I am a liar.  We have no homework!

We had a TON of quizzes this afternoon, and overall, we did not do well on them.  This meant we went over them as a class and did a lot of review.  As such, we didn’t get to the things that would have produced homework for us.  Don’t worry, it will go home Monday!

 

Please remember that we have school tomorrow.  It is a half day, buses run as normal in the mornings, but there is no breakfast.

 

Our field trip is next Friday!  I will be sending home another reminder with the schedule and such on Monday.

 

Read over the weekend!

 

Have a good one,

 

-Mr. Potter

Tonight is a fairly easy night.  This is because there *will* be homework tomorrow night.  It will be due Saturday (or the next time I see the students!)

We started today with a bit of algebra, and how we would go about creating an equation with unknown values.  See if you can come up with the equations and answers that we did:

Unknowns

We had a really great round of centers today.  The work I am seeing coming out of these has been steadily increasing in quality.  I feel we will be finishing up with fractions and doing a review of the year’s material soon.  After that we’ll be focusing on more advanced topics like the above problem.

Tonight students have *no* math homework.  We took a pop quiz today that was basically just like the homework this week, where students work backwards from an answer and make an equation and a word problem, so I feel like they have been worked enough for the day.

 

In Language Arts we looked at a poem about trust, and identified the figurative language in it.  We talked about how we can use figurative language in our own poetry, and what that might look like.  We came up with a number of figurative statements about wolves:

“mouth full of daggers” “silent, stalking murderer”, “Rare as unicorns”

And we also talked about extended metaphors, and how we can incorporate those into our writing as well.

Tonight students need to write their own poem, using figurative language.  I would like to see an example each of simile, metaphor, personification, and hyperbole in their poem.  It should be of a decent length, on a topic of their choosing.  They will be turning this in tomorrow for a writing grade, so I expect them to put some thought into it.

Students should also finish their last two ‘graph’ sentences.

In Science we talked more about forces, and Newton’s second law.   This is the famous F=Ma law.   The basic point is that as force increases, so does acceleration.  If mass increases and force stays the same, acceleration decreases.

We saw this with our little lego car and guy.  We sent him down a ramp (constant force of gravity) and he went about half-way across the table (where he was stopped due to friction).   We added mass to his car (a bunch of pop cubes) and then thought about whether he should go farther if we sent him down the ramp this time.  Well, according to Newton’s second law if mass increases, then acceleration decreases when force stays the same.  As predicted, the more mass we added, the shorter distance our lego car would travel across the table.  It seemed we are finally all starting to ‘get’ this.

 

so, tl;dr

not much today!

Write a poem using 4 types of figurative language on a topic of your choice.  Minimum half a page, this will be turned in for a grade.

Finish your last two ‘graph’ vocab word sentences.

READ!

 

Have a good one,

 

-Mr. Potter

 

Again: School on Saturday.  Half day.  Buses run in the morning as normal.

It’s Wednesday, but really it’s only Tuesday.

 

That’s  a reminder that we have school on Saturday!  Buses will run as normal during the morning, and class will start at 8:30am as they usually would.  This Saturday is only a half day, so there is no breakfast or lunch served.

This morning in Math we got off on a tangent (pun intended!) and spent the entire morning talking about graphing equations, and positive and negative integers.  This was in NO WAY what I planned to do this morning, but the students were interested in it, and I feel we actually learned a lot.  As such, our day was a bit wonky, and we didn’t quite get to a lot of things, but that’s not exactly so far from how things normally work out!

Tonight students have a new set of 4 ANSWERS, and they must give me 4 equations, and then 4 word problems, that would go with these answers.  The set that we turned in today was alright, but students weren’t doing too well with creating their own division problems.  As such, we did some examples in class, and they are attached below with their 4 answers.

WorkBackwardsMay13

 

In Language Arts we talked more about points of view, and how they influence things.  We discussed how reading lots of fiction lets us experience things from other people’s points of view, and how there has been research done that shows people who read more, actually exhibit more empathy and understanding as a result of this.  Yet another reason to read everybody!!

While some students had experienced things that let them really connect to the “I still have everything you gave me” poem, some students had never experienced a loss that allowed them to make a connection.  We talked about this, and about how our experiences and our personality often influence how we interpret what we read.

Tonight students are to do an exercise in stepping outside of their own shoes and writing from another’s point of view.  They should pick someone from their own family, and write a short poem as if they were that person.  This can be a simple poem from their chosen person’s point of view.

If they are feeling adventurous, they should write a poem about themselves, from the other person’s point of view.

This should be minimum two stanzas, and this time let’s make it rhyme!

Here was mine:

Daddy Daddy

pick me up!

