Geometry students helped determine where a new fountain should be placed on campus using points of concurrency. They are continuing their work with polygon area. Algebra students are continuing with graphing quadratic functions and preparing for their quarter 3 exam.
Civics students have been investigating landmark court cases and their impact on America. Mrs. Sitta’s sixth grade honors science students are discovering how organisms are classified into Domains and Kingdoms. They will be learning about binomial nomenclature next. Mrs. Sitta’s advanced science students are finishing a unit on Energy, Force, and Motion. They have mastered Newton’s laws of motion. Science is about learning new ideas and making connections. Students in 6th grade U.S. History classes have been learning about the first five U.S. presidents. Some students chose to create a timeline for the Jefferson Era. This included events like the Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, and the Alexander Hamilton/Aaron Burr duel. Other students created a FAKEBOOK page for one of the five presidents. They posted historical events from this president’s lifetime. They also included comments from other historical figures which stated their view on these events. These projects were quite amazing! World History students have been learning about the Rise of Rome. They have discovered what daily life was like, what it means to live under a Republic form of government, and how their social class affected every aspect of their lives. LCMA sent 10 teams to the regional Odyssey of the Mind tournament last Saturday! We had TWO receive ribbons for placing and TWO teams advancing to the state tournament in April! Mrs. Davis’ classes have been working diligently on writing to both argumentative and informative prompts in preparation for the FSA. Students have enjoyed reviewing their prior writings from previous grades and from the beginning of this year. Students have maintained a pros and cons list in their portfolios and have been able to see how they have flourished as writers and accomplished individual goals they have set for themselves. The students have also worked in groups to peer edit and encourage each other with unique ideas for improvement for one another. Sixth grade Language Arts students are diligently preparing for the Florida Standards Assessment for Writing through writing and revision of strong thesis statements with supporting details from a text. Students have analyzed the FSA Writing Rubric for understanding, applied the learned information to their own and writing, and helped others through peer editing. Learning the writing and revision process throughout this year has helped all students improve and become more confident. Recently, they pretended to be FSA judges and have scored essays using the state rubric to have a deeper understanding of their own essays and what they need to do to be successful. 7th grade Language and Literature classes have been getting ready to ROCK the FSA Writing Test! They have been working hard all week on revising and refining their writing with a specific focus on creating solid thesis statements and finding relevant and powerful evidence from multiple sources to support their claims. Students have had the opportunity to review the FSA rubrics and understand what is expected of them on Tuesday. Teachers are confident that their students will exceed all expectations! Lavelle’s 8th graders have been using their class novel, Out of the Dust, as a way to prepare for their FSA Writing Test. Students have created powerful thesis statements that focus on how the author uses historical events in the narrative to create realistic fiction. They have also used the various poems in the text as sources to provide evidence for the thesis statements. The students have worked incredibly hard on their writing all year and we can’t wait to celebrate the results! LCMA sent 10 teams to the regional Odyssey of the Mind tournament last Saturday! We had TWO receive ribbons for placing and TWO teams advancing to the state tournament in April!
I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”
― Edward Everett Hale Another awesome week @ LCMA! Thanks again to PTSA for hosting our celebration social for all kids! What a reward for our super students. Thanks to our teachers and students for making it special.
