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......