Warning Shots

We started our inquiry into the causes of the American Civil War this week. Students are working to develop an understanding of the tensions that ultimately led to war! We have also been inquiring into the methods scientists use to classify plants. Here are some pictures from our work this week!

Ready to Start

I am looking forward to seeing many of you on Thursday, August 31 for Curriculum Night.  It begins at 6 pm in the Multipurpose Room.  I will be sharing lots of great information about what we will be learning, how we will be learning it, and what my expectations are for all the students.

Each morning students begin with a soft start.  Students have choices about how they begin the morning.  They can play games, read, write, respond to the daily theme, or work on an action project.  This allows all of the students to come in and engage in something they truly enjoy.  It also cuts down on the stress and pressure of traditional morning work.  So far it has been a great experience for all of the students, and it has also helped to build our classroom community.  Here are some pictures.

No Easy Answer

Here are the answers to the study guide for our Social Studies assessment tomorrow.  

The purpose of the Bill of Rights is to explain fundamental rights that are available to all US citizens.

The purpose of an amendment to the Constitution is to make a change to the document.  

Students must be able to give examples of how things would be changed by the removal of each Amendment. Students should be able to explain why the Amendment is important, not just what it says.

The amendment process requires ⅔ of Congress to propose the amendment through a joint resolution.  The proposal then goes to the states for ratification, and ¾ of the states must vote to ratify the amendment for it to become an official amendment to the Constitution.   

Getting Better

In the craziness of our late dismissal, I forgot to send home the study guide for our SS assessment on Friday.  I will send hard copies home with all students tomorrow, but you can find a digital copy here:  Bill of Rights Study Guide

Be sure to use Google Classroom and your UOI notebook to look for the answers to the study guide.

Total Eclipse (Well, Sort Of)

Breakin' the Rules

This week we inquired into reasons why it is necessary to make changes to rules.  The students really enjoyed discussing these rules, and comparing them to the current rules for teachers.  We all agreed that it's a good thing that they changed the rules about going to the ice cream parlor!

This discussion allowed us to develop an understanding that rules/laws need to change as society evolves.  We will apply this knowledge to our inquiry into how we amend the Constitution.  Additionally, we had some great ideas about why the rules changed for teachers.  Students shared the fact that it is very interesting how the first set of rules from 1872 less biased toward women than the rules from 1915.  They had lots of reasons and speculations as to why the rules changed in that way.  It will be interesting to revisit these conversations when we being our inquiries into World War I, the Roaring 20s, and the Great Depression.

Sweet Thursday

Since the first day of school, all students have been participating in Morning Meeting. This has helped us to develop our classroom community and learn about each individual member of that community. Each morning students are greeted with a morning message.  Here are a few examples of greetings from this week. We have been focusing on specific Learner Profile Attributes each day. Your students are amazing! Have a great weekend!

Groovy Tuesday

Today we inquired into procedures for classifying living things and processes for developing and maintaining order.  Students began to learn the process that scientists use to classify living things through a small group project involving aliens.  Students also worked to establish their understanding of the Bill of Rights. We also continued our work inquiring into the different elements of a compound sentence.  Students created a list of grammar terms that are found within the sentence.

Students also helped me work on developing a plan to ensure that reading too long doesn't interfere with my bedtime.  Here are some pictures of our work today.

The Happy Mondays

Happy second week of school! We have a lot of inquiries happening this week.  Students will be inquiring into how organisms are classified by scientists. We will also be inquiring into the difference between fundamental rights, as described by the Bill of Rights, and our responsibility as citizens.   Students will also spend time this week learning the procedures for math workshop. We will also be introduced to inquiry style grammar. Here are some pictures from our morning meetings, IDR, Classroom Agreements, and Learner Profile Attribute poster creation. Be sure to ask your student if they can describe the difference between a right and a responsibility. Have a great week!

Hooray for Tuesday!

We had a great first day at school today!  Here are some pictures from our adventures!  We began our inquiry into how we organize ourselves.  Students tackled some difficult questions regarding their learning, and we all started the challenging process of creating a positive learning environment!  What a busy day!