Bobby finished writing the descriptions of spiral galaxies, barred spirals, and irregular galaxies – spirals and barred spirals have a higher concentration of younger stars and gas and dust than ellipticals (Bobby completed the material on ellipticals last week), while irregulars are usually considered to be the remnants of catastrophic galactic collisions. Bobby then very politely asked if he could join his friends for the rest of class, since they were all playing a game - I of course allowed him to, since he had worked so well. In any case, the game - Apples to Apples - can be a very educational game, especially considering that the coordinator was teaching the definitions of the words as they popped up. From time to time, one of the teachers would contribute a deeper definition of a word, in say, a scientific context.
Session Minutes
60
Minutes Student Attended
60
Lesson Comments
I couldn't say 'no' to Bobby when he saw all of his buddies playing the game. But what I say in the comments is all true: He had worked hard, and the game was conducted in a very educational manner (April leading, the rest of us chiming in when necessary).
We're continuing with Gwendolyn's project on the planets. She wanted to repaint Venus, for she thought it had turned out a bit too pink last week. During the lesson, we talked about mountains in the Solar System - in fact, the highest mountain is Olympus Mons on Mars. It is more than twice the height of Mt Everest. An excellent and useful diagram showed the relative heights of the tallest mountains in each continent on Earth versus Olympus Mons, and Gwendolyn spent some time studying this diagram.
Friday, February 26, 2016
1:00- 1:30; 30 min.
Science enrichment:
Force -
Ben showed me how he uses his computer to drive a racecar, in one of his favorite video games. We discussed what subjects he has already covered and which subjects he especially likes in science. I reviewed the textbooks in his room in preparation for his work starting next week.
Friday, February 19, 2016
1:00- 1:30; 30 min.
Science enrichment:
planets-
Ben and I reviewed the planets. I quizzed him on the order and names of each planet. Once I told him he would have two birthdays every day, on Mercury, he was interested on what would happen on other planets. We looked up the length of a year on each planet and the duration of a day. We also examined how much he would weigh on Jupiter and Mars.
Bobby taped the material he has already printed out onto his poster background into temporary slots, to be glued permanently once we're satisfied with the layout. We're outlining the material based on Hubble's Tuning Fork Diagram. Bobby also started typing text for the poster.
Session Minutes
60
Minutes Student Attended
60
Lesson Comments
Despite the distractions from working in the library, Bobby did an excellent job of wanting to work on his poster. I must remember to try to use a laptop (when available) in his room, or then come directly to the room by the front office. Bobby desperately wants to do the work, as he told me, but I can see he gets distracted quite easily.
Stephen started a unit on environments, ecosystems and specifically swamps/wetlands and The Everglades. He began class by going on a hunt through the school for Natural vs Human Environments and he kept a tally of examples on a compare/contrast chart. Next, we read a short piece on scientist John Muir. Then, we made a poster in his new Science area that highlighted the words environment and ecosystem. Stephen enjoyed our short class today and completed a good amount of work.
After wishing Ethan a Happy Birthday, Gwendolyn and I continued working on her project. Today, she painted Venus, Uranus, and has already cut Jupiter out and glued it to a black background. We currently also have Mars and Neptune, so next week we'll work on Earth and Saturn.
Session Minutes
60
Minutes Student Attended
60
Lesson Comments
Gwendolyn was much more relaxed and more forthcoming than last week.
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
2:00- 2:30; 30 min.
Compare and contrast-
Ben and I worked together with a program that presented him with situations for him to compare and contrast.
