West-Orange Cove CSD 6th Grade Science –3rd Six Weeks 2012 - 2013

The Third six weeks has 30 instructional days 11/5 –

12/21

11/9 Early Release

11/19 – 11/23Thanksgiving

Major Concepts During week 1 and 2, students will research and debate the

advantages and disadvantages of using coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear power, biomass, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and solar resources.

During week 3, students will gain understanding that force and motion are related to potential and kinetic energy. Students will compare these forms of energy.

During week 4 and 5, students will identify and describe the changes in position, direction, and speed of an object when acted upon by unbalanced forces. Also, student will calculate average speed using distance and time measurements.

During week 6, students will investigate how inclined planes and pulleys can be used to change the amount of force to move an object.

Scientific investigation and reasoning will be embedded throughout the various lessons. The student uses scientific inquiry methods during laboratory and field investigations.

Processes Demonstrate safe practices during laboratory and field investigations as outlined

in the Texas Safety Standards Plan and implement comparative and descriptive investigations by making

observations, asking well-defined questions, and using appropriate equipment and technology;

Design and implement experimental investigations by making observations, asking well-defined questions, formulating testable hypotheses, and using appropriate equipment and technology;

Collect and record data using the International System of Units (SI) and qualitative means such as labeled drawings, writing, and graphic organizers;

Construct tables and graphs, using repeated trials and means, to organize data and identify patterns; and

Analyze data to formulate reasonable explanations, communicate valid conclusions supported by the data, and predict trends.

In order to use time, resources, and hold students accountable for their own learning, we must agree to continue using:

Notebooking . Also, remember to refer back to files sent during the first six weeks to expand on the use of notebooks in the science classroom.

SMART objective posted and used daily. For example, the TEKs for the lesson (week or weeks) is…. o Research and debate the advantages and disadvantages of using coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear power, biomass, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and solar

resources. 6.7A. o The SMART objective for the 1st week may be written in the following way,

Today, we (or I, based on preference) will research the advantages and disadvantages of using coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear power, biomass, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and solar resources by using the computer lab to explore and explain our Earth’s resources.

The next day, the underlined part of the objective may change for the next part of the lesson such as Today, we (or I, based on preference) will research the advantages and disadvantages of using coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear power, biomass, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and solar resources by participating in theSources of Energy lab.

Developing Effective Science Lessons. During this first part of the semester, we explored how to develop effective science lessons by referring to Figure 1.1, from Designing Effective Science Instruction: What Works in Science Classrooms. As we continue to make an impact in the lives of children as they engage in the learning of science, we will focus on providing adequate time and structure for sense-making and wrap-up; enhancing the development of students’ understanding and problem solving through teacher’s questioning; providing a classroom culture in which the climate encourages students to generate ideas and questions; and having a quality classroom culture where intellectual rigor, constructive criticism, and challenging of ideas are evident (p.4).

Creating a Positive Learning Environment. At the beginning of the school year, we presented Table 4.1, from Designing Effective Science Instruction: What Works in Science Classrooms, showing how to create a positive learning environment. During these third six weeks, we will explore the second strategy presented in this book. Strategy 2: Think Scientifically – Teach students to think scientifically p.140 - 150.

Using technology and interactive games to support student engagement .

Collaborative grouping

Formative assessment in science and other formative assessment strategies that will work depending the needs of your class(once you are in the page, click on

West-Orange Cove CSD 6th Grade Science –3rd Six Weeks 2012 - 2013

each formative assessment strategy to get more details)

Use of the 5E scientific model:o Engageo Exploreo Explaino Elaborateo Evaluate

Using a rubric or a criteria chart generated with the students, go over the expectations in the science lab as it concerns to safety, active participation, homework, research and other projects.

