Now you can follow what happens in room 303 anywhere in the world. Parents can use this blog to follow their son or daughter's lessons and to read about upcoming projects and events. Students can follow a day's lessons when they are absent and download missing handouts.
Today we continued to reflect on how our cards should be set up and also looked over last week's quiz.
AIM: I will successfully critique 3 vocabulary connection cards and review my quiz.
Standard: 7LD.V.10 Determine definitions and word spelling using many sources.
Do Now 1) What vocabulary term means:"Path earth travels around the sun?" 2) What vocabulary term means:"Deep valley usually under the ocean." 3) What vocabulary term means:""Past things that have influence on today." 4) Which scientist developed the Big Bang Theory?"
Lesson Steps: After correcting our Do Now questions we went over three cards to practice how we should create our project. Students not only graded an example but they also had to explain why some of the cards did not receive a passing grade. Here is a copy of the handout:
Once teams determined why the card with the flower would make the passing grade they then had to work on fixing up the other cards. So teams had to make a convincing connection between horses and Pangaea and then a connection between trains and an interglacial period.
I then returned student quizzes from last week and we reviewed misconceptions about the Big Bang Theory and the creation of land bridges during the ice ages.
Today was Friday so students in the "green" had 10 minutes of free time while I counseled with students about their grades if they were in the "yellow" or "red" section of our progress board.
Homework: Complete the Vocabulary Connection Project with 10 cards and a cover card. The rubric is available in yesterday's blog posting. See the examples below to get a better sense of how these cards are to look.
Today we continued to learn about the vocabulary connections cards and also learned about our second project of the year.
AIM: I will successfully connect 8 vocabulary words to examples brought in by my classmates.
Standard: 7.LD.V.10 Determine definitions and word spelling using many sources.
Do Now: 1) What vocabulary word means: "an adventure or a journey to discover something?" 2) What vocabulary word means:"a scientist who studies movement?" 3) What vocabulary word means:"edge of land next to the ocean or sea?" 4) What vocabulary word means:"average weather of a location for a year?"
Lesson Steps: We completed the Do Now questions and then we reviewed our homework. We passed out our vocabulary connection cards to a partner and then used the rubric that is featured in yesterday's blog posting to grade each other's work. Many students had some fantastic work that showed very high level of thinking and a strong connection to the vocabulary words.
We then went over the criteria for the project that is due on Monday.
We ended the class period with another game of POP-UP in which teams competed with each other in coming up with the most creative connections to our vocabulary words.
Homework: Students are to complete 10 vocabulary cards with personal connections. There also needs to be a cover card with the student's name clearly readable for our vocabulary card key rings. Here is the rubric for this project that is due on Monday, September 29th.
Today we learned how to connect vocabulary words to our lives and also how this is a higher level of thinking according to Bloom's Taxonomy.
AIM: I will successfully connect three vocabulary words to examples brought in by my classmates.
Standard: 7.LD.V.10 Determine definitions and word spelling using many sources.
DO Now 1) Which vocabulary term means: "the smallest particle of something?" 2) Which vocabulary term means: "dust, or bits of broken rock?" 3) Which vocabulary term means: "landmass of all connected continents?" 4) What is created when gravity collapses on itself?
Lesson Steps: After going over the Do Now questions for the day we reviewed the song and it is looking better and better!
Then we went right into the vocabulary lesson.
We pulled two vocabulary connection cards out of the stack of cards that was brought in for homework and we put them on the chalkboard. Next we randomly choose one vocabulary word. For example, we had to connect the vocabulary word glacier with football or a student's mother. Groups of students worked hard to connect them and some of the best answers were as follows: "The Denver Broncos play in the Rocky Mountains where there are many glaciers and football players grind down their opponents much like a glacier grinds down a mountain." "A glacier is like someones mother because she works hard at trying to form her children just like a glacier helps to form a mountain through pressure and time."
We continued this process by playing a game of POP-UP and students worked in groups to come up with connections to more vocabulary words. We completed class by going over the homework.
Homework: Students are to complete 8 vocabulary cards and to use the rubric page that was handed out in class. See below for this rubric.
Today we completed the filming for the first verse of our class song and started the vocabualry connections activity.
AIM: I will successfully connect 3 vocabulary words to examples brought in by my classmates.
Standard: 7 LD.V.10 Determine definitions and word spelling using many sources.
Do Now 1) What vocabulary term means:"A warm period beteen ice ages?" 2) What vocabulary term means: "Someone who is against you?" 3) What vocabulary term means: "Smaller section of a reading?" 4) What vocabulary term means: "Very small and hard to see with the naked eye?"
Lesson Steps: We started class by reviewing the song and dance and then filmed the last section. My goal is to edit it and have it ready to see during Back to School Night this Thursday.
We then started the vocabulary connections activity. This activity is designed to help students remember vocabulary words by connecting them to their own lives. We read several cards of student work that included information about what they hoped to do in the future, their favorite foods or even important family members. We then connected vocabulary words to these cards. We discussed how legacy could connect to someone's parents, how opponent could connect to someone's dream to be a professional baseball player or how expanding could connect to someone's dream to build a new cell phone company.
This process allowed students to revisit old vocabulary words and think of them in new ways. This was a great way to review and study so that past content does not get forgotten.
Homework: Bring in 5 Vocabulary connection items. This means to bring in 5 vocabulary cards each with a different item that is important to you. Write a sentence or two about why it is important. Tomorrow in class we will use these cards to connect to vocabularly words.
Today we practiced the "Changes Through the Ages" song and filmed parts of it.
AIM: I will demonstrate my knowledge of the first three aims by successfully performing our song and dance.
Standard: Follow the great changes on Earth that allowed human life to start.
Do Now: Here are the Do Now questions for today: 1) An Earthquake is a legacy of which theory? 2) An ever-expanding universe is a legacy of which theory? 3) A glacier is a legacy of which past event? 4) What is another word for a "guess"?
After the Do Now, we reviewed the song and learned the movements for the first verse. Students volunteered to be filmed and we had the entire class sing along. We still have a small section to film and also to add the background pictures that students drew.
We concluded class by reviewing the progress report grades for everyone.
Homework: Turn in the Academic Documentary Permission Slip and also the Saturday field trip permission slip. Also if you have not turned in your background drawing, you must complete one for the Ice Ages and turn it in tomorrow. It is officially late.
I have been teaching at Paul Public Charter School for seven years and I love it! I earned my Bachelor's Degree in Anthropology from American University in 1997 and my Masters in Teaching Social Studies from Brown University in 2002. I also have a certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and I used this training to teach English as a Second Language in DC, New York City and also in Puebla, Mexico. I am looking forward to using my extensive teaching experience to have another high performing school year for everyone.
Contact me at
cmagnuson
@paulcharter.org
