Important Dates
May 6 All day field trip to Norman Borlaug Heritage Farm
May 11 Mini courses (rain date is May 18)
May 25 NOT a late start on this Wednesday
May 27 Last Day of School (dismiss at 1:30)
Inspire Day
Next Friday we have the opportunity to attend the Norman Borlaug Heritage Farm for a day filled with fun activities centered around agriculture and Iowa history (and life in rural Iowa during Dr. Borlaug’s lifetime). Luther College education students will be the the instructors for the day’s activities. The Norman Borlaug Foundation sponsors the day for area 5th graders because they feel it is important for students to be inspired by this great man's story and legacy! You can learn more about Dr. Borlaug at http://normanborlaug.org/ .
Students need to dress appropriately for the weather, as we will be outside all day and students need to bring a sack lunch (if you wish for the school to pack a lunch for your child, you need to let your child’s homeroom teacher know by Monday).
Grocery Bag Contest
Several students attended the annual Grocery Bag Contest breakfast sponsored by the Winneshiek County Soil Conservation District. This year’s theme was “We All Need Trees.” Students decorated grocery bags around the theme. Bags were judged by the staff at the WCSCD and winners received a free breakfast and a certificate.
Middle School Parents Still Make a Difference- April Issue
The Parent Institute (Education’s #1 Source for Parent Involvement Information) provides a free resource for parents of middle school aged students. The monthly publication provides articles relevant to issues middle schoolers (and their parents) face. Check it out out here.
Safe School Reporting Form
Just a reminder- you can find a confidential online form to report bullying on the Decorah Middle School web site! Locate it here.
NEWS FLASH!!
From Mr. Peterson: In science, we have been creating models of how much of the earth’s water is in each location in the water cycle. We have discovered that A LOT of water is stored in the oceans and NOT MUCH water is available for human use. We have to take care of our water! In reading, we continue our work with both fictional first person narratives and informational text. In writing, we are gearing up for our last big project where we will research and write about problems facing us and how dedicated and ingenious people are solving those problems.
From Mrs. Nowack:
Science: We have started our chemistry unit and so far it has been a lot of fun! So far we have learned about mixtures (and how to separate them) and solutions. We will have a quiz over this material Monday.
Reading: This week students started reading science fiction stories in their guided reading groups and we continue to work on the reading strategy of summarizing.
Language: We reviewed figurative language and learned about different types of poetry. Students have read many examples of poetry and have written some of their own.
From Mrs. Suhr:
Social Studies - We are doing a “Mini-Poster Project”. Students will each learn about an event or person from history during the 1800’s through the present. Each will present their poster and information learned starting Tuesday, May 3rd.
Language - We will be learning about the parts of speech and starting to do research for writing a paragraph of informational text. Each student has chosen a person or event from history to research using informational text. Notes from their research are due Thursday.
From Mrs. Halweg: We continued our unit on the coordinate grid this week. We practiced plotting points on a grid in all four quadrants. Your student will be assessed over these skills next Thursday, May 5.
The Parent Institute (Education’s #1 Source for Parent Involvement Information) provides a free resource for parents of middle school aged students. The monthly publication provides articles relevant to issues middle schoolers (and their parents) face. Check it out out here.
Safe School Reporting Form
Just a reminder- you can find a confidential online form to report bullying on the Decorah Middle School web site! Locate it here.
NEWS FLASH!!
From Mr. Peterson: In science, we have been creating models of how much of the earth’s water is in each location in the water cycle. We have discovered that A LOT of water is stored in the oceans and NOT MUCH water is available for human use. We have to take care of our water! In reading, we continue our work with both fictional first person narratives and informational text. In writing, we are gearing up for our last big project where we will research and write about problems facing us and how dedicated and ingenious people are solving those problems.
From Mrs. Nowack:
Science: We have started our chemistry unit and so far it has been a lot of fun! So far we have learned about mixtures (and how to separate them) and solutions. We will have a quiz over this material Monday.
Reading: This week students started reading science fiction stories in their guided reading groups and we continue to work on the reading strategy of summarizing.
Language: We reviewed figurative language and learned about different types of poetry. Students have read many examples of poetry and have written some of their own.
From Mrs. Suhr:
Social Studies - We are doing a “Mini-Poster Project”. Students will each learn about an event or person from history during the 1800’s through the present. Each will present their poster and information learned starting Tuesday, May 3rd.
Language - We will be learning about the parts of speech and starting to do research for writing a paragraph of informational text. Each student has chosen a person or event from history to research using informational text. Notes from their research are due Thursday.
From Mrs. Halweg: We continued our unit on the coordinate grid this week. We practiced plotting points on a grid in all four quadrants. Your student will be assessed over these skills next Thursday, May 5.