As a culminating project, students selected a project to create from my pre-approved list to better understand daily life in Mesopotamia within one of the civilization structures. In the 6th grade students are to examine and analyze the geographical, political, religious, social, economical, and cultural structures of 7 ancient civilizations. Because it can be overwhelming for students at this age to fully grasp what all these structures entail, I have them become "experts" in one of the structures when we study our first civilization, Mesopotamia. After researching their assigned project, they had to construct a model that best represents their interpretation and understanding of their assigned project. The students displayed their constructive models of Mesopotamia at our Museum.Typically what happens in school is students spend hours on a project that simply gets a letter grade. I believe in sharing hard work. It is so important for students to feel validated. I want their efforts to be acknowledged. So, administrators, teachers, staff members, students, and parents from our school were all invited to the museum. The visitors were given a bag of tickets. The visitors were instructed to quiz my students on their knowledge and overall project. If a student impressed them, the visitor gave the student either a green or blue ticket. The green tickets were given to students for most knowledge. If the visitor was impressed with the quantity and quality of content knowledge, he or she gave the student a green ticket. If the visitor was impressed with overall appearance and accuracy of the project, the visitor gave the student a blue ticket. The student with the most green tickets and the student with the most blue tickets each won a 10-dollar gift card to Chilis Restaurant. Our museum had coffee, water, and pastries for the visitors. The visitors learned a lot of interesting facts about Mesopotamia and my students were excited to show off their work. Thank you to all the parents, guardians, CLMS staff members and district administrators for stopping by and supporting our students here in the LEUSD! Some projects included: making the lyre instrument, ziggurat, functioning irrigation systems, cuneiform, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, chariots and boats, model of a city state, bazaar, a children's book on the Epic of Gilgamesh, mural of the creation myth story/and gods, and much more! Click on the link for full project description: Constructive Models of Mesopotamia Here are a few pictures from the museum over the years:
I struggle to maintain a balance of rigor and "fun" while teaching 6th grade. This is a challenging year for students as they move from the elementary setting to the secondary setting. I am constantly referring to 6th grade as the kindergarten of secondary education. As the first year of secondary schooling, the transition can be extremely tough. While we, as parents and educators, hold the students to high expectations and shift many responsibilities from us, the adults, to them, the students, it is important to be mindful that they are still very much child-like and innocent. They also are on this hormonal rollercoaster causing situations to appear more dramatic than what it is. With so much going on, I try to focus on building their confidence and making time for us as a class to bound. I believe it is crucial to create an environment where we can let down our guard and just enjoy being silly. So, I created Friday Battles. On Fridays, students walk in class, do their normal warm up activity, and then someone picks a popsicle stick from the "Friday Battles" jar that poses a "battle" or challenge that students may participate in. Students are not forced to participate. We spend 5 minutes on a Friday Battle. Some battles include: Dance Competition Best imitation of ... Who can hold the plank the longest? Who can make the loudest armpit fart? Who can hold the longest wall squat? Who can jump the highest? Best monkey impression Student Feedback: Students LOVE Friday Battles. They ask to do one every day even though they know it is reserved for Fridays LOL...I love that they are engaged and feel comfortable in my classroom! Encouraging reading is one of the most important things we can do to help your student become a life long reader and overall successful. This year your student will be required to read and complete a reading log weekly. All of my students are required to read a fictional novel at the 6-8 grade level. Even if you know your child can read at a higher level, I would not recommend your child reading a book at the high school level because although they may be able to decode the words and read fluently, the content is not age appropriate. Reading Logs Your student has been enrolled in the Advanced Language Arts class. This means that they have demonstrated proficiency. So the focus of reading in my class will go beyond simply reading. The emphasis is on students' ability to accurately answer the reading log questions which are aligned with Common Core Standards. On their reading logs, I will be asking students to apply what was taught in class to their own novels read at home. Where to get a novel? 1. Students may check out a book from the class library. 2. Students may check out a book from the school or public library. 3. Purchase a book at any book store. 4. Go to the California Department of Education Recommended Literature and search the list for a book based on awards, interest, and reading levels. 5. Order from Scholastic Online. If your child wishes to order a book online, please use the Class Activation code: MKZQD. Every book you buy earns a FREE book for the classroom library! Mrs. Mondragon’s Recommended List: Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle Hatchet by Gary Paulsen The Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson Holes by Louis Sachar Starfall by Jerry Spinelli Mania Magee by Jerry Spinelli The Cay by Theodore Taylor Number the Stars by Lois Lowry Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Hunger Games Catching Fire Mockingjay The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan The Red Pyramid The Throne of Fire The Serpent’s Shadow Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan The Lightning Thief The Sea of Monsters The Titan’s Curse The Battle of the Labyrinth The Last Olympian The Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth Divergent Insurgent Allegiant Check out the following blogs for more book options! :) The students worked in small groups to gather information regarding a topic discussed in the novel, Homeless Bird, by Gloria Whelan. Although the book is a fairly easy read, the content is not always that easy to comprehend. Topics such as dowries, Hindu Weddings, Widows of India, Varanasi, Tuberculosis, Saris, and Women's Role in India are discussed in this novel. Before reading the novel, students conduct the research, then create a presentation of information using Google Slides in real time with classmates.
