WAVE TEST TOMORROW -- Use these to help you study for the test...
* WAVE T1 Words Review
http://www.quia.com/jg/1244868.html

* WAVE T1 Words Review: Hangman
http://www.quia.com/hm/366368.html

* WAVE T1 Words Review: Challenge Board
http://www.quia.com/cb/256102.html

ENJOYING THE HOLIDAYS

Have spent the holidays RELAXING, RESTING, and taking time OFF from grading (sorry folks). Spent time down at my Mom's the whole weekend - heading home after spending some time down with my father as well on Saturday. Sunday will be a baby shower in Montebello starting at noon. Attended a play, finished wrapping and sending most of my Christmas presents including ordering the last few items online.

Working on catching up on reading as well.

WEEK #10 November 13, 2007

MAKING CONNECTIONS - Start with the target word. Then, put the word into context with a sample sentence. Follow that with two columns: on the left, what the word is (definition and a few synonyms), and on the right, what it is not (antonyms). Next comes "I'd probably find this word in these contexts (places, events, people, situations).... list places that you would think the word might be used. Lastly, "I'll remember the word by connecting it to..." - explain how you will remember the word.

FUTILE (hopeless; without effect). To ask for more candy was a futile attempt by a toddler.

IMPARTIAL (unbiased, neutral). A referee must be impartial to both teams.


Wednesday Writing
Today is "National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day." Do you know what's in your refrigerator? Think about all the food you keep in your refigerator. What is your favorite "refrigerator" food?

WEEK #9 November 6, 2007

TUESDAY VOCAB -

DOGMATIC (stubbornly opinionated).
The highly opinionated critic gave a dogmatic review of the performance.

EXCULPATE (free someone from blame, pardon, acquit).
Juries can exculpate people accused of crimes.

WEDNESDAY WRITING...

Scientist Marie Cure was born on this day in 1867. Curie received a Nobel Peace Prive for her discovery of radium and polonium.

This discovery was a great advancement for science. Thinking about science and discoveries, what do you think has been the most important discovery? Explain your answer.

Wednesday Writing Prompt
October 31
Juliette Gordon Low, the woman who started Girl Scouting in the United States, was born on this day in 1860. The Girl Scouts are an organization that helps others.
Explain why it’s important that kids get involved with helping others.
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Tuesday Vocab

trivial
unimportant

Fighting over who got to the ball first, the players were set off the field for the trivial argument.

adulation
adoration

Because of her adulation for the singer, she had to have every CD and music video of the star.

Presented the trip to weightlessness to the school board on Tuesday, Oct. 23rd. It was amazing! How did the Northrup Grumann Weightless Flight of Discovery impact me and what effect did it have on my students?

Hopefully it inspired them to do more, be more, and to reach for the stars. We talked about science and how it works and the experiments that we completed and more will be done later in the year as a follow-up. For me, it was truly a once-in-a-lifetime event and I am so honored to be been selected to fly.

Week #7 - Word Understanding Record

TENTATIVE (not final; uncertain). The plan for the party was tentative until it was approved by the parents.

PRECIPICE (steep slope). After reaching the precipice of the mountain, the beginning rock climber glanced below at the distance he had come.

Wednesday Writing:choose one to write about for this week.
Prompts courtesy of http://www.theteacherscorner.net/daily-writing-prompts/october/index.htm

October 23
Brazilian soccer player, Edison Pele, was born on this day in 1940. In order to become such an incredible soccer player, Pele had to practice. What is something that you would like to become better at? Explain what you will need to do in order to improve your skills. (This doesn’t have to be a sport.) PDF

October 24
Today is National Bologna Day. Explain to someone how to make your favorite type of sandwich. PDF.

THURSDAY - Commonplace books.

HOW AWESOME! Ready for take off on the weightless flight over Long Beach, CA on Monday, Oct. 8th. We flew with Bill Smith, channel 5 reporter in our "Go for the Gold" section of the plane. First, we watched a video to get us prepared for the flight including do's and do not's. Then we finalized all of our experiments and turned in our cameras to our flight coach.

After getting our anti-"motion-sensitivity" medication, we were screened for security and boarded a bus to the Zero-G plane. After a few more photo ops, we ascending through the rear of the plane for our flight.

Regular instructions were given - safety instructions, seat belts, etc.- then we were off. Only real difference? No overhead compartments, no carry on luggage, and we had to give up our shoes. Then, we were up to our section of the plane where we collected our cameras and got positioned for our MARTIAN then our two LUNAR parabolas before the first of 12 weightless parabolas.

To be able to experience the same sensation as the astronauts and to be able to share it with my students to inspire them to reach for the stars was a true blessing. When the first weightless parabolas approached, most of the rules were sort of forgotten. You learned how to deflect people (with a gentle push with the fingertips) and when they say "feet down" they really mean it (landing on your head is not such a fun experience).

At least once or twice you would end up stuck in the middle of the plane and you would not be able to move until someone grabbed you. For an earthbound person who has been around aerospace engineers for over 20 years, it was incredible to be able to see and experience the environment where they work on a daily basis.

