Model Design

The 7th graders have been hard at work coming up with ideas for the model city for the Future City competition.  The city's name is "Futureland" and is based in Hawaii (wish we could be there right now on the beach instead of in the snow). 

 

 

Sanitation & Power Woes

Students are well into working on building their virtual cities.  It is so amazing to hear comments like, "What do you mean sanitation's a problem," and, "Mrs. Strickland, how high is TOO high for taxes?"  The students have certainly been getting frustrated, but also seem to be really enjoying the project.

We have also decided on a solar powered monorail as the main transportation of our model city.  Students brainstormed ideas, shared those thoughts, and then voted.  Next week, we will begin writing our essay that must be submitted to the competition about our transportation choice.

Here are some photos of students building their virtual cities this week:

Students Start SimCity

The 7th graders started their virtual adventure today, building a city on the game SimCity.  Boy, oh, boy did I hear a lot of moans and groans about the difficulties of balancing a budget, dealing with taxes, keeping residents happy, and trying to be a good mayor.

Light As A Feather

Stometimes some crazy things happen in the Gifted classroom -- like the students trying out an experiment on other students... and myself (yikes)!

Here is a link to the video:
Light As A Feather

EarthFest Field Trip

In celebration of Earth Day, the 7^th grade Gifted students at East Norriton Middle School spent the day at EarthFest on Temple’s Ambler campus on Friday, April 26^th.  The students spent several weeks working on an environmentally friendly version of our school that was showcased at the festival.  They also spent the day learning about the environment and ways to “go green” from more than 90 different exhibitors. 

 

Busy Wednesday

Yesterday was a jam packed day for the7th grade Gifted students here at ENMS.  Students met with me twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

In the morning, we decorated paper grocery bags for Giant to celebrate EarthDay.  Those bags will be used on EarthDay.  I will have more info as the date gets closer.  Students also continued work on the model we will be bringing to EarthFest at the end of April.

In the afternoon, we had a visit once again from international award winning local author Dr. Jessica Dimuzio.  She worked with students to teach them how to write petitions and exactly how petition writing can get action.