Yesterday we had a fabulous trip to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. I've been going to the refuge for over twenty years now, and each time I go I see something new and interesting. It helped that Davy, the leader of the education program at Nisqually, was with my group. He has a spotting scope and an uncanny ability to locate interesting wildlife. We saw several gaggles of Greater White-fronted Geese, a Peregrin Falcon, several Cormorants, Harbor Seals, Mallards, Canada Geese, the Belted Kingfisher, Sandpipers, several Great Blue Herons, and the find of the day, a Leucistic Great Blue Heron, which is a GBH with a medical condition that causes the feathers of this bird to turn white. Davy said he sees one about once every two years...super rare find! Thanks to Mr. Phillipy for making this awesome educational excursion happen for us!
Today, you had an opportunity to respond to the field trip on your starter. This was the final starter for Week 4 (last week, I know it's confusing). Those were turned in today. I did create a link to past starters on the right-hand side of this page. Please use this link for any missed starters, or if you happen to be absent. The link will bring you to a folder that contains each week of starters so far. Let me know if the link does not work for you.
We also began taking notes on the timeline of European Exploration. Hopefully we will complete these notes tomorrow.
No homework tonight unless you are making up work that is missing.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014
SOCIAL STUDIES:
You completed two starters today. The first, an investigation of your homework last night, and whether you did or did not attempt to locate an article related to the current event topic you chose yesterday. The second, a thoughtful and detailed paragraph about our upcoming field trip to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. You were to identify what you know about the refuge, it's history, habitats, ecosystem, and what you understood as to the purpose of the trip.
We also annotated a timeline: "The History of the Nisqually Timeline." Many of you shared connections you have made during science class, and a few of you were able to relate some of the information on the timeline to your CBA project in 7th grade, specifically the Medicine Creek Treaty.
I hope you are looking forward to our trip to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge on Monday. It is an excellent opportunity to integrate our science, history, math and language arts curriculums. Remember to prepare for this trip . You will need to be ready for any kind of weather. Dress in layers and wear comfortable walking/hiking shoes.
HOMEWORK (due tomorrow 9/26): Bring in your current event article. Include the topic, title, author, news source, and date published! NO EXCUSES!!! If you want to, click on the link below and "make a copy" of the Current Event Template for this homework. Please make sure not to share this with me (I already have it:) just make your own copy to print or save in your google docs.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CX46PeQuiubzb7_XvJ47ATqcRv8A-O21aL4OuJvXGxs/edit?usp=sharing
DRAMA:
Warm-ups
HOMEWORK: Be prepared to workshop your scene tomorrow!!!
You completed two starters today. The first, an investigation of your homework last night, and whether you did or did not attempt to locate an article related to the current event topic you chose yesterday. The second, a thoughtful and detailed paragraph about our upcoming field trip to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. You were to identify what you know about the refuge, it's history, habitats, ecosystem, and what you understood as to the purpose of the trip.
We also annotated a timeline: "The History of the Nisqually Timeline." Many of you shared connections you have made during science class, and a few of you were able to relate some of the information on the timeline to your CBA project in 7th grade, specifically the Medicine Creek Treaty.
I hope you are looking forward to our trip to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge on Monday. It is an excellent opportunity to integrate our science, history, math and language arts curriculums. Remember to prepare for this trip . You will need to be ready for any kind of weather. Dress in layers and wear comfortable walking/hiking shoes.
HOMEWORK (due tomorrow 9/26): Bring in your current event article. Include the topic, title, author, news source, and date published! NO EXCUSES!!! If you want to, click on the link below and "make a copy" of the Current Event Template for this homework. Please make sure not to share this with me (I already have it:) just make your own copy to print or save in your google docs.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CX46PeQuiubzb7_XvJ47ATqcRv8A-O21aL4OuJvXGxs/edit?usp=sharing
DRAMA:
Warm-ups
- GO!
- ZIP, ZAP, ZOP
- CLAP
- NUMBERS - we're really getting good at this!!!
- Empty dialogue - workshop
HOMEWORK: Be prepared to workshop your scene tomorrow!!!
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
SOCIAL STUDIES
Students, you were to complete the seminar debrief/reflection questions as homework last night. Those responses as well as your observations during seminar and your prep work for seminar were due today. Please check to make sure those assignments were completed with effort and thoughtful and detailed responses.
Today's starter was a response to a current event that has caught your attention. It could have to do with politics, sports, fashion, new products, the entertainment industry, world news, etc... You wrote for 5 minutes on a topic of your choice, and now you must track down an article about that topic. You may use online news sources, newspapers, or even links through social media to find this article. Please remember to include the topic, title, date published, author, and news source when you bring this article to class on Friday.
Students, you were to complete the seminar debrief/reflection questions as homework last night. Those responses as well as your observations during seminar and your prep work for seminar were due today. Please check to make sure those assignments were completed with effort and thoughtful and detailed responses.
Today's starter was a response to a current event that has caught your attention. It could have to do with politics, sports, fashion, new products, the entertainment industry, world news, etc... You wrote for 5 minutes on a topic of your choice, and now you must track down an article about that topic. You may use online news sources, newspapers, or even links through social media to find this article. Please remember to include the topic, title, date published, author, and news source when you bring this article to class on Friday.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Today we completed our first Socratic Seminar based on "The Pledge of Allegiance." Students were given the task of rewriting the pledge in their own words, identify their thoughts (comments, connections, etc.) about the pledge and what it means to them, and also to write down any questions that they have about the pledge, it's history, as well as their feelings about the requirement in Washington State that the pledge be recited daily in public schools. I would encourage families to continue this dialogue at home, as the discussions in each class were quite enlightening. Students will be assessed on their preparation, participation, observations, as well as their ability to debrief the seminar.
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