Skip to main content

Week Eight: Friday, October 21, 2022

 Only two more weeks to go and the first quarter is over--this year is already flying by! This past week was a fun one at OJRMS as we had our spirit week to coincide with homecoming at the high school and finished up our Make a Difference Day collection. It was great to see how many kids participated in each of the spirit days! 

This week I was able to show another video on Friday and I chose one that fit well with our themes of diversity and acceptance from the advisory meeting we had on Thursday.  For this week's video, I showed a short clip from the movie Dead Poets Society about finding your own walk and not always conforming to others. The whole movie is certainly worth a watch if you've never seen it! 


American History (Periods 1, 4 and 5)

This Past Week:
The students worked on completing the assignments for the #030-Three Branches Mastery Grid this past week. The students did turn in their ✅ #034-Three Branches Infographic as the culminating (and only graded) assignment for the grid on Wednesday of this week. We then took some time to move on to discussing the Bill of Rights and some of the protections it grants us as American citizens. The students completed an activity called a Cyber Sandwich on Thursday to help them learn about the debate that was held to decide whether a Bill of Rights was needed or not. Finally, we did another activity called an Iron Chef in order to get the kids to practice presenting and to better understand the rights granted to them by the First Amendment. 

Next Week:
We'll continue our discussion of the Bill of Rights and the rights granted to American citizens next week. The students will be asked to do a few smaller activities to help introduce them to the rights granted to them before they start the last bigger assignment for the quarter--a research-based project on the Bill of Rights towards the end of next week. We'll also spend time reviewing for the Civics Exam that will be on Friday, November 4. 

Honor's American History (Periods 2 and 8)

This Past Week: 
The students spent most of their time this week creating a plan for a more just Middle School. The students were given the option to work in collaborative groups or alone to complete #035-A More Just Middle School. In this activity, the students were asked to redesign the middle school to better reflect the principles of the Constitution. We also took some time to discuss elements of an effective presentation this week, as part of this assignment is to present it to the class. 

Next Week:
The students will be finishing up their projects for #035, practicing their presentations, and presenting to the class throughout this week. We'll also do some smaller activities meant to help them gain a deeper understanding of the rights granted to them as a US citizen by the Bill of Rights. Finally, we'll be sure to spend some time in class reviewing for the Civics Exam that will be held on Friday, November 4 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week Six: September 30-October 4

Welcome:  Just like that, we are into the last week of September. I was talking to one of the students in my third-period class about how quickly this year is flying by—we are already one-eighth of the way through it. The students participated in some Spirit Week competitions to help celebrate Homecoming this week and it was great to see so many kids decked out in jerseys, team colors, and, school colors.  I decided to show a quick clip from the movie The Pursuit of Happyness  since we were discussing the Declaration of Independence. The movie is a great movie based on the real-life story of Chris Gardner. We watched a 2-minute clip about the importance of dreams and never letting anyone squash your dreams.  This Past Week:  The Fight Begins: The students used this slide deck to guide them through most of the work they needed to complete this week. I was out on Monday and Tuesday for training from the district so this helped them.  Boston Massacre Writing A...
Post a Comment
Read more

Week Seven: Friday Ocbtober 13, 2023

Welcome:  And just like that we are finished with the seventh week of school and halfway through October! This past week was a fun one as we celebrated homecoming with a Spirit Week that culminated with some fun in the gym at the end of the day on Friday. Don't forget that we have team spirit wear available and information about the Make a Difference Day food collection on our middle school website.   This week brought another Friday and another opportunity for an inspirational video. This week we watched a video of one of the most inspiring people I've ever seen--Inky Johnson. Inky talks all about belief and overcoming obstacles in this video.  Social Studies (Pd. 1, 5 and 6):  This Past Week:  Monday:  On Monday we finished the episode of America the Story of Us  that we were watching about the American Revolution. The students also picked topics for the Common Craft video portion of the American Revolution Menu and got into groups.  Tuesday: To...
Post a Comment
Read more

Week 19: January 8-12

Welcome:  We are officially done with our 19th week of school and on to the last week of the second quarter. It's amazing to me how much time flies (and it seems to be going faster now that my own son is in 8th grade). The school started a Penny Wars competition sponsored by our Positive Behavior and Interventions Support team this week. Additionally, the students also started thinking about the courses they'd like to take when we watched the video about available electives from the high school. The video is 35 minutes long and has a ton of great information--here it is if you'd like to watch it for yourself.  Social Studies (1, 5 and 6) This Past Week:  Wars for the West Key Terms:  The students worked in groups to identify and explain each of the terms that we will be discussing throughout the week. This activity was meant to introduce them to the topics we'll discuss and to practice researching.  Indian Wars Iron Chef:  The students worked in the same gr...
Post a Comment
Read more