What Happened Today? 8/23/12

This morning we were visited by our librarian, Mrs. Owens. She spoke about the MASL award books that students can check out from the library. If students read enough books they get to vote for their favorite. If they read all of the books this year, their name will be placed on a special plaque in the library!

We conducted an experiment to see if the water temperature in the aquarium changed throughout the day. As you can see by the data table, it stayed at a rock solid 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Can you tell me what temperature that is in Celsius?

In the science lab we classified tennis shoes and buttons.  What a great way to introduce plant and animal classification. I can't wait to see what we do next week in Mr. Howerton's class.

We worked on division today. We identified the divisor, dividend and quotient. Then we used the division algorithm to work some practice problems. I love watching them work together using white board markers on their desks. 

Taking Our Aquarium's Temperature

Here is what we are doing tomorrow in science. We are experimenting with the water temperature in our aquarium. Here is how we are going to proceed.

• Problem- What is the temperature of the aquarium's water throughout the day?
• Background Knowledge- oxygen in water, carbon dioxide in water, it is fresh water
• Hypothesis- Students created their own hypothesis.
• Research- None for this experiment
• Materials- thermometer, aquarium with water
• Method  

1. Put thermometer in water.
2. Velcro the thermometer inside the aquarium.
3. Wait ten minutes before reading the thermometer.
4. Read the temperature on the thermometer.
5. Record the time and the temperature on the table on the white board.
6. Turn on the aquarium light.
7. Read the temperature on the thermometer.
8. Record the time and temperature.
9. Repeat until the end of school.

• Conclusion- Done after the experiment.
• Extensions- Done after the experiment.

Skype With Jerry Blumengarten

Jerry Blumengarten, aka Cybraryman1 on Twitter, joined us via Skype on Monday to talk to us about book publishing. He used a Mixbook he created to show students how he worked with artists and publishers to go from idea to finished product.

Although we had some technical difficulties with trying to use my iPad with airplay onto our class television, Jerry persevered.  We are very lucky to have friends like him to help us learn. Thank you, Jerry.

Tie Tuesday Returns!

Here we are showing our swag at our first Tie Tuesday of the year. The purpose of tie Tuesday is to have a special day where we dress up and look fine. Every day we have together is special, but when we dress up and look nice it can be extra special!

Lesson Plans for August 20-24

Here is a link to the lesson plans for the week. We are looking forward to Skyping in Jerry Blumengartern on Monday who will be speaking to us about the writing process. He has written a MixBook titled How to Write a Cartoon Booklet which he will share with us.

I am also hoping that I can arrange a Skype session with Dr. Luann Lee, a former marine biologist and an amazing teacher. If the stars align, she will be joining us to discuss our aquarium ecosystem and how to make it sustainable.

Notice our first ever Tie Tuesday, a practice started by my former colleague and friend Joe McClung. It is simply a day to dress up and show some swag.

Let's Do Work!

Taking Notes in Science

One of the fun things I have incorporated into our classroom this year is using our desks and tables as dry erase boards. The students are having fun writing with markers on items they are usually not allowed to. They have more enthusiasm to write the notes and I can easily see what they are writing. The notes taken here are from a video they were watching on water. The students learned about biotic and abiotic factors and were trying to identify as many as possible from the video.

This lesson is part of our ecosystem unit. The students are working toward designing a viable ecosystem in our class aquarium. Here is a link to the lesson plans. 

Creating Norms for Our Classroom Community

Today we spent almost all day working on classroom norms. Norms are basically expectations of the community. We looked at rules from school board policy to my own classroom rules. The norms they came up with deal directly with with how a learning community should look. We spent a lot of time trying to come up with positive statements about what we should do.

Here is a link to the 10 norms the students identified.

 At the end of the day the students identified two they support and had to write why they should be norms. Tomorrow the students will debate the norms (using what they wrote today) and will then vote. A simple majority is all that is necessary to accept them. The students will also devise a mechanism to revisit the norms so they can add to them or get rid of ones they no longer want. 

Summer School High School Drama

Play At Summer School from Wm Chamberlain on Vimeo.

Summer School

Summer Learning

I am teaching the novel The House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton in summer school this year with sixth through eighth grade students. I have started a lesson planning and reflection blog where I will be posting both what we are doing in class and what I am learning from it. Here is the link if you would like to read through my thought process. 

A Mobile Blog to For a Mobile Blogger

I have started a mobile blog at Tumblr.com. The blog will be used to record my trip to Walt DisneyWorld, but if it is as easy as it seems, I will probably continue to use it. If you want to follow my trip, here is the link: http://wmchamberlain.tumblr.com/

Do I Have a Right? Learn Your Constitutional Rights

Do I Have a Right? is a game where you get to pretend to be a lawyer. The game helps you learn about Constitutional law (which is pretty important!) I would love to see what you think after you are done playing, so leave a comment letting me know.

Samorost

Samorost 1 is a crazy cool game. The idea is to get the character, Samorost, to explore the space ship that he finds flying towards his planet. To play this game you simply point and click until you find out how to progress. You will have to collaborate on this one, don't be selfish when you figure out the puzzles!

Now for your assignment: I want you to write Samorost's story. Why ishe scared when he sees the spaceship? Why does he decide to explore it? What does he find along the way? You will need to take notes as you travel with Samorost.

I will leave you this picture as a clue for the first puzzle. Can you see what has changed?

Secret Builders

 Secret Builders brings something new, the opportunity to converse with other people outside of the classroom. Use common sense and the online safety practices we have talked about in class. I am not saying you cannot have a conversation, just remember that you are looking at an avatar and not the person. You really don't know anything about them, so don't let them know anything about you!

Library Media Survey

Here is the link to the annual Library Media Survey Please fill it out to the best of your ability.

Rube Goldberg Machines

Here is a GIF of 8th graders working on their Rube Goldberg machine. The GIF was created using Gifture with my iPhone.

Halloween in April?

Because I won't have you next October for Halloween, I thought you might like to check out the fun today. The first site is online pumpkin carving. What kind of face does your pumpkin need? The second site is Zap-A-Ghost. How many ghosts can you click on? The last site is Hidden Spirits. Can you lead a scientific investigation to debunk a haunted hotel?

Online Pumpkin Carving

Zap-a-Ghost

Hidden Spirits

You will need headphones to play Hidden Spirits so I hope you brought yours :)

Can You Survive Jamestown?

The colonists at Jamestown lived (and died) through a variety of choices, both good and bad. Now is your chance to see if you could do better. History Globe's The Jamestown Online Adventure is your chance to pit your intelligence against the intelligence of the original settlers. Can you do a better job? Click this link to try.

Leave a comment about what you learned.

Web Sudoku

Following this weeks theme of working with math. Today and tomorrow you will be doing online sudoku puzzles via websudoku.com. See if you can get a puzzle done in under 50 minutes.

Create a Comic Starring The Avengers

Here is the opportunity you have been waiting for, creating your own comic books. Since the Avengers movie is coming out this summer, I thought you might like the opportunity to create your own story line.

Click here to create your comic.