This is a Discovery Education assignment. Instructions can be found after clicking the link.
Date Assigned: 10/14/14 (Tuesday)
Completion Date: 10/16/14 (Thursday)
Assignment Duration: 3 School Days
**PARENT NOTE: This can be completed at home if time in class is not used well, but all effort should be made to allow the student to complete this in class as each afternoon students will have time to complete the work.
Assignment Description:
Students will be completing a self-guided study of a Native American culture. This assignment will require students to complete 3 distinct assignments over the course of study. This is a large assignment, and I have devoted quite a bit of learning time to this project. Studnets will be working with a partner to complete the 3 assignments. Work should be done in class, and can also be accomplished at home.
Assignment Components:
**NOTE: Students should complete the research & informational presentation prior to starting a craft, and should complete the craft prior to starting to write their legend.
Date Assigned: 9/17/2014 (Wednesday)
Date Due: 10/23/2014 (Thursday)
Assignment Duration: 30 School Days
Assignment Pacing: To stay on track, students should have completed the following steps by these dates: (NOTE: These dates are tentative and may change due to unknown interruptions to our work schedule.)
Assignment Supporting Documents:
Assignment Prompt:
Directions for Writing: Write a narrative story about our Rafting Trip. Include as many details and descriptions as possible. Include character development and dialog in your story. This piece only needs to be 2 paragraphs long but may not be longer than 2 type-written pages(Double Spaced).
Date Assigned: 9/9/2014 (Tuesday)
Date Due: 9/23/2014 (Tuesday)
Assignment Duration: 9 School Days
Assignment Pacing: To stay on track, students should have completed the following steps by these dates:
Submitting the Assignment:
Assignment Supporting Documents:
Assignment Prompt:
Directions for Writing: Write a narrative story using the Harris Burdick picture prompt. Include the sentence, that accompanies your picture, somewhere in your story.
Date Assigned: 8/25/2014 (Monday)
Date Due: 9/10/2014 (Wednesday)
Assignment Duration: 12 School Days
Assignment Pacing: To stay on track, students should have completed the following steps by these dates:
Submitting the Assignment:
Assignment Supporting Documents:
The 5th graders from the intermediate classrooms will be traveling with Mr. DeVolld to Arc Lake thre times this year to monitor the water quality with Dan Pasucci from the Kenai Watershed Forum. We will need drivers for each vist to the lake, to shuttle students to and from the lake.
Dates: 9/19/14; 12/16/14; 3/17/15 (All dates are Fridays.)
Feild Trip Time: 1:45-3:00
Update: 8-21-2014
Kenai River Rafting
Tipr Date: Monday, September 8th, 2014
The fee for this trip is $35.00. Please send the amount in at your first opportunity. If this creates a hardship for your family please let me know and we will work out other arrangements.
RAFTING INFO
We will be rafting the Kenai River Monday, September 8th. We will be departing @ 9:00 AM to travel to Cooper Landing and need Parent drivers and chaperones. We will be guided by Alaska Rivers Company. They are a reputable, experienced company that we have rafted with 4 times before. We will be completing the partial-day float which will terminate at Jim’s Landing, just a short jaunt down Skilak Lake Road.
Parent drivers will have to drop off students, drive to Jim’s Landing and have a parent vehicle shuttle all drivers back to the rafting company. At the end of the rafting trip, we will need a car to bring the parent shuttle driver back to the rafting company to retrieve ther car.
This is a trip we organize for our students every other year to facilitate learning environmental concepts, assists students with descriptive writing (Experience is the key!), and of course give the students the opportunity to enjoy our great state in a way they might not have been able to before. This trip does NOT involve white water. It’s rather slow paced.
Alaska River Company will provide:
What do I need for the Rafting Trip?
Students should come wearing the following items:
Just-in-case, Students should pack extra:
Socks, water resistant gloves, Rain jacket or water resistant type coat for hike if raining.
Items that should be in the back pack:
Can I bring my own gear?
I do not recommend it. It will have to be toted around on the hike. But if you must….Okay.
Families need to provide:
Schedule is subject to change so check back often!
Each Year I assign a first project of the year called a “Personal Project.” This projects is a short research project for students to work on in the first few weeks of school, in order to get their feet wet. Students may choose any topic they are interested in, as long as it isn’t a topic of research they have completed in another class or grade. Their topic must be approved my the teacher prior to beginning. There is a timeline for completion, and some of the work will need to to take place outside of school.
Students may choose a Poster Project OR a PowerPoint Project. They may not do both. They may not switch after declaring their project type. Students must use the rubric as they work on their project to assess their work performance prior to turning it in. By using the rubric, students should be able to anticipate what score they will recieve from the teacher. All students should be able to attain a high score by meeting the criteria on the rubric. They may get assistance from peers OR adults, but adults may not complete the project for the student.
Time Line:
Assigned: 8/21/2014 (Thursday)
Due 8/29/2014 (Friday)
Below are the rubrics for our beginning of the year personal projects.
**NOTE** – The parent meeting date was wrong in the first Newsletter. The correct meeting day will be Tuesday, September 2nd @ 5:30.
**Attention** – I am in need of parent chaperones and drivers.
We will be participating in the Leave No Trace overnight field trip on Thursday-Friday, September 11-12. We will need parent chaperones for at least 4 boy’s cabins and 3 girl’s cabins. We will also need parents willing to plan an prepare dinner and breakfast needs. In addition we will need parent drivers (Probably the same as cabin parents.)
We will have a parent planning meeting on Tuesday, September 2nd @ 5:30.
We will be participating in the KNWR educational program out at the Outdoor Education Center at the end of Swanson River Road. Students will also be shuttled by parent drivers to an area hiking trail to prepare and eat their One-Pot-Meal.
There is no cost associated with this field trip other than efforts made for food and by parent drivers.
I will be sending home additional information about this trip and posting more here soon, so check back and look for further information in Thursday Folders.
If you wish to participate as a volunteer fo any field trip this year, please fill out a Driver Form and the District required Background Check in addition to the volunteer form for this trip. Do not wait until the last minute to complete these forms, or you may not be able to participate.
Click the following links to find out more information:
Another school year is upon us, and it looks like it is going to be another GREAT one!
As always we are saddened by the departure of our 6th graders from last year and the class will seem very different without their presence. So we say good luck to: Shannon, Spencer, Quai, Morgan, Trenton, Logan, Jeremiah and Z-bo (Alex). We miss you and hope you do wonderfully in middle school. Lets not forget our other alumni. We wish you well too. Even those of you now in High school, and …Gulp… entering college/the work force. (Wow! I still cannot believe I am be saying that!) We also will be missing Adrienne, and Connor, who will be in other classes this school year.
However, we are thrilled to have our new incoming 4th graders: Lirissa, Isaac, Deano, Blaze, Malaina, Jaden, Nolan and Sean. They will be a wonderful working addition to the class. There will be some growing pains, but soon our 4th graders will be like a good right arm to each of us. We also have a new 5th grader named Kate who will be joining us. She already knows many of our students so she is kind of already part of the class.
Again…Welcome and Welcome back! I hope you are as excited for this school year as I am.
Mr. D.