And in the classrooms............ The sixth grade U.S. History classes are learning about the first five presidents. (Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe) We have also learned about the War of 1812, the creation of the National Anthem, the Louisiana Purchase and many other historical events that took place during this time period. There has been great debates and discussions during these lessons. These sixth graders are impressive young citizens. They are passionate about their country. Using them as our guide, our country’s future looks bright. Did someone say OLYMPICS! Yes, our 7th grade math students are getting ready for their projects in their Statistics/Probability Unit on the Olympics. These will be passed out next week. Hopefully, your child is watching some of the events. If they have missed their favorite because of bed time, they can live stream them. We have been talking about the Olympics daily. Hopefully, they will all bring home the Gold on their projects. Ms. Lavelle's 8th-grade students have been reading aloud from the novel-in-verse, Out of the Dust, while also listening to and examining the lyrics of Woody Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads. They have been looking at connections between the two pieces concerning diction, imagery, sentiment, and historical events in search of the overlap that exists between historical fiction and Guthrie's first-hand experiential account. Ultimately, they will evaluate each artist's chosen form and determine what impact that form has on the meaning. Algebra students are learning how to work with quadratic relationships which allows us to solve problems involving objects traveling in a parabolic trajectory. Geometry students are studying the properties of quadrilaterals and learning how to support conclusions with mathematical evidence. 6th grade elective math students are leading the district lessons passed. LCMA Band students earned 68 individual Superior ratings at Solo and Ensemble this past weekend. There were also 4 Excellent ratings. Nice work!! 8th grade American History classes have been working on our studies of Black History Month. Mr. Rutledge’s classes have explored the Montgomery Bus boycott through a DBQ analysis. Mrs. Tregler’s classes have created an electronic museum timeline to share the achievements of notable African Americans, link to be published soon! 7th grade Civics classes are learning about the successes and challenges of the Civil Rights Movement. The 7th Grade Global Tech students have been divided up into teams and given $5,000 dollars as a budget to invest in 1 food truck of their choice. They are working on criterion A and B creating and designing a food truck. The next step will be Criterion C and D given them an opportunity to create and present a pitch for a food truck to investors (student peers) that will meet the needs of the students at LCMA during lunch Creative Writing/Drama/Film Studies News: Congratulations to Eleora F. whose poem placed 3rd at the annual Sister Cities International Young Artist & Author Showcase sponsored by Harrison! Original poetry written in ELA & CW classes will soon be judged in house and then sent for county judging. We have some amazing poets on the LCMA campus! All grade levels have completed performing various scripts “on stage” and have written some interesting and creative reflections. Students were asked to either delve into a character’s narrative backstory, or advance the scene through script-writing. Our film class just finished watching Disney’s version of Jules Verne’s classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and compared the screenplay to the original novel. They also created original movie posters based on their favorite scene(s) from the book and/or movie. 7th grade Language and Literature students are continuing to work on writing their own structured and free verse poetry. Also, they have focused this week on narrative poetry by diving in to “The Highwayman” and comparing and contrasting the point of view of characters in the piece 6th grade Language and Literature students just completed a challenging MYP summative for poetry where they analyzed poetry for meaning, created a poem following the structure of a famous poet, and pretended to be a Poet Laureate recommending a poem for national publication by writing a memo to a selection committee. They are wrapping up the poetry unit by competing in teams in an intense poetry review and will have a Poetry Picnic to end the unit by sharing poetry with each other. Environmental Symposium sold Valentine’s to raise money for a water bottle filling fountain. They delivered carnations and raised almost $500! The students also made gift bags for our bus drivers to show them that we “Love the Bus!” Our students participating in SeaPerch Underwater Robotics made their final “submerged” check-out tests yesterday on their robot units. Now we wait until the beginning of May for the Gandy pool water to warm up. J I think the big thing is don't be afraid to fail. I think, you know, in our society today, Instagram, Twitter, it's a highlight reel. It's all the good things,” he told reporters at the Super Bowl headquarters. “And then when you look at it, you know, you think like, wow, when you have a rough day or your life is not good as that, [you think] you're failing. Failure is a part of life. It's a part of building character and growing. Without failure, who would you be? I wouldn't be up here if I hadn't fallen thousands of times, made mistakes. We all are human, we all have weaknesses, and I think throughout this, just being able to share that and be transparent—I know when I listen to people speak and they share their weaknesses, I'm listening.”
"So I'm not perfect," he continued. "I'm not Superman. I might be in the NFL, I might have just won a Super Bowl, but, hey, we still have daily struggles, I still have daily struggles. And that's where my faith comes in, that's where my family comes in. I think when you look at a struggle in your life, just know that's just an opportunity for your character to grow. And that's just been the message. Simple. If something's going on in your life and you're struggling, embrace it. Because you're growing.” Finally, we see a wonderful role model for kids with a genuine message. Congratulations to our MathCounts Team who represented LCMA at Saturday’s competition at Tenoroc High School! Our team took first place out of twenty schools and we occupied seven of the top ten spots for the individual portion of the competition. This is out of 126 students.
