Friday, February 28, 2014

Dynamic Dialogue 3/28/14

Happy Full Week Dynamic Team!


Upcoming Events:       Mar. 4th – 25th Scholastic Book Fair
                                      Mar. 11th and 13th Parent/Teacher Conferences
                                      Mar. 13th  Spring Picture Day
                                      Mar. 14th – 23rd Spring Break



Important Information:    Below is the link to sign up for the Student Conferences on Tuesday, 11 March or Thursday, 13 March; the 20 minute time blocks begin at 4:00 and the last appointment begins at 7:40. Choose any one of the Dynamic blocks: A, B, C, or D.
Click here for information on the FamilyEnrichment Fair.  If you would like to activate your Edline account, please contact Mr. Daniels or Mrs. Pettid for your activation code.

The 8th Grade registration is open and forms should be turned into the Hixson Middle School office as soon as you are able. Remember the electives are scheduled on a first come, first served basis.

English –

     A busy and productive week for English students. Our week began with a visit to the library and persuasive writing in response to our current reading "After Twenty Years." Next students either participated in a class discussion as a follow up to the persuasive writing or worked independently on searching for details in the text to support questions related to foreshadowing, which is one of the traits that O.Henry's writing is famous for. Also, students practiced taking on a character's tone by writing a letter from the story character to a classmate evaluating their advice. Finally, students worked together to brainstorm sentence variations for our sentence combining work. On Friday, students will have computer workshop time to wrap up the week's assignments.

Grades in the portal were updated today. :)

Susan Artkras – artkras.susan@wgmail.org


Math- 

 Wilma Slaughter – slaughter.wilma@wgmail.org

Science –
In Dynamic Science this week the students completed a lab investigating specific heat capacity of sand, water, and soil. The recorded the temperature every minute of each of the materials while in exposed to a heatlamp for 15 minutes, then another 15 minutes with the heatlamp turned off. The students created a line graph for their data. The conclusion the students wrote consisted of four parts: results, hypothesis, evidence, and possible sources of error. The students created a GoogleDoc and moved their conclusion document into a shared folder. Understanding the uneven heating of different materials enables the students to account for many of the differences in regional climate.



The students took the Weather Unit formative quiz for the third time on Monday, 24 February. You should be seeing their scores improving every week. This is a Quia online quiz (www.quia.com/web) which covers the concepts of the entire weather unit. I RECOMMEND your student takes the Quia quiz two or three times over the weekend using their notes as a learning experience. 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. Since the quiz covers all the concepts of the unit, the total points possible has been adjusted down to the topics covered up to this point in time to more accurately reflect their level of understanding. The students will take the quiz again on Monday, 3 March 2014.

Next week the students will investigate warm fronts, cold fronts, stationary fronts, and climate factors.

We have covered the following concepts so far this semester:
1.    Kinetic temperature theory with the 3 temperature scales Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Kelvin, including absolute zero.
2.    Density of air and air pressure.
3.    Properties of cold and hot air masses.
4.    Weather caused by the center of a low pressure and weather caused by the center of a high pressure.
5.    The Direction of winds around a low or high pressure centers.
6.    The three states of matter (solid, liquid, & gas) and the freezing/melting & boiling/condensation transition zones.
7.    The 3 ways of heat energy is transferred: convection, conduction, and radiation.
8.    Heat energy moves up and from hot towards cold.
9.    Winds blow away from the high pressure and towards the low pressure.
10.  Interpreting weather station plots.
11.  Understanding cold fronts, warm fronts, and stationary fronts.
12.  Understanding the how rain, sleet, hail, snow, and freezing rain are formed.
13.  Specific heat capacity of different materials.

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

Dynamic Science Course Website

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

Social Studies –

Students are continuing their look at ancient Rome.  We have wrapped up the Republic and the beginnings of Empire.  We have also spent some time looking at the tremendous architectural and engineering achievements of the Romans.  Next week we will continue with Rome by focusing on life for  the non-famous people.  My goal is to wrap up Rome by Spring Break.  The Classical World test will be March 13th..  Fingers crossed, there will be no more “bonus days”.

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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Monday, February 24, 2014

Dynamic Dialogue 2/21/14

Good Afternoon Dynamic Team!


Upcoming Events:         Feb. 21st – Term 4 Report Cards Mailed
Below is the link to sign up for the Student Conferences on Tuesday, 11 March or Thursday, 13 March; the 20 minute time blocks begin at 4:00 and the last appointment begins at 7:40. Choose any one of the Dynamic blocks: A, B, C, or D.
http://www.ptcfast.com/schools/Hixson_Middle_School_1


Important Information:    Click here for information on the Family Enrichment Fair.  If you would like to activate your Edline account, please contact Mr. Daniels or Mrs. Pettid for your activation code.

The 8th Grade registration is open and forms should be turned into the Hixson Middle School office as soon as you are able. Remember the electives are scheduled on a first come, first served basis.

