Thursday, October 10, 2013

Critique of the Painting Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze



NPR Morning Edition October 28, 2002. This NPR program discusses the painting Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze. We are listening to this after we read the Introduction to Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer.

Thursday, October 03, 2013

Guest Speaker in Geography


The students in seventh grade are studying Mexico in geography. Today Mr. Layne brought in a guest speaker, Mrs Salas, to speak on her experiences growing up in Mexico. She shared a folk tale and talked about how as a child she had to carry water from a local creek to her home so they had water. 

Wednesday, October 02, 2013

World Geography Games


World Geography Games is a website that uses maps to gameify learning places. It is a pretty basic site and it focuses specifically on factual knowledge but if you like learning geography you might like to play this.

Tuesday, October 01, 2013

Why Do Some Become Famous While Others Do Not?


This essential question is the guide for this lesson. The students will be examining the role of Paul Revere and Joseph Warren from Revere's famous ride to the Battle of Bunker Hill. We will look at what Paul Revere and Joseph Warren contributed to these famous events. 

Here are the links to the media we will use in class along with pages 134-135 in our textbook.

Andy Griffith Lexington and Concord http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3boDX-3iRJg
‘Real’ Story of Paul Revere http://www.paulreverehouse.org/ride/real.html
Longfellow’s Midnight Ride of Paul Revere http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4hUMQG3MI8



After learning the stories of Revere and Warren the students will write an ode to Dr. Warren using the following rhyme scheme: ABABCDECDE

Monday, September 30, 2013

Foam Cup Printing



Here is a video of Jose explaining how he created his foam cup print. We created these in conjunction with Paul Revere's etching of the Boston Massacre. The students created a print to represent the massacre from the Loyalist point of view. 

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Paul Revere and the Boston Massacre


Paul Revere's etching of the Boston Massacre shows a definite bias against the soldiers. Our goal today is to take the incident and create a print from the Loyalist point of view. 

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Road to the Revolution 1763-1775



Here is the presentation over the events that led to the creation of the Declaration of Independence. 

The essential question is: What events led to the creation of the Declaration of Independence. 

The first activity is to create a timeline for the events. 

Monday, September 16, 2013

7th Grade Benchmark #1


Friday, September 13, 2013

STUCO Candidates Speeches 2013


Presidential Candidates' Speeches


Vice Presidential Candidates' Speeches


Treasurer Candidates' Speeches



Secretary Candidates' Speeches 

Representative Candidates' Speeches

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Tuesday, September 03, 2013

Kayla's Youtube Video for American History

Kayla rewrote the lyrics to Men at Work's Who Can It Be Now and created a youtube video. How did you complete the assignment? Will we see your work of art online too?


Friday, August 30, 2013

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Creating Art to Represent Your Learning: Pre-Columbus through Columbus


Here are the instructions for your assignment. I can't wait to see what you create. 




This is an example I created. As you can plainly hear I am not asking for great art, just a good time and some proof of learning.

Here are the lyrics:

Some Island That I Thought I Knew

I think of all the time I spent looking for you
I went to the kings of both Portugal and Spain
I even drew some maps
Read a bunch of Marco’s crap
But still I only thought I knew where I was going

I talked the Queen of Spain into giving me 3 ships
I hired some sailors to follow me to the end, all to the end
Even when things got really rough
I was sure we had the right stuff
We would stick it out until the voyage was over.

But you didn’t have to surprise me
You were really San Salvador and not the West Indies
and I never really did know
that the place I found was not what I was looking for
What about when I stooped so low
got on my knees and kissed your sand and made a fool of myself
I would never figure it out though
Now you’re just some island that I thought I knew

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Hall of Fame Noel Elementary Style


Sunday, April 14, 2013

Chris Hadfield, Mentoring Pre-Service Teachers, and a Lip Dub That Is Out of This World (Literally!)

So I participated in a lip dub with others who were part of mentoring or students of ECMP 355  (including our own pre-service friend, Dylan Longmoore). To be honest it was the hardest thing I had to do this year, and that includes playing ukulele in front of the school board! Dean Shareski put it together and did the video editing.



I.S.S. The Lip Dub from shareski on Vimeo.

Here is the original video in case you want to compare.



Imagine my surprise when I read the post Collaboration: We've Arrived and discovered that Chris Hadfield watched it while on the International Space Station orbiting the Earth! How cool is that?


