Good morning, all!
Today we started potential and kinetic energy. We are taking notes from the board and will look at some examples over the next few days. There are three (3) vocabulary words that go with this topic. They are energy, potential energy, and kinetic energy. We wrote them down today and their definitions. We, also, discussed what they mean. We are not going to be using the word 'stored' when talking about potential energy anymore because the state does not want us to. They say it is misleading. We will be referring to an objects position as potential energy. I have a short quiz scheduled for Friday, since we are going to be working on energy projects. The projects will be interrupted on Monday, however; for my student teacher to begin her part. She is going to teach them about atoms. Atoms are part of our standards, too, so we are not getting away from what the state wants us to know. I will be picking up with the energy projects, when her time with us is complete. We will review the information before we continue with the projects. The quiz Friday will have the vocabulary words and questions from the notes we take in class. If you have any questions, please let me know. Have a super week!!!
Monday, October 29, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Hello!
This week we are looking at soils. I put some notes on the board for the students to copy and we discussed them as they were copying them. They were, also, given a packet of information on soil formation, soil types, and living soil. We discussed soil formation and they highlighted or underlined the parts that were needed, then we discussed the living soil and underlined and highlighted parts of it, too. I still have one more packet to give them. This packet is basically the same information, just written in another way. We will go over and discuss it, too. I have two activities for the students to complete. The first one will be turned in to me and the second one will be LAB #1 and kept in their folders. I have a test over soil scheduled for Friday, but if we need more time, we will take it on Monday. The students will need to study their notes, and both packets of information I give them for the test. The state standards for soil are soil formation, the horizons and characteristics of those horizons, so that is what they will be tested over. If you have any questions, please let me know. Have a great week!
This week we are looking at soils. I put some notes on the board for the students to copy and we discussed them as they were copying them. They were, also, given a packet of information on soil formation, soil types, and living soil. We discussed soil formation and they highlighted or underlined the parts that were needed, then we discussed the living soil and underlined and highlighted parts of it, too. I still have one more packet to give them. This packet is basically the same information, just written in another way. We will go over and discuss it, too. I have two activities for the students to complete. The first one will be turned in to me and the second one will be LAB #1 and kept in their folders. I have a test over soil scheduled for Friday, but if we need more time, we will take it on Monday. The students will need to study their notes, and both packets of information I give them for the test. The state standards for soil are soil formation, the horizons and characteristics of those horizons, so that is what they will be tested over. If you have any questions, please let me know. Have a great week!
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Wednesday, October 17
Hello, Everyone!!!
Well, we survived our trip to Bob Evans Farm Festival and did not loose one student! The kids talked about what a great time they had there. This is always an awesome trip for them. I know I have a good time hearing about all the activities they participated in and all the food they ate!!! I finally got all the tests from last week graded and in the computer, but I am still working on the projects. I will have to take those home in order to get those finished. Each student was graded on their part only, so I am grading 110+ individual projects.
Oh, we have a student teacher in our room for the next eight (8) weeks. Her name is Kelsey McFarland. She is very excited to be here after spending her first eight (8) weeks at Northwest in 8th grade language arts. She will start taking over the during next week.
We are going to begin our look at soil tomorrow - Thursday. There is nothing in our one textbook and only one page in the other, and it does not say very much. So, I had to go to the internet to find everything I needed for the students. I got the standard from the state and found the information I needed. Some things I will be able to give the students copies of and the rest they will have to copy from the board. I found one activity that they can do, as well. We will be working on soil the rest of this week and into next week.
Grade cards will be out next Thurday with conferences next Thursday evening from 4-7 pm. It is so hard to believe that our first quarter is already over! Well, have a great weekend and I will talk to you next week!!
Well, we survived our trip to Bob Evans Farm Festival and did not loose one student! The kids talked about what a great time they had there. This is always an awesome trip for them. I know I have a good time hearing about all the activities they participated in and all the food they ate!!! I finally got all the tests from last week graded and in the computer, but I am still working on the projects. I will have to take those home in order to get those finished. Each student was graded on their part only, so I am grading 110+ individual projects.
Oh, we have a student teacher in our room for the next eight (8) weeks. Her name is Kelsey McFarland. She is very excited to be here after spending her first eight (8) weeks at Northwest in 8th grade language arts. She will start taking over the during next week.
We are going to begin our look at soil tomorrow - Thursday. There is nothing in our one textbook and only one page in the other, and it does not say very much. So, I had to go to the internet to find everything I needed for the students. I got the standard from the state and found the information I needed. Some things I will be able to give the students copies of and the rest they will have to copy from the board. I found one activity that they can do, as well. We will be working on soil the rest of this week and into next week.
Grade cards will be out next Thurday with conferences next Thursday evening from 4-7 pm. It is so hard to believe that our first quarter is already over! Well, have a great weekend and I will talk to you next week!!
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Thursday, October, 11
Hello, to all!!!
