Well, I did get the reproduction and heredity terms on the home page for those students who need them. You can get to them by clicking on the word "Reproduction" at the top of the home page. I hate that I could not get the pictures that were on the slides at school on here, but at least they will have the terms and definitions. We started looking at a couple of Smart board activities dealing with heredity and reproduction. The students really liked it. The second one is on Gregor Mendel, who is considered the father of genetics.
Today, we got term #20 from the main vocabulary list. There will be a quiz over terms 16-20 on Tuesday of next week. I have told the students and it is written on the little white board in my room. I hope everyone studies. Well, I guess that is all I have for right now. I will let you know of the next project we have.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011
Hello, everyone!!!
I am trying to put the terms for reproduction and heredity on here, but it is not working out. So, I have to do it the old-fashioned way. I will be typing them on a separate page and putting that page at the top. Now, there will not be the pictures that go along with the terms, like the students saw in class, but at least the definitions will be there, in case they loose them. I have a couple of Smart board activities for the students to complete and then a couple of hands-on activities, too. I hope that they enjoy them, while they learn about reproduction and heredity. I hope to have the terms on here this evening, but I have a college assignment due, too, so it may be tomorrow. Just to keep you up to date on my college work, this is my last class!! There are about five weeks left and then I am done! I will have my second master's degree all finished. It has been a long 20 months, but I feel that I have learned so much about using technology in the classroom. I hope your children have as much fun with the technology as I do. Talk to you soon.
I am trying to put the terms for reproduction and heredity on here, but it is not working out. So, I have to do it the old-fashioned way. I will be typing them on a separate page and putting that page at the top. Now, there will not be the pictures that go along with the terms, like the students saw in class, but at least the definitions will be there, in case they loose them. I have a couple of Smart board activities for the students to complete and then a couple of hands-on activities, too. I hope that they enjoy them, while they learn about reproduction and heredity. I hope to have the terms on here this evening, but I have a college assignment due, too, so it may be tomorrow. Just to keep you up to date on my college work, this is my last class!! There are about five weeks left and then I am done! I will have my second master's degree all finished. It has been a long 20 months, but I feel that I have learned so much about using technology in the classroom. I hope your children have as much fun with the technology as I do. Talk to you soon.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Review for 2nd Quarterly Assessment
Hello All!
Here are the things we went over in class to review for the 2nd quarterly assessment test. Since the weather kept us out of school on Friday, the test will be tomorrow (Monday). The kids were told this on Thursday. Here are the items we reviewed:
Plant/Animal cells: plant cells have a cell wall, larger vacuole, and chloroplasts.
Body systems: the cells are organized in this manner....cell->tissue->organ->organ systems
Biotic - living parts
Abiotic - nonliving parts
Food Chains - Producer --> Primary Consumer --> Secondary Consumer --> Decomposer
An example is plant --> mouse --> snake --> hawk (the state of Ohio loves this one even though there is no decomposer in it).
Next, we drew an energy pyramid and put these in it. The plant is on the bottom, then mouse, then snake and hawk is at the top. Sorry I can't put the image on here.
Scientific method - hypothesis is an educated guess about the answer to your question.
conclusion is the answer to your question and includes whether your hypothesis is right or wrong. You are allowed to be wrong.
If you want to check someone's project for accuracy and see if they are right, then all you need to do is do that project for yourself, following the exact same procedure that the person followed. If you really want to be sure, then have several people complete the project and see if all of you get the same results.
I hope this helps you study for the assessment. There will not be many questions on it, since it only covers what we looked at this quarter. Good luck!
Here are the things we went over in class to review for the 2nd quarterly assessment test. Since the weather kept us out of school on Friday, the test will be tomorrow (Monday). The kids were told this on Thursday. Here are the items we reviewed:
Plant/Animal cells: plant cells have a cell wall, larger vacuole, and chloroplasts.
Body systems: the cells are organized in this manner....cell->tissue->organ->organ systems
Biotic - living parts
Abiotic - nonliving parts
Food Chains - Producer --> Primary Consumer --> Secondary Consumer --> Decomposer
An example is plant --> mouse --> snake --> hawk (the state of Ohio loves this one even though there is no decomposer in it).
Next, we drew an energy pyramid and put these in it. The plant is on the bottom, then mouse, then snake and hawk is at the top. Sorry I can't put the image on here.
Scientific method - hypothesis is an educated guess about the answer to your question.
conclusion is the answer to your question and includes whether your hypothesis is right or wrong. You are allowed to be wrong.
If you want to check someone's project for accuracy and see if they are right, then all you need to do is do that project for yourself, following the exact same procedure that the person followed. If you really want to be sure, then have several people complete the project and see if all of you get the same results.
