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!

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If you spend at least 8 hours practicing for the test, you will get a higher score!

Click here for a list of free, online test preparation for:

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Fraction Week

by Treyton N.

In math class we learned about fractions. First we learned what fractions are. Some examples are ½  and ¾. They were a little difficult at first but the class got the hang of it. Next we learned how to add fractions. We learned problems like ⅗ plus ⅕. I thought they were easy but not everyone is like me so we spent some time on it then moved on. Then we learned about subtracting fractions with the same denominators. I thought it was more difficult than adding fractions. Here are some examples are ¾ - ¼ .

One of our strategies is using the candy bar technique. We split the candy bars based on how much the fraction was and we would subtract or add the candy bars. We would check the multiplication table to see if we got our answer right and ask our Fearless Leader for help.

Next was improper fractions. I thought they were way harder then the subtracting fractions, but I got the hang of it after a little bit. We also learned about the three strategies that helped us a lot The strategies are drawing them out, estimating and patterns.

Subtracting mixed numbers were really difficult and I'm still having trouble with them as I type this out, but I know I will learn it. We need to know three steps before we can master subtracting mixed numbers. These steps are finding the equivalent, renaming a mixed fraction to an improper fraction and renaming improper fraction to mixed fraction.