1st Semester 6th Grade TAAP Flex class ends Feb. 2
The 1st semester 6th grade TAAP Flex class will continue until February 2 in order for the students to have a final week to present their Constructive Speeches for their debate. This will also make the two semesters of classes more equitable in time allotment as this group did not begin until several weeks into school.
The students have worked to develop constructive speeches for their debate topic in their teams by: choosing an argument to support their side of the argument, researching to find facts and experts to cite in their argument, and develop “stories” to enhance their arguments.
The second semester class will begin on Monday, February 13. They will start with jumping into the Stock Market Game. Most students participated in the SMG last year so they should be able to begin their investing right away. New students will have an opportunity to learn investing skills before beginning their investing.
1st Semester 5th TAAP Flex class ends; 2nd Semester begins
The 1st semester TAAP Flex class will end on Tuesday, January 31. We’ve had a great time challenging each other in chess over the past few weeks.
The second group of students will begin TAAP Flex on Wednesday, Feb. 1. The students will get immersed in the Stock Market Game which will run for 10 weeks. They will learn the basics of investing, divide into investment groups, and begin to invest their $100,000.
VAG Scholarship Application: Due March 1
Each year the Virginia Association for the Gifted awards students identified as Gifted/Talented scholarships to help defray the cost of summer enrichment programs they are interested in attending. Their application states: The Virginia Association for the Gifted offers summer scholarships designed for those gifted and talented students who wish to attend academic or artistic programs during the summer months. The scholarships are in amounts arranging from $100-$500 and are available for students, K-12. Visit the VAG web site, www.vagifted.org for an application. Application deadline for this summer’s programs is March 1, 2012.
The application process includes a recommendation from a teacher. If you and your child would like to apply for the VAG scholarship, please allow time for the staff at MEH to complete this part.
You can access the application at:
http://www.vagifted.org/scholarship/Summer%20Scholarship%202008.pdf
5th Grade Language Arts Enrichment
5th graders involved in the Language Arts Enrichment class have been meeting twice a week over the past few months. They have discussed 4 different philosophers and pondered the question “What is the meaning of Life?” in conjunction with the Philosophy Slam essay-writing competition. They read a short story “Alberic the Wise” and helped develop a 5-paragraph essay based on this short story. The essay addressed “What is the mearning of Life?” from Alberic’s perspective. They are currently working on developing their own 5-paragraph essays which will be submitted to the Philosophy Slam organization for competition. The due date for this competition is February 2.
You can learn more about this contest at their website:
http://philosophyslam.org/
7th Grade TAAP Flex Debate
7th grade TAAP students who chose the Debate option for one of their Flex options have been working on learning the basics of putting on a Debate. We have talked about the Debate protocol and have chosen 3 different topics to work on in debate teams. We are using the protocol set forth by the Middle School Public Debate Program (MSPDP). Topics chosen are: The Death Penalty, Beauty Pageants, and whether or not the President of the U.S. should be born in the U.S.
Students are currently researching their topics with their teams, developing specific arguments, and each student will develop his or her own constructive speech. This process will take us through February when each team will have the opportunity to give their constructive speeches as well as refute their oppossing team through the rebuttal process. After this initial learning experience, students will determine topics of their own choosing (rather than choosing topics via the MSPDP topic list) and hone their debating skills.
6th Grade TAAP Flex Debate
6th graders are learning the basics of putting together constructive speeches for a debate using the Middle School Public Debate Program (MSPDP) format. Students chose 3 different topics based on a list of topics offered by MSPDP that have been debated over previous years. Topics chosen are: The Death Penalty, Beauty Pageants, and Homework. They are working in teams to develop arguments based on research, and each student will have the opportunity to present their constructive speech to the class before the end of the semester.
5th Grade TAAP Flex Chess Competition
Our 5th grade students are having fun learning the game of Chess. Some students are old-hands at playing while some are new to the game. But, regardless of their skill level, they are learning new strategies and putting their skills to the test.
5th Grade TAAP Flex Explore Their Creative Side
Before Winter Break, 5th graders spent several weeks learning about Paul Torrence’s 4 aspects of Creativity: Fluency, Flexibility, Elaboration, and Originality. They had fun with “Odyssey of the Mind” type problems as they brainstormed ideas and worked together in small groups to make new “original” creations.
UVA Summer Enrichment Program Application: Due Feb. 15
Each year, several of our MEH students participate in UVA’s Summer Enrichment Program…and they always have rave reviews of their experiences!
The program brochure states: “Students in the program spend the morning and afternoon engaged in learning experiences designed to foster critical thinking, creative thinking, and inquiry processes. Instruction is differentiated to meet the individual readiness, learning profile, and interests of each student. A variety of course offerings across fields and disciplines offer students the opportunity to engage in authentic learning experiences that model the work of experts. The teaching staff of SEP utilizes best practices to maximize potential in each student and ignite a passion for lifelong learning.”
To learn more about this opportunity and to access the online application process, click on:
http://curry.virginia.edu/community-programs/student-enrichment/sep/summer
6th Graders Invest Time on the InvestWrite Essay
TAAP Flex 6th graders have spent the past few weeks investing their funds in the stock market and talking about different factors that affect the price of stocks. ALong with the opportunity to invest in “real time”, the Stock Market Game also provides another opportunity for students…an essay contest centering around various aspects of investing.
The topic for this year’s essay is: “Many different things make the price of a stock go up or down. For example, the company hires a new boss, the company sells a defective product which hurts their reputation, along with many national or global events. Pick a real world company from the stock market and describe one thing that could increase the price of the stock and one thing that could decrease the price. Using your research, explain if you think the company is a good investment given what you know about current events and the global economy.
The class has spent time discussing the economic woes of Greece as well as those of Netflix; we have witnessed how the Dow and other indices have been affected by these and other daily “headline news.” So they should have a good grounding in how to field this essay topic. The essay deadline is December 2. The students will work on their essays in class but are more than welcome to work on their own, as well.