Week 1 and Week 2 November 5 – November 16

Learning Standards Instruction Resources Products, Projects, Labs Assessment Matter and energy. The student knows that some of Earth's energy resources are available on a nearly perpetual basis, while others can be renewed over a relatively short period of time. Some energy resources, once depleted, are essentially nonrenewable. The student is expected to:

Research and debate the advantages and disadvantages of using coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear power, biomass, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and solar resources. 6.7A

Design a logical plan to manage energy resources in the home, school, or community. 6.7B

Energy resources are available on a renewable, nonrenewable, or indefinite basis. Understanding the origins and uses of these resources enables informed decision making. Students should consider the ethical/social issues surrounding Earth's natural energy resources, while looking at the advantages and disadvantages of their long-term uses.

Vocabulary Energy, renewable, nonrenewable, inexhaustible, resources, coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear power, biomass, hydropower, geothermal

Engage students daily by Brainstorming about the concept of energy and

what students already know about it. Students will use Annotated Student Drawings to show what they know. The teacher will facilitate sharing among the team and then the whole group.

Using the Forms of Energy PowerPoint presentation to review the energy concept learned in 5th grade.

Teachers will facilitate students’ learning and discovery to reinforce skills and concepts by

EXPLORE / EXPLAIN- Students will use a computer lab to conduct research about Earth’s

Discovery Education

The Energy Story

Thirteen.org

Energy Education

Gateways to Science 6th grade Lesson 2.2 Forms of Energy T.E 47 – 50Students will participate in this lab to review and explore forms of energy. Use RM 1 – 2 in CD or Natural Resources SMART Notebook File

Gateways to Science 6th grade Lesson 2.4 Sources of Energy T.E 54 – 56Students will participate in this lesson to explore sources of energy. Use RM 6 – 7 in CD or Natural Resources SMART Notebook File

EXPLAINStudents will create a foldable book to include various forms of energy with the word, definition, and a diagram of the application. It is important to remember that students better learn the vocabulary definition based

EVALUATEStudents will use 2-3 pictures from a magazine, newspaper or from this set of pictures to write an explanation of the form of energy that it represents.

EVALUATEStudents will create a cartoon, bumper sticker, or a poster to illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of using some of Earth’s resources.

West-Orange Cove CSD 6th Grade Science –3rd Six Weeks 2012 - 2013

energy resources. Students will write a report including key facts about various renewable, nonrenewable, and inexhaustible resources as well as providing the advantages and disadvantages of using those energy resources. At the end of the research report, teacher may provide students with notes that teacher can prepare with the assistance of students from websites visited.

Using various videos segments to learn and discuss various natural resources, problems associated with the use of fossil fuels and the importance of conserving energy .

o Geothermal Energy , o Non Renewable Resources (coal, oil,

natural gas), o Renewable Resources ,

EXPLORE / EXPLAIN – the teacher will guide students in inquiry and learning of Earth’s resources using the Natural Resources SMART Notebook file. Students will use previous learning and research to clarify concepts.

on lab experiences not copying from the textbook.

ELABORATE:Public service announcement project

OR

ELABORATE: As a class, students will design an energy saving project, Energy Audit. In this project, students will find out whether they are wasting energy in their daily lives by conducting an energy audit, and discover simple, cost-saving measures to conserve energy. Once they gain this information, they will see what it takes to get their community to start its own energy-saving campaign!.

West-Orange Cove CSD 6th Grade Science –3rd Six Weeks 2012 - 2013

Week 3November 26 – November 30

Learning Standards Instruction Resources Products, Projects, Labs Assessment

 Force, motion, and energy. The student knows force and motion are related to potential and kinetic energy. The student is expected to:

Compare and contrast potential and kinetic energy. 6.8A

Energy occurs in two types, potential and kinetic, and can take several forms. Thermal energy can be transferred by conduction, convection, or radiation. It can also be changed from one form to another. Students will investigate the relationship between force and motion using a variety of means, including calculations and measurements.

