Skip to main content

Life in Middle School: Welcome, Grade 5!


Our new middle schoolers are already working hard in fifth grade. They began last week by presenting their summer reading projects. Students enjoyed chocolate cake, deciphering hidden messages, watching video games, learning a recipe for how to survive a monster apocalypse, and so much more -- all while learning more about their classmates' favorite books from the summer!

Joslyn shows off a secret codex vitae from her WOW report on Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore.

Lauren presents her book review on Maniac Magee to the class.

---------------------------------------------------
For their first writing assignment, fifth graders planned out their academic and personal S.M.A.R.T. goals that they hope to accomplish at some point during their first year of middle school. 
                       Click on each photo below to see their goals up close!                              

                     

                     

                     

                                
                                                                        
            ---------------------------------------------------
If there's one thing this class has plenty of, it's an endless amount of ENERGY for learning! Students enjoyed working with their classmates, using Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up to practice their Unit 1 terms in a Vocabulary Word Talk. Take a peek below at how one of our standard, collaborative learning styles works!


    
   
                                                     
                ---------------------------------------------------
Fifth grade candidates for class representative prepare for a panel of questions from their classmates.

The end of our first full week of school culminated with student council elections in the middle school. Fifth grade had six candidates: Joslyn H., Daniel L., Aidan Z., Sophia K., and Gabby D. Throughout the week, they prepared posters and responses for a panel that was held on Friday before elections. Based on how well they each spoke, it's clear that all six students have bright futures as leaders at HCA.

Stay tuned for a special post from Mrs. DeLuca later today, announcing the new GRADE 5 REPRESENTATIVES!

Popular posts from this blog

A Special Visitor

The fifth graders enjoyed a visit today from Lt. Lanni, who brought with him a surprise guest speaker, Brent Celek. The former Eagles tight end shared stories of his experiences in school, and the challenges he overcame as a student and athlete to get where he is today. His advice for our students? Respect others, work hard, and dream big. A big THANK YOU to Lt. Lanni for this exciting surprise! Mr. Celek's visit coincided perfectly with a STEAM lesson today, called "Passion to Purpose," where the class had to work together to identify a way to apply their passions in a way that would inspire real change. Their ideas are displayed in the slides below; they hope to expand on this project as they continue their work in the lab. There is no school tomorrow or Monday, Feb. 17. Tuesday will be a Day 1, which means that fifth graders will need to wear their gym uniforms to school. Thank you, and Happy Valentine's Day!
Read more

Hispanic Heritage Month Celebrations

This week for Community Time, students in early childhood, lower school, and the middle school culminated a month's worth of honoring Hispanic heritage with a celebration filled with music, crafts, and Quizzo. Middle school started off the celebration in the gym, where they learned various styles of hispanic dance and enjoyed music by Jennifer Lopez, Gloria Estefan, and other artists! Each student had the opportunity to answer a musical trivia question on hispanic culture. Those who guessed correctly could come up and lead the dance by playing bongos. Everyone got into the celebrations! Next it was off to the MPR to play a round of Quizzo where students tried to guess famous Hispanic personalities, national flags, and quotes. Lastly, it was off to the cafeteria to practice their Spanish speaking skills and celebrate with piñatas!                                                    
Read more

So Much to Be Thankful For

Fifth graders show off their placemats! This week has largely focused on preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving. Fourth and fifth graders came together to make Thanksgiving placemats for the families in need who will receive the gift baskets. Over the past few weeks, fifth graders have also led the entire school in our afternoon prayer at dismissal. Izzy leading us in prayer. Joslyn leading us in prayer. Raheem leading us in prayer. Lauren leading us in prayer. On Thursday, Lt. Lanni visited our class and shared his experiences from his time on the S.W.A.T. team. The students learned about the Baker Bat Shield and were even able to try on a bulletproof vest! Wishing all of our families a restful, enjoyable Thanksgiving season!
Read more