We had our Valentines Day party today and I must take a moment to relay a story. I am not a big fan of Valentines Day, never really held any significance in my life. After telling the kids this, one of our young ladies made the comment that I "didn't like Valentines Day because it reminds me of how alone I am". She was embarrassed, I couldn't stop laughing on the inside, it was quite humorous.
Since the kids really wanted a party, and a chance to hand out Valentines Day cards, we had a 30 minute party today. It seems like almost all the girls in the class made me this card to remind me that I am not alone. It was adorable! Thank you girls. :)
On to the updates!
Conferences are coming up! We are closing in on the halfway point of the third quarter (already?) and that means it's time to sit down again for a checkup. Conference sign-up forms went home today. I will try my best to sign you up in a time slot that works for you, and if you have another child at Horizon, one that will be most efficient for you in order to avoid the situation where you have to travel back to school on two different nights.
Edmodo is one of the newest technologies sweeping across Horizon. We have begun to utilize Edmodo as a classroom to upload our homework every night (including spelling words, test dates, fundraiser dates, etc), discuss our guided reading books and to ask homework questions. The site has a feel that resembles Facebook but is different in many ways. For example, I (the teacher) can see everything that everyone posts. While the students can talk directly to me and I can send a message directly to them, they are not able to send messages directly to one another. I also have the power to remove group members, delete and/or edit posts, and monitor what is going on. Only those student's with our classroom code can join, which helps make it a secure site. We are still in the beginning stages of exploring and unlocking the potential of Edmodo, but we are certainly having fun with it.
Curriculum wise:
In math, our 6th grade math group have started exploring the wonderful world of geometry. Full of angles, parallel lines and protractors, we have dove head first and look forward to figuring it all out!
In Language Arts we have students finishing Among the Hidden and getting ready to tackle Among the Barons. We also have students continuing to read Dragon Rider. We are also exploring different literary elements, such as alliteration, similes, metaphors, idioms, and onomatopoeia.
Social Studies has brought us to the wonderful world of Ancient Greece. After learning about the geography of Greece and where key cities are, we dove into the history. Athens, Sparta, wars, philosophers, education, democracy, and gods that never seem to run out of stories for us to read are all part of the fun. Students will start diving into their projects next week. They have no idea what they are about to do, but the excitement is there and you can easily tell how pumped up the students are to learn, create, and present.
Enjoy the Olympics, and I will see you all in a few weeks for conferences!
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