Twice a month, fourth and fifth graders at Berry Elementary School gather as part of the Just Say No Club. Under the direction of Olivia Coffey, school counselor, students discuss the importance of making good choices now and in their future. “The purpose of the club is to help good students make good choices as it relates to risky behavior,” Coffey said. “It also allows them to work toward making good choices in life as they get older.” Students discuss risky behaviors, play games and role-play scenarios that help them know what to do if they encounter negative behaviors. “I joined this club because I’ve always wanted to be a part of a club, and the Just Say No Club can help you be a good inspiration to other students,” fifth grader Sukoi Jackson said. “If we see other kids doing something bad, we can help them stop.”
Nathan Mouli’s Advanced Placement (AP) human geography classes at Maurice J. McDonough High School use real data collected from national businesses to study how they affect the communities around them. According the College Board, human geography studies the distribution, processes and effects of the human population on the planet.
MDBio Foundation’s Mobile eXploration Lab rolled by Westlake High School earlier this month, giving students in the Project Lead the Way biomedical program an opportunity for some hands-on work. The lab brings equipment and experiments to schools allowing students to see the larger scope of what they are studying. Westlake students used gel electrophoresis to determine if a patient had sickle cell anemia, a red blood cell disorder.
Westlake High School hosted its second annual Eighth Grade Family Showcase Dec. Eighth-grade students and their families who are zoned for Westlake were invited to come out and try high school. Programs and classes represented included Project Lead the Way (PLTW) engineering, PLTW biomedical, computer science, business, choir, band, multimedia, theater, fine arts, food and Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID).
William B. Wade Elementary School’s media specialist Heidi Furman introduced the Black-Eyed Susan nominees for 2017-18 to the first group of readers taking part in the program. Students in third, fourth and fifth grades will have the opportunity to participate in the program during the school year. Students who read eight or more books in one category will be eligible to vote in March for the Maryland-based book award.
Students at William B. Wade Elementary School participated in the Hour of Code. They created code with different activities from the Tynker and Kodable websites, as well as the special activities from Code.org. Favorite coding lessons were Minecraft, Monster High, Mod Minecraft and Create Your Own Google Logo.
During December, Heidi Furman, media specialist at William B. Wade Elementary School, holds a Book Character House contest. Students use their creativity to make a unique house for their favorite book character. The houses are displayed in the library media center throughout the month, and all students have the opportunity to vote for their favorite. Winners are announced at the end of the Book Fair and receive books as their prize.
For the first two months of school, Spanish students at Milton M. Somers Middle School learned and researched Spanish-speaking countries and the cultures. Students did a small project on tissue boxes. The students and their teacher, Ana Villela-Villela, thought that it would be nice to have the tissue boxes in classrooms that they and their peers attend to share some of what they learned.
