HartmanHoopla

Hello Topaz Students!

2010-06-09T16:29:00.002-04:00

Photo album customized with Smilebox

Surprise!

2010-05-09T19:17:00.002-04:00

On Friday, my students threw me a surprise baby shower:)!!!!
It was such a fun time and I was overwhelmed by the generosity!
Look at the beautiful cake Mrs. Redding made!
I was wondering why so many boys were wearing pink on Friday.....
Thank you so much to all of the students, parents, and teachers who so generously helped out!
My family and I spent all weekend oohing and ahhing over the gifts and cards.
I promise to post pics of the new baby and big sister when she is born.
This students have made this year wonderful and I will miss them.

Life Round Here Debuts

2010-04-26T13:47:00.000-04:00

life round here

Sparta Middle School Census

2010-03-19T11:48:00.003-04:00

We are creating and taking our own census using google forms!
Click here to see the directions.
Due Date? April 1- National Census Day!

Photo credit: http://www.mytwocensus.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/censusbag2-lo.jpg

And the winner is...

2010-03-16T20:12:00.002-04:00

This free photo slideshow customized with Smilebox

Doodle 4 Google Vote

2010-03-12T10:12:00.001-05:00

Life 'Round Here

2010-03-10T12:12:00.006-05:00

We are exited to be starting our video story boards for a new global collaborative project called, Life 'Round Here
The focus of our videos is on of the 2 topics below:
1. What is it REALLY like to live in Sparta, NJ?
2. What is it REALLY like to be a 6th grader in Sparta?

Click HERE to see examples of past winners!

Finished videos will be posted on or before April 15th!!!

How to use MovieMaker
How to use Photostory

Photo credit:http://www.mtctickets.com/cities/images/sparta-nj.jpg

This Too Shall Pass

2010-03-03T19:28:00.001-05:00

This doesn't have much to do with anything, but we think this is cool:

2010 Winter Olympics

2010-02-12T11:05:00.020-05:00

We are so excited about our Unit on the 2010 Olympics.
Click HERE FOR DIRECTIONS SHEET

Click here for a special medal map

Click here for an example website. Note: You must be signed into your google apps account to view.

Check out the links below for more info and videos about the Olympics:
Official Olympic Site
NBC OLYMPIC SITE
Thinkfinity Olympics

The Science Behind the Olympic Games

Larry Ferlazzo's Best Web Sites to Learn About the Olympic Games

The Origins or History of Winter Olympic Sports

Some Winter Olympic Videos

A Brief History of the Opening Ceremonies

Doodle 4 Google 2010 Rules

2010-02-03T12:47:00.004-05:00

Click here for more info
A competition wouldn't be complete without prizes. What prizes are awarded to Doodle 4 Google winners and finalists this year?

* The National Winner will win a $15,000 college scholarship to be used at the school of their choice, a trip to New York City for an event on May 26, 2010, a laptop computer, a Wacom digital design tablet, and a t-shirt printed with their doodle on it. We'll also award the winner's school a $25,000 grant towards the establishment/improvement of a computer lab. The winning doodle will also be featured on the Google.com homepage on May 27, 2010.
* Each of the other 3 National Finalists will win a trip to New York City for an event on May 26, 2010, a laptop computer, a Wacom digital design tablet and a t-shirt printed with their doodle on it.
* Each of the other 40 Regional Finalists will win a trip to New York City for an event on May 26, 2010 and a t-shirt printed with their doodle on it.
* Each of the other 400 State Finalists will receive a "Doodle 4 Google" certificate and be featured on the Doodle 4 Google web site.

As an additional incentive this year, we are also giving out eight (8) Extra Credit: Technology Booster Awards that consist of netbook computers to schools who submit the maximum number of doodles by March 10, 2010 and have a student who is one of the 400 State Finalists. For more information on eligibility, visit the Doodle 4 Google website here, http://www.google.com/doodle4google/.

Students' doodles will be judged on artistic merit, creativity, representation of the theme, and other criteria. This year we'll also have a panel of 10 "Expert Jurors" who will help judge Doodle 4 Google. These are well known illustrators, cartoonists, and animators from organizations such as The Sesame Street Workshop, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, and Pixar Animation Studios who are the creators of Toy Story 3. A public exhibit of the 39 regional finalists and the national winner will be open to the public at the Smithsonian's, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum from May 27 to July 8, 2010. To give your class a little inspiration, check out last year's winners at the Doodle 4 Google website.

