Sophie's Side

Last week Linda's class performed skits that we wrote. Our class split up into two groups and practiced teamwork skills to write our own plays. One half of the class did a skit as a talk show and the other half did a mystery.  Other middle school plays included neutral masks and other student composed plays. I thought that the plays went very well and I think that everyone enjoyed them.

Declan's View

In the Speakeasy, kids had to get into costumes that looked like a character from the 1920's.  They had to talk about their character and have everyone else guess who they were.  Everyone also did a research paper and wrote a biography of the famous person.  After the presentations we went outside to play and then we got a password to enter the Speakeasy.  It was in Katrina's room and there were snacks, sodas and music. 
At the end, Holly and Michi came in and acted like the police.  All the kids ran out.  I thought it was fun and a little bit crazy!

1920's Biography Presentations

Last Tuesday, middle school students presented biographies of iconic figures of the 1920's.Check out the pictures!

More Fall Fibs

Snakes
are
very
dumb-they get
in the way of bikes!
My bike wheel ran over a snake.
I also saw some otters swimming and they were cute!
I tried to chase a big deer with a pointed stick, but it was too fast and got away.
By Declan

Wet
Cold
Hiking
Pocket knife
Very long, wet night
Woodpeckers are very stupid.
I was relieved when we got back to a warm school.
All my stuff was very wet and stinky when I got back home to Hollins on Thursday.
The sun never ever came out of the clouds with its bright, warm ,yellow light so we made the best of it , but it was very cold and so wet.
By Parker


Wet
Hard
Camping
In the rain
Carving with a knife
Making a spear to chase deer with
Going nine long miles to Marlington and back again.
Going through a very, very, very, very dark long and dry tunnel-it was really hard.
It was extremely long and hard on the eighteen mile ride to the tunnel and back-
when I got back I collapsed next to my bike,  what a ride!
By Max

Friday Groups

Linda:Four weeks ago, we started our second round of Friday Groups.  Selections included creating the Local Hero Award with Pat, Looking at High School and Beyond (Seminar Only) with Linda, Learning about Native American Culture with Jen and Bill, Japanese Culture with Karen and Physical Education with Katrina.

Max: In Japanese Culture we are watching an anime called Spirited Away.  We are learning about their way of life and what they ate.  The first week we went on a website and did a scavenger hunt to learn about Japan.  Last week we cooked a stew and had dumplings.   In the afternoon, we are doing Physical Education and doing athletic stuff such as soccer, running, pull-ups and sit ups.  The first week we did the Presidential Fitness challenge.  I did the mile run in 10 minutes 19 seconds.  I hope at the end of the 5 weeks I will do better.

Fall Festival Fibs

In math, our class was learning about patterns and the Fibonacci sequence.  We decided to use the sequence to write poems about fall festival at Watoga State Park.  The syllable counts in the lines follow the pattern:1,1,2,3, 5,8,13,21,34...  Here are some of them:

Wet
Tent
Warm fire
Bicycle
Biking is awesome
Although it was muddy and wet
Going biking to the tunnel was of course the best
Biking in the rain while you are being covered in mud so you come out spotted and wet.
by Caroline S.

Cold
Wet
Rainy
Tiring ride
Dead deer in the road
Biking in the rain so insane
Learning that biking twenty four miles is so so hard
But it is not too bad when are are only biking ten miles and going through puddles.
by Sophie G.


Rain
Storm
Hiking
Fire doused
Puddles in the tent
Bogs keep bodies from degrading
Carnivorous plants and upturned trees were everywhere.
Pumpkins light up the campground with their distorted faces that glow with strange orange light.
by Gracie M.

Fall Festival-Hiking by Elena

I had a great time at Fall Festival.  The hiking trails were very pretty with all the colored leaves, both on the ground and in the trees.  I also think that the view was amazing.  There was a river and in the middle of it, there was an island.  The island was beautiful, even though it was totally made of rocks.  The tent arrangements were nice and I got the best place in it.

Tory's Take on Ellis Island

We did this Ellis Island simulation and we dressed up as immigrants from different countries in Europe.
I was from Germany and my name was Gilda Brun.  There were four different stations.  The first one was for memorizing your passport.  I got sent back because I didn't know my birth date.  The next one was vocation.  They asked about what you did for a job.  I was sewing and knitting.  The third station was character and they asked if I had been to jail.  That was easy since I didn't do anything wrong.  The fourth was the health station and they had to ask lots of questions.  At the clearance station, they check all your points.  I got in and I felt excited and happy and a little relieved.  I was very nervous going into it.  It was a good way to learn about immigration and it was fun.

Friday Group

Linda's Friday group has been traveling around Roanoke to look at different cemeteries. Last week we went to the Salem Museum and did a scavenger hunt in the cemetery.  It was very interesting to learn about the people in the cemetery and look for different symbols on the gravestones.  For lunch, we went to Longwood Park and enjoyed the playground.

First Weeks by Gracie

During the first week at school, Linda's class had a double period of Language Arts. We discussed what we were going to do as the year wore on and how to write the "Where I'm From" poem. We brought in photos of our childhood. They were all very cute. We had to write about ourselves and then put it in the poem. While we wrote, Katrina delighted herself by looking at our photos. Then we went to the computer lab and typed. Almost everyone finished the poem. Katrina scanned the photos into the computer and said we would finish it on Thursday. On Thursday, we finished editing our pictures and started a photo story. In social studies, we looked up where our last names came from and the history of it. Katrina promised us if we finished our poems and photo story, then we could play Monopoly.

