Cary Academy Middle School
Educational TechnologyLearning About the French Revolution in History – by Mrs. Dawson & Mrs. Morris
Students in 7th grade World History explored the halls of the palace of Versailles in Versailles, France using Google Cardboard VR. While studying the French Revolution in preparation for a project researching Latin American revolutions, WH students were able to get a 360 view of the lavish details of the French court. They discussed the lifestyle and opulence of the court and contrasted it with the struggles of the common people of the 3rd estate in French society. This tension between classes was a major cause of the French Revolution.
7th Grade History Learns About the Slave Trade – by Mrs. Morris
Despite some hiccups with access to the Voyages database (Voyages: The Transatlantic Slave Trade Database) my B block World History beta testers were able to blaze the path for our other 7th graders. One of the most impressive archives on the web, Voyages: The Transatlantic Slave Trade Database is the product of a massive undertaking from a network of scholars, technology experts, and government organizations from around the world who have invested thousands of hours into building a database of nearly 36,000 slaving voyages. Users can search the database using a variety of variables including a ship’s name, year of arrival, number of captives transported, outcome of voyage, embarkation and disembarkation locations, and the ship’s flag.
We are tweaking and editing the process as we go with this group of kids, but the rest of the 7th grade will benefit from the efforts of this class. Tailoring the exploration of such a vast amount of data to middle schoolers is tricky, but we learn as we go. Lucy and I are excited to have the students use their math, mapping, and research skills to further their understanding of the scale of the Atlantic Slave Trade and the role of individual countries within it.
3D Printing Challenge – Use the Ultimaker to Create a Desk Organizer by Leslie Williams
On Tuesday, November 6, Middle School students were offered the first design challenge utilizing the new Ultimaker printer graciously donated by the PTAA. Students were given the design of a desk organizer in Tinkercad with the dimensions and challenged to figure out how to design and connect all the pieces creating one large design. The idea is for students to create and tweak the design, customizing it for their teachers or parents as a gift for the holidays. This challenge is intended as a follow up now that all Middle School students are trained in Tinkercad, giving them a goal to apply and enhance their skills. An original design challenge will be the follow up after the holiday break.
Anatomy & 3D Modeling in Health by Melanie Bryant
Students in eighth grade health chose one of the following activities as a way to explore anatomy. 3D Printing was a popular choice!
*You are a forensic scientist….You have found a body and need to determine if it is a male or female. Clue 1: The pelvic is more heart shaped. Use the websites found under Final Project 1 & tell how and what makes the bodies different. The district attorney will want to know how you came to your conclusion about the sex of the body? (no less than 3 differences should be mentioned). Design a cool blog with your findings and provide crumbs of how you reached your final conclusion. Must have at least three pictures.
*Design an interactive menu page for a therapist’s or doctor’s office that provides information on a disorder that affects the skeletal system. Select one of the following: Rheumatoid Arthritis, Osteoarthritis, Osteoporosis, TMJ, Kyphosis, Lordosis, Scoliosis, and Osgood Schlatter Disease. This page should be suitable for a patient who is newly diagnosed with the disease. Include: disease name, treatment options, frequency of occurrence, populations affected, support groups or websites where the patient can get more info. Be creative and innovative! -Use WIX
*Go to Lesson 8 in “Class Notes:”. Read the article about the blood types of the human body. Answer the questions that are in Lesson 6 CW and design a brochure using the information.
*Design and build one of the following: the hand, the foot, the ribs and vertebrae, or the skull using different material or 3-D printer. Some supplies will be provided but you may need to bring in other material.
Video Poems by Matt Koerner & Lucy Dawson
The seventh grade LA teachers are working closely with Steven O’Neill on a video production project in which students are using Final Cut Pro editing software, camera equipment, and Video Production Studio resources to create original footage. Seventh grade students are recreating poetry from text in a video format. Students are taking a close look at the language of their selected poem and pairing the words and phrases of the poem with their own original video footage. They have learned multiple techniques for manipulating framing, camera angles, and panning and zoom to influence their video’s effect on the viewer.
