February 22, 2010
February Vacation and other matters…
I must admit I am not in favor of February and April Vacation. In college you get a week off in March and no Feb and April vacation. I enjoyed that spring break much more than having a vacation right after we just got back from a long break and a few days off in January. I would much rather get out earlier in June and lose a week of vacation. I know this isn’t a popular thing to say but think about getting out a week earlier when the weather is nice and warm in June..so much better. Someone else I talked to said when they went to high school (in the 80′s) they would take 5 weeks and have no school on Friday and make it a 3 day weekend for those 5 weeks. I love the thought of that idea as well. I think we should start a movement to do away with one of the vacations and have one week in March or have 5 straight weeks of no Friday (or Monday) instead of February Vacation!!!! Who is with me?
In other matters this is a crazy week (the first week back after Feb break). We have a faculty meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. Then parent conferences all Wednesday night and then a half day on Thursday for the students and more parent conferences that afternoon. Just very difficult to get back into the swing of things after a week off and come back to so much.
ONLY 8 MORE WEEKS UNTIL OUR NEXT WEEK LONG VACATION!!!!!!
January 20, 2010
Almost half way done with the year!
We are almost halfway done with the school year! The end of term 2 is fast approaching. I realized I hadn’t updated the blog in a while (not that I really think too many people are reading this..if anyone is). We are wrapping up our look at Andrew Jackson a most interesting person who is often seen as a good president but students are realizing he might not have been so good after all. Next we will get to one of my favorite chapters…westward expansion. We will be playing the game Oregon Trail and watching the movie The Alamo and panning for gold all in this next chapter. It is a great chapter with lots of great activities. I think everyone will enjoy it very much.
January 4, 2010
Holiday Break…and a new year!
I hope everyone had a good break and enjoyed the holidays and enjoyed not having school. I always look forward to the vacation it is nice to have extended time away from school. But now it is time to get back into the swing of things. We are finishing up the last two sections of chapter 11. There will be a quiz for those sections (no test for Chapter 11). Then moving on to Chapter 12 and Andrew Jackson one of the more interesting topics (or at least I think)
Projects overall were very good. Most students chose to do a poster which is typical. I enjoyed some of the creativity. It is always nice to see the creative side. This is one thing I want to get better at, I think students need more time to show their creativity.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! 2010
December 13, 2009
Tech..Mid way term 2..holiday break
We visited the Cape Cod Tech on Thursday. I think it was a mixed bag for the students. Either they liked it or they didn’t not much in between. I always enjoy going seeing former students and getting the great food and goodies they sell at the restaurant. Although many students complained about their burn lasagna and cake I had a scrumptious meal of chicken parmasean and a desert of wonderful chocolate gnash topped cheesecake. Electrical was closed for the day and that is always a fun shop to visit and overall the tour was ok but nothing too exciting.
Friday is the midpoint of term 2! Hard to believe already. Only 8 more school days left until the break.
I am looking forward to seeing many great projects this week!!!!
November 30, 2009
Chapter 10 project and other happenings
As we enter the seemingly long stretch between Thanksgiving break and the holiday break students will be embarking on a project for chapter 10. Students will be able to choose their topic and their final piece that they will turn in. It can be a model, powerpoint, poster, diary, comic strip, or any other type of project they wish to create. I am always excited when we get to do projects because it amazes me how much creativity some students have. If we stuck to doing traditional tests all year their creativity might never come out. We can not do projects all of the time, but being able to create two or three a year is a good break.
On December 10th we will be traveling to the Cape Cod Tech to get a tour of their facility. It is a great opportunity for students to get to see an alternative to Nauset High School. It is a fun filled day of traveling from shop to shop and trying out different things. Who knows maybe I will even try something this year.
The mid point of term 2 is already upon us on December 18th. Hard to believe I know.
November 15, 2009
Parent Conferences and Thanksgiving Break
Parent Conferences are next week and it will be nice to get a chance to sit down and talk to parents about their child. For the first term we take our homeroom students, however as of Friday I think only 8 students had turned in conference slips. So it might be a boring 2 days of conferences unless I see some more slips on Monday. So if anyone in my homeroom actually reads this before conferences…get your conference slips in to me!
