Zimmerman Middle and High School AVID May Newsletter

UPCOMING EVENTSMay 18th: AVID Rising (Grades 8-12) (District-Wide AVID event at Gateway Church)May 25th - AVID Celebration Event (High School – 4th hour, Middle School 5th hour)

AVID 10 Researches Careers

Sophomores have been busy researching and writing career essays. Students researched information about their chosen career including: training/education required, skills and experience needed, earnings and benefits, as well as what a typical day looks like in that career. After completing their essays, students will create a presentation to inform their classmates all about their career of interest. 

AVID 6 Use Their Detective SkillsAVID 6 students put their inquiry skills to the test when they worked in collaborative groups to gather evidence, analyze clues, and try to identify the kidnappers of prominent St. Paul banker Edward Bremer. Below is one student's completed graphic organizer.

AVID 7 Working of Public Speaking SkillsWe are currently working on communication skills, especially being comfortable speaking in front of class and sharing ideas in a group discussion. Students were given an unusual topic to discuss in front of the class and were given feedback on what they did well and what would help them be a better speaker. Below are a couple of our students in action.

AVID 8 Building Skills for 9th Grade

The 8th grade AVID students are busy preparing for 9th grade! They recently completed a project identifying characteristics of a high school AVID student, and they received information about policies and procedures from high school teachers so they know what to expect as they enter high school! Ms. McAlpine recently had them take a poll about their favorite things about being in AVIDand we created a word cloud of their responses!

AVID 9 Has Visitor

AVID 9 students recently had a visit from Lauren Lee (Yes, she had the same name as Ms. Lee! What a coincidence!) from General Mills. Lauren talked to the kids about what a degree and career in Information Technology (IT) could look like. The students were able to ask questions, and even attempted some fun computer coding activities!

This month, AVID 9 has been focusing on close-reading strategies. We have been reading AVID articles while marking the text and identifying important details and main ideas. The students have been working to improve their critical reading skills, which they know will greatly benefit them throughout high school and in anything they do in the future!

AVID 11 Conquers the ACT!

Juniors took a break to celebrate completing their 1st ACT!  Students are now moving onto completing resumes.  They are well on their way to creating outstanding professional documents that can be used for future job applications. 

AVID 12 Students Create Vision Boards

Seniors also took a break after submitting their scholarship applications to set life goals in a different way - Vision Boards!   In addition, they experienced listening to their first podcasts, and used critical reading strategies to respond to scholarly journal articles. Just one more month, and we will have another class of AVID Graduates!