Music Makes Learning More Fun...

... and really helps students remember information more readily!

How many of you can still sing a commercial jingle from your childhood? Amazing, isn't it? Music accesses multiple areas of brain so when we learn a song we are using more of our brain than if we just memorize a poem or math facts. However, if we add music to memorizing that poem or those facts our brains will store the words more readily, the information moves into our long term memory. Because of this, I often try to add songs to Science, Religion, or Language Arts class to help our students remember important (and often challenging) information.

Here are a few songs we've already learned this year. You might recognize one or two.







Stop back again as I'll be adding more as the year goes on!

Sweet DNA

Our sixth graders have been at it again! What's IT, you might ask? Science and candy! This time they have been learning about DNA, the building block of life and have been building models of this important molecule using Twizzlers, toothpicks, and colored marshmallows. As part of the project the students were to take home their molecule and teach parents about the importance of DNA. The molecules were a SWEET SUCCESS, and a great way to end our study of cells and cellular structures.

View on Flipagram

Plant Cell Model Cookies

Our sixth graders have been studying about the taxonomy of living organisms. Among the concepts introduced to them are the structures and functions of cellular organelles. Loads of new vocabulary words are presented to our students during this unit of study. To help them internalize the words and make concrete connections our students made models of plant cells using pop-tarts, frosting, and various candies.

View on Flipagram

Let's hope our cookies lead to sweet success in learning the cellular organelles!

Grade Six Word Cloud Book Reports

Sixth graders have been using our school's brand new Chrome books in many ways: answering an extended response question using Padlet, taking the STARS assessment tests, and making word clouds.

What's a word cloud? It is a visual representation of multiple verbal ideas to create a theme. Word clouds have been around a long time as far as computer technology goes. Some popular websites that help users create clouds are Wordle, ABCya, Tagxedo, and Tagul.

I introduced our sixth graders to Tagul on Sept. 19th after I showed them a video of word cloud book reports created by our current eighth graders. They were hooked! Word clouds look FUN! What they didn't realize is that there is MUCH thinking involved in creating a cloud, especially for a book report. No sentences can be written; thoughts are expressed in words, actually the size of words and the number of times a word appears. Imagine trying to develop a book report using only single words!

Here is what our students created...


Now that our sixth graders are familiar with word clouds, they can use them to do projects in other classes or make gifts/cards for family and friends. Words clouds created on Tagul are able to be printed and downloaded. When you download a word cloud file from Tagul, you can use it as a computer desktop background or as part of a screen saver. It is a typical image file just as a photo is. Students are welcome to use the class account that I opened for this project or they may create their own free account at Tagul with your permission.

I Survived... IT'S HERE!

Click HERE to grab your own copy!

The newest installment of the "I Survived" series by Lauren Tarshis was released on Aug. 30, 2016. The title, "I Survived the Eruption of Mt. St. Helens 1980" marks an exciting departure for the author. The protagonist is female! The first 14 books in the series feature a male main character.

I am reading aloud this newest story to both sixth and seventh grade. As I read we focus on important literary elements and compare/contrast the previous editions with this one. Since these books are historical fiction they lend themselves to researching the actual history and information presented in them. "I Survived the Eruption of Mt. St. Helens" has already led to science discussions of what is a volcano and how is this eruption like the one in Pompeii (a book our seventh graders read in 5th grade).

Here are a few links for more research.

The British Museum timeline of events for the Eruption of Mt. Vesuvius

Computer simulated coverage of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius

As the students and I discover more links I will post them for all to share and enjoy.

First Digital Assignment grs. 6 and 7

The year has begun! Let learning commence!

Many assignments this year will be technology related. Seventh graders are issued a laptop on which to do their school work while sixth graders will be utilizing brand new Chromebooks during the school day. These are housed in a special cart that can travel from classroom to classroom. Ms. Bloom and I will be sharing these computers between our classes.

The first digital assignment of the year is ready to go for both classes. Students are asked to answer one question pertaining to their summer reading assignment:

Padlet Question Gr. 6 Summer Reading Preference

It will be a few days before the sixth graders will be able to access the assignment on our new Chromebooks. I am hoping to begin by Sept. 2nd.

Padlet Question Gr. 7 Summer Reading Preference

Seventh graders have completed their first digital assignment. Some students may be tweaking their entries as they read and re-read them.

This particular website, Padlet, is a favorite of mine. Interactive and simple, it quickly engages students in technology use. Little to no experience is necessary to still be successful. Be on the lookout for MANY more Padlet assignments throughout the year.

2016-2017 Classroom Reveal