The Weisz Teacher's Blog

Success Night and Christmas Tree Lane

2011-12-15T14:51:00.000-08:00

6th Graders completed two of Ms. Weisz's doors in time for Success Night and Christmas Tree Lane on December 15th at Tok School.

The boys chose a Mario-themed Christmas, while the girls went with the Muppets. These doors required quite a bit of drawing, coloring, stapling, and patience, but they were done in plenty of time and they look great!

Brrrr! Show your iPads some love - keep them WARM!

2011-11-17T07:58:00.000-08:00

As you may have noticed, it's getting colder and colder outside. Please remember that your iPads don't like the cold any more than you do, and if they are cold for too long, it will hurt them - badly! Make sure you are keeping your iPad in the neoprene carrying cases when you have to carry them outside. And whatever you do, DON'T leave them in a vehicle that is not running - EVER! They get cold very fast. So remember to show your iPad some love this winter - keep it warm!

New Year, New iPads!

2011-08-22T23:04:00.000-07:00

Welcome back! This year promises to be an interesting one as we take our One to One program to a new level. Instead of each middle school student having laptops, this year they all get brand new iPad's! As an added bonus, the high school students will now all have their own laptops! The extra good news is that this year, the iPads can be taken home. The high school will still keep laptops at school.

Middle school students with iPads will notice fewer textbooks this year. There will be no textbooks for 6th and 7th grade English, Social Studies, or Math, as we have all the materials you will need on the iPad or online!

During the first week of school the iPads will stay at school, but as soon as we are able to review the new One to One plan and contract with parents, they can go home!

The other new change is that the middle school students will all be taking a new technology course. During this new course, we will explore the iPads further as learning tools, learn more web tools and most importantly - digital citizenship!

Students will get more information about the iPads during the first days of our technology class - stay tuned!

Helpful Videos

2011-03-11T10:39:00.000-08:00

Students - I have a new page on the right hand side of this blog under Ms. Weisz's Class Wikis called Video Tutorials that will contain lots of short tutorial videos that you can access any time you may need help. I'll be adding more of them all the time - some of them I'll make and some I'll add that someone else made. Check it out once in awhile and maybe you can find something on there to help you!

Spring is Coming!

2011-03-05T08:15:00.000-08:00

Tok School middle school students have been working hard through the third quarter and are probably very ready for spring break. We are beginning to get back into more "fun" projects now in class - more work with video and definitely MORE BLOGGING! Start checking out student blogs to see what they have been up to.

REMINDER - all middle school students should be coming to class with a set of ear buds! I have issued every student a pair of ear buds at least once this year (some more). I know many would prefer to use their own and that is just fine - I only ask that you remember to bring them! Much of the work we do involves some form of noise emitting from your laptops.

SCRATCH!

2010-09-23T17:05:00.000-07:00

Tok middle school students are learning a new language that not everyone is familiar with - it's called Logo, and it's a programming language that is used to write all sorts of computer programs. They are learning this language by using a program called Scratch.

Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy for students to create their own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share their creations on the web.

Students downloaded the Scratch program from the MIT website to their laptops at school. They are learning how to put the programming "bricks" together and will eventually learn to make these cool projects. Last year's 8th graders made great interactive games to go with their geography projects. You can find them on some of this year's 9th grade blogs on the right of this page.

As students create and share Scratch projects, they learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively. Students problem solve together to learn more about programming!

Welcome back - Fall 2010!

2010-08-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic summer and got outside a little, had a good time with friends and family, and did something new.

I had a great summer that included all of the above. I was on the Tanana River a lot with my family, I took some trips with friends, and I did something new - I went to France with some students from Tok School!

I'm excited to see everyone again this year, and to meet our new 6th graders. Of course we are ready to roll out your 1:1 laptops first thing this year.

Because of funding, there have been some changes to our 1:1 program. Each of you will still have your own laptop, but they will not go home. For students who do not have computers at home, we are working on a program so that we can get some laptops into people's homes. If your family already has a computer at home with internet access, you will still have no problem accessing your work from school when you are at home - even though it's on a different computer! Even if it's not a Mac! However, when you are at school, you will not share your computer with other students - you will be the only user on your assigned laptop.

School Supplies:
In middle school our requirements are few - here they are;
1. paper and writing utensils - we cannot provide these, and you cannot expect your friend or seatmate to provide these for you all year!

2. ear buds - buy a few cheap pairs from the store, or just use the ones you have with your ipod - whatever. You will need them in class.

3. Optional - a jump drive (also known as a thumb drive, jump drive, gig stick, or geek stick). 1G is plenty for your needs. A 1 gig stick is around $8 to $10. They are a quick way to transport pictures or other work that you want to transfer to other computers if you have not put those things on the web.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday, August 24th!

The New Middle School Success Night Page

2010-05-19T16:08:00.000-07:00

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE NEW PAGE CONTAINING ALL THE PROJECTS THE STUDENTS SUBMITTED FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL SUCCESS NIGHT!

