Friday, January 17, 2014

Dynamic Dialogue 1/17/14

Happy Friday Dynamic Team!


Upcoming Events:          Jan. 17th – Hixson Family Fun Night 
Webster Groves DQ Grill and Chill
Jan. 20th - MLK Day, School not in session
                                       Jan. 25th – Hixson Adult Trivia Night



Important Information:
    Hixson’s trivia night is Saturday, January 25th. Tables are going quickly! Registration forms will be mailed with your child’s report card or you may visit www.hxtrivia.blogspot.com to register online. We are still collecting items for the silent auction, especially for our team basket. Alternatively, if you would prefer not to purchase an item, we would be happy to accept any monetary donation that may be used to purchase items for our baskets.

We are asking parents to contribute items for two baskets to be auctioned off per team.  Dynamic’s theme is Home Sweet Home.  We are requesting items such as Lowes/Home Depot gift cards, gift cards for Bed, Bath, and anything other items that can be used to make home a sweeter place.

If you would like to activate your Edline account, please contact Mr. Daniels or Mrs. Pettid for your activation code.


English –


Susan Artkras – artkras.susan@wgmail.org


Math- This week students used an on-line math program (StraightAce) to do their homework.  StraightAce is allowing us to use their program (as a resource) this semester at (no cost), so we can give them feedback-- they are an start-up internet company.  Students will mainly do the book work (Stretching & Shrinking) in class, then use the StraightAce program at home to reinforce what was learned in class and to help prepare for the MAP test. I am getting very positive feedback from the students; some students who usually struggle with math is spending (1-2 hours) on the computer each night.


Wilma Slaughter – slaughter.wilma@wgmail.org

Science –

The Dynamic Science Weather Unit encompasses many of the foundational principals and concepts of the transfer of energy! This week we have changed the way students think about temperature. The students are beginning to understand that temperature measures the speed of particles. Kelvin is the best temperature scale when we talk about speed of the particles because 0° K all particle motion stops! Electrons no longer spin, even protons and neutrons stop vibrating. The concepts of focus this week also include density, air pressure, qualities of hot and cold air masses, the three states of matter, and the weather around barometric low pressure and high pressure centers. Anticipate your child watching more weather forecasts and understanding them. Please engage them in conversations about weather!

Next week they will begin taking a formative Quia quiz covering the weather concepts. As a formative quiz they will take it about every 7-10 days. You should be seeing their scores improve as we go through the unit. Since the quiz covers all the major concepts of the weather unit some of their initial scores will be low. As they develop their understanding and make connections among the concepts their scores will improve. The formative quizzes help them see their progress and areas of which they need to focus.

Standards based grading (please see bulleted list below) has been very beneficial for student learning and achievement! I have been delighted about the students’ increased focus on learning! Please review with your student about their learning experiences in Science and about their achievements with developing their skills creating data tables and graphs, identifying independent variables, dependent variables, and constants, and writing hypotheses and conclusions.
C = Can perform some or most the skill independently.
B = Can perform all important aspects of the skill independently.
A = Can transfer the skill to a new situation or set of circumstances never seen before, or make a prediction about something which has not been tested.

Below are the first two weather learning goals.
Goal 1:  Student can analyze data, including maps, and construct and use models to develop understanding of the factors that control weather.
4
Student demonstrates innovation, in depth inference(s), or advanced application(s) with the learning goal, such as
  • Student will analyze air mass movement and weather data.
3
Student will
  • explain changes in weather (temperature, pressure, humidity, precipitation, wind) in terms of air mass movement.
  • explain possible weather in terms of data from weather maps, diagrams, visualizations, and experiments.
2
Student will:
  • identify cause/effect relationship between changes in weather (temperature, pressure, humidity, precipitation, wind) in terms of air mass movement.
  • interpret data from weather maps, diagrams, visualizations, and experiments to identify possible weather.
1
Student will:
  • match changes in weather (temperature, pressure, humidity, precipitation, wind) with air mass movement.
  • match data from weather maps, diagrams, visualizations, and experiments with possible resulting weather.


Goal 2:  Student can analyze data, including maps, and construct and use models to develop understanding of the factors that control climate.
4
Student demonstrates innovation, in depth inference(s), or advanced application(s) with the learning goal, such as
  • Student will analyze unequal heating and rotation of the Earth and cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.
3
Student will
  • differentiate patterns of regional climate caused by different factors. (latitude, altitude, geographic land distribution, atmospheric circulation, ocean circulation)
2
Student will:
  • identify cause/effect relationship between factors and regional climate.  (latitude, altitude, geographic land distribution, atmospheric circulation, ocean circulation)
1
Student will:
  • match factors with resulting regional climate.   (latitude, altitude, geographic land distribution, atmospheric circulation, ocean circulation)

If you have any questions or comments please let me know.

Dynamic Science Course Website


Dynamic Systems Science – Coach Daniels -
daniels.mark@wgmail.org


314-918-4603


Social Studies –

We are exploring our Greek roots.  Every day, students are given a Greek root word and asked to share as many English words from that root that they can.  Classes are competing against each other and the competition is quite lively.  This is a great warm-up for their brains at the beginning of class. 

Our focus this week has been on Greek art and architecture and its impact on Western Civilization.  I will be asking students to spot elements of Greek architecture in their own neighborhoods and travels around St. Louis.  There will be a quick, small test over Greek art and architecture at the end of next week. 


After school help is available in my room every Tuesday until 4:00
 


Dynamic Social Studies Course Website:

Lisa Pettid – pettid.lisa@wgmail.org
314-918-4602

Please visit the following links for more information:
Dr. Heisserer's blog - http://hixsonprincipal.wordpress.com/


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