Post date: Jan 08, 2012 8:54:49 PM
Happy New Year!
Friday was my 52nd bday and my wonder-family planned a great day & evening for/with me, so I didn't get a chance to do my weekly recap email. It was a whopper of a 4-day week with lots to report, but I'll try to keep it short. ;)
English:
Three big things happened this week. First, the kids organized all of their papers for the year so far into categories (vocab, grammar, read-respond, and compositions) with binders and tabs. It was nice to put some order to the collection of work and especially nice to hear some kids reflect on how much they've done. I even heard at least one kid's comments about how much better their writing has gotten lately.
The second task of the week was the introduction to and overview of the next book genre -- utopian/dystopian societies. Surprisingly few students have read many of the books listed (including myself) so on Wednesday I asked some other students and my well-read daughter, Abbi, to give an overview of about half of them. I had intended to have the kids select their books on Friday so that they would have the weekend to borrow/purchase their books, but we didn't get to it. Despite my fear that I might put some families under a bit of inconvenience/stress, I am hoping that you might be willing to go on a bit of a book hunt on Monday afternoon/evening after they make their choices during class Monday.
The final thing that I'd like to mention about ELA are the 3i speeches. Khoi, Jenna, and Leon were brave enough to be first to present their speeches and they set the bar high. Great topics and well presented, to a receptive audience -- fantastic start!
Science:
This week was a fuzzy junction between unit 4 on energy and unit 5 on elements. On Monday, I wrote on the whiteboard the list of scores on the chapter 10 tests and it was clear that there were two clusters.-- those that read, understood, and studied the material, and those (few) that hadn't. Most in the latter group chose to use the QAR process to regain some of the points that they lost. As we moved into unit 5 on Atoms, Elements and the Periodic Table, things will get a bit tougher. Visualizing atomic structure is quite a challenge but a basis for understanding the rest of the topics of chemistry. The school-wide science fair and element fashion show are coming up soon as well.
On Thursday and Friday the kids got quite interested in building this mini-stove and we have had about 6 work very well so far. Some kids also read a Kids Discover issue on atoms and wrote questions for each other. Some students have also done very well creating the section posters as table groups.
I posed a few challenges to the class and encouraged kids to explore them: first, make or draw a model that gives an understanding and appreciation of the structure of the atom; second, find out how much money it costs to make a pound of ice.
Other Things:
An impromptu class discussion dominated one class period on Wednesday. I aired some issues that have been festering inside me about the climate of the class environment and the default towards disengagement and negativity. Much to my relief, some others in the room had been sensing the same tension and so once the ice was broken, the discussion was honest and involves almost everyone. Things at DCS never cease to surprise and thrill me, and the results of this discussion were no exception -- the two days following the discussion were full of much more "heart" and engagement. The shared warmth was tangible.
The waterfall area received some improvement this week as well. Patrick, the ever-generous manager at Peninsula Building Materials in Santa Clara donated another 1.5 tons of rocks, and Lisa Cundal used her mighty red truck to move them to the alley on Wednesday. Some hard-working kids and I used those rocks to create a border and planting bed on either side of the waterfall. Thanks also to the three parents who donated bags of planting mix and I'm hoping that more bags arrive next week. :)
Lastly, grades. The semester ends on the 20th and the gradebook closes to any late/missing/xc work on this Wednesday. Their grades are many months in the making and so making significant changes at this point is unlikely.
As always, I'd love to hear from you (parents and students) about any thoughts, ideas, or issues.
Chris