Semester Retrospective(s)

As we finish First Semester, each class is doing a "retrospective" look at our learning since August.

• "retro" means back
• "spect" has to do with looking

So, we are "looking back" (in our memories, in our portfolios, in our notebooks/handbooks, at our Word Wall, at our displays) and thinking about all the learning we did.

Each class has a "Padlet" (https://padlet.com) where we can post our thinking. At the end of the semester, we will make our Padlets public so you can see too!

For now, though, they are private so we need the password to get in and add our thoughts. Students can click on their Padlet and enter the password to put their thoughts into it. 

We will use the Padlets to help us reflect on our First Semester as we get ready for our Student-Led Conferences.

Learning 4Life Success: Morning Class

Math- 7th Hour

Learning 4Life Success: Afternoon Class

What do you get when you add GEOMETRY plus ART?

Anamorphic art!

We are studying geometry in math, in all three sections of the Learning 4Life Success program. Today, we took a look at one very unique way artists use geometry. 

Watch the slide show we saw in our class.

(Click start > then the slide show will auto-advance every 5 sec.)

Why not try it yourself? 

Here are the links from the last few slides.

https://youtu.be/KnZQYXPJnXU

https://youtu.be/bocJP2rEEKg

https://youtu.be/h6pE1wOs1pA

https://youtu.be/xTexvb7WYGU

Or go to YouTube and search for:

anamorphic art

or

anamorphic drawing

(But be sure you spell it right!)

Have fun- and please send us some pics so we can post your works of art on this website.

"I think I lost my tetrahedron..."

Geometry has a lot of rules.

One of them should be "do not lose your tetrahedron."

What's a tetrahedron, you ask?

It is one of the many three dimensional shapes we are studying in our geometry unit. We need to know their names and be able to explain how they are alike and different from other similar shapes. 

In our opinion, the drawing of the tetrahedron in this chart is not accurate. The tetrahedron has all faces the same size. So, it would look like this instead:

The one above, on the chart, is probably more of a triangular pyramid, don't you think?

The shape you see above is a picture of a "net" of a tetrahedron. 

A net is when you take the 3 d shape and open it out into a 2 d shape. We are working on a project right now where we are taking nets of different polyhedrons and creating 3 d shapes. 

Would you like to try our most recent Quizlet activity? Quizlet is a free, online program you can use to study almost anything! This one, Sister Patrice made. We will be making our own during second semester. 

Give it a try! LINK  

The two activities called "Gravity" and "Match" are games and they are the hardest! "Quizlet Live" is a class game we play together.

What are all those RODENTS doing in our classroom?

At the doorway... on the whiteboard ledge... 

On our work tables!

Even on our laps!

 Hey! Waaaaait a minute!!!

Those cavies are not real!

Wall posters: "SIP" and "CAVIES"

They're part of our reading strategies unit, "Reading Strategies for Work and College." This "mini-course" is designed for high school students who want to add new "tools" to their "toolbox" for understanding the challenging texts they will need to read on the job or in a college class.

The orange poster summarizes what good readers do BEFORE they begin reading. They "take a SIP" by Skimming, Identifying vocabulary, and Predicting or asking questions.

Then, they grab a pencil or pen and read. But, it's not just putting the words before our eyeballs.

That's where the acronym "CAVIES" come in. 

(Cavies are actually a family of rodents that include the familiar Guinea pig. What better way to have a memorable acronym than to have an cavy infestation?)

An acronym is a word that is also an abbreviation... like "FBI" or "NBA." Our acronym, CAVIES helps us to remember the six reading strategies to use while we work through the text.

C= Connections (What do I connect with here? What do I already know about?)

A= Ask questions (I wonder...? I'm curious about... What about  this?)

V= Visualize (make a movie in your mind)

I= Infer (make predictions as you go)

E= Evaluate (Is this true? Is this valuable information? And, of course, "Is this gonna be on the test?")

S= Summarize and Synthesize (Put it in your own words).

So far, we've practiced with C, A and V, as well as SIP, on three different non-fiction articles. It is amazing how much more we can remember from what we read when we bring the CAVIES into the act.

And then, there's this:

Of all the cavies in our classroom, Sister Patrice says the one above offers us some important wisdom as young adults. He was on our class's agenda on Friday. Can you see what he is saying?

Hour of Code

Do you like "Flappy Birds?" It is a computer game that many people have on their phone.

This week, our classroom is hosting "Hour of Code" activities. We are joining over 350 million people around the world in learning a bit about writing computer code.

Hour of Code is all over! We are on this map!

What is computer code?

It is a computer program written in a computer language. Today, building our own version of "Flappy Birds," we used a computer language called "Scratch." 

