Art Opportunities on the Way!

Recently I agreed to become part of the Sterling North Board and took the role of a school liaison to keep information and opportunities communicated between school and the Sterling North Board.  The hope is to incorporate activities and opportunities that will remind students that Edgerton is the home of a famous and well versed author and using personal experiences to create narrative text is an effective and entertaining form of writing.  It is also a chance to show our pride in being the home of North and to appreciate his legacy.  One way we hope to incorporate talented artists in our school is to have students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade illustrate outline drawings of Sterling's life, the environment in which he lived in or historical settings that relate to Edgerton.  A selection of drawings will be collected to create a new Sterling North Coloring Book that would be available in the community to purchase.  A spin off of these illustrations will also be to create a new design for an updated Sterling North T-shirt.  Both of these opportunities will be an exciting way to display the talents of many of our local artists!

"Club 24"

"2 squared times 6 equals 24.......the square root of 9 times 8 equals 24.    Can you look at a combinatin of numbers and see an equation that will lead you to 24?"  Students in sixth and seventh grade have recently been offered the opportunity to take part in Club 24 which is a time to practice and compete using Math 24 cards.  Students challenge themselves to create a progression of equations that will lead them to the final answer of 24.  After members of Club 24 practice for multiple weeks, a team of six students in each grade level will travel to Whitewater, WI to compete at  the Regional Math 24 Competition.  A great chance for those students who consider math "their thing!"

JUNIOR GREAT BOOKS

The new year is upon us and I am excited to be planning for a reading opportunity for some advanced readers in kindergarten through fifth grade.  Junior Great Books will be our TAG Time topic for the next 6 weeks.  A review of literacy terms, reading excellent short stories, and utilizing  productive discussion techniques will be the main goals of our weekly meeting times.  Not only will we read and discuss a variety of stories, we will also learn and understand high level vocabulary words and complete a Million Dollar Word booklet that will be a collection of our language development.  Although this strand of TAG Time will primarily be connected to reading, Math 24 practice will be starting in fourth through seventh grade math classes and Math Competitions will be down the road.  Lots of exciting opportunities for students who are motivated to "learn beyond their limits!"

Future Problem Solvers

Have you ever heard of Desertification?  Throughout the months of November and December some curious and hard working fifth through eighth grade students researched, explored, and discussed a problem solving scenario that involved the dehydration and decay of land caused by desertification.   These talented students wrote challenges that may occur in the futuristic scenario that they read and attempted to offer solutions to their fictional problems.  Future Problem Solving is an excellent opportunity for advanced learners to work together to read, discuss and solve futuristic scenes and analyze and evaluate these thought provoking situations.  More opportunities will be available during the second semester for students to work together and capitalize on their critical and creative thinking skills.

EMS Book Challenge: iRead

This week all the middle school students will be introduced to the 2013-2014 Book Challenge during their Language Arts classes.  This Book Challenge is called iRead and students are encouraged to form teams of readers and agree to read 25 "Must Read" titles throughout the months of December-March.  Reading Competitions will coincide with the NCAA March Madness Basketball Tournament.  Teams of students will compete against each other with questions that connect to the characters, plots, settings, and underlying themes of the stories.  This opportunity will allow for the students to not only grow as readers but also to be engaged and productive members of a team.  We would also like to thank many community members who have taken the time to help fund the purchase of many of our book titles.  iRead would not be possible without you......thanks!

It's time to get back to reading!

Today during my second grade TAG Time Intervention there were groups of students talking the Language of Literature.......Students have chosen a Book Club that they would like to be members of and together they agree on the pages to be read and then have discussions about the text.  We have modeled and practiced language to use when we are discussing books.

"We understand how important words are so we are making sure our conversations are meaningful and clear.   We really like sharing our book ideas and hearing what our book club partners have to say.   Book Clubs are awesome!"

Math All Stars!

If you would walk into a TAG Time Intervention at Community School on a Friday, you would observe teams of students working together to solve mathematical problems that are set in 'real world' scenarios.  We have declared Friday as Math All Star days!  From second grade to fifth grade students are talking the language of math and collaborating to find the answers to their grade level question.  Teams earn points for correct answers and friendly competition has motivated students to use their math skills to find the correct answers.  Some team names are the Square Roots, the Fast Math  Factories, the Math Deminators and even the Division Duo.  Math skills are being challenged and students are invested in the success of their team.  More to come on many more TAG TIme events!