HLWW Middle School Newsletter
April 2017
Welcome to the HLWW Middle School Monthly Newsletter! We hope this will provide additional insight on the many activities and events taking place at HLWW.
If you wish to be added to the mailing list, please email adamlakerpride@hlww.k12.mn.us
Upcoming Events
- April 17: MCA Testing Begins
- April 20: Two-Hour Late Start
- May 5th: 5th Grade DARE graduation 2PM
- May 5th: 6th grade field trip to Minnesota History Center
- May 11: Middle School Band Concerts
- May 19: Field Day
- May 22nd: 7th grade field trip to Minnesota Zoo
- May 25: Middle School Choir Concerts
MCA Testing Begins April 17th
5th Grade
April 17th, 18th, 19th Reading
April 24th, 25th, 26th Math
May 1st,2nd, 3rd Science
6th Grade
April 17th, 18th, 19th Reading
April 24th, 25th, 26th Math
7th Grade
April 17th, 18th, 19th Reading
April 24th, 25th, 26th Math
8th Grade
April 17th, 18th, 19th Reading
April 24th, 25th, 26th Math
May 1st,2nd, 3rd Science
5th and 6th Graders Attend Celebration of Young Musicians
Congratulations to HLWW Middle School Choir students for an excellent performance and fun day with Celebration of Young Musicians! Thank you to all of our wonderful clinicians, MMEA, and all of the participating schools! It was a musical day!
Middle School Industrial Technology
By Kevin Scott, HLWW Industrial Technology Instructor
Sixth Grade STEM or Science, Technology, Engineering, Math is a new course where students develop their problem solving skills and creative thinking abilities through several assignments and hands on problems. Each student learns proper safety in the lab (shop) using hand and portable power tools. Students construct, analyze and modify a mousetrap vehicle following specific constraints. Understand friction, propulsion, potential/kinetic energy is put to use in the vehicle built from scratch. Students apply basic design principles in their Rocketry Unit using data charts/tables to determine the performance of different rockets. In the Catapult Unit, students identify levers and how they are used by launching marshmallows. Finally, students identify structural terms in their Civil Engineering Unit in the construction and demolition of a Straw Bridge which is constructed following specific constraints.
Seventh Grade Industrial Technology begins in the Design Unit where students sketch and draft multiview and pictorial drawings. Their final product involves layout and designing a small candy package using the orthographic projection technique. Students demonstrate the safe use of equipment, tools and processes in the construction of several machined wood/plastic products.
Eighth Grade Industrial students are able to read an architectural scale in the design of their future scaled home. Students demonstrate the safe use of basic power tools and machines. The portable/table router and the lathe are added into the curriculum. The table router is used in the construction of a Gatorade Bottle Lamp (students’ wire). The lathe is incorporated in the construction of a miniature 5-inch bat. Finally, the portable router is used in the production of personalized signs. Students gain an understanding of how to start a business. One group of students will form a company. A sales presentation, followed by sales orders are brought back to the accountant. The accountant presents each order to the manufacturing supervisor. The student supervisor directs each student in the production of a product following a plant layout. Finally, all students take a field trip to Dura Supreme to see mass production in a high technological atmosphere.
Stretched and Unstressed
To continue to incorporate lifelong activities during class and to introduce different ways to exercise, the 7th grade students at HLWW were introduced to yoga! On March 16 and 17, Julie Stoltman-Kubes came in and volunteered her time to teach the 7th grade Physical Education students two hours of yoga. On day one, Julie led the classes through a series of basic poses to give the students an understanding of the names and positions their bodies need to be in. The “Tree” pose and “child's” pose were very popular. On day two, Julie advanced the poses and transitions between poses. She challenged the classes to focus on their breathing just as much as they were focusing on the positions of their bodies and balance. The warrior poses really challenge the students balance and strength!
All in all, it was a fantastic experience for the 7th graders to experienced! They stretched, reached, contorted, and flexed their bodies in many positions. Many students said they felt "focused" and "energized" after leaving the 45 minutes session with Julie! It was a great opportunity to exposure yoga for all the students!
Spring Activity Day Provides Fun and Competition
On the afternoon of Thursday, March 23rd students at Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted Middle School participated in their annual Students versus Teachers event. The event is one of four reward days offered by the middle school. This particular reward day coincided with the conclusion of the third quarter. Competitions that went on throughout the afternoon included bean bags, ping pong, volleyball, and basketball. Students not wishing to participate in the competitions were allowed to participate in additional activities. One option this year was watching the movie Storks.
For the competitions students organize themselves into teams with other students from their grade level. Once teams are formed the competitions start with eyes set on the coveted prize of taking on the teachers. Only the winning team from each grade level gets this opportunity. The event culminates with the teacher versus student basketball games. At this point the entire staff and student body pack the activity center to cheer on their favorite squad. Even though there were no upsets this year there still was plenty to cheer for including a couple of dunks by teacher Andy Hertwig. With the teachers getting a clean sweep this year the students will look to avenge their losses next spring.
Congratulations to our April Students of the Month!
5th Graders Study Iditarod
by Rick Baumann, 5th Grade Science Teacher
The Iditarod is a dog sled race that takes place every year in Alaska. The mushers (racers) travel close to 1,000 miles from one side of Alaska to another. The race typically takes anywhere from 8-15 days to complete. This year's winner was Mitch Seavey and he completed the race in just over 8 days. I had the students select a musher to follow and each day we tracked the musher along the trail and update where the musher was on a wall down by the EFCE classrooms. The students really enjoyed doing this we also talked about the different parts of the dog sled, different types of dogs and how they adapt to this race, we discussed the weather and terrain of the race as well.