Spring Fling Fun!

Last week the middle school had Spring Fling. Here are a few pictures...enjoy!

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Extra Credit

The students have a final opportunity for extra credit. They can complete one of our TV sheets by watching a family based show at home. It can then be turned in for credit. (Just remember the show has to be about a family!)

Sociology

Last week we started a unit on Sociology. Due to time constraints (5 1/2 days to be exact) I am focusing the unit on family. Today we talked about different types of families as well as decision making in a family. We will use all of this information for the remainder of the school year as we watch and compare different families.

The families we compare will be fictional, from TV. Yes, for the last week of school my students get to watch TV. However, as they watch they will be required to identify the type of family and answer some basic sociology questions about the family. All of the sheets the students complete will be turned in for credit. It will be the last grade of the year.

Psychology!

This week we have started studying psychology. This unit offers a very basic introduction to some of the concepts of psych. So far we have talked mostly about personality and the things that affect it. The students have made a personality profile showing me all about themselves.

Today and tomorrow we will be looking at different types of personality tests. Today we talked about analyzing signatures. The students have to analyze their own signature, two friend's signatures and two adult signatures. This assignment is due Friday.

Slacker

Oh my have I been slacking! The three of you out there that read this are probably wondering where the heck I have been. Well, I'm back.

Since my last post we have completed a whole unit on economics. We talked about scarcity and decision making, supply and demand and three different kinds of economies (command, market and traditional). The highlight of the unit was when the students had to pretend they were stranded on an island. They were forced to make decisions about how problems would be solved and what type of economy they had.

We had a partner test on Friday 4-23 to wrap up the economic unit.

This week we have started Psychology, one of my favorite units! There is an assignment coming up where the students will have to create a personality profile. These will be due Monday for 5th and 6th hour, Tuesday for 2nd and 3rd hour.

Deacde Posters

The kids did a GREAT job on their decade posters. We hung them up around the room, then the students were given copies of the quizzes each group made and they had to move around to the posters to find the answers. It went really well and the kids had fun checking out everyone's posters.

Research Project

For the past week the kids have been researching a decade of their choice. They were required to find information from the 50-90's in four categories; people, events, entertainment/fun and inventions. Each student was required to individual research for their decade. This research was due Monday. The students were given 20 points for having their research done, they will also be graded on this research later this week.

This week we have been working on the group project.
1. A poster with 10 pictures and 10 facts about the decade
2. A quiz with 10 questions about the poster and an answer key.

These projects are due at the end of the hour tomorrow.

The plan is that I will hang the posters around the room and the kids will take the quizzes by finding the information on the posters.

1940's Internet Scavenger Hunt

Today you will be searching the internet for the answers to 10 different questions. Use these links to help you...

World War II

Antibiotics Save Lives

Jackie Robinson

President Harry S. Truman

TV Entertains America

Abstract Expressionism

The Big Band Sound

Postwar Baby Boom

Slinky

Women Support the War Effort

1940's

This week is all about the 1940's. We've been talking about inventions such as the polaroid camera and the first computer (which was HUGE) and World War II. Today the kids reviewed the information they know by creating 20 questions with answers. Tomorrow we will turn those into a crossword puzzle.

Congratulations to our gymnasts and good luck at state!

Great Depression

This week we have been focusing on the 1930's. Specifically the causes of the Great Depression and the New Deal of President Roosevelt. We were even able to find references to the Great Depression in "Song if the South" by Alabama.

There has also been discussion almost daily about the Olympics. (If I fall asleep the night before, the kids keep me informed!)

Just a reminder that the history interview is due Monday for 2nd and 3rd hour.

Have a good weekend!!

The Great Depression

Today we wrapped up the 1920's. Tomorrow we will move into the great depression and the 1930's. We have also been discussing the Olympics and some Olympic history.

In second grade I was sitting in the library at St. Mary's School in Sister Joseph Marie's reading class when Mr. Doyle came into the library and turned on the TV. On it was the news report about the Challenger space shuttle exploding. I can also remember seeing Mary Lou Retton stick the landing on her final vault to win a gold medal in the Olympics. The most recent historical event ingrained in my mind is the day 9/11 happened. I was teaching 5th grade and my students were at gym, a colleague came over and told me to turn on the TV. Each of these events are something I will never forget and I am hoping to help the students in my class see how history really does affect all of our lives.

In order to do this I am asking each student to interview someone over 40 years old (not their parents) about what they remember from history. They have a list of possible questions to use and a worksheet to complete after the interview. My hope is that these interviews will get them talking with someone other than you about what history is and what it really means.

For 2nd and 3rd hour this assignment is due Feb 22.

For 5th and 6th hour this assignment is due March 1.

Roaring Twenties

This week we are focusing on the Roaring 20's! So far we have gone over some basic information about events and people of the decade. Things like, prohibition, the stock market crash, jazz music, Amelia Earhart, Louis Armstrong, Babe Ruth, and Charles Lindbergh. Tomorrow and Friday we will go more in depth on prohibition as well as the stock market crash.

Snow day...

He's still got it...

It seems that Mr. Bergquist can still do a cart wheel...ask you kids about it!

US History

Our next unit is US History. We cover A LOT of history in a short period of time. The way it works is that we talk in terms of decades. We started last week with 1900-1910 and are continuing this week with 1910-1920. For each decade we discuss what happened overall, then we go in depth on a few major events. (Last week it was immigration and the Model T.)

I have hopes of the kids doing a family history, but right now it's only in my head...I'll try to get it out and on paper sometime this week! (But, I'm not making any promises.)

If your child is in my 5th or 6th hour they will be having Mr. Quirk Becker (or Mr. QB) for the next few weeks. I'm excited to have someone with fresh, new ideas working in my classroom!

PS - I will be serving my civic duty the next two weeks...yep, jury duty! So, if your child mentions that I'm gone for a few days, that's probably why.

Half way there!

Alright, 3rd quarter is here and that means the school year is half over. Hard to believe isn't it! Today we cleaned out our folders to start totally fresh for our next unit.

Over the next few weeks we will be discussing US history. This unit covers the 1900-1999. (I know, that's a lot of history!) What I do to make it more manageable is break things down by the decade. We started today with 1900-1910 and we just try to hit the major highlights.

The students do have an informal assignment for tonight. I'd like them to talk to you about when your family came to the US and share any stories you might have.

End of second quarter

Friday is the last day of second quarter. (Although, most of the middle schoolers are going skiing or swimming, so I suppose we could say Thursday.) Here is a list of what the students need to turn in before end of the quarter.

Careers Assignments:

-Task One, I Make it Happen, Task Five

-Career Interview

-O'Net internet test results printed

-Two jobs printed

-3 extras (things we have done in class, but did not hand in)

-Career outline

-Career brochure / book

**Most of this has already been turned in, the outline and brochure are due tomorrow. We have been working on these in class for the past few days.**

Careers Unit

We have been working on our careers unit for the past week. So far the students have worked in class on a few interest surveys to see what type of career they might be interested in. They also have an online assignment which needs to be completed in a study hall, after school or at home. This is an online survey which will tell them what areas they are successful in and what careers might be a good fit for them. They need to print their test results and choose two careers to print as well. These are due Monday.

It is very important that they have this information Monday because we will be using it next week to create an outline and project.

The students have a pink sheet of paper with all the instructions for the online test.

Awesome Projects

Here are some pictures of the DC projects. They were awesome!!