PLUS WE ARE HAVING A TOPAZ TEAM PRIZE FOR THE BEST DOODLE!

2010 Census Project Links

2010-02-01T09:59:00.004-05:00

Watch CBS News Videos Online
UNITED STATES CENSUS ACTIVITIES

Use the link below to answer the questions on the Counting Your County worksheet.

Fact Finder

Use the link below to complete the Collect Data About Your State worksheet.

http://www.census.gov/schools/facts/

Use the link below to print out the outline of the state you are focusing on for the final project.

http://www.census.gov/geo/www/maps/stco_02.htm

Use the link below to find the location of capital cities and major cities for your worksheet.

http://www.mapsofworld.com/usa/usa-maps/usa-major-cities-map.jpg

Gift of Age

2010-01-21T10:50:00.005-05:00

Poodle skirts, accordians, and Howdy Doody, we have been presenting our Gift of Age Projects and learning about generations of the past.

It happens every 10 years- the Census

2010-01-12T10:52:00.002-05:00

To learn even more about he census, click here.

Who should be the Time for Kids Person of the Year?

2009-12-21T12:55:00.002-05:00

VOTE HERE

This is who Time Magazine chose, do you agree or disagree?

Dōmo arigatō, Mr. Roboto

2009-12-14T19:40:00.005-05:00

We recently studied advances in humanoid robotics. Student designed robots that would make everyday tasks easier. Some students even went above and beyond and made robot models!

Does Age Bring Wisdom?

2009-12-08T12:09:00.005-05:00

We are starting a unit on Generations and are focusing on the question, "Does Age Bring Wisdom?"
After viewing this photo essay, http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1848104,00.html
Fill in a
"Lesson Learned" sheet.

Please take our holiday survey!

2009-12-03T13:10:00.002-05:00

Going Google APPS TODAY

2009-11-18T10:26:00.001-05:00

CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED

Japanese Internment

2009-11-12T15:21:00.006-05:00

Last week we studied and debated Japanese Internment Camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The students pretended to be camp internees and wrote letters about their experiences:
CLICK HERE TO SEE AN OUTSTANDING EXAMPLE BY LS!

American Dreams Final Project

2009-11-09T10:17:00.003-05:00

WEBSITE

Asian American Dream- Escape from Vietnam

2009-10-30T13:44:00.008-04:00

This week in Connections we have been focusing on the Asian American Dream. We have had 2 guest speakers. Mr. Zeng, our Chinese teacher, talked to the students about his America Dream and his journey from China to America. It truly was an inspirational story. A summary of his dream and a slide show will be posted soon.

Mrs. Tran, Christine's mom, came in today to tell her story. She escaped with her family from communist Vietnam in 1979 with her family at the age of 13. She told us about her life in the Phillippines and Jersey City. She also talked to us about the importance of education and how we as Americans take our freedoms for granted. To listen to her story, press play above.
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Fun Theory

2009-10-27T14:46:00.000-04:00

Can you think of a way to apply the Fun Theory to something in your life?

Google Search Tips

2009-10-21T13:32:00.000-04:00

Click HERE to access tips.

Bullying Prevention Week 2009

2009-10-13T10:08:00.002-04:00

American Dream Wordle

2009-10-13T09:31:00.004-04:00

Click HERE to see the results of our American Dream survey.

You,Whovever You Are

2009-10-09T10:15:00.002-04:00

Click here for a background about immigrants from all different countries.

Read the poem; next click on the small photos on the left hand side of the screen and read some of the different immigration stories.

What does this commercial say about the American Dream?

2009-10-08T14:09:00.001-04:00

Glogster Tutorial

2009-10-07T14:03:00.001-04:00

My Definition of the American Dream

2009-10-07T09:28:00.001-04:00

Glogging our American Dreams

2009-10-06T09:16:00.008-04:00

This week we are starting our American Dreams Unit and we are also learning to glog!

Here are some helpful links that you will need this week:

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/about/welcome.html

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/browse/

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/port/start.html

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/

http://edu.glogster.com/

AD FOR AMERICA SAMPLE

Stokes Scrapbook

2009-10-04T12:14:00.002-04:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Guest Blogger: Sammie

2009-09-30T15:05:00.003-04:00

Recently in Connections…

We have been busy in Connections. We just completed a “Quote Analysis.” We had to find a special quote that meant something to you or had inspired you in someway. The quote I choose was "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars!" It was really fun to have to write down what just maybe a sentence could mean to you!

