Our second day went wonderfully.  How was yours?

 

First we talked a good bit about factoring and how it is used in real life.  We have been doing a real life factoring problem each morning, dealing with splitting up different amounts of objects into equal groups.

For homework tonight, students have a short factoring and greatest common factor worksheet to do.  It’s fairly straightforward, and we will have a short quiz on finding factors tomorrow.

FactoringJanuary29

GCFJanuary29

 

We then spent a good amount of time going over our Math Case 21.  We really need to focus on reading closely and ensuring that we answer what the question is asking.  One question specifically that MANY students missed asked for the price of five apples, and half of our class answered how much a single apple costs.

 

Missing something like that is unfortunate because it’s not really an ability problem (they were perfectly capable of solving the problem), but an attention to detail problem.  It is sad that sometimes questions on standardized tests are ‘gotcha!’ questions like that, but it is a reality that we need to be prepared for.

 

We then started talking about the fantasy genre, which we will be focusing on this quarter.  We talked about how one of the main characteristics of the fantasy genre are (surprise!) fantastical elements.

We watched two short clips, one that was VERY fantastical, and one less so, in order to demonstrate that a story not necessarily be truly out of this world to be included in the fantasy genre.  The students asked that I link them here so they might watch them later if they liked:

Francis

The Tale of Mr Revus

 

This led us to realize that our Mysterious Benedict Society books that we have been reading are included in the Fantasy genre.

For homework tonight, students should have taken home their Language Arts journals with their summaries of the Mysterious Benedict Society books.  They should make a list of at minimum 3 realistic and 3 fantastical elements from the book.

 

In Science we got a chance to talk about why our aquarium turned green (Algae bloom!), and then talk a bit about weather.

In order to understand that weather is the state of the atmosphere in a specific place, we had to talk about our atmosphere, and then we had to discuss how our planet orbits the sun at a tilt while rotating, creating day, night, and seasons.  This led to more discussions about why we don’t feel the Earth moving, and eventually a detour to the ISS camera, so we could see the Earth truly spinning:

ISS live feed

It was a long, winding road we went down, but I think we might ACTUALLY be ready to discuss weather in detail starting tomorrow!

 

All in all, it was a great day!

 

so, tl;dr

two math worksheets on factoring and greatest common factors:

FactoringJanuary29

GCFJanuary29

 

And a list of 3 fantastical and 3 realistic elements from The Mysterious Benedict Society

 

As always, read for 35 minutes and get your reading log signed!

 

Have a good one,

 

-Mr. Potter

 

 

We are back!  I missed the students dearly, and it was so great to see everyone.

 

3rd quarter is one of our shortest, at only 8 and a half weeks.  That means we really have to start out in earnest, and so we jumped right into it today, and we’ll be busy busy busy until the end.

 

In Math, we did some quick review of factoring as we will be working with adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions this quarter.  Being able to find and recognize equivalent fractions will be essential, and knowing how factoring works is the first step in that.

 

Tonight students have a worksheet that asks them to find common factors of two numbers.  They were given tiles and pop cubes to use to help them.

Common Factor Rectangles

They will use the tiles and pop cubes to make different rectangles in order to find factors.  For instance if they were told to use 8 tiles, the rectangles that they can make with 8 tiles are:

1 x 8

2 x 4

 

This means the factors of 8 are 1, 2, and 4

 

They will use this method to figure out the factors of the two numbers given, and then try to find the factors that the two numbers have in common.  They should draw these factors in their rectangles, one above the other.  We did some together as a class as examples, which can be found here:

Rectangle factors example

 

In Language Arts we spent a good amount of time catching up with The Mysterious Benedict Society, and then going over our Case 21 assessments.

 

In Science this quarter we will be talking about weather, and doing a fairly large research paper on a weather phenomenon of our choosing.  Tonight in their motivation reading books, students have a short selection that includes a  research paper to read and some questions to answer.  The selection is on pages 101-102, and the questions are on page 103-104.  As always, the answers should be accompanied by reasoning!

 

When we got back to school, our aquarium appeared to be completely green!  Tonight students should write down why they think the aquarium turned green.  I gave them these hints:

 

The water isn’t green, but something IN the water is green.

What kind of organisms do we find in nature that are normally very green?

Mr. Potter accidentally left the aquarium light on for basically the entirety of the break (instead of the normal timer)

If you know the answer, don’t spoil it for anyone else!

 

so, tl;dr

one page of common factors using rectangle models:

Common Factor Rectangles

P 101-104 in motivation reading with reasoning!

Why is our aquarium green?  response

 

 

It’s great to be back!

 

-Mr. Potter

Note: There is some magnet school information down near the bottom of the post

 

Uh oh!  We had a cats vs. dogs discussion during dismissal that ended with:

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN KITTENS ARE VICIOUS?!  YOU’RE VICIOUS!!!”

 

So cats vs. dogs will be the first on our list of things we will no longer talk about.