Update


I just found this great post on Art with Mrs. Rose that details the story a little more fully. There I found that the activity had been broadcast on the CBC radio program Voyage North

Friday, April 05, 2013

Samorost 1: A Point and Click, Critical Thinking, Trial and Error Adventure Game!


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 we you figure out the puzzles!

Now for your assignment: I want you to write Samorost's story. Why is 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. You will be posting Samorost's story to the class ning.

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

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

The Hobbit (in under 4 minutes)




 Dylan Longmoore made this Common Craft style video for my students. I am going to use it to introduce the idea as another way for them to tell their Peter Pan story.

  Spoiler Alert: If you haven't read the book, you may want to stop the video early. It encompasses the whole book, not just the first movie.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Above and Beyond




What does this mean for our lunch project?

Friday, March 15, 2013

Baking Soda and Vinegar Volcano

Fun activity in science lab, we did spend time talking about the differences between a chemical reaction and the pressure created through convection which actually causes the volcanic eruptions.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Chris Hadfield and Barenaked Ladies: I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing)


Still think science isn't important? Le's do work, class.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Peter's New Story, Rocks and Minerals, More Math Review,

Reading:
Sequence of events for your own retelling of Peter Pan.

Science:
Finish reading lesson 1 and move into lesson 2.

Math:
Working on surveys and more math review.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Sequencing Some More, Re-Telling Peter Pan, Partnering Up, Digging Down


Reading:
Finish sequencing Peter Pan (2003), then we will begin discussing how we can rewrite our own version of Peter Pan.

Social Studies:
We will partner up and begin to work on our posters. I can't wait to see what you compare and contrast on them!

Math:
We will continue to review, this time it will be variables and expressions. Three groups will be giving the lunch surveys tomorrow as well.

Science:
Chapter 9 Lesson 1 We will be learning about the rock cycle and rock formation. 

Monday, March 11, 2013

Sequencing Peter Pan (2003), Comparing Civilizations, Setting Up a Survey, and Reviewing Plate Tectonics




We are in for a busy week!

Reading:
We will sequence Peter Pan (2003) today. Did we notice any differences between this and Peter and Wendy?

Social Studies:
We will be creating a poster comparing and contrasting two different civilizations. Get ready to work with a partner, today you will go back and find some interesting facts about the civilization of your choice.

Math:
Double duty day! We will be creating a survey for students to respond to. Finally we get to find out what the most popular meal is at school! We will also be reviewing some past learning this week. Today we will be looking at rounding and estimating.

Science:
We will be reviewing chapter 8 on Plate Tectonics. 

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Survey Writing, Continental Shifting, Event Sequencing and Lab Visiting



Reading:
We will sequence the events that took place in the movie Peter Pan (2003). I think we had a great discussion yesterday about the difference between the Peter Pan from the book Peter and Wendy and the Peter from this movie. I would love to have a discussion with the writer and director to see why they chose that path.

Math:
Today we will write our survey and instructions for administering the survey. It would be great if you remind me to ask teachers if we can come into their rooms to give the survey too ;)

Science:
I realize you need a bit more time to finish yesterday's assignment, but you better get with it. We will be reading lesson three today, then you will have the rest of the time to finish your work.

Science Lab:
I have no idea what you will be doing in the lab, but I did leave a reminder up above of what we did a month ago :)

Finishing Peter Pan (2003), More Continental Drift and Lunch Surveys


Reading:
We will finish watching Peter Pan (2003). Have we discovered anything different about this Peter Pan? We will start making a sequence of events for this version.

Science:
We will be reading today about continental drift. We saw a lot of great simulations yesterday about plate tectonics.

Math:
We will discuss the measurements of central tendency you worked on yesterday. Where do we need to go next? I am thinking we need to create some surveys to give to students. Which students should we survey? How many should we survey? 

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

Peter Pan (2003), The Lunch Project Day 4, Social Studies Review Day 2 and more Plate Tectonics


Reading:
We will continue to watch Peter Pan (2003) There have been a lot of interesting changes in this movie when compared to the book.

Social Studies:
Continue our review of Asia.

Science:
We will be looking at continental drift and doing a quick map project.

Math:
Today we will discuss any patterns or trends. We will also do some measurements of central tendency on the datum we collected. 

