Military inspires middle school lessons

One Clovis middle school has decided to honor military personnel by incorporating military themes into student lessons in various subjects for a week.

To kickoff the unique lesson plans, Marshall Middle School will host “A Tribute to Our Troops” evening next week.

“This will be the kickoff for our one-week military unit,” said Marshall math teacher Terry Pipkin. “That night, students will do activities with their parents and then they can take them home and do extended lessons for extra credit. We wanted to do this because we have so many military families here. This is in their honor.”

“A Tribute to Our Troops” is scheduled from 5:30-7 p.m. Thursday in the Marshall Middle School gym.

While the initial kickoff activities will be part of the school’s Parent Night on Thursday, the event will be open to the public, school officials said.

Bestella Gardner, whose granddaughter Paige attends eighth grade at Marshall, said she thinks the event and the military-themed lesson plans are “a wonderful idea.”

“Since we have the military base here, it’s wonderful for the kids to be a part of that,” said Gardner, whose husband Jeff is a retired U.S. Air Force Master Sergeant who served in the military for 22 years, including 11 at Cannon Air Force Base.

“It sounds like a good way to welcome our military troops as part of our local community,” Gardner said. “With this being for families, it will be a great way to bring together our military families and our community.”

Marshall Principal Dante Thacker said she sees this as a good opportunity to integrate military themes across various curriculum subjects, to strengthen bonds with military families and to pay tribute to area military men and women.

“It’s our goal to honor them and show them how much we value their service,” Thacker said. “We have families here at Marshall who are assigned to Cannon and we have some military people from the base who volunteer in the schools. The teachers have all worked extremely hard on this unit.”

Classroom lessons with military themes that will follow next week’s event will include activities in science, math, history and English, which teachers will present as part of a new team-teaching, interdisciplinary approach to instruction, Pipkin said.

Among the unique lesson plans will be activities to measure the distance military personnel travel when completing travel plans in New Mexico; creating a timeline with dates of historical value related to Cannon Air Force Base; and creating letters to welcome students from military families to Marshall.

Thursday’s event will feature a military color guard, representatives from local military recruiting offices and refreshments sold in the concession stand.

Information: 769-4410.

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A tribute to our troops

Where: Marshall Middle School Gym, 100 Commerce Way, Clovis

When: 5:30-7 p.m. Thursday

What: The math, history, science and English departments will present mini-lessons about the upcoming “A tribute to our troops” unit planned for seventh and eighth grade students. Below is a brief overview of each activity:

Science: Students and parents will explain how frequency and pitch are related and compare the speed of sound in sand, water, and air. Students and parents will conduct an experiment with sand, water, and air.

English: Students and parents will communicate effectively with future military students when speaking and writing. Students and parents will create a rough draft letter to welcome military students to Marshall Middle School.

Math: Students and parents will measure the distance military personnel travel when completing travel patterns in New Mexico. Students and parents will describe the distance traveled with justification from the measurements and the Pythagorean theorem.

History: Students and parents will discuss and understand the economic impact the military has in Clovis and New Mexico. Students and parents will create a timeline for the dates of historical value for Cannon Air Force Base and the Special Operations units.