7th Grade Tinkercad Training – Completing Training of Middle School Students for 3D Printing by Leslie Williams
On Halloween, seventh grade students received Tinkercad training in their math classes, resulting in all middle school students trained to use Tinkercad, the Computer Assisted Design software that introduces middle school students to CAD. The eighth graders were trained last year, the sixth graders were trained in early October, and now the seventh graders are trained as well. The entire middle school body is ready to integrate CAD and 3D printing into classes, take place in design challenges, or just have fun on their own creating three-dimensional designs and requesting prints of their designs. We are thrilled to meet this milestone as a middle school!
6th Grade Tinkercad Training – Preparing for 3D Printing by Leslie Williams
On Friday, October 5th, all sixth grade students received Tinkercad training. Leslie Williams, Middle School Instructional Technology Facilitator Chair, met with sixth grade students in the Discovery Studio and taught basic skills so that all students are able to create objects using introductory CAD software and request printing of their designs using the school’s 3D printers. Students already trained by Mrs. Williams along with the rest of the Instructional Technology Team provided support. We look forward to many applications of CAD in the near future!
Adventure in the Woods by the Sixth Grade Team
On Friday, May 4, the sixth grade team adventured into Umstead State Park to learn and apply math, science and language arts. Topics addressed include:
- Math in nature
- Nature journaling
- Soil testing
- Fairy houses
- Water quality
- Animal tracks
Nutrition and Games by Kim Cherre
Students in Kim Cherre’s seventh grade health class learned about nutrition by working with a group to become an expert in one area. Each group then presented about their area of expertise so everyone would be familiar with a vast array of topics. Teams chose whichever presentation tool they preferred, whether it was Sway, Power Point, Scratchpad or Quizlet. The culminating event was playing board games created by other groups, reviewing the nutritional information. Board games were made by hand and 3D printing was integrated so students could build spatial skills along side the nutritional content. What a fun and educational unit!
GoFormative and FlipGrid Incorporated in Sixth Grade Language Arts by Katie Taylor
In sixth grade Language Arts students practiced how to write and ask effective questions, and then used GoFormative for an exit ticket.
In addition, FlipGrid was used at the end of our unit on a novel. Students responded to a question about the novel’s theme in a 15-second or less video.
Both technologies allowed us to give each student time to respond without interruption. Flipgrid’s fun format also encouraged students who have trouble listening to watch each other’s videos and therefore listen to each other’s responses. GoFormative allowed teachers to check in with student understanding quickly and saved paper too!
Using MindMaps in Sixth Grade History by Matthew Ripley-Moffitt
Mr. Ripley-Moffitt has taught and reviewed the SQ4R content area reading strategy throughout the year at the beginning of each large reading assignment or packet. The strategy focuses on the key components of actively reading within an academic content area, usually non-fiction material. Since this type of reading is so different from most Language Arts reading assignments and generally a quite new experience for sixth-graders we introduce it and return to it throughout the year in World Cultures. Coggle is an easy to learn and use Mind-Mapping Tool which creates a wonderful visual and organic display of the information. Making thinking visible has been another learning strand throughout this year in World Cultures.
CA’s Middle School 3D Logo Contest Completed!
Grace Westmoreland, sixth grade student, won the Cary Academy Middle School 3D logo contest. Check out her design, now located in the front office of the Middle School.
Solar Car Creation in 8th Grade Science by Andrew Chiaraviglio
After eighth grade science students successfully applied their knowledge of energy and forces to complete their mousetrap cars, they took their engineering skills up a notch and incorporated an alternative energy source to power electric model cars. Students had to work through the challenges of minimizing friction on the car axles and figuring out how to transfer the torque from the motor to the drive shaft. In addition, they figured out a way to make a movable mount for their solar panels to optimize the output of the solar cells. Preliminary trials indicate that they have met the challenge with good focus and skill, and are ready for the Solar car race!