Our team round competitors were: Sachin Sivakumar, Satvik Gunjala, Om Patel and Tzak Lau. For the individual competition: 1st: Nicholas Kieffer 2nd: Sachin Sivakumar 3rd: Satvik Gunjala 5th: Tzak Lau 6th: Raghav Bansal 7th: Jacob Gmitter 8th: Stephen Mendoza Congratulations to the following students for participating in chorus solo and ensemble and receiving a high rating!
Nathan Pappachen Solo Superior Ron Nicolas Solo Superior Faith LeVine Solo Superior Reese Sesser Solo Superior Alexandra Wizda Solo Superior Genesis Vasquez Solo Excellent Kendall Barry Solo Excellent Taylor Giddens Solo Superior Brooklyn DeGroat Solo Excellent Andrea King Solo Superior Elvon Hospedales Solo Superior Makaya Brown Solo Excellent Ellie Jane Horton Solo Superior Gabi Andrews, Nathan Pappachen, Ron Petilla, Taylor Giddens Ensemble Superior Jianna Hoyos, Hannah Munday, Alexandra Zettler Ensemble Excellent Ava Campbell, Georgia Mohr, Selah Fife Ensemble Superior > In Ms. Lavelle's 8th-grade classes, the students have become the teachers. Each small group has been given a poem to teach to their classmates. They are their experts on their assigned poems and are responsible for creating an activity that will direct their students to a thorough understanding of the poem's meaning. The only resources they are allowed to use are classroom dictionaries and the brains of their group members. The first round of presentations has set the bar high! In addition, the students have begun learning about the Dust Bowl of the 1930s in order to prepare to read their next work, Out of the Dust, which is an award-winning novel-in-verse.
Creative Writing/Drama/Film Classes are running at full steam! 6th graders just finished their original “Story in a Shoe Box,” and we have some amazing writers at LCMA! 7th and 8th graders are sharpening their acting skills while performing dress rehearsals and final performances of skits. They are making improvements to their characters and delivery based upon feedback provided by the teacher and their peers. The Lit & Film class just finished reading Jules Verne’s classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (445 pages) and will watch the Disney version of the movie next week – comparisons between the novel and screenplay will be analyzed and an original movie poster will be designed! Our 7th grade Global Tech students did an excellent job making cases for their own electronic device that would prevent damages to their device. The students used recycled materials to make their cases creative and supportive for their device. The Emerging Tech first year students are working on Ozobot robots, Scratch and Canva. The second year students are learning about app creation by designing their first app and the third year students are working on creating designs to make on the Handibot wood cutter. Several of the third year students are working on individual projects such as producing a video for the 2018 iWitness video challenge "stronger than hate" sponsored by the University of Southern California's Shoah Foundation and creating an app for the Boy Scouts of America to use at their Council camps. Algebra students are learning how to factor and solve quadratics equations so they can analyze parabolic motion. Geometry students are challenge to prove that quadrilaterals are parallelograms using theorems, postulates and deductive reasoning. 6th grade Science students in Mr. Coombs' class are modeling potential and kinetic energy while creating virtual roller coasters. Let the good times roll! Our Civics students have been busy discussing whether or not schools should be allowed to limit students' online speech. Not only are they being able to express their opinions, they are looking for evidence from real world events to support their statement. They are also preparing for their participation in Polk County Government Day and their field trip to the Polk County History Center and Government Building. 6th grade students in Mrs. Henson's class are learning how to paraphrase poetry to gain a better understanding of the author's intended meaning and working to create concise theme statements for a poem. Students were given a group assignment to analyze a poem to determine its theme and then will have to teach the class how they analyzed the poem's figurative language, imagery, rhythm, rhyme, and tone as support for their theme statement. All 6th grade in ELA will be learning about the Emergenetics Analytical and Structural Thinking Attributes to better understand their own thinking preferences as well as their peers. By doing so, students will gain knowledge and understanding about collaborating with both like-minded and not liked-minded peers. In 7th grade Language & Literature classes students are analyzing poetry. For example, in collaborative groups students will examine the poem "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe and present the Reading Literature standards like basic parts of plot, define unknown academic vocabulary, imagery, figurative language/poetic devices, rhyme scheme, and theme. Students will present using speaking and listening