One of my favorite things we did in class was the “Top Ten List.” I believe the idea was from The David Letterman Show! We had to make up a list about 10 things we love, do, or know the most. Like for example, my top ten best memories, or my top ten favorite things are. It was really fun! Some examples will be posted on this blog soon.

We have been learning about technology can make life easier, but it also opens up doors to other problems, such as internet addiction. We have been reading about internet addiction and how parents. students, and teachers can work together to help prevent it.

We have been fired up debating about one HOT topic: Obama's plan to add minutes and/or days to the school year. Students in Connections have alot to say about this topic.

Finally, this will be the most fun of all!!! On October 1, 09 the whole Topaz team is going to Stokes! We have to be at The Sparta Middle School at 7:30am Thursday! We arrive back at the middle school on October 2 at about 1:30! This trip is going to be awesome! I can’t wait!

Back to School Night Presentation

2009-09-25T10:41:00.002-04:00

Guest Blogger: Bridget

2009-09-21T11:06:00.004-04:00

Hey everyone! This is Bridget from Mrs. Hartman’s section 5 class. Another summer has come and gone, but Mrs. Hartman has us doing some pretty cool stuff so far in Connections! Did you watch the “Did You Know” videos posted on this page? I can’t believe all the technologies we have today! We have also made our own cartoons. Our theme had to be about school, so some of the topics might have been: the lunch line, lockers, teachers and classes. Another project we worked on in class were letters to Mrs. Hartman. Not just any letters though, we had to pretend we were one of our 5th grade teachers from last year writing to her. These letters explained who we are as students, such as our strengths and weaknesses, and our personalities. Did you know that September 17th is Constitution Day? Well, I certainly didn’t know! I knew about the Constitution of course, because it’s a huge part in American history. In class we started writing our own amendments, to add to the existing list of 27. We also took part of the test that people have to take in order to become an American Citizen. Guess what? It’s also in English! Imagine if you couldn’t speak our language and wanted to pass! We are writing our own amendments to the Constitution. Our most recent task was to bring in a quote that is either inspiring to us or something that we try to live our life by every day. With that quote we are currently writing an essay explaining why we chose it.
All of this in 3 weeks! I L♥ve Connections!

Write on my Wall

2009-09-18T09:56:00.001-04:00

Students, please click HERE to write on the wall. This wall will be shown to your parents at Back to School Night next week.

Celebrating Constitution Day

2009-09-16T15:12:00.006-04:00

We are celebrating Constitution Day by studying the amendments and writing our own NEW Amendments.

Would YOU be able to pass this test?

Photo Credit: http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/constitution-day/images/signers-mural.jpg

Did You Know Update

2009-09-16T15:12:00.001-04:00

Comic Relief

2009-09-11T09:22:00.005-04:00

This week students wrote comics with a "Back to School" theme:
Check out this one by RS:

xxxb3cc4	when this boy's locker doesn't open, he resorts to some pretty crazy stuff...

LOCKER TROUBLES by xxxb3cc4 | Make Your Own At www.toondoo.com

Topaz Team Travels

2009-09-10T13:13:00.002-04:00

Topaz Team Travels
Check out all the places our students have visited this summer!

View Topaz Team Summer Vacation in a larger map

Did You Know?

2009-09-09T14:17:00.002-04:00

+SO What does it all mean?

Welcome to 6th Grade Connections!

2009-08-16T20:39:00.006-04:00

Welcome to 6th Grade Connections! My name is Erica Hartman and I will be your teacher this year. Check out this blog to see just a LITTLE of what we did last year. I look forward to meeting each and everyone of you. I also look forward to your help- on writing this blog! Fasten your seat belts-6th grade is going to be a WILD ride!

Parents- Please read our blog frequently to see what we are up up to! We welcome your comments and participation:)

End of Year Survey

2009-06-10T10:01:00.002-04:00

2 Cool Google Tools

2009-06-04T09:31:00.001-04:00

Check out Google Squared and Google Similar Images- it may be a bit late to use them for this year's projects, but they are definitely great for next year!

Practice Your Keyboarding Skills this Summer

2009-06-01T09:33:00.002-04:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/

http://www.freetypinggame.net/play4.asp?lesson=26&time=1&AGo1=Start+Test

Shark Typer

Should there be summer homework?