Vocabulary Force, motion, potential energy, kinetic energy, thermal energy, mechanical energy, light energy, sound energy,

ENGAGE daily using one of the following Using the Roller coasters: Momentum and Energy in

Action segment of the Physical Science: Motion video to have students discuss and describe the changes in position, direction, and speed when acted upon by various forces.

Investigate and classify everyday examples and natural occurrences of kinetic and potential energy, such as a bouncing ball, a golf swing, a pogo stick, a baseball bat, a waterfall, or an earthquake.

Using the A & D statement, students will discuss the following statement “THERE HAS TO BE AN ENERGY CHANGE TO MAKE THINGS HAPPEN!”

Teachers will facilitate students’ learning and discovery to reinforce skills and concepts by

EXPLORE / EXPLAIN - Using this interactive roller coaster ride and/or this interactive skater to illustrate the relationship between potential and kinetic energy. As the coaster cars or skater go up and down, a pie chart shows how energy is transformed back and forth between gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy.

https://www.scientificminds.com/Teacher/AncillaryData.aspxUse the following lessons to support students’ understanding and knowledge by using

Science Starter 31Potential and Kinetic Energy

Science Starter 32 Forms of Energy

Science Starter 39 Energy Transformation

Discovery Education

Science TEKS Toolkit

Transfer of Energy

Teachers’ Domain

Florida Standards

Energy Education

Gateways to science 6th

Gateways 7th grade Lab 2.3 Potential and Kinetic Energy T.E 38 - 40Students will follow safety procedures as they conduct lab. Students will EXPLORE / EXPLAIN potential and kinetic energy as they participate in this lab once CD is available)

“To Move or Not to Move”Students will investigate, through a guided exploration lab, using a tennis ball, the Law of Conservation of Energy to differentiate between Potential and Kinetic Energy, and identify real life situations where potential energy is transformed into kinetic energy and vice versa

ELABORATEStudents will write an explanation and draw a diagram showing how the following are examples of potential and kinetic energy: A boy on a bike riding

down the road A bike parked on the

sidewalk A rock sitting on a cliff

ELABORATE / EVALUATEStudents will create a Venn diagram to compare and

EVALUATE: Students will create a poster, song, poem, bumper sticker, or an acrostic poem to show their understanding of potential and kinetic energy.

Reflection- Think of an example from everyday life where potential energy is transformed into kinetic energy, or vice versa. Draw a diagram that illustrates the transformation, using the interactive activity as an example. Then describe the transformation. For example: When I carry a sled to the top of a snowy hill, the potential energy of the sled increases. As I stand with my sled at the top of the hill, the kinetic energy is zero and the potential energy is at its maximum. As I slide down the hill, the potential energy of the sled decreases and its kinetic energy increases.

West-Orange Cove CSD 6th Grade Science –3rd Six Weeks 2012 - 2013

EXPLAIN - The teacher will facilitate this interactive Potential and Kinetic Energy question and answer game, using the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire format, to check for understanding of potential and kinetic energy. Students will explain answers.

Using the Inquiry Board the teacher will scaffold students’ identification of independent and dependent variables in order to formulate a testable hypothesis or a testable question.

contrast potential and kinetic energy

West-Orange Cove CSD 6th Grade Science –3rd Six Weeks 2012 - 2013

Week 4 - Week 5 December 3 - December 14

Learning Standards Instruction Resources Products, Projects, Labs Assessment

Force, motion, and energy. The student knows force and motion are related to potential and kinetic energy. The student is expected to:

Identify and describe the changes in position, direction, and speed of an object when acted upon by unbalanced forces. 6.8B

Calculate average speed using distance and time measurements. 6.8C

VocabularyWork, force, distance, motion, potential energy, kinetic energy, Newton, resistance forces, gravity, speed, unbalanced forces, balanced forces.

ENGAGE students daily by

Reviewing all about energy and forms of energy

Prepare six stations with the following: (1) a straw and a Ping Pong ball, (2) a paper airplane, (3) a pinwheel, (4) marbles, (5) a pendulum apparatus with varied weights, and (6) a spinning top. Ask students the following questions: How can each object be made to move? How would you know if the object moved? How could you measure this movement? What will happen if different forces are applied to the objects?

