Sunday, March 27, 2016
March 14-18
Happy Pi Day!
I cannot believe how quickly our year is flying by. We have two weeks until Spring Break and then 11 weeks left of the school year! Every day has been a pleasure with this group of kids. I am grateful for the things they have taught me as well as the experiences we get to share. Thank you for all of your support.
Upcoming:
Tomorrow! March 15: Parent meeting for 7th grade trip to Zion National Park. 8:15-9:00 or 3:45-4:30
Tomorrow! March 15: Bike Ride to Penasquitos Canyon pack a lunch and water. We will start shuttling bikes and people from school at 9:15. If you can shuttle, we need help at 9:15 and again at 12:45. If you would rather meet us there please text me at 858-449-9127 before 9:00 am so I can count your student in attendance. We will meet at the end parking lot at Canyonside Community Park off Black Mountain Rd. Our plan is to be back at school by 1:15 so we don't miss Spanish class.
Next Tuesday March 22: Reuben H Fleet Science Center field trip. Please send $8 asap!
Next Thursday March 24: Exhibition Night 5:00-7:30
In Academics:
Math--- We have finished our unit on Exponents and Square Roots and have moved on to Solving 1 Step and 2 Step equations. The iXL program has been working wonders on helping students practice what they have learned. We have worked on I.1-I.10 as well as T.5. By the end of this week, they should be able to understand the practice problems in T.6-T.8.
Science--- Our Climate Change Calendars are looking good for exhibition! We will spend this week and next polishing up our work and getting the classroom ready for presenting our work!
News from Keith:
Vocab Words!
Update - We are going to have test no. 20 this week. Then we'll not have a list on the week of exhibition night.
I am planning after exhibition night to move to a slightly different form of the vocab assessment, moving away from online drop-down, to students simply writing a definition or correct use in a sentence. I believe this will be a more authentic test of their knowledge.
This week's words, many included to help with our multi-media presentations on climate change, are:
- Chastise: verb. to tell someone off, to criticize harshly.
- Polarize: verb. cause to divide into two sharply contrasting sets of opinions or beliefs
- Clandestine: adj. kept secret or done secretively, especially spy related.
- Gratuitous: adj. over the top, uncalled for; lacking good reason; unwarranted
- Hypocrisy: noun. the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform
- Insatiable: adj.(of an appetite or desire) impossible to satisfy.
- Meticulous: adj. showing great attention to detail; very careful and precise.
- Myriad: noun. a countless or extremely great number; a unit of ten thousand.
- Repudiate: verb. refuse to accept or be associated with, deny the truth or validity of.
Final Product: Podcasts:
This week will see groups recording their projects. Those not done by Friday with a solid effort I'll be in touch about them staying for Monday Make-up.
I will be out of town Friday March 18- Monday March 21. One of our previous 7th grade teachers, Jennie, will be subbing. She is excited to be with our kids after all the great things she has heard about them!
Have a fabulous week
March 7- March 11
Hello Parents,
What a difference a week makes in San Diego weather! Hope you are safe and dry.
Some important items of business:
- WE ARE STILL AT ONLY 50% RETURN RATE OF OUR HOME TO SCHOOL JOURNALS after 2 weeks of email reminders to parents. Please help your students by signing and helping them return them to school! Look for the journal on Thursday. Let's see if we can have 100% signed and returned on Friday! You will find the vocab words for Friday's test if you would like to help your student study one last bit together(also currently posted on the vocab tab on my digital portfolio.)
-Due to the weather, slippery trails and possible contaminated runoff in the storm water, I felt it was safest to postpone our bike ride to Los Penasquitos Canyon. We are tentatively trying for next Tuesday March 15 instead of tomorrow. We will still need a couple of shuttles to and from school. (Contact me if available to help)
- Please mark your calendars for a parent info meeting for End of Year Zion Trip on Tuesday March 15. I will hold 2 sessions: 8:15 am - 9:00 am or 3:45 pm - 4:30 pm.
-A payment of $25 will be due March 15, April 15 and May 15. We are right on track for the balance to come from our fundraising!
