Nobel Peace Prize Speech
4/27/2018
This week students combined their learning about Malala with their English goal of expanding on their knowledge of rhetorical devices. While we learned about the history and current purpose of the Nobel Peace Prize, students dove in to Malala's acceptance speech and learned about the meaning behind the many different pieces. Most of the speech was watched and discussed as a class, but students also worked in groups to label their assigned section with examples of the devices to share specifics with the rest of the groups. Students were encouraged to use any graphic organizer that they wanted to so the information could be conveyed in a way that they felt appropriate and most logical.
Project Completion
4/13/2018
Our Zombie Apocalypse Survival Kit projects are complete. They took a while, but they also turned out far better than I had anticipated. For this project, students had to decide what they needed for survival in case of a zombie invasion and find creative ways to advertise their products to others. Each project should be persuasive to their audience, use a specific appeal, use correct grammar, and contain figurative language either in their commercial or newspaper ad. Their projects also use lots of the technology that they have available, are creative, and show how well they work together as teams. Most importantly, we accomplished a lot and these projects definitely show their personality. Thank you so much for helping us with these and I hope you love them as much as I do! Zombie DogsBetty put a lot of work in to this project, and so did her pups! Please rate this project and give feedback here. Zask Co. Survival KitConnor had fun and worked hard to perfect his filming! Please rate this project and give feedback here. Penguins Fight BackThe penguins survived! Please provide feedback on this project here. Life Co. ZASKNeil's kit saved the day! Please provide feedback on this project here. Rodents in the WildRodents on rafts! Very creative. Please provide feedback on this project here. The Srungy Survivor KitHayden's company is going to go far. Please provide feedback on his project here. Net.com ZASKFinn is so creative. These projects are great. Please provide feedback on this project here. Eugene ProductionsEugene's project will definitely sell. Please provide feedback on this project here.
Women's Rights
4/6/2018
Some wonderful class time happened around ERBs this week. In Social Studies, we focused on previous Women's Rights milestones, timelines, and important people. During class time, we read and watched videos about powerful women that changed the path, such as Diane Nash, Katherine Switzer, Marlo Thomas, and Gloria Steinem. Students researched the events that have happened over the 20th century that have led to changes in women's and civil rights.
Please ask them what they learned about these topics this week. Especially ask the differences between different groups' fights for rights and why people had a hard time combining efforts. To match this topic, we read about a more current fight for rights by reading and learning about Malala. We watched the movie He Named Me Malala during class time and heard her discuss her heroic story as well as the current impact. During our Reading time, students will learn about present day leaders in the fight for equal rights around the world and how their journeys parallel and differ past fighters. Auction Project
3/30/2018
Students went to Artworks in Eagle River to work on their auction project. Each student designed a block made with glass that contributes to an overall finished fused glass platter. While they were there, they got to choose their pieces, tweak their design, and cut the glass to their liking, before putting it all together on the clear background. Not only did they have fun, they also got to use a lot of the skills they'd learned in Art class. After the project was finished, we went to Subway. Students were able to enjoy a quick lunch and talk about their work before we headed back. As always, the students did a great job and were excellent examples of PNA standards at both establishments. Science FairThe Science Fair was last week and the projects were even better than expected. It was clear that many hours of work had been put in to these assignments and that students were extremely proud of their accomplishments. Every student that I visited was able to clearly explain what they had worked on, why they had chosen their topic, and what they had learned from it. It was nice to see that they were not reciting practiced lines, but discussing their project or demonstrations with adults and showing them that they were true learning experiences.
