The SEL Word for November is PERSEVERANCE.  The meaning: Continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure or opposition.  A NEVER GIVE UP attitude. (cont...)

The Heavy Metal Tour for Marathon County attendees is arranged by Northcentral Technical College in Wausau in collaboration with the Northcentral Wisconsin Workforce Development Board. During this experience, 8th-grade students visit area manufacturers and learn about the many exciting career opportunities available in the fields of Mechanical Design, Machine Tool, Welding, Electromechanical Technology and more. Students also do a walk-through tour of NTC's Machine Tool, Welding, Electromechanical, Autobody, and Woods labs so they are able to connect what they’ve seen at businesses to the hands-on, state-of-the-art training offered at NTC!  Our Spencer eighth-grade class visited Creative Automation in Abbotsford and County Material in Marathon

All kids are naturally inquisitive and every classroom should be filled with creativity and wonder. In order to unleash the creative potential in all students, Spencer Middle School is implementing STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) courses this year in the 7th and 8th grades. 

In the next couple months, 8th-graders will be creating podcasts. Podcasts are kind of like a radio show in your pocket. The goal is for students to gather as much information as possible so they can produce a podcast that you, the listener, would like to hear.  Launching their final product out to the real world can be scary, but also rewarding. 

The second half of the year, robotics will come to life for the 8th graders. Robots are programmable machines or gadgets that can perform a range of tasks by executing input commands. The goal is for the students to learn the principles of design, construction, and programming of robots.