standards such as clear and concise presentation, eye contact, voice projection, and clear pronunciation. Students are also creating their own poems of various styles and types. Alex V. made concert master/ principal chair for the 6&7 grade all county orchestra 2018! The all-county orchestra concert is Friday, Feb. 2nd at Florida Southern College at 7:30p.m. Several other students from LCMA are also participating in the all- county orchestras. The Intermediate and Advanced orchestra are working to prepare for the music performance assessment that is coming up on February 17th. The choir classes are getting ready for Valentine's Day by working on love song medley mashups. They are also competing in solo and ensemble this weekend at Rochelle. Students are working on a variety of songs and arranging their own versions in small ensembles. Guitar students have learned rhythm, bass and lead guitar parts and are beginning to work in small ensembles as they can now play three parts. This week American History students analyzed foreign and domestic policies under James Madison and James Monroe's administrations. We sought to answer the questions, "How did the foreign policy of the United States develop under early presidents?" and "To what extent was each president’s foreign policy decisions successful?" "What constitutes an act of war?". We even had a debate over America's "forgotten war", the War of 1812, to determine whether or not Americans were justified in going to war with England (Federalists Vs. Republican War Hawks)! 6th global tech started coding- we are learning block, java, and python 8th Grade global tech classes started researching and designing their shark Tank projects Great work mstudents and teachers alike!! District Competition Results for LCMA FBLA:
Please congratulate the following students on their performance in our District competition. Each of them has now qualified to participate in the FBLA State competition later in the year. Excel Spreadsheets: 1st Place – Sanjana Ande Intro to Computer Applications: 1st Place – Sachin Sivakumar 2nd Place – Teryl Benjamin 3rd Place – Christopher Narramore Business Math: 1st Place – Kaden Abreu 2nd Place – Bella Morris Career Exploration: - 2nd Place – Nadia Khalil 4th Place – Everney Benjamin Boys and Girls soccer has begun. Good luck Knights!
Mrs. Castillo's students are virtually teaching the students from Colegio Albanta a school in Madrid, Spain. The students from Madrid made videos asking questions about the Winter Holidays celebrated in the U.S.A. My students are doing their own research, writing facts, and sending videos in Spanish about what they learned to the Colegio Albanta students. 6th grade Language Arts students have been learning about figurative language such as simile, metaphor, personification, and hyperbole by looking at examples in pop culture and playing Kahoot! They have spent the last few days analyzing poems by Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, Nikki Giovanni, and Carl Sandburg for deeper meaning beyond the figurative language. Tough work but they are doing a great job! Lavelle's 7th and 8th graders are learning to go beyond determining what a poem means to determining how it means. They are annotating every line of the poems they read in an attempt to understand how poets use connotation to show their audiences an idea instead of coming right out and telling that same idea. Armed with really big dictionaries, they are learning that when it comes to poetry, every word matters (and, ultimately, that poetry really does matter, too). Ms. Lavelle hopes to help them move from "I don't get it" to "This is starting to make sense." Mrs. Gibson's Science classes are using our Model Instructional Classroom iPads to understand distance through the universe and explore atomic structures. Gardeners of the Galaxy/Environmental Symposium will begin selling their fresh, organic vegetables and herbs, grown in their hydroponic garden, on January 26th. Look for their survey on the school’s website to have input into what vegetables they can offer! 8th grade American History classes took a jump into the future planning their college and career paths with Ms. Chilson and Ms. Hunt! Our 7th Grade Creative Writing students have been asked to write an original script for the “Drama Club” at Highlands Grove Elementary. Their group of about 25-30 students will perform LCMA students’ original work in May; the same month as our 8th graders’ scenes will be performed by Lakeland Community Theatre’s “Out of the Box” troupe for special needs. Working together and building bridges in the community is what LCMA is all about! Mrs. Davis introduced the Poetry Unit in ELA with a few poignant Dead Poets Society clips, along with attitudes toward poetry. How I miss Robin Williams..... Shark Tank Finals were a big hit on Tuesday night. Great job students and Ms Thomas! Fantastic news regarding HS graduation rates! Read below:
http://www.theledger.com/news/20180110/polk-countys-high-school-graduation-rate-rises With the end of the semester closing fast, there are always great things going on @ LCMA!!