Other Hour of Code activities use languages like Python, C++, or even Java! 

You can do Hour of Code even if you never wrote computer code before. The activities teach you by doing them. You can come to our classroom this week at 9:00-9:20 (First Hour). Or you can do them on your own on a computer or Chromebook.

Give it a try. It is fun! https://hourofcode.com/us/learn

Choice Days

Monday and Tuesday before our Fall Break were "Choice Days." The goal was to "take the lead with learning."

Morning and afternoon students could pick a "passion project" or a topic of interest and dive in!

So, we had a really excellent time learning about our "passion." 

Lannie wants to get into the music production business. For "Choice Days" she explored a powerful online mixer called "Audiotool." It has special effects, synths, drums, and a lot of other features. Some were hard to figure out, but it was really fun. She started to create beats that she can use in her Exit Presentation at the end of her year.

Sheldon plans to graduate in January. So, he used the time to work on his Exit Presentation slides. 

Students in Learning 4Life Success earn only a C if they do the same level of work on their Exit Presentation as everyone else. But, most of us want to get an A! So we do extra. We add more photos. We select background music. We practice our introductions so we can say them smoothly. We practice "Stand and deliver" all year long so we know how to do an oral presentation just like we will need to do in college or the workplace. 

Sheldon worked really hard finding music and photos to upgrade his basic presentation. It will be excellent!

Tre is preparing for college. He will be studying to become a paleontologist. So, he spent his Choice Days digging deeper into what it will take to follow the path to his dream job! He is creating a spreadsheet comparing all the colleges he is looking at. He is also exploring several college paleontology websites and is deciding what reading he needs to do before college starts next fall. Tre's passion has been strong for years. Now, it is finally time to start to make his dream come true!

Itancan started writing a book during his Choice Days. The title is "A Mysterious Portal." He began to develop the setting and characters for a fiction novella he is writing. (A novella is like a short novel.) He is using his creative thinking and writing skills to make his draft. 

At the end of each day's learning, everyone had to do a "Stand and Deliver" oral presentation to tell the class what they'd done. On Tuesday, we also showed our work to our classmates and teacher. We had to explain what we'd created. Sister Patrice made a video of some of us so we could see how much better we are with Stand and Deliver. 

One really funny thing that happened was that Sister Patrice didn't know how to use the iPad video so she accidently made the videos be in fast motion! We all had a chance to laugh at that! In fast-motion, our presentations are very, very short!

Doing oral presentations can be kind of scary. But we are getting better with practice. We liked being able to tell about our passion project from Choice Days! Maybe we can do this again!

Pizza- a great way to end a great week!

This week was very busy. In addition to turtle visits, circumference and area of a circle formulas, independent clauses joined by coordinating conjunctions, a visit to the University of Minnesota-Morris, and mastering decimals and percents, this week included not one but TWO pizza events!

Thursday the afternoon class dined on two delicious pizzas, compliments of Itancan, who had saved enough (in our "Earn and Learn" check book project) to host a feed for his classmates. Pizza tops geometry ANY day!

Tre did the same for the morning class on Friday, temporarily bumping long division of decimals and word problems using percents and fractions to make way for pepperoni and sausage.

Not wanting to ignore math entirely, we ate 6/8 of the pizza, which is 75% of it.

Good work earning and learning! So glad we could share!

Congratulations!

Wiyohiyanpa earned both A Honor Roll AND Perfect Attendance
awards. That's impressive!

We are more than halfway through first semester. This week we honored those who earned Attendance Awards, B honor roll and A honor roll. Here are a few of the students in Learning 4Life Success who were honored! Congratulations!

Yay, Lannie!! Way to go!

Anna Visits Our Class

Meet Anna. She is a Painted Turtle. That beautiful coloring is natural, not really painted.

This week, Anna had a chance to go to school. How many Painted Turtles do you know that attend high school?

Anna is still a young turtle. She could grow to be as big as a laptop! Lannie got Anna as a gift from her mom. Anna isn't the only turtle Lannie has had for a pet. So, Lannie knows a lot about Painted Turtles.

Anna does not mind being held. But she really likes walking around. She explored the floor of the classroom and also walked easily across the desks. When Lannie gently placed Anna on her back (on her shell), Anna wiggled and stretched and finally flipped herself over using her neck and her feet! It took a lot of work, but she did it.

A turtle's shell is actually part of its skeleton. We could feel the "spine" bumps on Anna's shell.  When Lannie held her, Anna stretched her neck out and looked around.

I wonder what a high school classroom looks like to a Painted Turtle, don't you?

