Cary Academy Middle School
Educational TechnologyTravelers and Explorers Documentary Films by Alicia Morris
7th grade World History students collaborate to create a documentary about an explorer, from Leif Eriksson (c. 970 – c. 1020) to James Cook (1728 – 1799). There are 10 travelers and explorers studied this year, including the disease the Black Death. Students then peer review their documentaries. This year sixteen 7th graders are beta testing WeMovie to make their films alongside other students using MovieMaker during this process.
Learning Anatomy through Making Skulls by Kimberly Shaw
8th grade students learned about anatomy by creating paper mache skulls in Coach Shaw’s health classes. Students worked in our new Middle School Design Studio as they explored the parts of the skull and brain.
Video Poems in 7th Grade LA by Melissa Davenport – “What’s Your Story?”
Students created poems to end the first trimester in seventh grade Language Arts. The poems answered the question, “What’s Your Story”. Students used Microsoft’s latest version of Photos to create videos of their poems.
Y1K Uses the Design Lab in 7th Grade History by Alicia Morris
For seventh grade history, Evan Wirth and Will Capps are busy using the materials on the new carts in the Design Lab to design and build their Year 1000 projects. They tested out the saws and clamps while cutting shafts for Viking arrows. We are excited about the possibilities with this new space!
Skeletal Frenzy in 8th Grade Health – by Kimberly Shaw
Students worked on a project called “Skeletal Frenzy” to learn about the parts of the skeletal system. They were grouped in threes with a series of questions and facts to research. After researching their areas of expertise, students were able to present their findings. Sway’s and Prezi’s were used to showcase what they researched. The pictures display students presenting their findings using Sways with amazing graphics.
Origin of Culture – 6th Grade World Cultures by Matthew Ripley-Moffitt
In World Cultures sixth grade classes, students enjoyed a project where they “built” the impact of geography on culture as part of their Origin of Cultures unit.
Infograms and Time Management by Kim Cherre
Ninth grade health students created infograms to illustrate data that was c
ollected during their time management project.
Architecture in the Roman Empire by Alicia Morris and Lucy Dawson
7th grade students investigated architecture across the Roman empire, Italy and beyond using Google cardboard. They visited architectural remains such as the Pantheon and the Coloseum in Rome, the Pont Du Gard in France, and Volubilis in Morocco.
Bridges, Budgets or Bust!
Students in Math 6 ended the year with a hands-on “maker” project in which they worked together with a group to build a bridge. The goal was to build the least expensive bridge that can hold the most weight. Each student had a role: Project Director, Architect, Carpenter, Transportation Chief, and Accountant. All of the materials used to build each bridge were assigned a cost. Students were given a budget of $1,550,000 and they had to purchase land, planning papers, lumber, welding material and string if they wanted. Then they created a budget, wrote checks and kept up with a balance sheet for expenses. Students had a blast with this fun math project!
Click for more pictures.
Building Kites, and Engineers
Students in 7th grade built kites and flew them as their final project. They were given instructions with most dimensions to build a conyne delta kite, which incorporates traditional and box kite parts. Students had to use the Pythagorean Theorem to find missing sides and trigonometry to find acute angle measurements. Once all dimensions were found, students then used proportions to scale the dimensions based on a percent of the original sizes assigned to their group.
After creating their first kite, students flew their kites and worked together to make adjustments for their 2.0 design. Each class competed for the best flying kite. Everyone enjoyed the project and flying their kites!
Citizen Science QUEST Project
Citizen science “is the practice of public participation and collaboration in scientific research to increase scientific knowledge. Through citizen science, people share and contribute to data monitoring and collection programs.”
For the citizen science QUEST project, students pick a citizen science project that is already in existence, collect data for this project, record their findings to the citizen science program or app, and then create a tri-fold board to report their findings. The big culminating event is the showcase that coincides with Earth day, April 22 (or as close to Earth day as we can get).
Students also complete a background research paper where they learn more about the topic of their citizen science program, and why people care to learn more about this topic. New this year was the Ecopsot. For the Ecospot, students use a technology of their choosing and make a presentation. Their presentation includes information about their citizen science topic, and then they include things that people can do to help their topic. Students wanted to feel like they could empower their audience by giving them concrete actions (at least 3) to help their topic.
Building Planes by Andrew Chiaraviglio and Pat Martin
In Algebra 8, students applied their knowledge of linear equations and scatter plots by collecting and analyzing flight data of airplanes they assembled in class. Students had the opportunity to alter an airplane characteristic (power, wing area) in order to explore the effect of these on the airplane’s performance.
Flatland Project by Leslie Williams
The Flatland Project is based on Edward A. Abbott’s classic novel, Flatland. Students watch an animated movie based on the novel aimed at middle school student’s to learn about dimensions. Next, they make a model of anything that has relevance in another culture after researching the object of interest and blogging about it. In this design project, students then begin to develop drafting and spatial skills by drawing their model without the dimension of depth. As a final celebration of everyone’s hard work, students have a Flatland Fair in which they share their model and drawings. All of the seventh graders votes using an online form for their favorite model, drawings, and overall project. Each math class has three winners, one in each category, and the entire seventh grade has a winner for best overall project.
