Crossing the Curriculums

Here's a glimpse into a variety of learning opportunities at TMS this week.  No matter the curriculum area, there are valuable learning experiences happening hourly.

It's DBQ season, a time for students to use graphic organizers like "buckets" to complete intensive writing in social studies.

Math in Art:  Students are using compasses to design their work.  And math doesn't only happen in art; today, in tech ed., 7th graders were determining the formula for circumference to determine how much cable is needed on a bridge's column.

It's always fun to blow up things in science!  There's a chemical process to it....

Making Infographs:  this great software program helps students to organize their research facts in an informative and engaging visual representation.

Notice those highlighters!  Students are using them to identify cause (one color) and effect (another color) in science.

Students get to choose how to practice their geography skills,  puzzle or computer-based program (Sheppard).

Making cookies - to do this, students practice proportions and measuring in FACS.

Reading Conferences:  quick meetings with students help teachers formatively assess student learning and make instructional decisions.

Students work on core strength while rollerskating in PE.  

Frog Day and Other Real (AKA Authentic) Stuff

Yesterday was Frog Day for our 6th graders - I know, YUMMY!  Check out this authentic learning activity for students where they get their hands dirty (literally!) to learn about the body systems.  Kid were so excited (ok, some were nauseous) to investigate these real organs and determine how they interact within the body.

What's great about this activity is that students collaborated in their lab groups, and, teachers collaborated too!  Throughout the day, you could find various grade-level science teachers in the lab providing demonstrations for students. 

Mr. O'Daniel uses the Elmo to demonstrate his dissection for the class.

Did you know that it is National Code Week?  Mr. Vallis did!  Today, he's teaching students how to code. Using Khan Academy, students are writing computer code to draw shapes.  It's mathematical; students are reviewing coordinates, and other mathematically impressive words such as ellipse, arc, etc...  The reinforcement of math is incredible, "You're using variable to substitute value on the x and y axis..."

This is definitely some YUMMY learning!

Very Few Careers Require Employees to Work in Isolation

So, it's a good thing that we excel at collaborative learning!  Check out these great examples of student collaboration at TMS!

Book Clubs started today in this 6th grade class.  Students are having rich discussions about the first chapters of their differentiated books.  Additionally, they choose their roles for the next book club discussion.

 

Students in math are being introduced to Buzz Math, an online resource to gauge student understanding of current concepts.  Based on their ability, students will then be grouped based on their skills.  Teachers will then meet with those small groups of students to support ongoing learning.  Check out that u-shaped table just ready for small group instruction.

        

Students in English conference with one another over their papers.  Each day, they will have a different focus for their feedback.

Students work together in social studies to develop ideas and complete a project.

"We aren't preparing students for Jeopardy."

I often talk about authentic learning, real-life and cross-curricular learning opportunities for students.  One way to increase authentic learning is through problem-based learning (PBL - because we love acronyms in education).  If you aren't familiar with PBL, check out this quick overview:  http://www.pblproject.com/page.aspx?pageid=PBL-Hinton-video.

I receive weekly emails from the PBL Project and as appropriate, share them with various teachers.  However, as I think about upcoming service learning in Flyertime, I can't help but think that those will be PBL activities:  How do we honor our local military personnel?  How do we show veterans that we appreciate what they've done for us?   How do we help families torn apart by long separation?

Giving students a problem and requiring them to apply their learning to develop a solution is a great way to generalize school to life!