Break is almost here!

The three weeks between Thanksgiving break and Winter Break are a flurry of activity.  At my school we conduct most of our second round of testing for the school year.  This testing allows us to see how each child is growing throughout the year, gives some projected idea of how a student may do on the FCAT, and allows us to see how we are doing as compared to other schools in our county.

Both of my reading classes were able to complete their FAIR (a webbased reading assessment that the whole state is using) and Math PCAS tests.  This upcoming week we will do the Science, and writing will be done after the Winter Break. 

Somewhere between all the testing my class was able to complete a five day science workshop.  It was called roller coasters.  The kids explored concepts such as gravity, force, motion, kinetic and potential enery, and friction by building models of roller coasters out of insulation foam tubing, tape and marbles.  The groups had to construct a coaster with a loop and a hill.  In my AM class, only one group was successful.  In my PM class, most groups were successful.  In the AM almost all groups tried to create a hill and then a loop.  After the debrief, we talked about some of the forces at work.  Students quickly realized they should have made their loop first. 

This is one of the reasons departmentalizing is wonderful.  I immediately learned what kept the kids from building a successful model and was able to ask some guiding questions to the PM class.  After asking which "track trick" they thought would need the most amount of force to get the marble through (a question I had not asked the AM class), the groups began talking about the best way to get the marble successfully through the track.  The conversations I heard in the AM class were more about how cool they could make their track look, regardless of how successful it may be.

This unit didn't make me change much about my practice except finding a way to lead students to successful outcomes without point blank giving them the 'how-to'.  I took some pics of their coasters.  I will post them when I have recharged the camera.

Happy Holidays!