Mornings at My House

Here is a student telling what takes place at his house before school on a typical school day morning. He did a great job!!!

A Rousing French Class

I was walking to pick up the boys from French class today when I heard a lot of spirited singing. I was not surprised to find that it was coming from the direction of the clever and creative Mme. Cooke. I arrived in the nick of time time to hear a rendition of a favorite French Halloween song which is below.

A Great Day for Soccer

Here is a picture of my most recent trip to a soccer game featuring Ninth Age boys. There were many in attendance which makes it even more fun. The boys fell behind 1-0 to a strong team but battled back with the equalizer in the first half and a second goal late in the game to secure the victory. Well done boys!!!

A View From the Skybox

I was up on the roof over the art room during recess getting a few balls that had been kicked up there. It struck me that a video from this vantage point would offer a great perspective on our recess. There are two football games and a kickball game going on at the same time.

Finding North Without a Compass

In geography class today we headed out to the boys' field (does this count as a field trip?) to learn about the four cardinal directions: north, south, east, and west. The boys were not exactly sure which direction was north (which is evident from the fingers pointing in a variety of directions in the first picture.) We went out before the spelling test and stuck a pointer in the ground and marked where its shadow fell. Then we went back outside after the spelling test and had geography class. We discussed why the sun moves across the sky (or appears to move) and how its movement can help us find out the directions. The boys knew that the sun rose in the east and set in the west but that didn't offer much help at mid-day. Since it had been about thirty minutes since we had put the pointer in the ground we checked it to see what if anything had changed. Lo and behold the shadow had moved. The boys were able to deduce that since the sun will set in the west that the shadow had moved to the east. This gave us an east-west line on which we placed a ruler. Placing another ruler perpendicular to the first gave us a fairly accurate compass. We had a great time and learned a lot. When the boys are older they won't need to stop and ask for directions; they can put a stick in the ground and wait for thirty minutes to know which way to go.

Postcard Geography

We have received postcards from ten states, and the boys have enjoyed reading about the lives of other students and what their state is like. The postcard from Florida was particularly enjoyed because of the summer-like weather they have year round.

Amazing Art History Class

The boys have been studying Leonardo Da Vinci and his ways of engaging in code writing. Today some boys were doing upside down, backward writing something like this:

Mrs. Mollett was extremely impressed with the messages that were written. Below she can be seen looking at a long message with one of the boys. In the second picture if you look carefully you may be able to see the decoded message in the mirror.

Another Fantatstic Great Pyramid Composition

Here is another outstanding composition. If you get a chance, you should watch the other Great Pyramid composition posted a few days ago to see how much freedom the boys have in how they organize the facts.

History Study Sheet

The study guide for the test on Thursday on Chaptres 10 and 11 can be seen here.

Action Verbs

After learning about action verbs, the boys enjoyed putting what they had learned into motion. The boys walked quickly to my desk, wrote down an action verb, walked back to their team, and then silently acted out the word that they chose. When a team member correctly guessed the action verb, the next team member walked quickly to my desk to write down a new verb to continue the process. Once all of the team members had participated the game was over. We played a few rounds, and they all went well.

Taking Good Care of the Earth

We had a thrilling assembly today that dealt with everything from the water cycle to how to keep items out of landfills. Along the way the students learned how water flows up a tree and lots of other amazing facts. The presenter used upbeat music throughtout the assembly. Even a fire drill right in the middle of the show did not dampen anyone's spirits.

An Excellent Composition About the Great Pyramid

After a week of studying about Egypt and the pyramids, the boys wrote a composition about the Great Pyramid. The sheer number of facts that they had at their disposal was daunting, so I stressed that organization would be key. This writer struck a great balance between including lots of facts and keeping the flow of the composition smooth. Well Done!!

Postcard Geography

We have partnered with 250 other schools in a postcard exchange designed to teach students facts about the different states. We will be sending our postcards out in the next few weeks. We have received five postcards which are now on a bulletin board outside of our classroom. It will be fun to see how many we get over the next few months when the project officially ends in December.

An Up and Down Grammar Class

Today in grammar class we learned about the difference between singular and plural nouns. After we had mastered them we did an activity called "Up and Down Nouns." Whenever the boys heard a singular noun they moved to a lower position, and when they heard a plural noun they moved to a higher position. The five possible positions from lowest to highest are: laying on the floor, sitting on the floor, sitting in the chair, standing by the chair, and standing on the chair. We did it a few times slowly and then increased the speed. This video shows our last time through, which was done at full speed. The boys moved up and down as they picked out singular and plural nouns. They had a great time and learned a lot about nouns.

As part of our conversation about singular and plural we conjugated the verb "to be," and we looked at its singular and plural elements. See if you can come up with a proper, grammatically correct sentence that starts with "I is..." If you have any trouble you can ask your son. He knows the answer.

A Beautiful Folder Cover

One of the best parts of this blog is that I get the chance to highlight lots of students throughout the year in lots of different ways. Earlier today a boy completed his folder cover for his folder papers which will go home next week. As a whole, the boys take their time and do a good job on their folder covers, and the one seen here exemplifies that spirit. The student who created this folder cover took quite a while with it, and the end product is fantastic. The folder covers are supposed to relate either to the season we are in or to something we are studying in class. I love how this student has interwoven Egypt and Halloween. I particularly like the headdress on the ghost that is above the pyramid and the ghost that is floating through the letter in October.

