Monologue Speeches
Spelling Bee
Students passing by Mr. Bright's room during the
month of January might have heard shouting and
strange voices coming from behind the door.
These odd noises were simply the result of Mr.
Bright's language arts students learning speaking
and listening skills. Students gave three speeches
during the quarter that they had Mr. Bright as their
language arts teacher. One of the speeches was a
monologue. Students drew a monologue out of a
bucket. They then had a week to memorize that
monologue. Students were required to pick a tone
and voice that they thought fit well with their monologue. Some of the students even chose to dress up for their speech. For instance, one student
had a monologue about loving to read the dictionary. She decided to dress
up in a writing t-shirt, pigtails, and a pen stuck in one pigtail. Another student's monologue was from Pirates of the Caribbean. She dressed up as a
pirate for her speech. The students in Mr. Bright's language arts class have
developed good speaking skills while having fun at the same time.
Several CMS students participated in a school spelling bee on
February 3. Rachel Thomas
placed first, correctly spelling “de
rigueur” which means “required
by etiquette or current fashion.
Shayla Taylor placed second,
and Jake Tresslar placed third.
A few weeks later, all three competed in the Coles County
spelling bee held in Oakland. In
that competition, CMS swept all three places! Shayla Taylor placed first, Rachel
Thomas placed second, and Jake Tresslar
placed third. Shayla’s winning word was
“infrastructure”. Shayla will complete in the
Regional spelling bee in Decatur on March
19.
By Anna Sipes
By Mrs. Beals
Popsicle Bridges
The students on the Gold Team learned architectural and construction skills as well as teamwork
as they participated in a project! The eighth-graders had been assigned to groups of four, and
they were required to construct a tiny bridge using only 200 popsicle sticks and hot glue. The
bridges also had to be 14 inches in length, with supports only on the edges. The structures were
required to be modeled after a specific type of bridge- arch, beam, cable-stayed, cantilever, suspension, or truss.
The allotted time for construction was two class periods, or about 100 minutes. Once the bridges
were constructed, each person of the class got to vote on which bridge they thought was most
aesthetically pleasing. To ensure they didn't skew the results to help their own team, students
had to rate the bridges on a scale of 1-5. Then the classes moved into the testing phase. Next,
the strength of the bridges was tested. They had to hold twenty pounds for an entire minute. The
project was concluded with a reflection. The students had to answer questions such as, "If you
had to do it all over again, how would your
planned design change?" These questions were
aimed to teach critical thinking skills. "I think that
projects like this are so important because students today at CMS are the future engineers and
architects of the world," said Taylor Fleming, an
eighth grade Gold Team student.
By Rachel Thomas
Orange Team
On the orange team the 7th graders are putting in a lot of work. From Greek mythology in reading to
cell reproduction in science, the boys and girls have been very busy lately. In language arts the students just finished up their black history month projects. We have also started in on learning figurative language. In math Pre-Algebra is starting in on Unit 7 while on the other hand accelerated is
starting Unit 8. In science the kids are learning about how cells reproduce and depending if there are
deformities or mutations what the outcome of the process might be. One such deformity is known as
Siamese twins. In reading the kids are just starting their Greek mythology unit where they will learn
about the Greek gods and goddesses. Some known as Zeus, Apollo, Hades and much more. The
children are very excited about this unit because of all the beautiful architecture that was made during
CMS
the times these myths were made. The beliefs
of some of the gods and goddesses are very
intriguing to the children. Last of all social studies. In social studies the kids are learning about
the articles of the constitution and modern day
politics. Many of the students are getting involved in the subjects brought up in class
throughout the day. The kids are busy and will
continue to be busy until the end of the year
where the will prepare themselves for 8th grade.
By Austin Sims
Classroom Courier, page 3