4th and 8th Grade

Look at what Karen Nyberg is up to now that she's landed!

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/nation-world/article/NASA-family-out-of-this-world-4990062.php?t=896af79058057dc840#/0

6th Grade: Upcoming Assessment on "Earth's Changing Face"

We are learning about how the earth is always moving and changing. Why is it important? It is important because it connects to many different ideas in science. Water moves and changes, animals go through life stages and changes... Our test and what we are learning about focuses on how the earth is moving and changing to create different types of rocks and landforms. Eventually, we will be learning about volcanoes and reporting on ones we find especially interesting.

Here is a short video and song that uses many concepts about the earth, and the rock cycle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53lMd

Wisconsin Dells

 

4th Grade Recently Accomplished

A letter from the ISS...

Deep Space Models

Here are some good examples of deep space models/ posters.

8th Grade - How was the Solar System formed?

The deep space presentations turned out really well, and the models look fantastic. I hope to get some pictures of them up here soon!

We are moving back to our own solar system to learn about how it was formed. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37Ju5DEbkR4

We will be watching the listed video in parts, in class. It is about 44 minutes in length.

8th Grade: Deep Space Continues

We're now working on a model of deep space using everyday objects to represent features of deep space such as: nebulae, stars, exoplanets, galaxies. Materials should be brought to class on Monday, October 21st.

I just saw this article on how little we know about deep space:

http://front.kinja.com/graphics-shows-the-insignificant-scope-of-our-planetary-1447426028

5th Grade: Interrupted Journey_Lesson 6

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/kids/animals-pets-kids/reptiles-kids/turtle-loggerhead-kids/

A sea turtle eating seaweed. 

In this lesson we are exploring cause and effect. What effects do you see when you forget to bring an umbrella on a rainy day? Your clothes get wet, your hair gets wet, you may get into a bad mood. Those are all effects of not remembering your umbrella. 

In this lesson we will read about how a young boy saves sea turtles. What are the effects of his actions?

4th Grade: A Typical Day on the ISS

We're learning about our solar system and space, in general.We are practicing our new vocabulary related to space, and we'll be starting a letter. In our letter we'll pretend to be an astronaut on the International Space Station, writing a letter home to our family about our typical day.

Karen Nyberg, an astronaut currently in space is on Facebook and Twitter. Here are more than 30 photographs she has taken of Earth and of the ISS. She has a 3 1/2 year-old-son and husband (who is also an astronaut) who appreciate her photos, and they are eagerly waiting for her return. She will return to Earth on November 11, 2013.

http://m.space.com/21731-space-photos-astronaut-karen-nyberg-images.html

Here's one video you can watch about a typical day in space:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLl2pJSqvww

Keep looking for others - there are many!

Here's a picture of the ISS (International Space Station):

6th Grade: Argumentative Letters to Our Governor

The 6th graders are just finishing up writing letters to the governor presenting reasons for creating more hydroelectric dams in Wisconsin, or fewer dams. In the letters, I am looking for good organized paragraphs that explain their reasons. I hope that they can finish up their letters this week!

Here's an example of one student who finished already:

Dear Mr. Walker:

I am a sixth grader at Greenfield School located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I am learning about hydroelectric power in my school.

I strongly suggest we should build more dams, because it does not make air pollution and pollution makes ugly, dark skies. The coal mines could run out of coal to make electricity. 

I think we should build more dams because it is the cheapest type of energy. A lot of people can afford this type of electricity. It is not only cheap for people, it is also cheap to build them.

Mr. Walker, you should make more dams for a lot of reasons, you should really consider it. I hope you understand that not all people can afford the coal electricity, and hydroelectric power is cleaner too. I hope you decide to build more hydroelectric dams.

Sincerely,
Anonymous

Here's a picture of a hydroelectric dam:

8th Grade: Deep Space

We are now venturing into deep space, the area of space beyond our solar system. In addition to a test on the little book the students have read, the students will be creating models of deep space that they will present to the class. Maybe someone can use cotton balls to represent nebulae? Maybe someone else can use pipe cleaners to represent galaxies?

Here's a good documentary on what scientists are discovering in deep space:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8wbgh8oYno

It's about an hour so make sure you have the time!

All Kids ~ Class Dojo Info

Class Dojo is now up and running for all the students I see in class. If you need help with accessing Class Dojo at home, please let me know, and I will re-set your password. I will be giving parents their code and information at Parent-Teacher conferences.

For students setting up their avatar: www.classdojo.com/student

5th Grade: Double Dutch in Journeys

The 5th graders just started reading a non-fiction story in their Journeys book about a double dutch team from New York. In order to build up more knowledge about what double dutch jumping is, we watched a short video about it.

Here is that video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a3jbQ5Edvo

Here's one we haven't watched!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRdwTxMeTL8

Sequence of Events
We are working on the skill of sequence of events in a story. This skill can be a little tricky because some stories are not told in sequential order. For example, in "Double Dutch", the story begins by telling us that the Snazzy Steppers have won many championships, and then the author tells us how they worked hard to get to where they got.

7th Grade: I am a Rock

The 7th graders really began to understand rocks and minerals with last week's lab testing minerals. The streak test really got the kids involved and they understood that it was just one way to identify minerals.

This week they are working on creating an illustrated Rock Cycle that they will present to show that they understand how rocks change over time.

Want to sing about the rock cycle?

Here you go! Life is a highway...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53lMdHzvGCQ

6th Grade: The Power of Water

What is hydroelectric power? "Water that is electric?" said one 6th grader last week. No, but close. When water naturally moves through rivers and we create dams to capture its energy, we can make electricity. One of the advantages we learned about is that it is relatively cheap energy, and it's renewable. A disadvantage is that it can disrupt wildlife.

This class is still a bit talkative when I see them at the end of the day, so today they had an "on-demand" writing prompt. I will read those over in the next few days, and maybe I will post one on this blog.

Confused about how it works?

Here's a 2-minute video that breaks it down...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEL7yc8R42k

8th Grade Reaches for the Stars

Astronomy

Eventually, we will be conducting a virtual lab where students will find out which is more feasible, a trip to Mars or a trip to the Moon. We have been learning about astronauts, the moon, and Mars this week and last week. Today we discussed our possible questions that we would ask an astronaut. One question that many students had was, "How do astronauts go to the bathroom in space?"

Here's the video link to find out..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1wwzwvfsC0

In July 2013, astronaut Karen Nyberg demonstrates how she washes her hair in space...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji8mmUkoCng

4th Grade

The Power of Nature

The 4th graders are learning about "the power of nature" which is a unit taken directly from the ESL text book. It ties in a bit with Earth Science which is the science area Milwaukee Public Schools would like us to start with. Technically we should be learning about Space, but this unit is a little easier, and at the beginning of the year, I would like the kids to be challenged, but not overwhelmed.

Here's a song with hand motions that we did this week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwZMfkwpp3w

It was great fun to learn that and it helped all of us learn how people generate electricity from the wind.