Using Annotated Student Drawings, students will reflect on the question “What does the word Force makes you think about?” Students will share within the group and then choose a few to share with the class.

Having students arm wrestle to show balanced forces (when the same amount of force is applied by each person) and unbalanced forces (when one person wins). The students will learn the effects of unbalanced forces by sharing what they felt as they were winning or losing.

Using This Too Shall Pass - Rube Goldberg Machine version Students will practice the graffiti writing technique to write down observations and wonderings about what they observe. Observations and wonderings include Identifying and describing the changes in position, direction, and speed of an object when acted upon by unbalanced forces. Keep poster paper or construction paper where students

https://www.scientificminds.com/Teacher/AncillaryData.aspxUse the following lessons to support students’ understanding and knowledge by using Science Starter 35

Force and Motion Science Starter 36

Measuring and Graphing Motion

Science Starter 37 Speed

Science Starter 38 Work

Discovery Education

Science TEKS Toolkit

R ube Goldberg

NASA

Motion Graphs

Use SMARTBoard – Quiz 4 as bell ringer for students to answer 1 question daily. It can be used as a formative assessment to find out students’ previous learning and any misconceptions

Gateways to science 6th grade Lesson 2.5: Measuring Force Students will participate in this lab to investigate how force affects matter. T.E 57 – 59.

Gateways to science 6th grade Lesson 2.6: Relating Force and Motion. Students will participate in this lab to investigate how force affects matter. T.E 57 – 59.

Use the information in Gateways to Science 6th grade Lesson 2.7: Representing Motion Graphically T.E 62 – 66 and the Rocket Races Lab using the extension activities to have students measure distance and time. Later, students will graph results to calculate the average speed.

Use the Forces SMART Notebook File for supporting the presentation of the above lessons.

EVALUATEUsing the Rube Goldberg's pictures (included in SMART Notebook File or teacher may select own pictures) student groups: explain the

relationship between the force and the motion

Identify and describe the changes in position, direction, and speed of an object when acted upon by unbalanced forces

groups will explain their findings in the group’s picture.

Use examples in Motion Graphs to have students explain their reasoning to their answers.

Reflection- Students will write an explanation with examples describing How the steepness of the slope in representing motion graphically is used to determine an object’s speed and how can someone determine if the object’s speed is constant when analyzing a graph?

West-Orange Cove CSD 6th Grade Science –3rd Six Weeks 2012 - 2013

wrote down observations and wonderings to have students reflect on learning at the end of the lesson

Using the Force and Motion segment of the Physics of Motion video to have students discover the forces that are at work when objects are in motion in a variety of different situations

Teachers will facilitate students’ learning and discovery to reinforce skills and concepts by

EXPLORE / EXPLAIN- Introduce the students to Rube Goldberg. He was an US cartoonist who created cartoon pictures of complicated machines to do simple tasks. Students will explain the relationship between the force and the motion in the drawing, and describe the changes in position, direction, and speed of the object depicted in the picture when acted upon by unbalanced forces. If able, students will identify the simple machines. Drawing is included in SMART Notebook File

Using the Inquiry Board the teacher will scaffold students’ identification of independent and dependent variables in order to formulate a testable hypothesis or a testable question.

students may have.

West-Orange Cove CSD 6th Grade Science –3rd Six Weeks 2012 - 2013

Week 6December 17 - 21

Learning Standards Instruction Resources Products, Projects, Labs AssessmentForce, motion, and energy. The student knows force and motion are related to potential and kinetic energy. The student is expected to:

Investigate how inclined planes and pulleys can be used to change the amount of force to move an object. 6.8 E

VocabularyWork, force, distance, motion, energy, Newton, resistance forces, gravity, simple machines, pulley, lever, pivot, fulcrum, axle, inclined plane, wedge, screw

ENGAGE students daily by Providing students problem solving tasks to plan,

design and implement using basic tools, simple materials and techniques. Students will review and understand tools and machines by their function.

