We've Been Framed!!

"Picture Day" this morning was great fun! Students looked sharp and were all smiles in front of the camera.  Here is a sneak peak:

The weather was just perfect for an outdoor Class Picture.

Lights!! Camera!! Smile!!

 

 

Newsletter: Friday, September 26th, 2014

Which Extinct Creature Am I?

 

 

As part of our study of the Timeline of Life, students did research on an extinct plant or animal, then made a "Who am I?" poster.  They enjoyed reading descriptions of their organism and exhibiting their own hand drawn pictures, then allowing others to guess which extinct organism was depicted. 



 

 

 

  



6th Graders to The Dauphin Island

Sixth Graders took a trip to Dauphin Island earlier this month with Ms. Kim and Mr. Zech.  During the trip, they took a boat ride in Mobile Bay, visited the Estuarium, touched a bonnet shark and rays, sank in the mud in the salt marsh, and so much more.
Here are few of the captured moments from their trip:

Newsletter: Friday, September 19th, 2014

Sebastian Run/Walk - Saturday, September 20th, 2014

We'd like to remind you that the sixth annual Sebastian's Run/Walk for Cure is coming up on Saturday, September 20th.  The Run/Walk is a 5k run and 1 mile fun run/walk in honor or former JBMA student Sebastian Lemos, who died of cancer in first grade.  All proceeds go directly to Children's Hospital of Alabama for cancer research. 

 

 

The event will be held at Mount Laurel. There will be fun activities for children including Hand & Paw, facepaint, balloon animals, and a DJ. Registration is $15 for kids 12 and under, and $25 for adults.

 

Go to www.sebastianrunwalk.org or at www.bit.do/jointeamjbma to register to join team JBMA.  The registration fee includes a T-shirt.  Register by the end of the day on Tuesday to get your shirts at school on Friday.  You can also register at the event.  We hope to see you there!!

 

 JBMA Middle School Representatives: Will Davis (8th grade) and Deven Patel (7th grade)

 

 

 
 

 

Newsletter: Friday, September 12th, 2014

Drop Everything And Read (DEAR)

 

 

 

Sustained Silent Reading that we also call SSR is a form of recreational reading, or free voluntary reading, where students read silently in a designated time period.  During SSR students are allowed to choose their own books.

 

It is a period of uninterrupted silent reading and is based upon a single simple principle: Reading is a skill. And like all skills, the more we use it, the better we get at it. Like swimming, once we learn it, we never forget it. But in order to get better at either reading or swimming, we must jump into the book or the water and do it over and over.

 

This week 4th and 5th grade students engaged themselves in SSR and dived into books of their choice:

Newsletter: September 5, 2014

Amazing! Incredible! US

As part of our first in-class writing assignment, inspired by the incredible Hulk and amazing Spiderman, students looked for the amazing and incredible powers within themselves that make them unique.

 Students continued to A.I.M. high!! After a series of writing exercises, talents, dreams, adventures, and unique attributes were just a few of the topics explored for our super students.  Their final essays have been placed on our high in-class bulletin board.

Check out few wonderful AIMs of Upper El below:

 

 

 

 

 SAMPLE WRITINGS

 By Clemente Brannon (4th grader)

About four years ago, I went to my neighbor’s house to play. I had no idea how to swim, so I always had to stay in the shallow part. We were joking around, and our parents weren’t watching. I got a triangular float, and then I put it down on the deep end, which was really deep. While I was trying to find a comfortable position, it flipped over. I was really scared, but somehow I was calm, in fact I knew everything that was going to happen. It was like being part of the world, part of nature. The sun, the sun was beautiful from under the rippling water. It was as if I was okay with dying right there and right then.

 

 Someone got me out, and the trance broke. I never forgot that day.

 

 

 

By Shifa Jalali (4th grader)

   
My name is Shifa, and what makes me special is my extraordinary love for books. When I read a book, it takes me into My Own World or as I call it, MOW. I like reading books that are in first person. First person books remind me of diaries. One of my favorite book series is The Pegasus Series. 
I started reading when I was three, and I’ve been doing it ever since.  My parents and teachers say that I’m an avid reader. If I could, I would read 24-7. I love reading so much that I have to throw some books away from my two book shelves to make room for more books.  In MOW there are many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many books. There are many other things in MOW like animals, ice cream, cookies, cakes, Marshmallow Mountains, Hershey rivers, graham cracker rocks, and "Thoughtvile" where all my thoughts happen.  Books are my favorite things in the whole dimension.




By Cameron Khleif (5th grader)

What I love is music. The type of music I like is rock from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and sometimes 90s.  The bands that I like are AC/DC, Cheap Trick, Kiss, Poison, Yes, Rush, Rolling Stones and a lot more.  One time at this school I had to sing a girl solo in front of 60 people.  I was kind of nervous at first, but after it was done I felt great but a little embarrassed. I have been to a lot of concerts in my life and they were awesome.  But my very first concert was Derek, Trucks and   Santana.  I love music. It is one my favorite things in the world!

 

By Miriam Anderson (6th grader)

The two things that make me unique are that I like to collect Catwoman collectibles and rodent stuffed animals. To me rodents are cute animals that are disliked by many other people. They may have ugly tails and diseases, but that’s when you back off and stay away from them. I used to have five pet rats (of course they were clean).  Their names were Ratoria, Merry, Lux, Corba and Oscar. Ratoria was my rat, Merry was my brother's, Lux and Corba were my father's, and Oscar was my mother's. The reason I don’t have them anymore was because we couldn’t take care of them anymore and we gave them to someone who wouldn’t feed them to a snake.

Now, let’s change the subject to Catwoman. Catwoman is a woman known by the name Selina Kyle. When her parents died she took up burglary to keep herself up on the mean streets of Gotham. The reason I like Catwoman is because she is an anti-hero and she is a good fighter. Those are the things that make me unique.