Math Jeopardy Scores

1st place: Columbia (2875 points)

2nd place: UCLA (1775 points)

3rd place: UF (875 points)

4th place: Berkeley (75 points)

Shout Outs for Monday, 12-15

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SHOUT OUTS

• Jose, for expressing some heartfelt opinions in his first full-page writer's notebook entry!
• Jaslinet and Tyshay, for displaying the best mathematical thinking and problem solving I've seen this year as they figured out a difficult magic square -- without even a tiny hint or word of help from Ms. Sharber!

NEWS

• First: Cesar and Jaslinet earned a surprise pizza lunch today for being on time every day this week.
• Second: I only had TWO KIDS OUT OF TWELVE on time every day this week? Come ON, dudes! Class starts at 8:15. Get here. End of story.

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SHOUT OUTS

• Jaslinet, for mastering a math standard in extended day -- which brought her class average up 9 points!
• Lucas, for cleaning up his act and having a truly fantastic Thursday. Welcome back. =)

NEWS

• Only 6 school days left to make your winter break benchmark in reading... READ, BABY, READ!!!

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SHOUT OUTS

• Tanisha, for getting back to her old self, getting to class, and doing some AMAZING academic work (including putting together a survey for her writer's notebook entry today!)
• Brandon, for completing a 1-page writer's notebook entry before even leaving school!

NEWS

• This week, we're tracking our homework completion for our competition against Class 602. Go to this blog to see how we're measuring up every single day!

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SHOUT OUTS

• Joncarlos, Lucas, Jose, and Adrian for showing the whole class what real respect looks like by SLANTING and following directions perfectly all day
• Cesar and Jaslinet, for offering to hang out with Ms. Sharber during lunch (you really cheered me up!)

NEWS

• IT'S COLLEGE VISIT WEEK AAAAGGGHHHHHH

Click here to learn more about Columbia before we visit...

• Bring back your Columbia field trip permission slip on Tuesday!

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SHOUT OUTS

• Jose, for showing up EARLY and working diligently for the entire day!
• John, for really turning around what could have been a very bad morning during 4th period math

NEWS

• Congratulations to CORNELL for winning a class period of computer time for having the most team points last marking period: 88!

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SHOUT OUTS

• Brandon. I mean, could you possibly blow me away even more? What an awesome work ethic today.
• Joncarlos, for figuring out the Jumble and winning seat cushions for his team this morning!

NEWS

• Tomorrow, we will choose new college teams since we have a new seating arrangement. Say goodbye to Northwestern, Cornell, MIT, and Harvard!

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SHOUT OUTS

• John and Alton, for some fantastic teamwork in reading. Great exploration of pictures in non-fiction texts!
• Jaslinet, for taking charge of several rounds of Around the World! We always knew you could do it...

NEWS

• Saturday Academy starts tomorrow morning: Breakfast at 8:30, class at 9am sharp.
• Next week is a three day week in honor of Thanksgiving.

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SHOUT OUTS

• Class 605, for totally rocking TWO tough standardized test today. Way to maintain your focus in the face of a big challenge!
• Adrian, for working hard every single second of the day, from 8:15 to 3:25

NEWS

• Our field trip to Columbia University will be December 3. We will be leaving MS 219 around 7:20am and returning around 5pm, so start planning now for the weird hours.
• Today in music class, we discovered some real talent in the percussion department. Let's see how much we grow as we get ready to perform onstage...

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SHOUT OUTS

• Adrian, for answering a question loud and proud during Social Skill Monday!
• Tyshay, for coming up with a great new idea when she couldn't follow the directions on her post-it note during our "reading" activity
• Everyone in 605 for PERFECT uniforms today!

NEWS

• Parent-teacher conferences are tomorrow, so you're dismissed after 4th period. Lots of extra time for homework!
• We're getting BOOKS for our empty library baskets - YAAAAAAAY! Keep your eyes peeled in the next couple of weeks for some shiny new covers...

Exciting work from Mr. Matsuda

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Many of you have been asking to see more work from Mr. Matsuda, who visited our classroom in October.

Click here to see his Web site, where you can find the robot movie, music video, and commercials we watched in class.


Click here to see some of his artwork, music, photography... and the elusive ZOMBIE MOVIE (when you get to the site, click on the picture that looks like the one above).

Daily Notes for Monday, November 10

SHOUT OUTS

• Jaslinet, Joncarlos, and Cesar for turning in fabulous Literary Letters today!
• Marc, for being our newest student to grow a reading level!

