Math
Ms. Alexandra Spencer |
[email protected]
Students will cap off their year in math class with an exciting project that allows them to bring in their creative side and dig deeper into a social issue they feel passionately about. Students will be designing their own survey and using their results to create a Public Service Announcement. Students are highly encouraged to choose something that particularly interests them. In years past, projects have ranged from gender stereotypes at RAUC to perceptions of global warming in the larger community. Students will have the entire class period to work on this each day. They should not have to do any work outside of class. They’ll be setting daily goals to ensure they stay on track and keeping a log of it on a template called “Project Tracker”. Feel free to check in with them about the progress they are making! All of the necessary materials can be found in the “Survey/PSA Project” folder on their math google classroom. The project has a tentative due date for
Monday June 10th where students will get the opportunity to share their PSAs with classmates. Ask your student what topic they chose and what their most surprising results were!
Social Studies
Ms. Saillant |
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We just finished our ancient Egypt performance assessment. The unit project was a document document-based-question (DBQ) on the importance of the Nile river. Through their middle examine primary and secondary source documents in order to answer an analytical question. They then write analytical essays in which they defend a position, using evidence from the documents as support.
Please check in with your student that the essay has been completed.
Science
Mr. Phil Nervosa |
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By looking at a photo of Earth from space and watching a teacher demo, students see how little freshwater there is on earth. In a jigsaw set of readings, they share ideas on why freshwater is so important to all living things and then review changes in state. This leads to a review of the water cycle, which is introduced via an interactive read aloud of The Snowflake: A Water Cycle Story by Neil Waldman. Students then participate in a water cycle game and reflect on their journey through the water cycle to explain it. By putting together a puzzle of unlabeled timeline photos, students get a glimpse of all the changes that have happened to the Charles River in the past. They also look at maps showing how the original estuary was filled in and dammed over time. Students reflect on what impact these changes may have had on the living things of the river. They will read more about the history of the Charles River, learn about river herring, and then tell the story of the river in their own way (drawing, written form, etc.).
English Language Arts
Dan Tobin, aka Mr. Tobin |
[email protected]
We’ll close the year as a self-paced writers workshop, with students working on different things depending on their own personal pace. Some will be finishing writing, then recording themselves reading their This I Believe essays. When they finish, they will be developing creative independent reading projects based on something they’ve read this year. We’ll culminate in some type of share and looking ahead to next year. Don’t forget to finish up the year of reading: students are expected to read 15-25 books throughout the year, and we’d like to get as close to complete participation as possible.