Mr. González' Classes Homework/ Daily Activities Week 7, 10/18 to 10/22

Math Monday - Today we will work on problem 4.1. HW - ACE #'s 2 & 3 on page 47. Tuesday - We are still working on problem 4.1, yesterday we took the whole period measuring each other. That was okay, everyone had fun and were all on task most of the time. HW - Today we copied down the class data so for homework students need to plot their coordinate graphs if they did not finish in class. Wednesday - Today we will finish problem 4.1. HW - None Thursday - We will have a Unit 1 and 2 quiz today. HW - None, but I did give students the Data About Us binder check sheet so they could make sure their binders are in order. When finish unit 5 on the mean, we will score our binders together. Friday - We should begin problem 4.2 today after we correct and go over ACE 2 and 3 but read on to see what happened. HW - I tried to stick to my plan of not giving homework on Fridays but when we began to correct this week's homework I noticed many blank papers on desks. I asked for a raise of hands for those who had done ACE 2 & 3. Only five students raised their hands. This homework was assigned on Monday and by Friday only five students had it done. A few students said that it was difficult, so I went through it with the whole class (we read each section and discussed briefly how to do it). Turns out that it wasn't that difficult but it required a lot of thinking and a lot of work. I was disappointed that many kids didn't do this homework, even when they had four days to complete it, because it required too much work. So this weekend those who didn't do ACE 2 & 3 will have to do it.

Science Monday - We will continue taking notes out of the textbook, Ch 12, section 1. I will review SCAN-n-RUN and how to outline. HW - None Tuesday - Today we are going to start preparing for our water quality labs by working on a few worksheets on lab safety and the scientific method. HW - None Wednesday - The middle school was invited to watch the high school's West Side Story production on the field today during science. I planned to take my class, but yesterday I couldn't even take them to the wiring closet during tech corps because of pushing and shoving. I told students that I will not risk injury and embarrassment on field trips. The problem is that I have seen so much dangerous behavior that I need to see a complete change before I will feel comfortable taking this group on field trips. Our next major field trip is not until February so students have time to get their act together. I told my students that sometimes the actions of a few really do ruin it for the many. For little field trips like trips to the wiring closet, band productions and trips to the creek, we will have to cancel. For major field trips parents can come along but I don't want you to have a miserable time either, which might mean that we leave some students behind. Please keep asking your child if he or she helped by at least keeping him or herself quiet each day and paid attention and listened. Once we get that, then they can help each other stay on task as well. I don't want to miss out on field trips. As for today's West Side Story, we'll see how students behave to see if they are interested in future outings. HW - None Thursday - We finished correcting our math quiz then we went to visit the server room in the high school (this was the only time we could visit) and the middle school's wiring closet. HW - None Friday - We will continue to work on the lab safety and scientific method worksheets. Our water quality monitoring and testing should be starting by next week or at least by the week after that. HW - None

Language Arts Monday - The Giver Ch 20. Dreamweaver Lesson 1 continued. HW - None Tuesday - The Giver Ch 21, 22 and 23! We're done! I don't believe that we were satisfied with the ending, but we'll be discussing that more tomorrow. HW - None Wednesday - I would like to re-read parts of Ch 22 to have students draw the scene described there. HW - None Thursday - Students worked on their Giver scenery drawings. Students were to fold a legal size paper in half. On one half they had to draw a community scene in gray scale and on the other half they were to draw an elsewhere scene in full color. HW - Finish The Giver scenery drawing. Friday - Today students were to begin prewriting their Giver alternate endings by completing a free write. The idea behind a free write is perfect for this activity. For a free write, students are to start writing and not stop until the short story is done. If they get a writer's block, they are keep writing anything, even the sentence, "I don't know what to write," over and over again until the block is broken. It took me stopping the class twice and having them lose their between class break before they actually completed this assignment. Read today's social studies entry to see how our day ended. HW - Finish your The Giver alternate ending. Many finished their free write activity, finally, and their homework is to rewrite their first draft. Monday we will do some peer editing and begin the final draft before we score them.

Social Studies Monday - I want to show students how to do a very scaled down Elections 2004 project. If they finish this, we will plan an All Hallow's Eve and Día de los muertos celebration. HW - None Tuesday - Today is our weekly Second Step lesson. HW - None Wednesday - Students will work on the scaled down Elections 2004 project. Basically, all I want them to do is to learn several facts about their issue and to write a few sentences to share with the class. We will discuss the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing. HW - None Thursday - Students will work on the scaled down Elections 2004 project. HW - None Friday - Students will work on the scaled down Elections 2004 project. Well that was the plan so that we could finish this and get to the Day of the Dead project, but it didn't work out that way. It took most of the language arts period for students to complete their pre write activity, the free write, because they talked and didn't actually write. I stopped them once to remind them that this activity was to be only writing, not talking. It didn't work. When they saw that they lost their break time because they wasted all of their language time, then and only then did they quiet down and work. Unfortunately, we didn't get to work on the Elections 2004 project. Also, Mrs. Meissner, our principal, had to come in and report how tonight's dance almost got cancelled. We were privileged to have the DJ available to come early and play some music during lunch. Well, many students took to pushing, shoving and tripping others. Many more students through food and trash everywhere, even at the DJ. Worst of all a bunch of students used the F word towards the DJ to show their dislike of the music he chose. The DJ almost left and told Mrs. Meissner that Chimacum was the worst school he had ever worked in. She was very embarrassed and also told the 6th graders that their overall reputation was not good so many 7th and 8th graders blamed our 6th graders for the problem. Mrs. Meissner heard our 6th graders' concerns and she realizes that they didn't cause this problem but she said something wise. We all own the problem so we all need to be part of the solution. I like that and I totally agree. I'm trying to teach that in my classroom daily and that is the purpose that several of my students are taking a tracking sheet home every day. I want them to practice the good habits needed to be helpful and successful in a classroom. I want all my students to act like students. I want to thank you, the parents for your support. Just by reading this and talking to your children, asking them daily how they behaved in school and if they are helping the whole class by being a good student, helps me a lot. HW - None

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