ELP Mo. Valley

                Our Giving Tree is a project to help collect items for the Harrison Co. Food Pantry. We will be collecting items through December 3rd - December 18th. We will be collecting  items that are most needed. cereal peanut butter soap shampoo mac-n-cheese canned soup toilet paper  paper products toothpaste                                                                                                                                                                    If you have a...

Wednesday, November 7th the 5th/6th grade ELP students competed in the online Thinking Cap Quiz Bowl.  As a team of 23 students, they scored 1, 110 points, had 91/100 questions scored correctly in under 100 minutes!!!  The questions covered a wide-range of topics in all curriculum areas.   Out of 33 teams in the 6th grade competition (5th grade competed on the 6th grade Quiz b/c the 6th grade team was with them), our students placed 13th.   Wow, what a great job for a first try! On Tuesday, November 13th the 7th grade ELP students competed in the same competition.  Out of 28 teams...... our team of 16 7th graders placed 4th!!!   They earned 1, 042 points, had 89/100 questions scored correctly and also completed the quiz in under 100 minutes.  Please take a minute to congratulate your child on his/her academic efforts!  It was a fun competition and we had some great discussions along the way.  To learn more about the Thinking C...

Mr. Searl's 4th graders watching the 7th Grader's perform their Reader's Theater scripts. Performing "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves" The first novel we completed in 7th Grade ELP was "King of the Wind" (Newbery Winner in 1948).  It began in Morocco and traveled throughout Arab countries and into Europe.  As an extension activity into cultures, the students found and read a script for "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves."  One section of 7th Grade ELP created "revised endings" to  "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves".  In an attempt to find an authentic audience, we utilized the Skype-pals the 4th and 5th grade ELP students have.  Our 7th hour class "skyped" in with Mr. Searl and his 4th grade class in Bloomington, MN.  Students shared the original "Ali Baba" and then 2 smaller groups shared the original scripts they had created.  Mr. Searl's students shared their thoughts on the scripts, the intonation, ...

AR (Accelerated Reader) is not new to the Mo. Valley Middle School students.  However, those in the ELP classes have a new (yet, somewhat old) twist on AR. Each quarter the ELP students will take the STAR Reading test.  This will help us establish reading ranges (guidelines for book selections, but not the only way to choose books).  We have also set point goals for each quarter.  The students meet with me and we establish the number of points they wish to achieve in a 9 week period.  The concept is very similar to the way AR has been utilized at the Elementary for the past several years. At the end of each quarter, the ELP students who met their point and percentage goals (85% or above) will have a "mini-celebration"in the classroom. For the first quarter, it was decided to have a BYOD event (Bring Your Own Device) and a snack.  Students who met their AR goals for first quarter will be able to bring Ipads, Kindle Fires, Smart Phones, Gameboys, etc......

The first 2 weeks in November will be a very busy time for 5th-7th grade ELP students.  Not only are we administering the Iowa Assessments (formerly, the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills), students are also gearing up for the Thinking Cap Quiz Bowl! On Wednesday, November 7th (yes, the day after Election Day) the 5th and 6th graders will be competing in the online competition.  Due to the Iowa Assessments schedule, we will compete as a combined 5th/6th grade group.  The 6th graders will go to the Elem. and we will work in the PM on the 100 multiple choice questions.  The scores are based on accurate answers as well as speed in answering. Tuesday, November 13th is the 7th grade Quiz Bowl competition.  Students will meet in the Middle School and work 6th-8th hour on the Quiz questions.  We have been working on practice quizzes the past week. There will be 100 multiple choice questions covering Literature, Vocabulary, Authors, Science, Math, Social Studies and...

The 5th-7th Grade ELP students will be participating in the National Student Mock Election, hosted by the Pearson Foundation.  Students will be delving into how our democratic government came to be, why there are 2 "major" political platforms.....in the days of George Washington there was only 1 political party, and then "casting their votes". The objectives of the activities are to increase student understanding of how the election process works, why voting is key to the success of our political system and to guide them in looking for pros/cons to campaigns and campaign strategies. For additional information, please visit:   http://www.nationalmockelection.org I'm looking forward to integrating political science, social studies and language arts with this series of lessons. Please contact me if there are questions or suggestions.  As always, thanks for the on-going support and cooperation. Mrs. C.

Missouri Valley's ELP students, 5th-7th, will be gearing up for the National "Thinking Cap Quiz Bowl".  The Quiz Bowl was developed by 2 Urbandale, IA educators who wanted to promote academic competition and not just athletic competition. The on-line competition will be Nov. 7th for 5th and 6th grade students.  It will be held on Nov. 13th for the 7th grade students.  There are 100 multiple choice questions in all areas of academics.  Including, Math, Science, Government, Literature, Sports and General Trivia. We will be working on a few practice tests leading up to the event.  Students are scored on accuracy and speed.  The students will be competing as 1 team and not individually. For additional information you may visit www.thinkingcapquizbowl.com

 Kimberlyn C.---- https://docs.google.com/a/movalleycsd.org/presentation/pub?id=16xQt01Jg0bIcXIsEM5J-BiTx-zyKB62h2pRRWX_2Urw&start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000 Ashlyn C.---- https://docs.google.com/presentation/pub?id=1S1bLNM6g-8jZvvejLlUH4QaAvC22E2eCBt_hBVRX9Ss&start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000    Emma A.---- https://docs.google.com/presentation/pub?id=18HcksTbdZgQbMKjWRXA8OfUxEg6zJKDnwGUuFdLNElA&start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000 Kinsey C.---- https://docs.google.com/presentation/pub?id=1iYN5YigylPfU9yLZb0rYDwAjvVmzVX5URUfB0rhlKYk&start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000 Caitlynn M.--- https://docs.google.com/presentation/pub?id=1oo4sjhQdRXVUxF7WEFP4nVkn47rxgaVb9HUkOO5Ac1k&start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000 I'm still/we're still learning about the blog and publishing power points, so if you are unable to open a power point, leave a comment.  We will try to remedy the situation.  To ad...

I'm not sure about you, but the London Summer Olympics 2012 captivated my attention and the attention of the oldest 2 daughters in our household.  While preparing for the school year, I kept coming back to the topic of The Olympics........ For the past 2 weeks, the ELP students have been focusing on learning about the Ancient Olympic games, held for over 2,000 years in Olympia, Greece.  We have also studied the re-birth of the Olympics in modern times, beginning in 1896.   The 3rd grade students have been practicing a Reader's Theater about Jesse Owens and the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany.  In partners, they have created a story map retelling the story of Jesse Owen's Olympic feats.  They will be sharing the Reader's Theater with the other 3rd grade classrooms. The 4th grade ELP students have read non-fiction texts comparing the Ancient Greek games with Modern events in the Olympic Games.  As a culminating activity they have worked on Ki...

Welcome to the  ELP (Extended Learning Program) at the Mo. Valley Community Schools.  I am excited to be delving into the learning behind ELP and helping students to grow as learners, readers, problem solvers and citizens. As part of the ELP learning this school year, students will be creating/editing and posting information for the blog.  We will work on updating the blog in small groups and individually.  Our goal is to update the blog at least 2X's a month.  Hopefully, with the students' guidance, we will be able to update more frequently about ELP happenings, lessons and objectives. Our first ELP undertaking will be a project revolving around the Olympics.  Students will be researching the Ancient Olympics and Modern-day Olympics.  We will be utilizing both on-line resources and teacher supplied materials.  Students will be expected to be able to compare and contrast Ancient and Modern-day Olympics.  We will work individually and in s...