Led by NevadaTeach students from the University of Nevada Reno, Room360 explored the differences of building structures in topsoil, sand, and rock. The NevadaTeach students used a lesson from Engineering is Elementary to guide the students through the scientific process and to allow access to the engineering standards within the Nevada Academic Content Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards.
Today we took an assessment covering multiplication and division of fractions and decimals. I changed things up a bit, however, by having students record their answers in Google Forms. This allows for instant feedback like you see below for me and a way for parents to keep current on student performance. In short, I’ll likely be doing this again.
One of the great things about Roy Gomm is the consistent exposure to the arts that students receive. In part, the Masterpiece Art program, led by parent volunteers, aids this. This week parents led students through an exploration of work by Wassily Kandinsky.
The finished art will be displayed in the Gomm multipurpose room.
Today we completed a Zoom In. In this case we took a careful look at Edward Hicks’ Peaceable Kingdom. This is an instructional strategy first introduced to me by Angela Orr which she describes as follows:
The Zoom-In Strategy is an excellent way for you to have students participate in document analysis in a new way. Zoom-In’s are images that have been manipulated so the students only see a portion of the image, rather than the whole thing at one time. Students often struggle to identify the nuances in art, details in a photograph, or historical significance of terms or images chosen by an author/artist/photographer/illustrator. Zoom-In’s highlight these nuances and with the use of guiding questions enable students to analyze primary sources in a new way.
The strategy is important insofar as reinforcing the the habit of making claims supported by reasoning and evidence.
Thank you parents for putting together such a fun Valentines afternoon for the students. Everyone had a great time! And congrats to all the students who successfully completed our Minute to Win It challenges!
Today marked our fourth classroom auction. Impressively, this class has a number of savers who have been sitting out these events in favor of buying their desks and turning them into condominiums.
A big part of a successful auction is receiving donations. Over our winter break, 19 different companies and people contributed items for the effort. These partners in education are not only contributing material items but they are also helping with developing financial literacy. Thank you!
Room 360 