6H1 Team News
10/31/05
Well, October has come and gone quickly! Students did a great job this first quarter; they worked hard, made new friends, and hopefully learned a great deal. We are already a couple weeks into the second quarter and students continue to work well!
Last week, we enjoyed a couple of hands-on, out of the classroom learning experiences. Students took a step back in time with our trip to the David Davis Mansion. They helped the servants with the chores inside the house, and when their work was complete they went outside to play early twentieth century fall games. Click here to see pictures of our day.
On Wednesday, the Discovery Museum was here to help students create their ecocolumn with the "Bottle Biology" lab. Students worked in pairs and created ecocolums that will be studied for the next week or so. Grass has already begun to sprout in several columns. Click here for pictures
In math, we are wrapping up Chapter 3 and preparing for a test over decimals. We continue to practice our fast figuring with Math Minutes and our geometry skills and number sense skills with the Question of the Day.
In science, students have been learning all about magnetism. So far we have turned scissors into magnets and created our own compass during lab activities. The first section of this new book will be tested in about a weeks time. Each day we review the previous class's key concepts before adding new information.
English students have been writing and practicing their vocabulary skills. We also learned about the "Mysteries of Harris Burdick" and wrote a story for one of his beautiful drawings titled "Just Desert."
9/30/05
Students participated in a Skittles data investigation using their processing skills. They found the number of Skittles in a bag and number of each color. They hypothesized, collected data and are now in the process of interpreting the data they collected. Click here to see students in action on their Skittle lab.
In math, students took their Chapter 2 test. Students worked hard on this test and their hard work paid off. We began our second unit in math, decimals. Students completed two activities that required them to compare and order decimals.
English students began the week with a narrative pretest, worked on writing their own narrative and free wrote to improve writing skills.
9/23/05
This week students worked on the last few topics in Chapter 2 and began preparing for their Chapter 2 math test. We played "I Have, Who Has" to practice our pattern recognition. Students learned the difference between an expression and an equation.
In Science, students practiced line graphs with the "Finger Maze" lab. Students worked in teams; one blind-folded student ran a maze with their fingers, while other students took turns timing the runner, recording the times and holding the maze on the table. After students had collect all their data, they created a double line graph.
My English students wrote stories using complete subjects and complete predicates. Students also practiced writing "Great Beginnings" for their map stories and other narratives. They used figurative language and competed against other table groups to be the table with the most attention grabbing lead paragraph.
9/16/05
Students worked very hard this week. Students put their brains to use first thing in the mornings for Terra Nova tests, burnt off what energy they had left during PE, then returned to classes and studied their core subjects. During math, students reviewed the order of operations and exponents. They also started working with some algebra concepts and learned about variables and expressions. In science the "By Golly, By Gum" lab activity kept students' mouths busy as they chewed and massed gum in order to find out how time affects the mass of gum. Ask your student what he/she discovered about the relationship of the mass of gum and what happens the longer the gum is chewed.
9/9/05
Students have been working hard this week!! In math, we discussed the order of operations, exponents, and worked on our mental math strategies. Ask your student what "PEMDAS" stands for. In science, we've continued our work with the scientific method and the different processing skills. Students read about an "egg drop" experiment that was performed after an accident sent eggs crashing into carpeted and hardwood floors. They saw how that one observation led to a scientific investigation.
During English this week, students have worked on the grammar skills of identifying parts of a sentence. They also created "narrative treasure maps" and "found their focus" during two brainstorming activities that will prepare them for writing their first narrative essay. Students should practice writing this weekend by spending 5 minutes writing in their writer's notebook.
8/24/05
The students are doing a great job adjusting to life here at BJHS. Today we worked through our first math lesson, and they all did a wonderful job! We are still working hard learning names, locker combinations and lunch numbers. Students have already done a couple assignments and activities that help me learn more about them. The "Dear Miss Nauman" letters have all been very honest and entertaining. I have had a couple of requests for more homework, and I'll see what I can do about that.
8/22/05
Today was a wonderful first day! We talked about school rules, practiced the lunchroom routine and opening lockers. Tomorrow holds a great deal more! Students will do activities to get to know their new classmates, eat their first lunch at BJHS and learn more about the rules and routines of 6H1.