End of the Year

                                                     


As the year is winding down, I have decided to do less tests and more projects. The 6th grade has already taken their end of the year test so we will be going more in depth in subjects they struggled with. One of those subjects is economics. I have found some really great resources to do some in depth projects to better understand the topic. This is an entire unit on economics, where they will choose their occupation, home, and vehicle. These choices will help students understand the benefits and consequences of our financial choices.  The link takes you to TPT page, where it is $8.00.
STEM Economy Simulation Unit
I also found some fun easy activity pages for students to do during down time. This link is also from TPT and it is $3.00.
Economics Activity Combo Pack

In 7th grade we are currently learning about Ancient China. I found a great resources that has everything you would need for a project on Ancient China. It includes the steps needed to be taken in order to be successful, key words that would help with research, as well as websites students could use to find the research.  This resources is FREE!
Ancient China Project
Another great resource from TPT, is an interactive notebook for Ancient China. Unfortunately its $4.50, but it has a lot of great interactive activities for the students to learn more in depth about the subject.
Ancient China Interactive Notebook

***Note***

Students loved the STEM Economy Simulation Unit! They said it was their favorite project of the year. Here are some pictures.

Group Projects

Today I introduced my concept for a group project I want to try out with my 7th graders. It is an open-ended project, where students can basically do what ever they would like for the project. The past two weeks we have been studying Chapter 12,  Early Civilizations of the Americas. The civilizations get a little confusing, therefore I have decided on projects. First I made a list of what they could do the projects on:

The people of the Northwest Coast

Iroquois

Plains Indians

Peubloans

Mississippians

Hopewell

The Adena

Aztecs

Maya

Inca

Next I allowed them to form their own groups, maximum of 4 students. After they formed their groups, I ripped up some paper with the numbers written on them, 1-10. I went around and had each group choose a number (the numbers were face down), this will be the order in which they will get to choose from the list above.

This is an open-ended project, so I will allow students time to brain storm what they would like to do for their project. Some examples are: make a totem pole for the Northwest Coast people, do a research project, make a poster, create a slide show, build a tipi for the Plains Indians, draw a trade route from the Hopewell to Canada and the Gulf of Mexico, build a replica of Serpent Mound, draw or recreate the legend of the Aztecs, recreate the Mayan game, or build a replica of Machu Pichu.

I have never done an open-ended project before, so I am a little apprehensive as to how this will go. I am excited and hopeful that the students will come up with something creative and thoughtful.

This is the rubric I made.

Rubric for Early Civilizations of the Americas

Project Title:

_______________________________________________

Members of Group:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Subject of Project:

The People of the Northwest Coast _______       Iroquois ________        Plains Indians ________

Puebloans ______          Mississippians _______        Hopewell _______         The Adena ______

Aztecs ______          Mayas ______          Inca  ______

Member Evaluation:

1. Did everyone work equally as hard? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. What responsibility did each member have in this project? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Why did you choose to do this project? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Why did you choose to do this civilization? ________________________________________________________________________

Rubric

	5 Point Answers	3 Point Answers	1 Point Answers
Name of the Civilization	Include name and location of civilization	Include name only	Include location only
Where they lived	Include where they lived, and what they lived in. I.e. next to a river, in pueblos	Include where they lived only	Include what they lived in only
What they ate	Include what they ate and how they got their food. I.e. They ate corn because they grew it, then preserved it.	Include what they ate only	Include how they got their food only
Explain relevance of project to course of study	5 Sentences, capitalization, punctuation, spelling and grammar all correct	3 Sentences, capitalization, and punctuation all correct, some spelling and or grammar errors	1 Sentence with poor grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization
Front page of this Rubric Filled Out	All questions are answered with thoughtful responses	All questions are answered with generic responses	Not all questions are answered

Comments:

/25 Points

Learning About The Inca Empire

I found two really great websites with some great ideas for the Inca Empire unit. I wanted to post it here for later use.
*Note: One of the lesson is geared toward 3-5th grade, but it can easily be used for older grades in order to meet their standards.

Couriers in the Inca Empire

Mr. Donn's Lesson Plans for Inca Empire

To begin the unit I used Google Earth to take a virtual tour of Machu Picchu.

History.com Rise of the Incas

History.com Machu Picchu

Zombie Geography

I recently went to a professional development meeting and found out about a really fun resource other teachers are using, it is called Zombie Geography. It is a project based curriculum that includes 10 lessons. I am going to try to stretch the lessons for each week. I plan on using this curriculum with my Social Studies intervention class. I have been struggling with what to do with them since the beginning of school and I finally have something solid to do with them. They are super excited about it too! We start Monday!!

Zombie Based Learning

Interactive Notebook

I found an interactive notebook on Teachers Pay Teachers that was free. Unfortunately, not all the interactive notebooks on TPT are free, so I have decided to make my own!

Whole Brain Teaching

I have recently discovered whole brain teaching and I am very anxious to try it. I am posting some websites just for my own personal reference down below to help me de-clutter my brain a bit.


A Blog All About Whole Brain Teaching

Whole Brain Teachers of America


5 Rules for Whole Brain Teaching Listed Below

Success Story!

This entire year I have been struggling with a class I have twice a day. They are a class where almost every student has an I.E.P. or some other form of help. For some reason their behavior with me has been atrocious and I have started to dread having them. Worst of all, I have them twice a day, once for 5th period, and once 10th period (the last class of the day).  My theory for their poor behavior is that I was too nice at the beginning of the school year. I didn't know the balance of structure/ discipline and fun/easy going. I think many first year teachers have experienced this struggle.
Any ways, today we had a wonderful class period filled with learning! Students participated, raised their hands, and were engaged in the lesson!

What I did differently:

1. I had students come up with their own rules for the classroom to address the various needs of our class.  The issues I have been having with this class are: talking out of turn, being late for class, being disrespectful.   The rules the students came up with and voted on are the following;

• If a student talks out of turn, they must stand in the corner for 5 minutes.
•  If a student is late for class two times in one week they will be written up. 
• If a student is late for class three times in one week they will be given a lunch detention and homework. 
• If a student is late 5 times in one week they will be given an after school detention.
• If a student is disrespectful 3 times in one week, they will be given a write up.

2. Before class we discussed the rules, this seemed to help deter bad behavior because they were aware of the consequences. I am going to remind them of the rules every day for as long as it is necessary.

3. I started our math intervention class out with silent work time. This way students start the class on a quiet and calm note.

4. During the lesson, I passed out points to those who participated. Some students received several points for answering questions and following along. 

Today was by far the best day I have had with this class! I am so excited!