Coming up - Success Night - May 19th!

2010-05-07T12:23:00.000-07:00

Middle school students - be aware that Tok School Success Night is coming up on Wednesday, May 19th. The middle school students will be having some presentations of your work that we will show for parents who want to see some of your work.

6th Grade - we will be showing your Shaker Scrapblogs!

7th Grade - we will be showing your Webspiration Civil War timelines!

8th Grade - we will be showing your Scratch interactives!

Scratch is a Logo programming language that is set in a visual medium. 8th Graders have been learning how to use Scratch to write their own video games and interactives for their World Geography class projects - exciting stuff!

3rd Quarter Party

2010-05-06T22:40:00.001-07:00

NEW START for 2010!

2010-01-03T14:08:00.000-08:00

Welcome back everyone! I hope everyone had a relaxing break and is refreshed and ready to learn for 2010! I'd like to take this opportunity to remind all of my students of several things:

1. Everyone is starting semester 2 with an A! Isn't that great? You can keep it or you can lose it - that part is entirely up to you!

2. Late work - Ms. Weisz was fairly nice about late work last semester, but ultimately it was pushed too far. Too many students waited too long to turn in assignments. This semester I'm sticking with my original policy so here it is; Assignments are due at the beginning of class. If your assignment is turned in later than that - be it one minute or one week - I will deduct 20% off your grade. Assignments may be turned in up to 7 days past the original due date for 20% off. I will NOT NOT NOT accept any assignments that are later than 7 days past the due date. Period. End of Story.

3. Incomplete work - Do not turn in assignments that have questions unanswered, and do not write "I don't know" or "IDK" as a response to questions. I will not score these assignments. I will hand them back to you and ask you to complete them, and then you will receive a late grade when it is turned in again. I usually give A LOT of time in class for you to complete assignments and get help from me if you need it. If you do take an assignment home and happen to be struggling with a particular question, you can email me, call me, contact me on Google chat, or come see me FIRST THING in the morning so that I can help you or at least know that you were having some trouble and I won't dock you on late points.

4. I am more than confident that each and every one of my students knows how to get through our class sites to find assignments, the calendar, their email, PowerSchool, and anything else they may need to take responsibility for their learning at school. I expect you all to make good use of these great tools you have to do exactly that.

Here's to a great new year and a great second semester!

Junior High 1st Quarter Party

2009-11-06T15:38:00.001-08:00

Junior high school students with no F's, decent attendance, and no disciplinary actions for 1st quarter were treated to a sledding party on Friday afternoon, November 6th. There was enough snow to make sleds slide, nice weather, and a warm fire. Everyone had a good time sledding, roasting marshmallows, drinking hot chocolate, and cozying up to the campfire!

Tok Junior High Student Council

2009-10-29T10:53:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, October 28, all of the junior high students of Tok School gathered in the library during assembly period to discuss some ideas for a junior high student council. Up until now, junior high classes have elected class representatives to sit on the student council, but were not allowed to run for offices as those were reserved for high school students. Junior high students have felt that they have not had much of a voice in the affairs of student council.

So after some good class discussions and discussions with the whole group of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, it was decided that each class would nominate some of their existing officers to serve on a new Tok Junior High Student Council.

The new members gathered together and agreed to elect their own officers for our start up "board". The new officers are as follows:
President - Molly Bears, 7th grade
Vice President - Chloe Helmer, 7th grade
Secretary - Noelle Helmer, 8th grade
Treasurer - Cole Johnson, 8th grade
Representative to high school student council - Thomas Ervin, 8th grade
Board of Directors (voting members of the council):
Taylor Harbison, 7th grade
Rachel McQuillin, 7th grade
David Simmons, 6th grade
Collin Carlson, 6th grade

The junior high student council will have monthly meetings, and will discuss new ideas for junior high students like activity nights, formal dances, and other fun things.

These students are actually learning about the geography of Canada!

2009-10-12T17:49:00.000-07:00

It may be a little noisy, but these 8th graders are playing Jeopardy while they are learning about the geography of Canada.

Interesting Stuff on Student Blogs

2009-10-10T16:52:00.001-07:00

In case you have not checked out the blogs of the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders on the right of this page, as well as the blogs of the French students - you should! There are continually new and updated projects like slideshows, movies, Vokis, maps and all kinds of interesting stuff on there!

The 8th graders are finishing up some pretty interesting projects in World Geography about regions of the United States. They have interactive maps, Vokis, movies, and narrated slideshows. The 8th graders are in the process of putting them on their blogs, so be sure to look them over. Leave comments or questions!

Busy Students!

2009-09-29T20:58:00.000-07:00

The junior high students at Tok School are using their 1:1 laptops in all kinds of ways every single day! Students have been busy doing assignments online and creating all kinds of new things. Some of the activities the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders have been working on are:

1. Online assignments.
2. Looking at interactive sites and watching videos online to gather new information.
3. Making maps to show and interpret data.
4. Making maps for study guides.
5. Creating podcasts and online slideshows.
6. Publishing their work to their own student blogs.
7. Writing and sharing documents on GoogleDocs.

