Homework and Classes Overview from the First Week of School

   My dad requested that I do a blog post with some information on my homework from the first week of school. I got homework in math, english, science, and social studies. Every day, I have two math classes, a science class, a social studies class, an english class, and a spanish class. I like all of my teachers,some more than others. Some of the classes have been interesting, although most of them were meh. I think the homework we have done has been okay. Overall, I still am rating my school as 6.5 out of 10.

     In math class, we have been working with pieces of the 6th grade textbook, supposedly to help remind us about last year. Because I am ahead of my grade, I don't feel like doing sixth-grade work is really helpful for me. Maybe it's helpful for some of the other kids, though. We have been watching some vi hart videos, which I've really enjoyed. I also learned how to use a protractor,  which is a skill I think is very useful.

     In science, we've had some pretty cool homework. In class, we've done two experiments. In one, we put a plank of wood half on a table, half off, half on. We then laid down ten (all the way unfolded) pieces of newspaper on top of the table. When my teacher donned a thick glove and whacked the wood very hard, the wood broke instead of launching the paper.  The other experiment we did involved my teacher filling a cup with water, putting a piece of paper on top of it, and then flipping the cup upside-down. The paper does no fall. For both experiments, we were instructed to write why it happened, as well as later (after variations of the experiment were done) to write, based on more facts, why we think it happened. I think this homework was very good.

     In English, we've have written a persuasive letter over a few days. We read an anti-television persuasive essay in a textbook, and have either written a letter to the author of the article (saying that he's wrong) or a letter to the CEO of NBC (saying that he's wrong). I think that this assignment was interesting, and I definitely liked it more than the standard reflecting on some aspect of some character in some boring book we were forced to read essay. Although I don't love writing in general, I am hoping that the writing we do in this class will be more compelling than that of previous years.

     In social studies, we have been doing some homework which I assume has been to warm us up for the work we'll be doing all year. I've done some text-marking, I've done some connections homework, I've done some writing what pieces of text mean. So far, we've pretty much covered the basics. No prediction on how social studies will be. It being one of the few subjects we didn't have at CSCL, I'm hoping it will be good.

     Spanish is one of the few classes where I'm with a different group of people. There  are 30 kids, which is a bit chaotic. I really like my spanish teacher, and I like a larger percent of the kids in the class. I also like learning spanish. Also, we don't get much homework, which is definitely a plus. Spanish is a class I look forward to.

My class still has a few friends, a few really irritating kids, and mostly people I don't connect with. Still okay in general. I mostly like my teachers. My classes are okay.

Hopeful for the best,
Max