Homework: January 10 - 13

1. Read each night. There is no log again this week.

2. The math quiz is due back today. This is the quiz on reading graphs. You should correct any problems you missed and have it signed by a parent. Be sure to show your work on the problems you correct. This could be done on the back if you'd like. Just be sure to label it in some way so that I know what it is.

3. Motion experiments are due on Wednesday. You can find all the instructions you need in our last homework post (January 3 - 7).

A Heated Debate

We spent the weeks before Winter Break reading a number of news articles dealing with competition and sportsmanship. During each reading we worked to make connections to the text from our own experiences and understandings of sports. At the heart of each of these stories was the question: "Is it okay to win by a whole, whole lot?"

We found out that in some states high school coaches are punished for winning by "too much." Some stories told of undermanned teams losing a basketball game 100 - 0 where the winning team was throwing up three pointers to the very end while their fans cheared them on to triple digits. Other articles told of coaches who had put in their back-up players but still found that the margin of victory climbed and climbed. One article in particular told of a coach who is viewed as a jerk in many circles because his football teams don't just win - they embarrass other squads. However, he argued that he had asked repeatedly to keep the playclock running throughout the game so that it would end sooner and the score might be more reasonable but that his requests were always refused. There were definitely many issues to consider in each of these articles.

Today the kids held a debate about this. The debate question was: Should high school coaches be punished for winning by too much? Our last debate, on zoos, was very formal in that the kids were paired up and argued to gain team points. This debate was much more informal. The kids sat around a table and had a discussion much like what you'd find around a dinnertable. Or, at least, a dinnertable with heated discussion. They started off shy and quiet but eventually became passionate to win.

Important Dates

Friday, 1/7/11
We are hosting Gathering at 2:20. We will be sharing our work over the past few weeks with fractions, motion, songwriting, graphs, and reading. We will also be performing our newest song, "Reading is Thinking (It's Good for You)."

Wednesday, 1/12/11
Motion experiments are due. We will begin presenting them this afternoon.

Friday, 1/14/11 and Monday, 1/17/11
No school. Friday is a teacher workday and Monday is a holiday.

Homework: Week of January 3 - 7, 2011

1. Homework this week is to read each night. There is no reading log.


2. On Wednesday the kids are bringing home the plans for an experiment they have designed to test a hypothesis or question of interest to them. These experiments are a part of our exploration into motion. Some finished up these plans, others did not. Those that did not can complete it at home. They are now to conduct their experiment and create some type of log (graph, data sheet, etc) that shares the results of their experiment. There is also a spot on their experiment sheet for them to reflect on what happened. Some of the kids expressed an interest in taking photos to share with us. That is fine but not a requirement.

These are due next Wednesday. On Wednesday they need to be ready to share with us:

1. Their completed plan sheet.
2. A log of some type that shows the data they collected.
3. A brief demonstration to show us how the experiment was conducted and how data was taken

These will be presented over two days at the end of next week. Other than reading, this will be the only assignment between now and the end of next week to make sure they have plenty of time to do a great job. I would estimate that this assignment will take anywhere from forty-five minutes to an hour-and-a-half depending on how they choose to record their data and share it with us.

"How do you learn about motion?"

"How do you learn about motion?"

That was the question a couple of the kids asked me today after seeing motion listed among our things to discuss and explore.

"We already know that stuff," Reese assured me. He then began jogging across the room. "See! I can make motion."

It's a fair question and one that I batted around a bit over the break. The State of South Carolina has some very specific things they want the kids to know. I see these in the form of State Curriculum Standards. We don't use textbooks much here at CFI but we do reference this set of specific skills and topics the state mandates. In this case the standards said I should teach the kids to:

1. Identify the position of an object relative to a reference point by using position terms such as "above," "below," "inside of," "underneath," or "on top of" and a distance scale or measurement.

2. Compare the motion of common objects in terms of speed and direction.

3. Explain how the motion of an object is affected by the strength of a push or pull and the mass of the object.

4. Explain the relationship of the motion of an object and the pull of gravity.

So how DO you teach or learn about motion?

We started by throwing some things through the air and listing what we noticed. I threw a round ball, a football, a piece of paper, a paper scrap, a marker, and an eraser. "What'd you notice?" I asked.

