I am blogging a bit later than usual because I had a fitness class after school and was getting a bit worried about the temperature dipping and turning the roads into a skating rink for the drive home but I'm home now and the roads were pretty good considering the weather conditions. I didn't want to go to the class but I am glad that I did...my colleagues are supportive and won't let me slack off!!
Homework
There is a spelling test for Unit 13 tomorrow (unit 12 needs to be completed by some students who missed it- if they are not back tomorrow or not 'ready' I will do the Unit 12 redo on Friday)
Other than the spelling the SOCIALS project is getting down to the wire now and is the main homework push this week. I'd rather the students concentrated on completing the project on ancient civilization for Monday Jan 17th.
Every day this week as you know if you are following the Blog- we are using time in class and today nearly 80 minutes at the computer lab- some students stayed in at lunch and worked on their project word processing- impressive commitment.
General Day
The students grumbled a little about the new 'surprise' seating plan but in their hearts I know that they agreed that it was necessary. Not everyone was in class today and tomorrow we add another new student so the real test of the arrangement will be Thursday.
Started with Chapter 2 of Word Nerd after a bit of a review of the kinds of behaviour that led to lots of frustration yesterday and a reminder to keep their hormones in check!!
As for the novel we realized that the author used chapter two to advance the reader's understanding of the main character's life and adds to the suspense about his fear of 'snitching' on the bullies who put a peanut in his lunch and caused him an anaphalptic shock that put him into the hospital. Ironic, isn't it? A victim of school bullying fears the ramifications of reporting the bullying that nearly killed him!!
I think the students are enjoying it so far- it is one of those books which is full of incidents that the reader didn't see coming. The main character is a grade seven student who is having a problem with bullies at school. Chapter 3 tomorrow- can't wait...
Next I assigned 40 minutes for socials research after a page by page review of the expectations for the complete project. Today I gave out the sample bibliography worksheets and information about how to cite work in a standardized format. The text book also has a completed sample (for the text Ancient Civilizations) on page 107.
Math- revisited how to use the integer chips to teach the concept of how subtraction of integers is actually addition of enough integers to complete the 'transaction'.
For example:
if you start with -5 negative integer chips (five red chips on the overhead) and you are asked to subtract +7. You can't!!
You only have 5 negative chips so you can't subtract +7 unless you add them to the mix. So add +7 positive chips (seven sets of blue and red chips added to the overhead are added in pairs with a negative chip each to balance out the equity principle +1-1=0).
Now you can take away +7 positive chips. That leaves you with 12 red (negative) chips on the overhead. The solution is -12
-5-(+7)= -5+(-7)= -12
As I said before practice is necessary to really understand the concept of adding to subtract but once they have it, they will be able to truly understand the mathematical principle of integer subtraction to explain the process or model the process confidently. So try this: -5-(+10)= x = [-5+(-10)= -15] x=-15
Ask you son or daughter to explain it to you if they can :) Research says you learn things much faster when you have to teach them to someone else!!
Computer session- for ancient civilizations- some students used today's lesson on the computer applications of Word Art and Clip Art to create title pages that are both unique and look professional. Others word processed their notes and found some more information. A few needed to be reminded why they were at computers in the first place!! There are a few in every class.
DEAR time after going over the solutions to the math assignment this morning- I did the problems on the overhead using the chips and asked that students either correct their equations or copy the correct use of the integer chips from the board.
- reading time was noisy!!!
Hard to believe but the time went by in a heart beat and before we turned around it was 2:30pm and time for gym. We packed up in class went over the homework for tonight and headed to the gym.
Today we played a modified version of the game of 21 in which groups of students (approx 4 or 5 in a group) play a bit of a 'lay-up' game and try to score baskets from where they catch the basketball. We also played a team game in which each member had to score a basket having been 'fed' the ball from the back line- continuously until everyone has scored a basket. It was fast but everyone was involved at the same time and it was busy but interesting to watch the 'competitive' nature of some students :)
3pm dismissal
Keep warm- do another section of your project tonight. See you tomorrow when we welcome a new student to our class and our school.
Have a nice night.
Mrs. J.
No comments:
Post a Comment