 

Case 21 has been a real struggle this week.  Many of our students aren’t really checking their answers or putting in the amount of time that they are capable of.  We had a talk about this today, and how many of their mistakes on the math assessment were easily avoidable if we were checking our answers or using our test taking strategies.

I’m not sure if this is because students are just worn out, or something else.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

 

please remember tomorrow is Science Case 21!  And Friday is our end of quarter celebration and early release!

 

Today students got some hand-outs, including the school/parent compact.  I am sending these home again, even though many parents saw them on curriculum night.  If parents could please simply sign the sheet of paper that says you saw this and send it with your student tomorrow,  I would really appreciate it.

 

Students also got a sheet with information about magnet school applications.  I highly suggest taking a look at your middle school options, and seeing if there might be a school that is a better fit for your student and your family.  There are many options, including many that have neighborhood busing.

Here is the process in a nutshell:

You apply, giving your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choices

A bit of a lottery occurs, and students are given their choices, or put on a waiting list.

 

The application period is from January  26th to February 5th

The application/magnet website is here, but it is not the most simple of sites to navigate, so I am including some important links below.

 

To find your base school, go here

You can also click on maps there to look at school divisions and get transportation information

The different magnet middle schools are here

On that page, click on each one for information

 

If you are interested in a magnet school, the application is here (You won’t be able to access this until the application window opens on January 26th)

Again, the application dates are January 26th to February 5th.  I strongly encourage you to take a look and apply if a school looks like it would be a good fit.

 

Tonight students should make sure they get those papers to you, and get the compact sheet signed.  That, and reading for 35 minutes is their only homework.

 

Easy peezy.

 

If you have any questions about anything, including our celebration, or about general magnet application stuff, please feel free to contact me by phone, or at my school e-mail.

 

Have a good one!

 

-Mr. Potter

 

 

 

 

 

The homework is…

 

there is no homework!

 

seriously, not even reading log.

Today the kids worked their tails off taking their Language Arts Case 21.  I was not exactly thrilled with the results, but the majority of students worked until past 2pm.  That’s about four hours on a test.  We then had some silent reading time, which I will count as their reading for today.

Really I would just like students to go home and relax before tomorrow’s test.  Get a good night’s rest, and make sure they eat breakfast!

 

so nada, zip, zilch for tomorrow.  No homework, no reading log, just sleep well and eat.

 

The rest of the week:

Wed: Math Case 21

Thurs: Science Case 21 (and also a special program by the Knightdale High School band)

Fri: End Of Quarter celebration and early release

 

 

Have a good one!

 

-Mr. Potter

Tomorrow is Case 21!!!

 

This week:

Tuesday: Language Arts case 21

Wednesday: Math Case 21

Thursday: Science Case 21

Friday: End of Quarter Celebration and early release

 

Today was our last real day to review.  We spent the entire morning talking about much of the math we had done this quarter, and the afternoon talking about Language Arts.

 

In math, students have some order of operations review to do on page 9 of their motivation math books.

 

Students also have some questions to answer on page 241-242 of their motivation reading books.  This selection had some poetry in it, and we spent a good deal of time deciphering the flowery language in the poetry, so answering the questions shouldn’t be too difficult.

 

Students received quite a few handouts today, including a permission/food form for Friday’s celebration.  Please be sure you see this and sign it, so your child can join us.  If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to call/e-mail me.

 

SO, a short and sweet day:

one review page in motivation math: 9

two pages in motivation reading: 241-242

 

as always, read!

 

Get a good night’s rest and eat breakfast.  Tomorrow is Case 21!!!

 

-Mr. Potter

So today I went with absolutely awesome Animaniacs videos during dismissal, and the kids were much more receptive.

 

So our fabulous review week continues, today talking about some algebraic operations, exponents, and order of operations.

Tonight students should do an order of operations/algebra review sheet for math:

AlgebraOOPSReview

 

We have been combining language arts and science quite a bit this week, and today was no exception.  We talked about our passages on the lungs and the heart, and I was very happy with how well the students are doing on these.

 

Tonight students have another science passage on inherited and learned traits/behaviors.

Traits

We also got a chance to talk a good bit about the nervous system, and how the brain and the parts of your body communicate with each other.  We also talked about the cell cycle, and how cells are constantly dividing and dying.

Tomorrow will be a big day of review, and just a few assessments.

 

Just in case you forgot it, here is next week’s schedule:

 

Monday: Review

Tuesday Case 21 Language Arts

Wednesday Case 21 Math

Thursday Case 21 Science

Friday end of quarter celebration and early release

 

a very short and sweet day!

 

tl;dr

One math review sheet

AlgebraOOPSReview

One science passage on inherited vs. learned traits

Traits

 

as always, read!

 

Have a good one,

 

-Mr. Potter

 

I feel soooo old

So I put this on during dismissal and all the kids were like “YOU WATCH WWE?!?!”

