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September 21, 2005
A Friend in Need
Around one o’clock this morning the Carr family lost their home in an electrical fire caused by a lightning strike. The family of four was blessed to be able to escape their burning home unhurt, but they have lost almost all of their worldly possessions.
Shelly, a seventh grade Norwayne cheerleader, and her older brother Jordan, a Charles B. Aycock tenth grade basketball and baseball athlete, have long been active members of our school and community. Both young people excel in the classroom and on the athletic field, and both parents are actively engaged in the schools’ Booster Clubs.
In Wayne County we teach our students a great deal about reading and mathematics in preparation for the End of Grade Assessments. We also strive to fulfill our moral obligation to educate the children about the need for communities to stand together and “help their neighbors” in their hour of need. The need of the Carr family is great.
We are asking our community to extend that hand of support and encouragement to our friends and neighbors by sending a contribution that we can forward to the Carr family. We can never replace the cherished memories and items that this family has lost in this devastating fire, but we can show them the heartfelt love and appreciation of a community that cares about them.
In advance we thank you for your prayers, your concern, and your financial support. We are cheerfully serving, and Cobras Care!
Posted by hlperson at 08:27 AM | Comments (5)
September 20, 2005
Cheerfully Serving Others
I am so proud! One of the Buccaneers has already met her AR school goal and has raised her personal goal to continue making herself a better reader. This takes a great deal of dedication and personal motivation. Way to go Brianna – the first one on our team!
Our PEP Club presented a check for $1,920 at the Parkinson’s Walk on Saturday. How completely inspiring it is to see young people so willing to help others who are suffering through this destructive disease. It is not difficult for one to assess that these kids have been well raised and mentored to work so diligently in their philanthropic endeavors.
We graded our Literature Workbook assignment pages 50-52 today as a little quiz grade from the stories Melting Pot and Seventh Grade. The grades were exceptionally high for the students who did theirs and kept up with the work. I am very proud of the grades the students made on this assignment. Unfortunately several did not have theirs or had not finished it. I do hope that loved ones at home can help motivate these that are not achieving to their fullest potential rise to the occasion.
One last high note to share with you today – Norwayne Middle School has raised over $3000 to “adopt” a middle school in the devastated Gulf region to help those students who have suffered so greatly rebuild their most important resource – their school.
Posted by hlperson at 06:37 AM | Comments (0)
September 15, 2005
Too Long
It has been too long since I have posted to our site. I apologize for not letting you know how everything was going sooner. We took an unplanned day off for Hurricane Ophelia. It was wet and awfully rainy at Norwayne but from what I hear the southern part of the county had it much worse than we did. Because of this missed day, we will have classes on October 28th. It was supposed to be a Teacher Workday but will be a regular school day.
We have begun working in our Vocabulary Workshop books and it has been a difficult process for the students to get used to. They did not use Vocabulary Workshop in sixth grade so that makes it that much more difficult to get accustomed to. What the Vocab program does is expose the students to some mature vocabulary that should help them develop their writing skills. Please speak with your kids about their vocabulary book and get them to share the book with you.
We have completed our North American map as a whole class, our South American maps in small groups, and are now working individually on Europe. The European map will be a homework/classwork grade and then the students will complete an African Map as a test grade. Since the skills are so new to many of the students, I really try to “go slow” and make sure they “get it.”
The most frustrating thing is when we go over material so completely and some do not work to make sure they “get it”. Unfortunately these same individuals are the ones who are missing assignments and falling behind academically. The students have begun calling parents during their elective block to make sure they are aware of their child’s lack of productivity. I hate to bother mom or dad at work but these individuals are not getting their work done. Please check the Classroom Calendar and your student’s agenda book to make sure they are keeping up with the expectations. We have not sent out Progress Reports because of some technical difficulties with NCWISE. It has been worked out and you should expect Progress Reports on Monday the 19th.
Posted by hlperson at 08:33 PM | Comments (0)
September 07, 2005
Community of Learners
Today was a special day at NMS. We had a guest speaker, Mr. Ed Gerety. Mr. Gerety entertained and educated us with his stories of his childhood and of young adults he has met in his travels. From discussions with various students throughout the day, I believe Mr. Gerety’s message was well received. We are responsible for each other, for helping each other, and building up each other. As an educator I feel it is extremely important to have presenters bring such a positive and uplifting message to our young people. I encourage you to speak with your children about their own thoughts about Mr. Gerety and his words of inspiration.
We took our learned skills in Social Studies today and put them to work. Using our reference atlas, our glossary, and most of all our brainpower we worked through a map skills activity on North America. I hope the students now “see” how what they have been learning is used in real life. My goal is to always make it real and as enjoyable as possible.
I need to thank all of those folks who have sent in paper towels, Kleenex, and hand sanitizer. Mrs. Wooten and I work to make our classroom-learning environment as positive and pleasant as possible and these basic necessities really do help. Your assistance will go a long way to making this a very productive “Community of Learners”.
Another item for you to draw great pride from - Norwayne Middle School has already raised over $2,000 to help our neighbors who have suffered so greatly because of Hurricane Katrina.
Posted by hlperson at 01:59 PM | Comments (4)