Viewing the video clip pulleys and inclined planes students will discuss common use of different simple machines.

Teachers will facilitate students’ learning and discovery to reinforce skills and concepts

EXPLORE / EXPLAIN- “How can pulleys make it easier for you to do work without changing how much work you do?” Students will use the pulleys exploration activity to see various ways in which a combination of pulleys assist in the amount of force needed to lift a particular load.

EXPLAIN / ELABORATE – (assigned to students for homework a day or two before this section). Ask students to get their parents involved in helping them locate examples of machine diagrams from home. The instructions provided by manufacturers with bicycles, kitchen appliances, tools, and lawn mowers often contain explanatory diagrams to help you understand these machines. Auto repair manuals also contain dozens of these diagrams. Many construction sets such as Lego® and K'NEX® also have similar kinds of diagrams to help you build particular toy designs.

When you have several diagrams from different sources, students will compare them and discuss them using the following questions as starting points:

https://www.scientificminds.com/Teacher/AncillaryData.aspxUse the following lessons to support students’ understanding and knowledge by using Science Starter 38

Work Science Starter

113 Simple Machines

Discovery Education

Simple Machines

R ube Goldberg

Museum of Science

Gateways 7th grade Lab 2.6 Simple Machines and Work T.E 45 - 47Students will follow safety procedures as they conduct lab. Students will EXPLORE / EXPLAIN force and work as they participate in this lab and use various tools. Use BLM 9-11 in CD or SMART Notebook File once CD is available)

ELABORATE / EVALUATEStudents will create a Venn diagram to compare and contrast an inclined plane and pulleys.

Students will use their knowledge about simple machines to write an acrostic poem. Use the suggested format to guide students’ thinking.

EVALUATEUsing the Rube Goldberg's pictures (included in SMART Notebook File or teacher may select own pictures) as a guide, students will create a story where they include a simply machine such as a pulley and/or an inclined plane to help a person accomplish a task applying less force.

Reflection – Students will discuss pulleys and inclined planes as simple machines and how these machines make the work easier. Make sure to include diagrams to assist in the explanation.

West-Orange Cove CSD 6th Grade Science –3rd Six Weeks 2012 - 2013

What are some similarities and differences between different diagrams?

Which diagrams do they think are the easiest to understand and the hardest to understand?

What techniques have the illustrators of the better diagrams used to make their work clearer?

What techniques can the students apply from these examples to make their own machine diagrams more understandable?

West-Orange Cove CSD 6th Grade Science –3rd Six Weeks 2012 - 2013

SMART Objective

In the book, Learning by Doing, P. 126, Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, Thomas Many, and Robert Eaker, talk about SMART goals and how establishing these goals will assist stakeholders in creating a collaborative effort oriented by results.

According to Dufour et al, SMART objectives are Strategic and Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-Oriented, Timebound. For our purposes in the classroom, we will use SMART objectives in the following manner:

Standards-based – use the wording of the TEK

Makes a connection – find a way to connect to everyday situation

Attainable - do students feel they can learn the concept?

Results oriented – how will students know they have learned the concept?

Tell – Students are able to tell what they are learning

The objective does not have to change every day as you write it on the board or keep it in a prominent place. Keep in mind that by posting the learning objective in this manner and using with the students before, during, and after the lesson then the students will know the what, how, and why of the learning. Besides, using the standard will support the students learn the vocabulary they are expected to know and master by the end of the lesson.

