Anthology: A Students’ Voice 2018
On the morning of May 9, middle school editors got to see for the first time their self-published anthology after months of work putting it together. The book is a collection of stories and poems all written and edited by middle school students. The project started in November when 8th graders Preksha Sarda and Claudia Murphy began recruiting writers and editors for the project. This is the second year that Steph Schares, who is an Extended Learning Program teacher at Ames Middle School and staff liaison to the anthology project, has helped students produce the anthology. Sarda and Murphy took applications from fellow students for positions of editors, marketers, and also managed the communications with students. They also paired each writer with an editor early in the process to provide a collaborative and authentic approach to the writing process.
Read moreNational History Day competitors moving on to state!
Twenty-six Ames students competed at the Historic Highways Regional History Day competition today. The competition judges students based on original research they have conducted around the 2018 theme: Conflict and Compromise. The students are ranked on their ability to find and creatively present primary source information; they may present their research as a film documentary, website, exhibit, research paper, or performance. Students who are ranked top 2 in each category progress to the state competition in Des Moines on Monday, April 30.
Read moreMathcounts Middle School State Tournament
On Thursday, March 23, six students from Ames Middle School competed in the state Mathcounts tournament held at DMACC. In…
Read moreEarthquake Science Challenge
Students in Mrs. Andrews’ sixth-grade science class have been analyzing and interpreting data on earthquakes in order to forecast future events. As an…
Read moreCreating digital magazines brings nonfiction to life for sixth graders
Ames Middle School sixth grade students are ready with an answer in case anyone asks what they learned this year. In their hands are printed versions of digital magazines the students researched, wrote, and designed for literacy class to show what they learned studying nonfiction text structures and writing processes throughout the year. Literacy teacher Drew DeJong said the literacy team, as a professional Learning Community, created the magazine project so students could demonstrate understanding of sixth grade learning standards such as identifying the author’s purpose and the structure of a text. The students were expected to create two articles over a topic they chose, using a different text structure for each article.
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