Students have been keeping busy in my U.S. History, Reading, Pre-Algebra, and Algebra classes! In order to help students and parents stay current, I will regularly post about what is going on in those core subjects. For all of my classes, if class time is used efficiently, homework is usually not required, unless there is an upcoming quiz or test. However, to prepare for the Math portion of the CAHSEE, I highly recommend that students work through a CAHSEE prepartory book such as the ones provided by myself and Mrs. Lopez. Students can also further improve Math skills by playing online Math games in which I'll post some links.
U.S. History:
Students are currently learning about the involvement of the United States in World War II. Yesterday they explored a Pearl Harbor Memorial website which provided them with a timeline of the event and survivors' stories. As usual, students have Warm-up activities, critical thinking questions, section reviews, group activities, and video footage to further their understanding. However, I will be providing students with a parent letter tomorrow which will explain the Veteran's History Project, their final project for the class. For the Veteran's History Project, students will interview a veteran from any past military conflict and will submit their cassette recorded interviews to the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. The parent letter will provide various details, and will need to be signed and returned to me. This is going to be a great opportunity for our students to help preserve history by capturing details of first hand accounts of service men and women who were "there."
*For our project, we will be following the guidelines of the Library of Congress. For the official site Veteran's History Project, go to:
*This History Channel site contains WWII timelines, speeches, interesting WWII videos, and a link to the official Band of Brothers site, go to:
*The World War II Documents site provides access to an amazing list of primary sources such as Hitler FBI/CIA files, battle photos and art, FDR/Truman/Eisenhower presidential papers, go to:
*For the national park service official site of the U.S.S. Arizona, go to:
Reading:
Students are working through the Reading Rewards program, in which they learn how to better decode difficult words that they may encounter in their Science and Social Science curriculums. Lessons are teacher guided, and are completed during class. Approximately a month ago, we began reading S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. As we read, we are expanding our knowledge of vocabulary, making connections to the setting of the book and our current world, as well as making personal connections to the characters. Students are completing reading comprehension activities, reflecting in their personal journals, completing group work, and viewing The Outsiders movie as we read. Students have a copy of the book, which is kept in class, thus reading occurs during class only.
Pre-Algebra:
Students have just completed a Decimal unit, and will begin a Fraction unit. The unit will be presented in a concrete, then semi-concrete approach to help students better grasp fraction concepts. It is important that students keep up on classwork, and continue to refine Math skills by working through CAHSEE prep books and online Math game/activities. Quizzes and tests occur every 2-3 weeks on Wednesdays or Fridays.
Algebra:
Students have just completed a series of lessons on Prime Factorization, Greatest Common Factors, and Least Common Multiples, and will begin a Fraction/Proportion/Ratio unit. The unit will be presented in a concrete (use of manipulatives), then semi-concrete approach (drawings). It is important that students keep up on classwork, and continue to refine Math skills by working through CAHSEE prep books and online Math game/activities. Quizzes and tests occur every 2-3 weeks on Wednesdays or Fridays.
*The Fun Brain site contains free online Math games/activities that teach Math vocabulary, review operations and graphing, go to:
*The Cool Math site provides students with free online Math games/activities that review operations, fractions, decimals, and pre-algebraic concepts, go to:
*Gamequarium is a site with a variety of free online Math games/activities that review operations, problem solving, estimation, and data interpretation, and pre-algebraic concepts, go to:
U.S. History:
Students are currently learning about the involvement of the United States in World War II. Yesterday they explored a Pearl Harbor Memorial website which provided them with a timeline of the event and survivors' stories. As usual, students have Warm-up activities, critical thinking questions, section reviews, group activities, and video footage to further their understanding. However, I will be providing students with a parent letter tomorrow which will explain the Veteran's History Project, their final project for the class. For the Veteran's History Project, students will interview a veteran from any past military conflict and will submit their cassette recorded interviews to the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. The parent letter will provide various details, and will need to be signed and returned to me. This is going to be a great opportunity for our students to help preserve history by capturing details of first hand accounts of service men and women who were "there."
*For our project, we will be following the guidelines of the Library of Congress. For the official site Veteran's History Project, go to:
*This History Channel site contains WWII timelines, speeches, interesting WWII videos, and a link to the official Band of Brothers site, go to:
*The World War II Documents site provides access to an amazing list of primary sources such as Hitler FBI/CIA files, battle photos and art, FDR/Truman/Eisenhower presidential papers, go to:
*For the national park service official site of the U.S.S. Arizona, go to:
Reading:
Students are working through the Reading Rewards program, in which they learn how to better decode difficult words that they may encounter in their Science and Social Science curriculums. Lessons are teacher guided, and are completed during class. Approximately a month ago, we began reading S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. As we read, we are expanding our knowledge of vocabulary, making connections to the setting of the book and our current world, as well as making personal connections to the characters. Students are completing reading comprehension activities, reflecting in their personal journals, completing group work, and viewing The Outsiders movie as we read. Students have a copy of the book, which is kept in class, thus reading occurs during class only.
Pre-Algebra:
Students have just completed a Decimal unit, and will begin a Fraction unit. The unit will be presented in a concrete, then semi-concrete approach to help students better grasp fraction concepts. It is important that students keep up on classwork, and continue to refine Math skills by working through CAHSEE prep books and online Math game/activities. Quizzes and tests occur every 2-3 weeks on Wednesdays or Fridays.
Algebra:
Students have just completed a series of lessons on Prime Factorization, Greatest Common Factors, and Least Common Multiples, and will begin a Fraction/Proportion/Ratio unit. The unit will be presented in a concrete (use of manipulatives), then semi-concrete approach (drawings). It is important that students keep up on classwork, and continue to refine Math skills by working through CAHSEE prep books and online Math game/activities. Quizzes and tests occur every 2-3 weeks on Wednesdays or Fridays.
*The Fun Brain site contains free online Math games/activities that teach Math vocabulary, review operations and graphing, go to:
*The Cool Math site provides students with free online Math games/activities that review operations, fractions, decimals, and pre-algebraic concepts, go to:
*Gamequarium is a site with a variety of free online Math games/activities that review operations, problem solving, estimation, and data interpretation, and pre-algebraic concepts, go to:
No comments:
Post a Comment