Check out this video (available to CA community members only)
Storyboard and Revolutions in World History by Alicia Morris
Students in 7th grade World History classes are using Storyboard That, a digital tool to create storyboards and comics, to share the stories of important revolutions in world history.
The program allows students to choose from different layouts and hundreds of characters and objects to tell their story. The topics for the project include the French and Haitian Revolutions and Mexican and various Latin American Independence Movements. The comic should include detailed information about the causes of revolution as well as information about the nature of the revolution and its effecs. Students are also challenged to use a specific quote from a primary source in the comic as well.
History Students Learn Using Quizlet by Lucy Dawson
Students in seventh grade history worked together to learn about the conquest of the Aztec and Inca. A popular website called quizlet.live grouped students and allowed them to stay engaged in a game-like atmosphere.
Using Discovery Streaming to Deliver Instruction by Matthew Ripley-Moffitt
Students were engaged in student-centered, self paced, differentiated learning via Discovery Streaming in World Cultures classes today.
They were using a BBC series of videos to study World Religions so that each religion was represented equally.
Crime Investigations by Nicky Allen
Immediately upon returning to school from winter break, 6th grade students were tasked with solving a heinous “crime!” There were 8 suspects, all being investigated for stealing the karaoke machine from the 6th grade hall. The students examined the evidence left at the crime scene and engaged in several activities designed to help them solve the crime. These activities included sketching the crime scene using their observation skills, a powder analysis, proportional reasoning to determine the suspect’s height, a suspect interview panel, and an exercise in forensic artistry. Students even got a to hear from a real detective in Cary and they took away some relevant pointers to help them in their work. Students and teachers alike had a blast throughout this activity!
Quizlet Live in Math 6 by Dawn Smith and Nicky Allen
Nicky Stewart and Dawn Bates used Quizlet Live to review Percents with their Math 6 students. Quizlet Live is a matching game that allows students to work in groups and compete against each other while reviewing material.
Using Backchannels in Language Arts by Melissa Davenport
Melissa Davenport used Today’s Meet during seventh grade Language Arts while students watched Shakespeare videos to discuss dramatic choices used in the same scene by different actors.
The Middle East and North Africa: a cultural exploration by Matthew Ripley-Moffitt
Th
e Middle East and North Africa: a cultural exploration
During the 6th Grade World Cultures Middle East Unit student became regional experts – in – training to focus their developing research skill on a country pr region in the Middle East and North Africa, These countries and regions are linked by overlays of culture, language and religion from successive waves of conquest, settlement, and expansion over the course of human history.
The students used the
Microsoft 365 Teams feature as a platform for their collaborative research and shared country report document. They also developed a shared basic PowerPoint template of their information, again through their Microsoft Team portal. The World Cultures Teachers were the owners of the research teams and added students as members.
The Microsoft Team portal offers a wide variety of shared resources through tabs which can be can be grouped as T
abs.
These shared documents can be opened in the native application or the online application through the elipses, three dots, to the right. Working in the online document allowed students to see each others’ contributions in real time, serve as collaborative editors, and effectively communicate as a group.
Nearpod is an online platform which allows teachers and students to create interactive learning experiences to deepen and broaden understanding and knowledge through increased engagement and participation. Lesson may be delivered as either student-paced or a live lesson. Documents, websites, videos and other media can be embedded to extend and enrich the lesson. Quizzes, written responses, draw it responses, and other activities provide students with a variety of response options and teachers with reports tracking student progress. Our 6th Grade World Cultures students created their own Nearpod Learning Experiences frim the country report PowerPoint Template.
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On Friday, December 15th we celebrated the end of our Middle East and North Africa Unit, and the approaching winter holiday break, by sharing their Nearpods as student-paced lessons in the Discpovery Studio. Chef Sam, our Dining Manager, provided Middle Eastern tasting trays. One of the featured favorites was his family’s traditional Lebanese hummus. Halvah, a traditional dessert of sesame flavored spun sugar, was another favorite. Lebanese pickles and pickles turnips were acquired tastes. A fun and educational experience was had by all.
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