Sandy

Hi Parents:
Ask your sixth grader to see the rocks and minerals lab notebook. In it, on page 9, are three sand samples they glued into place. By having those samples, students were able study and analyze each sample in-depth and determine which sample was sand dune sand, mountain stream sand, or beach sand. It was a kinda cool experience. They actually seemed to enjoy this activity and when I asked to clean-up and washdown the desks, they were more than accommodating.

Dance Tonight
I wonder if they will play a Polka, for me. Oh well, my dancing days are long gone, but, I'm certain the kids won't mind.

'Puters are Fired-Up
On Monday, students will be using the computers in my room to watch a stream table simulation. They will be able to control the water flow, rate of speed, slope, duration and two kinds of rocky sand materials. Much better than setting-up a table in the classroom and all that down time adjusting the classroom model. Ain't technology, wonderful?

Have a great weekend. See you at the dance. Are you going to the dance? Send me a comment.

Let Me Summarize, This

Pretty neat, class. They used Mrs. Pulizzi's 4-square method to compose a summary of their rock study. After doing 4-square, many students commented that writing the summary was much simpler. Who says public education "don't push readin', ritin', 'rithmetic."

Progress Reports
I gave the kiddoes their science progress reports, today. Look for 'em.

Goodbye Alisha
Today was Alisha's last day, here, at Loyalsock. She is moving to Indiana. I bet she will do just fine in the midwest. Later, today, I will insert a slideshow of students from her science class. Something for her to remember us by. By the way, look for your's truly in that slideshow.

Sand Tomorrow
Tomorrow we play with sand. They will be presented with three sand sample, which, they will glue onto the lab notebook and from there do a series of examinations to determine the composition of those sand samples. Beware, I got one mystery sand sample coming up.

More Comfortable
Looks like most of my students have grown accustomed to this rock project. As I stated, yesterday, about 20 stayed after school, yesterday, to work on the project and get caught-up. Today, they approached the summary with much more confidence.

Rainy Day
What a pain -- my arthritis and bursitus, that is. The cold, raw rain made the joints ache and forced me to wear a sweater in class. Gee, I am getting old. Next thing you know, I will be jingling the change in my pocket.

Chunky Sandy Hates Scales

Students, today, placed their granite pieces in plastic jar with their sandstone pieces. They put the lid on the jar and shook the jar anywhere from one to four minutes. The result? Lotsa sand and chunky stone pieces. They took inventory of the different sizes of rocks and sand and compared them to a piece of granite that was not in the shaking mixture. They also made comparisons of grain shapes and size. Whew! Imagine six jars a'boppin' at once. HEADACHE!!!

Frustrated By It All?
I just found out one of my cherubs has becomes so frustrated with this rock project that she literally cries going to school and coming home, for fear she is doing the work incorrectly. In fact, she keeps wanting to ask me questions, although I decline to answer them and refer her back to her group. I did remind her, after I found out about her fear of me, that the new word we learned was "consensus". The project entails the groups to discuss and realize a suitable answer for the questions in the lab notebook. Once I explained there are no real right or wrong answers to this packet, just logical conclusions, she felt a bit more relieved. "Goodness," I told her. "I don't expect you to be an expert in geology from a simple 8 week lesson. That's for you to become when you take Earth Science, again, in 9th grade. I certainly hope I eased her troubled mind.
The packets tell you, at certain parts, to come to me to review your answer to ensure you are working in the right direction. Do you really think I would set you adrift in the ocean in a boat with no engine or oars? Gee, without sharks, that would not be any fun.
Are you getting that frustrated because I won't tell you if your consensus is right or wrong? Write me a comment, or send me an email, or just stop by and talk to me face-to-face. I don't bite. . . Okay, but I will swallow you whole.

Impressive Turnout
About 20 kids stayed after school, today, to play catch-up with this project. Once they got a second chance to work on the project, they got so much completed. I want to thank those children for taking responsibility in their schoolwork and the mature attitude to focus on their commitments.

Shake It Up!

Today, students rubbed a piece of granite and a piece of sandstone, together, to make sand. However, I challenged them to use those stones and a plastic jar with a lid to make sand. They are not permitted to use water or any other material. They can, however, handle the jar. Funny, they insisted on using water to simulate a river or stream wearing down rocks. Ha ha ha, ever hear of landslides, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, wind?