The Element Song

Every other year, the students learn the element song by Tom Lehrer. This is a fun challenge and encourages the kids to interact with the names of the elements. In doing so, the students join a long line of like-kinded students.

The video below shows Daniel Radcliff reciting the song on the BBC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs&feature=player_embedded

St. Patrick's Celebration

I am fortunate to have so many talented students, especially in music and dance. While this is most obvious in our math/science movements, we have many little moments that sparkle.

In celebration of Irish culture, I played a series of jigs for the 3/4 classroom. Several of my 7/8 students joined in the reverie and one of 8th graders brilliantly accompanied me on guitar. Dr. Robinson (her grandmother was a McCarthy) sang "An Irish Lullaby" and her husband, Gerry baked Irish Soda bread. We talked for a few minutes about the fact that it is difficult to make yeast bread in Ireland because it has relatively fewer yeast in the air when compared to France or even Vermont. We also talked about the fact that one of St. Patrick's miracles was to remove the snakes from Ireland. We also discussed the fact that Ireland never had any snakes.

As a team, we have been working on ways to help the students experience culture and to interact in complex ways. Last year, I was blown away by the power of of an impromptu string band of Michael, Irene and Jan and a few other local talents. I decided to start studying guitar at that time and I have been playing ever since.

Interestingly, I have been using a podcast to learn guitar. The podcast was produced in Australia and features both Irish and Australian musicians. Had I lived in Boston, I would have been able to study at Irish Sessions, which are held at many pubs throughout the city to share Irish culture and especially music.

7th Game Simulations

7th grades love probability because they get to use to to design their own games as a culminating activity for our probability unit.

 In this photo, a student is recording the results of a fantasy basketball game between two of her classmates. In order to play this game, two players were generated with probabilities for specific types of shots that favored one player for three point shots and the other for two point shots.

We then made a spinner that would represent these probabilities using geometer's sketchpad. We added a button to randomly spin so that we could decided if the player would "hit" or miss a specific shot.

The game lasted for ten shots, and was won by a single point. The students cheered and argued but largely had a good time.

The following day, the students broke into smaller groups to build them own games. Some students decided to collect data on their own shooting to make a realistic basketball game. the photo below illustrates a student taken a shot in the data collection phase.

In this photo, some students are using a netbook to make the spinners in geometer's sketchpad based on their results.

Other students decided to experience a disease simulation using starlogo. These students are expected to learn how to use the simulation over six guided activities. Then, the students will conduct some internet research using a website such as the CDC or NIH to simulate the spread of a disease of their choice. Past choices have included smallpox and H1N1.

Adventure Unit

\This year's adventure unit exceeded expectations in many ways. First and most importantly, we made no trips to the ER! This means that the students were acting within their skill set and making safe choices through reasonable risk assessments.

Second, virtually every child attended the trip. Challenge by choice activities can be very stressful for reluctant learners and avoidance behavior is a common response to these stressors. This means that we were largely successful in our ability to build relationships and make everyone feel included.

Third, every child made it at least to mid station on Morse Mountain and 2/3 of the group skied the lift line at both Morse and at Sterling (both black diamond trails).  This means that the students were gaining confidence in their skills and exposure to the mountains, which was one of our goals.

This is a video from a group of students leaving the Highlands Lift on day 1.

This is a group shot of students at the top of the Sterling lift.

This group picture was taken from the judges platform on the 120 m jump at Lake Placid.

We rode chair lifts to reach the ski jumps. Unfortunately, no one was jumping today. However, we were invited (free tickets) back to attend the Freestyle World Cup next year.

A couple of Folsom students posting with ski jump legend statue.

Supporting one another!

Off to the races!

Sliding Away

Catching our breath...

Group shot on Olympic Ice

Exit Standards

As the semester draws to a close, the students conduct their reflections on their work towards their goals. This is the third year we have implemented this process and by far the most successful to date.

The goal setting process is designed to build student ownership of their learning by requiring students to study themselves to determine where they are strong and where they need to grow. Students struggle most when they can not justify their goal with data. Students are encouraged to use Fontis and Pinnell data, NECAP data, class data, portfolio work and class work as data sources for goal setting. Among the most common goals in reading working toward improving reading comprehension, fluency, independent reading and analysis. Writing goals often included organization, elaboration and revision. problem solving goals are wide ranging and include both computational skills, analytic skills and technical skills.

With a goal in hand, the students are expected to conduct a little research for two reasons. First, the students may know they need to work on fluency from our test data but they might not truly understand the meaning  of fluency. We have learned that when students research their areas of growth, they make better strides than they would without the research. Similarly, the students conduct research so that they can successfully explain their goal to their audience.

Once students select goals, they select a strategy to help them accomplish their goal. Among the many strategies we observed this trimester were sticky notes, concept maps, computer programs, academic games, online blogs and wikis, songs, projects and so on. The strategies are important tools to help students collect measurable data on their work toward accomplishing their goal. Many students struggle to balance a strategy they like against the need to be able to complete the strategy and have meaningful data.

In the past, we learned that a major stumbling block for students was a lack of time and focus to complete their strategies. That is why we created a block of time each week, on Fridays, just for exit work.

The reflection is the most challenging part for students because they are expected to document their progression over time. This is easiest when the students collect data through the use of an assessment such as a maze test and most challenging when students rely upon a single paper, because a "before" and "after" picture is essential for success.

With data in hand, the students are expected to not only demonstrate their learning but they are asked to interpret and analyze their learning. This means that the students need to consider the degree to which they were effective and why they were or were not as effective as they had hoped.