Post date: Feb 28, 2015 12:28:31 AM
Good Evening and Happy Friday Room 25 Families,
This week went by fairly quickly and things are flowing smoothly. I'm enjoying classroom and field time and am also looking forward to the return of the plentiful HAM (homeroom all morning) days that will comprise our days until graduation.
Instead of the usual "recap and preview" format I think that I will just cover each subject, including past, current, and projected work.
Social Studies: As you may have heard, during the Age of Sail trip, as I was hoisted a few leagues above deck, the kids negotiated their way out of the weekly mandatory current events assignment. As a compromise, I agreed that those assignments count as extra credit. Since then, a few kids have continued to do those assignments (with you parents, I assume) and each of those kids is now at an A+ level in the gradebook. If you have any pull with your kids, please urge them to do the same; those current events assignments and discussions have great value -- both in content and in grade calculation. This week, during class, the kids and I had some great discussions about current issues in (and regarding) the Middle East. We watched parts of a PBS video called "Arab Spring" which explained some causes for economic issues/tensions in the area, and the kids then had to do some research into other areas such as religion, history, military, and culture.
English: On and off over the past months, workshift parents and I have been reading and scoring the students' vocabulary collections. Finally, on Tuesday I handed them back and explained the scoring. The scores were for the most part low, but the process was not unfair or unpredictable. To temper the effect on a gradebook that has only a few points this early in the semester, I used a .5 multiplier for the assignment. Another thing passed that I scored and returned was the "Gift I Gave" essay that the kids wrote in January. Those that turned them told their stories well and earned full credit. For reasons similar to above, I used a 1.5 multiplier for that assignment.
The other writing assignment that we dealt with this week was a writing sample that all middle schoolers were to write (narrative about a memorable field trip). I am looking forward to reading those because the topic is important to me, and also because I am relieved of the obligation to add some subjective score to student writing. Speaking of which, I'm looking forward to meeting author Doug Wilhelm on Tuesday and watching him interact with the students about writing, creativity, and personal messages. The last ELA-ish issue is the upcoming speaking sessions. This page of my site explains more.
Science: The students' science demonstrations ended today with a strong finish. The two biggies in this science this week are the launch of the Science Expo and our trip to the Exploratorium. The Science Expo is old-hat for 8th graders, but this year we added a "Product Design and Prototype" option that seems to be getting some traction. Additionally, I challenged the kids to take on a project that they hadn't done before. A preliminary survey indicates that in our class we will have about 5 kids tackling each of the 5 options, which I think is great. Please ask your kid about their proposed project, ask as many details as comfortable, and offer assistance when asked. The trip to the Exploratorium as an amazing experience. That place has the most effective interactive exhibits that I can imagine, and the kids and parents and teachers all kept hands and minds engaged for the hours that we were there and probably could have used much more. Over the weekend, the kids have to enter one of their write-ups into a group form (results).
March 5 & 6: Diversity Conference
March 6: Laps for Learning
March 10: Spring Portraits
March 13: No school for kids
March 27: Middle School Dance
April 1-3: Science Fair
April 6-10: Conferences
April 14-18: Spring break
April 28: Levi Stadium Tour
May 6: Courthouse
May 9: Spring Auction
May 15: No school for kids
May 29: Middle school dance
June 3 to 5: Rafting the South Fork American River
June 12: Field Day
June 18: Last day of school
June 19: Staff work day