Meet the Social Studies Team
Brian Loring, Sarah Brady
6th Grade
Brian Budd, Patrick Higgins
7th Grade
Patrick Higgins, Emily Shreve
8th Grade
Meet the Math Team
6th: Elizabeth Stroven
6th/7th: Nick Paliga
7th: Nicole Kaczynski
7th Algebra/ Geometry: Emily Graham
8th/ Math Strategies: Derrick Thomas
8th/ Math Strategies: Laura Plasschaert
6-8 Interventionists: Christy Zobrosky (instructional leader), Emily Sidwell
Language Arts
6th: Natasha Bean, Kelsey Baich
7th: Brianne Adams, Caitlyn Wood
8th: Josh Kelver (instructional leader), Jacque Miller
6-8 Interventionist: Eva Daniels, Julie Sloan, Pam Walters
Reading Strategies: Robbie Gingrich, Shelli Treel
Resources
Join in the fun!
Join in on the fun of an Academic Competition Team!
All grades are eligible for any team.
Please contact Mrs.Furfaro for information.
Spell Bowl is a written spelling contest with words from lists given at practices at school during the fall. Students will travel by bus with their coach to a regional competition at Kessling Middle School in LaPorte, Indiana.
Lego League consists of creating and building innovative projects using Lego blocks and accessories. Meetings are held at school during the fall and projects are entered in a regional competition.
Academic Super Bowl takes place during the second semester with weekly practices at Grissom. Teams are divided into four subjects including: Math, Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies. This year’s theme is “World War I” with questions from each academic area centering on this topic. Students travel by bus with their coaches to an invitational at Schmucker Middle School in April and a regional competition at Wawasee Middle School in May.
Chromebooks in the classroom
What is a Chromebook? 
A Chromebook is a personal computer that runs Chrome as an operating system. The device is made to connect quickly to the Internet and supports apps that are on the web, not ones that are downloaded to the device.
PUBLISHING
- Students can use a variety of websites for Digital Storytelling. Digital storytelling allows the students to “show with they know” in a creative, digital format. Digital storytelling on the web also allows for publication and sharing of projects with a wider audience. Students can use digital storytelling to support a variety of subjects. A few examples of websites that allow for Digital Storytelling are listed below along with curriculum connections:
- Prezi: Book Reviews/Reports, Research Reports, Story Telling
- Animoto: Field Trip Pictures, Classroom Events
- Voicethread: Biography Poems, Small research projects, Author Studies, Poetry Share
- Blabberize: Reserach projects
- Glogster: Book Posters, Character Posters, Who Am I Posters
- Students can use productivity tools on the web that allow them to access their work anytime and anywhere. Students can use the Chromebooks to access Google Apps. Below are some examples of the ways that the students cam work in the cloud using the Chromebooks.
- Google Docs: Personal narratives, fiction stories, paragraph writing, Internet Safety Presentations
- Google Maps: Social Studies Standards, State Studies Projects, Minnesota History mapping of important places
- Picasa: Classroom pictures, field trips
- Google Earth: Book Setting Trips, Geography tours, Literature trips
- TCI: Online Social Studies Text
- Using Chromebooks, students can communicate using 21st century tools.
- Gmail (grades 6-8): Communication with students, Book Club Communication, Reader Response Journals,
- Canvas: All classroom projects and assignments
- Collaboration is one of most important 21st Century skills that we can teach our young students. The Chromebooks allow students to collaborate face to face or on the computer while working on projects.
- The following Apps support collaboration (just to name a few):
- Google Docs
- Google Sheets
Library Home Page
Welcome to the Grissom Middle School Media Center
Grissom’s book check out policies:
Students may have up 3 items checked out at a time.
Items are due in 3 weeks. Check your email for overdue reminders.
Students should take care to return each item in the condition in which it was checked out.
Open Hours:
Students may visit the Media Center during lunch after obtaining a pass from the cafeteria supervisors on the following days:
Monday and Tuesday during 6th grade lunch
Wednesday and Thursday during 7th grade lunch
Thursday and Friday during 8th grade lunch
Mackin eBooks:
Students have access to Mackin eBooks to read on their Chromebooks at home or at school. While searching for a title in Alexandria, look for the eBook icon.
Your Mackin login name is ID initials and your password is ID PHM.
Inspire Indiana:
Inspire Indiana is a free service of the Indiana State Library.
INSPIRE offers a wealth of reliable research opportunities for Indiana students and their families.
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”
― Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!