Monday, March 04, 2013

Peter Pan, Number Crunching for the Lunch Project, Reviewing Asia, and Layers of the Earth


Reading: 
We will continue watching Peter Pan (2003). We noticed a lot of changes in the storyline at the beginning of the movie. Will we continue to see changes being made or will the story more closely follow the book?

Social Studies:
We will review Asia. This is your opportunity to show what you have learned.

Math:
Today we will look at the percentages of the lunch choices for each day. Will we find anything significant in the datum? Will we be able to start drawing some tentative conclusions about the lunch program as it stands now?

Science:
We are beginning as study on the Plate Tectonic Theory. 

Friday, March 01, 2013

Peter Pan, Writing Reflections, Reviewing China, and the Lunch Project


Reading:
We will be starting the movie Peter Pan (2003). How closely will this movie follow the storyline from Peter and Wendy? Will Peter Pan's character change through the storie?

Writing:
I think we need to discuss reflective writing again. There is a difference between reporting what you did and reflecting on what you learned.

Math:
Today we will start looking at the numbers. What lunches get the most love from students, what lunches get the least?

Social Studies:
Review of China

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Asian History, Long John Silver, and Cafeteria Food


Terrific Tiger Assembly

Social Studies:
Continue learning about Asia. We will continue to draw comparisons between Asian empires and other empires we have studied.

Math:
We will begin analyzing and deconstructing the data we have collected on school lunches. We will be looking to see if there are patterns we can identify with what students choose for lunch, if there are lunch choices that are not viable for our school, and how we can address any issues we have with the lunches.

Reading:
Finish Treasure Island in the afternoon class.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Read a Book, Take a Test, Make a Decision



Reading:
After we review the poems we will read our library books today.

Math:
Go over the review and take the Chapter 8 assessment.

Social Studies:
Read lesson 2. Do we want to answer questions today or write another summary? We will decide in class.
Maps of Asia are due tomorrow.

Computer Lab:



One of the most enjoyed activities from the last school year was constructing bridges through games like Bridge Building Game. The purpose of this game is to construct a bridge that will allow the lemming like pink dinosaurs to cross safely across a chasm.

 Here are links to similar games:

Cargo Bridge
Bridgecraft

What do you need to know to be successful at these simulation games? Do you think they are good simulations?

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Poems, Summaries, and Kid President




Finally back to school after our two day lay off. Don't you hate snow days when there is no snow? I think we all need a pep talk so I asked Kid President to make a video for you.

Reading
We are going to write our two poems today. The first is an acrostic. You will pick a partner and use their first name as the starting point for the word or phrase. Each line will be a compliment to the person whose name you are using. For example:

Awesome
My favorite smile
You have a great personality!

The second poem is a concrete poem. I wonder what I will give you to use?

Social Studies
Your physical maps of Asia will be due Thursday. 
We will be reading lesson 1 on the geography of Asia. You will need to pay attention closely because:

Writing Workshop
You will be writing a summary of lesson 1. I think it will take around three paragraphs to do it justice so I hope you pay attention while we read it.

Math
We will review surface area again, then do the Are You Ready to Go On?

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Poetry, Mapping Asia, Finding Surface Area, and Computer Lab

Reading: Is this poetry? Be prepared to defend your opinion. 



Today in reading we will discuss poetry. We will look at what it can look like, why you should read it, and elements that are (or maybe are not) important to poetry.

Tomorrow you will be expected to write two different poems. At the end of this class make sure you are prepared to do so.

Social Studies: We are creating a physical map of Asia. There is a good example on page 346 of your textbook. I want you to identify the major physical features of the land as well as identify the large bodies of water. Make it nice and neat or be prepared to remake it.

Math: We are going to find the surface area of a prism. Let's start by watching this video:




What did you learn from this video? Can you use this information to find surface area of a different shape?

Computer Lab: If you could choose an activity to do in the lab, what would it be?

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Reading Stories, Finding Volume, and Reviewing Africa


Today in Reading we will be reading, an amazing concept I know!

In Writing we will be sharing stories we have blogged. This is something we need to do much more of so I am implementing a day of sharing!

In Math we will be finding the volume of a prism. Let's watch this video and deconstruct it. Do you see anything you have already learned represented here? Can you find a different way to find the volume of a prism? What if the prism is a triangular prism, will the formula still work?

In Social Studies we will be doing the review over chapter 11 p. 342-343.

Emperor Constantine Wikimedia Commons


Be prepared to do some reflecting today. Don't be surprised to see me walking around with the camera ready to capture your thoughts!

