It's Been a Long Time

Missed You  All... 

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post. So much has happened!

I enjoyed talking to all of you on Monday. Meeting and talking with parents who are so passionate, involved, and invested in their children's education renews my faith in my student's future. 

Students hold up their sculptures and chains.

We've made another visit to the FabLab. Students made linked chains with pendants on the end. They also made 3D sculptures of themselves using an Xbox Kinect. 

Last Week(s)

Students took a LOT of approaches to learn content

Christian examines two mixtures. One is a mixture of yeast and sugar.
The other is a mixture of yeast, sugar, and water. He wants to
see if there will be a different type of reaction. 

6th and 7th grade learned to improve their study skills. We learned how to "unpack" and "deconstruct" our tests so we can get clues on how we can do better next time. We also created different types of mixtures and substances and talked about their qualities.  

Donovan uses post-it notes to write down questions,
vocabulary, and thoughts about the text

 I've noticed that many of my students have some poor study habits. They haven't learned how to "interrogate" a text. They don't seek understanding of what they have read. This poor practice results in poor reading comprehension leading to critical understanding. So I've taught them to notate text with questions and comments. We also used the "four-square" method to create vocabulary with context. The study week ended with group presentations by the students. 

Kennedy and Azia record a spoken word that was used to teach about
pure substances and mixtures click here to hear it.

The 8th grade decided that they wanted to be teachers. So I gave them a crash course on lesson planning, we discussed what would be taught, and I gave them a week to educate themselves and another week to teach me. I will grade them based on their knowledge of key subject matter. In the meantime, they are having fun learning and teaching me about new subjects. 

Nikkia scoops pumpkin seeds out of her pumpkin.
 Besides being a fun activity, this is an opportunity for me to teach knife safety
ahead of our first dissection. 

This Week

6th and 7th grade will be learning about changes in matter. This makes for a lot of fun demonstrations and labs.

8th grade will be teaching me about homeostasis. Pray for us. 

I am available for any questions you have about Science Projects. I am looking forward to seeing the fruit of some of this work.