Week of April 4, 2016

ELECTIVE UPDATE

Philosophy and Stop Motion
This trimester, students have used age old thought experiments and contemporary stories to explore
questions such as what makes a friend? Can computers think? What is the right thing to do? And so much more. Their hard work and collaborative discussions will culminate in a series of stop motion videos expressing some of the students' favorite stories, each with a hint of philosophy embedded within to inspire critical thought for the
audience.

Cross-Stitch
In this cross stitch elective, the students have been learning by doing.  Each student has their own counted cross stitch kit, which they have been making steady progress on completing.  During this first six week period, the students have learned: how to select and read counted cross stitch patterns, prepare their fabric, prepare and organize their threads, start and end their threads, and how to work their stitches to maximize the overall neatness of their product, both on the front and on the back.  Initially the students progressed a bit slowly, but now that they are getting the hang of it, they are moving much more quickly.  It is exciting to start to see their patterns come to life.

Literature Magazine

Students have organized their files on the computer, and took pictures of all of the students in the Purple Room for the index. They also completed an ambitious cover-design project, which involved having each student design a letter for the cover. We are now scanning in artwork, and looking at writing samples for inclusion in the magazine.

Red Room Learning Buddies
Purple Learning Buddies have helped Red Roomers with a stargazer craft, with their Authors' Tea story reading practice, and playing in centers. Their arrival each week is a highlight for the kids. :)


Cooking

They have all participated and not complained about doing the dishes afterwards. They are sometimes so eager to help, it's hard to keep up. I always ask them to tell me at least one thing they learned during class. Funny what kids remember! We have made vegetable and tofu stir-fry, snicker doodle cookies, pizza, rice crispy treats made with vegetarian marshmallows...hope they were good. And today we are making apple turnovers. We've looked through many cook books and talked about time frames, they find the class time frame to be a little short for some yummy meals. But, my goal is to help them be able to make a meal at home for their families. :) Hopefully they will follow through.

3D Printing

What we have done so far is demo the printer, explore online projects to see the some of the possibilities, had each student select something for printing, and printed it, discussing the issues involved.  We are now learning to use design software, which can be tricky, but I am confident they will be able to design cool stuff very soon (if not already able).  Next steps, design something and explore scanners.

Yellow Room Pals

Our Purple Room Pals have primarily been helping with two on-going Yellow Room activities. First, they've assisted YR writers during the rough draft (revising)  stage of their Authors' Tea Stories. Also, for several weeks they have been leading and assisting the YR's in completing a rotation of magnet experiments. 

VT Engineering

We've talked this semester about roller coasters and their design issues with some Newtonian math and formulas included for each child to solve for velocity starting and ending, accelerations, force of gravity, and unit conversions.  We had two visits from the Concrete-4-Kids team and learned about ratios (R-S-C 3-2-1, C-W 1-2) and concrete compression versus tension strength, while making and breaking our home-made beam which failed at 10 lbs. in tension.  Next we started a 2-part module in GIS with an introduction to GIS and Google Maps and learned how to create our own word map tour.   The second half includes topics in Air Traffic Analysis, Water Filtration, a Roller Coaster design module, Arctic Coastal Erosion, Error-Free Problem Solving, Engineering Design Method, and Land Development Design! 

Greenhouse

We have been to the YMCA Greenhouse each Wednesday, tending what has been planted. Students have been weeding and watering the plots. We have begun to harvest and sell delicious kale, lettuce, spinach, turnips, radish, and swiss chard from the garden cart outside the school on Wednesday afternoons!

Purple Curriculum Updates

Pre-Algebra I with Bina:

We have completed chapter 11 on integers and coordinate planes. I passed out the chapter 11 study packet on Friday, April 8th. Monday, April 11th, we will review in class. The chapter 11 test will be on Tuesday, April 12th. Then we will begin chapter 12 on equations and inequalities.

Pre-Algebra II with Jared:

We started the week practicing graphing linear functions, and checking to see if an ordered pair is a solution to a given function. From there we discussed slope, and made sure students could recognize positive and negative slope. Then we learned about non-linear functions, and looked at graphs involving absolute values and squared variables. At the end of the week we took a quiz on this, before taking notes on transformations, which will be the focus on next week's lessons.

Pre-Algebra III with Emily:

We started Chapter 11: Probability on Monday by looking at a few pages in The Cartoon Guide to Statistics. We used tree diagrams and the Counting Principle to find the number of possible outcomes, and then we found permutations using diagrams, the Counting Principle, factorials, and permutation notation. Students learned about combinations (where the order of the items isn’t considered, unlike permutations where order matters) and combination notation. The class studied and worked with Pascal’s Triangle as a way to find a number of combinations. We found experimental probabilities and theoretical probabilities and played some games.

Algebra I with Molly:

This week students learned different methods for factoring, including how to factor a four-term polynomial. They also learned to recognize special cases to apply “short-cuts” when factoring. We will finish the chapter 9 lessons on Monday, review, and take a test next week.

