It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.
A great new opportunity for all of my students interested in coding:
All ages, grade levels, and ability levels are welcome. Space is limited, so those interested should RSVP by October 20th.
Questions about the organization or event can be directed to Convert to Code at: converttocode@gmail.com.
Hello, families!
I am currently looking for parents that would be willing to be a participant in our Speaker Seminars at the middle school. Speaker Seminars allow you to share your education and journey to explain how you arrived at your current employment. This helps students to understand that there isn’t always a direct and clear cut path to your future endeavors.
During the 60-90 minute presentation you are asked to share your education history and what your day to day responsibilities are for your job. Then you present an activity that students could do. This could be an activity that simulates something from your job (I will gladly help you with planning, and it doesn’t have to be complex) or you can share hands-on materials from your job. If travel is involved, you could even bring in any photos, souvenirs or items that tie in.
I usually allot 60-90 minutes for your presentation, activity and questions + answer time. Please email or call me if you think you might be interested. The kids love the Speaker Seminars!
Please email or call me if you are interested or want to know more.
Thank you for considering,
~afd
Hello, families.
We started Discover at Hambright and Gifted Seminar at Manor over the last few weeks. Students are settled into a more structured day now that all of the Back to School information and meetings have finished. The kids are busy meeting new friends – especially at Manor – and strengthening prior friendships.
Your child should have brought a letter home to you (yellow for Manor and green for Hambright) with a general overview of the year. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. Thanks to those of you who have subscribed to the blog.
Hambright is starting with the book Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun to discuss the differences in all of us and what makes each of us unique. We’ve enjoyed some insightful conversations about why we need differences in the world. Day B students can share more about our story and Day D students can share more after tomorrow’s classes.
The elementary kiddos have also had time to break out some of the new STEM equipment and work together to construct a new robot.
Manor has started with some team building fun! We are working on forming strong cohorts in Gifted Seminar. I happy to see the 7th graders expanding their friendship circles since there are four elementary schools coming to Manor Middle. The 8th graders are also catching up with each other and forming new bonds because I mixed up their cohorts from last year. You can see they still love to be silly together. It’s good to have people in your tribe that understand you.
The 8th grade ladies are already checking planners to make sure they stay on top of their work.
Be on the lookout for another blog post tomorrow about our Speaker Seminars. I would love your help!
~afd
Last Friday the 6th grade Discover students to their annual trip to Shank’s Mare to celebrate both the end of the elementary years and the excitement of going to middle school in the fall. It was lovely to meet our new Manor families and give an overview of Manor Middle and how gifted support works in the middle school. As I said Friday, please email or call me with any questions you may have.
We started our day with a morning kayaking trip. The water was calm, and the scenery was gorgeous. It was fun to see so many kids who hadn’t had the opportunity to kayak before really enjoy the experience.
The trip was got very exciting for the Manor group as we were within 20 feet or so of a Bald Eagle eating his breakfast on our way back to the launch site. I had my iPhone and snapped some shots. They aren’t top quality because of the zoom, but I still got some and a video.
…and he’s off with his fish breakfast – he did not leave that behind
video of the eagle: IMG_7271
After lunch, we were able to participate in the stream study in Fishing Creek. The kids didn’t care that it was cold (and some parents even jumped right in.). The seine nets were a big help in trapping the macroinvertebrates.
Looking for any larvae, bugs, or crayfish that could be found.
Colin had proof that the stream was healthy.
Nigel checking out what was found.
What a fantastic group of kids. So super excited to have this bunch next year!
Congratulations to the following students for finishing in the top five in the 2015-2016 Continental Math League competition:
Jordan S., Kyler S., and Alaina B.
Missing: Noah D. And Jackson W.
Each student received a certificate and medal. Great job, mathletes!
I’ve updated the website on the Parents Page of my blog, but here is the address to the updated website: LC PAGE
On Wednesday of this week, fifteen Manor students traveled south to join our Marticville friends for our second Guest Speaker Seminar of the year. Our speaker was Dr. Hugh Smith,a local licensed psychologist. He presented on the topic “I had the weirdest dream last night! Understanding our dreams through psychology and creativity.” He gave an overview of the types of psychology there are in the field, explained the dream cycle and brain anatomy when awake and asleep, and lead the class in analyzing and interpreting dreams.
Students asked questions throughout the presentation about shared consciousness, lucid dreaming, and the idea that reality may in fact be a dream. The depth of student questions was impressive! Dr. Smith instructed students to focus on 4 areas when interpreting dreams; wishes, conflicts, feelings,and other details from the day. Two brave students volunteered to share details of one of their dreams for the group to interpret. It was fascinating to hear the connections students made.
Ultimately, Dr. Smith said the “correct” meaning and interpretation of a dream can only be know by the dreamer. The workshop concluded with Dr. Smith giving each student a dream journal and a challenge to record the details of their dreams over the next few weeks. He will be offering a follow-up dream interpretation session for those who are interested in early February (information will be sent out to those students who participated in this seminar.)
The day ended with students eating lunch together and discussing the ideas shared during the workshop. A special thank you to Dr. Smith for offering his time to teach middle school students about the field of psychology and how to learn more about our dream worlds!