2009-05-27T12:31:00.008-04:00

We recently held a heated Socratic Seminar on whether or not summer homework should be assigned. We researched and read articles written by homework critics, Nancy Kalish and Alfie Kohn, as well as editorials written by parents, students,and teachers. Students assumed roles as parents, teachers, authors, principals, and children and debated the topic. End result- most students agreed that summer reading should be optional because we read everyday (texts, cereal boxes, signs, etc.), BUT math homework (just a little bit!!!!!) over the summer should be mandatory! Interesting outcome!

History Repeating Itself Helpful Links

2009-05-19T12:27:00.004-04:00

"History repeats itself because no one was listening the first time." Anonymous
Google News Timeline
World Timeline
Timespace
Timeline Tool 1
Timeline tool 2

Children's Book Resources

2009-05-06T10:13:00.005-04:00

For the Connections Children's Book here a few helpful links:
Microsoft Photo Story
Slide Rocket
Animal Photos
Write Rhymes
Pics4Learning
Rules, Regulations, Deadlines

We Caught an EGG!

2009-04-30T14:13:00.008-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, we were contacted to "catch an egg" by a group of third graders from Saltsburg, PA. It was a cross country egg toss and the objective was:
"To design and construct a protective structure within a cardboard box that will prevent damage to an egg or eggs which will be mailed to another classroom. An egg without any visible cracks or damage is scored as a success."
Each group had to construct a case for an egg and mail it. Then my students had to open the package, LIVE on Skype. Click here for the rules. We received the package at 1:19pm today and Skyped at 2 pm. The box was very carefully wrapped with warnings on it such as "FRAGILE" and "OPEN WITH CARE." The 3rd graders stuffed the box with broken popsicle sticks, cut up straws, and twine. They also created a paper box inside, placed it in a ziploc bag, and secured it with rubber bands. We couldn't wait to open it! Sadly, the egg was cracked, but it was a good try Saltsburg Elementary!

We blame it on the postman! Better luck next time. My students were very empathetic and we were all genuinely upset! However, we are starting to write children's books and now we found a class to send them to for review. It's all about CONNECTIONS.

Counting Down

2009-04-29T12:13:00.004-04:00

In our Environmental Law project we were looking for graohs and we came across chartle today and decided to test it out. Our favorite so far is the "Googlemeter"

Make Earth Day Everyday

2009-04-21T15:23:00.004-04:00

This is our team mural; we created it in Science class.
Check out this link to great Earth Day Pictures by the Boston Globe

Our classes used wallwisher.com to create a wall of usable tips for "going green."

We are also completing a group project using Google Presentations. Each group is researching one environmental act or amendment and will present their findings at the end of the week.

Our Flautist

2009-04-09T12:41:00.001-04:00

Click here to read about our very own Amber Team Student, flautist, Laura Leggiero.

New Drawing Tools in Google Docs

2009-04-07T11:16:00.000-04:00

Google Docs released new drawing tools and my students were quick to incorporate them into their writing. We recently went on an overnight class trip to the School of Conservation @ Stokes State Forest. When we came back the students wrote stories about their trip from the point of view of an object (living or dead) from Stokes.
Here is a link to one student example: Rainbow Bridge by Michelle K.
Here is a second example by Madeline A. from the point of view of a deer.

FUN = New Math + Connections

2009-04-07T07:12:00.008-04:00

We needed a break from our current unit, "Forbidden Foods" so when I came across Craig Damrauer's site, New Math, I thought what better way for a language arts teacher to incorporate math and equations in the classroom? Before we even looked at the site, we reviewed the components of equations and I asked the students for some examples of equations. I got everything from:
1+1=2, butter+fly = butterfly, and 2x=18. Then I told the students we were going to do some "New Math" and they groaned. At first they didn't get Mr. Damrauer's newest equation- "March+Optimism=April." However, after discussing what optimism means and how horrible the weather was here in Sparta in March, they GOT it and begged for more. Some they were able to get right away, others they really needed to analyze. Check out Mr. Damraurer's other equations to see for yourself. Next, my 6th graders wrote their own and put them up on the Smartboard. Here are some of our best equations:
time*love = relationship
evil + annoying = little brother
coffee=happiness-sleep
school = learning-fun
hotwheels^5 = race car
black eye = fist + face
log cabin = lincoln logs^5
fish tank^2 = aquarium
dog = human-opinions
school=jail-life sentence
sarcasm= saying it-not meaning it
words + thoughts + memories = lyrics
|+|+|+|= square
cupcake-frosting= muffin
15 minutes + lizard = Geico
student+lecture=snore
tree-leaves=firewood
me + you = never
nerves+urge= game time
disaster = money/economy
After class, I decided to email Mr. Damrauer the equations and guess what? He loved them and wants more.
I only did this with 2 classes, can't wait to see what my other 3 classes do. Will post more equations tomorrow, but I have to admit my favorite one by Mike V. in Section 2 was "Connections = Mrs. Hartman+Fun"