Skills to Pay the Bills

"What's this added charge on my utility bill?"

Nyton completes a deposit ticket for his pay and bonus checks.

That's not a normal question from a sophomore. But, in all three math groups in Learning 4Life Success, bill paying, earning wages, earning bonuses, and keeping an accurate checkbook register has become normal.

It's all part of our "Earn and Learn" project, a simulation that helps young adults develop skills they'll need in the working or college world. Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors are becoming familiar with deposit tickets, bills, and balances. 

"Rent" of our chair and work space goes to Sister Patrice, our "landlord."

There's plenty of opportunity to find solutions to real-life financial challenges:
> What do I do if I can't make rent?
> If I stay on task, hey, I can get a wage bonus!
> Should I save some of my hard-earned income for something in the future, or should I spend it now?
> I forgot my pencil. Should I rent one for $10 per period, or is it smarter to buy one for $20?

Learning to keep a check register is an important life skill.

Rent. Utilities. Wage earning. Savings versus spending. Lease or buy?

These are adult questions. It's been exciting to be able to learn about them in our simulation!

In fact, as students talked about this simulation to their parents at our recent student-parent conferences, several parents said, "I wish I had someone to teach me this in high school!" and "Maybe I should sign up to be in your class!"

Recycling during Math Class

Way back in 2015, Sister Patrice helped the students in Karen's PEACE class make a really cool dragon game we called "Dragons' Quest" after the class finished reading the novel Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey. 

Artwork and Design by Students in 2015

Players start with dragon eggs (which the students made) and using dice and game cards, move across a carefully constructed game board featuring:
> Magic Stones (allow you to pass on a hard question)
> woods and mountains (both risky to travel through)
> a bridge where your dragon egg "hatches" into a dragon (small and plastic- don't worry!)
And more!

Today, we resurrected the game and used math review cards for a fun activity reviewing area, perimeter, and volume. Our eggs traveled from the "Hatchling Nest" as we computed perimeters, solved word problems using area or volume or perimeter, recalled formulas, and practiced multiplication facts along the way!

No winner yet... the game continues tomorrow!

Some questions were tricky! 

On one, we had to decompose a shape to figure out the total area! On another, Sheldon had to determine how many cubic feet of water would fill a swimming pool. And, on another, Lannie had to find both the area of the roof (a triangle... so... A= 1/2 (base times height)) and of the wall (so, a rectangle, A= L X W).

Andrew's skill in multiplying by 11 was apparent. Itancan was usually the first one to compute the area or volume in his head. And, Kenzie completely lucked out- one time she drew a question card that Sister Patrice had forgotten to write a word problem on! So, it was a free card!

Beware of danger as you try to get your dragon
safely home!

We are only about halfway to the dragon's lair, so we carefully marked our place with a sticky note. Tomorrow, we'll see which dragon makes it home first!

This was fun!

And we are sorry you didn't win this time, Jen!

The Jeopardy game was REALLY close! We used words we learned from throughout first quarter. Most of them were about careers, money management, or being hired. The harder words were worth 500 points. Itancan was our score keeper. Sister Patrice was the "MC" of the game. Here is the final score:

Students= 2,300
Jen = 2,200

It was close!!! And it was really fun.
Here are the competitors:

Stay tuned for our next competition! We decided to make it "Team against Team."

Competitive Spirit!

A peek at the words we will be using.

Learning 4Life Success

Afternoon Class

VS.

Dr. Jen Heath

Special Education Director

Friday, 10/27/17  2:30 pm

Jeopardy Contest #1!

Well behaved and mature

guests are welcome to watch

First Quarter Retrospective

by Brandon R. and Curtis B.
October 20, 2017 
Learning 4Life Success Summary Composition

This is a list made by Brandon and Curtis. It lists almost all the topics covered in
Learning 4Life Success, First Quarter, Morning Class

For the morning class for Learning 4Life Success (L4LS), the first quarter was interesting because we experienced many new subjects. Many of those subjects involved reading comprehension, math skills, and what it takes for employment and money management. In our opinion we feel that money management and math skills will likely be very important in our lives because these topics will be used in our daily lives.

Curtis’s favorite topic in L4LS was mathematical patterns, and that patterns are in everything and in nature. For example, he noticed Fibonacci’s sequence or pattern in a pine cone that his little sister gave him later on that day. Brandon’s favorite topic in Learning 4Life Success was fractions because he now has a better grasp on how to set up and solve for fractions, improper fractions, and mixed numbers.

