Community Meeting Practice - NMY Español

Seventh and eighth graders will be presenting at this week's Community Meeting. They chose to sing the song Feliz Navidad. Their practice run went very well and I'm sure the real performance will be even better! ¡Felices Fiestas!

NCTM Tips for Keepin' up on Math Skills over Winter Break

Challenge others or challenge yourself. Online math strategy games at Calculation Nation provide a safe environment for elementary and middle school students to challenge themselves and challenge others.  Games involve fractions, factoring, symmetry and comparing perimeter and area!

Play strategy games with friends and family. A great way to spend quality time. Games such as Contig, and other free board games. Play as teams while learning so you can talk about strategy and then move playing individually.

Talk to your children’s teachers before the break. Ask questions that show you are concerned about their development and maintenance of mathematics skills and fluency. For example, ask, “What do you see as my child’s strengths and weaknesses in math? What could we do while at home to develop or improve his/her weakest areas?”

Read books that contain mathematics content with your children.  There are books at every grade level that can engage students in thinking about math!  Some suggestions include Ten Apples Up On Top! (elementary), The Great Number Rumble: A Story of Math in Surprising Places (middle grades), and The Numbers Behind NUMB3RS (high school). Want classroom activities to support math and literature? Check out Exploring Mathematics through Literature: Articles and Lessons for Prekindergarten through Grade 8 .

Create a number book with your child. Use this template with your preschooler or kindergartner and have them decorate each page with pictures, stickers or stamps (or even glue beads or macaroni) that show the number on the page. For more advanced students, ask them to write expressions that equal the target number. For example, for the number 6, they could write 3X2, 10-4 and 2+2+1+1.

Do projects with your child. Bake cookies or work on a home improvement project. Real-world applications of mathematical ideas, especially measurement, are everywhere! If you are stringing up lights, work with them to estimate how many sets you will need and calculate the total number of lights used.  If you are baking cookies, have them figure out what is needed to make a double batch.

Exercise your body; mathercise your mind! Take in a sporting event, even if it’s only on TV. Keep track of yards gained and lost from running versus passing plays of their favorite football team or the shooting percentage of their favorite basketball player. Work with them to make comparisons between two of their favorite players and display it graphically. Check out the lesson connecting rate of movement to football onIlluminations, appropriate for middle and high school students.

 Cut out snowflakes as decorations. Invite your child to describe the shapes they see in their snowflakes and encourage them to tell you what they know about symmetry. Consider delivering holiday cheer by delivering them to a nearby nursing home! Play with the fractal tool on Illuminations. For a high-school level lesson on creating a Koch snowflake using fractals, see the activity sheets  from Navigating through Geometry: 9-12or from this article from the journal Mathematics Teacher.

Have a problem of the day.  Work through one new problem before or after dinner each night. Figure This! has an awesome assortment of interesting problems with hints and solutions, so you don’t have to be a math wizard to facilitate!

As a family, track your calorie intake or your finances. Are you consuming more food during the holiday season than you would otherwise? Are you spending money on gifts? Becoming aware is important in establishing control. You may also consider how much time each day you spend on each activity such as watching television, eating, sleeping. Make a graph. Then, brainstorm how you can manage to fit in alternative activities to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Seek out a volunteer opportunity that appeals to both you and your child. From cooking for a shelter, to collecting food for a food drive, to collecting coats for the needy, there are lots of opportunities to estimate and use math to project how much your efforts mean to others.

Did your family receive gift cards as holiday gifts? How will you decide to use them during the holiday sales? Are the same discounts available through online ordering as in the store? Which is more – the cost of shipping or the cost of driving to the store?

Champurrado

Eight graders learned how to make champurrado, a chocolate-based Mexican drink similar to hot chocolate. It is a popular drink served during Las Posadas and typically served alongside tamales or churros. They were in charge of finding their own recipes, dividing up the tasks and cooking the champurrado.

Flower Fundraising for Washington DC

At this point in time, I am still figuring out the accounting for how much money you raised selling the bouquets you made in class on Friday, but it looks like it is right around the $700 that you earned after expenses!  Great job students and an extra special thank you to Emma's mom for driving down to Wholesale Flowers for additional bouquets on Sunday!  Your donation and time helped boost our sales in the end.  Here are some pictures - enjoy.

Thanksgiving Feast

Thursday and Friday were such wonderful examples of community in our 7th and 8th grades. Families all pitched in and students baked some traditional Thanksgiving favorites such as cranberries, apple pies, and stuffing. They made clove oranges, place settings, and we enjoyed some fun team building activities. They also learned how cranberries are harvested, kitchen techniques and safety, and we reflected on some of the things for which we are thankful. It was a special two days and we thank you for sharing your children with us. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

David and Diana

POR vs. PARA

Eighth graders spent the past week learning about the differences between the words, POR and PARA. Both words means "for" and can be used in a variety of different ways depending on the circumstance. Therefore, in order to avoid confusion, students learned the usages of each in a contextualized and comprehensible manner. After learning the usages of each of the words, students created a mini-project which entailed taking a photo or drawing an image of the actions they were writing about. Students then wrote two sentences, one for POR and one for PARA.  Eighth graders presented their projects while the other students determined which circumstance the words POR or PARA were used in their classmates' sentences. Below are some of the students mini-projects.

