Dec 14th
Math Students just finished a test on 'Rates' on Friday. Monday will be
spent going over the test results. Students should see that their mistakes are
clear signs of where they may need to adjust their 'personal knowledge'(the
knowledge they actually carry in their brain cells, not the knowledge I am
telling them to put in their brain cells)Thus, if they had some mistakes with
rounding decimals, they should examine what they did wrong so that they can
adjust their personal knowledge to round decimals correctly. One reason why I
spend the a day going over the test and talking about how each problem should
be solved.
We are going back to math problems involving algebraic expressions and
equations(the math we were doing before we started studying 'rates' for the
'Exhibition'.
Students will have a little math do do over break so that their 'numeracy'is
not lost. Numeracy refers to the ability to do mathematical operations and see
the relationship between numbers.
Science
Students are wrapping up the study of the Moon this week. We will be talking
about tides(students already have some literature to read about tides).
Students should have completed the moon phase dial and are presently filling
out a table on moon phases.(Due Tuesday)
Students main science work over break will involve writing a second draft on
their whirlpool topic. First draft is due Wednesday the 16th. Students have a
description of what the four paragraphs should contain in the 1st
draft.Students can't wait till Wednesday to tell me they couldn't find enough
information on their topic. Students have known their topic choice for three
weeks already.Some students chose not to turn in any information on their
whirlpool choice a weeek ago when I asked to see what they had accumulated
already in their information search.
November 28th
Unfortunately only three class days this coming week. That means four
consecutive weeks that students have not had five consecutive days of teacher
led classes. Students need to use their self discipline to spend some time
each day to do math and science work. I still have students who do not do any
math work outside the classroom. As a result they are behind in the
lessons.All students have their math and science notebooks in their
possession. They need to use them to take notes that they can refer to. I will
collect those notebooks this Wednesday to see how well students are using
those notebooks.
Math
This Wednesday Dec 2nd is the last day to get full credit for Lessons 8 thru
11. Friday is a grading day.Most students should be working on 'Measurement
Lesson 1' and 'Rate Conversions Lesson 5'. My advanced students are back to
working on algebraic language packets.
Science
Students will be working in the lab on Moon Phases this week. Students need
to continue to search for info on their whirlpools. Students who think they
can't find information on their whirlpool need to talk to me.
November 20th
Students are suppose to bring home a HOMEWORK POLICY for parents to read and
sign this weekend. Students need to bring this form back signed on Monday.
Math - Students need to continue to do work in their math packets. All my math
students have math to do this weekend.
Science- Students now have their selected 'WHirlpool' to research. Students
need to start searching for information, maps, images pertaining to their
whirlpool. The selected whirlpools for the most part are tied into tides and
thus our study of the Moon will include whirlpools.Students can start taking
notes and compiling information that eventually will lead to them writing a
paper and possibly doing a presentation on their whirlpool.We will continue
our study of the moon phases and students should be encouraged to look for the
moon in the evening and think about the phase they are presently seeing. In
their heads they should be questioning how the position of the Moon, Earth,
and Sun create the phase they are observing. Take note of the time and
position of the Moon in the night sky.(Is it in the East, West or directly
overhead.)New Moon was the 16th of November!!
