference for those experiencing poverty and hunger in OUR COMMUNITY. The money collected during the Middle School's "Souper Bowl of Caring" will go directly into a fund to purchase necessary food to feed those in need!
Participation is voluntary. It is not a competition . . . rather a cooperative effort.

"Souper effort in Room 102"


Monday, January 23, 2012

Creation Station

Students have been experimenting with the creation station located in the media center. With the addition of video-editing tools such as iMovie and MovieMaker, digital video is now accessible to students. These videos allow students to document learning through multi-media tools.
Please check back. There will be more adventures with student-created movies



Video created by Ali, Mercedes, Flor, and Jarley. Filmed by Savanna.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Build a Snowman

Winter activities like building a snowman is something students have not been able to do this year.  Lucky for them, there was an easy and fun solution in Room 102.
Students wrote descriptive paragraphs of a snowman. Once finished, students exchanged the snowman paragraph with a classmate to see how accurately he/she could recreate it using only the written description.
Students had fun building a snowman even with the warm temperatures. Once completed - it struck – a snowstorm of an idea!  Giant snowflakes added to the winter fun.
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Monday, January 9, 2012

The 100 Books-this-Month Challenge




I resolve to read!

A challenge has been issued for January: The 100 Books-this-Month Challenge
This challenge encourages students to branch out and try new books, authors, and styles of writing. Students will be talking with other readers about books. They will broaden their horizons and discover books they might not find on their own.
Any book qualifies including picture books, nonfiction, poetry anthologies, or fiction.
Students will share titles via a social networking site called goodreads. Room 102 has created a bookshelf at goodreads to track our 100 class books. Students can follow classmates reviews and recommendations. 
Every book has the potential to connect students. We are building a community of readers. That's the best part of the challenge--the part that lasts long after the book ends.
Please encourage your child to read at home. 

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Happy Readings!

Friday, January 6, 2012

How do you say the year "2012"?



So, what should we call this year? Two thousand and twelve or twenty-twelve? With the recent flip of our calendar, this has become a most interesting discussion in our classroom.  We've decided to take a poll.


Thursday, January 5, 2012

New Year / 2012

Welcome Back! The New Year brought energy and excitement. Room 102 buzzed as students shared favorite gifts or favorite moments from winter break.

In computer lab we brainstormed vocabulary words associated with New Year and the year 2012.  Students gathered up all these terms to create a Wordle. So, you’re wondering what on earth “wordle” means, right? Wordle is fun word art you create. 





Wordle has lots of uses. Students can create poetry, practice new vocabulary words or spelling lists, create a visual of key points in a novel, and even make a one-of-a-kind poster for projects.

Students can create with Wordle at home by clicking the button.

Caution:   Wordle is extremely habit-forming! Your student might just be caught Wordling the night away…