West-Orange Cove CSD 6th Grade Science –3rd Six Weeks 2012 - 2013

Some Examples of Formative Assessments in Science

(Source: Science Formative Assessments by Page Keeley)

Concept Cartoons(p.71)

-cartoon of people sharing their ideas on common, everyday phenomenon/concept-students choose the cartoon they agree with most and explain their reasoning-used to assess and address misconceptions, diagnostic-see: www.conceptcartoons.com for examples

Familiar Phenomenon Probe/Friendly Talk Probe(p.85 & 102)

-a dialogue between characters addressing a concept-students choose the character they agree with most and explain their reasoning-used to assess and address misconceptions, diagnostic

Interest Scale(p.115)

-students use sticky notes to indicate their interest in a subject on a low to high scale (e.g. a thermometer with the heading “How Hot is the Topic?”)-kinesthetic, student interest

I Used to Think…Now I Know(p.119)

-at the end of a lesson, students reflect and compare what they knew at the beginning of a lesson to what they know after a lesson-metacognition, assessment as learning

KWL (and its variations)(p.128)

KWL – what I know, what I wonder, what I learnedOWL – what I observed, what I wonder, what I learnedKWLH – KWL + H = how I learned it

Pass the Question(p.149)

-students begin to respond to a question; halfway through, they exchange responses and complete, modify, or change each other’s responses-can be done in pairs and then exchanged with another pair-cooperative learning

Popsicle Stick Questioning(p.158)

-names of students are written on a popsicle stick-pull popsicles sticks for name of student to call on (e.g. for questioning)

R.E.R.U.N.(p.172)

-reflection/exit card for a lab activity-recall (summarize), explain the purpose, results (describe their meaning), uncertainties (list/describe), new things you learned

Sticky Bars(p.178)

-to answer a multiple choice question, students write their responses on a sticky note, hand in to their teacher, teacher posts answers to show the variety of answers from all students-diagnostic, metacognition

Terminology Inventory Probe(p.180)

-give a list of terms to students-students use a checklist to indicate what they know of a term using a range from “I have never heard of the this” to “I clearly know what it means and can describe it” -students revisit the list at the end of learning-ask students to reveal their understanding by providing a description, drawing a picture, etc.

West-Orange Cove CSD 6th Grade Science –3rd Six Weeks 2012 - 2013

Synectics(p.186)

-“the fitting together of different and apparently irrelevant elements”-analogies/metaphorse.g. a physical change is like a milkshake because different ingredients are put together and combined to make something different but each ingredient can still be physically separated-teacher can assess student’s conceptual understanding of a concept-link to Marzano’s “identifying similarities and differences” instructional strategy

Traffic Light Cups(p.201)

-red, yellow, and green stackable party cups-used to signal whether a group does not need help from the teacher (green), needs some feedback or assistance (yellow), or does not know what to do next (red)-allows teacher to circulate and differentiate the process based on readiness

A&D Statements Students use A & D Statements to analyze a set of “fact or fiction” statements. In the first partof A & D Statements, students may choose to agree or disagree with a statement or identifywhether they need more information. In addition, they are asked to describe their thinkingabout why they agree, disagree, or are unsure. In the second part of the FACT, studentsdescribe what they can do to investigate the statement by testing their ideas, researching whatis already known, or using other means of inquiry.

Annotated Student Drawings “If a picture is worth a thousand words, perhaps drawing and visualizing can help sciencestudents enhance their learning potential” (National Science Teacher Association [NSTA],2006, p. 20. Annotated Student Drawings are student-made, labeled illustrations that visuallyrepresent and describe student’s thinking about a scientific concept.

Commit and Toss Commit and Toss is an anonymous technique used to get a quick read on the different ideasstudents have in the class. It provides a safe, fun, and engaging way for all students to maketheir ideas known to the teacher and the class without individual students being identified ashaving “wild” or incorrect ideas. Students are given a question. After completing the question,students crumple their paper up into a ball and, upon a signal from the teacher, toss the paper balls around the room until the teacher tells them to stop and pick up or hold on to one paper.Students take the paper they end up with the share the ideas and thinking that are describedon their “caught” paper, not their own ideas.