Preparing for Zombies
3/1/2018
Even though we had an incredibly busy week, we still found some time to work on our Zombie Apocalypse Survival Kits. For their Z.A.S.K. project, students are putting 6 items in their bag or box that they feel would be most needed in case of zombies taking over. They will make their an example of their product and sell it others. The tasks included in this project included making their example, making a storyboard plan of their commercial, writing a script, creating a newspaper ad, and filming a commercial. The purpose behind this project is really to focus on different persuasion and advertising techniques. Students will create newspaper advertisements and commercials to sell their specific set of items to others in the school. Students that watch the videos will vote and give feedback to let us know which kit they are most likely to buy and why. ReadingWe also finished Before we were Free in class. Students completed characterization assignments, found the meaning and importance of similes, metaphors, and foreshadowing, and learned about the history of the Dominican Republic while discussing different types of governments. This book helped us bridge the connection between moving from our Constitution and Immigration units to our current unit on Inequality. We will continue with this unit when we return from Spring Break.
Community Matters
2/16/2018
The Food Bank of Alaska warehouse will not be a weekly trip for PNA students in grades 5-8. We will alternate between Wednesday and Thursday every other week to hopefully get as much participation as we can. The goal is to have 2 adults and 4-5 students work their shift of two hours each week. Mrs. Mariner and I took four students over on Thursday. For this trip, we sort dry and canned food for distribution. We looked at expiration dates and the condition of the container holding the food. The warehouse that we are working for sends food to distribution centers all over Alaska. Our goal, will be to be able help them figure out what is good and can be sent to locations to be handed out. Each week, our task may be different and we will do what we are asked. The kids are excited about it and so am I. We have a video that we are showing through the PNA morning announcements on Monday. The talented 3rd and 4th grade journalists have talked to our class about this project as well and will let everyone know how they can help. I have the sign-up sheet complete in my room and will send a copy out to you. Your student can sign-up for any Wednesday or Thursday that they are available. If you would like to be one of the adult chaperones, please let me know. We need some people to drive them over there and some people to work the shift with them; these do not have to be the same people. This is going to be a great way for us to work together and contribute on a continuous basis. Human Impact on the Environment Action PlanIn Science, students worked to begin an Environmental Action Plan for a issue they would like to help address in the community. To start this, we discussed problems and how to realistically try to implement or suggest change. I think that this is an excellent conversation that changes drastically as students get older, learn more about the world around them, and begin to form their own opinions about issues that they find most important. This will tie in to our persuasive argument unit for ELA and students will have the opportunity to suggest and share a researched plan with others. Parent LunchThank you all for coming to the parent lunch this week! The food was amazing and I know we love any opportunity to have you all here. Thank you!
Lots of Reading
2/9/2018
One of the many that I love about this group of kids is that we all find any way that we can to get outside. At least once a week, we take a lesson that can be mobile and get some fresh air. This week, the Language Arts/Reading focus was on reading Before We Were Free. This is a great book that is going to lead the way for a unit change in History. Before We Were Free dives in to legal immigration, women's roles in the U.S., different political systems, and family values. Today, we read about the Great Depression in History. From our combined readings, we will begin to discuss women's changing roles in the United States, how the depression greatly altered people's opinions on immigration, and the role of the government in all of the chaos. Editing and ProofreadingWe also spent some time this week using dictionaries to check spelling and looking at proofreading lists to use in the future. Students worked in partners to complete assignments and then we went over the work as a class. The main purpose of this was to guide them in knowing what they are looking for when they are helping proofread someone else's work. Also, I think they collectively began to understand the significance of the spell check feature in most of the things that they type.
