Intermediate School Cougar Connections Winterim (CCW) is off to a great start. Students are participating in ten different small group rotations each day. These rotations are designed to meet all different learners and interests. CCW is a great opportunity to take students to the next level in their learning. They are problem solving, engineering, actively moving, thinking outside the box, learning about themselves, and exploring future career options and more. Each of the rotations below are 30 minutes each day. Then, students end the day with their advisor, a teacher assigned to them for support, discussing the day’s events and discoveries. Advisors will continue to meet with students throughout the second semester to check in on their academic progress and to offer support navigating the middle school years.
Music– Ms. Thomas is working with students to explore all the different aspects of music in cinematography. They are exploring different jobs and how movies use music in careers.
Lower School Mentoring– Coach Daniels is using team building concepts and games to have our students mentor and encourage our 3rd-5th grade children to work together.
Lower School Mentoring (2)– Ms. Procter is using literature and the library resources to mentor our PreK-2nd grades children. These groups are focusing on ideas of empathy, kindness, and leadership.
Escape Games- Mrs. Trent’s rotation is using problem solving and critical thinking to solve math puzzles and compete in Escape Games.
STEM (2 groups)– Coach Welch and Mrs. King are utilizing the Maynard Makerspace to have students plan and engineer the design and building of parachutes and rockets from various materials provided.
Career Exploration– Coach Hughes is facilitating the exploration of top careers in different fields. This group will not only explore the careers, but also hear from multiple guest speakers that are working in some of the fields they are researching.
Clarksville History– Ms. Kretz is walking her students through the history Clarksville and landmarks right here in their city. This rotation will also feature historians as guest speakers.
Team Building– Coach Miles has each group creating and developing a PE game as a team. Each team must design their game and then the different groups will play the games. Some of the games may even be put into our PE rotations!
Reading and Research– Mrs. Wall’s rotations are reading various texts and articles to support the focus concepts for each of the grade levels. Each grade level is focusing on a concept. Sixth grade is focusing on empathy, seventh grade is focusing on kindness, and eighth grade is focusing on leadership skills that will take them to high school.
Each day we will add photos and brief descriptions from a variety of these activities.
Students had to try to flip the blanket without leaving the blanket.
Looking at short stories in new and exciting ways.
In STEM student created rocket ships, roller coasters, and parachutes!
In PE each group is designing their own game.
Our Cougar Connection groups participated in a “Collaborative Art Project”. They each started with a blank piece of paper and were prompted on a subject. They had about 2 minutes to draw then every 2 minutes they passed their sheet and the next classmate added to the sheet until all the sheets made their way around room.
IS students worked with LS students on a Marshmallow challenge. Students were given 50 marshmallows and 50 toothpicks and asked to make the tallest free standing structure possible.
During STEM Challenges this week, 6th grade created and tested parachute designs and catapults, 7th grade created and tested rockets and 8th designed roller coasters and created and tested containers for the egg drop challenge.
After reading an excerpt from “Out Of My Mind”, students road in a wheelchair to have the experience of not talking and not being able to move.
The Cougar Connection groups participated in “Get to know you balloons”. They each wrote a question on a strip of paper then inserted it into the balloon, blew it up & tied it. They had a few minutes to pass the balloons around before popping them. They then took turns reading the question they ended up with and sharing their response.
Interactive reading to Lower School students provided a fun activity for both age groups.