WEEK 1 - 9/11/07
affable
patronize
Using the Word Understanding Record.

Week #33 (held over)
7th Grade = SQUANDER (to waste). The man will squander so much money over the year that he could buy a car with the money he wastes.
8th Grade = LAUD (to praise). The parents laud the singers for their exceptional performance on stage.

WED WRITING - Citizenship
Citizens have rules to follow. Students are citizens in their classes. Write about a set of rules from any class that you have been enrolled in during your educational career. What were the rules and responsibilities? How do or did you feel about them? Would you change any of them? Why or why not?

WHEW! You are in for a treat we will be working with many new items and will work on many new things that are coming up. Hope testing went well for you all today -- I know how you feel on the first day of school -- whew! Will gently make them available to you so that you will have some things to work on over the summer and then be able to come back (if you take my class again).

Building Innovators: Google Training
INTRODUCTION
Card activity and finding innovations, build the tower and then find a way to use things in your classroom

Resources	Comments
Snapz Pro X and ishowu	screen captures
gaggle.net	free keyboarding site with blogs and chats as well
landmark.com	free web-logs; many items
www.digication.com	online collaboration

www.voice.paly.com

Ten Top Things that Google has found to be true? (reflection)

• find what works for your students
• push for what you want for your students and have people to work on things
• information that we still don't have is endless
• 
  

Ancora Imparo - Always Learning

GOOGLE EARTH]

• Deactivate Pro if it locks up
• create video and then you can also put in on the ipod
• Look into preferences (3D View)
• change the elevation, speed, terrain quality to adjust to what you are doing
• TOURING - speed set for how fast you fly
  
• .1190
• .1190
• 1.7
• halls settings
• Placemakrs
• show the tour with the captions
• Movies
• not your settings when you change them
• not infinite loop can be used for open house to keep it going
• start them at their own homes moving towards school
• Take screen shots with data markers
• use flickr/delicious files
• Pay attention to your clicked items when you play - may end up at weird places
• When you are working, goes into temporary files and you save to other places when you exit
• Pictures can be from the web or specific location on your computer (name a folder that you don't move) - will not work on the other machine wihout re-locating the information
• http://www.googlelittrips.com
  
• snapz Pro X ; ishowU (mac screen shots, etc.)

COPA Compliance Act (all students)
Must be sure to keep their names safe and off their work

GOOGLE DOCUMENTS and SPREADSHEETS -
TO FIND

• can type in his/her name and find all the work that they have done that semester - ELECTRONIC PORTFOLIO
• Revisions History - shows the work that they are starting with; cannot do the footnoting as well
  
• ACCOUNTS
• gmail account = access to all the tools that are available google based
• google account = can enter the clary the fairy account that will give them access to the email
• Beginning ASSIGNMENTS
• personality profile
• moview reviews
• restaurant reviews
• book reviews
• product reviews
• peer editing built into program
• collaborate work on investigative stories
• easy to publish work to webpage
• etc
• ADVANCED JOURNALISM
• all students submit articles
• editors edit articles at night
• save as many different items
• SAVE AS > P2LAST NAME FIRST INITIAL_title
• TAG the documents
• CHANGE DISPLAY NAMES so that you know what is going on and how you know what is going on.
  
• PLACE A COMMENT
  

WEEK #32 - Word Understanding Record = do both 7th and 8th grade words.

7th Grade = philanthropist (someone who benefits mankind).
The philantropist gave the majority of his money to poor countries so schools and hospitals could be built.

8th Grade = denounce (to speak against publicly). As the war in Iraq continues more politicians are beginning to denounce it.

WEDNESDAY WRITING = Citizenship
The Statue of Liberty has represented fairness, equality, opportunity, and freedom. Rank and list these in order of importance to you and explain your reasons.

Wave #31

7th Grade = eccentric (odd; out of the ordinary; quirky).

Her eccentric and unusual clothes made her stand out in a crowd.

8th Grade = strut (a self-important walk)

His strut along the campus shows his self-confidence and slight arrogance.

Wednesday Writing
Citizenship... How do you define who you are as an individual? How do you answer when you are asked, "Who are you?" is there more to who you are than you let people know? Give details. What are some characteristics that you would like people to remember you for? Why?

Week 28 Making Connections
7th Grade -= benign (kindly, good-natured). The benign dog had a loud bark but would never hurt anyone.
8th Grade = dissent (disagreement). There was a great deal of dissent among the different groups regarding how the school funds should be spent.

WED WRITING: What values matter the most to you in your life? Why? Do you expect your friends and family members to have similar values? Do you believe it is possible to get along with people who do not share your values? Why or why not?
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Week #29 Word Understanding Record
7th grade = credulous (gullible; ready to believe without proof.)_. The credulous young child still believed in fairies and witches, while having no proof of such an existence.

8th Grade = elucidate (to explain; to make clear). Teachers must carefully elucidate the lessons if their students are going to understand the content.