Holiday Clothing Drive

HOLIDAY CLOTHING DRIVE

National School District Preschool Program is seeking donations of gently used children’s clothing (for children ages 0-6 years).

If you have clothes you wish to donate, please place them in a box or bag and deliver them to your child’s classroom by Friday, December 13^th.

Your donation will be distributed on Wednesday, December 18^th and Thursday, December 19^th to needy families in National City. 

National School District Preschool Programs serve 500 low-income families at eight schools in National City.  Many of our families are struggling to provide clothes for their children.  Any donation of clothing would brighten the holidays for our families.  If you have questions, please feel free to contact Cathy McDonald at the National School District Preschool Center at 619-336-8637.

The View From Saturn

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/12/science/space/the-view-from-saturn.html?_r=0

Can you spot Earth? Click link above for the New York Times story!

Propaganda Project

pro·pa·gan·da noun \ˌprä-pə-ˈgan-də, ˌprō-\

: ideas or statements that are often false or exaggerated and that are spread in order to help a cause, a political leader, a government, etc.

 Full Definition of PROPAGANDA

1 capitalized :  a congregation of the Roman curia having jurisdiction over missionary territories and related institutions

2  the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person

3  ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause; also :  a public action having such an effect

— pro·pa·gan·dist noun or adjective

— pro·pa·gan·dis·tic adjective

—   pro·pa·gan·dis·ti·cal·ly adverb

Examples of PROPAGANDA

1.            He was accused of spreading propaganda.

2.            The report was nothing but lies and propaganda.

3.            She didn't buy into the propaganda of her day that women had to be soft and submissive. —Maria Shriver, Time, 26 Oct. 2009

 

Rubric: Persuasion Multimedia Project -- Poster / Other Persuasion Multimedia Project -- Po Poor 1 pts Fair 2 pts Good 3 pts Excellent 4 pts Artistic Poor One or many required elements may be missing. Fair Sizing may be inadequate. Color, visual images and/or wording may be not effectively communicate message. Good Presented at proper size; uses color, visual images and clear wording to communicate message. Excellent Presented at proper size; uses bold color, strong visual images and clear, eloquent wording to communicate message. Content Poor Details are lacking and a persuasive message is barely present. Fair Details may be muddled and the poster as a whole struggles to communicates a persuasive message. Good Details are clear and the poster as a whole communicates a persuasive message. Excellent Details are explicitly clear and the poster as a whole effectively communicates a persuasive message. PRESENTATION AND EFFORT Poor An explanation is given, but may fail to explain the assignment or the connections. Some grammar mistakes are present which may impact understanding. Fair An explanation is given which attempts to explain rhetorical devices used. This may fail to fully explain or may fail to prove the effectiveness of the poster. Some grammar mistakes are present which may impact understanding. Good An explanation is given which explains rhetorical devices used and why the visual is an effective piece of propaganda. A few grammar mistakes present. Excellent A detailed explanation is given which explains specific rhetorical devices used and why the visual is an effective piece of propaganda. No grammar mistakes.

High School Open House Updates

High School Information

Open House Schedule:

November 2, 1-4pm @ Pacific Ridge

November 2, 11am-2pm @ Grauer

November 9, 9-12pm @ Army & Navy Academy

November 12, 3:30-5:30pm @ Francis Parker

November 14, 6-8pm @ La Jolla Country Day School

November 16, 10am-1pm @ Bishops

November 21, 10-11:30am@ San Diego Jewish Academy

January 9, 10-11:30am@ San Diego Jewish Academy

January 11, 1-4pm @ Pacific Ridge

January 14, 3:30-5:30pm @ Francis Parker

January 16, 6-8pm @ La Jolla Country Day School

January 18, 9-12pm @ Army & Navy Academy

Grauer: January 17 – Priority Admissions* applications DUE, February 28 – Regular Admissions applications DUE

High Tech High: Informational meetings/Open Houses are in January, February and March.  Dates will be posted Nov. 1st. http://www.hightechhigh.org/admissions/
Application Deadline: February 28, 2014

Cathedral Catholic: Applications due January 10, 2014

Canyon Crest Academy – lottery, http://cc.sduhsd.net/index.php, (858) 350-0253

La Jolla High School: http://ljhs.sandi.net Open House TBA, 858.454.3081

ISEE Test Sites:

January 11, @ La Jolla Country Day School, Bishops, & Francis Parker

January 25, @ La Jolla Country Day School, Bishops, & Pacific Ridge

February 1, @ La Jolla Country Day, Francis Parker, & Pacific Ridge

Priority consideration Application deadline for CAIS schools February 3, 2014

CAIS School decisions mailed March 7, 2014

Any questions, please contact Rachel Ridgeway at rridgeway@tcslj.org or 858-454-0184 x 101