November 15

Fun with Emojis-Week 6 Challenge

For this week’s challenge, I gave my students the choice of which task they would like to complete with Emojis.  They seemed to enjoy this week’s challenge quite a bit!  All did a great job, but here are a few I chose to feature:

Feel free to see what they created with Emojis this week!

November 4

Rock, Paper, Scissors Fun!

On Friday, Nov. 1st, McDowell Student Council held our very first Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament!  The tournament was held in order to raise money to donate for our local veterans in need.  Students paid $1 to enter the tournament and could pay an additional $1 to get a “2nd chance” to stay in the tournament.  We had 82 students participating in the event and the other 7th and 8th graders were cheering them on!

We have collected $160 so far to donate to veterans and will be continuing to collect donations throughout the week.

The winners, Lance and Delsin, received gift cards, shirts and candy.

November 1

Student Blog Showcase

We just finished Week 4 of the Student Blogging Challenge.  This week was a Free Choice week and students were able to create a blog post on a topic of their choice.  For my Free Choice, I decided to feature some of the great work my students have been doing on their blogs.  I asked my students to suggest a few of their classmates’ blog posts to showcase, and here are their suggestions:

Gena has written a nice post suggesting things to do in New York City.  Blaine had fun with creating a snowman image for the Week 3 Challenge.  Evey argues why Minecraft and Fortnite should not be compared.  Maddox tells about his favorite sport and Ella offers some great book suggestions.

Visit their blogs and leave them a comment!

October 11

Meet our Blogging Challenge Participants!

Greetings from Ohio! Once again, I have entered my class blog in the Student Blogging Challenge. I am excited to connect with other classrooms from around the world. This year, my Advanced Language Arts students are also participating in the Challenge with their Google Sites. We created a Padlet wall to introduce those students to the world. You can find a link to their Google Site in the Blogroll. We invite you to visit and drop a comment!

Made with Padlet
October 9

It’s beginning to look like… FALL!

It’s beginning to look, smell, sound, taste and feel like FALL in Ohio.  Also known as autumn, this season is a particular favorite in our area.  Inspired by Kasey Bell’s magnetic poetry idea, I asked my students  to create a poem about fall.  This was a quick activity that we were able to complete on a beautiful fall day and they will look great on display in our building!

Do you see a favorite poem? Drop a comment and let us know!

October 7

Who has the best students?

Just in case you haven’t heard, WE DO!

McDowell Exchange School received some very good news last Friday.  Ohio’s Growth Measure Reports were released for Ohio’s Spring 2019 AIR tests. There were 1079 schools in Ohio who gave 7th and 8th grade tests.

Guess what?  Out of those 1079 schools, our students had the 3rd highest Average Growth Index!  Our 7th and 8th grade students put forth 110% effort on those tests and these results are a direct reflection of those efforts.  Not bad for our small, rural school in the cornfield!

I am so incredibly proud of our students and staff for such an accomplishment.  I’m always saying #McDowellstudentsarethebest and once again, I have the proof to back that statement up.

I love these kids, my colleagues, and I love being a BRAVE!

September 24

And…we are BACK!

A new school year.  A new group of students.  An opportunity to reflect on things of the past and prepare for the future.  I love this time of year!

In my classroom,  we spend the first few weeks of school getting to know each other and establishing expectations and routines that will carry us through the year.  It doesn’t take long for 7th graders to realize how much they like being a student at our school and we have a discussion comparing life as a 7th grader to life of a 6th grader.

What makes 7th grade at McDowell so great?  Read the Padlet below to see what my Advanced Language Arts class had to say.  They’ve done a nice job explaining their thoughts.

Made with Padlet

I will have to add that these are just SOME of the things that are great about McDowell Exchange School.  There are many more, and the best thing about our school, in MY opinion, is that we have the best students.  #McDowellstudentsarethebest