WMS: Math/Science Update. MSP Testing this coming week!

Dear Families,

We not only survived the field trips to the Gordon Carter site, but we had a GREAT time! Thank you so much to all of our volunteers and chaperones. And thank you to everyone for making sure your children were dressed appropriately, had lunches, and had a great attitude! We had a GREAT time out there learning about ecosystems in a way that cannot be replicated in a classroom.

One of the questions I was asked was about the lesson about Phosphorous run-off into the water shed. The graduate teaching assistants and the university professor felt the lesson needed to be revised for clarity. After observing it twice this year (and three times last year), I thought I'd have some good suggestions about simplifying the lesson, or about focussing it. Instead, every suggestion I made took too much out of the lesson. These creeks and watersheds are complex systems that we can't recreate in a classroom. And trying to reduce it down to just one particular aspect of perspective doesn't help kids understand the complexity of the system. I think I found myself favouring the complexity because here -- in the outdoors -- the students get to see and grapple with that complexity. These outdoor education experiences are so very important for helping kids put the small pieces together into something that is the BIG picture staring them in the face. 

This Week in Math:

• We will be extending our study of equations and expressions into solving one-step equations. That means if we have an equation like 4 + x = 12, students understand that they can "solve for x" by doing the same thing to each side of the equation: i.e. they can subtract 4 from each side, leaving x=8 as the solution. I will be using an analogy of a single-arm-balance as we learn the strategy, then we will have a few practice sessions.

This Week in Science:

• We will finish looking at Forces and Motion and will start looking at the grand canyon as a model for understanding sedimentary rocks and layer deposition. The big picture understanding here is to get a sense of scale of geologic time and to see some of the evidence for it. We will be investigating this through the rest of the year.

MSP TESTING THIS WEEK:

It's that time of year. We don't really do any specific test prep here at 6th grade at WMS. But we do want students to have plenty of SLEEP at nights, and good NUTRITION. Also, any day a student is testing, they are treated to FREE BREAKFAST in the lunch room! 

Warm regards,

Brian MacNevin