|
I missed the Virtual Field Trip, and I can't believe it. I wasn't kidding when I said this week was going to be one of the biggest of my teaching career. Other than a school-wide Freedom Writers event that I planned two years ago, Wednesday's VFT was going to be the highlight of my time in the classroom. "Touring" Aquarius is something that so few people have gotten to do, and Aquarius's website says that there's a waiting list of over 50 schools to get to do a VFT. This was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity . . . and I got so dizzy during 2nd period that I had to go to the nurse's office for just the second time in my entire life. I have been going to school for 27 years now. Of all days!
Long story short, I'm fine - I'll fill your kids in tomorrow and do my best to make it an entertaining story - and since Mr. Ben Rossman, our Technology Innovator, thought to screencast the Skype call for me, I did get to "tour" Aquarius and see the interaction between Ms. Vinglish and the students. Everyone - including Ms. Vinglish - was so impressed by the students' behavior and their questions. I was and still am so proud of all they put into this Teacher Under the Sea experience! I cannot wait to talk to them tomorrow as we wrap up Teacher Under the Sea, write Ms. Vinglish thank you notes and poems, and summarize the science lessons that, as one student said in her reflection, were "interesting to learn without learning it to answer tests and quizzes." Isn't that the truth! As we head down the home stretch to Thanksgiving break, we'll shift our focus back to Unit 2: Matter and Change. Over the next eight days, we'll wrap up Sections 2.2 and 2.3 on physical and chemical properties and changes. I'll be giving all students a schedule sheet as well as a list of our glossary terms for these two sections Monday at the start of class. I'm attaching our schedule for the next eight days - including homework, classwork, and vocabulary - to the email containing the link to this Mrs. Hooper Memo. If your child has any "NS" in the gradebook at this point, please know that he or she was assigned Academic Coaching Time (ACT) the first week of November and was given some class time last week to finish any incomplete Section 2.1 tasks. Tomorrow (Monday 11/16) will be a "Work Day" in Foundations of Science, in which students can complete their Teacher Under the Sea reflections, write their thank yous to Ms. Vinglish, finish up any Section 2.1 quiz corrections or incomplete assignments, and start their homework for Monday night. I will continue to accept late work up until our Common Unit Assessment (big test) for this unit, but with so many vacation days in November and December, it's really important that your student does not fall behind. Now that PowderPuff is over, I am back to my normal ACT routine. I am in my classroom every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 2:35 until 4:00 p.m. - no appointment necessary! Please help me get your child in the habit of monitoring his or her own grades and assignments, and staying current with all homework and classwork. At this point, I hope that all parents and students feel very comfortable communicating with me if something isn't working. As always, if there is anything I can do to better support you and/or your child, I am 100% open to suggestions. We're all in this together! |