I want coke

please fill my cup

Why are you angry?

I just bit Sai

I think he likes it

Now I cry

A literary masterpiece, if I do say so myself.

In addition to this, students received a short passage about the US trip to the moon that focuses on examining figurative language.  They should read and answer the questions associated with this passage tonight (and yep, I want reasoning!)

To The Moon And Back Passage

ToTheMoonQuestions

Also, students should write a sentence for the next 4 ‘graph’ words on their vocab list.

Finally, we spent some more time playing with the neat simulations over here.

It was very hard for some students to understand that applying a net unbalanced force to an object will continue to increase the object’s speed.  On a flat surface this might seem un-intuitive, but if you think about something being dropped from a plane, the only force being applied to the object is the force of gravity, which is a constant force.  However the object continues to accelerate as it falls. (this ignores terminal velocity, but in a perfect system without air resistance that wouldn’t exist so……let’s just go with it)

It will take a lot of time to really shake some of these misconceptions, and LOTS of proof to the contrary.  Unfortunately we are pretty stubborn creatures when it comes to changing our habits/beliefs.

 

so, tl;dr

Here are some answers.  Write me an equation and a word problem to go with them!

WorkBackwardsMay13

write a minimum two stanza poem from one of your family member’s point of view.  Make it rhyme!

Read this passage.  Answer these questions.  Remember Figurative Language!

To The Moon And Back Passage

ToTheMoonQuestions

Write a sentence for your next four ‘graph’ words

And as always, read!

What a great day.  We got tons of stuff done, and we were focused for most of the day.  I love this class.

 

We started off talking about fractions and our equations from last night.  Having to work backwards to an equation from an answer was somewhat of a challenge for many students.  This really shows how strong of a handle they have on the math involved.  We corrected quite a few mistakes and misunderstandings.  Some of our students figured out that if the answer is 5/9, that 5 divided by 9 would give us an answer of 5/9.  That is a fantastic connection to make.

Tonight students should take ANOTHER step back in regards to these answers.  They should look at the equation they came up with, and write a word problem that describes that equation.  We did one or two as an example, and I am hopeful that they can do this successfully.

Here are the problems again in case you need them:

OneMoreStep

In Language Arts we looked at a LOT of poems.  We focused today on point of view, and how the author’s point of view greatly influences a poem.  It can alter everything from subject matter to tone.  Tonight students have a poem to write, and a poem to analyze.

First, students should write a poem from the point of view of a normal everyday object.  It can be anything really, and these oftentimes end up like little riddles.  Here is mine:

open, shut
open, shut
I’m tired of this
I’m in a rut

put your hand out before I close
oops too late
I bonked your nose!

Secondly, students should read “I still have everything you gave me”, and answer these questions:

Who wrote this?

Why do you think they wrote this?

Who are they talking to?

Make a connection to this poem

POV poems

 

We also received a new vocab list containing ‘graph’ words.  Students should write a sentence for each of the first four tonight.  They are all nouns.  I expect them to be used correctly!

Finally, we talked about forces, acceleration, speed, mass, and all that good stuff.  Here is a question for you, that nobody in our class got the first time:

If I apply a constant, unbalanced force to an object, what will happen to the speed of the object?

Will it increase, then plateau? (speed up, and then keep moving at a constant speed?)

Will it increase without stopping? (continue to move faster and faster?)

Will it increase and then decrease? (speeds up, then slows down?)

We played with this neat tool to figure out the answer:

Forces Simulation

 

See if you know the answer. If not, try to figure it out with the simulation!

 

so, tl;dr

Write 6 word problems to go with the equations you wrote yesterday

OneMoreStep

Write a poem from the p.o.v. of an everyday object

Answer these questions about “I still have everything you gave me”: (and yes I know the last one isn’t a question)

Who wrote this?

Why do you think they wrote this?

Who are they talking to?

Make a connection to this poem

 

We also got a new list of vocab words! Come in with a sentence for the first four tomorrow.

 

As always, read and get your reading log signed.

Have a good one,

 

-Mr. Potter

Friday was AWESOME.

We had popcorn, a movie, and then spent the afternoon playing games outside!

We had a tug of war where I got tripped, and the girls in our class dragged me for like 3 meters before they stopped.  I was totally destroyed!  It was a great time.  I hope your student enjoyed it and had some stories for you.

 

Today we were back to our routine.  We are down to approximately one month before EOGs, so we will be doing a good bit of review from this point forwards.  We took some review notes this morning on standard algorithms, and also took a look again at adding, subtracting, dividing, and multiplying with fractions, and what is really going on when we perform these operations.

