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!)

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.

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

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.

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.

Government

Today we paired up and shared our questions and word finds from Friday. Then we watched a short video about the three branches of government. Well, some hours did, unfortunately technology and I are no longer friends after today!

White House packets are due Thursday. These are worth 91 points.

DC projects are due Monday, Dec 21.

Government

This week we have continued discussing the White House and Washington DC. Today we specifically talked about the three branches of government, who is in charge and each of their jobs. The students were given an assignment to write ten questions and create a word search with their answers. They were given time in class to work on this and it is due Monday.

Don't forget the Washington DC project is due Monday, Dec 21st. See here for more information.

Welcome Back

OK - I know we've only been off for two extra days, but for some reason it feels like forever since I've been with the kids!

Today we started working on our government unit. As I told one of my classes today, I have a lot in my brain to sort out for this unit and how it's going to look. (To which one of my students replied, "You could just erase all of it!")

So today we discussed what the kids already know about government. We then moved on to some information about the White House. (The project for this unit has not been assigned yet, so there's no need to get all crafty right away!) We started a crossword puzzle today in class, it's due tomorrow.

Geography Project

Today was our last work day on the geography project. The project is due on Monday, Nov 23rd. For details about the project click here.

Don't forget, conferences are this Thursday evening and Friday morning. I hope to see you there!

Geography

On Friday we wrapped up regions by coloring in the states in each of the four regions on a map. These maps are due tomorrow. Today we read a story called, "Gila Monsters Meet You At The Airport." It is about a little boy who is moving from the east to the west and what he thinks it will be like. I then had the students describe for me how the book provided examples for each of the 5 themes of geography.

The students have a project for the 5 themes of geography that is due Monday, November 23rd. They will get at least 2 work days in school. Here's the details...

Your task is to find 5 different articles or pictures from a newspaper or magazine and relate them to the five themes of geography. You must have one article (picture) for each theme. You may use any newspaper (Beacon, SC Herald, St Cloud Times, Outdoor News, Farm Bureau, etc) or the Internet to find a newspaper online.

Once you have found your articles/pictures:

-attach each to a piece of loose-leaf paper

-label it with the theme you think it relates to

-write a few sentences explaining why you think it represents that theme (What part of the article connects? How does it relate the theme?)

Other:

-An article is worth 3 points, a picture is worth 2

-The entire project is worth 35 points

-Staple the pages together

-Name and hour on top of each page

-Grammar and spelling count!!

-Feel free to type it (2 extra credit points)

Changes

Alright - I had to make some changes to the assignments due today. I am putting these grades on this quarter and I realized that if a student did not have their work done, it would really drop their grade! (Combined these packets are worth 109 points.) So here is the compromise I made with the kids...

If they had everything done today, we corrected it and turned it in. Students that turned their work in today get 10 extra points for having it done.

If a student does not have it done today, I will accept it tomorrow morning until the end of first hour. If it is not turned in after that, it will be a zero.

Does that make sense?? I hope so! All of this has been explained to the kids, so they know what is expected and what the consequences will be. Thanks!!

Geography

This week we will continue with the five themes of geography. Today was a work day, here's what the kids did...

1. Finished their map packet (MN cities, US cities, US states)

2. Finished landforms packet

3. Worked on US crossword puzzle

Numbers 1 and 2 were due at the end of the hour, number 3 is due tomorrow.

**The students have an opportunity for extra credit tomorrow. We will be discussing place and what makes places different and special. I will give them extra credit if they bring in pictures of places they have been. I am specifically looking for buildings and landscapes. They may bring in original pictures (you will get them back) or copies. **

Geography

Today we finished up our latitude and longitude packet. Anything that was not done in class is due tomorrow. I know some of the pages were more difficult than others, but I think it's OK to stretch the brain every now and then. ;) Tomorrow we will start talking about the 5 themes of geography...more on that later.

Geography

The students have been working hard on latitude and longitude all week. To help with some confusion we numbered the pages in our packets...pages 2 and 3 (front and back) are due Monday. (The kids may need to find a world map and US map on the internet or use the one in their assignment notebook.) Enjoy the weekend!

Propaganda Project

The students have been working hard all week on their propaganda project. They are required to find one example of each of the 6 techniques we have discussed in class. They have been finding these examples in old magazines. Once they have all their examples, they place them into a book and explain why they picked that particular add for that technique. These projects are due Monday, October 5th. Many of the students are already finished with their project!

Today I gave each of the students a printout of their grade so far. These need to be signed and returned by Monday.

They students also have a TV assignment due Monday. They are to watch TV and identify which technique the commercials are using. They have a worksheet to fill in for this. (Yes I am requiring your children to watch TV!)

Three things due Monday: Propaganda book, TV worksheet, grade report signed.

Personality tests

Today in class we took some time to look at two more personality tests.  

The first one was designed to determine if the person is an extrovert (outgoing) or and introvert (quiet).  

We also talked about the Rorschach test.  (That's the one with the ink blots.)  We can't actually look at the real test, but we did look at some inkblots and compared what we saw with each other.  

Tomorrow the signature assignment is due.  We will also be doing one final personality test and the kids will get a study guide.  We have a test on Wednesday!  

Signature Analysis

Today we talked about signature analysis and how analyzing your signature can describe your personality.  The students were given a sheet showing the different characteristics a signature can have and what they mean.  They have an assignment to analyze 2 adult signatures and 2 classmate signatures, as well as their own.  This assignment is due Tuesday.  Enjoy the weekend!