A New School Year

The first two weeks have flown by. We spent time getting to know our classmates, sharing our interests and our strengths, and thinking about what we want for our year. We also prepared skits for the playground rules and our class name. We are the "Dupliflections". Ask your child how we came up with it. We are preparing for a unit on immigration as we look at the early 1900's in American history. We are also talking about Fall Festival, which is October 11th-13th. Students are deciding if they want to bike or hike. The whole Middle School will be going to Watogoa State Park in West Virginia.
We look forward to seeing parents for the Middle School gathering on Thursday, September 22nd at 7 p.m. Please call me at school (563-5036) or at home (815-8133) if you have questions or concerns.

April Happenings

Drama and Music by Garrett W.- On Fridays, we are practicing for Arts Festival. We are rehearsing the play "Mulan". We have rehearsed up to page 42 and are doing pretty well. We are getting better and will put on a good show at the Arts Festival.
Please be sure to come on Fridays for rehearsal and also to study the lines and music at home.

Art by Zhenya: In art class we are weaving baskets and some people are making bead bracelets for the art show. I finished my basket and am about to start a bracelet. My basket is made out of black and yellow string wrapped around a coil.

Strawberry Festival Sign-ups- Please sign up for a shift on Friday, May 6 or on Saturday, May 7 if you have not done so already. We need all our families to be involved for this event to be successful. Don't wait for us to call you!

St. Augustine Trip by Madison and Rocky

This year, our spring trip was to St. Augustine, Florida. It was a 13 hour bus ride there and a 13 hour back if you included rest stops. When we got there, we went to the Pirate Haus to find out which room we would be staying in and who was in our room. The next day we went and visited the Fountain of Youth, where we got to learn about astronomy, see a canon fired and go to the peacock reserve. Then we went to the Colonial Spanish Quarter where we got to see and learn about blacksmithing, leatherworking, and the militia during the 1600's. Next we took a tour at Castillo de San Marcos. There we got to see real canons from the time the fort was in use, got to learn about the fort itself and got to see people dressed up to be soldiers from back then. The fun part was that the guy who ran the Pirate Haus also was dressed as a guard at the fort. After that, everyone was tired so we went to go eat pizza from a nearby restaurant.
On the second day, we visited 5 different places, or 4 for some people.
First, we visited the Alligator Zoological Park. There we found not only alligators,but birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals. Next, we had lunch which we packed ourselves each day. Then we went to the breathtaking Anastasia State Park. It was cloudy that day and the water at the beach was cold, but we all ignored it and had fun making sand castles, playing in the waves and searching for animals and sea shells. Then when we all dried off and got all the sand off from us, we had dinner at Harry's Seafood Bar and Grill. There we got to listen to a man sing and play the guitar and dance, after we finished eating. Then the thing that was optional was the Ghost Tour. Most people went on it though. We split into 2 groups and walked around St. Augustine, while listening to multiple wonderfully told ghost stories. When we got back, everyone checked their cameras looking for ghost in the pictures we took, and actually a few pictures got some ghosts.
The next day was the very anticipated Harry Potter theme park, or for some a kayaking tour. At the theme park, we went on a picture scavenger hunt and got some very strange tasting jellybeans and others got wands. After the lunch there at the Three Broomsticks, we got to go around to visit all the other parts of the park. We saw Marvel, Dr. Seuss, Comic Strip and Jurassic Park. After that, we had dinner at the Sweet Tomato.
The people who went kayaking ate at a restaurant where you could feed gulls through a hatch. No matter what you did on each of the days, everyday everyone had fun.

Rocky: This year the spring trip was awesome. We went to St. Augustine and the first place we went was the Fountain of Youth. We got to drink some of the water and it smelled like sulpher but it wasn't bad. Then we went to the Spanish museum. The fort was awesome and there were so many things to take pictures of. The second day we went to the Alligator farm and that was one of my favorite places. Then we went to the beach and that is where I got my mom's gifts. The last day, we went kayaking. That trip was only 2 hours long, so we also went to the Ripley's museum. We had a lot of laughs. Then we went back home.

Cecilia's Friday Group

Currently in the Robotics Friday Group with Karen, we are learning how to build and program Lego robots. We just finished building the robots (using robot-building kits) and next Friday, we are going to use the programming system that came with the kit to make the robots. We are also building paper robots and drawing a time-line on the history of robots.


Linda's Addition: The other Friday groups are a Homestead simulation with Linda and Emilie, a Girl's group with Jennifer, Hogwarts with Katrina in the afternoon and Knitting with Pat or Rock
Band with Kim in the morning. The first 2 weeks of Friday groups, four teachers from Community High School came and taught 1/2 day classes. Eleven students took advantage of this opportunity and enjoyed their time with Josh, Safia, John and Simon.

Harlee's Update

Hope everyone had a great winter break. Even though we have only been back at school for a short period of time, we wrapped up our colony reports and started learning about the Revolutionary War. Shortly (Feb 14-18), we will be taking our trip to St. Augustine. We will be looking at many of the historical sites. Students have the choice of going to the Harry Potter theme park or kayaking.

Linda's Two Cents: Payments for the trip are due on Jan. 11th and Feb. 8th.
Please make sure to send them in. This Friday is the Local Hero Award at 1:30 at Talmadge Hall on Hollins campus. The middle school students have been actively involved with the presentation and we hope that parents can join us.