NEWS

• Today we found out that we'll be part of a weekly music program that will prepare us to perform an instrumental piece for the holidays. Yippee!
• Our homework completion was at approximately 20% today. NOT GOOD ENOUGH, PEOPLE.

Daily Notes for Thursday, Sept. 4

Shout-Outs

• Lucas, for staying after class to add some extra art to Ms. Almazan's card
• Alton, for working extra-hard on building his dictionary skills
• Jaslinet, for modeling how to SLANT in front of the class with no warning from Ms. Sharber!

Homework

• ELA: Think of a class mascot. Write two reasons why this mascot would represent 605 well. Draw if you like!
• Math: Complete one side of multiplication sheet -- your choice!
• SS: Finish definitions if you haven't already.
• Other: Bring all supplies to class tomorrow!

Your moment in the spotlight is here!

Who: 605 and 606
What: End-of-the-year awards celebration!

When: Wednesday during class

Where: Ms. Sharber's room

Why: Because you're awesome and I love you.

Bring your brilliant selves to class ready to clap for your teammates.

And bring a pencil.

Seriously.

All I want this year is ONE DAY in which everyone has a pencil.

Daily Notes

SHOUT OUTS for Monday, June 23

• Theodore, for being so enthusiastic about writing a letter to Kay Miller
• Isaac, for working like a true scholar on his letter to Kaitlin Ainsworth
• Ms. Bolds, for showing such a great attitude on a day when she felt sick

NEWS

• The last week of school is SUPER IMPORTANT, and we are learning until 11:30 on Thursday. GET OUT OF BED AND COME TO CLASS!!!
• Our 605/606 baseball game is Thursday.

CONGRATULATIONS to today's winners:

• Ultimate Science Challenge 2008: Theodore, Vincent, Ousman
• Ultimate Math Challenge 2008: Bryson, Hakeem, Manny

Daily Notes

SHOUT OUTS for Friday, June 20

• Ashford, for having a great positive attitude all day
• Vernessa and Isaac, for being totally respectful citizens on the field trip

NEWS

• Math and science final exams are MONDAY! Come prepared.
  

Daily Notes

SHOUT OUTS for Wednesday, June 18

• Isaac, for being totally respectful all day long in 605
• Anthony, for resisting the urge to argue back about the cool feedback for his presentation and instead saying a simple "thank you"
• Devonte, for paying close attention to other groups' presentations and asking excellent, targeted questions

MATH

• Both 605 and 606 have FINISHED their Fantasy Baseball League tasks and presentations!  Binders will be due next week, so begin catching up on any work you've missed.
• Our math final exam will be Friday or Monday, depending on the school schedule. 

SCIENCE

• Final exam is on Monday.
• Click on the link in the post below this one for videos that will help you review.

NEWS

• Tomorrow, Thursday, is our drum performance and 6th grade award ceremony!  Invite your parents from 9:15 till 10:30.
• Bring money to the ceremony to support the 8th graders' jewelry and clothing business.  Items range from $2-20.

Awesome science videos!

Click here.   =)

Want to know what college is like?

We've spent a lot of time this year talking about college and reading letters from people who went to college.  Recently, I found a way to show you what daily life in college is actually like, and I want to share it with you.

www.24atnu.com

The link above takes you to a Web site with 24 videos of different classes and activities at Northwestern University in Chicago.  The videos trace an entire day in the lives of different students, professors, and university staff.  You can watch each one to get ideas for what you will do once you get to college!

A special note: the link that says "BLAST" shows the dance group that Ms. Sharber was a part of during college.  I used to teach dance classes just like the ones in the video, and the man teaching dance in the video is a friend of mine who I used to dance with.

Enjoy!

Election Season: Get Involved!

Many of you said you were interested in learning more about the candidates in this year's presidential race, Barack Obama and John McCain.


Here are the links to each candidate's official Web site. Later this weekend, I will be emailing a scavenger hunt for these Web pages to everyone who signed up for a Gmail account today.

Barack Obama John McCain

Congratulations on setting up Gmail accounts!

The members of 605 and 606 who were in Ms. Sharber's class on Friday set up their own Gmail accounts so that they can add comments to this blog and keep in touch with each other.  During class, we experimented with sending emails to one another and setting up our contact lists.  

If you were absent on Friday or gone on a field trip, you will set up your Gmail account with Ms. Sharber next week.