History's Unsolved Mysteries

2009-04-02T12:37:00.010-04:00

Big Foot, NJ Devil, Mothman, Vampires OH MY! We recently finished our research unit on History's Unsolved Mysteries. Each student created a Google Site on their topic and embedded their research paper using Google Docs. Some students even went crazy and embedded surevys and presentations about their topics using Google Forms and Presentation. We also found some very interesting Gadgets to add to our sites such as creepy crawly spiders and maps.
Here are some example sites:

Yeti
Vampires
Robert the Haunted Doll

Have fun exploring!

Letters to Baghdad

2009-03-04T22:32:00.004-05:00

A little before Christmas,I received an email from a Sparta mother whose son was stationed in Baghdad over the holidays. The Amber team students jumped at the idea of sending him cards and they especially wanted to let him know who won the election, what football teams were winning and how the economic crisis was effecting the world.
Last week, Lt. Robert Forrester emailed me thanking the students for the letters, but even better, he wanted to come in and talk to them about his experiences in Iraq.
Here is the slide show Lt. Forrester made and some pictures from today's event.

Military Madness

2009-02-27T19:34:00.000-05:00

Let me start out by saying that my post today surprisingly, is not about technology. Its about the good ol'fashioned skills of letter writing and sewing!
The theme of this month has been "military madness." At the end of January I found out a Leslie A. earned first place in a holiday card contest for Veteran Hospitals sponsored by the NJ Elks called the "Kids Care Holiday Cards." Leslie A. embroidered felt and turned it into a holiday card using cardboard backing. It was the most beautiful holiday card I had ever seen. The message on the inside was even more beautiful than the outside if that is possible. The pictures I have here don't do it any justice. When we submitted it in November, I kept hoping to hear from the Elks, but surprisingly they didn't notify winners until after the holidays. We had forgotten all about it.
Winning this contest was a great honor for Leslie. Sometimes as teachers we get so wrapped up in grades and homework and progress reports...it was nice to recognize Leslie for the great talent she possesses.

Another surprise was an email I received from Mr. Forrester. Before Christmas we adopted him as our soldier overseas and wrote holiday wishes to him. We could only hope that he received our letters before Christmas. We never expected to hear back from him. Then I received an email from him this week:

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

Caveats: NONE

Mrs. Hartman,

While I was over in Baghdad over the holidays, I received a HUGE bunch of letters from your students! Well, I made it back a few weeks ago, and wanted to see if maybe I’d be able to stop by personally to thank the class for the great gift! I actually took them around and showed a lot of people, and it made them all smile. I even have a slide show I put together for a Boy Scout troop I talked to with some pictures and stories and whatnot that I’d be more than happy to share with your class and/or anyone you would care to invite. Anyway, just an option, but I’d definitely like to stop in some day to say “thanks!” if possible!

Please let me know!"

Our soldier is coming in next Wednesday and the students can't be more excited. They have touched the lives of other people and made connections to people they would never have met. Our theme this marking period is "Be the Change" and my students have definitely achieved the objectives.

Our Inaugural Website

2009-01-13T09:40:00.001-05:00

http://sites.google.com/site/anewbirthoffreedom/

Socratic Seminar

2009-01-12T15:47:00.002-05:00

In Room 171, we take our Socratic Seminars very seriously.

Happy New Year

2009-01-07T09:26:00.003-05:00

We are excited to be back at school and working on our Be the Change Unit. We are thinking of small ways to change the world in as little as 5 minutes a day just like this school in Australia:

Currently, we are working on several projects such as designing a 21st century "green" classroom, raising money for solar cookers for refugees in Africa, creating a marketing plan for our eco-friendly bracelets, and studying inaugurations over the past 100 years.