All students in Learning 4Life Success also take other important courses. In Brandon’s other courses he is aiming for an honors diploma. He took 12 courses for his first quarter. Although very stressful, he still enjoyed Government and Environmental Science. Completing assignments for Government was quite straightforward because he has a background on the course. Overall, his favorite course was Government because he understood how to complete his assignments.

Curtis is planning on going to a 4 year college after high school. For him the first quarter was the starting point and now he knows what should be done. He is considering taking a Algebra 2 and switching over to English 12. He will also be getting art started a little earlier. Curtis feels confident that he can get his Algebra and his English done. For Curtis, his favorite course so far is Biology. He likes it because he can work at his own pace and still get a lot done in a good amount of time.   

Sometimes it helps to think how one could do things differently. For Brandon, he would have done his learning in a different fashion. He would have gotten more rest. Staying up all night studying does not actually result in more learning. Lack of sleep really held him back. In the future, he will try his best to get more rest.

On the other hand, Curtis would try and to find out more about his classes so that he doesn’t shake up everyone. He would’ve talked a little more to the counselor. He could’ve found a better plan for schooling this first quarter. The other thing he would like to have changed is not to be so excited when he started out as senior that he didn’t want to work as hard. But now it has worn off for him and he now sees that he always has to work hard.

Looking ahead, then, both Brandon and Curtis agree: don’t get “Senioritis!” Instead, come to school every day. Get your stuff done every day. Don’t goof off. Hard work pays off. Remember that it is all worth it in the end.

Editor’s Note: Both Curtis and Brandon are on schedule to be 2018 graduates from Tiospa Zina Tribal School. They are completing their time in Learning 4Life Success and will earn the balance of their credits in the months ahead. What’s after high school? Both young men plan college.

Fractions and more fractions!

by Maggie Y.

This week in math we learned fractions. In our class of Learning 4 Life Success, Sister Patrice has taught us four students fractions. In one week we learned math problem solving, mixed numbers, improper fractions, adding fractions with same denominators, subtracting, equivalent fractions, reducing fractions, bars, arrays and part-over-whole.

We have learned three new strategies: draw, estimate, and patterns. One of these strategies called the draw strategy was really good for us to solve a problem.  It has given us a way to figure out fractions by dividing the candy bar into the same number of pieces as the denominator. Then, color in the parts of the bar as the numerator. Another of the strategies we used was to use a multiplication table to look up equivalent fractions.

We have done some math fractions with number lines. We have drawn same parts of the denominator. Then we put it on a number line. Numbers lines is a way to visualize learning by writing down fractions on a number line. It makes it easy to tell which number will be greater or lesser.

Throughout this week our class has tried out a new program called Map Skills. Map Skills is on the computer and is designed for  K-12 graders but our class is specifically testing out fraction problems. Tim Schuh is the Math coach at Tiospa Zina Tribal School. He has asked our class to test this program out. In my own opinion, this program is helpful for those in need of math struggles. It has been designed to teach you the things you need to learn.

Learning 4Life Success class is preparing us for adult life, college, life beyond high school and having the potential to follow our aspirations. Handbook 4 Adult Life is a book we use everyday throughout our life and even during college. It’s given us glossary, log ins, math hacks, google apps and plenty more that is useful for us.

To sum it up, personally I feel we all have a potential to do things we thought we couldn't do. Taking this class is something I want others to do.

Earn and Learn

How will I cover the rent?

Do I need to set aside something so the lights stay on?

What happens if a check "bounces?" How can I prevent that?

Why am I getting a "penalty" for this overdue bill?

Should I get a credit card or is it better to use a debit card?

These are some of the "money questions" we're going to be taking on during this next quarter of the school year! All of the students in Learning 4Life Success will participate in a classroom simulation called "Earn and Learn."

What is a simulation?

It is a way to learn something that is complex by practicing skills in a safe way. Fighter pilots use a simulation to learn to fly safely. We're using a simulation to learn how to manage money safely. This simulation will teach us a lot of life skills. 

Part of the simulation is earning income. We will get a wage, and we can earn bonus income for excellent work. We might even get a promotion or a raise. We can also do extra work for extra income, just like in adult life. Hard work pays off. We will deposit our income into our checking account.

Another part of this simulation is expenses. We will have to pay rent, utilities, and even taxes. We will pay income taxes every month. We will also need to spend our hard-earned money on other expenses. For example, if we are late for class or we don't "tap in", we have to pay a late fee. If we forget our pencil, we can rent one. If we bring unauthorized food into the classroom, we have to pay a Food Penalty. We will pay for our expenses by writing checks.

Expenses can be for fun things, too. After we take care of the bills, we will be able to "purchase" some really fun privileges. For example, we can rent the teacher's chair for a period. Or ,we can purchase the privilege of listening to our personal music during independent work. We can even purchase a pizza party or a treat for the entire class. These give us incentive to work hard and earn enough income so we can have enough for fun even after we pay our bills. 

