Corbett School District» Ms. Robertson

Marbles in Ancient Civilizations by Jenny Robertson

Jenny Robertson — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:54:58 +0000

The last time that you heard form us, we were in the thick of the marshes in the Nile River, and just beginning to build our knowledge of the simple machines that built the great civilization. Now we are nearing the finish line of learning about a few other great civilizations, the Mayans, Incas, and Aztecs. (Heads up, you could learn all about them next Tuesday, March 20th, in Mrs. Robertson’s class room). So just because I know that a lot of your children probably haven’t kept you informed on the recent happenings at school, lets review what has gone on for the past tri-mester.
During December we finished up our Ancient Egypt unit, and had papers and speeches like CRAZY! The class had the opportunity to learn about the many branches of Ancient Egypt through some truly amazing speeches, and students got to show off their techie side with the addition of power points. Then we all got to relax during winter break, not knowing the next civilization looming ahead of us.
We came back from winter break refreshed, and not quite yet prepared to tackle yet another research unit. We dove headfirst in the Ancient Aztecs, Incas, and Mayans. I would tell you all about it, but I would hate to spoil the surprise waiting for you on Ancient Civilizations night, March 20th. We also set aside, or so we thought, our simple machines, to do a quick overview of some basic advertising tools and techniques. We realized how much that advertising impacts our lives by playing an advertising alphabet game where we recognized single letters from big name brands. We then put our new found advertising skills to work, participating in a school wide PSA campaign(public service announcements). Now that we had had the opportunity to practice our skills, we brought the simple machines back in, and began to create, Marblandia.
In Marblandia, each table group was responsible for creating a query or proposal for their land, a print advertisement, a radio advertisement, and a commercial. They also had to build a marble course. The course needed to include five of the six simple machines, wheel and axle, screw, wedge, inclined plane, lever, and pulley. We only had a total of about five hours to put together the courses, and a couple of the projects didn’t work about an hour before it started, but we got it done. Each group had a working marble track for at least a portion of the hour and a half of Marblandia. We were all very proud of how creative our class was in the creation of them. Our lands themes were: Circus Marblandia, Blizzard Mountain, RTMT Skate Park, Candyland, Simple Sports, Toy-a-Bithia, and Spalandya. All of the groups did loose our marbles at one point or another, but Marblandia ended up bonding us as a class, as well as giving some unsuspecting students a chance to shine.
But we are not done with the simple machines yet! On the agenda for the rest of the year is a unit on Newton’s Toybox. We will also be debating popular controversial subjects,such as . And lets not leave out the eighth grade speeches, something Mrs. Rob will most certainly not let the eighth graders forget. Also up is the anticipated yearly trip to Wild Horse. Then, June 1st, summer vacation begins! It has been an incredibly fast school year full of traveling through time into Ancient Civilizations, and learning how they built the wonder structures that still stand today. If the 2012-2013 school year is half as good as this one, we are all in for a treat!
-Jordan, 7th grader

Almost winter break by Jenny Robertson

Jenny Robertson — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 22:06:33 +0000

After building up our knowledge of ancient Mesopotamia, we are in the thick of ancient Egypt. Students are turning in wonderful projects and papers in order to show their learning gains.

We’re bulking up our knowledge of simple machines in order to participate in Marblandia after winter break. Look forward to a fun night of learning February 29th, 2012.

Week 6: Whew! Time flies when you’re having fun! by Jenny Robertson

Jenny Robertson — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 21:17:43 +0000

Week six already? We’ve been working so hard and having so much fun that we’ve barely noticed time tick away. We got back from a fun filled overnight trip to Madras where we got to learn about the Warm Springs Native Indian tribe. We heard authentic stories and told our own around an evening campfire. The teachers tried to wear us out by hiking Smith Rock, but we still managed to have a blast on the bus ride home.
We’re working our root words – greek and latin roots to help bulk our vocabulary – and doing a vocabulary unit.
We’ve taken our ancient civilization into the Fertile Crescent: a game in which we try to take over other teams and provinces. Ask me about which team I’m on and which task I am completing this week. Each student should be working on, at the bare minimum, four tasks during this unit.
We’ve even managed to take time out to have Multnomah County Library give us an in-depth presentation on internet safety, called “think before you click.”
Don’t miss out on parent/ teacher conferences TOMORROW, TUESDAY, October 4th and WEDNESDAY October 5th. If you’re not signed up to see Ms. Rob – email her right away: jroberts@corbett.k12.or.us

Week 3 by Jenny Robertson

Jenny Robertson — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:09:33 +0000

“First of all, we started making our globes out of blown up balloons and paper and snot like stuff. We also worked on our root words by getting working sheets and building them to make words. We listened to a story called ‘Bull Running’ and now we are making our own adventure stories. And we have been working on our mapping skills by labeling and color coding a map. Last, but certainly not least, we shared our ‘Man and Beast’ stories that we wrote. We are also writing letters to Mrs. Rob about our books we are reading during silent, sustained reading.” -CMS MS 7th grader

Week Two by Jenny Robertson

Jenny Robertson — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:11:37 +0000

“This week in Mrs. Robertson’s class we learned how to make a paper mache globe, which will help us map the world. Root words were a big topic in class this week. I didn’t know that -ia meant condition. We also worked on ‘Where I’m From’ poems. I didn’t know I was from a candy bar! We also began a storytelling unit where we listened to a story about a man and a jaguar. Then we wrote stories of a time in our lives when we learned a lesson. Pretty easy week.” CCS MS 7th grader

First Week of School! by Jenny Robertson

Jenny Robertson — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 23:59:46 +0000

“This week was our first week of school. During the week we played outdoor games on the football field with other classes for team building. We did a scavenger hunt where we went to each classroom and got a stamp on a piece of paper in order to get the lay of the land. While doing that you got to meet other teachers. Our class did a ‘What kind of a learner are you’ quiz, where we found out if we were a naturalistic, kinestetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, linguistic, musical, mathematical or spatial learner. This should help us with our studies this year. Every morning we worked on an ‘I Am’ poem and on the cover of our writing spirals we cut out pictures of magazines and glued them to the cover. The pictures that we cut out represented you and your ‘I Am’ poem. Our class also played a name game. We picked an adjective about us that started with the first letter in your name. Then you had to know everyone else’s too. During the week we had an A and B conversation. We practiced that so we could get to know others and enhance our listening skills. We also took a root word pre-quiz so we can begin learning Greek and Latin roots to expand our vocabulary and compliment our Ancient Civilizations unit.”
As said by CCS MS 7th grade student in Mrs. Rob’s class 9/1/11

Welcome Back! by Jenny Robertson

Jenny Robertson — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 17:03:39 +0000

I’m so excited to see all of the familiar faces and meet all of the new students! We have an exciting year of curriculum to explore together. I look forward to seeing everyone August 29th at 7:55am in the Middle School commons!