Math:
Da Sprouts had a lesson over dividing by a decimal on Monday. Tuesday, they split into two groups. One group had a direct teach over adding and subtracting fractions while the other group worked in pairs to complete 8 different stations with adding and subtracting fraction problems. Wednesday everyone had a lesson over multiplying fractions and how to implement the “hash-slinging slasher”. The hash-slinging slasher is a inside Spongebob joke and is what Ms. Lorrie calls reducing the fractions first before multiplying.
EverShrooms had lessons over simplifying expressions, solving one-step equations, and solving two-step equations.
Polar Bears had a similar week to the EverShrooms. They had lessons over simplifying expressions, solving one and two step equations, and then solving multi-step equations.
Mountain Lizards completed a puzzle on Monday to practice finding domain and range of relations. One Tuesday, they learned the definition of a function and how to graph functions by plugging in x-values. Wednesday they learned about function notation.
All students worked in their stock market teams on Thursday.
ELA:
This week middle schoolers kicked off a small group writing project. Drawing from all the elements we’ve read about in stories from other cultures these past weeks, students were challenged with writing creation stories of their own! We began by talking about “strategic grouping.” Who do you work well with? Who helps you stay focused? How can your group balance its skill set? Once groups were settled in, the first task they took on was inventing an ancient culture. Next they decided which elements to include in their stories. For instance, is there a supreme being? Is there chaos? Is the culture matriarchal or patriarchal? We learned how to format a script, and finally, the note taker of each group started a Google doc so every member could collaborate and contribute ideas simultaneously. Creativity and laughter abounded! We will eventually present these stories as puppet shows.
Theme:
Theme work continued to take us back down the road of Earth Time through the Fossil Record. Students examined how fossils formed and their role in determining the age of our planet. Through discussion, students determined that many factors have disrupted the fossil record, including the fact that not all species have left fossils, the difficulty in finding and recovering fossils, and the natural disruption to the fossil record by the contrast formation and reformation of rocks in the rock cycle.
This week’s lab demonstration experimented with the effects of weathering on the fossil record, with students using sugar cubes to see the effects of physical and chemical weathering. They learned that the acid levels within the environment and the transformation of rock along fault lines have a destructive effect on rocks. And no sugar cubes were eaten during the production of this lab demonstration!
We ended the week lending time to our cross-curricular work with ELA classes by creating puppets to go with student creation stories. Sticks and socks became the basis for the characters students develop in telling the stories of various creation ideas.
Flex:
We ended the day Thursday with a whole class SEL lesson. This week’s intention was I will use positive self talk. Ms. Kandyce read the class Finding the Flipside by Jennifer Law. The class learned ways to “flip the pancake” aka turning negative self talk into positive. Then we each made our own pancakes. One side included a negative thought the student has had and the flip side reframed that thought in a positive way.
We flipped our pancakes from negative to positive!
Delta students worked on the Fossil Record this week, as they applied the effects of weathering on the preservation of fossils in rocks in our weekly lab session.
Students used various chemical agents to see the effects of weathering on their rocks.
Below, teams worked on crafting puppets to tell the creation stories they’re writing in ELA.
Mountain Lizards solving a puzzle to practice finding domain and range.
Student groups develop plots and characters for their creation stories. Groups are also making puppets to tell these stories.
Mountain Lizards solving a puzzle to practice finding domain and range.
Evershoom student groups collaborate on their creation story scripts.