This week is the final week before Thanksgiving Break. It is strange to think that it is almost the end of November. While students are enjoying their week off, we the teachers get to be at school on Monday and Tuesday. Speaking of Thanksgiving…this is my most favoritist holiday (I know that’s not proper English and Mrs. Needel would be mad..but it works) I love having family over and smell of turkey cooking and sitting around all day just eating, talking, and watching football. It truly is good times! So everyone enjoy your break and we will update after the holiday!
November 5, 2009
Flow Chart fun and Political Party madness and test retakes…MY BDAY!
During one of my classes (blue class) we were talking about how to read a flow chart. The activity was to create a flow chart using something that they knew. The class decided to create a chart of how a Pokemon evolves. It was quite amusing, we had some arguments over the steps and process. Nonetheless students were able to understand how a flow chart works.
In green class students are working on creating a political party and “running for school President.” It has been a fun activity so far as students have discussed issues facing the school that they feel need to be changed (example: lunch, recess, homework, etc). They will now be creating campaign posters, advertisements etc. to get a good feel for how the process works.
Red and Yellow: many students did not do very well on the last test (chapter 7 government). As a result we have been re-learning the information in order to make sure that we understand how the US government works. I feel much more confident this time around that students will do better. The students who did do well have been working on some enhancement learning. They have learning more about the government looking closer at the goals of the Constitution, the responsibilities of a citizen and the judicial branch. During the retake of the test they are continuing some enhancement on economics. They are reading a packet of information on topics such as banking, the history of money, credit cards etc.
PS IT’s MY BDAY TODAY!!!!
October 28, 2009
Halloween and end of term 1
As Halloween approaches so does the end of term 1. Students are getting ready to finish the first quarter of the school year. It is hard to believe that we have been here for two months already!
Green Social Studies class is finishing up a look at economics. They have been studying supply and demand, macro and micro economics, banking, and credit. Next we will be diving into the book as we have mostly been working out of other books using handouts. Our next unit of study is Revolution. We will be looking at sorts of revolutions including the American Revolution, French Revolution, and Industrial, Scientific, music, and technological revolutions. We will be examining what a revolution is and how it has an impact.
In the other three classes we have been studying about the American Government. Students are taking a Chapter 7 test this week. We will be continuing our look into government and then moving on to learn about George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson and how they shaped the United States.
Most students are doing quite well this term. Remember there is only a week or so left in the term, so keep doing all your work and push yourself for the remaining period to either maintain that grade or improve to get that grade you want!
October 16, 2009
Thank you Christopher Columbus
Columbus did many bad things including enslaving natives and forcing them to find gold to bring back to Spain. He was a very cruel and harsh man, even cutting off the hands of the natives if they did not bring enough gold back to him. So why then am I thanking Columbus in this post? The government in their infinite wisdom has declared a holiday after him and as such we had a day off this week. It was a much needed day off for students and teachers alike. So even though he was not a nice man and did many bad things I do appreciate him for giving us a day off.
In other news we are plugging away in class. All classes recently had their first traditional test. We are looking at the government and the Constitution and talking about how the government is divided up and what jobs they have. I am looking forward to having some discussions and debates over politics and government in the coming week or two.
September 29, 2009
Engaging Research…
The Green Social Studies Class is getting ready to head to the library the next few days to do research on the Bill of Rights. Students will choose a small group to work in and then research one of the first ten amendments to the Constitution (Bill of Rights). After some research they are going to be putting together some sort of a visual, either a PowerPoint, a video (using moviemaker), or a poster on their amendment. This will be a great introduction into History research and allow students to demonstrate some of their creativity. I am also looking forward to the debates/discussions which will arise from some of the more controversial amendments.
The other classes will be doing something similar later on in the term. Right now we are just starting our look at the American Revolution. Some students have enjoyed looking at the video “School House Rocks.” A more traditional style test is the near future once we are done with the chapter. Don’t worry though there will be lots of opportunities to show creativity later on down the road.
That is the latest news from 149. Keep looking for more updates. I am getting better at this as time goes on. Hopefully I can keep it up, and get more of you to actually read this!