Friday, February 08, 2013

Answers From Canada

Dylan replied to our class questions about Canada. He made a great video and is very detailed with the answers to the questions we sent him.




Thank you, Dylan. The video is great and my students will learn a lot about Canada from it.

Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Questions About Canada


My class is teaming up with a pre-service teacher, Dylan Longmoore, from the University of Regina in Canada. We just finished reading the book Hatchet by Gary Paulson in which the main character of the story, Brian Robeson, is plane wrecked in the Canadian wilderness. I thought this might be a great opportunity for Mr. Longmoore to respond to some of my students' questions about Canada.

Jasmin asks:

  • Do you have really bad storms in Canada? (In the book Brian lives through a tornado.)
  • Has anyone gotten attacked by a moose? (Brian is attacked by a moose.)
Madison asks:
  • Do people get lost in the Canadian wilderness?
Katy asks:
  • Is there a lot of moose in Canada?
  • Are there a lot of bear attacks in Canada? (Brian is almost attacked by a bear.)
Lauren asks:
  • What kind of animals are in Canada?
  • What is it like to be lost in the woods in Canada?
Briana asks:
  • Do you think somebody could live in the Canadian wilderness for a year with just the clothes they are wearing and a hatchet?
Heuchi asks:
  • What animals are hunted in Canada?
  • What foods do Canadians eat?
Several students asked about the weather and climate in Canada. There were also more questions about hunting and fishing. 

Friday, February 01, 2013

Classroom Battleship Math

Today we played Battleship Math. We created a co-ordinate grid on the floor using tiles and then placed our 'ships' on them. We picked ordered pairs to 'shoot' at and then sent them off to the next door class playing against us.

Here is Euginio explaining what we are learning:



Here is a video of what a round of Battleship Math looks like:


It was a crazy time and in an hour we didn't quite get the game finished. The students had a lot of fun, maybe too much for me. They really wore me out!

4" Aluminum Boat Float

The students are conducting experiments and learning how to write conclusions from what they observe and measure. This is the second time they created aluminum boats. The first time they used a 3" piece of aluminum, this time it is 4" square. Here are a couple videos of the students talking about the experiment and what they are finding.



Thursday, January 17, 2013

And So It Begins: Working With the Scientific Method


We are beginning our science study on using the scientific method. We will be looking at data collection as a tie in with what we are studying in math. Students will be creating boats and seeing how much mass they can hold and we will use the collected data to draw our conclusions. 

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Free Rice


 FreeRice.com is a quiz site and a way to help the World Food Programme end hunger. For every answer you get right, ten grains of rice will be donated. While this may not seem like a lot of rice, it adds up. An added feature is that you can now pick from several different categories of questions.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Analyzing Data



The math class has been working on analyzing data. Specifically we are finding the mean, median, mode and range as well as describing the data using line plots, frequency distribution tables, and histograms. If you don't know what these words mean, simply double click on them and the definition will pop up. If you still don't know what they mean ask one of the students, they will be happy to explain it :)

We are gathering data now on our school lunch program to analyze if the choices the students have are really choices. By that I mean are enough students choosing them to make them a viable alternative.

Here are some videos you can watch to learn what we are doing.



Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Peter Pan Project Update



Students are continuing to work on Deconstructing Peter Pan. So far we have read the original story by J.M. Barrie, Peter and Wendy, looked at the sculpture of Peter Pan Barrie placed in Kensington Garden in London, watched the silent film Peter Pan (1924) and the musical Peter Pan (2000) starring Cathy Rigby.

The students have been analyzing the plot, sequence and character development with each version as well as trying to identify how the storyteller in each version viewed Peter. We are discovering how the story, while named after Peter, is really about Wendy's journey from childhood to becoming an adult. Taken at face value, with little reflection it is easy to think that the story is an homage to the power of youth when it is really about how important it is to grow up.


Friday, January 04, 2013

Act Your Age, Not Your Shoe Size

12 1/2 or 43, I wonder which I act like?


Have you ever wondered about the expression, "Act your age, not your shoe size?" The first time I became aware of it was when I first heard Prince's song Kiss. As a teacher of 6th grade students I wonder if this axiom is true for my class.

Today I want you to work in groups to identify the mean, median, mode, and range for both your age and your shoe size. We will be able to finally identify if I really want you to act your age or act your shoe size!