"The scrap of paper is a lot worse at going places than like a ball," Jillian offered.
"The football and round ball rolled and bounced after they hit the ground," Madison said.
"The paper had to be rolled into a ball to move much," Jenna shared.
"The ball went the furthest because it's a sphere," Daniel guessed.
"Mr. Hass kept trying to put force into the scrap of paper but it was too light to go very far," Madison hypothesized.

The kids moved out into groups where they started lists of the observations they can make about the motion of objects ("Cars need gas and a motor to give them force or power to move and we need food," one group wrote). They also made another list of hypotheses about motion ("Things need power to make them move - either from gas or food or something," the same group said).

A little while later we packed up our sheets so that we could continue this work tomorrow. I then gave each of the kids a piece of computer paper and a challenge: Design something that will allow your piece of paper to travel further than anyone else's. The kids had already figured out that objects need force to make them move. They also were thinking that an object's shape, material, and weight might have some effect on motion. For this challenge we were keeping material (paper) and weight the same for everyone. However, we were each changing the shape based on our own designs.

We took these outside and practiced throwing them. Many of the kids decided to make changes. A lot of paper airplanes were quickly crumpled up into balls. Others fashioned gliders, paper footballs, or straws. The balls seemed to travel the furthest. However, Kayla was quick to point out that it wasn't really fair because some people threw better than others. Someone else pointed out that people were throwing with different motions as well (underarmed, overhanded, sidearmed). Yet another person guessed that the wind might have helped some people but not others since we didn't all throw them at the exact same time or from the same spot.

So in the end we decided this wouldn't be a reliable experiment of the effects of shape design on motion. However, we learned all kinds of things about carefully crafting an experiment so that it is reliable. This was where I was hoping our discussion would wind up so I was very pleased to see the kids get there. The kids will begin working on Tuesday to design their own experiments around a hypothesis their group made today. They will take these home and have one week to conduct the experiment and come back prepared to talk about it. We'll discuss as a class what this might look and sound like. It won't be a huge project at all. However, I want to make sure they are prepared to really explain what they did and what they learned from it - either about motion or about designing and conducting experiments.

Songwriters Extraordinaire

We've spent the past week or two working as songwriters during Writing Workshop. Each day we sing songs, share what we notice about different structures and rhyme patterns, and work individually and in small groups to write our own original songs. Unlike the handful of class songs we write as a class each year, these are being written by small groups - or as we like to refer to them, bands.


You'd expect this might be really hard or even intimidating for eight, nine, and ten year olds but everyone really jumped right in. We studied songwriting last year which I'm sure helped. But I think, too, the mere fact that the kids spend so much time writing within so many different genres each and every day has played a big part. They write informational non-fiction, reflections, fantasy, comics, written conversations, realistic fiction, poetry, jokes, and on and on. They are powerful writers for their age and that fact is certainly not lost in the songs they are creating.


Over the past few days the kids have worked to pick one song from their drafts to publish, rehearse,and record. Jillian's dad, Clark, will be coming in next Thursday to record their songs for our new CD (Release Date: Spring). We'll also be recording our two most recent class songs - "The Plant Song" and "Reading is Thinking (It's Good for You)" - as well as a song with our special guest, recording artist Hannah Miller (don't forget she has a new CD she'll be bringing along in case anyone would like a copy. It's $5 and she'd be more than happy to sign it.). Look for videos of her visit to appear on our class blog over Winter Break. Sadly, this will most likely be our last chance to work with her. She is planning to move to Nashville in just a few weeks.


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Today I recorded most of the groups as they rehearsed their songs and I thought you might enjoy hearing them as well. Although they were free to write songs about anything, most chose to write Christmas songs. There's one or two others who weren't ready for a recorded rehearsal just yet so I'll be adding those on Monday or Tuesday.

Enjoy

Homework Projects

Today the kids brought in the self-selected homework assignments they had been working on this week. Mrs. Vice and I were blown away. There was such a great variety of work. We saw: a biography of Rose's mother and Madison's grandpa, a nonfiction book about Mount Everest, a hand-made flip chart of the human body, various fact sheets on different animals, an assortment of experiments ranging from watering a plant to evaporation, a beautiful scrapbook with wonderfully written captions, multiplication and division problems, a detailed score sheet from a game of Scrabble with everyone's words and total scores, a rundown of a game of Yahtzee, and a slideshow from a visit to an International Fair.

This whole idea of letting the kids choose what they wanted to work on at home was exciting to me but a little scary too. Yet, look what they were able to do. Walking around looking at all their work as they shared it with their friends was easily one of the highlights of the year for me!