Wednesdays are great days in room 19 because we begin the day with our theater class. Our school's theater teacher, Mr. Pratt (he's the tall guy who stopped by at Back-to-School Night) does amazing things with the students. For the past two weeks he has been working with them on their pantomime skills. Today he taught them about the Machine.
Now those of you who have taken some theater know what a machine is. For everybody else, let me explain. The Machine is a classic theater game which helps actors learn to focus and cooperate. The idea is simple. The actors have to pretend to be parts of a complex machine. The different parts of the machine must work together to accomplish a task. The actors have to be aware of each others movements and the purpose of those movements. Mr. Pratt led the students through a series of exercises designed to build the skills needed, then, inspired by Shel Silverstein's poem "The Homework Machine" he had the students create a machine which would do their homework for them! (If you haven't read the poem, I'll give away the ending. The machine doesn't quite work like it is suppose to!) It was great fun! And the students learned a lot. I took some video, and I'll be posting some of it as soon as I have a chance to edit it.
We worked on a kind of machine in Math, too. Students had their introduction today to functions. As I noted before, students are now exposed to concepts in math that we adults did not learn until much later in our career. Functions are an example of this. Students are learning to solve problems like x +7 = y by solving for the variables which make this equation true. They are just creating function charts right now, but they will soon learn to graph these, as well. The math book avoids the use of the word functions and instead calls it "input and output." I like that because it helps the students to see that this kind of math creates its own sort of machine, one which processes numbers as raw materials.
Homework: (1) Do spelling sentences. Students can combine words, using two or three words in a single sentence, as long as the sentence makes sense. (2) Do the pages from the Open Court packet. These include the "Sarah Plain and Tall" study questions, the vocabulary crossword puzzle, and the "Silly Sentences" page. (3) Read pages 3-18 in Our California. This is review for the test. There are a few simple questions to answer as students read. They can mark in the book. (4) Do "Find a Rule," page 65 in the big Math book. Do only problems 4-16.
5 comments:
I thought in/output was what was allowing me to plug in (and out ;-)) stuff into T.V.!
Such a clever boy to come up with a technology metaphor! But nowadays, "input/output" is part of the vernacular.
Mr. Bassett, how nice of you to give the Smith family its own personal pathway to your ear. (Yes, that's an awful mixed metaphor, but I'm too tired to change it. I've been writing articles all day.) What will it take to get others to get connected and join the fun?
I'm reaching the age when input and output makes me only think of a gastroenterologist (look that one up, Stewart!)
For us, it's a "how to" and "if you encounter problems" sheet or instructions permanently posted on the blogspot? What it means to choose identity, that you have to get a google account, etc - unless that was already done and Josh lost it (not me)... Danielle just tried and it was a little challenging.
Thanks - we love reading the blog NIGHTLY!
Lynn, Josh and Danielle
I'm also reaching the age when I tend to look at the big picture when it comes to words. Language is dynamic, always changing, unceasingly flowing onward through the pipelines of history ... sort of like the gastrointestinal tract you describe.
But this metaphor only works when ingestion, digestion, absorption and output (to put it delicately) are working well.
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