Mr. Brilla's Musings

 Welcome:  Happy Friday & welcome to the first full week of December! As many of you might be aware, Ms. Brinson put together a calendar full of spirit days for the month so it's been great seeing so many different costumes and personalities. The school also continued the Operation Giving Tree collection this week and the students had clubs on Thursday. Finally, we watched one of my favorite commercials ever on Friday--a video on YouTube for West Jet called "A Christmas Miracle."  This Past Week:  This past week was all about starting our new topic & conducting independent research for their Common Craft Videos. Here's a quick rundown of what we did each day.  Monday:   The students were given time today to finish up their work on #020-Quarter Two Essay. The students that were finished were then given time to get a jump on their research for our Common Craft Video Project on Native American tribes.  Tuesday:  We took time today to fill out a Frayer Organizer t

Welcome:   Welcome back from the Thanksgiving Break and into the first week of December! Our school started an amazing community outreach program called Operation Giving Tree by collecting toys for local families for Christmas. We also watched a great video about overcoming challenges and obstacles.  This Past Week: Monday:  Today was all about research--the students got back into the groove of school by completing their research for the second quarter writing assignment in #013-Trails West Research.  Tuesday:  I was home today with a sick kid, and the students spent time completing their research without me.  Wednesday:  The students created their first mind map for me today. They sifted through the research of all of their classmates to pull out the top 3 dangers/difficulties for each of the four groups we've been researching. They then used that to create their mindmaps to help organize their thoughts. Thursday:  We continued our preparation for the quarter two writing assignmen