Dear parents and students,
Are you concerned about your child’s academic progress?
Maybe even frustrated, now knowing what to do? Don’t drop that lump of coal in
the stocking! Send me an email and we can either meet casually or conduct a
thorough Student Study Team to address the issues. Student tend to get serious
about meetings attended by all the teachers and parents.
6th History
The history test indicated that some students are learning
that they need to study, that “learning” is a task that student and teacher
share. However, this idea is difficult for some to grasp and there were some
disappointed students. Any student with less than a C must retake the test
until they get a C. This holds the student responsible. There will be almost no
history this week because I want to make sure the students do well on Friday’s
science test and my two absences last week put us behind. Since we are ahead in
history, the switch works nicely.
6th Science
We took virtual field trips and conducted labs, then wrote
plate tectonics theories. This is a great way of teaching the nature of science
(one of the required state standards) but not the best way of teaching this
plate tectonics to a 6th grader. We have been going back over the
field trips with me directly teaching. We finish this week and review as well.
7th Science
We continue learning about the nature of science, focusing
on theories.
8th Science
The students have had 7 class periods with nothing to do
but construct layers and they have three more this week. All layers are due
on Thursday. No layers may be
made after 12/17 for any reason. However,
the layers will of course be attached together.
I will spend Thursday and possibly Friday discussing how
to attach layers. It would be wise for student to start attaching layers on
Thursday night, so they can ask questions on Friday. Students have invented
every attachment method and I feel this is the greatest area for innovation in
2009. Layer attachment is both slow and fast. Since toothpicks only hold when
horizontal, one can typically only place a few before needing to dry. Then the
bridge is rotated, creating new horizontal areas for gluing. I will show all of
this to the students. The bottom line is that it takes only a few minutes a
day, but many days, to attach layers. No class time will be given for this
because home is a safer environment for this process.
I created a link to a site that hosts a presentation the
class viewed on attaching layers. You can download a pdf or Powerpoint
formatted version.
http://web.me.com/natefair/Science/TP_Bridges_Construction.html
- Mr. Fairchild