Earth Day and Mr. Potato Head

Kids love Earth Day.

This year we had some fun planting hair for Mr. Potato Head.

I've enjoyed this gang on my windowsill.

Today the Potato Heads come home with students.

These fellas are due for a hair cut!

Happy Earth Day!

Go Greece!

Norfolk Middle School Track and Field Day is scheduled for May 2.

Students are naturally antsy at the end of the school year, and who wouldn't be?  Having a field day allows them to go outside, have some fun, and run off their natural energy. Teams have been chosen and events planned.

The main rally point for school spirit during track and field week at the middle school is the hall-decorating contest. The whole idea behind the hall decorating is for students to show school spirit and get excited for track and field day. It's a way to get everyone pumped up. 

At the official opening assembly, each team drew a country to represent at the meet. Our team captain drew the country Greece. Our students are having fun traveling back in time to Ancient Greece and researching the early games.

We hope you will be able to join us at the high school track when Fifth Grade Team 1 competes in a number of sporting events. It's a fun and entertaining afternoon for everyone.

Go Greece! 

March Madness Champ

Going into our championship rounds, students presented booktalks on the final four bracket winners. Booktalks are simple, informal presentations. When a good book is read, it’s only natural to want to talk about it. 

Which book came out on top?

The 2016 March Madness Book Winner is . . .

Students love the exaggerations that mark tall tales. 

Pecos Bill was a tough competitor. 

Testing Season!

Testing season has begun. During March Madness, fifth graders clicked hundreds of bubbles as they completed the MAP tests - Measure of Academic Progress. 

Students set  goals and finished the MAP testing with high marks. We now move into the NeSA tests which include reading, math, and science.

To get excited or help others get jazzed about the next set of tests, students were reminded of their hard work and encouraged, 

"You Rock!"  

The class had fun with edible rocks!

NeSA Test Dates:

Math is March 31 and April 5 

Reading is April 7, 12, and 14 

Science is April 18 and 19

Are some rocks really edible?

Celebrating 100 Lessons

Today's 100^th lesson in Saxon math was center stage. There was plenty of sillliness as students entered the classroom through our decorated door. We started the morning with a trail mix recipe. Each student brought 100 food items. We mixed all the "ingredients" together and this bowl of goodies was a fun treat for a morning of munching.  Thanks, parents, for contributing.

Our project for the day combined math and art. Students created mosaics.  A mosaic is an art form made with small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. Individual pieces are called tesserae. The pieces fit together to form a design.  To celebrate our 100^th math lesson, the students were given 1-inch paper tiles and the task of creating a mosaic person. 

Click through the slideshow and meet our Fraction People.

Service Learning

Mercy Meals of Nebraska is a non-profit organization that packages and sends nourishing food to children in need throughout the world.  Orphanages, refugee camps, feeding centers, disaster relief centers, and local food pantries are recipients of the food.

In addition to the academic curriculum, Norfolk middle school students participate in a service-learning project and get involved in the community.  This year Team 1 students volunteered at Mercy Meals.

The morning started with a short update on world hunger facts and recent shipments reports, followed by packaging of the food for about one hour and fifteen minutes.  The session ended with a short clean up time.

Through this program we hope to instill in students a civic duty and world awareness. We want students to know that they can make a difference in other people’s lives by donating their time.

Click the video for a snapshot of our morning.

March Madness

March is known as the month of brackets. In recent years, tournament style book battles have been adopted by libraries and classrooms across the country. It is a fun way to generate excitement for books and reading. 

Room 100 is hosting a literary tournament in our classroom. The books selected to compete are 16 leveled reader books in our Wonders Reading series. These titles are paired off head-to-head in a bracket battle. 

Two divisions  are represented - Nonfiction and Fiction.

Before the reading began, each student filled out a bracket using only the obvious book stats; e.g. title, genre, and book cover. Students who pick the most match-ups correctly on their bracket will win a prize.

Students are required to read each book before the scheduled vote. Student votes advance a book to the next round. 

Our bracket is creating a tremendous amount of buzz in the classroom about books. Students get very excited about seeing which book moves on to the next round.

 Which title will triumph?

Update:  The winner is . . . click here. 

A big thanks to Brown Bag Teacher for the fantastic post about how to pull together a tournament bracket wall display - - with freebies!