Friday, May 23, 2008
CMS students write letters to Thailand
CMS 6th Graders - "The Green Generation"
Thursday, May 8, 2008
"ED"ies Award in the Press
CMS AYP Results Mixed
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
CMS Wins "ED"ies Award
Friday, April 18, 2008
Projects using Google Earth
Many of our students have been using Google Earth in their classes. Below is a list and description of some of those projects.
Social Studies
Colonial Tour
Students chose ten topics from a list of historical locations and events. After creating a timeline, students conducted research answering a series of questions about each location or event. Students also found a graphic and learned to include the graphic in a placemark by using basic html code. Citations were included along with the factual information and graphic for each placemark, resulting in a tour of Colonial America. (Mr. Dobson)
Tourism Flyer
Students used Google Earth to explore points of interest in a variety of cities in Middle Eastern Countries. Then placemarks were created from researched information about their favorite point of interest. Tourism flyers were created in Microsoft Publisher highlighting interesting information about their point of interest to cast a positive reflection on Middle Eastern Cities, encouraging visitors to choose their point of interest. (Mr. Young)
Latin America
To introduce students to Google Earth, students visited a series of major landmarks in Latin America. A worksheet asking for the absolute reference and description about each of the landmarks allowed students to use Google Earth not only for exploration tool but also as an information resource.
(Ms. Tremblay)
European Timeline
Students created a timeline of five events in European history using Inspiration as a graphic organizer. After conducting research on their chosen events, they typed their information into paragraph form in Microsoft Word. Students then created a placemarks in Google Earth to correspond with their historic event, creating a tour to match their timeline. (Mr. Burke)
Russian Tour
Students work in groups with assigned roles to choose a Russian landmark, conduct research, and create placemarks resulting in a tour to share with students at the end of the project. The variety of landmarks chosen by different groups allowed students to learn about many areas of Russia while enjoying a Google Earth tour. (Mr. Leslie)
World Languages
French Menu
Students in French class visited restaurant locations in Paris and at least two other cities throughout France. After viewing a variety of menus from the restaurants in each city, students created their own original French restaurant menu in Microsoft Publisher. Using the dining selection from Places of Interest in Google Earth identified restaurants immediately for students and provided instant access to restaurant websites. (Madame Cooke)
Spanish Presentation
Students in Spanish class used Google Earth to visit landmarks in cities throughout Spain. Students worked in groups to research the Government/History and other official business, Art/Culture/Tourism, Geography/Climate and Daily Life/Population of one particular city. Each group created a PowerPoint presentation and presented the finished product to the class. One particular benefit of this project was that students discovered additional landmarks in Google Earth not discovered in initial research. (Senora Stigum)
Thursday, April 17, 2008
The "ED"ies Committee Visit
6th Grade Going Green Experience
Many of our 6th grade students are completing an interdisciplinary research unit entitled "Going Green". This unit employs student choice and differentiated instruction. There were many possible topics of study that included Alternative Energy, Transportation, Arctic Region Study, Climate Change, Designing your own Green Home, Reduce Reuse Recycle, and Wacky Weather. Students could investigate many aspects of each topic and choose a challenge level and a way to demonstrate what they learned in the form of a product.
Students who choose "Alternative Energy" as a topic compared and contrasted benefits and drawbacks of alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, nuclear, hydro, geothermal, and biomass. Students attended a presentation with an alternative energy expert during the school day. Some students choose to demonstrate what they learned through a power point presentation while others created models and one student even invented "solar house siding".
Students who chose transportation investigated alternative ways to power motor vehicles. These alternative methods included electricity, hydrogen, biodiesel, hybrid, ethanol, and natural gas. Students attended a presentation by a biodiesel expert and Peter Zack from Maine Energy Education made fuel cells with students and displayed his hybrid car in the back of the school. Mr. Zack was brought in as a result of a student contacting him for an interview. He was so impressed with the project and our student, that he volunteered an entire day in our classrooms.
Students who choose Arctic region study investigated how diminishing polar ice would impact sea levels and wildlife in arctic regions. Students worked with science teachers to create and analyze ice cores in an after school session.
Students who investigated climate change defined climate change and researched evidence of climate change including the causes, perils, solutions, and actions.
Many students were intrigued by the "Designing Your own Green Home" topic. Students investigated what a green home was and how individuals can go about designing a zero-energy home. Students considered location and house size, construction materials, heating, plumbing, electrical, septic, and appliances. Students attended a presentation by Ms. Roe, a local green home and product expert. Some students also chose to interview her further relative to their product while other students created model homes and noted features of interest.
"Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" was another interesting topic where students explored the reasons for diminishing waste and presented ways that people are cutting back, re-using materials and turning materials into other products for consumption. Students were excited to learn that Patagonia recycles fleece jackets and they were astounded to find that schools in Naples, Italy were closed because their landfills were filled and trash was piling up on the streets. Many students started recycling programs at home and one student has created a compact florescent light bulb fundraiser where classmates can purchase energy efficient lightbulbs at a reduced cost!
The final topic of choice was "Wacky Weather". Students investigated how climate change leads to extreme weather patterns and how our weather and temperatures are changing. Students attended a presentation from the Mount Washington Observatory. Students could choose to investigate effects on precipitation including floods, droughts, and heat waves, hurricanes, tornadoes and relate them to impacts on health, plants, and animals.
Student learning was evident with the presentation of their products and the written response of their reflection papers. Students were asked how the research has changed the way they think about the Earth and climate change and brainstormed changes they could make in their life to help the environment. I believe that we have only begun to see the impact that this project will have on the students. I am proud to say that they are stewards of the environment. With Earth Day approaching, students are eager to find ways to make a difference.
Professional Learning Communities
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Politics and this blog
Monday, March 31, 2008
"Great" School Diagram and G2G Update
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
What Are the Purposes of Assessment?
1. Student Learning: Assessment is a way for educators to measure progress, strengths, and areas of growth. Many teachers assess their students using a pre-test, mid-term, and post-test to gauge student learning. This may take place throughout a unit or the entire school year.
2. Improvement of Teaching: Teachers use assessment to determine what is effective in their teaching practices; what is working and what needs improvement. A variety of assessment tools may be used in order to determine what types of instruction are most beneficial in meeting the needs of students.
3. Communication: Assessment should serve as a means of communication between educators, students, administrators, and parents. Parents and students often look at assessment to see WHAT is being learned, HOW progress is being measured, and the TYPE of instruction being received. Educators and administrators use assessment to evaluate teaching practices and to determine if there are gaps in the curriculum.
4. Program Evaluation: Assessment can prove a good measure of one’s program, revealing evidence of the effectiveness of that program, throughout the year, assessment can offer direction to the program and modifications can be made to increase both student and instructional success.
5. Program Support: Consistent assessment can be used to validate one’s program. Data gained is objective and can show evidence of goals and objectives being met by both student and teacher. With clear data presented, a strong measure of program support may follow.
6. Motivation: Assessment shows progress. When improvement is shown, students feel positive about their learning environment. Documented assessment can offer proof of growth, thus enhancing students’ motivation to perform to the best of their ability.