
Everyone got their genre worksheet turned in and then eagerly signed up for the book project of their choice. Those are due in the next three weeks--students sign up to present.
Students are doing short writing exercises: a descriptive paragraph about a special place, an opinion piece about dog food (based on articles they read). I get them on the computer all the time, partly in an effort to increase their word-processing skills. By the time the SBA rolls around, I want working on the computer to be old hat.
My math group finished their first chapter test. The average grade was 87%. The tests will come home with all the papers on Friday. The 7th grade math group is nearly done with their first chapter too.
In math today I showed the group a trick for subtracting without borrowing. The kids LOVED it. I said the real key would be if they could explain it to their parents. One of them asked for the picture from the board to help, so here it is.
Our textbook has about three pages dedicated to World War 1. I checked out a dozen books or so from the library, a couple of encyclopedias, added a couple more books of my own. Then I got students reading all the different sources, looking for the answers to just a few questions:
- What were the causes of the war?
- Why did the US enter the war?
- How was the war fought and won?
- How did the war end? What were the consequences or impacts of the war?
Come by the classroom and check out some of the cool drawings of squash the kids have done! You can click on any of the blocks below to see some samples.