Coupla Things v31 (4/30/16)
Post date: Apr 30, 2016 2:11:56 AM
Good Morning All.
It is early Monday morning and I'm finally getting around to sending out the weekly newsletter. We had an excellent and busy weekend -- hosting a big singing recital on Friday, play practice and sailing on Saturday, and joining in on a huge May Day gathering & celebration in Sebastapol Sunday. So, now Monday morning is poking its head up and I'm not sure that I'm quite ready. Luckily, by this phase of 8th grade I am able to confidently hand over lots of class/curriculum control to the kids. For about half of the academic time during last week, I simply posted a to-do list and left the kids to choose their own order, duration, and intensity of work. This class has gelled well lately and are able to work hard, play well, and get the most out of our remaining time together.
Last Week:
Social Studies: We're just about done with the study of westward expansion and its effect on the Native Americans. I showed a good (but long) documentary on Monday and then had the kids do a "each one teach one" reading-writing-quiz activity using the Kids Discover magazine on Pioneers. Of course, the current events process went smoothly with kids doing good presentations to their table groups each day.
Target Topic Presentations & "Kahoot": Each day one or two kids teach the class something that piques their interest and have researched for a while. The presentation skills of the kids is excellent. Educational, engaging, and to a receptive audience -- extremely impressive. In that same vein, the kids and I have really gotten into an online speed-quiz game called Kahoot. A bunch of us have made games and had the class play them during each little bit of free time.
Science: We are coming to the end of the unit on electricity. The kids built home-wiring systems, with a bulb, switch, and receptacle connected by 120v Romex wiring and joined inside junction boxes. As I told the kids, they've learned just enough to be dangerously confident! On Tuesday Thomas came to class to do some great demonstrations about the relationship between electricity and magnetism. Today, we'll wind things up with a electronics component simulation (DCAClab.com) and some videos on magnetic levitation.
Oh, and on Thursday we toured the k-5 rooms and interacted with those kids regarding their science fair projects. Great stuff I tell ya!
English: Done with Steinbeck! I've been very impressed with how well the kids and parents stuck with this long duration of book club meetings, with Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden being such lengthy and rich books. My huge thanks to the five parents who run these groups and demand student participation, engagement, dialog, and in-depth analysis.
The kids are in the process of choosing new books and groups and hopefully we will finish that today and start them on Wednesday.
Coming Up:
Student-planned trip to San Jose: The kids have pulled together fairly well to plan a day trip to downtown San Jose on Monday 5/9. You should be getting a paper copy of the itinerary today, but here is a quick overview: Scooters to bus stop, VTA to downtown SJ, games in the parks, TechShop, City Hall, blade/bike Guadalupe River trail, VTA back to DCS by 5 (note the late pick up).
Parent Potluck and Curriculum Review: The kids have many end-of-year activities and celebrations, and yet the parents of 8th graders (myself included) don't have many chances to gather together and look back on the year, enjoy each other's company, and discuss the journeys ahead. To that end, I would like to propose that we get together for a few hours one evening in the next few weeks to do those things. I'd like to include a short session during which I elicit suggestions for improvement the science curriculum, but for the most part, I think that it would be fun to just spend time together and honor the work and love and magic that is DCS. If you are interested in such an event, please reply and let me know if you are available on Thursday, May 12 at 6:30.
Maker Faire: All of DCS will be going to the Maker Faire in San Mateo on May 20 and I know that we still need about 3 drivers. If you are one of the few parents who haven't driven on any trips this year (yes, there are at least 3 of you!) please step up and respond to the Jane/Susan emails. How's that for blunt and bold?!
Calendar
May 2 to 6: Spring Conferences
May 6: Middle School Dance
May 7: Spring Auction
May 9 (Monday): Class field trip (scooter-tour of San Jose & Guadalupe River Trail)
May 12 (Thursday): Room 25 Parent Potluck & Meeting
May 16 to 19: Standardized Testing
May 20: DCS to Maker Fair (see messages from Jane/Susan)
May 27 (Friday): Staff Development Day
June 1 (Wednesday): Talent Show (before rafting departure)
June 1, 2, 3 (Wed-Fri) Rafting South Fork American
June 6-10: Chris doing Google training for Hawaii public school teachers
June 8: Science Fair (design challenges)
June 16: Last Day of School