If you get confused about how to sign in to your Gmail account, start here at www.gmail.com.

Have fun exploring!

Daily Notes

SHOUT OUTS for Thursday, June 12

• Theodore, Vincent, Ousman, Vernessa, and Ashford, for coming to school on a half day. You rock.
  
• Vincent, Ousman, and Ashford, for working hard to master another standard on their way to meeting their Big Goal of STRAIGHT 80s by the end of the year!

MATH

• 605 moves on to designing their Fantasy Baseball League jerseys next week.
• 606 will do their second round of group presentations on Monday.
• Our math final exam is next week (the day is yet to be determined).

SCIENCE

• Our science final exam is next Tuesday and will cover all units from the year.

NEWS

• Due to the hard work of Vincent, Ashford, and Ousman today, 605 math mastery moved from 47% to 49% !!!
  

Daily Notes

SHOUT OUTS for Tuesday, June 10

• Class 605 and 606, for leaving Ms. Sharber's room GORGEOUS when she returned from her absence! Woo-hoo!
• Vincent, Ousman, Joanna, Ashford, Isaac, Kevin, and Destiny, for coming to school in perfect uniform even though it's so hot inside
• Devonte, for working hard with Ms. Bolds on decimals during math
• Theodore, for finishing the work of 3 people even though his whole team was absent
  

MATH

• Tomorrow, Wednesday, we will do mastery conferences to update you on your progress toward your Big Goal of STRAIGHT 80s.

SCIENCE

• Our unit test on organisms will be on Friday, so come ready to review on Wednesday and Thursday!

NEWS

• Central Park field trip folks: we ARE going this Friday. Ms. Sharber will send out updated permission forms for those of you who have not turned one in.
• ANY student who reaches his or her Big Goal of STRAIGHT 80s in science will be going to the Bodies exhibit in Manhattan at the end of the year. WORK HARD!
• 12 DAYS left to master your Big Goal of STRAIGHT 80s!!!

Ready to become an expert on global warming?

For our final science unit of the year, we will be taking a close look at global warming. I will be posting videos on our blog to help you explore what global warming is, what is causing it, and what effects we may feel in the coming years. Enjoy this first video, and respond to the question at the end for extra credit.

Daily Notes

SHOUT OUTS for Wednesday, June 4

• Franklin, for offering some very insightful suggestions to his classmates after their presentations
• Emmanuel, for asking in-depth math questions to other teams
• The Coneheads, for sticking together as a team and completing all their batting averages

MATH

• Our next round of presentations for the Fantasy Baseball League will be recorded on video, so make sure your team is working hard to get ready!

SCIENCE

• To get ready for next week's lessons, please play these two games.
• Classifying animals
• Classifying fish

NEWS

• No school tomorrow, Thursday.
• 14 DAYS left to master your Big Goal of STRAIGHT 80s!!!
• Please give Ms. Sharber your email address using the form below.
  
  

Lynchings: Tough to talk about, but important to study

Today, many of you said you wanted to learn more about lynchings in the United States. A lynching is the illegal killing of a person by a mob (a large crowd of people). Often, the victim did nothing wrong. And often, the victim is a member of a racial or ethnic group that the large crowd dislikes.

We will be learning more about lynching in class during the next few weeks, but if you want to explore on your own, check out this Web site. Please ask your parents to look at this Web site with you to help you understand better.

Daily Notes

SHOUT OUTS for Tuesday, June 3

• Shane, for rocking his first Fantasy Baseball League assignment on his first day of class
• Hakeem and Bryson, for embodying the qualities of excellent teammates
• Joanna, Vincent, and Anthony, for working hard on multiplying decimals at 7:45
• Milton, for sweeping Around the World

MATH

• Practice 7 times tables for Around the World this week.

SCIENCE

• Today we had Life Skills instead of science: RESPECT AUTHORITY!!!

NEWS

• Don't forget (like there's any chance of that): No school on Thursday!
• 15 DAYS of school left to master your Big Goal of STRAIGHT 80s!!!
  

Ms. Sharber did something stupid.

While I was helping another teacher delete an old blog, I accidentally deleted our own. Silly me.

I'm sorry, 605 and 606, that we are now missing the welcome message and all the shout-outs from last week. Before the end of the weekend, I will have all the math and science Web sites posted again, as well as new shout-outs and news from Friday.

Have a fantastic weekend, and check back soon!