What a Week!

Oh my! What a wonderful week! So many exciting things happened and real learning occurred in our classroom. I know what you are thinking...isn't all learning real learning? Of course, but I what I mean by this is we all challenged ourselves, tackled some tough topics, and did some real soul searching that coincided with our learning. 

Our history discussions this week centered around segregation and discrimination. We first used m&ms to help us figure out at the end of the day we are all humans in this world that deserve love, respect, and kindness no matter the color of our skin, the religion we practice, or what we look like. We also watched the Sneetches by Dr. Suess to define the terms and conclude that segregation is a form of discrimination. Our last discussion for the week centered around Jim Crow Laws and the idea of "separate but equal." Part of our discussion was about how we still see similar issues in our world today and what we can do to take small steps to a better world in which equality and love overpower discrimination and hate. I can't put into words the moment that brought cold chills and tears of joy to my eyes as students literally joined me in my example of showing that small actions make small steps, but overtime you eventually reach the goal! 

In math, we also used some tasty treats to help us gain a better understanding of why perfect squares are called perfect squares and how they relate to the exponent two! There were definitely some creative ways that students created their squares. Students also played Exponent War or Exponent Blackout with cards to have some fun while practicing our skills. Another tool we used er some coloring sheets in which the answers coordinated to a color that would turn into an image in the end! I had the most fun listening to students guess what the pictures would be or what the parts they had already figured out were! 

These guys were working extremely hard to figure out the components of their picture! There guesses were everything from goal posts to giant feet to cheerleaders (it was a football related image). 

As promised, here are a few samples of our maps from last weeks project! I'm not sure why they have turned they way they have, but it won't let me fix it! 

 

 

Other exciting things this week: 

Our Monday Meeting was a discussion about how each of us are gifted. We all took sticky notes and wrote a way we thought someone in our group was gifted! 

I tried Minestrone soup this week when Mrs. Lovitt took Ms. Griffith, Mrs. Westrick (author), and I out to dinner before her CES visit!  

Author A.B. Westrick came to CES to discuss her novel Brotherhood and give us some insights into why she wrote this book! 

Even though it was chilly, we all still enjoyed being outside in this beautiful fall weather. 

Ms. D's Snapshot: 

Mrs. Conroy, Nurse Andrews (aka my sister), and I went to the I Love the 90s concert!