Using Google Slides in real time allows students to work from home at separate times, yet contribute to one slide show. Students presented information before reading a chapter that discusses their given topic. This provides background information so students can better comprehend the novel. Padlet Presentation Teaching economy can be boring. After all, it's hard enough to understand who the ancient Egyptians were and where Egypt is located in the world, but now to learn about Egypt's trade partners and what natural resources they imported and exported? Who cares, right? (In all honesty, I find it all exciting, but I know that I am in the minority when it comes to a love for ancient history haha) So I came up with a way that would appeal to my kinesthetic learners, which are basically all my students. After all, who wants to sit in a class all day?! Ummm...nobody! After teaching a 5 minute lesson explaining what are natural resources, imports and exports, I divided the class up into groups of 5-6 students each. I labeled the groups by giving them names of cities in Egypt. I explained to the class that they are now ancient Egyptian merchants who will be heading out on an expedition to collect natural resources from Egypt's trading partners. I gave them a map of the school where I labeled different parts of the school countries that traded with Egypt. My classroom was Egypt. The students had to stay in (or around) their boats, which were made out of brown butcher paper. They could not break off and go in different directions. If their boats tore, they had supplies to take with them on their voyage to repair the damages. They could not come back to Egypt with a broken boat, otherwise they drowned and are obviously disqualified. On their expedition, they were to locate the hidden packages located around the 7 countries labeled throughout the school. In the packages, they found various natural resources. They had to work together, using a helpful resource sheet to determine which natural resource came from each country. The first group to find all 7 correct natural resources and make it back to the land of Egypt to present the imports to Pharaoh Hatshepsut (Queen of trade and the most awesome Math teacher, Mrs. Mobley by the way) won the competition and earned an In-N-Out Lunch with the Principal! We are currently studying Ancient Mesopotamia. When starting our unit, I always start by examining the geography of a civilization. When studying the fertile valley of the Mesopotamians, I tell the students that Date Palms grew (and still grow) along the rivers. The dates contributed to their stable food supply. After learning about date palms, I give my students some dates to taste. It is always a fun experience for me, as I watch many of their faces make a grimace look and quickly get up to throw away the date. For a few, they really appreciate and enjoy eating the date. Regardless of their reactions, I enjoy watching them experience something different in the classroom. I told them that the best way to eat dates is with bacon wrapped around them! Yum! I promised I’d give them the recipe, so here it is. This is a fun and easy recipe to do with your kids, and it is great for the holiday season when you gather with friends and family. Enjoy! First Some History About Dates “Date palms were one of the first plants cultivated by man. The first written records of date palms being grown and harvested are from about 5000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia (current day Iraq) along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Date palms were also used 6000 years ago near Ur in Southern Iraq in the construction of the temple of the moon god. Archaeological research into ancient dwelling sites of Akkadians, Sumerians, and Babylonians has shown that houses of these ancient peoples were roofed with date palm trunks and fronds.” For more information click here Bacon Wrapped Dates Recipe Total time: 25 minutes ( prep: 5, cook: 20) Level: easy Ingredients: 35-40 pitted dates 40 salted roasted almonds 2 pounds of this bacon, cut in half Special equipment: 35-40 toothpicks Baking Sheet and foil Directions: 1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. 2. Stuff each date with 1 almond. Wrap each date with half a piece of bacon and secure with a toothpick. 3. Place the dates on baking sheet lined with foil. 4. Bake, turning the dates halfway through so the bacon is evenly cooked, 15 to 18 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. 5. Eat up! :) Recipe courtesy of Ree Drummond So, you just found out that your child has been enrolled in Mrs. Mondragon's Language Arts and Social Studies Class, and immediately you are thinking: PROJECTS. Well, contrary to all the buzz and rumors, projects in my class are not really that bad. You will soon learn exactly what projects entail, but I'd like to take a moment anyways and provide you with some background in understanding why I assign projects as well as my own definition of "projects." Before we get started, here is some BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE from the experts: Jean Piaget Jean Piaget was a Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher known for his epistemological studies with children in the 1930s. Piaget was also the first psychologist to make a systematic study of cognitive development. “By utilizing Piaget’s theory, educators focus on their students as learners. As a result of this focus, education is learner-center and constructivist-based to an extent. Piaget’s theory allows teachers to view students as individual learners who add new concepts to prior knowledge to construct, or build, understanding for themselves.Teachers who use a learner-centered approach as a basis for their professional practices provide experience-based educational opportunities. These teachers also contemplate the learners’ individual qualities and attitudes during curriculum planning. Educators allow learners’ insights