Mr. Jaques Math & Science Class

It's that time of year when we start taking our core experience field trips! This Spring, we have several exciting trips planned for our sixth graders. We will be visiting Toyota and taking a tour of their Princeton, IN plant on Friday, February 20. You can learn more about this trip by visiting this link: Toyota Plant Tours . In March, we will be hosting an Astronomy Night here at Delaware School. This will take place on Thursday night, March 19. The Evansville Astronomical Society will be bringing some high-powered telescopes to Delaware on this evening so we can get a close-up view of our solar system. We hope to be able to see Jupiter on this night among other stars and constellations. We will also be having some engaging, hands-on activities on this night as well. You can learn more about the Evansville Astronomical Society by visiting their home page . In May, we will be visiting Indiana University and the WonderLab Science Museum  in Bloomington, IN. We plan to visit I...

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 close-up view of some stars and planets! The  Evansville Astronomical Society  visited last March and the students loved it. We had activities in the cafeteria and then two giant telescopes out in the courtyard. Students were able to see...

Christmas break has come and gone and it is already 2015! It's hard to believe that the  school year is halfway over. As we begin this second semester, it is important that students continue working hard and come to school ready to learn. For students, this means coming prepared to class, completing classwork and homework and taking things home that they need to complete and return. For parents, this means making sure kids are getting at least 8 hours of sleep, eating breakfast either at home or at school, and asking students about their agenda, homework, notes to be signed, etc. I want to make sure that all of my students are well prepared for NJHS next year! Parents, please be on the lookout for ClassDojo flyers that will go home the first week back from break. All sixth grade teachers will be using this website to track student behavior. If you have internet access or a smartphone, you can follow along and track your student's progress and communicate directly with their t...

Students in my class will be participating in the Hour of Code this coming week.  As part of the celebration of Computer Science Education Week, the Hour of Code is a week devoted to introducing students to the basics of computer programming. This basic introduction into coding is designed to get students excited about computer science while helping develop skills such as problem solving, logic and creativity. We will be spending some time each day during science class learning the basics of coding using a number of different websites listed below. You can learn more about the Hour of Code campaign and what we will be doing by visiting the  Hour of Code website . Below are some of the websites and coding activities students will be doing in class this coming week. YouTube Intro Video YouTube Celebrity Video Start Here --->  Learn the Basics Apply What You've Learned ---> Coding Studio More options Holiday Lights Beats - Make music More Projects

Oh my, a snow day before Thanksgiving?!?! I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. We will  hope for the best and that this year does not end up anything like last year! We have too many fun things to do and learn; nobody has time for snow days! When we are in school, we will continue to work on computation with exponents and order of operations in math. We will soon be getting into algebra where students will be evaluating and writing algebraic expressions. In science, we are continuing to learn about forces and motion. Students have had the chance to do some hands-on learning with our science kits. We are using roller coasters to model and explain potential and kinetic energy. We will soon be discussing Galileo, Newton and the laws of motion and how they affect our lives on Earth. We have also started doing some social studies lessons during our enrichment period. Students are learning some map skills right now, including latitude, longitude and world geography (oceans, ...

I recently signed my students up for Class Dojo. This is a very engaging, hands-on, behavior management system that gives students immediate feedback on how they are doing in class. I have also sent letters home to parents that gives them an access code to sign in and link their account with their student's account. This allows parents to see the progress of their student at anytime in real-time. It also has a messaging feature in the app that allows you to communicate with me directly. My goal for Class Dojo is to highlight all of the positive behaviors that are happening in class and immediately reward those students that are doing the right thing. The hope is then, that other students will follow their lead and try to earn positive points. I'm always looking to hand out at least four positive points for each negative point. This next week, we will be discussing as a class what appropriate rewards might be for positive points. I want this to be something meaningful for the ...

We had a great trip to Wesselman Woods to cap off our unit on ecology. Students got a firsthand look at the predator/prey and consumer/producer relationship in nature. Students got to dissect owl pellets to gain an understanding of what owls consume. We also were able to go on a nature hike and learn about many plants and trees native to Indiana. The students had a great time on the trip and loved the hands on activity and the time spent outdoors away from the classroom!