Halloween & Common Core!

In the spirit of Halloween, students researched a "legendary creature" and wrote a report in an online presentation format of their choice.  Students were challenged to explain and include citations for these 5 categories:  Description/Symbolism of creature, Origins, Comparison to other legendary creatures, Connections to the culture/country from which it came, and Modern Use of that creature today.  Then, students shared their creature reports in a collaborative group online using Google Classroom and read at least 5 other students' reports.  From each creature report, they gleaned one creature feature to create their own "supercreature," which they explained the "discovery" of in an informative news article. 

Fun with Independent Reading Books - Characterization Coggles!

Making inferences based on five types of indirect characterization...Coggle-style!  Students create a Coggle mind map explaining how a character in their independent reading book exhibits the 5 types of indirect characterization!  Thank you, to my donors, who helped fund my classroom this year to purchase a few new class library books!

K-9 Unit Visits 7th Graders!

K-9 units began in the Roman Empire...and seventh graders make a plan to support our police officers and canines too! 🐶 👮 ‬Seventh graders enjoyed a visit from a Ventura police officer and his K-9 dog and enjoyed learning about the background and process of our community K-9 units!  A team of 7th graders organized their community service project to support police K-9 units in our community and even gave the policeman a glowing plaque, which they handmade in their Makerspace class!

To Fall or Not to Fall? - Fall of Roman Empire PBL Presentations

D.A.T.A. scholars in Room A-4 did a phenomenal job giving group oral presentations answering the driving question to our "Fall of Rome" Project-Based Learning unit:  What factors cause a civilization to fall and how can it be prevented?  Performing in collaborative teams, students reported on their top three reasons Rome fell, they encouraged the audience with a community service project idea created by their team, and finally they reflected on how this project could help prevent America from a fall like that in Rome.  Presentations included creative attention-grabbers, skits, songs, artistic posters, games, VTS discussion, audience interaction, online presentations, videos, trailers, lego stop motion animation, newscasts, interviews, community involvement, live animals, and more!  What a fun day and a great way to celebrate and share student learning and success!  Enjoy photos from student presentations below: