Announcing...the New M25 Room White Board!!

Look at our wonderfully clean and legible white board! Through the generous contribution of an anonymous donor and the help of Mr. Dixon, our M25 room now has a beautiful new surface for the existing board. We marvel at how easy it is to write on; read; and clean!!! To God be the glory for His goodness.

Time flies when you are having learning fun...

First Grade M25-The students conquered coordinate points on geoboards and did, indeed, make it safely back to earth from Geoland! To overcome our jet lag, we adjusted back to Earth with geocenters. These have been super fun, independent, centers with various geometry activities to apply and build on what we have learned. Next, first grade will explore algebra concepts through hands on and problem solving activities.

Second Grade M25-The best ending to our weather study was a very professional video forecast by our second grade meteorologists. We also loved have WSLS Meteorologist Jeff Haniewich visit for second and fourth grade Extra M25. The students are now studying geometry concepts through tangrams. The hands on activities allow many opportunities for problem solving, which, at times, is fairly complex. As part of the unit, we will also explore area and perimeter.

Third Grade M25-Students have tackled the complicated job of researching by gathering information about a selected insect and completing a concept web. They are currently choosing and completing three mini projects using the information they have found. I love these projects because they give students a creative opportunity. My favorite ending to this unit is still to come...polymer clay models of their insects!

Fourth Grade M25-Fourth grade M25 students are taking off with Bloxels! They created Bloxel characters and a setting from the constellation myths they composed. We enjoyed a visit from fifth grade M25 students, who gave fourth graders some of their best tips about Bloxels. Through a generous mini grant from the Virginia Professional Educators, I was able to purchase ten Bloxels boards for students to use as part of this project! Thank you, VPE! When our unit concludes, we will be sleuthing to solve The Lunchbox Mystery.

LAX 5-Fifth grade M25 students have proven themselves to be worthy detectives as they cracked the case of The Great Chocolate Caper. I love how excited they got and how hard they worked to get to the conclusion. They really enjoyed learning to solve matrix logic problems as well. The students selected and have been reading a choice novel this nine weeks and are in the process of completing an illustrated plot map about the book. They will also plan and write a persuasive paragraph about their novel. I look forward to reading Project Mulberry together during the last nine weeks as well as completing our vocabulary study in Wordly Wise!

LAX 6-The students have learned about debate and are working in teams to formulate their arguments for a formal oral debate. They are working so well together devising reasons and finding supporting evidence. Meanwhile, they are nearing the end of their choice novels and are creating plot maps in small groups. They will plan and compose a persuasive essay about their choice novels. We will read Across Five Aprils as a class and complete our Wordly Wise vocabulary study during the last nine weeks!

7th and 8th graders are in the midst of the memorable Barbie Bungee math lab. Students make predictions and did repeated trials to determine how many rubber bands would allow Barbie to safely bungee from a given point without hitting the floor. After a few "incidences" along the way, including the loss of one Barbie, students accomplished their trials and even tested the number of rubber bands needed to bungee Barbie from the seventeen plus feet high school building stairwell. Students will be plotting their information; learning about a line of best fit; and discussing the experiment. We look forward to taking a field trip to Poplar Forest with the entire 7th and 8th grades classes in April to focus on archaeology.