A Rousing Geography Class

We have begun our study of the United States in geography class. The boys were given the option of gathering a few facts about Maryland which we will be sharing with 250 schools that have signed up to do a geography postcard exchange. Once we have gathered our facts I will compile some of them and have them printed on postcards, so we do not have to manually fill out 250 postcards. The exchange lasts from late September until December, and we may mail our cards at any point during that time. We have already received five postcards which I shared with the students today. To display the cards we are going to make a map of the United States using the cards. This will involve cutting the cards, and the second card from Rhode Island will not make it onto the map, but I think it will look great in the end.

In class we looked at a new section of the Shepard geography website that we used last week, and the boys loved it. I told the boys to focus on the middle column in this link (the one dealing with states) and see how many of the nine levels they can master. We did a few of the levels together, and the boys had a great time while they were improving their geography skills.

A Piece of the Great Pyramid

I was fortunate to get to go to Egypt in the summer of 2004 as part of the Garrett Grant Summer Study program that allows teachers to travel far and wide to enrich the curriculum that we teach. While visiting the Great Pyramid I came across some workers who were sweeping sand from the first few tiers of the pyramid. I noticed that along with sand there were lots of little pieces of the pyramid that had flaked off and were being swept into the sand below. I asked one of the workers if I could collect some of the pieces, and he said that any pieces I removed would be less for him to sweep. I collected quite a few pieces and have given one to each 9-2 student for the past six years. My collection is growing smaller but there are still many left. The students were very excited to get the chance to have a piece of The Great Pyramid after studying it and writing about it.

Papyrus!!!

The papyrus project worked out very well as can be seen by the photos below. The boys were very excited about the finished product which they will be bringing home after school on Friday.

The Papyrus Project

After the papyrus soaked over the weekend each of the boys came in and laid out the pieces to form a sheet. By Friday the papyrus should be dry and we'll know if it worked or not. In the meantime we change the washcloths twice a day to absorb the excess moisture. Stay tuned for the results...

The Beginning of Great Things

We have started our Great Pyramid compositions and here are a few of them in progress. On the first day of writing a composition I will frequently ask for a few volunteers to share what they have written after fifteen or twenty minutes of work. This gives the class potential ideas for how to incorporate information into their composition and also allows us to discuss the strengths and issues in the composition being shared. In this case it also shows how much variation is possible in Ninth Age compositions. The class all had access to the same facts, but the organization of ideas is up to them. I did give many parameters for how to be successful, and I am hopeful that the final results will be awesome. There will be more compositions online after the compositions are completed.

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Some Links Dealing With Egypt

I have come across some great links to sites dealing with Egypt. A fantastic site presenting information on Egyptian life, geography, gods & goddesses, mummification, pharaohs, pyramids and more can be seen here. See your name in heiroglyphics by clicking here. Go on a National Geographic interactive adventure by clicking here.

Rainy Day Recesses

We had two indoor recesses because of the rain, but both were a lot of fun. The first one took place between math and reading. When it rains the students go to their second period class right at the end of their first class and have recess in that room for fifteen minutes after which the second class begins. Since the weatherman was callig for lots of rain I brought in some games from home which the students enjoyed. One popular game was Brain Warp which is featured in the first video. There are different games that can be played with it, but in the one we did today the student whose turn it was had to turn the game so that the color called for was pointing up. The game consisted of three rounds with the colors coming faster and faster.

The second recess, which took place at 12:30, was in the gym and featured a rousing game of Basketball Dodge. It is like traditional dodgeball with couple of twists. To get back into the game a player who is not out, has to hit the opposing team's backboard. This means that no one sits out for more than thirty seconds or so. If a basket is made one point is scored. The winning team is the one with the most points at the end of the game. Here is a video of a student getting a point and not even realizing it.

A Great Day for Soccer

I was very fortunate to spend part of this fantastic day watching a hard-fought soccer game at Cromwell Elementary School. There were four Nine Two students playing, and they played very well. One of the students even scored a goal!!

The Papyrus Experiment

Over 5,000 years ago a wise Egyptian figured out that if he (or she) cut papyrus into thin strips, soaked them in water, laid them out on a rock to form a sheet, and pressed the papyrus with other flat stones until it dried, that it would form a durable, yet flexible surface which could be written on. We will be recreating this remarkable sequence of events (without the rocks) next week in class. We have started the process by soaking the papyrus strips which were sent to us from Egypt, after they had been cut down from the banks of the Nile River. Stay tuned for updates as we proceed next week.

Soccer in PE class

On Friday afternoon, under perfect skies, I went out to help ref the Ninth Age boys as they played soccer during their PE class. The boys spent the last few weeks working on skill development, and now the games have begun. I was impressed with how little I had to intercede (especially since my whistle was inadvertently left inside)

Learning About the Continents

In geography class today the boys learned about the seven continents, and then they labeled and colored a map of the world, a copy of which I projected on the big screen .(Ask your son why he should never color a continent blue.) The picture was taken in the middle of class as the boys were labelling and coloring their maps.At the end of class we went here to reinforce what we had learned.