Dear parents and students,
Canned Food Drive
As the holidays approach, my personal goal is to make it
less about consumerism and more about caring for people. On the same day my
wife and I independently planned to help some folks we know that are in need. I
invite you to join me by donating canned food for people who would consider a
can of any kind a holiday feast. We only have about 50 cans in my room so far.
With over 20 students we ought to be able to get 200. Please help.
6th Grade Camp
I’ve spent some time contemplating a 6th grade
trip for 2010. I visited sites, reviewed your surveys, calculated costs, and
considered the education of your children. For this year I would like take a 2
night trip to Camp Discovery on the Sacramento River near Red Bluff. I feel
this best meets the many needs of the students and their families. An overnight
trip offers unique bonding experiences for the kids and the outdoor lab is
superior to the limitations of my four walls. I had thought we would not be
taking a trip at all, so this is a wonderful and unexpected opportunity! We
have reserved May 18th, 19th, and 20th. The cost to each family should be
minimal, perhaps as little as $10 for the 3 days. I will schedule an informational meeting after the holidays.
6th History
We are exploring ancient India through presentations, text,
and projects. My goal in this unit as in all of my history instruction is
two-fold: first, that the students learn the basic state-required content, and
second that the students get a
feeling for the many incredible cultures around the world. We each choose our
path, but understanding the paths of others opens hearts and minds.
6th Science
“Each year a couple of students do a nice job on this
project, but do not meet the requirements and up very sad with a low grade.
It’s especially important to use the 14 vocabulary words correctly!”
Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened to many
students. They can help balance out disappointing brochure scores by doing well
on the river test on Tuesday.
7th and 8th Science
The new trimester begins with a project, due Monday,
November 11th. (see the link on this page). The most difficult part for most
students is showing knowledge of the time period (she can choose one of the
five periods we have been learning about. each time period has its own section
in her time travel journal) AND making it a real story. I often get stories
that are fun to read, but have little content value from the time period. I
also get "stories" that are more like reports and have no plot or excitement.
While either project might earn a student a C for trying, the A papers will be
both educational and entertaining. I have pasted a portion of a paper that does
this. She did several pages like this and included some evolution as well.
We had been traveling for a long time now and the
water was starting to get colder. As we swam, we told stories of what may have
happened to the others, stuff above the water, and what happened to the sea
scorpion. Then one day when I had finished telling a story on what was above
the water, my friend asked if it was true. I told her that I didn’t know, but I
would go and see. When I got close to the top I began to take in big breaths.
When I reached the surface I took one deep breath and pushed my head above the
water. To my surprise there were no plants, animals, or any life at all. There
were big mounds of land that had smoke coming out of the tips and the sky was
dark and cloudy. I was running out of breath so I had to go back into the
water. When I got down to where my friend was, I told her everything that I
saw. She wanted to see for herself so she started to go up but I stopped her
because I just saw something move beyond the mossy rocks, We stayed there for a
while when a black sea scorpion that had a lot of scars came out of the
shadows. When we saw it, we started to swim away, but it was coming closer. We
saw some sea sponges near us, so we swam into those, hoping that it didn’t see
us go into it. The sea scorpion was coming closer and closer but then another
sea scorpion came into view. The one with the scars went to see it and that
gave us a chance to escape them.