Bubbles
2/2/2018
As we begin to plan for the science fair, we took some time to look at the scientific method in class. Our experiment was to see if bubbles freeze when it is 11 degrees outside. To show the process, students made observations, wrote a hypothesis, explained the process of the experiment, and discussed the results. And, just so you know, they definitely freeze! The real fun of projects at PNA is that students get to keep asking questions, so we get to keep looking for the answers. Students started wondering if we could get the bubbles larger, if we could get them to hold as bubbles longer, and what it would look like freezing if they were different colors. As we continued to modify and document our changing plans, we spent time looking up why and how these changes matter. We enjoyed it! Science PresentationsStudents finished their presentations this week. Each student was required to pick two activities to show their understanding of the material covered. These presentations were outstanding and definitely gave each student the opportunity to add a little of their personality in to their work. This is one of the few large assignments that students have done and presented individually this year. It was fascinating to see that almost all of their presentations included working with their classmates by asking questions, playing a group game, or interacting with them during a story. Students did not just show us a final project; these students engaged the class, explained their process, and encouraged each other. Even their individual assignments are done with peer feedback and collaboration along the way. Literacy Center Resources
1/26/2018
After lots of hard work and dedication, we finished our resources for the Alaska Literacy Program and I delivered them on Thursday. We were able to make 5 sets of reusable flash cards and sets of reusable practice tests for their center that students working towards the passing the citizenship test can use to study. This turned in to an incredible project that led the kids to be able to discuss different resources that would be helpful in an unfamiliar area or with a language barrier. We decided that we will continue to stay in touch with their center and will update resources when we can or offer different help if the need arises. Science ProjectsIn Science, students are completing their comprehensive project focused on the uneven distribution of natural resources around the world. They have been reading, working in stations doing investigations, and using their ELA time to do persuasive writing about different environmental concerns over the past two weeks. For this project, students were given a list of 11 different ways they could show their understanding and application of the material covered. The choices were given point values of 5-15 based on complexity and time commitment, so students could mix and match the one's they wanted to do. Some of the choices were to write an essay, build a board game, create an explanation with technology, or to show an artistic summary of a complete station. Giving the students the choice in how they wanted to show their mastery of the standards was an excellent way for me to see what they see as their true strengths and interests. Some students really focused on the writing assignments while others went above the 25 point requirement because they had more fun creating the games and tangible resources. All of the projects will be due and presented on Tuesday, January 30th. Thesis StatementsWe used our ELA time to focus on thesis statements as a continuation of our persuasive argument unit. As a class, we went through a list of topics that they could easily and quickly form an opinion on to practice writing the actual statement. The focus of this exercise was not to research detailed reasons to support their statements, but to look at formatting a thesis and including details about topics they already know.
After each student wrote their own, we combined them by topic so we could see different ways that they were written. By the end of this class, students were doing a great job of verbalizing which statements were excellent and the pieces that were missed in others. We spent a lot of time laughing through this because some of the topics were rather silly, but it was a productive way to show the key pieces of a thesis statement and starting a proper argument. Citizenship Test
12/21/2017
Students are still working hard to make flash cards for students preparing for the U.S. Citizenship test. After taking the practice exam online, students realized that the questions were not as easy or common sense as they had previously thought. Lori from the Alaska Literacy Program came to speak with the class about the requirements that immigrants must meet for citizenship as well as her role in helping students pass the exam. She was extremely knowledgeable and had us all engaged in new information. From her discussion of the program's needs, we are making study aids and flash cards for students going through their program. Students are working through partners to ensure that each question of the 100 possible is represented and finding creative ways to represent the information. This project serves a few purposes in our class. First of all, we are able to contribute something to the Alaska Literacy Program while learning how much they are doing in the community. We are also reinforcing the information from our earlier Constitution unit as most of the information on the citizenship exam was covered then. And finally, we are working on learning about immigration. By learning about the process today, we are able to accurately compare it to the information we are studying in History and see parallels and differences in how the United States has embraced or discouraged immigration over time. This week students also finished Letters from Rifka by Karen Hesse. They followed Rifka's journey of leaving Russia and immigrating to the U.S. in 1919 and learned a lot about the struggles and barriers that were prevalent at the time. To finish out that part of the unit, students created One Pagers to show the depth of the understanding of the topics in the novel. It is always interesting to see how each student interprets different parts of the reading as "most important" or "most meaningful". For this assignment, each student needed to pull two quotes from the book, visually represent a main theme, ask high level questions, and respond to someone else's work. They turned out great! ReportsHopefully, I have figured out how to keep everyone up to date on assignments and scores. I will go through an make the changes that have already been suggested and we will keep in touch over progress. Please let me know if you need more information or if any more questions come up. This is going to be a great way for us to constantly communicate!
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AuthorCharlotte Woodside recently moved to Alaska from Central Texas. This is her 8th year teaching middle school. Archives
April 2018
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