May News Dear families, I hope you are well and managing through this unusually stressful time. Over the past week, I have been talking with students about adding a science project or a maker project to their remote classroom curriculum. Polling responses shows the students about equally divided between (1) wanting to continue studying physical science in Acellus or (2) working on a science project or maker project instead of working in the Acellus physical science course. Because I don’t want a different or additional science project to create more stress for families right now, I am making a science or maker project optional. Here is how this will work. Students can substitute a science or maker project, to replace their work in the Acellus physical science course, for as long as it takes them to complete and present their project (two to four weeks). Students will document their daily progress in an online project notebook assigned in their Google Science Classroom. To complete their project students will present a slideshow and explain what they did and what they learned along the way. The slideshow presentation will take place during a class Zoom meeting. More detailed instructions can be found in the Google Science Classroom. We will share students questions and concerns during Wednesday Zoom meetings. My intent is to offer an opportunity for students to do a project of their own devising, without increasing study time or putting extra demands on family resources. I hope this will be a fun, engaging, and outside learning experience. I want to emphasize these points:
Science or Maker Project
Optional
Flexible length (time)
Choice of science or maker activity
Use of materials found at home or easily obtainable
Update notebook daily
Take pictures throughout for slideshow presentation
For the month of May, students should continue their math studies (½ hour daily) and science studies (½ hour daily). Please email me with questions or concerns. We are getting close to the end of the school year, we can do this! Wishing you all the best, David DeMarche
Salmon Creek Middle School Math and Science Remote Classroom Dear Families, We will be starting our Remote Classroom activities tomorrow, Tuesday, 24 March. For math and science classes, we will be keeping things simple as we begin. We will continue working in the Acellus math program AND we will add an Acellus Chemistry course that fits with what we have been studying this past month. Students can use the same ID and password for the Acellus program that they have already memorized: and access their math course and their new science course. Later, as we get used to a daily rhythm of independent studies, I will be adding writing assignments in Google Classroom. Assessments will be online as well. The expectation is that the student will do 30-40 minutes of concentrated work in both math and science each day.
I will be posting further information as needed on my web page and I will email families as I assign new projects. Everyone take a few deep breathes, we’ll figure this out together. Stay safe and sane.
Please email me with any questions or concerns you may have. David DeMarche [email protected]