1. In PE students will be working with Mr. Weaver to learn at least 1, probably 2 dances from the 20's. Because these are partner dances, students are being asked to ratchet up the maturity yet again. If your student talks about dancing at home, please be positive and supportive. Talk about the learning opportunity and how excited you are to see them dance on January 31st. This is also an excellent time to talk about showering, deoderant, and the brushing of teeth. They will be in each other's space and we certainly don't want anyone feeling uncomfortable about body odor. Students are welcome to bring deoderant to freshen up with during lunch.
2. For our silent film festival, students will be dressing up. I am working on borrowing some flapper dresses, suspenders, and fedoras. Students may choose to wear either a flapper dress or slacks, button up shirt, suspenders, and fedora. Today we began making our own hats to wear with the flapper dresses. Everyone is making one, and those that are not wearing them at the film festival may choose to give their hat to a sibling, parent, or donate it to a shelter. Many students asked today if they may bring their own yarn and the answer is yes. I have yarn here, but limited colors. Be prepared for students to fall in love with this and to make many hats. Over the last few years I have found that a majority of my students love how easy and repetitive it is and it helps them to focus when they have something in their hands.
3. On Monday we began talking about the stock market. We learned the basics of how and why it works and then did some very basic research into companies that are publicly held and offer stocks. On Wednesday students began their stock market simulation. During this simulation, students receive $1000 to spend on the stocks of their choice. Over the next 8 weeks they will track their stocks and can buy or sell at any time. The goal is to be the person with the portfolio worth the most money at the end of the unit. You may have some idea of where this is going, but please do not tell them. It would ruin the game. In order to help students connect world events to the economy, each weekend they will be asked to do a current event paper. They are to look at the news (online or hardcopy) and find an article that they feel may have some type of impact on one of their stocks. For example, an earthquake located where your companies major manufacturing plant is located may effect production, which could effect prices. When they find an article, they are to do a key word outline, rough draft, and then a final draft summarizing and analyzing the article. The outline should look like this:
Current Events Outline
Name
Date
Current Events
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
II. Analysis (Tell how it impacts your stocks. Use 2 - 3 words per line.)
a. How does this relate to your stock?
b. Is this good or bad news for your stock?
c. What should you do based on this information?
They received a checklist which details what dress ups, sentence openers, and mechanics I'm looking for. The final draft may be typed but the rough draft must be handwritten. These should not take more than an hour from start to finish. They will do one paper each weekend for the next 8 weeks.
4. Math - We are on lesson 45 as of today. While much of the information seems to be review, students are missing a significant amount on the homework. You can help them suceed by ensuring they have a quiet, focused, well lit space to do their work. Another thing I hear often from the students is that they are in a hurry because there is something cool going on that they want to join in. I find that students do a better job on their homework if there's nothing to rush off to. For example, my son does his homework while sister is at practice. He knows we're there for two hours and his only option during that time is homework. If he finishes his math and spelling early, he's going to read or do practice problems for math. There is no "finishing early". Since we began this routine, the quality of his homework has dramatically increased. If they "forget" to bring home their math book, spelling words, etc feel free to print off practice sheets, make up words, or give them a writing topic so they are getting the practice they need, even if it's not the work I assigned. This helps their study habits, helps them keep up, and discourages accidental on purpose forgetting. On Monday we will have a notebook check. My math students should have 3 sections in their math notebook. The first section is notes. They should have notes in their math notebook for lessons 1 - 45. The second section is tests. They should have tests 5 - 7 in their notebook as well as their signed progress report. The last section is homework. They should have lessons 36 - 43 in their notebook, signed by me.
Don't forget the craft fair this Saturday from 9 - 4. I'll be here most of the day, so feel free to stop by and say hello!
No comments:
Post a Comment