Rocks and Roll in Texas History

Hello Parents and Happy Friday, 

Whelp! The band is back together! We are both back and healthy after two weeks of subs and ping ponging in and out with emergency lesson plans, etc. We are so proud of your kids who just rolled with the crazy and kept on learning. You're raising some awesome children. 

#LuckyTexasRocks

Thanks to your generous donations and support, we are able to launch our "Lucky Texas Rock" project. We are asking our 7th graders to look high and low and bring in their favorite lucky rock. It can be from the backyard or from a family walk anywhere in our fabulous state. Just bring it in and we will be running it through the tumbler to polish it up. At first, we thought.. yipes, this is going to take awhile for 350 kids. But as soon as we started talking it up yesterday, we were surprised to learn how many rockhounding families are out there and already offering to share their extra tumblers so we can speed up production. Lol! 

So about those rocks, we are asking not too big. We're telling the kids that it should be small enough to fit in an ok sign, like this.. 

#UpcomingWeek #Diorama 

We have been studying the four geographic regions of Texas (thus our obsession with rocks. Who's kidding who? We just like rocks!). This upcoming week, we will be working on an in-class diorama project. Each group of students will be assigned a different region to research and create a 3-D diorama (hopefully, we'll have some pictures to share next Friday). We're hoping for a fun week and really focusing on research, academic organization and presentation skills. 

Your student can fill out their school agenda like this..

Monday - Research region, Make a project plan and assign jobs to each team member

Tuesday - Complete diorama backdrop

Wednesday - 3D exhibits for diorama

Thursday - Finish exhibits, prepare group presentation, complete group rubric

Friday - Diorama presentations, Advanced - Composition Notebook Journal Entry on another group's diorama

#BoardGamesAndPuzzles #AfterSchool #TuesdaysandThursdays

We are still wrangling up games and puzzles for our classroom enrichment time and after school club, but we have enough to begin. So next week... if your student is interested in joining Mr. Young or Ms. Oricchio after school during tutoring time (345-430pm) to play board games or work on puzzles, we are open for business. We want to provide a safe, after school hangout where our kids can enjoy some social time and work on those critical thinking skills through puzzles and play. (And who's kidding  who? We are overgrown kids that can't wait to join in!) 

Here are some of the games and puzzles we are offering so far..

Settlers of Catan - We have two sets. Working on expansion packs and other editions. Each game is for four people. Ms. Oricchio is also hoping to have a "Settlers of Catan" club when we launch Friday Catapult clubs this Fall.

National Parks game 

Risk

Jenga 

Uno

Chess (couple of sets)

Chupacabra Jigsaw Puzzle (oh yeah! It's happening!)

We are really hoping to grow this out into a thing and offer more choices and multiple sets for both rooms. If you would like to help us stock up on games and puzzles, please check out our Donor's Choose project and Amazon Wishlist below. Y'all have been amazing with your generosity, so far. We could not have started this early in the year without your support, but it just takes a lot of supply to launch something like this.  Everything donated will be well-loved by many of our students this year and for many years to come. 

          

#BackToSchoolNight #MeetTheParents 

By the way, one last thing.. It was great to meet so many of you earlier this week at Back to School Night. If you didn't get a chance to make it out, no worries. We are here if you'd like to drop an email, arrange a call with any questions you may have about Texas History or our game and puzzle club. Have a great weekend and thank you for sharing your kids with us! 

- Ms. Oricchio and Mr. Young