Monday, May 23, 2016

Gr 6 visit Grade 1 students

The four classes of Grade 6 Humanities classes have visited the four Grade 1 classes to share their information learned in their Ancient Egypt units. The Gr6 students take their laptops and the resource webpage for Daily Life in Ancient Egypt and the Gr1 students have a simpler magnified copy of the same worksheet used by Gr6. With their buddy they discuss the issues of Egyptian life. When Gr6 return to the MS side, they write a thank you note on padlet.com to their buddy and include the selfie photo taken.http://padlet.com/autyr/Thanks1A

Friday, May 13, 2016

Exploring and Investigating Using Web-based Simulations


In our Weather and Climate unit, students investigated the impact of carbon dioxide on temperature by "introducing" carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and analyzing graphs. In this simulation, students observed how greenhouse gases trap infrared radiation (heat), which in turn, increases temperature.



Recently, in our Space Science unit, 7th grade students explored the lunar cycle. Here, they're taking an initial look at the way the moon is lit, so that they can begin to understand the phases of the moon.



This year, the use of laptops in the science classroom has enabled students to use models (one of our Science and Engineering Practices) to aid their understanding of concepts, and explore and investigate using simulations.



Thursday, May 12, 2016

Public Service Announcements


8th grade TAPS students planned and produced a short television Public Service Announcement in groups, with the purpose of reaching a specific target audience in order to persuade, change an attitude, belief or behavior, inform an audience of a risk or help an audience care about a topic or issue that they have the power to change or fix.

Unit objectives included:
  • Using persuasive skills to compel the audience to feel called to action or change their behavior or viewpoint regarding a topic that truly matters
  • Intentionally targeting a particular audience in purposeful ways and analyzing how their methods specifically impacted that group of people
  • Creating a video performance that is polished, well-timed, creative and sincere
Here are two PSA's below, that are relevant, sincere and are executed effectively.  The first outlines the dangers of cyberbullying and how we can respond.  The second centers on Breaking Gender Stereotypes.




Catherine Widdifield

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Quizizz 6th Grade Math

In 6th Grade Math we have been using Quizizz.  It is an online platform that allows students to work through problems at their own pace.  The program is similar to Kahoot, but students can also work on problems at home.  The fun part about Quizizz is that students earn points for correct answers and they compete with their classmates.





Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Podcasting the Passion Week of Jesus






For our final unit in 8th grade Bible we have the opportunity to study the Passion Week of Jesus.  This year I wanted to experiment with our process of understanding the events leading to the crucifixion of Jesus.   To do this, we completed a unit long group project of podcasting.  
We are able to record the podcasts using audio-techica mics


How We Did it...

GarageBand is our Recording tool!
Students were tasked within their group of creating a news team that would be reporting live from Jerusalem during the Passover week.  Each day in class a report was presented to the class, a "State of Jerusalem" if you will, that presented the events of the city in relation to the "prophet" Jesus.  Students were required to retell the events of the day, investigate three questions that arose as they heard the report and analyze one element of the events that would help them come to a greater understanding of the day. 
For each of the 7 lessons, students would write out their word for word scripts, prepared for recording just in case.  Their scripts were written on Google Drive, which allowed me to give instant feedback on what they were writing.  This way there was no guess work on what was expected.  All of this information collected and created would be presented in a podcast that was recorded in class.  

The following recordings are some exemplars that were recorded live in class.  Enjoy!




Sunday Report by Podcast Infusion


Monday Report by R.E. 


Tuesday Report by Rise







Thursday Report by Brought to Light


Good Friday Report by Last Week


Good Friday Report by Emmanuel


Crucifixion by EPM Radio


Crucifixion by What Do You Think?





In 6th grade Bible, we have used the GLO program (provided on laptops for every Middle School student) to enhance understanding of the culture, setting and background for the Old Testament. Recently, we read through the book of Ruth and these were some of these images included in the lessons. What a great way to bring ancient history to life! Students are better able to personally connect to the content and find relevance to the culture of that time. Ask your 6th grader some of the following questions about the images and see how much they can teach you!

 A threshing floor- this image is actually a "virtual tour" on GLO and can be further investigated for additional information. Why would Boaz and his men have slept on the threshing floor? We also talked about threshing floors in our Judges study. Why was Gideon threshing wheat in a winepress?

 A wheat field and reaping practices- Why was Ruth's willingness to gather barley such a sacrifice and demonstration of loyalty to Naomi?

 Fields of Moab- Why did Naomi and her family travel to Moab?

The City Gate- What was a city gate used for? How many elders were required to make up a full council?


Friday, May 6, 2016

Here are a number of videos and posters that our 8th grade students created. They needed to create a public service announcement telling how we, as members of the global community, can get involved in issues of justice or oppression in the world.

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

A field trip to Washington D.C.

Our 8th grade humanities classes recently "travelled" to Washington D.C. to take a virtual tour of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. I have personally visited the museum twice and it is an unforgettable experience. It was incredible to watch my students "tour" the museum and see (on this side of the ocean) the exact same artifacts and exhibits I visited.

We were able to completely change the tone of our conversations. Instead of just talking about the events of the Holocaust, they now had images to associate with them. There is something sobering about seeing the actual "stars of David" worn by Jewish victims, the milk cans buried in the ghettos that preserved the memories of the Jewish families who lived there, and countless photographs and stories of Holocast survivors.

Our students live in a small world after all. This generation of students, more than any generation before them, is able to learn about the world, its cultures, and history in a dynamic way due to the technology available to them.

A field trip from Hong Kong to Washington D.C., USA.
All in a day's work.