Because we all need a pick me up

Some days we all need a pep talk.  Especially teachers and students.  And some days, we can say something to brighten someone's day.  Thankfully, there's Kid President.

The Incredible, Edible Wall of China

Food and history.  Two of my favorite things.  About a week ago, we combined the two and built models of the Great Wall of China.  Some would have been tastier than others!

Applying what we've learned

Perhaps you remember the awesomeness of Baby Monkey Riding on a Pig. Some 8th graders certainly did. They left me a present on my desk after class one day!

Revolutions

There's a lot of talk of revolutions in Mr. Dais's class these days.  The 8th graders are starting to study the Industrial Revolution.  The 7th graders are starting on the American Revolution.  But hopefully the 6th graders are not talking about starting a revolution.  These videos are for the 8th graders.

Cheesy Title with a Mummy Pun

Egypt is always a fun unit.  Our textbooks actually don't spend that much time on some of the cool stuff about their civilization, but thankfully there's supplemental materials and the internet to make up for it.  Tomorrow in class we'll do some online activities to learn more about pyramid building and mummies.  Maybe even this amazing song will start to make a little more sense.

Volcanism

Happy Friday!

Our reading stories this week were on volcanoes.  We watched the start of a PBS documentary on Mount St. Helens.  Some of the kids seemed hooked by the intro.  If you're interested, check it out here:

Mount Saint Helens - Back From the Dead

Routines

Happy Friday!  The good news is that we are starting to get into some good habits.  The past two days in math, especially, have gone almost seamlessly.  Another good result is that you're probably noticing less work to be done at home.  Hopefully, we master a lot of other "6th grade habits and routines" to ensure smooth sailing.  Have a great weekend!

Crawling Before We Run

So far, I haven't been able to use this as much as I'd like.  Hopefully, that will start to change this week. Watch for useful stuff like study guides, links, and extra information.  In the meantime, enjoy this entertaining video.  It is a minute of your life you'll never get back, but it can also teach you about a falsetto voice in music class.  :)

A Full Week In!

We are off and running.  A lot of our routines are quickly becoming habit already.  The kids are doing a  great job of reading quietly during their independent reading time.  The 6th grade class is singing in the 10:30 service on Sunday the 22nd.  And for the upper graders, here's a review of some Revolutionary War material.

And We're Off

We are underway!  We've had a good first two days of school.  I've tried to ease them back into the school routine by spending a lot of time on routines and procedures.  So there hasn't been too much homework, but that will come soon enough!  :)

Here's our theme song for the year.

Getting Closer

Less than one week until school starts!  I hope you are enjoying the end of summer.  We will do our best to ease into the school routines (especially with homework).  I look forward to seeing everyone next week.  Happy Labor Day!

The Start

Hello, world!

Today is the day I am finally starting a project I've had in mind for a very long time.  This blog will (hopefully) contain things such as notes, assignments, videos, and other supplementary things for our classes.