There was not as much going on this week so we took the time to really get into some of the learning we have done in the past 5 weeks and also to start two projects. It has been a great week with some interesting learning.
One thing that the students did this week had to do with our Human Body unit and their PE classes. The entire week students were wearing a POLAR monitor which records their activity throughout the week. Hear rate, calorie use, steps taken, rest monitor and activity profile are just some of the pieces of information that were gathered from this exercise. It will be interesting to see the data once it is downloaded and evaluated.
Next is only four days so both the homework and the current events are shortened. There is also a change in the reading homework to coincide with the new literature circles. First off is the current events;
Tuesday - Nicole
Wednesday - Sophia
Thursday - May
Wednesday - Sophia
Thursday - May
We have started our last round of literature circles and these are usually twice a week. They involve books that I have selected at their reading level and reading takes up to six sessions. At the end of each reading session students have a page in their lit circles books to complete so they can discuss the book the following day. On those nights, the reading homework changes to the lit circle books. Math homework remains a problem a day keeps the math learning in sway.
Please note that next Friday is a Professional Day for teachers and we will be involved with the AVAMIS conference that is being hosted here at ISB. I have signed up for sessions on Maker Spaces, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and Innovation in the classroom. I am looking forward to learning more and see if I can institute it in my class. I am planning on doing Genius Hour for the last quarter of the year - more on it as it comes closer.
We should finish out our unit on fractions by Tuesday and move on to Volume by the end of the week. I expect the final assessment for our fractions unit to go home right after the long weekend.
That is all for this week. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me.
Harold Daw
