Happy Friday Dynamic Team!
Upcoming Events: MLK Holiday – January 21st
Hixson Adult Trivia Night – January 26th
Important Information: Hixson’s trivia night and silent auction is January 26th! Please join us for a night of fun with adult members of the Hixson community. You may register your table online at http://bit.ly/XGQ2zI or by completing the attached form and sending it to the school office. In addition, if you have items that you would like to donate to the silent auction, please contact Gail Tumminello at tumminello.gail@wgmail.org or 918-4571.
Attached you will find a registration form: https://docs.google.com/a/wgcloud.org/file/d/0B47t0_AnyTUhd2Y4S3I5cF9jUkU/edit.
Attached you will find a registration form: https://docs.google.com/a/wgcloud.org/file/d/0B47t0_AnyTUhd2Y4S3I5cF9jUkU/edit.
English –
January 18, 2013
Dynamic students kicked off second semester with sentence combining and a visit to the library. Our sentence combining is focused on developing compound, complex and simple sentences. At the library we browse the collection, check out books and spend some time reading together. Students always look forward to our bi-weekly library visits.
Students are practicing coded reading with non-fiction text and prose.
“Text coding is a strategy used to help students keep track of thinking while they are reading. Students use a simple coding system to mark the text and record what they are thinking either in the margins or on post-it notes. As students make connections, self-question, and respond to what they reading, they are self-monitoring their comprehension and enhancing long term understanding. The codes help students name and remember a particular thinking strategy and track the thinking throughout the text.”
Coding text is also identified as a strategy for differentiation. Students love using the picto-graphs to engage in reading. Together we developed our own code and students are encouraged to individualize that code to use throughout their educational career. The librarians at Harvard University even encourage all incoming freshmen at the university to develop and use a coding system!
Alongside coding, students are practicing annotating text, and they are encouraged to practice this skill as well.
For writing, students are drafting, revising and editing position papers. This semester, we will continue to hone our expository/informative and persuasive writing skills.
On a side note: With all the Edline challenges, I will be posting assignments, resources, and class updates on Edmodo. The English class code: mtic65. Feel free to join us and comment.
Math –
We will finish the (Stretching and Shrinking) unit in about two weeks. I am really pleased with the progress of the students, and during this unit I make a lot of connections between geometry and algebra. We have about two months to continue preparing for the state (MAP) test. In order to make sure we master the concepts on the test, I’ll be asking students to do more doing the week in order to avoid homework on the weekend. At any point if your student feel stress from too much homework, it is fine to do the work over the weekend.
Science –
In Dynamic Science this week the students had their first attempt at the Weather Unit formative quiz. This is a Quia online quiz (www.quia.com/web) which covers the concepts of the entire weather unit. They will take the quiz in class about once a week so they can see how they are doing with their understanding of the concepts. This quiz will be posted on the portal but does not calculate into the student's semester grade. As they better understand the weather concepts they will see their scores for the quiz go up! Right before the unit test they should score very well on the quiz. The students may log in anytime they want to take the quiz as often as they want to check themselves. Today most of the students were in the 30%-45% range. Considering we are only about 7 class days into the unit there scores were as I anticipated. As you check the portal, remember Weather Unit Formative Quiz is just a road sign to help students check their understanding of the major concepts of the unit and do not figure into their semester grade.
Weather Unit Outline:
The links for the course websites are listed below.
Course Websites:
If you have any questions or comments please let me know
314-918-4603
Social Studies –
For the first part of this week, students focused on the relationship between Athens and Sparta. After reading Ch. 27 in History Alive, students worked in table groups on an activity called Sum It Up. Finally, using the information they gathered, students created a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the two cities. I asked them to examine how the differences in cultures led to the Peloponnesian War. Towards the end of the week, students began their Greek Myth Books. Students will choose a myth, retell it in their own words, and illustrate the story. The booklets do not need to be typed but they do need to be legible and in color. They are due January 25th.
I am available for after school help every Thursday until 4:00 p.m.
The links for the course websites are listed below.
Course Websites:
314-918-4602
| Please visit the following links for more information: Hixson home page - http://schools.webster.k12.mo.us/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectionid=7 Dr. Heisserer's blog - http://hixsonprincipal.wordpress.com/ |
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