A New Beginning...

Just like all of us are anticipating the new Star Wars movie, you've all been waiting for my return to the technological side of teaching.  With your ability to use Facebook and Twitter you can not only reach out to me but also your classmates when you need assistance with classwork or exams.  I'll update the blog on a regular basis and you can post questions as needed.

Unit 7 Exam

The following topics will be on the Unit 7 exam featuring Weather & Atmosphere:

The water cycle

The layers of the atmosphere

Solving equations based on annual rainfall

Vocabulary terms from the unit (24 total)

The types of scientists

Instruments used in measuring weather.

Greece Essay

How does the government in Athens compare to the democracy in the United States?  What are some of the similarities between and Athens and America?  What things have we taken for granted as citizens?  What did the Athenians take for granted?  Did they think too highly of themselves?  What was the the ultimate downfall of Athens?

Unit 2 Review--Walk Like an Egyptian

Vocabulary

• Study the 13 vocabulary terms 

Label the following map locations

• Nile River Valley, Nile River, Red Sea, Upper Egypt, Kush

Label 5 of the following 10 locations

• Giza, Memphis, Theebz, Napata, Meroe, Nile Delta, Arabian Peninsula, Great Pyramid, First cataract, Second cataract

Essay Questions

• Describe how Egyptians are like humans today?  What traits do they have as members of organized civilizations?  How do we act similar to the ancient Egyptians? Please be very specific with your details.
• Explain why the pyramids were important to the ancient Egyptians.  Please provide specific details about what led to the creation of the pyramids.  What did they do to the bodies?  What was inside of the tombs?  How did the creation of the pyramids lead to advances in math and science?
• Describe and explain the differences between the rule of Ramses II and Hatshepsut.  Provide evidence to support your idea.  Was there anything unusual or strange about the leaders?
• Explain why the need for more land led to the growth of the Egypt and eventually led to its decline and disappearance?  What factors would lead civilizations to fail?  How was the rise of Kush partly responsible for this demise?

Surplus Fit for a King

Surplus Fit for a King

Egyptian farmers produced three times more food than they needed.  Explore the connection between a surplus of food and the rise of strong governments.  Create a short essay, 2-3 paragraphs that discuses “Surpluses Fit for a King”.  How did governments become strong with extra food?  How did this create social classes in Egypt?

This Week--September 23rd-27th

Science

• Notebooks will be collected Thursday for review
• Current Events #2--Article on your choice of science topics is due Monday September 30th
• Unit 1 exam will be on Friday.  It will cover the following topics
• Place in order the steps of the scientific method
• Be able to define independent, dependent, and control variables
• Know the difference between trial and test
• Study vocabulary terms
• Trial, placebo, hypothesis, process, dependent variable, independent variable, control variable, constants, observations, data, & mean
• We still start our Science Fair projects next week

Humanities

• Do Cornell notes for Section 2 in Chapter 1
• Study for a short quiz on Wednesday on all topics we have discussed up to this point in Unit 1

This Week--September 9th-13th

Science

• The scientific method Simpson activity is due today, September 10th
• You will have a quiz on Thursday
• It will be about the vocabulary from class
• The steps of the scientific method
• We will start an experiment on Thursday after the quiz

Humanities

• Finish  Cornell Notes for Chapter 1, Section 1, pages 8-12

Humanities Homework

Due Monday September 9th

• Read pages TOOLS 4-7
• Complete Cornell notes for pages TOOLS 4-7

Please leave a comment if you have questions!

Science Homework

Due Friday September 6th

• Finish Scientific Method Practice sheet

India-Caste System Journals

This was the most fun and engaging unit we have done all year.  I really enjoyed teaching about India and the students really enjoyed the ongoing caste system journals they completed.  They were given a role as a citizen in the social hierarchy of ancient India.  Later, a natural disaster struck and they reincarnated into different roles in society.

Students were assessed using the MYP criterion of Communication.  The 6th graders were able to communicate their ideas using ideas and vocabulary from the unit.  They immersed themselves into their characters and were able to relate their characters to themselves.  A strong, text to self activity.

Humanities & Science--May 29, 2013

Humanities
Finish Cornell notes for sections 1 & 2 of Chapter 8

Science
New Current Events #9 on Chemistry is due Friday May 31st

Peirce Yearbook

The Peirce Yearbook is almost ready!  The 8th grade staff has turned our 2nd annual book into an amazing project.  The theme for 2012-2103 was Neon.  All the pages will have some sort of neon embedded into the pages.  Here is the entire staff and a few pictures of them working independently on the book.  This is a student book from start to finish.  They chose a theme, they designed the pages and for the most part, took all the pictures for the book.  Students edited the book to remove errors and fix pages to make them look aesthetically pleasing.