Concept Card Mapping Concept Card Mapping is a variation on the familiar strategy of concept mapping (Novak, 1998). Instead of constructing their own concept maps from scratch, students are given cards with the concepts written on them. They move the cards around and arrange them as a connected web of knowledge. They create linkages between the concept cards that describe the relationship between concepts. Moving the cards provides an opportunity for students to explore and think about different linkages.

Missed Conception A Missed Conception is a statement about an object or phenomenon that is based on a commonly held idea noted in the research on students’ ideas in science. Students are asked to analyze a statement, describe why some people may believe it is true, describe what one could do to help someone change his or her “missed conception” in favor of the scientific idea, and reflect on their own ideas in relation to the statement.

West-Orange Cove CSD 6th Grade Science –3rd Six Weeks 2012 - 2013

Two-Minute Paper The Two-Minute Paper is a quick and simple way to collect feedback from students about their learning at the end of an activity, field trip, lecture, video, or other type of learning experience.Students are given two minutes to respond to a predetermined prompt in writing.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CHYQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdpcdsb-cla.wikispaces.com%2Ffile%2Fview%2FSome%2BExamples%2Bof%2BFormative%2BAssessments%2Bin%2BScience.doc&ei=w5fmT6iMCIfm2QXOueHZCQ&usg=AFQjCNGgWKsjp9jPPrnqbALNk3Gc7vpP5Q&sig2=cY2Br5Y_HYLjmrQRQ5MBGw

West-Orange Cove CSD 6th Grade Science –3rd Six Weeks 2012 - 2013

Graffiti Writing

Graffiti Writing is a cooperative learning structure that facilities brainstorming and also doubles as a group energizer. Each cooperative group of 3 or 4 students is given a piece of chart paper and different colored markers. Group #1 might have black markers; group #2 green markers, etc. There needs to be a different color marker for each group so that the teacher can track each individual group’s contribution. If you have small enough classes you can give each student a different color marker and track individual performance, but this is not usually possible. Each group is given a different question, topic, issue, or statement to which they respond. All students can respond to the same topic but I find it more effective if three or more different topics are used. For a short time period (3-5 minutes), every group writes their “graffiti” (words, phrases, statements, pictures) on their particular topic. For example: Your students have just read the book Who Moved My Cheese; I would use a graffiti sheet for each character and have students describe these characters with words, phases, and pictures. All students in the group write on the same piece of chart paper at the same time. It is very important that, as the teacher you monitor total participation to get the most out of this activity. After about three to five minutes, the teacher stops the groups and asks each group to pass their graffiti sheets to the next group. The new group with the sheet reads what has already been written or drawn on the sheet and adds additional new information. Continue the process until each group’s original sheet has been returned to them. Once a group has their original sheet back, as a group, they read all of the contributing comments, discuss them, summarize them, and prepare a brief presentation to the class as outlined by the teacher. I often have the students categorize the comments in order to draw conclusions as part of their presentation phase. A specific outcome must be set by the teacher for the presentation part of this assignment in order for it to be effective.

Graffiti writing works very effectively as an anticipatory set, a closure activity or as an energizer during any lesson where the generation of ideas or the recall of facts is desired. Please encourage your students to draw during graffiti writing as this will motivate students who love to doodle and often are not super productive in your classroom. Also, for extremely large classes the same lesson can be going on twice in your classroom which will result in two groups presenting on the same topic at the end. This keeps both groups and the scope of the lesson appropriate in size and depth.

http://keystoteachingsuccess.blogspot.com/2009/07/graffiti-writing.html

West-Orange Cove CSD 6th Grade Science –3rd Six Weeks 2012 - 2013

Name _______________ Date _____________

Pulley Acrostic PoemAn acrostic poem is one where you choose a word or name and use each letter in the name as the beginning of a word or line that tells something about that person or topic.

Example: An acrostic poem using the word "Sun."

Sometimes when we go to the beach, I will get sun burn.

Usually if I put Sun block on my skin, I will not burn.

Noon is when I'm really prone to burning.

Write an Acrostic Poem using the word below.

 PULLEY

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