- March 22: Field Trip to Reuben H Fleet Science Center. $8 per student
Meanwhile, in academic news:
We held a very important class council last week about our behavior during school time. Due to the dynamics of our class, we have a very tight knit community. The students are very close friends and tend to be overly chatty. After feeling frustrated with "police-ing" the chatty behaviors, I decided to hold a council where I stepped away and let the students run the meeting. Our topic was: How can we efficiently circle up, be ready for class and limit distractions without a teacher telling us to stop or making us move? The majority of the class agreed there was a problem. Questions they asked included: Why do we abuse the freedom of sitting next to friends?, Why aren't we following our own rules?, Why do we talk over each other?, Do assigned seats work? Why do we allow our peers to break our own agreements? I watched them struggle as students talked over each other at first. They tried different techniques such as using the Talking Stick, taking turns, having a leader call on each other. By the end, I saw great strides take place during their conversation. They did decide for themselves that they would try to be aware of chatty situations, remember to abide by our "quiet signal" and remind each other to move quickly when it comes to transition times and during work time. I spoke to some students afterward who now have a better appreciation of what it must be like for one teacher to try to get a class in order! I have great faith with a few reminders, I will see a difference this coming week!
Math: Last week we worked on Rules of Exponents. We also started using IXL for more practice of math skills. It seems to be a very successful program so far for practicing skills learned in class. Students worked on Exponents section I1 - I7 last week. The great thing about the program is those students who would like to move ahead, can. Those who need more practice on basic skills can do that too. As noted last week, students recorded their passwords and usernames in their math notebooks for reference. If you would also like it for your records please email me.
Science: We continued to gather information for our Climate Change resource guide Calendar. Students are working on facts and figures and hope to complete the final draft by the end of this week. This should give us plenty of time for printing and distribution for Exhibition night.
News from Keith's class:
Vocab: Vocab #19 Week of 3.7.2016
- Excruciating: adj. physically or mentally agonizing
- Apprehend: verb. to arrest someone for a crime.
- Enigma: noun. a person or thing that is mysterious or hard to understand.
- Zenith: noun. the highest point reached physically by an object or metaphorically by a person or group.
- Nadir: noun. the lowest point in the fortunes /life / career etc. of a person or group.
- Turbulent: adj. characterized by conflict, disorder, or confusion; not controlled or calm.
- Sporadic: adj. occurring at irregular time; scattered or isolated.
- Preposterous: adj. contrary to reason; utterly absurd.
- Phenomenon: noun. a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen.
- Trepidation: noun. a feeling of fear or agitation about something that may happen.
Have a wonderful week!
February 29- Mar 4
Hello 7th grade families!
Some important items of business :
- Notice, the following is the exact same message as last week(we are still only at 50%): Please help your students by signing their Home-to-School journals! We changed the day they come home to Thursdays after a discussion that sending home on Fridays was too hard to remember to bring back on Mondays. We have been getting just over half returned. Look for the journal on Thursday. Let's see if we can have 100% signed and returned on Friday!
- Notice the date change:We have a bike ride scheduled for Tuesday March 8 to the waterfall in Los Penasquitos Canyon. We may need a couple of shuttles to and from school. (Contact me if interested!) I took a poll of how many students have bikes. We are a couple short if anyone has extras.
-Notice the date change: We have a field trip to Reuben H Fleet Science Center on Tuesday March 22. Drivers requested!
-Our Zion trip is officially on the books for Monday May 30 - Friday June 3. Please mark your calendars for a parent info meeting on Tuesday March 15. I will hold 2 sessions: 8:15 am - 9:00 am or 3:45 pm - 4:30 pm
-A payment of $25 will be due March 15, April 15 and May 15. We are right on track for the balance to come from our fundraising!
Meanwhile, in academic news:
Math we started on Exponents and Square Roots. Students are responsible for knowing their squares of 1s - 15s and 20. We started learning about exponents and were successful in getting into IXL. Students will be given a Learning Path for IXL to complete their quest toward mastering exponents and square roots this week. The path can be completed in class or at home. Students recorded their passwords and usernames in their math notebooks for reference. If you would also like it for your records please email me.
Science: We decided on a calendar template for our Climate Change resource guide. Students are working on facts and figures and hope to complete the final draft by next week. This should give us plenty of time for printing and distribution for Exhibition night.
News from Keith's class:
Vocab:
The students are enjoying making comic strips, role plays, short stories, classroom displays etc. with our weekly list. We hold steady at late 80s% success on the vocab test, so on average one could argue that the class is mastering the list each week. Enjoy testing your student especially on a Thursday night. (I will email the new week's vocab list tomorrow. )
Project:
We are into the final, fun stage of the climate change project - students making audio-visual products. Please ask your students what they are doing and who with, and chip in ideas. They made plans last week and the goal is to be finished in plenty of time for Exhibition Night.
Have a wonderful week!
Monday, February 22, 2016
Feb 16-26
Hello Parents,
I hope you have been enjoying the summer-like weather this past weekend!
