Tuesday, April 21, 2015

No Computers

We gave up the computer labs today for the practice ISTEP test.  Still, I feel like the lesson went pretty well, even if we didn't get to work with google drawings.  We'll get there.

Yesterday's video dealt with Mexico and Cambodia, among other things.  One of the questions on the google doc asked students to tell me which continent the countries were located on.  (The video showed them on a map, so I thought it wouldn't be too difficult.  Also, ...Mexico.  I mean, we know what continent Mexico is on, right?)

Turns out a lot of us don't.  I know what you're thinking: Mexico is not in your jurisdiction.  It's not a 7th grade standard.  Well, you're right.  But still.

Today, I gave students a pop quiz over the continents and oceans.  It was the same quiz they all had to pass at the beginning of the year.  It's interesting that almost everybody earned a perfect score, and almost everybody could place Mexico on the map, but so many students still named Mexico as being in South America when the map wasn't in front of them.

Well, hopefully we cleared that up.

I'm also trying to go over any of the smaller standards that I've missed.  Some standards are huge.  Religions?  Ancient civilizations?  Governments?  Economics?  Those take a lot of time.

Banking is pretty straight forward - at least for what 7th graders need to know.

Here's the 3 minute video we watched on that.  We discussed quite a bit as well.



We talked about allowances, and doing chores.  Keeping money in a jar, versus keeping it in a bank where it can collect interest...  the irony of having a savings account while also having a mortgage.  

Students may earn extra credit by reading and discussing this post with an adult.  Discuss money a little bit.  Talk about saving versus spending.  Talk about buying now and interest rates.  When you're done, students should write a couple sentences about their discussion.  The adult they discussed the blog with should sign the paper.  That will prove that they've been here.

Turn it in next time you see me.

No comments:

Post a Comment