Spelling Bee Club Begins

Approximately 15 students have begun participating in Thurston’s Spelling Bee Club.  The club will meet Tuesday, November 10th next week.  We will then meet on Friday’s at lunch for friendly competition!

Please see Mrs. Cochren for information.

Spelling Bee Club Begins: Friday, Oct. 24th

All interested students are invited to attend an informational meeting for our Scripps Spelling Bee Club in Mrs. Cochren’s classroom, room 212, at lunch on Friday. Students should bring their lunch.  Our meeting will begin about 10 minutes into the lunch period so that students may go get their lunch and return!

 The club fee will be $20.00 and will include 8 pizza lunches, club materials, and registration for the spelling bee. Our meetings will begin with lunch and practice time.  Then, we will have friendly written spelling competition.  Finally, prizes will be given for the top 3 spellers at each meeting!

The spelling bee will take place near the end of January.  It is a written spelling bee, and the winner will advance to the local competition.

GATE Student meeting: ESP on 10/23

GATE families should have received  CALL OUT on the evening of 10/22 notifying parents of the meeting sheduled with their GATE child/children.

Students have been reminded on the morning announcements for the last 3 days that there will be a mandatory gifted and talented meeting in the library during Extra Study Period on Thursday. 

Students will receive information about the start-up of our new My Hero after school program.  It will be held on Tuesdays beginning October 27th!  They will also hear about the variety of clubs and competitions that are being offered at Thurston this fall.

If you’d like to reserve a My Hero spot, please email acochren@lbusd.org!

Chinese Moon Festival and Mandarin Chinese Lessons

Mr. Dixon’s first period class and Mrs. Cochren’s foreign language class met with Ms. Woo to learn more about the Chinese tradition of the harvest moon.  We sampled moon cakes and Chinese teas and discussed cultural similarities and differences.  To learn more about this interesting tradition, please visit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Autumn_Festival

The after school Mandarin Chinese program will begin October 8th.  There are three levels being offered.  For additional information, please contact Dave Dixon at ddixon@lbusd.org.  This is an incredible opportunity to learn the language of the future, Mandarin.

Different Types of Intelligence

This is a great site which showcases Howard Gardner’s theories on multiple intelligences.  http://lth3.k12.il.us/rhampton/mi/mi.html

Club Rush: Wednesday, October 7th

Thurston Middle School club sponsors are invited to promote their clubs at this year’s CLUB RUSH.  This will take place during lunch this Wednesday.  Students will have the choice to browse booths and get information about what Thurston has to offer!

October 5th: Sixth Grade Meetings

Ms. Demark and Dr. Ostensen will be meeting with sixth grade students beginning today.  Please attend this meeting with your child’s Individual Learning Plan.  TMSILP[1]

Back to School Night GATE meeting

Approximately 50 parents attended the Back to School Night meeting.  Thank you, parents, for your continued interest and passion for our gifted children.  We value your time, your feedback, and your enthusiasm!

Wendy Milette from the My Hero Project spoke about the after school opportunity and showed a video created by a Laguna Beach student showcasing Mark Dressler.  The start date has been postponed in order to include our sixth graders who would have missed the first meeting due to Catalina Science Camp. 

Here is the PowerPoint presentation: GATE 2009-2010 Meeting

GATE Back To School Newsletter 2009

GATE Back To School Newsletter 2009

This newsletter will be mailed to all Thurston GATE families this weekend.  If you do not receive it by the time your child returns back to school, please email me directly at acochren@lbusd.org.

GATE parent meeting: September 24th

Thurston’s Back to School Night is scheduled for September 24th beginning at 6:00pm. For convenience sake, our GATE meeting will take place from 5:15 to 5:45 in room 212, Mrs. Cochren’s classroom.  Attendance at this meeting is not mandatory, but we will discuss this year’s GATE opportunities.

All presentation materials will be made available on this blog!