Tonight students have a set of 6 ANSWERS.  Their job is to give me an equation that will have the given answer.  For instance if I gave them 3/7 and asked them to find an addition equation, something like 1/7 + 2/7 would be acceptable.  There are many different answers.  We did two examples as well.

WriteAnEquationMay11

After some Math Centers, we continued our examination of figurative language.  Last week’s figurative language assessment was MUCH better than our last figurative language quiz.  I was very impressed.  We played some review trashketball, where we got a bit out of hand and had to take some time to calm down.

Next we took a quick look at tonight’s language arts/science homework.  Students received a passage about challenges astronauts face living and working in space.  We had talked some last week about this, and the students really enjoyed watching videos of Chris Hadfield explaining how they do things up in space.  This is all to really emphasize to students how many forces are at work in our daily lives that we don’t even notice.  It’s a pretty entertaining passage, and if you get a chance, please read it with your student.

AstralBodiesMay11

Tonight they should read the passage and write for me a minimum half page summary of the content.

And before you knew it, it was time to go!

so, tl;dr

here are some answers.  Give me an equation that would give me this answer:

WriteAnEquationMay11

Read this passage and write a minimum half page summary:

AstralBodiesMay11

As always, read!

 

Have a good one,

 

-Mr. Potter

There is no homework!

Except read!  Reading is very important.

Today was kind of like our normal Friday.  We had our math centers in the morning, did some review, and then we took our battery of quizzes in the afternoon.

We had a really great discussion about Invictus.  We learned how Nelson Mandela kept this poem with him in his cell, and we also learned how Timothy McVeigh talked about how this poem was important to him as well.  We reached the conclusion that poetry is what you make it, and different people get different things out of poetry, and honestly just literature in general.

So why was today so short?  This is because tomorrow is really just a fun day for the students at school.  We are going to spend our morning watching a movie and sharing some snacks, and then we are going to have our Field Day in the afternoon.

Students are allowed to bring a pillow or stuffed animal to make themselves comfortable during the movie if they like.  They may also bring a snack to share or one for themselves.

Please make sure that students come dressed appropriately for field day.  We will be outside and doing physical activities for a good 2 hours, so I recommend a good t-shirt and shorts/pants.  Also sneakers please!  A hat and sunscreen wouldn’t hurt either.  I will have water but if students would like to bring their own, that’s fine.

 

short and sweet today

tl;dr

tomorrow: movie and field day

snack = ok        pillow = ok

t-shirt and comfortable shoes to play in: ok

hat/sunscreen: ok

water: ok

READING LOG TONIGHT: DEFINITELY OK

 

Have a good one,

 

-Mr. Potter

T minus 2 days until field day!

I realized I haven’t spoken about this fun-filled day at all here.  This Friday, the 8th, we will be having our yearly field day.  We will spend the afternoon outside doing a wide range of physical activities and games.  It will be great!

As a class we decided to celebrate our last jewel by watching a movie and having snacks the morning before we have field day.  I sent home a permission slip today asking permission to watch a movie that morning and to share some snacks.  If you could sign it and get it back, I would really appreciate it.

 

We started our day talking more about decimal multiplication using the standard algorithm.  Tonight students have yet more practice with this.  I beg of you, please do not teach them the tips and tricks you were taught when you were younger.  The purpose of this exercise is not for them to learn a ‘trick’ to find the answer.

The purpose of this practice is for them to realize that in order to multiply something like 3.4 and 2.25, they are going to multiply (3 + .4) x (2 + .2 + .05), and how we distribute the multiplication across.  It is also for them to realize that when we multiply .4 and .05, as our first step in the standard algorithm, we are multiplying 4 tenths and 5 hundredths, the answer to which will be 20 thousandths. This is not 4 times 5.  The answer is not 20.

Decimal Multiplication Practice

For this reason they should do each problem just as we have done the first two.  Not only does this ensure they think about what they are actually multiplying within the problem, it shows them exactly where they are in regards to place value, and where decimal points should go.

 

We next spent some time on brainpop looking at forces, gravity, and more of Newton’s laws.  I think we are finally overcoming some of our students’ misconceptions about how force, mass, and acceleration are related.

When I first asked students the other day what would happen if I made our lego car heavier and sent it down the ramp, many thought that it would go farther than when it was lighter.  It took many demonstrations to convince them that as we add mass, it takes more and more force to move something (it’s inertia increases).

Today when I asked the same question of a group of students, we only had 2 that were still mistakenly thinking that ‘heavier = moves faster’.  This is probably due to the idea that something that is heavier falls faster (which is also incorrect).  We’ll keep hitting on this one throughout the week.