We can also make investments. Investments are big expenses but they "pay off" in the future. Some of our investments will be "tuition" and some will be special events that help us in the long term. We can purchase some more expensive things with a "loan" and pay it back in installments with interest.

You can download the handbook we got today. It tells the details. It lists all the skills we are going to learn. It tells the things we will need to pay for and the things we can purchase with our income if we want to.

So far, we had to send in a job application (so we can get a paycheck on payday) and also apply for a checking account on an application form. Tomorrow, we have to put in an application so we can rent our workspace.

In our opinion, this is a little bit complicated. But, it is a simulation. A simulation lets us figure it out without a lot of real problems. It sounds like it will be complicated when we are adults anyway. 

We think it will probably be fun to learn this way instead of just from a book or with worksheets. We'll learn a lot and have some fun at the same time! What do you think?

TZ Students Join International Event

We took over the Art Room for a month
to work on these projects.

On Friday, we joined over 75,000 people in more than 80 countries around the world to host a "Global Cardboard Challenge" event! It was really fun!

Game Designers worked together to plan
and then create a working arcade game.

For the past month, Sister Patrice's classes have been spending a bit of our math time working in teams of two or three to make a cardboard creation.

Sigh.. if only we had another week for this!

Janel, Jaden and Elijah worked hard to create a foosball table. The design was pretty advanced! Everyone was sad because it did not get finished in time for the event.

Engineers have to test and rebuild as they go.
So did we. This design got better and better!

 The Game Designers had to make a plan, draw a sketch, and then they had to use cardboard, tape, recycled materials, and paint to build a working arcade game. It was harder than we thought it would be.

Our teacher Lori Borgen had several student Game Designers from her classes, too! They made some really amazing games such as "Plinko" and basketball and a maze, too. 

Some clever engineering
made the Speed Ball stand
up straight!

In our opinion, we were pretty creative. There was a lot of variety. Sometimes we had to solve engineering problems. For example, we had to find a way to make the Speed Ball back stay up!

Sometimes we had to solve workforce problems. For example, sometimes we had to figure out how to get along better on our team. Although it took a lot of patience, team work, problem solving, and creativity, we did it. The Homemade Arcade came out great!

Today was our event. It is happening all over the world, not just at Tiospa Zina. 

We set up the arcade games in the hallway by the Attendance Office so that the rest of our school tiospaye could try them out. 

Some of the Game Designers

The high school students really liked the games. After their lunch period, they came over to try them.

Another top-notch Game Design team!

They were good at the games but only three people got a "Ball in Cup" win. That one was a real challenge!

The sixth graders convinced their teacher to let them come down as a class to try out the games, too. Sharla came with them. They had fun and did very well. 

This one was an excellent challenge!

Some of the adults from the Administrative Offices came out to look at the games. They tried the games. They really liked the "Duck Hunt" game and thought it was very clever! Of course, they also thought it was very hard! It's a good thing no one has to make duck soup, because it was hard to hunt those ducks!

Basketball scores points based on where the ball goes.

We had two cool basketball games, too! On one, you had to make a shot from far away. You had to have really good aim. On the other one, you had to get a basket and then also get your ball into one of the point cups. It took a lot of tries, but several people succeeded.

Speed Ball was very popular

There was also a game called Speed Ball. The team that made this one did an excellent job making some of the holes easy and some very challenging. This caused people to want to keep on playing, because they would say, "Wait...just one more try!"

High School students demonstrate Plinko.
To win at the Plinko Game, you needed
both skill and good luck! It was excellent!

The Middle School students also tried the games. There was one game ("Plinko") where you had to drop a disk and it bounced off tubes. You tried to get it onto a cup on the bottom. You could score different points for different cups. They played that one a lot.

This maze was made with popsicle sticks.
It was very colorful.

This maze had holes. You have to keep
the little ball out of the holes
as you go through the maze. 

We also had two really good mazes to try. One used popsicle sticks and the other used drinking straws. You had to be a little bit patient to win on these!

It was fun to try all the games. It was also fun to watch other people enjoying the games we made. We felt good about it. 

This was one of the hardest games!
Only three people got
the ball in the cup by rolling it up the slope.
Everyone else had to do it by tossing it

We also felt happy because Darell asked us if we would let him reuse the games for the Halloween Wacipi event. 

We said yes because we wanted to help him and because we worked a long time to make them so we are glad they will get used again. If you come to the Wacipi (October 27 at school) you can try the games, too!