to alter the curriculum. They nourish and support learners’ curiosity. They also involve learners’ emotions and create a learning environment in which students feel safe.” (Jean_Piaget) Lee Vygotsky Although Psychologist, Lev Vygotsky’s, theories may differ from Piaget, his basis of a social constructivist theory in his theory of the “Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)” have been highly influential in the classroom as well. “Proximal simply means next. He observed that when children were tested on tasks on their own, they rarely did as well as when they were working in collaboration with an adult. It was by no means always the case that the adult was teaching them how to perform the task, but that the process of engagement with the adult enabled them to refine their thinking or their performance to make it more effective. Hence, for him, the development of language and articulation of ideas was central to learning and development.” (Vygotsky) Many theories that are practiced by teachers today derive from Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories of Constructivism. So, what is Constructivism? Constructivism “Constructivism is basically a theory -- based on observation and scientific study -- about how people learn. It says that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. When we encounter something new, we have to reconcile it with our previous ideas and experience, maybe changing what we believe, or maybe discarding the new information as irrelevant. In any case, we are active creators of our own knowledge. To do this, we must ask questions, explore, and assess what we know.” In the classroom, the constructivist view of learning can point towards a number of different teaching practices. In the most general sense, it usually means encouraging students to use active techniques (experiments, simulations, real-world problem solving) to create more knowledge and then to reflect on and talk about what they are doing and how their understanding is changing. The teacher makes sure she understands the students' preexisting conceptions, and guides the activity to address them and then build on them.(Constructivism) My Classroom Although I would love to believe everything the Constructivist Theory claims simply because it just sounds great, I personally do not believe it to be realistic and practical to teach in an all-exclusive Constructivist classroom. Structure and routine are vital for learning as well as direct instruction at times which is contrary to what true constructivists believe. As Psychologist, John Dewey argued, “in order for education to be most effective, content must be presented in a way that allows the student to relate the information to prior experiences, thus deepening the connection with this new knowledge[…yet,] “too much reliance on the child could be equally detrimental to the learning process. We must take our stand with the child and our departure from him. It is he and not the subject-matter which determines both quality and quantity of learning.” According to Dewey, the potential flaw on too much reliance on the child is that it minimizes the importance of the content as well as the role of the teacher. Thus, in my classroom I will use direct instruction at times (more in the first semester), provide examples while also modeling expectations to complete tasks. I will also provide my students with a well-structured environment with firm procedures and routines to ensure the classroom is safe, secure, and in order. However, through projects students will have the opportunity to construct and apply their own knowledge on the content discussed in class. Therefore, students will typically receive a project after a unit has been covered in class through notes, reading, discussion, etc. After hearing and discussing a topic, it will be required of the students to make sense of this topic in his/her own language and ability, hence the "project." They will be given a rubric that although outlines the criteria for grading, can be somewhat vague in certain categories, such as “creativity." I want students to feel free to interpret their knowledge using whatever materials they feel best explains their knowledge on the given topic. Purchasing items is NOT required. I prefer student to tinker with objects they have at home to make their "projects" meaningful. The simple task of gathering materials is promoting critical thinking and problem solving. Putting things together to assess whether the items will work to construct knowledge and understanding on a given topic is what is being required NOT the type of material being used. Students will always be given more than one night to complete projects, which is where the problem occurs! If students do not use every day given to complete the project, the project will then become a burden and everybody in the household will feel the frustration and stress. Please make sure to manage your time wisely. Projects help students learn how to budget and manage their time, meet deadlines, and teach responsibility; all skills they need to succeed in middle/high school and in the real world. In addition to projects, students will be given plenty of opportunities to construct their own knowledge through Socratic Seminars, Interactive Notebooks, Philosophical Chairs, research, technology use, and WICOR strategies. |
Mrs. MondragonHello! I have been teaching middle school for about 12 years. I look forward to each new school year to establish new relationships with students and parents. I enjoy collaborating with students. Learning is a process and in my class we are ALL on a journey to improve and learn from each other. On this blog, you will find some strategies I have learned to be most effective for my students throughout the years. Please feel free to provide feedback and ideas of what works best for you. You will also find pics of my students at work. Archives
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