Mr. Jaques Math & Science Class

Wow, what a winter - ice, snow, frigid temps and a LOT of snow days! Now that this is all behind us, we can look ahead to spring and warmer temperatures. We will also be moving onto a new unit in science and be preparing for the multiple choice part of ISTEP beginning in late April. In addition, we have some very exciting core experience field trips coming up. We will be going to visit Indiana University in Bloomington and the WonderLab Museum of Science  in early May. In mid-May we will be visiting North Junior High School and students will be meeting their new homeroom teachers for next year as well as taking a tour of the school. Later in May, we will be canoeing on Pigeon Creek as part of the Canoe Evansville program with the Wesselman Nature Society.  In math, we will continue our geometry unit, finding the surface area and volume of prisms and cylinders. We will then move onto similar shapes, translations and reflections and then unit conversions before ISTEP i...

I am excited to announce that we have scheduled an Astronomy Night at Delaware School for Tuesday, March 18 beginning at 6:30 PM.  We are finishing up our science unit on the solar system and thought it would be great if we could give our students a core experience that would tie in directly with what we have been studying here at school. Representatives from the Evansville Astronomical Society will be here with some telescopes for the students to use to view the moon, stars and hopefully the planet Jupiter! We also plan on having a few fun activities to do as well.  We hope to have a great turnout, nice weather and a clear night to view the stars! We hope you will join us!

Are you tired of snow yet? I sure am. It has really put a wrinkle into plans here at school. The biggest concern is that two very important tests are coming up and we've lost a lot of instructional time this winter due to all of the snow days. Acuity "C" will be given next week for both math and ELA. This is an important predictive test to see where students stand and how prepared they are for ISTEP. Speaking of ISTEP, the applied skills section of the test is less than a month away! This portion of the ISTEP test will begin on Monday, March 3. We have a lot of work to do in math before this time, including a unit coming up on geometry. We are nearing the end of our algebra unit which I know will be a relief to many students. Algebra for students at this age can be a challenging concept. I hope the change in gears over to geometry will be a welcome sight for many students. Parents and caregivers, please make sure your child is getting plenty of sleep, getting proper n...

We have started a new unit in science: Earth & Space Science. Students will be learning all about the Earth, Sun, moon and the planets. Students are currently working on a web quest and Google presentation to learn more about our solar system and the relationships between the planets, sun and moon and the force that keeps them in a regular and predictable motion.  Once the weather breaks and we are able to get outside, we will be doing some hands-on activities and observing the sun and moon and what affect they have on the Earth. As a culminating activity to this unit, we hope to have a local astronomical group come in one evening in March and bring some telescopes to allow our students to get a closeup view of some stars and planets!

It's hard to believe that half of the school year is almost over. First semester is over and we're ready to start the third grading period already.  This is an extremely important part of the year as we are preparing for ISTEP comping up in just a few months. We will be continuing to learn new standards and concepts while reviewing previous concepts that gave students problems. A few of the new math concepts students will be learning in the coming weeks include: solving problems with multiple variables, writing and solving inequalities and a major unit on multiple geometry standards. As always, it's important to make sure children are getting plenty of sleep (8+ hours) and eating breakfast either at home or getting to school in time to eat in the cafeteria. Reviewing math facts at home, reviewing their agenda each night and ensuring homework is completed are a few ways you can do your part to ensure your child's success at school. If you ever have any questions or con...

It's hard to believe that Christmas is less than a month away! It's also hard to believe that  we are preparing for our second Acuity math test also. We've been spending a lot of time reviewing standards that will be tested on Acuity this next week. Each student also looked at their score from the first Acuity test back in September and set goals for improvement for this next test. I asked all students to set a realistic goal for improvement for this second Acuity test. I plan on rewarding all students that meet their goals and show improvement on this second test. We plan on taking the math section of the Acuity test on Tuesday, December 3rd. Please get plenty of sleep Monday night and eat a good breakfast Tuesday morning. I want every student to show what they know and rock Acuity!

In science, students will be learning about force and motion. Students will be learning about Newton and Galileo and why their discoveries about how objects move and react in the universe is so important to our everyday lives here on Earth. We will be conducting hands-on science experiments and focusing on note booking while conducting these experiments. Students will be forming a question and a prediction prior to starting the activity or experiment. Students will then record their observations during the experiment. Following the experiment, students will be forming a conclusion and then reflecting on what happened during the experiment.