HCPS Middle School

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Students in Ms. Dyson’s Earth Science classroom researched information about earthquakes, volcanos, and tsunamis. In part one of the project,  students were taught internet safety and copyright law while gathering information from traditional and digital sources. In part two of the project, students were asked to create informational movies or news broadcasts like those seen on the evening news or on learning channels such as Discovery. As part of the process, students created a storyboard to organize their work, wrote and recorded their scripts, and organized their pictures in a video presentation. To accomplish the creative portion of this project students used Garage Band.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Congratulations to Dr. Adria Hoffman who was a finalist for the Henrico 21 award for using creativity and innovation in the classroom.  Dr. Hoffman is the music teacher at L. Douglas Wilder Middle School.  She had her class identify and utilize music notation software and digital audio recording devices to create original musical compositions.  The end product of these compositions reflected the student’s musical interests, social identities, and school community.  Click on the play button below to listen to a student sample.

Nice Job all!

Popularity: 4% [?]

Our 7th grade Social Studies teacher Mr. Berry used Mash-On, an online website, to enhance digital pictures that students took in order to show their understanding of the Great Depression. There were 10 questions that students needed to answer for this assignment. The questions were:

1.    How did the stock market crash affect investors?
2.    How did tariffs affect the US economy?
3.    What role did the Federal Reserve play in the Great Depression?
4.    How did foreclosures affect people?

5.    What happened to banks during the Great Depression?
6.    How did the Dust Bowl affect farmers on the Great Plains?
7.    What were breadlines and soup kitchens?
8.    What was the goal of the New Deal?
9.    How was American society affected by the WPA and CCC?
10.    What ended the Great Depression?

Students then answered these questions in picture form. For each answer,they took one picture and added a caption that answers the question.  Each student created his or her own comic strip about the Great Depression.  The results were fantastic!

Popularity: 8% [?]

AudioPal.com is a great site for students to make audio recordings that can be easily embedded into a website, blog, or social network.  This site has many advantages and allows for students to record audio clips via cell phone, computer keyboard, computer microphone, or they can upload already existing audio clips from their hard drive.  The sample below was recorded by a student pretending to be Thomas Jefferson.  The assignment was to make believe you are an important person in American History.   Your objective was to leave a voicemail to one of your contemporaries stating relevant facts and posing questions that relate to the Virginia Standards of Learning.   This created an enthusiastic, and modern take on the Revolutionary Era.  To listen to the sample below, just click on the play button.

Popularity: 6% [?]

The students in Mr. Cross’ 8th grade English class spent some time studying abridgements. (Specifically- The Princess Bride)  After finishing their study, they were given the task of taking one of the Grimm, Perault, or Anderson  fairy tales and abridging it.  In groups, they wrote, directed, filmed, edited, and starred in their own “abridged” versions of the fairy tales.  Students used iMovie to create their movies.  Here is an example from a group that abridged “Little Red Riding Hood”

Popularity: 11% [?]