PMMS Happenings - 3rd Six Weeks

Guitar Recital - On Wednesday, January 7 at 7:00 pm, Peter Muhlenberg Middle School proudly presented a guitar recital. The recital featured 23 8th grade guitar class students. During the recital the students performed in a large ensemble as well as in small groups and as soloists. Congratulations to all those students. You had a wonderful performance.

Gingerbread Houses -The eighth grade geometry students applied their measurement and proportional reasoning skills as they designed and created gingerbread houses. Here's what they had to say about the experience!
I never knew that so much math went into making a gingerbread house.--Victoria
There was a lot of mathematics...including finding the area and volume, finding a scale factor and applying it to a blueprint, and finding shapes that work together so they would support the weight of the others.--Joe
I learned how angles, lines, and point can be used in a plane, which I never really understood before I saw it in 3-D.--Kayla
We had to use our ability to measure angles and sides when measuring out the size of cookies to cut out.--Katie
You have to get all of the angles and measurements equal and exact and it took a lot of hard work, but it was definitely worth it.--Mikayla
I learned that if you measure one of your walls wrong it will mess up the house.--Lukas
After this project I really understand ratios and proportions so much better.--French
We had to downsize our group's prototype a whole lot in order to get enough gingerbread to create our Transylvania Church.--Nathan
One thing I did learn was how to convert inches into centimeters.--Jake
I have learned how to correctly use and calculate surface area and volume.--Lauren
I had to find out what the surface area and volume were for a square pyramid.--Josh
I have experienced applying geometric skills in a simple way that still shows a glimpse of how this math is used in real life. I couldn’t have learned that by doing a worksheet or by reading a textbook.--Michaela
I gained a better understanding of the necessity of math in even basic activities.--Jacob

Skate Park - Students in Ms. Coffman's 8th grade Science class created and designed their own skate parks. Activities focused on kinetic energy, potential energy, friction and Newton's Three Laws. During class students earned "construction cash" for supplies to build their parks through such things as scientific investigation and working well with group members. The parks were judged by members of the school community. The overall winning park was created by Jordan, Caymin, Stephanie, and Kyle.

Multiculturalism Students - Holidays around the world were explored by Mrs. Fletcher's students. To showcase their knowledge students created oversized 2 dimensional poster board stockings with holiday traditions from France, New Zealand, Germany and other countries. Students are using recipes to make food from the countries and sharing in a holiday feast with classmates.

Dancing Raisins - Students in 6th grade science class discovered the relationship between soda and raisins. What in soda makes raisins dance? Click here to view video
Online Posters - Using Glogster, Mrs. Parker's Language Arts students are creating online posters using literary elements utilized in the novel, The Outsiders. Students created voice recordings, videos, graphics, music and other media in the making of their posters. At the same time Mrs. Cross' 6th grade social studies students are making "glogs" on World War I. The students will create posters on the causes of WW I, militarism, weapons, results of the war and other topics.

DNA Everyone - Everyone's DNA is different and it is really different in 7th grade Science classes. After learning about DNA and genetics Mrs. Rhodes and Mrs. Nichols' students created their own DNA strands. The strands decorate the classrooms and are visual reminders of what the students have discovered about DNA.

Art Attack - Indian bead weaving and creating holiday "shrinky dinks" are keeping 6th graders occupied in Art class. Seventh graders are creating enlarged grid drawings of pictures of their choice. Self Portraits are enabling the 8th graders to have a close look at themselves and others.

Balloon Racing - Cars are constructed of "trash" and students must power their cars using only a balloon in Mrs. Yoder's Science classes. After the cars have been created, students compete to see which car travels farther. This experiment demonstrates Newton's Third Law of Motion which is that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Mini-Society - This is an experience-based program developed by Dr. Marilyn Kourilsky, a professor at UCLA and Vice President of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. The program has also been endorsed by the United States Department of Education. Eighth grade social studies students established their own society, printed their own money, opened their own businesses and created their own government. This experience demonstrates the students' understanding of entrepreneurship, economics, government, law, math and ethics; as well as preparing for the standards of learning test in January.

Assembly Line - During their study of the Industrial Revolution our 6th grade students learned about a new way to manufacture goods - the assembly line. To gain an understanding of the "old" method of production and the "new" method the students participated in "cookie production". Click here to view video

FCS - Family Consumer Science 7th grade students are constructing and sewing drawstring tote bags.

SCA - Our Student Council Association sponsored by Mrs. Rhodes and Mrs. Joerger are very busy this time of year. The officers and homeroom representatives decorated the cafeteria in a winter theme and organized our December school dance. The SCA also put collection boxes in all homerooms. When students brought in donations of canned goods, the food was put in the boxes and then collected by the SCA. The food will be given to the Light House and from their be given to families in our community.