Fantastic Winter Concerts earlier this week led by Mrs. Baker and Mr. McElwain!! Bravo! And what a way to bring in the spirit of the holidays.The orchestra students performed at Lincoln and Winston to introduce students to the orchestra. Students also wrote the storyline and enjoyed performing. Thanks! Math Classes contributed 1038 cans of food to Lighthouse Ministries during our annual “Learning for Lighthouse” project. We used the nutrition labels to collect data and determine the correlation between various nutrients and calories. WOW!!! Writing, writing, writing! Mrs. Narramore’s students have been working hard on revising argumentative essays that they wrote earlier in the nine weeks. Crafting meaningful thesis statements, topic sentences, and providing claims that prove their point have been hard cognitive work but she is so proud of their grit! Also, we took time this week to look at elements of literary nonfiction and they have written a creative writing piece based on a memory from their childhood. In 7th grade Language & Literature: Students are practicing their argumentative thesis statements using nonfiction essays and articles as resources. First they use a T-Chart to gather information; then a Tree Map to outline important details of their argument. A thesis statement is the central point of an essay. It is the point or claim the writer wants to make or argue. The essay will contain evidence as support for the claim. 8th grade SS students are ratifying their own plan of government for their classes! In sixth grade U.S. History students are creating posters depicting the importance of the U.S. Constitution. They are learning about Federalism, Branches of Government, and Checks and Balances. It’s exciting to see the students’ creativity when creating these posters.Sixth Grade World History students are learning about the ancient Greeks. They are learning how their beliefs in many gods governed their lives. Ancient Greeks believed in many Gods. They are creating posters about the various Greek Gods. Sixth grade science students have become experts in preparing for Natural Disasters, and are currently learning how Earth's surface changes through weathering, erosion, and deposition. The students are looking forward to their next unit which will be Energy. That should be a great start to second semester! The ktv/photo club is actually growing!! We had 6th graders come in and one of my students was teaching the new ones. Let's keep this trending UP! Some doing photography and others making show segments. CW/Drama/Lit & Film: 6th Graders: have been on the stage performing their final scenes of our “Ten/Two” script! It’s been a great semester with these students, and I look forward to welcoming new ones in January. 7th Graders: have been learning about themselves and their family heritage as they work on sections of their autobiography. 8th Graders: are presenting their original parodies of songs, poems, or stories. Many have been quite “interesting” and entertaining! Lit & Film students: read the short story, “The Greatest Gift,” which was the basis of Frank Capra’s classic holiday film, “It’s A Wonderful Life.” Civics Students have been working on the law making process! "I'm Just a Bill....and I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill".....They are also unwrapping the standards as they prepare for their quarter exam! Schoolhouse Rock anyone???!!! Wearable Recyclable, Upcycle, and Imaginative Fashion Project. This is our last project for 7th Grade Global Tech. The students are being challenge to design a fashion outfit with a top, bottom, and footwear that is wearable. Some students are creating accessories as well for their student model in the class. Hopefully at the end of the 2nd semester both 1st and 2nd semester student models can model and showcase their outfits. Lavelle's 8th graders have been hurting their brains for a week on high-level language and literary analysis. They're currently examining Steinbeck's use of figurative language and its impact on tone in his nonfiction piece, Travels with Charley. Great piece!! Gardeners of the Galaxy, Florida
Team: Callen, Hadyn, Wesley, Daniel, Alessandro, Jonah It’s all about hydroponic plants with Gardeners of the Galaxy and teacher advisor Lesa Bland. The team explored the benefits of raising plants with the use of a hydroponics system—above ground in a water-based setting that’s rich in nutrients—as compared to traditional farming. The team reported several benefits: Hydroponic plants grow quickly; they don’t require pesticides, and more. The students conducted research, got the word out about hydroponic gardening, planted a garden at school, and plan to donate their produce to a local homeless shelter. http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3750833 Amazing work by these students with Mrs. Bland's care and guidance. Ms Davis’s students created unique, amazing Memorial projects in ELA class. So many cross curricular IB related material. Way to go!
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