Mrs. Striegle's Class October 29, 2012

Today in class we:
1. Went over announcements
2. Shared good news
3. Went over directions for Geohistogram
4. Worked with partners answering questions about the timeline
5. Went over answers

Started to go over our next unit Ancient Empires.

Conference Follow -Up

FYI:
If you were unable to attend parent/teacher conferences Monday or Tuesday, your student will be bringing home a progress report with their current grade. Attached to that is a reflection we had them do in class in response to their progress report and what is going on in class.

Have a great long weekend!

Mrs. Striegle and Mrs. Fuzak's Class October 19- 24, 2012

Today in class we had students finish retakes.  We have also have been working on a Data-Based writing project about the Ancient Ruler Hammurabi who created one of the first code of laws.  We will be working on this research document through the October 24.  We will also begin our next unit over Ancient Empires if time permits.

*Remember Parent Teacher Conferences this Monday and Tuesday from 3:30-8:00 pm.
*Reminder there is no school this Thursday and Friday.

Mrs. Striegle and Mrs. Fuzak's Classes October 16, 17,

In class these two days we have been taking the final MEAP tests.  We also reviewed for Social Studies retakes that will be on Friday.

Mrs. Striegle and Mrs. Fuzak's Classes October 15, 2012

Today in class we had students log into Power School and check over their tests and grades.  We also had the students debate what laws are just and unjust at school.
 Reminder: Math MEAP tomorrow .... remember calculators.

Mrs. Fuzak 10/11/12 (and yesterday)

Unit 6 test will be taking place over the next couple of days. Due to the MEAP testing, classes have been shortened to approximately 30 minutes. Since this is the case, we will divide the test into 2 days; multiple choice on one day and short answer on the other. Friday, we will take care of the test for those who were not able to finish due to our technical difficulties yesterday :)

It has been a long week of MEAP test and Social Studies test, the students have been troopers! Great Job!

Mrs. Striegle's Blog- October 9, 10, 11

On Tuesday we went over the review sheet on Ancient Civilizations.  Part 1 of the test will be multiple choice questions and since we only have 30 minutes classes this week due to the MEAP we will have part 2 on Thursday which will be short answer. 

Mrs. Fuzak 10/9/12

Today classes were shortened due to the MEAP test:

1. Finished our discussion on Pastorialism, as well as viewed a short video. I have provided the link both here and in edmodo for students to review.

http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/horse-people-and-nomadic-pastoralism-what-is-civilization.html

2. Went over review, answered questions that students brought with them to class after working on it for the past few days. 

**Test will take place both Wednesday and Thursday. Since classes are shortened because of MEAP in the morning we will divide the test into 2 parts. Multiple Choice on Wednesday and Short Answer on Thursday. 

Mrs. Fuzak 10/8/12

Happy Columbus Day!

Today in class...
We began discussing Pastoralism and Nomadic herding. Started with some small group discussions, viewed some images of nomadic herding and will wrap up tomorrow with a short video bringing it all together.

*Keep working on the test review
*Test Wednesday, 10/10/12
*MEAP testing this week- Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for 7th graders

Mrs. Striegle's Class October 8

Today students are learning about Pastoralism and Nomadic Herding.  Check out the Edmodo links on these topics.
Pastoralism video link:
http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/horse-people-and-nomadic-pastoralism-what-is-civilization.html

Coming Up...

Coming Up... 
Test over Unit 6 (Ancient History, Era II) will take place next week Wednesday, October 10th. Below you will find a link to the review sheet all students were given on Thursday, October 4th. 

Unit 6 Test Review

Mrs. Fuzak (Mrs. Striegle's students) 10/3-10/5

Today we welcomed back Mrs. Striegle's students!

For the next few days students will be working on explaining the concept of 'cultural diffusion' during Ancient History. The final result will be a group project put together in a presentation (google doc presentation). We are really working on "good" collaboration during this process, looking for lots of communication within and amongst groups :)

Mrs. Striegle's Class- October 3-4

Mrs. Fuzak and I have switched our classes and we will be writing a script comparing the four Ancient Civilizations of:Egypt, China, Indus Valley, and Mesopotamia.  When they are finished writing they will record their podcast.

Mrs. Fuzak- 10/1 & 10/2

Happy October 1st!

Last Friday, thru this week Tuesday:

1. Research the other 3 Ancient Civilizations (Mesopotamia, Ancient China and Indus). There are actually 4, but they covered Ancient Egypt last week with Mrs. Striegle.
*Resources were provided to students on their edmodo site, if they so choose to use them. Otherwise they are more than welcome to conduct their own search for information.
2. Tomorrow, students will work in groups and do a "round robin" style share. During this time if there was a trait that students could/did not find they will record the information that their peers provided. When all is said and done, ALL students will have ALL the information they need.
**They will be taking this information to see Mrs. Striegle on Wednesday to write a script for a podcast as to which civilization they think is best and why.

Grading in Social Studies

Why Standards-Based Grading?

The practice of standards-based assessment and reporting brings meaning to grades.  It is essentially a tool for diagnosis instead of just point-collecting.  It allows the teacher, the student, and parents to see exactly where a student is in their understanding of the content.  If a student is struggling on a particular Learning Target (i.e. standard or LT), it will be very evident because that particular grade will be low, and show that there are misconceptions in that specific area.  Learning is a process that will span the entire grading period (ideally the entire school year, but could also be a 9, 12, or 18 week marking period).  Therefore, we will monitor growth (by individual LT) for each student from one summative assessment to the next.  A grade must represent what a student “knows”, so only the most recent and accurate data is used to determine a grade for a student because this represents the best picture of what that student currently “knows”.  This also means that multiple opportunities to demonstrate understanding are given for each LT.  There are no “re-takes” of tests because each LT that has been covered at some point, could be available on each test (depending on individual needs).  Students will continue to make additional attempts on each LT until they have mastered that content.

The grade book is set up by standard, rather than specific assignment.  In addition, there are only two categories in the grade book, formative and summative.

•                Formative Assessment:  These are assessments for learning, where feedback is provided to help a student realize where they are in their learning process, and to then help it move forward.  These are NOT part of the student grade.     

           

•                Summative Assessment:  These are assessments of learning, where students

demonstrate their level of understanding.  ONLY THESE ARE GRADED!

Standards-based grading cannot be done without clear standards.  These are the specific things that the state has decided we need to teach for our particular subject.  These standards are provided by the State of Michigan Department of Education.