Today is test day! We are testing over rocks and minerals. We have spent the week going over things to prepare for the test. I hope everyone studied!!! :) Tomorrow is our big field trip to Bob Evans Farm Festival. I am reminding everyone today to dress for the weather!!! We are not going to the beach, so I should not see flip-flops and tank tops. It is going to be cool, so they will need a jacket. They can tie it around them, if they get warm. The entire festival is outside and we need to make sure we are ready for it. The students will get their $3 coupon towards food, when they get there. I am looking for a very good day!!! The kids always have such a good time and learn so many cool things about our Appalachian heritage. We will be getting a student teacher on Monday. She will be here for eight (8) weeks. Her name is Kelsey McFarland. She will take over after about a week. There is still one more part of rocks and minerals that I need to cover, so she may have to finish that and then she will look at the standards and decide what she wants to cover with them. I am looking for a very good experience with her and the students. She loves using technology as much as I do!!! I am still working on grading the presentations from last week. Please be patient with me on this. It takes so much longer to grade those than a normal assignment. Since I am grading each student on just their part, it is like I am grading over 100 individual projects. The ones I do have completed are in the computer. I am putting the extra credit they earned on the project in with their grade, so it is already figured in for you. Well, I have projects and tests to grade, so I need to go. Have a great weekend. Talk to you then!!!
Today is test day! We are testing over rocks and minerals. We have spent the week going over things to prepare for the test. I hope everyone studied!!! :) Tomorrow is our big field trip to Bob Evans Farm Festival. I am reminding everyone today to dress for the weather!!! We are not going to the beach, so I should not see flip-flops and tank tops. It is going to be cool, so they will need a jacket. They can tie it around them, if they get warm. The entire festival is outside and we need to make sure we are ready for it. The students will get their $3 coupon towards food, when they get there. I am looking for a very good day!!! The kids always have such a good time and learn so many cool things about our Appalachian heritage. We will be getting a student teacher on Monday. She will be here for eight (8) weeks. Her name is Kelsey McFarland. She will take over after about a week. There is still one more part of rocks and minerals that I need to cover, so she may have to finish that and then she will look at the standards and decide what she wants to cover with them. I am looking for a very good experience with her and the students. She loves using technology as much as I do!!! I am still working on grading the presentations from last week. Please be patient with me on this. It takes so much longer to grade those than a normal assignment. Since I am grading each student on just their part, it is like I am grading over 100 individual projects. The ones I do have completed are in the computer. I am putting the extra credit they earned on the project in with their grade, so it is already figured in for you. Well, I have projects and tests to grade, so I need to go. Have a great weekend. Talk to you then!!!
Friday, October 5, 2012
Friday, October 5
Hello to Friday!
Just an update on our test next Thursday. We have been going over the LABs we completed and the Study Island questions. I have, also, included the questions the students answered from the textbook. We will be going over those today and Monday. I wanted to make sure that I let you know about those, so that you could make sure your child used those to study with, too. Make sure your child reviews their notes on minerals, too, because I want to include questions on minerals. The test I gave on minerals ended up not being very good, so the students will have another chance.
The students completed their oral presentations on the rocks/minerals projects. Overall, the projects were pretty good. Most of the students followed the directions that were given to them. The biggest problem we had was not answering the questions and following the directions. For example, the students were told to put their initials or name at the end of what they typed. I told them they could put their initials or name at the beginning, if they wanted. I just wanted their name or initials by what they typed on the wiki page. I had several students who didn't put anything by what they typed in and I had to wait until the presentation to see who typed what. I did have some very good images and video clips put on the pages, though. The students received extra credit for putting these on there. For the next project, we will be using Photo story. This program allows students to record their voices, instead of typing their information. It is a very cool tool!! Have a great weekend!!!
Just an update on our test next Thursday. We have been going over the LABs we completed and the Study Island questions. I have, also, included the questions the students answered from the textbook. We will be going over those today and Monday. I wanted to make sure that I let you know about those, so that you could make sure your child used those to study with, too. Make sure your child reviews their notes on minerals, too, because I want to include questions on minerals. The test I gave on minerals ended up not being very good, so the students will have another chance.
The students completed their oral presentations on the rocks/minerals projects. Overall, the projects were pretty good. Most of the students followed the directions that were given to them. The biggest problem we had was not answering the questions and following the directions. For example, the students were told to put their initials or name at the end of what they typed. I told them they could put their initials or name at the beginning, if they wanted. I just wanted their name or initials by what they typed on the wiki page. I had several students who didn't put anything by what they typed in and I had to wait until the presentation to see who typed what. I did have some very good images and video clips put on the pages, though. The students received extra credit for putting these on there. For the next project, we will be using Photo story. This program allows students to record their voices, instead of typing their information. It is a very cool tool!! Have a great weekend!!!
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Tuesday, October 2
Wow! Can you believe it is October already? Time is flying by so fast. This week we are going to finish up our rocks and minerals projects and the worksheets we started last week. I have an internet rock scavenger hunt that the students will be finishing up, as well. Some of my interim reports will be late because I am getting these papers completed and in the computer. Please, bear with me on this. I only have so many computers and we are working on two computer assignments. Most of the projects are complete, so oral presentations will take place Thursday and Friday of this week. This way, we can do any last minute tweaking today and tomorrow. We have some activity sheets to discuss tomorrow, too. I have given the students a packet of questions from Study Island that I want to go over with them and discuss. These would be really good for them to use, when they study for the test over rocks and minerals. This test will be next week. I do not like giving my tests or quizzes on Friday, because math and language arts always have tests on that day, so my test over rocks and minerals will be on Thursday. Students can start studying now by using the notes we have already taken. After we go over and discuss the LAB activity sheets they have been working on, they can use those, too, to study from. Don't forget the Study Island packet of questions. Next week, we are going to be looking at more Smart board lessons, so we may have more notes to add to what we already have and can study those, too. I can't wait to see the rocks and minerals projects! I know the students were very excited to use a new computer tool and put their information on there. I hope you have had the opportunity to get on the wiki and take a look. If you need anything, please let me know. Have a great week!
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