Post date: Nov 19, 2011 2:40:23 AM
Another Friday Newsletter Comin' At Ya!
After getting home this afternoon, I went comatose for two hours then arose to a beautiful sunset and a flood of great memories of the past two days at the Bay. The Age of Sail trip was enhanced by a pre-program hike along the SF coast, varying but excellent weather, and a wonderful group of smart, adaptive, and patient kids. I've uploaded some photos to the "sail" page of my site (scroll to the bottom of the page then click through last year's pictures to see this year's), but they just don't do justice to the true essence of the trip. Much of it tested the kids endurance, versatility, and willingness to "suck it up and do it anyway". As one kid explained to the cook, "we come from a liberal school, so we've gotten more strictness here in the past 8 hours than we have at school for the past 8 years" (relayed to and paraphrased by me). Another kid said "isn't it weird that I could be having so much fun doing something as hard as this?" -- that about sums up the program's effect. This morning the captain sent us ashore a bit more than an hour early so we hid our gear and took a walk to Ghiradelli Square and Fisherman's Wharf. While gnawing on fresh baked sourdough loaves, we got to see the morning life on the piers and at the street-markets. I appreciate all the endurance and support provided by the parents (those attending, those driving, and those planning) and have acquired yet another bunch of reasons that I love this class!
Recap of the Week at School:
English: The Informational Articles that the kids finished last week hove now been accessorized by quizzes that the students made and posted at the bottom of their articles as well as on the spreadsheet of topics. If you haven't done so already, please read your student's article and take their quiz to test its effectiveness.
On "Wordy Wednesday" I had the kids use an online service called GoAnimate to create a cartoon with dialog that demonstrates a solid understanding of any 4 (or more) words in their composition book. I made a sample for them and then just set them free to build their own (here is a link to their creations). The results are variegated and most lived up to the essence of the assignment. It was great to see the kids utilize the many features of the software to suit their preferences -- I hear that some of the StuCrew used it for a science project as well.
On Friday, Mrs. Leftwich conducted a great lesson for the StuCrew which taught about theme, using a great library of children's books and her immense wealth of knowledge. I'm hoping to take a stab at that same lesson next week for my homeroom class.
Last item (for ELA)... please, if you haven't already, take a look at the list of books for November-December LitCircles, and try to get a copy of the book (friend, library, store, download).
Science: Thanks to Mrs. Stuart, the trip to the "Islamic Science Revisited" exhibit at TheTech was the highlight of the week. The kids had a big packet to complete, but for most, that didn't prevent them from finding things of personal interest to explore and share with each other. It amazes me how places like TheTech and the Exploratorium make scientific concepts understandable by providing interactive experiences and concise explanations... makes my job much more interesting and effective.
Since many science periods lately have been used for social studies activities (trip-prep), it is fortunate that the current unit (chapters 2, 3, and 4) is not a tough one. The test for unit 4 is on Monday (nudge nudge) and then we'll be moving on to the next topic of energy, work, and machines. For some students (by proposal and approval), this unit will involve some independent construction and/or research projects.