I once tried to put on some classical, and Will said “next time Mr. Potter, can we listen to some good music?”

 

So during centers this week we are working individually on some challenging problems, and then as a group going over them and finding our mistakes.  I think it’s really helping quite a few students learn to self-assess.  When students are able to get immediate feedback like this, it makes it much easier for them to see where their gaps in understanding or mistakes are.

 

Again tonight students have some geometry review.  We talked about ordered pairs and graphing some today, and students also have a mystery picture to draw using ordered pairs.

GeometryReview2

MysteryPic1

 

Our Language Arts lesson got quickly derailed as we were talking about languages in the Mysterious Benedict society.  We took a break to review how North and South America were colonized (invaded) by different countries from Europe.  Various places have their current languages today based on what country colonized them, and we had to take some time exploring where those countries were.

tonight students again have a combined LA/science review in the form of a passage about the lungs:

HumanBodyHumanLungs

 

Before I knew it we were out of time, as the vast majority of students then went to their end of quarter Frozen celebration, where they got to do a bunch of fun things like make a lava lamp and make little snowmen!

 

so, tl;dr

geometry review, and an ordered pair mystery picture exercise:

GeometryReview2

MysteryPic1

Review passage on the lungs:

HumanBodyHumanLungs

as always, read!

 

Have a good one,

 

-Mr. Potter

 

One week until Case 21!

Our schedule for next week goes:

Monday: review day

Tuesday Case 21 Language Arts

Wednesday Case 21 Math

Thursday Case 21 Science

Fri: End of quarter celebration and early release!

 

So we spent a good bit of time finishing our powers of ten notes this morning and talking about that for a good time.  This will be the last really *new* thing we talk about this quarter, but it is very important, so we’ll continue hitting on it regularly.

We are also doing a good bit of review, so tonight students have a short review quiz on geometry.  It might seem long, but they are all multiple choice questions, with very little actual work to be done.

GeometryReview

In Language Arts we continue to work on finding evidence inside texts, and being able to reason our answers.  Today we had some great discussions where the students tried to explain their reasoning and convince me of their answers.

Tonight students have a short passage about the lungs and some questions to answer.  As always, I expect to see reasoning!

TheHumanHeart

In Science we talked about some body systems, and how they are connected.  We also watched a Bill Nye video on the brain, which included a whole bunch of really neat optical illusions.  Ask your student about them!

 

so, tl;dr

one review packet on geometry

GeometryReview

one passage on the lungs (with reasoning!)

TheHumanHeart

as always, read!

 

Have a good one,

 

-Mr. Potter

This morning we got extra PE from Mr. McClaney!

Last week we had a lockdown drill during our normal PE time, and the students missed out on the majority of their class.  To make up for this, Mr. McClaney donated some of his time this morning to ensure the students got their fair share of one of their favorite specials.

 

Today we extended all of our talk of exponents to powers of ten, and the neat patterns we see when working with powers of ten.  We took some notes, but the understandings here were very shaky, and we’ll be talking about them a LOT this week.

The basic ‘shortcut’ most of us were taught is that if you are multiplying by for example 10^3rd power, you move the decimal point three places to the right, and if you were multiplying by 10^-3, you would move the decimal point three places to the left, etc etc.  It’s great for the students to know this, but I want them to really understand why this works, as opposed to simply remembering a shortcut.

 

The basics of this are if you are multiplying something like 12.47 x 10^2, then really you are multiplying each part of 12.47 by 100.

12.47 is made up of 1 ten, 2 ones, 4 tenths, and 7 hundredths

if we multiply 10 by 100, we get 1000

if we multiply 2 by 100, we get 200

.4 by 100 is 40,

.07 by 100 will give us 7

Thus we end up increasing each part of our original number by a factor of 100, which is really increasing it’s place value by two places.

 

The notes we started today:

PoTNotes

Tonight students have a few problems to do working with powers of ten.  Depending upon how this looks tonight it might be pretty much the same homework tomorrow, as I think we’ll keep working on this stuff until we really have a deep understanding of how and why this works.

PowersOfTen

 

In Language Arts we started talking about synonyms and antonyms.  This is fairly straight-forward stuff, and it was nice to see some nodding heads after this morning!

 

Tonight students have a simple antonym worksheet to do, which I unfortunately seem to have lost the master for, and can not upload here at the moment.  I apologize for this!

 

In Science we did some reviewing of the body systems we have talked about, and the students tonight have a little language arts reading selection dealing with bones:

Bones On the Go! Passage

Bones On the Go! Questions

 

Quite a short day!

 

so tl;dr

one set of powers of ten problems

PowersOfTen

One antonym worksheet

bones bones bones!

Bones On the Go! Passage

Bones On the Go! Questions

 

as always, read!

 

have a good one,

 

-Mr. Potter

Today was a few quizzes, and a lot of fun…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a good weekend!

 

Remember to read!

 

-Mr. Potter