I hope this helps you study for the assessment. There will not be many questions on it, since it only covers what we looked at this quarter. Good luck!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Monday - Jan. 10
Hello! Today we are going to start finishing up the biome posters that the kids were working on while I was gone. There is just one part left - symbiotic relationships. I went over the types using a Power Point presentation with the kids, so we could discuss what each type meant. I was hoping to cut down on research time, as well. We only have this week to complete these posters. Here are the four terms we looked at:
predator/prey - the organism that gets eaten is called the prey. The organism that eats the
prey is called the predator.
mutualism - a symbiotic relationship in which both organisms benefit.
commensalism - a symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits and the other is
unaffected.
parasitism - a symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits while the other is harmed.
The students picked one of these relationships and looked up an example from their biome. They will be drawing that example on their poster. Hopefully, the weather will hold out and we can get these finished by Thursday.
We are going to be starting up the vocabulary next week. We will be starting with number 16. It has been several weeks since we looked at that list. There are 32 terms altogether. Don't forget that the list is on this blog, in case your child has lost it. If you need anything, please ask me.
predator/prey - the organism that gets eaten is called the prey. The organism that eats the
prey is called the predator.
mutualism - a symbiotic relationship in which both organisms benefit.
commensalism - a symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits and the other is
unaffected.
parasitism - a symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits while the other is harmed.
The students picked one of these relationships and looked up an example from their biome. They will be drawing that example on their poster. Hopefully, the weather will hold out and we can get these finished by Thursday.
We are going to be starting up the vocabulary next week. We will be starting with number 16. It has been several weeks since we looked at that list. There are 32 terms altogether. Don't forget that the list is on this blog, in case your child has lost it. If you need anything, please ask me.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Happy New Year!
Hello to all of you!
I hope that you had a wonderful Holiday! I am so very sorry that I have not been on here to let you know what is going on, but I was having a hard time typing after my elbow surgery. I am back at school, now, and typing is much easier. The students and I have decided that they will finish up the big science projects this week and then the biome posters next week. I gave them the sheet that tells them what they need to have for the oral presentation on their projects yesterday and they spent today rehearsing. Don't forget that there is extra credit that goes along with these projects, if the students receives an A, B, or C on their presentation. I will get back in the swing of posting on here, now that I am back. Again, I apologize for being gone so long, but appreciate your understanding. Talk to you soon!
I hope that you had a wonderful Holiday! I am so very sorry that I have not been on here to let you know what is going on, but I was having a hard time typing after my elbow surgery. I am back at school, now, and typing is much easier. The students and I have decided that they will finish up the big science projects this week and then the biome posters next week. I gave them the sheet that tells them what they need to have for the oral presentation on their projects yesterday and they spent today rehearsing. Don't forget that there is extra credit that goes along with these projects, if the students receives an A, B, or C on their presentation. I will get back in the swing of posting on here, now that I am back. Again, I apologize for being gone so long, but appreciate your understanding. Talk to you soon!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Update and Parent/Teacher Conferences
Hello All!
Today we finished up the presentations of the body systems. For the most part, they were pretty good. We still need to work on summarizing the information we gather before we put it in our wiki. The students kept copying and pasting things right from the internet. They are not allowed to do this. We talked about this so much before they got started because it is called plagiarism and will get them into serious trouble. We looked at the tool bar on the wiki and discovered that there is no spell check or grammar check button to hit, so they need to double and triple check their spelling and grammar, too. I think the next time we use the wikis, they will be so much more complete.
After these were completed, we began our look at the last system we need to cover. It is the reproductive system. This is a very touchy subject because some are afraid that it will end up being a sex education class, but let me assure you that it is not. The state of Ohio wants the 6th graders to look at this system as the reason why we continue to have all these different species on the planet. If there were no reproductive systems, then all life on this planet would stop. I am not the "how to" class, but the "why" class. We will go right into genetics from here. I feel that we had a very good class discussion today. I put on the board the things that the kids know. Some things were wrong, so I had the opportunity to make the information correct. My class makes next year's health class much easier.
I need to let all of you know that I will not be at school for conferences. I am having surgery on my arm Thursday and will be out until after Thanksgiving. I will be happy to meet with you after the holiday, if you would like to do so. My prep time is during 2nd period. The time of that period is 8:40-9:25. You can call me after we come back, during that time, and we can set up a day for you to come in. I can, also, talk to you through email. My email address is tphipps@minfordfalcons.net. I check it periodically throughout the day and try to reply that day, but may not get to until my prep the next day. I can do phone conferences, too, during that same 2nd period prep time. I am so sorry for this inconvenience, but I hope you understand. The students have watched me hold and rub my elbow for a long time now, and I have the chance to get it fixed permanently.
