Weekly Preview: 9/17-9/21, 2012

Happy Homecoming Week!  Preparations and celebrations are under way, so catch that Trojan spirit!

Here's what's going on in room 101 this week:

6th GOAL:  Students learned about the class wiki today.  They'll be discussing their read-aloud book on this site.  They can post at school or at home, and it's a fun way to have a class discussion.  We'll be finishing our physical models of the humdingers this week, and then we'll be moving on to Mock Trial... always a favorite of GOAL students!

7th GOAL:  Students started their class wiki today for the read-aloud book.  We'll be finishing up our poetry unit this week and moving on to a unit called Big Science: For the Sake of the Nation.  We'll be debating in groups about what the next big government-backed science program should be.  The space race was the focus in the 1960's.  What should the focus be now?

8th GOAL:  Students took their Mandarin Chinese test today.  We'll finish the oral portion of the test on Tuesday, and then they'll get some time to practice keyboarding and Fast Math skills like the Critical Concepts classes have been doing.

8th Critical Concepts:  We'll be continuing the Type To Learn program to work on keyboarding skills and the Fast Math program to brush up on our math facts.  After this week, we'll be taking a break from these activities and getting into some MAP testing that will be completed by all the 8th grade students.

Have a great week, everyone!

Welcome back!

Welcome back!

We're off to another great school year at FMS!  I look forward to using this blog to communicate with you and let you know all of the great things that are happening in my classroom.  Come visit anytime!

6th GOAL:  Students started the year by getting their reading logs and contracts ready.  They also completed a reading survey that we discussed.  Next, they'll be starting their Models & Design unit, which is a hands-on physics unit.  We'll be starting with black boxes and exploring black boxes in science (Black boxes are things that, for a variety of reasons, cannot be easily understood or studied, like black holes, atoms, etc.).

7th GOAL:  Students started the year by getting their reading logs and contracts ready.  They are beginning the year with a nontraditional poetry unit, sparking their creativity and ability to think outside the box with words.

8th GOAL:  Since 8th graders will have an English class this year that includes a reading requirement, they will not be keeping a reading log in GOAL.  This class jumped right into a unit on Mandarin Chinese.  We discussed the importance of learning a foreign language and some of the benefits of that language being Mandarin Chinese.  Students are working on learning initials and finals to be able to read Chinese Pinyin, and we'll learn some basic vocabulary.

8th Critical Concepts:  Students learned all about their assignment journals, really discovering every nook an cranny in an effort to keep organized this year.  From there, students will work on a unit called Netsmartz.  This unit will address cyber-bullying and being safe on the internet.

If you have any questions or concerns this year, please feel free to contact me at school by phone (see our website for information at www.fairfieldsfuture.org) or by e-mail at tena.nelson@fairfieldsfuture.org.  I know we're all going to have a great year!

P.S.  Don't forget picture day tomorrow (8/28/12)!

6th Grade GOAL Models & Design Unit

6th grade GOAL classes have been putting their engineering skills to the test with their Models and Design unit. Students began by exploring the concept of a black box in science... a system that we cannot see inside, so we have to theorize about how it works. They made conceptual models and physical models of different black boxes to try to figure out the systems in each.

Students then took the idea of building a physical model to create a rubber band-powered car. Groups had to plan how their system would work and build a working model. Cars will enter a competition for distance as the final activity of the unit.