Student Awards...

Every two weeks we come together for a Team Meeting with all students and teachers (at least we try to!). and give out awards, make announcements and recognize the hard work students are doing. I wanted to take a minute to let you know about the fine work Solstice Students have been doing and the awards they have received.  I apologize in advance, but I think there are a few recipients from the start of the year that may be missing. If so, please email me and I will add the name:

Student of the Month Awards
These are voted on by ALL four teachers. Names are published in the Newsletter.
       October:           Jonathan H & Jasmina J
       November:       Prince D & Rachel H
       December:        Robert S & Ena I

SOLSTICE Awards
These awards are also voted on by all four teachers and are given out at the end of each quarter. These awards are reserved for 8th graders and give 7th graders something to look forward to. Below are our recipients from Quarter 1:
           Scholar:                  Rachael D
           Optimist:                Brooke H
           Light Bulb:             Philip P.
           Sense of Humor:    Calvin B.
           Tenacious:             Amber D.
            Inquisitive:           Mabel P.
            Creativity:            Amila S.
            Enthusiasm:          Garrett H.

Citizen Awards:
These awards are decided by teachers and are given to a student who shows great citizenship within the classroom, school, or larger community. We have only had two recipients this year:
            Maddy D, Rory G,

Subject Awards:
These are given out by individual teachers every other time we meet:
       Science:              Gary F., Adje W.
       Social Studies:    Meagan W, Blaise R
        Math:                 Alyssa D, Fiona M, Cole V
       Language Arts:   Charlotte L, Tristan T, Taylor S

The Pearl - Quick Update

We started reading John Steinbeck's novel The Pearl last week. I chose this title for its rich description and beautiful writing. Today's young adult novels are often packed with action and mystery, but lack depth in writing. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Young Adult novels, but I wanted to give students an opportunity to see how using literary devices and figurative language can add to writing.

Throughout the novel we will:

• Discuss what is happening
• Analyze the story - character's actions - and use evidence to back up our ideas
• See how figurative language can add to writing (personification, onomatopoeia, simile, metaphor, etc)
• Keep track of the characters by using our character charts
• Write journal entries from a character's point of view

We are only on Chapter 2, so I will update more after the holiday.

Pre-Reading Activity - Google Docs & Google Sites

 Before beginning our reading of John Steinbeck's novella, The Pearl, students worked collaboratively on a pre-reading activity which involved the integration of technology and students as 21st Century learners!

With our new Gmail system, every Hunt Middle School student has a Google Account. Please note this is a secure account within the @bsd domain. This account allows students to email their teachers questions and use many of he Web 2.0 tools that require an email address. Additionally, it allows students to collaborate more on projects.

We started this project off  by spending a class period becoming familiar with Google Docs. To do this, we:

• Created a journal entry, which they shared (online) with me
• Drafted an email to me 
• Created a note taking graphic organizer within Google Docs  
• Students collaborated to research a pre-determined topic and create their online organizer. We had some trouble in Google Docs learning not to type over each other, but we're learning!

Students then created webpages to share their information with the rest of the team.

LINK to STUDENT WORK:
https://sites.google.com/a/bsdvt.org/solstice-la-the-pearl/


We discussed:

• Plagarism (not copying and pasting from the Internet), 
• How to cite our sources
• How to give credit to the pictures we use
• How to create a Works Cited page
• How to make the information on our site easy to read
• How to synthesize information and make sure we (and our reader) understand the information
• How to give constructive feedback to peers
• How to collaborate as a group

The webpages came out great and are full of information that will help students better understand the main character's culture and struggles. Students are now in the process of completing a scavenger hunt, where they use other students' sites to find the answers!!

Check out the student work!! Click the below link which will take you to my site. Here you can get an overview of the project, see how students were assessed and take a peek at the guiding questions they had to answer.

On the bottom left of my page you'll see links to student work. Just click on your student's topic (or take a guess). This will take you to the groups that researched that topic. I have names on this page.

Please know that the site is normally only open to persons with an @bsd email account. However, in order to allow access to parents the settings are open to anyone with the link. So, feel free to share the below link with grandparents, aunts, uncles, whomever you want to share your students work with!! Just copy and paste it!

LINK to STUDENT WORK:
https://sites.google.com/a/bsdvt.org/solstice-la-the-pearl/

Thanks for checking out our hard work!!

Saying Goodbye to Ms. Belofsky...

Friday December 2 was Ms. Belofsky's last day with us in the classroom. We will miss her infectious spirit and caring nature. Luckily, she will be back next semester, one day a week, while she finishes up her senior year at Saint Mikes. We will miss her!!!!!

Good Luck Ms. Belofsky!!!!