Literary Cafe

October 14th - 18th was National Teen Read Week.  Teens at Harrison Middle School celebrated by attending the now-annual Literary Cafe in the HMS Library.  Cookies, bars, hot chocolate and cider were served to the 7th and 8th grade students, thanks to generous donations from parents.  Once students selected their goodies, they found a comfy spot in the lamp-lit room to read, eat and sip.  At the end of the period, they were treated to a look at the newly-updated HMS OverDrive website, through which students can borrow popular titles in eBook format on their own device, their school laptop, or a borrowed eReader from the HMS Library. 

Read and Relax

HMS OverDrive

Charlotte Agell wins Friends of the Gifted Award

We're thrilled to let you know that Charlotte Agell received the Friends of the Gifted award, which was presented to her by the Maine Educators of the Gifted And Talented, during the New England Conference on 10/25/13. Charlotte was chosen for this award based on years of outstanding, dedicated service to gifted students and their families

                                                               

Charlotte Agell (center) receives her award with friend and colleague Molly Kellogg (left) by her side.

We know that you join us in congratulating Charlotte on this well deserved honor!

Charlotte Agell and Molly Kellogg present at New England GT Conference

Charlotte Agell and Molly Kellogg are presenting at he New England Conference of the Gifted and Talented in Portland next week. A description of their fascinating session is below:

 

This workshop is an exploration of GT characteristics as vividly illustrated by gifted protagonists from children’s literature. We will use the 12 characteristics of giftedness as outlined on our screening nomination form as well as professional texts like Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults to profile these characters and make connections to real GT kids we know. We will also discuss and demonstrate the use of these books in language arts curriculum in GT groups, the regular classroom and at home to help kids and adults understand gifted learners of all sorts. Participants will gain a new understanding of the needs of gifted learners in their classrooms or homes and how to accommodate for them.

Randy Dehetre awarded $500.00 Grant

Congratulations to Randy Dehetre who was recently awarded a grant through the Adopt A Classroom organization! See the information below for details:

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Congratulations.

We are thrilled to inform you that you have just been adopted by one of the AdoptAClassroom.org key corporate sponsors. The Coach Foundation has just awarded you a $500 grant to help you buy the supplies and materials you need to create a more dynamic teaching environment for your students. The funds are in your AdoptAClassroom.org account and ready to use today.

The Coach Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Coach, Inc., the leading American design house of modern luxury accessories. The Coach Foundation’s Education Initiative focuses on improving educational opportunities for the underserved, to provide everyone with the opportunity to learn, grow and meaningfully contribute to our society.  

We are grateful to The Coach Foundation for their continued support of AdoptAClassroom.org and teachers across the country. And a big thank you to you – our teachers - for your continued dedication to helping children succeed now and in the future.

Tell a Teacher…

Please tell your teaching colleagues to visit AdoptAClassroom.org and register their classroom. AdoptAClassroom.org has many corporate and private sponsors and we continue to award funds to teachers on their behalf. Another disbursement of funds is scheduled for later this November. The teachers selected to receive funding are selected based on need and other criteria as agreed upon between AdoptAClassroom.org and each corporate partner.

Congratulations Again,

Your team at AdoptAClassroom.org

Morgan Cuthbert presents at MAMLE Conference

 Morgan Cuthbert presented at the Maine Association of Middle Level Education (MAMLE) Conference on October 18th. See the interesting/innovative details of Morgan's presentation below:


Connecting Science, Social Studies, and Medicine: An Interdisciplinary Mini-Unit on Skin, Tanning, and Skin Cancer – Morgan Cuthbert, Frank H. Harrison Middle School, Dr. Erin Van Wagenen, Maine Medical Center

Frank H. Harrison Middle School in Yarmouth has connected with doctors at Maine Medical Center, the Maine chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Melanoma Foundation of New England to create an innovative and engaging unit on skin cancer and tanning.  The web base program is an interdisciplinary approach that connects science, social studies, and advocacy to reduce teen tanning, and to raise awareness of the dangers of over exposure to UV rays.  This is a perfect unit to introduce at the Middle Level as the rate of skin cancer goes up to 58% if teens get severe burns prior to 21 years of age.

Jenny Jorgensen and Mike Arsenault Present at ACTEM Conference

 Jenny Jorgensen, Lead Math Teacher, and Mike Arsenault, Technology Coordinator, both presented at this fall's Association of Computer and Technology Educators of Maine conference, held on Thursday, October 10th, at the Augusta Civic Center. Below is information about their well attended presentations. Congratulations Jenny and Mike! 

Jenny presented, "Teaching Implications from the "Show Me" App". Her presentation focused on how to use the Show Me App for the iPad to enlighten a student's mathematical understanding, and highlight any misconceptions a student may have. Jenny shared Show Me App student recordings; participants discussed the implications for their teaching and student learning, along with specific ways the App can be used with students. Jenny is using the App with students who are part of the RTI Tier 2 process.

Mike Arsenault teamed up with Alice Barr, YHS Technology Coordinator, to present a full-day workshop entitled, "Crash Course in Google Apps for Education". This session provided information on how educators can use Google Drive, Calendar and Sites in the classroom.

The Google Drive component of the session focused on sharing documents and folders. Participants were shown how to create folders that could be used to share files with their classes as well as drop boxes where each student can electronically submit their work. Adding apps like Lucid Chart and the Desmos Graphing Calculator to Google Drive was also demonstrated for creating mind maps and graphs. Each participant was then shown how to create events in their personal calendar as well as creating additional calendars for posting homework, team meetings and more. After lunch we focused our time tying it all together using Google Sites. Participants learned how to create new sites for teacher web pages as well as for specific projects. These sites were filled with text, links, images, embedded folders, video (from Drive and YouTube), calendars and more.

5/6 Writing Club

Charlotte Agell shared the following information about the exciting first meeting of the 5th/6th grade Writing Club!

Sixteen eager writers came to our first 5th/6th Grade Writing Club, during which I was ably assisted by Maxen Hathcock, grade 9. We went with our notebooks to harvest words from the community garden. Here's a group poem, as just one example of the bounty:

Summer leaves us coated in fragile pine needles the yellow sun beams on the green grass
the grass is growing yellow,
Birds fly toward the sun
The thermometer leaves the seventies 
and won’t come back there for a while....

Autumn arrives in leaves prancing and dancing
around the gnarled roots of the maple tree
Dandelions wither and withdraw their flowers in sad farewell 
Leaves fall off the vine

As one season becomes another
with the death of sunflowers and the birth of pumpkins leaves twist and turn, falling from a rainbow of trees Summer becomes autumn
in a burst of color all around us
The humidity goes south, the frost arrives

Are you ready?
 
by the September Group of 5th/6th Grade Writing Club 2013