Upcoming Space Unit Test!

Hello everyone!

This past week we were wrapping up our Space Unit which means that this week is testing time! On Monday we will be finishing our review of all the information we have learned (which is a LOT!) and on Tuesday we will have our Space Unit Test!

Be sure to spend some time looking over any topics that you’ve been struggling with (hopefully none!) on Monday night as well as get some good sleep! A good night’s sleep will help you do better on our test than spending more time looking over your study guide! Trust that you have learned all of the information already – you just have to access it on test day!

 

A Wonderful Week of…Engineering Design!

Oh what a wonderful week it is!

All of us here in room 1A31 have a busy week as we wrap up our Engineering Design unit! Yay! This marks our first unit (soon-to-be) completed! Another yay!

Now this week is broken into two different labs that will be covered to make sure we have absolute mastery over engineering design.

First, is the No More Squished Sandwich Lab which challenges the students to define the problem (I have an issue with the way I carry my lunch to school – it always gets smushed), and then follow the Engineering Design Process in order to design, and later redesign, a solution. So far we have seen innumerable ideas that would absolutely solve my problem with my squished sandwich, including one invention which is totally out of the box and exactly what we are hoping for!

Second, which we are just in the beginning stages of, is the Platform to Perform Lab. This is, I believe, our most challenging lab so of course I’ve saved it for last! It asks students to create a platform prototype that will be used to let a performer walk out into the crowd off of an already established stage. Now the tricky part is that they only receive 20 popsicle sticks and 15 cm, or approximately 6 in, of tape! This poses a serious challenge for students since they don’t realize how limited their resources are (like in real life with money) until they actually see it! But I promise – we will figure it out!

Getting Into Science!

So I have been getting asked at least five times a day, “Ms. Wagner, when are we going to learn some science?” Well…we have been using the first few weeks to set ourselves up for success and now it is time to break out the science!

We begin this week going to the Northeastern University Rocky Shore on Tuesday which will be a wonderful experience! Then as we make our way back into the classroom we are going to be beginning our Engineering Design Process unit. What that means is we are going to be figuring out how we identify a problem somewhere in the world and then how we scientifically (aka systematically) figure out the best solution to it! We have begun to go over these steps that engineers, and truly everyone, takes when solving a problem. As we wrap up our week we will continue by figuring out how to identify a problem on our own since this is the first, and arguably the most important, step.

Don’t worry – we are just about to dive in!

Second Week Work – Weee!

Hello!

We are beginning to really get into the nitty gritty and enter into our science work! We began the week with MCAS Testing Language vocabulary. This is probably the most important practice for preparing ourselves for success as we move forward since this lesson teaches us how to respond to all sorts of questions. We have described our most delicious favorite foods (yum!), explained why driving and texting is illegal and argued for or against homework.

As we move forward this week we are going to be continuing to set ourselves up for success in Engineering Design and the rest of the year by reviewing our main measurement tool – THE RULER! It is the most underrated tool that is essential to infinite jobs like construction, engineering and mechanics, just to name a few.

Getting Into the Groove

Hi everyone! For our second and third days of school we will be having fairly normal days (compared to today).

On Thursday, students will stay in homeroom until 9:45 and during that time we will need to finish up our necessary paperwork but if we get through that then we have the opportunity to watch the movie based on our Summer Reading book! The rest of our day will be as a “normal” day so students will be going to C, D, F and A period classes! Friday is a full normal day for us so we are excited to try and get into that groove!

In my classes, both Thursday and Friday will be designated for introductions – of myself, of the students and of the classroom – as well as getting the syllabus and completing a presentation on my most important rules, tools and procedures! We’ll try to spice it up a little so it doesn’t get too monotonous 🙂

First Day of School

Welcome, welcome!

Today is a busy day which brings out both excited and nervous feelings not just for students but for teachers too!

Today we will:

• Fill out our necessary paperwork (lots of paperwork)!
• Get our lockers and figure out how to open our locks!
• Review your new middle school schedule!
• Go to not one, but two, presentations!
• And finally, check out your last two periods of the day!

I know it’s a little overwhelming but I promise, we’ll make it through it!