Raptor Recovery Nebraska

Raptor Recovery Nebraska (RRN) provided an educational experience to 7th graders on Friday, May 17.  Four ambassadors (live raptor birds) with the program came into the classroom to educate students.  Raptors are a special type of bird.  They have sharp talons, curved beaks for eating meat, excellent eyesight, and they migrate.  This means that raptors include birds such as owls, vultures, hawks, eagles, and falcons.  Our thanks to Vickie and Jeanine for transporting and handling the birds while at the same time giving our students a wonderful education presentation.

Students and Parents,

As you plan your summer vacation, remember to also plan for your family's continued learning.  Middle school students should be reading at least 30 minutes a day but an hour would be better.  They could read a book, a magazine, a menu, a brochure of a trip that you take, a cookbook, or how-to-books.  The idea is READ, READ, READ! If you have younger children, have the middle school student read to the younger ones every day.  Parents, you also need to read so that the message your sons and daughters get is reading is important!

Have your middle school student help with a recipe that you need to double the ingredients.  This means that they are doing fractions.  Have the students figure how many miles per gallon your vehicle is getting on a road trip.  Yes, division is happening!  It is important that students continue to do math during the summer.

Writing could be having your middle school son or daughter keep a journal of a trip that you take.  Encourage them to write in complete sentences and form paragraphs.  Have them interview each member of the family on something that you go to see.  Have them describe a place that you go to have a meal.  Have the family describe sights, sounds, smells, and decorations for the journalist to record.  Have your students keep a written account of money spent on the trip.  How much was spent on fuel, food, activities, hotels/motels and other expenses?  Have middle school students interview older family members about their teenage years.  Have them write a five-paragraph essay about one of the people.

On becoming a more fit family, have your middle school student hold a family meeting on what one unhealthy food that family will give up for the week.  Record the food and make a chart showing how well each family member did.  In your meeting decide what physical activity your family will do for the week and record in a chart.  Then on week two also choose a food to give up and a physical activity.  Continue throughout the summer.

Give your student some more responsibilities.  Have two chores that they need to have completely finished by the time you get home from work.  Students need to take on more responsibilities for the family like learning to do their own laundry, planning meals, making grocery lists, and preparing a meal.

Every time you hear the words, "I'm bored," tell them to write a list of ten things they could do that do not cost any money, and that they could do alone or with a family member.  Try to play a board game or a card game with the family each week.  Play an outside game with the family every week and go on walks together or ride bikes.

Have a great summer and keep those learning skills alive and well!

                        Ms. Underwood

"Outcasts United"

by Warren St. John

            Mrs. Sullivan's sixth grade reading class just got done reading this wonderful book together. It is a wonderful true-story written by a writer for the New York Times. He follows the remarkable journey of Luma Mufleh, who was born and raised in Jordan; she was raised in a very wealthy Muslim family and attended college in the United States. She was then cut-off from her family when she made the decision to stay in the United States instead of returning to Jordan with her family. Luma stumbles upon a town in Georgia named Clarkston, a suburb of Atlanta. Clarkston is a community where resettlement agencies have placed thousands of refugees from many different countries. While driving through the community she sees a group of young refugee boys playing pick-up soccer games, she decides to form a soccer team for these young boys. The book follows Luma and the boys through this journey, and gives some of the back-stories of the countries that they were from and why their family has left their home. The book comes in two forms, the young adult version, which is what our class read together, and the adult version; the adult version is different only in the fact that it gives more information and more stories on the different boys. After we finished reading the book, we watched some news stories about the team and read an article from Sports Illustrated about them, if you are interested in any of this information, the resources can be found at this website; http://fugeesfamily.org/

Here is what some of the students had to say about the book:

"What did you learn from the book?"

• I learned to NEVER give up on your DREAM.
• I learned that if you try hard you could achieve anything.
• I learned to practice more and more to get better.
• I learned that Luma is a very giving person and she cared for all of them.
• I learned that everything takes practice.
• I learned that Luma really cared about them and that she treated them like her own children.
• To never give up when you are sad.
• I learned that not a lot of people have parents and they live with other relatives but they stay strong and do their best!!
• I learned that just because they may be better than you to keep trying until you succeed.
• I learned that Luma cared about their future and wanted to make it better.
• I learned that Luma is a very nice person because she gathered a group of poor boys that came from different cultures to play on her soccer team.

"What was your favorite part of the book?"

• My favorite part was when The Fugees got a new field.
• My favorite part was when Luma helped the kids with there HOMEWORK and took them Trick or Treating.
• My favorite part was when Luma took them trick or treating.
• My favorite part is when they play the soccer games.
• My Favorite part was when the Fugees won the game.
• My favorite part of the book was when Luma took the Fugees out to eat at an all you can eat place and they got a lot of things to eat.
• My favorite part is when the Fugees went to the Tornado Cup.
• My favorite part was when she took the kids to an all you can eat buffet.

LMS Library Now Open 24/7!!!
SUMMER READING IS ON!

 LMS students now have 24 hours a day/7 days a week access to library books! We have a collection of 158 ebooks that students may access at any time.

 These ebooks  can be read on a Mac or PC or on an app is available for the iPad.  Students have been taught how to access the ebooks. The books are available through the library online catalog, Destiny Quest:
https://lexschools.follettdestiny.com/quest/servlet/presentquestform.do?site=102&context=saas22_2648525

 From the Destiny Quest home page, you click on the Follett Shelf tab on the menu at the top right. That will bring you to this page, the LMS Follett Shelf:

We have a variety of ebooks—different genres, lengths, interest levels, and reading levels. There truly is something for everyone! Ask your student to show you around the site.

 Also, the LMS library will be open Monday through Friday during the entire month of June—from 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon—so students may check out books all month.

So no excuses this summer! READING IS ON!