Some important items of business:
- Please help your students by signing their Home-to-School journals! We changed the day they come home to Thursdays after a discussion that sending home on Fridays was too hard to remember to bring back on Mondays. We have been getting just over half returned. Look for the journal on Thursday. Let's see if we can have 100% signed and returned on Friday! You will find the vocab words for Friday's test if you would like to help your student study one last bit together(also currently posted on the vocab tab on my digital portfolio.)
-We have a field trip to Reuben H Fleet Science Center on Tuesday March 8. Drivers requested!
- We have a bike ride scheduled for Tuesday March 22 to the waterfall in Los Penasquitos Canyon. We may need a couple of shuttles to and from school. (Contact me if interested!) I took a poll of how many students have bikes. We are a couple short if anyone has extras.
-Our Zion trip is officially on the books for Monday May 30 - Friday June 3. Please mark your calendars for a parent info meeting on Tuesday March 15. I will hold 2 sessions: 8:15 am - 9:00 am or 3:45 pm - 4:30 pm
-A payment of $25 will be due March 15, April 15 and May 15. We are right on track for the balance to come from our fundraising!
Meanwhile, in academic news:
In math we had our Ratios, Proportions and Percents test last week. (Students recorded their scores in last week's Home-to-School journal entry) Students were also responsible for completing and turning in at least half of the practice problems from the "Silly Rhymes" packet. This week we start on Exponents and Square Roots. I am trying out a computer program called IXL for more practice of math skills. More about it as we explore it!
Science:The science class portion of our Climate Change project is drawing to a close with the production of our final product. Our scientists are compiling a resource guide for San Diego families on how to reduce their "Carbon Footprint." We will distribute these as well as show of our knowledge at Exhibition Night on Thursday March 24.
News from Keith's class:
We finished up our dedicated class time on writing our informative and opinion pieces for the climate change project. Where we stand on those pieces now are that students have a grade based on the rubric, and will be receiving (if not already had) one on one feedback from me on how to reach mastery. It is their choice between now and Exhibition Night in March whether they revise and improve their pieces further. At that time I will close the window for revision and re-grading.
Project Product: We also played with the different technology options available to create podcasts, and animated videos like this. There were some hilarious efforts when we had a go just to play, on any topic of the students' choice. These will be finished realistically in two week's time, and the goal is to secure interviews with experts and have some groups agree to post / link to our efforts.
Vocab: We were again close to 90% as a class average, with many students receiving 90 or 100%! Whatever support you are giving at home, please keep it up! This week's list is:
1. Wheedle
2. Askance
3. Forsake
4. Revelry
5. Eccentric
6. Vittles
7. Brazen
8. Plethora
9. Gingerly
10. Valiant
The grammar assessment showed that we have some work to do on identifying and fixing fragment and run-on sentences, which we'll re-visit this week.
Have a wonderful week!
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Last week of January already?
Hoping students have recuperated from the fun-filled trip last week! I hope you enjoyed the photos. Another thank you to our parent chaperones, Patty, Sindhu, Anders, Roger and Kathy. We couldn't have done it without you!
A couple of important announcements:
- If you have a SON in my class, please have them look at the email account that we use for the vocab quizzes - Keith sent a survey regarding how they view Boys to Men meetings. It would be great if they could take a couple minutes to complete this asap.
- SUPPORT IA AT SDUSD BOARD MEETING-TUESDAY: Tuesday
evening, 5:00 p.m. the board will vote whether to move forward with the apartment project. Since board members are elected, it is a great way to teach children about local politics and it is time to be heard. We will have signs for our supporters The more folks that show up the more likely this will go in our favor. Please also call in your opposition to the board office at (619) 725-5550
- Report Cards will be ready for parents to pick up on Friday. I will be in the classroom until 3:30. Report cards not picked up by you will be mailed home.
We will be starting a new math unit on Ratios, Rates,Percents and Proportions this week. In Science, we will continue on our quest to understand Climate Change with experiments on greenhouse gases and ice cores. We will continue our novel reading of "Nature's Confessions." Keith will be posting his new vocabulary list so check tomorrow on the Vocabulary tab on my Digital Portfolio.
We will be welcoming our new classroom aide, Nathan, in addition to Laura. He will stay in my classroom to help with math/science while Laura stays with Keith to help with humanities. From this point forward, our year flies by! Please encourage your kids to remember to stay on top of their studies, and come to school prepared and ready to learn each day.
Friday, January 22, 2016
Biosphere2 Day 2
Had an incredible day today! Toured the Biosphere 2, learned more about Climate Change from the experts, got to be test subjects for a nature hike that the Education Outreach staff is piloting, enjoyed each others' company for the afternoon and dinner time, then swiftly learned about the importance of being prepared when the power went out for over two hours! It made for an easy transition to lights out for the night! Enjoy the photos.
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| Sunrise |
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