Post date: Nov 03, 2013 4:12:21 AM
Hello There Parents and Students,
This is your Saturday night good-times report for the week of October 28 to November 1, which marks the beginning of second quarter and time for another well-deserved batch of praise for the kids in my classes -- thank you for working hard, treating our class community with the respect, and for being great people. As I walk middle school alley so many times each day, my appreciation for the human spirit rises every time. Although it may sound dramatic and hyperbolic, I really do feel a great sense of security and faith in the potential of our species as I watch the kids play, work, and just hang out together. Although I am quite tired when I leave school each day/evening, I usually come away with an eagerness to help create effective activities for the next day.
Recap of the Week:
1. Science: This was week two of our unit on cell parts and processes. On Monday the kids looked at elodea (aquarium plant) and cheek (their own) cells through microscopes to identify and compare structure. As always, the hands-on stuff is much more fun and intriguing than the lecture/worksheet/bookwork stuff and a good combination is most powerful. The other science lessons for the week revolved around cell exchange and duplication processes. The work packet for the unit should come home for your review and comment around the middle of this coming week.
2. English: Our group read of Ender's Game came to an excellent conclusion this week and we topped it off with an opening day viewing of the movie, which turned out to have a surprising level of integrity and adherence to (many parts of) the story. The kids have engaged in some good discussions with the parents on the past few Fridays, used the book for their weekly vocabulary choices, and completed (mostly) good character charts. The next (and final) step will be for each kid to choose a writing topic and to use it to show insight, elaboration, and excellent analysis.
3. Social Studies: The chapter 9 and 10 "test" turned out to be a two day affair. I ended up giving the kids access to my notes as well as the test questions themselves. Given those two advantages I am expecting great things from their responses (which I have yet to score). I also appreciate the impromptu lesson on Islam that Tarek provided Friday morning. One geography lesson for the week took on a local flavor as kids used Google maps to create a public transit or bike route travel plan.
Coming Up:
This coming week I will be getting the kids into the final stages of their "effect of this on that" experiments. They collecting the lab reports for the Fall science experiments. As with all things, there are some students who have been keeping up with each step of the entire process (and thus done by now) and others who have barely started (gulp). The students and I will discuss evaluation criteria next week and I'm looking forward to hearing some insightful reflections as well as a couple of (voluntary) presentations by some teams.
Calendar Quick-Check:
November 11: No School (Veteran's Day)
November 25-29: No School (Thanksgiving)
December 12: Field Trip to Family Giving Tree Warehouse
December 23 - January 10: Winter Vacation
January 20: No School (MLK)
January 24: End of second quarter (and first semester)
Lastly, I want express my ongoing appreciation to all of the parents who are supporting me and giving very valuable feedback, supporting all levels of classroom (and grade level) endeavors, and enhancing the attitude/achievements of the students. It is such an honor to work with/for all of you.
Chris