This has made class periods very busy times for the students and they are accomplishing a lot already! Be sure to check out student blogs from time to time to see what the students are up to. Sometimes the content on their blogs will be similar, but much of the time it will be very different and unique.

Student Blogs

2009-09-28T09:22:00.000-07:00

7th grade, 8th grade and French students are beginning their student blogs - you can see the links to their blogs on the right hand side of this page. These blogs are very versatile and students will be able to post projects, papers, and many other things onto their blogs.

Soon the 6th grade will have blogs too!

Parents and students are encouraged to look through these often as time goes by to see what our students are up to!

Gmails and iGoogle Pages are Up!

2009-09-21T16:36:00.001-07:00

As all 6th, 7th, and 8th graders are well aware we are all set up with Gmail accounts. What this means is that all 6th, 7th and 8th graders also have iGoogle as their home page, which is a VERY cool thing! IGoogle is now their digital locker. It is decorated with pictures they like, and is full of gadgets they are interested in, as well as gadgets they will need for their classes. So - for parents AND students, here are some reminders about the guidelines for responsible use of Gmail and iGoogle:
1. Check your gmail every day.
2. NEVER throw away an email (this is your "work" account).
3. No personal emails - school related correspondence only.
4. Only appropriate pictures and gadgets on iGoogle. If we'd make you take it out of your locker, we'd probably make you take it off iGoogle too - use good judgement.
5. Any gadgets your teachers require you to have on iGoogle must be there and they must be above the fold!
6. If you change your gmail password you must email me your new password immediately. I must be able to access your accounts at any time.

Remember - these are "school" accounts - we expect you to handle them responsibly. Using them irresponsibly could be grounds for losing your laptop - which would be a tragedy!

Setting Up Student Emails

2009-09-10T23:04:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder to parents/guardians - I will be needing permission slips as soon as possible from you so that I can set up your child with a student email account. Many of you have already returned these and I thank you very much! Some of you may have missed the letter in the mail - if you have, you can go to any of the English page links on the right side of this blog and there is a place to click so you can download that letter. If you just read that and want to send me an email or call me to give verbal permission, that is fine too.

Here are the reasons your student needs to have a school email account:
1. Ability for student and I to communicate easily when not in class.
2. Students will be using a variety of free web tools in class - almost all require an email account to access (they do not require other personal information). Emails are now about the equivalent of a telephone number or mailing address - you need one for everything!
3. Access to all of Google's applications we will be using for many things in class - mostly GoogleDocs, Google Calendar, Blogger, and Gmail.

It will be hard to move ahead and require all students to use these applications for learning, when only those with approved email accounts will actually be able to do it.

So please please take a second to fill out the form, shoot me an email, or give me a call! Thanks again!

Hooray - Laptops are ready!

2009-09-02T23:14:00.001-07:00

Most 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students now have their very own laptops - we are ready for anything! As all students heard today, and will continue to hear from me, there are several items regarding the laptops that I consider very important, so I'll repeat them here...

1. Charge your laptop overnight.
2. When the bell rings your laptop should be powered on, and you should be on our homepage (this page) in your Firefox browser.
3. When the bell rings your laptops should be in what I call the "closed" position - which means almost but not quite closed. That way they are ready to go, but I have your attention at the beginning of class.
4. Any student may leave their laptop in my classroom overnight to charge if they don't want to take it home.
5. Only go to sites I have directed you to during class - failure to follow this direction will result in you losing the use of your laptop for that class period.
6. On many sites we link to and even on our own class sites, we can't escape advertisements. NEVER NEVER NEVER click on ads! I can't make it any clearer than that!

Those are some basics for now. We are starting out with small steps in the use of the laptops and these sites - soon students will notice that we are doing less and less work with paper and pencil (although it won't go away entirely!).

I am excited for all we will be able to learn with these laptops this year!

Welcome Back!

2009-08-11T18:58:00.000-07:00

To all my new students - all 6th, 7th, and 8th graders as well as high school French students - welcome back to school and welcome to my classes!

I'm excited to be back teaching junior high and high school classes at Tok School after 3 years of trying out a few other things, like teaching new teachers to teach, and teaching the 3rd grade! I loved those things, but junior high is where my heart has always been and I am looking forward to a great year ahead of us!

I am also very excited to be a part of the one-to-one laptop program in our junior high at Tok School. One thing I've always been really enthusiastic about is using technology in my classes. During the past 3 years that I've been out of the junior high, a lot has changed about how technology is being used in classrooms and I've learned a whole lot! Last year my high school French class got a little taste of what we could do with technology - and this year I have big things planned - you will like it - I promise!

Continue to check this blog site as it will be "information central" for all of my classes this year. Each of my classes will have its own wiki - and the links to those wikis are on this blog page - it's important!