Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Thursday, September 13, 2012

What I did and Saw at the Prairie Days at the George W. Carver Museum


What I did at Prairie Days was I weaved a scarf on a loom and hand crocheted. I also spinned yarn on a spinning wheel.

What I saw was soap making, old style laundry, churning butter, candle making, sewing blankest, basket weaving, banjo making, arts and crafts, and wagon rides. I also had hot coffee and donuts.

The loom I made a scarf on was made from pieces from a shipwreck from a ship yard. I let kids help me make the scarf also. 

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Another Busy Day 9/11


 The students took over Tie Tuesday today. They were waiting at the door to hand out the ties to the students from the other classes.


In math a few students finished their assignment early so they were able to work on some logic puzzles on the iPad. You can see it mirrored on the television.


We had counseling class today. We went to Mrs. Kilby's room. 

Digital United States History Games

http://www.mission-us.org/

Mission-US is a site that has a couple immersive American History games on it. One is on the American Revolution, the other on Escaping Slavery. Which one do you like best? Click the link to play.

Thursday, September 06, 2012

Another Great September Day in Class


In our social sciences class we watched a really good video on the Mesopotamian city state of Sumer. We learned about scribes writing in cuneiform as well as the Saga of Gilgamesh. Discovery Streaming has some great videos and we are grateful we have access to them!


In the junior high hallway we saw a lot of posters advertising for the people running for student government. I talked to a teacher in that hallway and asked if we could set up a town hall meeting where the candidates could answer questions for us.


In science lab Mr. Howerton had a really neat learning opportunity set up for us. First we made hand lenses using safety pins and water. The adhesiveness of the water allowed it to stick in the circle created by the wire on the safety pin and the water's cohesiveness kept it from falling apart. It actually magnified!


Then we got to look at some animal cells through the microscopes. They look very big when they are magnified. We managed to make it through the class without breaking a slide too.


Here is Adrian explaining the safety pin hand lens.

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Finally, a Face to Face Visitor!



I finally figured out what was wrong with my Discovery Streaming subscription. We celebrated by watching a video that showed a couple 'real world' examples of variables and expressions.


After the video we got back to work on variables and expressions. I am really hopeful that the students are catching on. I am looking forward to seeing how well they did tomorrow.


This afternoon we had a special visitor, Miss Winchester. She has spent the last three years in Niger (which is on the African continent.) She spent an hour talking to us about what life is like there. In social studies we have been studying about Mesopotamia, the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. While Niger is not real close, it was still good to have someone talk about an area that is not too dissimilar.


Here are a couple students putting on clothes that are typically worn by women and girls in Niger. The need for light, loose fitting cloth became apparent when Miss Winchester told us that the temperature fluctuates from as high as 140 degrees in the 'hot season' to a low of 90 degrees at night in the 'cool season'. That sure doesn't sound that cool to me!

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Stephanie Works With Variables



Here is Stephanie working through an expression using a variable.