Geometry with Holly:

The students began the week by taking the Chapter 10 test on Monday.  Then on Tuesday we began Chapter 11 by studying space figures and cross sections.  On Wednesday and Thursday we developed formulas for the surface areas of prisms, cylinders, pyramids, and cones.  We finished the week by developed formulas for the volumes of prisms and cylinders.

Language Arts with Jared:

This week students continued to work on their in-class novels, and to brainstorm their Authors' Tea topics. On Wednesday we got out the laptops, and students began writing their Authors' Tea stories. We continued this throughout the week, and eighth graders also began a new vocabulary unit.

World Studies with Emily:

Students received their graded NHD project rubrics and put them in their portfolios. All three classes watched two videos from Discovery Channel’s Ancient Rome series: Rise to Power and Struggles for Power. Students answered questions about the videos and discussed some of the main ideas and events. I showed all grades a bunch of photos of Roman ruins in Tunis because my younger sister is there for a month and sent me some great photos with descriptions. Students reported on their current event summaries and played a geography game concentrated on the Mediterranean region. 8^th graders began working on a Marc Antony readers’ theater murder mystery activity. 

Life Science with Molly:

This week each class went on a field trip to ESS Technologies, Inc. We were hosted by Andrew Franz, father of Gavin, for a tour of the production facility where custom packaging equipment is designed and manufactured. We got to see a production line that erected a box, loaded bottles in it, added an information leaflet, closed the box, applied a tamper evident seal to the box, inspected the box label with an OCR camera, and loaded the box on a pallet. We saw three different robots in action. We discussed the design process, electronic controls, machine safety, how robots are changing manufacturing, programming methods, and the necessary college degrees for this type of work. It was a great opportunity to see engineering design in action! Students have begun a joint project between science and computer lab. They are designing a zoo set in a particular biome. They conducted their first research session during one of our science classes this week. We continued to focus on heredity, genetics, and DNA this week.

Spanish with Olga & Corinne:

Morning Spanish
This week we continued to work with reflexives and also learned about using direct object pronouns to take the place of the direct object in a sentence. Students turned in a writing assignment on Friday to finish up our section on reflexive verbs. We also reviewed all of the tenses and forms that we have learned this year, and took online quizzes to help students practice verb conjugation.
Spanish B

This week we finish the chapter on recycling and volunteer work.  We reviewed and had a test on Friday. We also watched another episode of "¿Eres tú, María?" The students continue to enjoy it and are coming up with good theories about possible solutions to the mystery.  We will have an end of year assessment on May 4 (written part) and May 6 (oral part). We will have a full review, but the students should be studying at least 10 minutes every night, particularly for vocabulary.

Spanish C

We continue to learn words and phrases to describe medical emergencies (rains, broken bones, etc) and solutions (stitches, casts, crutches, etc). We learned a group of irregular verbs in the past tense, and we revisited the preterite/imperfect distinction.  We will have an assessment next Wednesday, April 13. Also, we will have an end of year assessment on May 4 (written part) and May 6 (oral part). We will have a full review, but the students should be studying at least 10 minutes every night, particularly for vocabulary.

Spanish D/D+

We have been learning about articles in Spanish. We revisited the la/el distinction in definite articles and their plural forms; and the indefinite articles. We also learned all about the neuter article "lo". We have been focusing on when to use/when to omit the articles in Spanish.  The students have several deadlines coming up- they need to complete a quiz on Edmodo by Monday morning.  They have  poem to memorize by next Friday, April 15. We will have an end of year assessment on May 4 (written part) and May 6 (oral part). We will have a full review, but the students should be studying at least 10 minutes every night, particularly for vocabulary.

Art with Patti:

For the expressive warm up painting this week, students added something that included positive space as well as created a focal point. They also continued working on their artist inspired projects, or the next project, which focuses on the element of art – space.

Computer Lab with Holly:

On Monday and Tuesday, students completed work on their Character bios, focusing on using styles, section breaks, and table of contents.  Then on Wednesday and Friday, the students were introduced to our final major project for the year, the Zoo project.  This is a cross-curricular project between Computer Lab and Science, where the students will create a unique island zoo based on a biome of their choice, and then create a catalog describing their zoo, its biome, the plant and animals which live there, plus  a new animal they have specifically designed to exist in their biome.

Life Skills / Sex Ed with Molly:

7^th grade students learned about “sexting”. We discussed what it means and watched a video on sexting and the dangers of inappropriate online sharing, as well as the legal issues.

6^th & 8^th grade students focused on pornography this week. We defined and discussed what it is (pornography is written, graphic, or oral depictions of erotic subjects intended to arouse sexual excitement in the audience). I addressed that it is perfectly natural to be attracted, curious about, or be turned on by pictures of people, even naked pictures of people, but that pornography is something they should be cautious of. Pornography is often an unhealthy or unrealistic portrayal of people having sex, often degrading to women. We discussed that pornography can be addictive and that the chemicals that are released in the brain while someone is looking at and excited by pornography are the same chemicals that are released when other addictive behaviors or drugs are being experienced. I described that by watching pornography regularly you would be training your brain and your body to be turned on by pictures instead of real people and unrealistic, sometimes violent images, rather than by actual tenderness, caring, and loving of a real person.

Thank you from, 
The Purple Team