Agenda August 29

1 Turn in Depth and Pressure Graph
2 Check Journal 3 Chapter 1 Pre reading
3 Journal 4 Vocabulary and Constructing Meaning Instructions
4 Journal 5 CH 1 Vocabulary due Fri Sept 5
5 Journal 6 CH 1 Constructing Meaning due Fri Sept 5

Agenda August 28

1 Journal 2 How to do Pre Reading
2 Journal 3 Pre Reading Chapter 1
3 Graphing Project: Depth and Pressure due Friday August 29

Agenda August 27

1 Physical Science Diagnostic Test Trade and Grade
2 Journal 1 10,000 Hours

Agenda August 26

1 Physical Science Diagnostic Test

Sorry for missing the agenda yesterday.
My daughter has convinced me to take a yoga class with her.  However, given our practicing last night with me, I may try this at home for awhile.  You see there is this pose or position called child's(?) pose that is considered a resting pose.  I physically cannot get into that pose due to my injured right knee.  It was quite funny to have the cat walking under us as we were trying all this out.
The house in Santa Rosa appears to be fine though the fellow who watches the place said it was amazing how fast you can move when you are asleep.  A 6.0 earthquake really packs a wallop.

Agenda August 25

1 Procedures Quiz Collect
2 Collect Predator Prey Graph
3 Code Red Practice Hide
4 Don't Eat the Marshmallow (Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0yhHKWUa0g)

Agenda August 22

1 Procedures Quiz (trade and grade)
2 Video:  Say No to the Marshmallow
3 Graphing Project:  Predator Prey due Monday Aug 25
4 Journals Needed on Monday

Miniatures is not officially meeting this week.  If you happen to drop in for an hour, you will be welcomed.  Official start will be Sept 5.  Why yes, that is a Friday.

Agenda August 21

1 Rules due signed tomorrow (Friday)
2 Procedures
3 Procedures Quiz (due finished tomorrow)
4 Code Red Practice 1 Run Away

Yesterday marked the 4 month mark until my youngest daughter's wedding.  Planning and preparation plans are proceeding apace.

Agenda August 20

1 Seats
2 Rules
3 Procedures
Be sure to ask your period 1 teacher for your agenda if you do not have one yet.

Summer 3 Things I have learned this summer

This is actually the first day back for 6th and 7th grade students but since I don't have any, I can say this is still summer (even though I am wearing a tie).  Well here is my list of things that stand out about the summer though there was some other things I learned as well.

Things I have learned this summer:

How to put on ear rings and panty hose. (My wife broke her arm)

That blow dry bars are worth it with a broken arm.

That boys can fall better than girls.  May be I should say old boys and old girls

Dr Banuelos is a kind and gentle man.

That brain scans on children learning cursive handwriting accesses areas of the brain similar to ones that adults use for higher reasoning  while doing the same activity on a computer accesses none of those areas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85bqT904VWA

and that “Like everything in our culture, we declare its value by what we teach or what we do not teach our children.”

What the amygdala does and why it explains every day as a middle school teacher.

http://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/Facts_for_Families_Pages/The_Teen_Brain_Behavior_Problem_Solving_and_Decision_Making_95.aspx

That no matter the nationality (from the notes of a keen observer) parents give in to tantrums.

Common Core wants children to do critical thinking before their brains can physically perform the task (see amygdala above and add frontal cortex).

That saying no to the marshmallow is a better predictor of academic success than IQ.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/05/18/dont-2

That the digital divide is narrowing in California.

http://www.ppic.org/main/publication_show.asp?i=263

That Historical Miniatures Game Club Models made this year can be entered into the Santa Clara County Fair next year in either “Creative Arts and Crafts” or “Woodworking”

http://www.thefair.org/entries.cfm#

Just because you think you are going to win Settlers of Catan doesn’t mean your future son in law won’t snatch victory at the last moment.

That if you find you are working really hard on a class, it pays to go to the instructor/counselor to find out if the class has more work than you would normally see in a 1 unit class and that, oh by the way, they have changed it and made it easier.

That there really isn’t any difference between frost white, organic white, misty carina, and London mist counter tops when you step back five feet to look at them.

What a heart murmur is and how common it is in folks.

That I have a heart and watched it beat using an ultrasound (ECG).

How to lose 5 pounds in a week though I gained back 2.

How good it feels to hear people say "I couldn't do that" and "Bless you" when I tell them I teach middle school.

Also 4 months from today is my daughter's wedding.  I need to start practicing my father of the bride speech so I don't cry like a baby on the day.