Innovations Celebrations: September 2015

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Week of Sept 21-25

Upcoming events:

Unfortunately, the leopard shark sightings are few and far between this year. Perhaps due to the water being TOO warm? We decided to cancel our trip to La Jolla Shores this coming Friday.
Wed Oct 7- Fri Oct 9: We still have our Carlsbad campout next week to look forward to. I am still awaiting a few Emergency Contact forms and $10 fee. Please get that to me this week! The weather forecast looks great for now. I look forward to a wonderful couple of days building class culture and camaraderie. Check here for packing list and supplies requests.
Friday Oct 16: Tournament of the Phoenix Field trip at Poway Rodeo grounds. We need drivers!!

Another great week is behind us!
In math, we continued our study of Shapes by estimating and learning how to measure angles. For a Unit Overview, click here. Students learned some academic language related to angles, including degrees, right angles, complementary angles and supplementary angles
I collected students' notebooks over the weekend to check on their note-taking skills and organization of work. One goal I have this month is for students to be able to record and organize their work so they can easily explain to others their thinking and strategies for solving problems.
Students were signed up for MathXLfor school.com last week. They will be taking a pre-assessment this coming week. Look for the password and usernames this week in the home to school journal.

As for progress in our Human Body Human Being project (click here for project overview), students continued to work on drawing 4 of the major systems of the body and writing a short description of each of them in their project journal. Students should be done with this next week and pick one of those systems to investigate more thoroughly. Natasha taught the students about body mechanics and joint movement while brainstorming how we would like to perform our dance routine at the end of this project.

Our "Outsiders" novel reading got us through a pivotal moment in the plot of the story. Ponyboy and Johnny are currently in hiding in a church far from home after running away from the murder of one of their rivals. We watched the movie up to the point they arrive at the church last week in order to give us a visual idea of the characters and the setting. We generated vocabulary list #2 from our reading and students found the definitions and acted out the words last Friday. Click here for list. Our Quiz #2 will be Thursday October 1.

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Week 2: Sept. 14-18

Upcoming Events:

Thursday Sept. 24: Outsiders Vocab Quiz

Friday Oct. 2: Swimming with Leopard Sharks at La Jolla Shores. Looking for masks and snorkels. Bring sack lunch, swimsuit, sunscreen. Water shoes are a good idea.

We had another great week! All of our extra programs... Spanish, Art and PE are in full swing. I have a feeling some of the kids are feeling the heat of doing hard work after a long summer break, but I have full confidence every student will get the hang of it quickly!

We started our Polygons math unit this week. We created 3D shapes to display our math vocabulary.
Student established note taking routines and broke in our math spirals with a lesson on Angles and Rotation.

Our science lesson corresponded with the introduction of our Human Body Human Being project. Students learned about the major organ systems of the body. They created a flipbook of 4 of those systems.

Our "Outsiders" novel reading led to discussions on the main themes of the book as well a generating a list of vocabulary. Students researched the meanings of the words as well as acted them out. We will have a quiz on those words on Thursday. Each Thursday we will have a quiz on new words.

Vocabulary quiz #1 is Thursday, September 24. For the first quiz, you will be asked to spell the word and match the definition.

Vocabulary #1 from The Outsiders

Conjure: (verb) to make something appear unexpectedly or unassumingly from nowhere as if by magic.

Dumbledore took out his wand and with a flick, a fire was conjured out of thin air.

Hastily: (adverb) done with excessive speed or urgency.

He hastily changed the subject.

Incredulous: (adjective) unable or unwilling to believe something or completely unconvinced by it.

Logan says his sister is incredulous because she doesn’t believe his stories.

Lope, loping: (verb): to move or run with bounding steps, or with a long easy stride.

The cat was loping around the house.

Nonchalant: (adjective) cooly concerned, indifferent or unexcited.

His nonchalant attitude infuriated me.

Savvy: (noun) practical knowledge.

If you are really good with computers, you are “tech savvy”.

Shanghai: (verb) to trick or force somebody to do something or go somewhere.

The class tried to shanghai Lisa into going across the street for lunch.

Stricken: (adjective) hit or wounded by a weapon, or deeply affected by something such as grief or misfortune.

He was stricken by a passing blade and toppled to the ground.

Synchronicity: (noun) the coincidental occurrence of events that seem related but are not obviously caused by one another.

After the girl watched three doves fall from the sky, she thought it was a synchronicity from heaven.

Unfathomable: (adjective) incapable of being fully explored or understood.

It seems unfathomable to learn another language in just a few days.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Week 1 Sept 8-11

Welcome back to school! It was nice to meet many of our 7th grade families at our Back To School Night. I handed out a Parent Information Packet. Click here to view it. Thank you for the help with class school supplies and volunteer field trip drivers.

I am still in need of a ROOM PARENT! If you can help in that capacity or have questions about room parent duties, please contact me at lisa@innovationsacademy.org

Our first week together included:

Community Building We created Lego Ducks to show how everyone sees things differently. When given the same tools(6 identical sized Lego pieces) often we create different outcomes (different shaped ducks) Is one right? Is one wrong? As we come to appreciate differences, we can see that everyone has something to contribute.

We did the Marshmallow Challenge in order to learn to work, plan and design together. Students learned that prototypes and multiple drafts lead to a stronger, better finished product. The Pyramid Cup Challenge tested students' ability to work together as a team to complete a common goal. I got to know my class better by having them write a letter me. Click here to see letter assignment.

Setting the Tone of the Classroom We created a gecko tessellation (finished product coming!) by coming up with words that would create an awesome classroom environment. We also drafted out Classroom Expectations. Both products will be posted in our classroom as reminders of what we want for the best year ever.

Rules and Routines Students talked about the importance of jobs and routines in the classroom. Jobs will be assigned next week. We started the routine of daily reading by introducing "The Outsiders" as our first class novel. We are currently into Chapter 2.

Guided Discoveries We had our first guided discovery in Science by investigating 5 Mystery Boxes. The objective was to learn about the steps used in the Scientific Method

All students started a School to Home Communication Journal. It will be their means to communicate their week with you. It came home Friday and is to come back signed by a parent each Monday. It includes a checklist of the work that was expected to be completed that week. Students not completing classwork during school time are asked to finish it at home. Those who still need support will stay after school on Monday's for our Monday Makeups.

I can't wait for another great week! Look for more information on our upcoming field trips as well as the class schedules in my next blog post

8th Grade Class of 2014 Summer Fun Photos

Although school ended, friendships didn't. Many members of our 8th Grade class of 2014 got together throughout the summer to hang out and enjoy San Diego. We had fun!