WED WRITING: Think of a time that you have cared for someone or something. What did you do to take care of it/them? What did you learn from that situation? Explain.
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WEEK #30

7th Grade = disparage (to speak poorly of). The parents disparage of the students efforts because they have forgotten how hard it is to be a student.

8th Grade = gullible (overly trusting) He is so gullible that he believes everything he reads in The National Inquirer.

WED What is the nicest thing you have every done for your best friend? What made it so nice? What is the nicest thing your best friend has done for you? how did it make you feel?

Thank you's are becoming a dying art. Just a little note to let someone know that you are appreciated, have made some type of positive impact, some action was appreciated -- with so many in the digital age, those who still take pen to paper are now in the minority. For me, I send notes all the time. The discounted paper suppliers are my friends and I usually keep a set of notes in my purse so that if I am at dinner or just sitting in a meeting, I can jot down a note, and send it off to the person I am thinking about.

With time being so short, you just never know when you might not be able to say all that wish to those you care for and have in your heart.

Week #27 - Word Understanding Record (do both definitions)

7th Grade = credulous (gullible; ready to believe without proof)
The credulous young child still believed in fairies and witches, while having no proof of such an existence.

8th Grade= elucidate (to explain; to make clear)
Teachers must carefully elucidate the lessons if their students are going to understand the content.

WEDNESDAY WRITING - CARING
Think of a time that you have cared for someone or something.

• What did you do to take care of it/them?
• What did you learn from the situation?
  
• Explain.
  

Time.... is on my side....

I am having a GREAT TIME. We are working on some newer material and amazingly enough, it seems to be holding up pretty well. Today is a catch-up day (think tomatoes) for the students since there have been, well some folks not doing homework on a regular schedule, hence, some of our discussions have been lacking a bit of participation.

Things that seem to work best:

• energy from the teacher (shocker)
• having LOTS of little things planned to break up the day
• many different TYPES of things to do rather than just sitting in one spot forever
• giving lots of time for REFLECTION on the work

I am also enjoying being able to plan things --- it is something that I have found that suites me. If it involves a system for getting something done, I will be able to figure out a plan that most likely will work.

I am also being inspired by the students' enthusiasm for the work, the material, and how willing they are to work and to try. I have also been getting back into the habit of reading again and that is providing additional inspiration. I hope to inspire some students to come to the realization so eloquently stated below.

" What she showed me today is that a truly self-reliant person takes action, leaving nothing to chance and everything to themselves. She showed me that excuses will not bring about success and that adversity is not something you walk with, but something you leap over. The only obstacles ar the ones you allow. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. A truly self-reliant person finds his weak leak and strengthens it. I want to be a self-reliant person, now and forever."
>>>from CONVERGE MAGAZINE, Winter 2007 edition, pg. 12 in M. Leights column. Quote is from one of Erin Gruwell's students.

READ the following poem by Sandra Cisneros - MY NAME.
Write a memoir about your family and discuss the influences your grandparents, parents, and siblings have on you using concrete details. Why have these individuals and their influences been important to you?
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MY NAME

In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness; it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving; songs like sobbing.
It was my great-grandmother’s name and now it is mine. She was a horse woman, too, born like me in the Chinese year of the horse—which is supposed to be bad luck if you’re born female—but I think this is a Chinese lie because like the Chinese, like the Mexicans, don’t like their women strong.
My great-grandmother. I would’ve liked to have known her—a wild horse of a woman, so wild she wouldn’t marry until my great-grandfather threw a sack over her head and carried her off. Just like that, as if she were a fancy chandelier. That’s the way he did it.
And the story goes she never forgave him. She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry because she couldn’t be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don’t want to inherit her place by the window.
At school they say my name is funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth. But in Spanish my name is made out of a softer something like silver, not quite as thick as sister’s name—Magdelena—which is uglier than mine. Magdelena who at least can come home and become Nenny. But I am always Esperanza.
I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees. Esperanza as Lisandra or Maritza or Zeze the X. Yes. Something like Zeze the X wil do. From Sandra Cisneros poem, MY NAME.

RELAXING
Today is a better day. Still sad about my last grand passing (grandmother) and am getting adjusted to the idea that all I have left are my aunts and parents in the grand scheme of family order and such. Looking for ways to stay connected to that part of the world since it is such a big part of my existence and who I am. Sure, never lived there yet there is a strong connection.

Trying to find ways to get students inspired about learning in general. So many seem genuinely disinterested in anything having to do with finding out about things that they haven't gotten to see/understand. Wondering where is the sense of adventure that comes from just listening to something and then allowing it time to percolate and develop into a new sense of the world. For instance, watched a Discovery Channel show about water -- would have been great to have that clip to show to students -- really very interesting to see what water goes through before ending up in your water from the tap.

Where is that sense of adventure and desire to learn in our students? Maybe we need to look at different ways of getting the material across - hard to cheat if you are doing an experiment and presenting the results to a national and or local regulatory agency or presenting in front of the board of directors. Hard to get a "cheat list" for something like that... Just ideas.