Straw Towers

The seventh grade students continued our unit on engineering using the design cycle.  Students created straw towers using tape, straws, and paper clips.  The tower had to be free standing and be at least 24 inches/2 feet tall.  It had to hold a tennis ball for 2 minutes.  The seams where the straws were attached could not be put together using more than 4 inches of tape per seam.  Several teams were able to meet the requirements.  Students had to disassemble the towers to make sure their use of tape was not over the 4 inch limit.

A River Runs Through It--Final Exam

Hello 6th graders,
This will be a challenging assessment for everyone to complete.  It covers our unit on ancient China called A River Runs Through It.  There are several themes about economics, technology, and philosophy.

I.  Vocabulary terms to know:
dynasty, bureaucracy, social class, filial piety, warlord, steppes, pictographs, ideographs, calligraphy, mandate, acupuncture, tribe, economy, aristocrats, porcelain, reform, terror, treason, census

II.  Concepts & Ideas to know:

• Recognize how the family structure was set up
• Know economic ideas
• Silk road, farming, inventions
• Understand how art impacted lives of Chinese people

III.  Geography-locate the following places

Huang He River, Chang Jiang River, Yellow Sea, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, East China Sea, Himalaya Mountains, South China Sea, Gobi Desert, Mongolia, Plateau of Tibet

IV. Analysis

Be able to analyze graphs and charts to answer questions on philosophers and dynasties

V.  Written Response--Answer 4 questions

• Why did farmers sell land to aristocrats?  What did this cause them to become?  What eventually happened to farmers in China?
• What technological advances helped Chinese societies grow?  What use did many of these inventions have for the people of China?  Are they still evident today around the world?
• Describe how China, in both ancient times and the Middle Ages had strong economic growth.  What factors contributed to this success of the people?
• Describe how the Mongols were able to build a large dynasty?  What did they use that was far more advanced than other societies?  What was the result of the hostile takeover of Chinese lands?

A River Runs Through It--Final MYP Assessment

Your Objective

Create a Chinese scroll using calligraphy.  Your idea should be fairly simple in that it should represent something about you and things you enjoy.  Remember that the Chinese enjoyed nature and often painted nature on scrolls.  You can use Chinese numbers or days of the week as a good point to start.  Please draw a picture first, then add the pictographs or ideographs.

  

MYP Summative Assessment

Criteria	Level	Descriptors		Indicators
Criterion  A Knowledge and Understanding	0	The student does not reach a standard described by any of the descriptors		Minimal attempt at prescribed outcome
	1-2	The student: Recognizes some humanities vocabulary Shows basic knowledge and understanding of facts and ideas through some descriptions and/or examples		Ideas have been mentioned but do not shows use of background knowledge
				Product shows minimal effort
	3-4	The student: Uses some humanities vocabulary Shows knowledge and understanding of facts and ideas through simple descriptions, explanations and examples		Ideas have been expanded on and show basic knowledge
				Product shows attempt at meeting descriptors
	5-6	The student: Uses relevant humanities vocabulary often accurately Shows good knowledge and understanding of facts and ideas through descriptions, explanations and examples		Several examples of vocabulary and ideas are used in context
				Product is clear and recognizable
Your Level		Teacher Comments

Here is the link to the video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM4BuhTFxho

Strongest Tower

We built towers with varying designs showing strength in STEM class.  In the example listed below, students us plates to spread out the weight of the text books.  Their height comes from using plastic cups.  Each group was given the same materials to work with and had to come up with a design as a group.  These basic engineering skills require students to persevere and push through problems that arise in their designs.  The group below was able to stack 14 textbooks on their tower.

Writing Project

China in the Middle Ages

Your task is to write a position paper based on the following scenarios.  Both parts relate to our area of study and how economics impacts our decisions on the local, national, and world levels.  Please make sure to include some sort of statement agreeing or disagreeing with the public works projects.  Make sure you include something about the role of government in these projects.

Part 1:

Improvements in transportation can bring economic changes.  How did the Grand Canal bring economic change to China?  Why did the public works program anger the Chinese people?  Do you think the work was justified? 

Part 2:

How does this compare to public works projects in Chicago or anywhere else in the world today? How would the Three Gorges Dam bring economic change to China?  Are these projects beneficial for the cost?  Who should pay for these projects?

The Rock Cycle Game

We have had several exciting units in Earth Science this school year.  Here, students are playing a board game featuring the Rock Cycle.  It was great for socialization and continuing to build on concepts and prior knowledge students had already learned throughout the unit!

S.T.E.M---Mouse Trap Cars

Students created mouse trap cars in STEM class earlier in the year.  We had one project that went 32 feet, which is at this point, a record!  

The 6th Grade STEM class was able to build Mouse Trap Cars as their final project for class in the 2nd quarter.

Irrigation Systems

In the very near future, Peirce will have a school garden.  As part of our project, students viewed several videos and read about irrigation systems on large and small scales.  In STEM class, students created irrigation project models that could be replicated when our garden is ready to go.