Every year, sixth graders simulate the movement of tectonics using graham crackers, frosting, and fruit by the foot. Using these items, they create 3 different types of boundaries: divergent, convergent, and transform, as well as a subduction zone. Students learned about these plates in science class in the prior week.

​We went in during Ms. Zlatkin’s second block to get an inside view. We saw students engaged in learning with the hands on experiment. We even got a quote from a sixth grader. ¨It was fun!” said Anny Chen, ¨we got to stick our hands in food!¨. We look forward to more hands on learning here at Asheville Middle to benefit student learning. Great job, 6th graders!
 
Story by Erin Chen and Iris Schreiner

Check out this Spotify playlist to get in the mood for Halloween! Disclaimer: This is all opinionated! 

You walk in, it’s hot, humid, and loud. You see the chlorine filled blue water and kids waiting eagerly on the bench. The YWCA has created their first partnership with AMS. Students who are in the swim club can walk over to YWCA during club times on Tuesday and Thursday and learn to swim. The club is for students who would not normally have an opportunity to learn how to swim in their daily lives. “We want all children to learn how to swim”, Lifeguard Valinda says. Valinda grew up in Florida and has been swimming all of her life, she wants other kids to experience what she did. “We can save one life” Valinda says, “teaching these kids to swim will save many”.

​The CEO of the YWCA, Beth Maczka, went to City Council and got the grant to do this swim program. The YWCA provides swimsuits and goggles to kids who don't have access to them at home. Currently the program has a student to adult ratio of 3:1, there are 9 kids participating in this club and they split into ability groups. Swimmers work on breathing exercises, basic swim skills and how to be safe while swimming. Swim coaches work hard to give specific instructions and lots of demonstrations.

Swimmers warm up first and then get to have fun jumping off the diving board. The club is currently made up of all boys and lasts for 45 minutes. The boys will continue until Spring and then the boys and girls will switch out. One student says “My favorite part is getting to jump off the diving board”. Another one says “I like getting to learn how to swim”. A parent of one of the students says “My son loves to swim, when I found out that he was doing this program I thought it was amazing, he has never had swim lessons before, when he joined this program it was his first time ever learning to swim.” The YWCA thrives to make important things like swimming possible to people who would not have a chance to do it otherwise.

One of the swim coaches, Brooks Wallace, says “I love helping with this program because I like to see kids improve. Swimming is an important life skill in my opinion.” The YWCA hopes that Asheville Middle School will continue their partnership together, teaching kids to swim.                                                                                                                                                                                  

Story by Kate Buys and Ginger Hanlon   ​

Ms. Jefferson is a special education teacher and an inclusion teacher for ELA and Science. She has been teaching at AMS for 3 years and before that, she taught at AHS for 17 years. Ms. Jefferson loves watching her students grow into responsible leaders. Ms. Jefferson loves coming to work and seeing all of her students, different personalities. “I smile every day because of my students”, Ms. Jefferson says. Ms. Jefferson teaches students that struggle like she struggled in school. “I know that everyone can learn”, she says. “You just have to find out how they learn and teach them to apply their way of learning to the subjects that they struggle in”. Ms. Jefferson wants her students to look at their writing as a strength. “I want my students to change the world with their writing”, Ms. Jefferson says. “I want my students to own their education.”.

Currently, Ms. Jefferson is teaching her students journalistic writing. “It’s a difficult type of writing, but I believe that once the unit is finished, students will benefit from the writing”. Students have been creating websites where they will eventually publish the stories they write.

Ms. Jefferson had teachers that changed her life in High School, and she wanted to change the lives of students like her teachers did. Ms. Jefferson grew up in Asheville and graduated from Asheville High. She is certified to teach K-12 special education.

Ms. Jefferson's favorite teaching moment was when she was driving a bus load of her student back from a field trip and a turkey flew across the interstate. Ms. Jefferson hit the turkey and the students quickly took sides on whether or not she hit the turkey on purpose. After she realized that this would be an incredible learning opportunity, she decided that students should write a court case on whether she was guilty or innocent. Students spent many weeks working on their paper, and Ms. Jefferson set up a courtroom in her classroom. There were judges, lawyers, defendants and more. The case was called the Turkeycide! One student who participated in the case as a lawyer says “It made an important skill fun to learn, I finally understand persuasive writing“. Ms. Jefferson always finds fun ways to teach challenging and important subjects. 

Story by Kate Buys

Zumba Club
Unlike tea club, the energy in Zumba was exciting and fun. In this club, students enjoy the popular dance game, Just Dance. This class is student centered and student led. Students in this class are respectful to others and have fun without judgement. If you don't want to dance, you can sit down and chat with friends.

​Minecraft and Computer Games
In Minecraft and Computer Games, students socialize while playing, well, you guessed it, minecraft and computer games. To be in this class you need to abide by this class’s only rule, play well with each other. Tons of people join this club because of their natural love for computer games.