Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Update Central

Well we are onto Week 5 of the 2012-2013 school year and I could not be more pleased. I have some amazing students in my room, some wonderful girls on the softball team, and some fantastic colleagues to work with on a daily basis! 

Updates for the last couple of weeks have gotten totally crazy! Beyond the most exciting, and honestly unexpected, are the updates for our Book Drive. The last I updated was on Wednesday because of my out-of-town-ness on Friday. The latest I knew we were up to 243 books! That already passed the high goal we set of 200 Books as a Dolphin Team. This is our first ever Book Drive at Cramerton and I was beyond excited to lead it and help the Dolphin Team organize this fascinating drive! After today's round up we are looking at ...... DRUM ROLL PLEASE ....... 699 BOOKS!
I can not express my gratitude to the students, teachers, and administrators at Cramerton to help make this so successful! We are still 3 days away from the end and looking forward to what we can reach. I'm currently searching for the best places for these books to be donated. Please let me know of any suggestions or places currently in need. Below are pictures of Wednesday's update as well as today's update!




Along with an amazing Book Drive, I tried a Pinterest reference on Friday while I was out of town. Students were to complete a writing assignment about why I was absent for the day. Students were not told ahead of time that I would be absent, and then had to use their imagination as to why I was not there. Some of the responses were beyond what I could have ever imagined. Between being sick, robbing banks, visiting the spa, visiting a magical land of unicorns and softball players, I was blown away by the creativeness my students displayed. I've attached below a picture of my favorite response. I wouldn't mind a day of sickness if Mr. Stadler gets to bring me soup to feel better ;)
FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST: Pinterest Crazy!!




Friday, September 14, 2012

Book Drive Week 1 Updates!

Our Dolphin Team kicked off a new Annual Book Drive this week to remember and participate in the September 11th Act of Service Day. We made a team goal of collecting 200 books for the community in which we live. We are going to donate those books to those around us in need. There are requests from elementary schools, Boys & Girls clubs, Support Group, etc.

Today was the first Pick-Up Day for our Book Drive at Cramerton. The Dolphin team is more than excited to visit the classrooms around the school and collect books for the community. We went to all Connections Teachers classrooms in order to pick-up their donations. Today was a slow start, but yet a positive one! We collected a total of 12 books today; not counting the Dolphin Team donations :)

Our running totals by Connections Teachers can be found HERE! It is definitely going to get interesting within the next two weeks because our principal, Ms. Holbrook, has agreed to put some healthy competition into the mix. We are able to reward our Connections class that donates the most books with a Breakfast Party! We will provide the class with donuts, juices, and other breakfast treats. We are really expecting some major books to come in now.

Our current toal..after one week of our 1st Annual Book Drive is (drum roll please...)...... 82 Books! Way to go Eagles! Let's keep up the generous donations and support our community :)

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Penguin Crazy!

Well today was our annual Magazine Fundraiser kick-off! The students are beyond excited to sale some magazine subscriptions, collect some penguins, and raise some money for the school! Here are the excited teams listening to all the prizes: 


They could not be more excited! After being Magazine Subscription queen on the 6th grade hall for the last two years...I am beyond excited to get my little kiddos pumped again this year. I have high hopes for my magazine sellers. I believe this enthusiastic one is going to be my highest earner.... :)


Here we go Dolphin Team! Let's collect ourselves some Penguins and show the other 6th grade classes who has the best selling power!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Act of Service

Today was a very influential day within the United States and the world. I remember exactly where I was eleven years ago when I was told about the attacks in New York. I was at lunch at Butler High School in Matthews, North Carolina. I had walked into lunch and heard other students talking about planes flying into buildings. I had no clue what they were talking about. Only then, once I sat down at my table, did I find out about the horrible events I had missed earlier in the day. After lunch I went to my Economics class where my teacher told the class we were "too young" to witness the events unfolding through the day. I did not catch a glimpse of the attacks, towers, planes, etc. until I went home for the day around 2:15pm. Our softball practice that evening was cancelled in order for families to spend time together during this difficult time in America.

I do wish my Economics teacher would have allowed us to witness the historical, and horrifying, events of 9/11/01. I believe it is important for students to understand what happens within their daily lives, whether local communities, or the world as a whole. Therefore, I feel like it is my position as a teacher within the classroom to revisit this influential event in American history and allow the younger generations to realize how this has shaped the world we are currently living in. This year we quickly revisited, through THIS VIDEO the events of the day, along with key terms, and explanations of why these events happened. The Dolphins and I then discussed the importance of the day, how it has shaped us as citizens currently, and how 9/11 has turned into an Act of Service Day. 

As our Dolphin Team Act of Service we are organizing a Book Drive for our school. We are asking teachers and students to bring in books that they no longer read, want to keep, or would like to donate. We will collect books throughout the entire month of September and then donate them to organizations, schools, and places that are not as fortunate as we are at Cramerton Middle School. If you would like to donate books to our Book Drive please message me on TWITTER and we can get it arranged! Thank you so much and of course I'll update on our progress :)

Sunday, September 9, 2012

August-September Classroom Newsletter

Good Evening!
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I certainly did :)
Saturday morning was awesome at Appalachian State University in Hickory meeting with some wonderful classmates in Successful Schools for Young Adolescents. We discussed the early founders of the Middle School Movement and how their impact has continued into the middle schools we are seeing currently. Then I attended a great bridal shower for a fantastic friend. She is getting married in October in Ohio (Go Buckeyes!) and we could not be any happier for her and her soon-to-be husband.
Today was full on getting materials, lesson plans, and minor changes ready for a wonderful week with my Dolphins. I am pumped to dive deeper into Vocabulary, Wordly Wise, 8 Parts of Speech, Geography, and even Peter Pan this week!
Here is the monthly newsletter I am anticipating on sending home monthly. This is intended to keep parents and students up-to-date on the content, material, reminders, etc. that we are working on for that month.
August-September 2012 are together because of the short time in August this year! Enjoy :)

Friday, September 7, 2012

Week 2 And Rolling

It has been an amazing start to the school year! After a total of 9 days with my lovely kiddos, I am beyond excited for this year to really get underway. This week we were able to move from the icebreaker activities that we covered last week and into some actual content materials. Here's our weekly breakdown:

Language Arts -
We reviewed the 8 Parts of Speech and took a deeper look at Nouns, Pronouns, and Adjectives. The Dolphins have absolutely done wonderfully with these parts of speech. We have taken down multiple sentences and we have dominated the three important parts. We have also rocked out to School House Rock and loved them! Our favorite of the week has definitely been the Pronouns. Check It Out
Also in L.A. we worked on our first units of Vocabulary and Wordly Wise. Through Vocabulary we reviewed the basics of prefixes, base words, and suffixes. Within the next couple of weeks we will focus on specific prefixes for various words and learn to use them regularly.

Social Studies -
We began our study of what Geography is. We learned the definition after brainstorming ideas and led into various landscapes. We distinguished the differences in human and physical characteristics in diverse landscapes and even gave our own examples. We have also ventured into the wonderful career of Geographers and how they gather their information as Scientists and Social Scientists.

This has been an awesome week and I can not wait to be back Monday morning! Everyone have a fantastic weekend :)
-Mrs. Stadler