HomeroomThis week the big event in homeroom was starting the process for planning the next middle school social event. Students volunteered to form the party planning committee and are starting to brainstorm the event during lunch. The next social event will be on Dec. 5th. We also resumed our OWL lessons this week. We're about to wrap up the first workshop. What's Coming Up in OWLWe're going to wrap up the first workshop next week and move on to the second. We had a lot of great conversations on what our values our during this workshop and what it means to be a good friend. As we move on to the next unit please take some time to do the second HomeLink at home. The next unit is going to focus on images in popular culture. MathMonday: Book Work Time Tuesday: Word Problem #9 Wednesday: Number Talk #2. We used this Number Talk to focus on how to break apart multiplication problems into smaller problems to be able to do them in our heads. Thursday: Progress Check and Conferences Friday: Game Day! Project TimeThis week we spent some more time learning about different people in history and discussing why their stories aren't told. Here are the people we learned about this week.
We ended the week with students selecting and researching a specific person involved with the economy or trade. They'll be using this research to give a short 2 minute speech on the person they chose to research. Questions to Ask Your ChildIn this section I'll try and give you a few questions to ask your kids to see what they learned this week or some of the ideas they were forming.
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HomeroomThis week was a short one because of the snow day. We also went on two trips. So the regular flow of the week was a little disrupted. We spent most of our time during homeroom getting ready to head out for a trip. We did have one conversation as a group about secrets, rumors and gossip. The focus of the discussion was to talk about how we handle each others privacy and who's job it is to share information about themselves. We also focused on the negative emotional impact sharing something about another person can have on someone. Middle schoolers are at a point where they want to be much more social and having these types of conversations now are super helpful. Please continue this conversation at home. What's Coming Up in OWLWe took a hiatus from OWL this week because of the snow day and trip to the Henry Ford Museum. If you haven't already this weekend is a good time to complete HomeLink #1. If you haven't already. MathLike all of the other subjects this week was cut short because of the snow day and trips. We only had time for math on Monday and used that time to work in our books. Project TimeThis week in project time we shifted our focus to science and innovation. The main activity this week was spending the day at the Henry Ford Museum. While there we worked on this packet. The goal was to learn about as many innovations as possible while learning about the context of the time period and their impact on the present. We also spent some time learning about some specific people. We had a lesson on Wednesday we learned about Raye Montague by using both primary and secondary sources. We also used the kids book The Girl With a Mind for Math. On Friday we learned about Dolores Huerta and her contribution to worker's rights here in the the United States. We used a chapter from the book Kid Activists as our source. This book is great because it tells the story of a person's childhood and what lead them to becoming an activist. Questions to Ask Your ChildIn this section I'll try and give you a few questions to ask your kids to see what they learned this week or some of the ideas they were forming.
HomeroomThis section of the weekly update is going to get shorter now that we've started OWL. Most of our homeroom time during the week will be spent having those conversations. Which means we do other activities on Monday and Wednesdays. This week in homeroom we spent our time playing Story Cubes. We do have two field trips coming up next week. We'll be going to the Henry Ford Museum on Tuesday and the Ann Arbor Symphony on Wednesday. I sent an email regarding the Henry Ford Museum earlier in the week. Check your inbox for more information. What's Coming Up in OWLWe'll continue to have our conversation on Sexuality and Values. The main focus of the conversation is for students to reflect and think about how they feel about these topics. Both from their experiences and from their family backgrounds. Remember each unit has a HomeLink for you to use at home to continue this discussion. Here's the link to the first one. They can also be found in the OWL section of the website. MathMonday: Book Work Time Tuesday: Word Problem #8 Wednesday: We started doing Number Talks. This activity is a great way for students to talk about how they do mental math. Here's the prompt we talked about this week. Thursday: Progress Check and Conferences Friday: Game Day! Project TimeWe started our new project this week. "People Who Changed the United States". Here's a link to the information sheet if you want to learn more about the project. This week we took some time to practice breaking down events and learning about how they happened. To do this we took an event and listed some of the things that happened leading up to the event and the context about the time period. We then described the event. After that we explored the outcomes and impact of the event. We're going to use this model throughout the project. We also started our first Spotlight lesson. The focus of this spotlight is Law and Government. We spent some time learning about child labor laws and the photography of Lewis Hine. A photographer to captured images of children working during the industrial revolution. Lastly, on Friday we took sometime to learn about the childhood of an activist and about their work as an adult. We'll be using the book Kid Activists: True Takes of Childhood From Champions of Change. Questions to Ask Your ChildIn this section I'll try and give you a few questions to ask your kids to see what they learned this week or some of the ideas they were forming.
HomeroomThis week in homeroom we played a fun game we practiced listening to each other. Students were given a question to answer about themselves and they had a period of time to share their response while the other person just listened. Then they switched and rotated to a different sharing partner. We've been working a lot on how to share and listen to what others are saying. It's a hard skill for kids to master and it takes a lot of practice. A phrase that I say to them a lot is: Are you listening to just respond or are you listening to learn? Feel free to use this phrase at home to reinforce active listening and being considerate of what others are saying. What's Coming Up in OWLNext week we'll be starting OWL. The first unit is on Sexuality and Values. We'll start the unit taking some time to talk about how we'll talk about these topics as a group. We'll be generating a Group Agreement. Here are some examples of what the agreement will contain.
After that we'll move on to talking about Sexuality and Values. The focus of the conversation will be about helping students clarify, support, and communicate their values about sexuality. We'll be using the Circles of Sexuality as a discussion tool. Remember each unit has a HomeLink for you to use at home to continue this discussion. Here's the link to the first one. They can also be found in the OWL section of the website. MathMonday: Book Work Time Tuesday: Sprints. We worked on taking irregular fractions and turning them into mixed numbers. Wednesday: Word Problems Thursday: Progress Check and Conferences Friday: Game Day! Project TimeWe wrapped up our first project this week. I'm super proud of the students and their work. There were some days were students were really challenged to create new and unique work. I was happy to see someone from every family come to the project showcase to see their work. Your kids all worked extremely hard and they love showing off their work. I have digital copies of all of the projects if you want me to send you a copy please send an email. I can also print them at school and send a copy home if you want. The conclusion of one project leads to the beginning of another. Next week we'll start our American history project that focuses on ideas that changed the United States. Students will be learning about a range of topics and people. Some of whom don't normally get their stories told. This will culminate with students selecting a person and preparing a presentation on their life and impact on our society. Questions to Ask Your ChildIn this section I'll try and give you a few questions to ask your kids to see what they learned this week or some of the ideas they were forming.
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