Science Articles Anyone?

I joined this online mentorship program offered by UCSC earlier in the year, and one of the tasks they are asking me to complete this semester is an activity involving a science article (or articles). Since we've been working on habitats and their effects on civilizations and organisms, I was hoping to find an article that dealt with that topic on some level. Alas, I have been unable to do so thus far. I seem to remember some news about frogs dying out in massive numbers across Africa for some reason, and how it was an indicator of bad things to come since frogs are so sensitive to changes in their environment, but I haven't been able to find the article itself to give to my students. If anyone out there comes across a good article on this topic that my students might enjoy, please pass it along. Thanks -Mr. H

Current Events

Hello all, sorry I've been away so long. As many of you know I was fighting the death flu for a few weeks just before I got infected with pink eye. It's been an eventful February to say the least. We're in the middle of Critique Week here on the Hartooney team, which means many students have had the first opportunity to show off all of the hard work they've been doing on their Adaptations Projects. We've got less than two weeks left, but it looks like the classes as a whole are doing really well sticking to their schedules. Of course, we'll be looking for parent audience members to attend our presentations in the coming weeks as students prepare for Exhibition Night. In math class we've been focusing on fractions, and with so many students out sick (6 in one class today!) I'm hesitant to advance too quickly and leave those students most in need of support behind. So next week we'll be sticking to multiplication and division of mixed numbers before going into some algebraic operations the following week (when we'll hopefully have full classes back again). A few students are breezing right through this unit, and for them I've set up an individualized math curriculum utilizing HeyMath. If you or your child is interested in this option, just let me know. I still require all the students to participate in our daily warm-ups and take all assessments including quizzes and tests, but the students on individual plans get an extra day to do their work and are exempt from the homework assignments assigned in class. Hope everyone is watching lots of Olympics this weekend. -Mr. H

Daniela and Marina speak their minds

Well, so far the end of last semester and the beginning of this semester have been very exciting! We just finished out POL’s which were very nerve-racking. We think its hard to get up in front of 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th graders and present for ten minutes on what we have learned this past semester. We are so glad that it’s over =D. Then in Mr. Hartman’s class we made a geometry book or model that explained angles, area and perimeter or a circle, triangles, volume…and other geometrical things. We also had to choose a theme to our geometry book or model. Along the way, Mr. Hartman gave us lessons on the subjects so we could explain them in our own way. Then in Ms. Looney’s class we have been learning how to type better using Mavis Beacon Typing Tutor. We have also been learning about ancient civilizations to prepare ourselves for our next BIG project; Our next big project is the Adaptations project! YAY ~ Daniela Garcia and Marina Dalton

Hey Math Accounts

Dear all, a couple of weeks ago I sent out an announcement stating that we in the 6th grade would be purchasing accounts to Hey Math! for all of our students for the rest of the year at a cost of 600 dollars to the school. When I forwarded the student information to Hey Math! to set up the accounts, I was informed that they had just begun a "pilot" program that provided both home and school access to every student in a given grade level for a total cost of $1000 dollars. Noting the extraordinary value offered by this new program, I immediately signed up every student in the sixth grade as well as myself, Ms. Gavan, and Ms. Salmon (our school resource teacher). That being said, every student account is currently active and will remain so for the next six months. Usernames and Passwords are the same, and follow the same formula: Capital H, capital T, the first letter of a student's first name followed by their last name. For example, my username and password is: HTjhartman. Hope this serves as a helpful tool in the months to follow. Be sure to give me some feedback on how it works (or doesn't) for you and your student. We wouldn't want to put any more money into a system unless it is successful. Sincerely -Mr. H

Test 3 Preview

Good morning all! We've got a test coming up tomorrow covering all things geometry and to help prepare our students we've created a PowerPoint test preview containing questions with an eerie similarity to those found on the actual test itself. Rest assured that we will be covering the preview in class today, but it might be pertinent to review the test with your student tonight, just to make sure they're prepared. You can find it at the bottom of my Classes Page. Cheers -Mr. H

Plea for feedback

Greetings everyone! I know there's a lot going on right now with POL's starting next week, the Math Projects coming due and the Geometry Test on Friday as well, but I wanted to take some time to reflect on the changes in the math that I've made recently. I won't tell you it was an easy decision, especially when I looked at the students I had and realized that the organized, structured, and predictable setup I had going (and had spent much time organizing), was working fine for about 90% of the class. I also won't tell you I wasn't tempted to just note the changes I wanted to make and implement the new plan in the coming year. What got to me though, was the fact that when I thought about that 10% of the class whose needs weren't being met, and I thought that the new plan might be able to help them, I couldn't come up with a good reason to make them miss out. So that is why math has been so crazy as of late, the exact opposite of what I would like it to be (I'm German! I love organized and predictable!) and what I think the kids need (especially at a school like ours). I am writing today though to ask for your opinions on the changes, and on the class in general as it has gone so far. I'm not looking for an ego-boost (or a devastating critique either) but for something more along the lines of personalized feedback on what has worked and what hasn't, so that I can make changes in the second semester to improve the class rather than waiting until next year when it will be too late for all of your children. An excerpt from an e-mail I just sent explains more:

"Last year I had a couple of parents talk to me during the fourth quarter of school and just let me know what they saw as successes and failures with respect to the class (projects, homework, methods, etc.) It was incredibly insightful for me and I've based innumerable changes off of just what two people told me, so some more feedback would be much appreciated if you can find the time."

Thanks everyone, -Mr. H

Math Strategy Explained

Hello again everyone, I found myself this morning explaining my math strategy to a parent through e-mail, and it occurred to me that it might be a bit of information that you could all benefit from. Those of you who made it to orientation may recall my tale of how I was always very good at math in school because I was able to memorize procedures and formulas with ease. This strategy backfired for me later in life though, as I quickly discovered calculus and physics demanded a more thorough understanding of mathematic principles than I possessed. This experience is what drives my own approach to teaching math (explained below). As always, I'd appreciate any feedback you can find the time to give. -Mr. H

While we do review the formulas in class each day, I try to avoid making the students memorize more than they have to. With circles it was a necessity and we focused heavily on how to find the area and circumference of a circle. With volume I see less of a demand and have focused more on understanding the concepts. One reason is because I believe if a student can understand the concept clearly enough, it is much better than relying upon a formula they have memorized. Secondly, in geometry the formulas change quite often and it seems to confuse the students as much as it helps them. Does Volume equal Length x Width x Height, or Length x Width x Depth? Is the area for a triangle ½ Base x Height or ½ Width times Height? And what’s the difference between Base and Width, or Height and Depth? These are questions that can be resolved with a thorough understanding of the concepts, but not more memorization of formulas. Hope that makes sense for you, don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any further concerns. –Mr. H