Testing Begins!

All students in fifth grade will take the MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) test next week- Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. These tests are given in reading, language arts, math. and science.

Please speak with your child about the test experience. It is important that students approach the test with confidence. Parents can help in the following ways:

• Make sure that your child is well rested and ready to do his/her best work. Try not to schedule many activities after school.

• Please ensure that your child eats a wholesome, nutritious breakfast each day.

• See that your child arrives at school on time and relaxed.

• Comfort counts. Have your child dress in comfortable clothes. 

• Encourage your child to do the best work possible and to have a positive attitude. 

Before testing, students were asked to reflect on their personal study habits, effort, and participation. Students set goals. They reviewed skills and now it's time to test. 

Students are excited to celebrate growth!

     Thanks, parents, for ALL you do to encourage your child! 

A Really BIG Contest

February 16th and ends on February 27th

The Middle School PTO is sponsoring a Box Top Competition. The homeroom that collects 250 Box Tops will win a popsicle party. The class that brings in the most Box Tops wins a pizza party, too! 

Please clip Box Tops from your favorite General Mills products. Parents can earn cash for our school every time they shop for groceries. Each Box Top is worth 10 cents - and that adds up fast!  Please ask your family, extended family, and friends to clip and collect Box Top logos. 

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Today students took time out from schedules and lessons and just celebrated this sweet season.

VALENTINE MINUTE-TO-WIN-IT was a huge success. For the game, there was a plate full of Valentine candy and an empty plate for each contestant. Kiddos used chopsticks to move as many candies to the empty plate as they could in one minute. Whoever had moved the most candies at the end of the minute, advanced to the semifinal round, and then the championship round. 

When it comes to Valentine's Day, students know it is all about the cards!

Since sweet treats are always fun for fifth grade students, we ended our day with some festive goodies. 

Enjoy the 3-day weekend. It was a treat to visit with parents during this February week of conferences. If there is ever a concern, please do not hesitate to call or drop in. 

Service Learning

International Book Giving Day is coming up soon: February 14th! (Yep, that’s also Valentine’s Day.) For those of you unfamiliar with the holiday, International Book Giving Day is a day dedicated to getting books in the hands of as many children as possible. Team 1 chose to participate . . .

14th February is about sharing the love of books! 

In addition to the academic curriculum, Norfolk Middle School students participate in a service learning project and get involved in the community. Team 1 chose to celebrate International Book Giving Day and donate books to an area school.

The Wisner-Pilger School was hit by a tornado on June 16th. This school's library was completely destroyed. Individual teachers lost their classroom libraries as well. 

Team 1 students donated money to purchase books through Scholastic Book Club. Students were then able to select several of their favorite "reads" while working within a budget.  

We are excited to be part of International Book Giving Day and provide some new books to students in Pilger, Nebraska.

International Book Giving Day is nearly here . . .

Today the books were given to Mrs. Denna Soden, a Pilger classroom teacher. Mrs. Soden stopped by NMS to collect the books. She will share the books with students on the holiday. The response to our books was so sweet. With gratitude and hugs, Mrs. Soden expressed,

Your students' generosity is so heart warming. There is going to be much excitement in my classroom. 

Writing is "Snow" Fun

Definitely the topic of the day was snow. The weekend's snowfall and Monday's late start added excitement to our writing prompt -

"Life in a Snow Globe" 

Students began the project brainstorming a list of what they should include in the prompt. This is not a difficult task for fifth graders living in Nebraska. They then completed a descriptive writing piece using their five senses to describe a snow globe scene. When describing, students learned it is important to engage the reader fully by making him see, hear, feel, taste, and smell that which is described.

Google Docs brought the papers to life with smart editing and styling tools to help students easily format text and paragraphs.

Green screen technology placed each student in a snow globe.  

Students have been writing and crafting to transform our hall bulletin board and serve as a wall-to-wall portfolio of their work - just in time for parent teacher conferences. Please mark your calendar and plan to attend next week, February 9, 11, and 12.