English –


Susan Artkras – artkras.susan@wgmail.org


Math- 
We started a new unit this week (Comparing and Scaling).  This unit will cover Ratio, Proportion, Percent, and students will develop several methods for comparing quantities.  The math grades are updated, please check the portal. Be aware that some grades went down this semester, because the (Stretching and Shrinking) unit was difficult for some students.   
Wilma Slaughter – slaughter.wilma@wgmail.org

Science –
In Dynamic Science this week the students continued to develop the concepts about weather and climate. On Tuesday the students went outside to investigate specific heat capacity by measuring temperatures of 4 different materials: asphalt, concrete, grass, and water in sunlight and shaded. We reviewed the data on Thursday. The students collected temperature and barometric pressure data every day for 4 weeks, graphed it, and wrote a conclusion using this evidence to interpret the relationship between temperature and barometric pressure. The lab on Friday had the students measuring temperatures of sand, soil, water, and vegetable oil. which were placed in front of a heat lamp. They will see different materials heat up and cool down at different rates, which reflects specific heat capacity. Students are continuing to interpret weather station plots, see example below.
Because of the disruption in our week the students will take the Weather Unit formative quiz for the third time on Monday, 24 February. You should be seeing their scores improving every week. This is a Quia online quiz (www.quia.com/web) which covers the concepts of the entire weather unit. I RECOMMEND your student takes the Quia quiz two or three times over the weekend using their notes as a learning experience. 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. Since the quiz covers all the concepts of the unit, the total points possible has been adjusted down to the topics covered up to this point in time to more accurately reflect their level of understanding.

We have covered the following concepts so far this semester:
  1. Kinetic temperature theory with the 3 temperature scales Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Kelvin, including absolute zero.
  2. Density of air and air pressure.
  3. Properties of cold and hot air masses.
  4. Weather caused by the center of a low pressure and weather caused by the center of a high pressure.
  5. The Direction of winds around a low or high pressure centers.
  6. The three states of matter (solid, liquid, & gas) and the freezing/melting & boiling/condensation transition zones.
  7. The 3 ways of heat energy is transferred: convection, conduction, and radiation.
  8. Heat energy moves up and from hot towards cold.
  9. Winds blow away from the high pressure and towards the low pressure.
  10. Interpreting weather station plots.
  11. Understanding cold fronts, warm fronts, and stationary fronts.
  12. Understanding the how the rain, sleet, hail, snow, and freezing rain are formed.
  13. Specific heat capacity of different materials.

If you have any questions or comments please let me know.
Dynamic Science Course Website

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



Social Studies –

Well it has been another exciting week.  Due to the "bonus day" on Wednesday, we have had to move some of our activities to next week.  However, we were able to wrap up our geography activities and begin looking at the development of the Roman Republic.   Early next week we will be looking at the Punic Wars.  I will be asking students to look at the question “How does a Republic become an Empire?”  I have posted the notes for Rome on my Edline website, and encourage students to, at least, preview them at home (if they want to copy the notes into their notebooks that is fine, too.).  This will facilitate our class discussions and help us to make up some of the time we have missed.

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


Dynamic Social Studies Course Website:
www.hixson.webster.k12.mo.us/pages/Hixson/Classes/pettid

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

Please visit the following links for more information:
Hixson home page -http://hixson.webster.k12.mo.us/pages/Hixson
Dr. Heisserer's blog - http://hixsonprincipal.wordpress.com/



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Friday, February 14, 2014

Dynamic Dialogue 2/13/14

Good Afternoon Dynamic Team!


Upcoming Events:         Feb. 13th – Term 4 and Explo 2 ends
                                      Feb. 14th – Professional Day, No Student Attendance
                                      Feb. 17th – Presidents Day, No Student Attendance
                                      Feb. 21st – Term 4 Report Cards Mailed


Important Information:    Click here for information on the Family Enrichment Fair.  If you would like to activate your Edline account, please contact Mr. Daniels or Mrs. Pettid for your activation code.

The 8th Grade registration is open and forms should be turned into the Hixson Middle School office as soon as you are able. Remember the electives are scheduled on a first come, first served basis.

English –

This week students have been busy summarizing "The Highwayman." Summarizing not only demands reading comprehension but also requires structuring text in a meaningful way. Summarizing is a powerful tool to determine what a learner/reader understands about the text. Summarizing is an important skill for all college-bound students.

Susan Artkras – artkras.susan@wgmail.org


Math- 


Wilma Slaughter – slaughter.wilma@wgmail.org

Science –
In Dynamic Science this week the students finished their concept maps, independently watched a video covering weather concepts and global convection, and textual research covering the concepts of precipitation, air masses and fronts, storms, and predicting the weather. Included within this the students began interpreting weather station plots, see example below.

