SAM day challenge: Golf Ball Run

Similar to the classic kids' game Marble Run, students today were challenged to...Golf Ball Run! Students were divided into 4 teams. Their goal: transfer their golf ball through the pipe chutes to the red Solo cup at the end. The ball must pass through each students' chute, and hands cannot touch the ball. First step: try a short distance:

The slope on the chutes was too steep--and the ball either launched off the chutes or didn't stay in the cup. New plan: change the grade of the slope:

Other teams were setting up their chutes to end with the ball rolling on the floor towards a tipped Solo cup, hoping to make it in.

This group started off with great communication. They were able to get the ball all the way down the hallway by having each group member run to the end of the line, and controlling the ball through balance and speed control. 

They were also able to send the ball down the stairs and into the cup in just a few tries!

Then, two groups joined forces to extend the line:

They went from the hallway past the library...

To the end and around the corner...

And all the way past the library and the stairwell...to the entrance of the Grit hallway. Success! Teamwork, communication, goal setting, and grit helped the groups succeed today. 

CHMS Writes!

If you haven't seen it yet, Camels Hump Middle School has a writing blog! We've made our first post about team GRIT's investigative journalism pieces. Check it out here: http://chmswrites.blogspot.com/

Check back to see the writing other teams have been working on. Whenever team GRIT publishes, we'll have a link here on our blog to connect you. Our next pieces will be argument writing--which we will start after the break.

Final Literature Circle Discussions Today!

Today is the final day for literature circles about our two Revolutionary War books. Students have done a great job taking on the responsibility of their jobs to lead discussions, find new vocabulary words, and share connections and passages. They have also been artists, visualizing scenes from the books. Below are a few examples of the artwork students have created.

My Brother Sam is Dead:

Chains: 

Revolutionary War book selections!

         

In Language Arts, students chose to read either Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, or My Brother Sam is Dead James by Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier. Both books provide students with different perspectives on the war, including loyalists, patriots and slaves. Students are reading the books in groups, with different literature circle roles on discussion days to help them prepare for and lead the discussion. Each student will rotate through each role 1 time before the books are finished before the winter break. Students are discussion directors who lead the group and ask questions, super summarizers, creative connectors, passage masters, word wizards who find new vocabulary, or artful artists who illustrate a scene from the book. Each student has a schedule of the reading with their different roles and the due dates, to help them plan their homework.

Ask your student what book they are reading. How does this help them understand the Revolutionary War? How does this connect to what they are learning in social studies?

Happy reading!