I hope everyone has a very wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!!! The students will be working on their big projects during class, while I am gone. They can bring in their backboards and get them all done, work on their reports, or work on their experiments and demonstrations. The computers will be there for them to use. Everything will be completed by Tuesday, November 30. Oral presentations will begin on Wednesday, December 1. Talk to you after the holiday. Try not to eat too much!!!! ha! ha!
Today we finished up the presentations of the body systems. For the most part, they were pretty good. We still need to work on summarizing the information we gather before we put it in our wiki. The students kept copying and pasting things right from the internet. They are not allowed to do this. We talked about this so much before they got started because it is called plagiarism and will get them into serious trouble. We looked at the tool bar on the wiki and discovered that there is no spell check or grammar check button to hit, so they need to double and triple check their spelling and grammar, too. I think the next time we use the wikis, they will be so much more complete.
After these were completed, we began our look at the last system we need to cover. It is the reproductive system. This is a very touchy subject because some are afraid that it will end up being a sex education class, but let me assure you that it is not. The state of Ohio wants the 6th graders to look at this system as the reason why we continue to have all these different species on the planet. If there were no reproductive systems, then all life on this planet would stop. I am not the "how to" class, but the "why" class. We will go right into genetics from here. I feel that we had a very good class discussion today. I put on the board the things that the kids know. Some things were wrong, so I had the opportunity to make the information correct. My class makes next year's health class much easier.
I need to let all of you know that I will not be at school for conferences. I am having surgery on my arm Thursday and will be out until after Thanksgiving. I will be happy to meet with you after the holiday, if you would like to do so. My prep time is during 2nd period. The time of that period is 8:40-9:25. You can call me after we come back, during that time, and we can set up a day for you to come in. I can, also, talk to you through email. My email address is tphipps@minfordfalcons.net. I check it periodically throughout the day and try to reply that day, but may not get to until my prep the next day. I can do phone conferences, too, during that same 2nd period prep time. I am so sorry for this inconvenience, but I hope you understand. The students have watched me hold and rub my elbow for a long time now, and I have the chance to get it fixed permanently.
I hope everyone has a very wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!!! The students will be working on their big projects during class, while I am gone. They can bring in their backboards and get them all done, work on their reports, or work on their experiments and demonstrations. The computers will be there for them to use. Everything will be completed by Tuesday, November 30. Oral presentations will begin on Wednesday, December 1. Talk to you after the holiday. Try not to eat too much!!!! ha! ha!
Friday, November 12, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Hello, Everyone!! Today was a busy day. We had our Veteran's Day assembly, so I did not get to see 6th or 7th periods. The students worked on their big projects today. These are due on Novembe 30th. We will be having the oral presentations over the body systems projects starting on Monday. I am reallly looking forward to those. Also today, we went over how to do the bibliography for their reports. I put the information on the Smart board, but I wanted to put it on here, too, so that you would have it and the students would have it at home. I am going to get them copies of it next week. Here is what I wrote for them. Pretty much all of their research came from the internet, so I showed them the reference for an interent article. They need to have these parts:
1. Author's name
2. Date of publication
3. Title of article
4. Retrieved month, day, year
5. URL address
I then wrote down an example for them, so they could see what one looked like. The example I gave them was this one:
Dove, R. (1998). Lady freedom among us. Retrieved June 19, 1998 from
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/.
I pointed out to them that they use the authors last name and first initial. The year of publication is put in parenthesis followed by a period. The letter of the first word in the title is the only one that is capitalized. The others are left in lower case. When they need to put the rest of the reference on a second or third line, then those lines are indented 5 spaces. I hope this helps you, if you decide to work on your bibliography this weekend. If you need anything else, please let me know. They will only have a few more days to work on their projects in school. They are allowed to bring backboards to school and work on them there, too. Oral presentations of these projects begin December 1. Have a great weekend, everyone!!!!
1. Author's name
2. Date of publication
3. Title of article
4. Retrieved month, day, year
5. URL address
I then wrote down an example for them, so they could see what one looked like. The example I gave them was this one:
Dove, R. (1998). Lady freedom among us. Retrieved June 19, 1998 from
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/.
I pointed out to them that they use the authors last name and first initial. The year of publication is put in parenthesis followed by a period. The letter of the first word in the title is the only one that is capitalized. The others are left in lower case. When they need to put the rest of the reference on a second or third line, then those lines are indented 5 spaces. I hope this helps you, if you decide to work on your bibliography this weekend. If you need anything else, please let me know. They will only have a few more days to work on their projects in school. They are allowed to bring backboards to school and work on them there, too. Oral presentations of these projects begin December 1. Have a great weekend, everyone!!!!
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