This year’s winners for Mr. Raskevitz’s 4th period are:
- Drawings: Shinto Shrine by Sedef
- Model: Chinese Dragon by Ashley
- Overall: Elephant by Will
This year’s winners for Mrs. William’s classes are:
1st period
- Drawings: Arc De Triumph Paris by Ijeoma
- Model: Corgi by Linda
- Overall: Corgi by Linda
2nd Period
- Drawings: London Bridge by Cici
- Model: Shanghai World Financial Center by Renn
- Overall: tied between too many to call
3rd Period
- Drawings: Arc De Triumph by Colin
- Model: The London Eye by Andrew
- Overall: Notre Dame Cathedral by Jordan
4th Period
- Drawings: The Book of Q’uran by Dina
- Model: Rose by Meaghan
- Overall: Rose by Meaghan and Big Ben by Jack
This year’s 7th grade winner for best overall Flatland project is:
Notre Dame Cathedral by Jordan
DICE project by Jeff Nesbitt and Meredith Stewart
In 8th grade Language Arts classes, students explored the themes of Romeo and Juliet and applied the themes in different ways.
Visual art/ Tech combination to examine symbolism in Romeo & Juliet
Rexy, Naya, and Bayla combined their interests in visual arts and research to create a 3-D art piece that we photographed and uploaded to thinglink.com. Bayla added information and resources explaining the use of symbols from Romeo and Juliet in different time periods.
“r+j kids!”
Kelsey, Sanjana, and Zach created an interactive website for parents and children to learn about the impulsivity and the effects of emotions on decision making. Their site includes lessons, videos, music, and a “choose your own adventure” game.
Socio-economic stress on parent-child relationships
Isabela, Thuc, and Grace examined the ways in which socio-economic status affects stress in parent-child relationships, and created a podcast that they uploaded through moviemaker. They not only did the reseach, but they also acted out parts added sound effects modeled on NPR’s Invisabilia.
Making Houses by Andrew Chiaraviglio
In 8th grade Algebra, students build houses that have a roof, gables, solar panels and a pond. They work with a partner and in doing so apply trigonometry, quadratic equations, square roots, writing and solving equations, reading and interpreting word problems, linear equations, area, and proportional reasoning. In addition to applying all of these math skills, students continue to develop collaboration and spatial skills. This one “maker” project is rich with application!
Click for more pictures from Mr. Chiaraviglio’s class.
Pictures from Mrs. Martin’s class:
Band Soundtrack Project by Eric Grush
Middle school students in band created projects where they added their own soundtrack to an already existing video. Check them out!
Engineering – Making Catapults in Science 6 by Danae Shipp
Students are studying energy in 6th grade science, specifically kinetic and potential energy. Today, students became engineers to explore energy by creating catapults and trying to propel skittles as far as possible.
Geometry Vocabulary Quizlet.live Style in Transitional Math 7 by Leslie Williams
In Transitional Math 7 students are currently bombarded by a slew of vocabulary since they are learning geometry. Each day students learn everywhere from 9-14 vocabulary terms, many of which are new or more details are expected of students to now know. Quizlet is a fantastic browser based program that allows students and teachers to make flashcards and then create several types of games. For geometry, I have made the flashcards for students and they can study individually and/or with each other. The fun part of Quizlet is Quizlet.live, which turns the flashcards into a classroom game. Below are pictures of students in teams competing to show off their vocabulary knowledge for the following sections of geometry: Points, Lines and Planes; Angles; Parallel Lines; Quadrilaterals; Triangles
Click for pictures.
Graphing Data in Math 6 by Dawn Smith
Math 6 students are currently learning about data analysis and statistics. Working in pairs, today students in Math 6 estimated how many of each M&M color might be in a bag of M&M’s. Then they opened their bag and counted how many they had of each. Next, students created a spreadsheet and then graphed the data in Excel. They also answered questions about what they found and explored the data collected.
Nearpod Fractions Lesson in Math 7 by Leslie Williams
Nearpod is a program that allows teachers to create a lesson with video, slides, quizzes, etc. We compile materials both made by us and others to create a learning experience for students. Nearpod describes its product: “Nearpod is an interactive presentation and assessment tool that can be used to amazing effect in the classroom. The app’s concept is simple. A teacher can create presentations that can contain Quiz’s, Polls, Videos, Images, Drawing-Boards, Web Content and so on. The children can access a teacher’s presentation through a code. It is up to the teacher to then move the class through the presentation and let them interact with the media as they go.”
Today students learned about multiplying negative fractions and mixed numbers with a Nearpod lesson. They had 4 short videos and a handful of slides and quizzes. Students worked individually as I walked around and answered questions.
Recent Comments