 

Next we started typing up some of our poetry.  We talked about how we can do all sorts of things with poetry on our pages.  We can decide how we want them to look:

Straight

Rigid

No Frills

 

Flowery

Fluid

Free

 

Or maybe something else!

 

Finally, we talked a bit about Invictus.  Some students had no connections to make between their own lives and the poem.  For this reason I chose to share some connections I had (And that perhaps you have had, if you’ve ever seen the movie by the same name).

We watched a short video on Apartheid in South Africa. And then looked at a time-line of events that occurred in South Africa during this period.

This was completely new information for many students.  We have had discussions about racism and civil rights in the U.S., but not about these problems in other countries.  It was a very interesting conversation, and I asked students to reflect upon why they think Mr. Potter connects the poem to this portion of South Africa’s history, and if they see any connections themselves.

This is some pretty heavy stuff, and if you would like to have a conversation with your student about this, and ask them what they think, I believe it would be a great discussion.

Tonight students should answer this:

5.  Why do you think Mr. Potter draws a connection between the poem Invictus, and apartheid in South Africa?  Do you see any connections?

They should also finish their sentences for ject words!

 

so, tl;dr

Set of decimal multiplication problems, done as we have done in class!

Decimal Multiplication Practice

Answer this question about the Invictus poem:

Why do you think Mr. Potter draws a connection between the poem Invictus, and apartheid in South Africa?  Do you see any connections?

Finish a sentence for each of our -ject words

 

As always, read for 35 minutes please!

 

Have a good one,

-Mr. Potter

Decimals, figurative language, and Chris Hadfield.  That was our day!

 

First we looked over our multiplication using the standard algorithm.  When we are multiplying using the algorithm, it is important that we understand what place value/power of ten we are dealing with.  Tonight students have a set of simple decimal multiplication problems to work on.  They should show me the first step of the standard algorithm, which will prove their place value as they start.  We did the first few problems together, so they have a good set of examples:

DecimalMultiplicationMay5

 

In Language Arts we shared our kenning poems and had our partners guess our subject.  We did a really great job with these overall, and the students seemed to really enjoy them.

We then talked more about using figurative language to improve our poems.  Things like similes and metaphors, hyperbole and personification make our writing more interesting.

Next we looked at some poems chock-full of metaphors and symbolism.  Tonight students have two poems to examine.  They should identify the figurative language they see at work in the first poem by writing the figurative language used to the right of each line.  They should also try to identify the subject of the poem.   In the second poem, “Invictus”, they should define these 3 words:

invictus, menace, wrath

And then answer these questions:

1. How does this poem make you feel?
2. Listen to the sounds and the meaning of the words, what words stand out to you? why?
3. Does the poem remind you of anything in your own life?
4. What pictures do you see in your mind?

This should all be done in their writing journal.

Invictus

 

Finally, we talked about Newton’s first and second laws of motion and took some notes.  We played around with some lego people and had them moving down ramps carrying different amounts of mass.  We found that as the mass of an object increases, it requires a greater force to move it, or to stop it.  This is essentially Newton’s second law.

To wrap up our day we watched some videos about life on the international space station.  We are so used to gravity and other unseen forces affecting us daily, that it is really neat to see an environment with no (minimal) gravity.

 

so, tl;dr

Set of decimal multiplication problems.  Ensure you do them as the examples, proving your first place value:

DecimalMultiplicationMay5

Read these poems : identify the figurative language in the first, next to each line.  Then answer these questions about the second poem, “Invictus”: (all done in their writing journal)

Invictus

1. How does this poem make you feel?
2. Listen to the sounds and the meaning of the words, what words stand out to you? why?
3. Does the poem remind you of anything in your own life?
4. What pictures do you see in your mind?

Finally, write two more sentences using our next two ‘ject’ words from the vocab list.

As always, read for 35 minutes!

 

Have a good one,

-Mr. Potter

May the 4th be with you!

I can’t believe some of our students haven’t seen Star Wars before.  I mean really…….how am I supposed to make awful terrible worn-out jokes if half the class has never seen this staple of cinema before?

 

So we spent our morning doing some math centers, and then talking about multiplication with decimals using the standard algorithm.  Essentially we have to be hyper-aware of what we are multiplying, so that we can tell where our decimal point should go.  Are we multiplying tenths by tenths?  Then we’ll get hundredths.  Are we multiplying tenths by ones?  We will get tenths.  Are we multiplying tenths by tens?  we’ll get ones.

Tonight students have a series of problems to do.  They should do each of these problems with an area model, and also using the standard algorithm.  There is a pattern to these problems that they should pick up on, and it should help them with their work.