The students will take the Weather Unit formative quiz for the third time on Tuesday, 18 February. You should be seeing their scores improving every week. This is a Quia online quiz (www.quia.com/web) which covers the concepts of the entire weather unit. I RECOMMEND your student takes the Quia quiz two or three times over the long weekend using their notes as a learning experience. 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. Since the quiz covers all the concepts of the unit, the total points possible has been adjusted down to the topics covered up to this point in time to more accurately reflect their level of understanding.
Next week there are a couple labs planned.
We have covered the following concepts so far this semester:
  1. Kinetic temperature theory with the 3 temperature scales Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Kelvin, including absolute zero.
  2. Density of air and air pressure.
  3. Properties of cold and hot air masses.
  4. Weather caused by the center of a low pressure and weather caused by the center of a high pressure.
  5. The Direction of winds around a low or high pressure centers.
  6. The three states of matter (solid, liquid, & gas) and the freezing/melting & boiling/condensation transition zones.
  7. The 3 ways of heat energy is transferred: convection, conduction, and radiation.
  8. Heat energy moves up and from hot towards cold.
  9. Winds blow away from the high pressure and towards the low pressure.
  10. Interpreting weather station plots.
  11. Understanding cold fronts, warm fronts, and stationary fronts.
  12. Understanding the how the rain, sleet, hail, snow, and freezing rain are formed.
If you have any questions or comments please let me know.

Dynamic Science Course Website

http://hixson.webster.k12.mo.us/pages/Hixson/Classes/daniels

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

314-918-4603


Social Studies –

We’re finally at Rome!  We will begin, as usual with a look at the geography of the region and then move on to the Roman Republic.  We will be comparing and contrasting republics with democracies and determining just where the U.S. fits in.  We will also be looking at the Punic Wars.  I will be asking students to look at the question “How does a Republic become an Empire?”

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


Dynamic Social Studies Course Website:
www.hixson.webster.k12.mo.us/pages/Hixson/Classes/pettid

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

Please visit the following links for more information:
Hixson home page -http://hixson.webster.k12.mo.us/pages/Hixson
Dr. Heisserer's blog - http://hixsonprincipal.wordpress.com/


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Friday, February 7, 2014

Dynamic Dialogue 2/7/14

Good Afternoon Dynamic Team!


Upcoming Events:          Feb. 11th – Incoming 7th Grade Parent Orientation
                                      6:30 – 8:05 p.m.
                                      Feb. 13th – Term 4 and Explo 2 ends
                                      Feb 14th – Professional Day, No Student Attendance

 8th Grade Registration Packet: Today students received their 8th Grade Registration Packet, 4 pages. Mrs. Peterson used a class period to explain the packet and have the students fill out the packet. The registration form will be accepted by the Hixson Middle School office staff starting on Tuesday, 11 February 2014. The registration is built upon a first come/first serve basis, so the sooner your forms are turned into the office, the more likely your student will have their first choices!

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


English –

This week students submitted their best effort at a fictional short story. Students will receive two grades for their story 1) turning in the story, 2) quality of the work based on selected criteria generated by the students.

Thursday and Friday, each class was split so that two activities were happening at the same time. The independent group worked on sentence combining, which emphasizes work with the four types of sentences. The teacher-led group participated in a text study of "The Highwayman"-- a narrative poem by Alfred Noyes. Students are encouraged to ask clarifying questions and probing questions to deepen their understanding of the text. Splitting the class allows the students within the discussion more time and opportunity to share their thinking and questions.

Our next library day is Monday, Feb. 10.

On Tuesday, students will revisit either summary writing or persuasive writing in response to a prompt related to "The Highwayman."

Susan Artkras – artkras.susan@wgmail.org


Math- 


Wilma Slaughter – slaughter.wilma@wgmail.org

Science –

 In Dynamic Science this week the students completed for the second time 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! Please ask your student how they improved on the QUIA quiz yesterday. The students may log in anytime they want to take the quiz as often as they want to check themselves. 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. Since the quiz covers all the concepts of the unit, the total points possible has been adjusted down to the topics covered up to this point in time to more accurately reflect their level of understanding.
Instructional time this week was Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday was the snow day, and Thursday was the formative Quia quiz, and Friday the students had their Counselor lesson from Linda Peterson on 8th Grade Registration. We are hoping to be able to get outside next week for some lab activities measuring the components of weather! J

We have covered the following concepts so far this semester:
  1. Kinetic temperature theory with the 3 temperature scales Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Kelvin, including absolute zero.
  2. Density of air and air pressure.
  3. Properties of cold and hot air masses.
  4. Weather caused by the center of a low pressure and weather caused by the center of a high pressure.
  5. The Direction of winds around a low or high pressure centers.
  6. The three states of matter (solid, liquid, & gas) and the freezing/melting & boiling/condensation transition zones.
  7. The 3 ways of heat energy is transferred: convection, conduction, and radiation.
  8. Heat energy moves up and from hot towards cold.
  9. Winds blow away from the high pressure and towards the low pressure.
If you have any questions or comments please let me know.

Dynamic Science Course Website

http://hixson.webster.k12.mo.us/pages/Hixson/Classes/daniels

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

314-918-4603



Social Studies –

It’s been a crazy weather week at Hixson.  Because of the storm we were forced to move the Greece open-note quiz to next Tuesday.  We will begin Rome on Wednesday.

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


Dynamic Social Studies Course Website:
www.hixson.webster.k12.mo.us/pages/Hixson/Classes/pettid

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

Please visit the following links for more information:
Hixson home page -http://hixson.webster.k12.mo.us/pages/Hixson
Dr. Heisserer's blog - http://hixsonprincipal.wordpress.com/


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