When using the standard algorithm, they must tell me what their first place value is on their top line.  Here is a page of examples we did together, and you can see where you must indicate the place value as you do the first step in the standard algorithm:

DecimalMultiplication

 

The problems they should do in this manner are:

1. 46 x 28
2. 36 x 75
3. 28 x 41
4. 52 x 33

5. 4.6 x 28
6. 3.6 x 75
7. 2.8 x 41
8. 5.2 x 33

9. 4.6 x 2.8
10. 3.6 x 7.5
11. 2.8 x 4.1
12. 5.2 x 3.3

Each should be done with an area model, and then using the standard algorithm, pointing out the place value of the first step of the standard algorithm.

 

In Language Arts we talked briefly about our family metaphor poems, and then metaphors in general.  We discussed another type of ‘compacted’ metaphor: a kenning.  A kenning is a much-compressed form of metaphor, originally used in Anglo-Saxon and Norse poetry. In a kenning, an object is described in a two-word phrase, such as ‘whale-road’ for ‘sea’. Some kennings can be more obscure than others, and then grow close to being a riddle.  We made a little kenning poem about teachers by listing things that teachers do/how they act/what they look like/what they sound like.  This was VERY telling by the way – yikes!

Kennings

Tonight students should make their own 16 line (minimum) kenning poem.  It should be riddle-like, and they may not repeat a word.  They’ll have to really stretch their thinking and their vocabulary.

For example:

Egg layer
Insect betrayer
People scarer
Trap preparer
Silent creeper
Death reaper
Meal storer
Fly adorer
Duster hater
Web creator
Corner hider

 

Finally, we talked a bit about our new vocabulary list, especially stressing the parts of speech of each word.  Tonight students should write a sentence for each of the first four words, and they MUST…BE…USED….CORRECTLY….IN….EACH…..SENTENCE.

no forgiveness for this!

 

so, tl;dr

12 decimal multiplication problems.  Each should be done using an area model, then the standard algorithm.

DecimalMultiplication

1. 46 x 28
2. 36 x 75
3. 28 x 41
4. 52 x 33

5. 4.6 x 28
6. 3.6 x 75
7. 2.8 x 41
8. 5.2 x 33

9. 4.6 x 2.8
10. 3.6 x 7.5
11. 2.8 x 4.1
12. 5.2 x 3.3

Write a kenning poem riddle (minimum 16 lines).  No word can be re-used

Kennings

Write a sentence for the first 4 words on our new vocab list.  Make sure you use them correctly!

As always, read for 35 minutes!

 

Have a good one,

 

-Mr. Potter

Oh my goodness, a day where we almost got everything done!

 

It was quite a productive day, and we accomplished a great deal.  Your student *should* be exhausted, because I know I am!

First off, we reviewed volume, and then had our very first ever pop quiz, the results of which made it very obvious who had and had not been completing their homework.  It is super important that students take their time when completing homework.  The purpose of homework is for them to practice the skills they learn in class, and to figure out what they do and don’t understand yet.  I know it’s hard for an 11 year old to really grasp that, but we have to keep impressing upon them its importance.

Next we got a good 3 rotations of math centers, and added a volume center to the mix.

Tonight students have a simple worksheet to do.  They should write down the dimensions of each of the rectangular prisms, and then calculate their volumes.

DimensionsAndVolume

 

In Language Arts we together analyzed and talked a great deal about the poems The Road Not Taken and The Poison Tree.  Tonight if you have a moment ask your student what they think about these poems: Did they like them?  What did they end up thinking they meant?  We had some great discussion and different interpretations of them, and some students didn’t agree with or like the standard interpretations, and came up with their own.

The Poison Tree Road Not Taken

Tonight students should answer these questions:

1.  What does the poison tree stand for/ What is it a metaphor for?

2.  What does the road stand for/What is it a metaphor for?

3.  Tell me a story about a time in your life where you can relate to one of these poems.

 

Finally, we talked about balanced and unbalanced forces, and the forces at work all around us every day.  We are so used to living with gravity, friction, air resistance, and other unseen forces that we barely think about them.  Today we started really thinking about them, and students should do just that tonight.  They should label the forces at work in this absolutely AMAZING picture:

Forces

 

so, tl;dr

label the dimensions and volume:

DimensionsAndVolume

Read, answer these questions about:

The Poison Tree Road Not Taken

1.  What does the poison tree stand for/ What is it a metaphor for?

2.  What does the road stand for/ What is it a metaphor for?

3.  Tell me a story about a time in your life where you can relate to one of these poems.

 

Label the forces at work in this fabulous picture:

Forces

 

as always, read for 35 minutes!

 

Have a good one,

 

-Mr. Potter