FREE RICE

2008-12-08T09:32:00.009-05:00

As part of our "be the change unit" we are working to give back. A simple way to do this is to go to FREE RICE For each answer you get right, FREE RICE will donate 20 grains of rice to the UN Food Program to end world hunger. If vocabulary isn't your thing, FREE RICE has other subjects you can choose from.
Millburn Middle School in NJ is also participating. Here is a map of the schools, hopefully we can add more schools:

View Larger Map
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Connections Survey

2008-12-04T09:47:00.001-05:00

Be the Change

2008-12-03T11:22:00.003-05:00

We are starting a new unit called "BE THE CHANGE" and we are starting to track random acts of kindness. We are going to use a Google Form to track random acts of kindness. Please enter them in the following form"

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American Dreams Final Project

2008-11-23T21:32:00.002-05:00

Click here for directions and rubric. We are commandeering the new MAC Lab in the Media Center all week with Mr. Chodkiewicz.

Week of 11/17-11/21

2008-11-19T15:06:00.004-05:00

This week we our finishing up our "American Dreams" Unit and starting to gather images and ideas for our Garage Band podcasting project. We are going to make music videos that represent our American Dreams in the new Mac Lab in the Media Center. Mr. Chodkiewicz is coming with us to teach us how to use Garage Band. We studied Asian American Dreams this week by watching interviews of famous Asian Americans and Asian American students. We also learned about Japanese internment camps and Angel Island. Graphing Japanese immigration over the past 20 decades was hard to do at first, but interesting to discuss.
We also published our secret diary entries using Google Docs about growing up in the White House that we wrote last week. Sasha and Malia get to pick out their furniture for their bedrooms and have a bowling alley and movie theater right in their new house at 1600 Pennsyvania Ave.
Plus, Mrs. Hartman went to Google in NYC and now we all want to work there when we grow up! She showed other teachers samples from our Letters to the Next President:

Who will read our letters? OBAMA

2008-11-05T06:45:00.004-05:00

For the past month we have been participating in the National Writing Project's Letter to the Future President Campaign.

We are so excited because our letters have been uploaded to the site, plus we can read letters written by over 2000 students worldwide.

Mr. Obama, we await your response.

2008 Election Results

2008-11-04T09:26:00.007-05:00

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Amber Team Connections Results for Mock Election (popular vote):

Actual 2008 Presidential Election Votes:

Vote

2008-11-04T09:26:00.000-05:00

Boo! Week of 10/27-10/31

2008-10-30T21:32:00.003-04:00

This week we had our first Socratic Seminar on the banning of fast foods in certain cities. We collected data using a Google form and read several articles on fast food bans around the country. We learned about two helpful sites, Writing Fun for help organizing writing and Dance Mat typing for keyboarding skills - what a fun game! Some of us are taking part in AFI's Ghost Story Challenge. The winners could win a FLIP Video Camera(BTW, MOM and DAD, this is a great Christmas or Hanukah present.) Check out the rules here.

Next week we are having a mock election and possibly having another socratic seminar on the end of textbooks in the classroom. We are trying to figure out whether or not it would be cheaper to provide a mini laptop such as an eeePC to every 6th grader, rather than a set of textbooks. These laptops could be used all the way through high school. We are trying to collect information. To prepare, we are starting another survey, to be posted soon.

October 20-24

2008-10-20T09:39:00.006-04:00

This week we became Image Detectives.
We also finished our Letters to the Future President using Google Docs and submitted them. We cut and paste our letters into wordle.net to see the keywords from our letters. Wordle is awesome! We have been talking about the upcoming election and have been planning a mock election. We have been studying Google Elections Maps to check out the campaign trail and the electoral votes.

Please take this survey on fast food. We are using the data for an upcoming Socratic seminar.
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Life Maps

2008-10-10T12:43:00.008-04:00

At the beginning of the year, we each made Life Maps to get to know each other better. Below are some picture of our maps. For each map we had to share 7 events in our lives in a creative way. We also had to present the maps to our class in an oral presentation.

Week of 10/6 - 10/10

2008-10-06T11:03:00.006-04:00

Eventhough we had one day off, this week was busy with the Presidential Debate. Many students watched and analyzed the debate, some students watched the whole thing, and boy were they tired! We researched the use of presidential campaign songs and picked our own campaign songs.
We also read different accounts of the American Dream and took a sample citizenship test
We formed groups and traveled to different stations around the room and hallway to read several different points of view of the American Dream. Next we filled in a graphic organizer. Next week we will share our answers and start a Letter to the Future President Project. Students in Mrs. Hartman's Section 2 class are working with partners with Mr. Spevack's 6th grade class from the Bronx, NY. On Friday, they had a video conference with them using Skype. Mr. Davis used a Flip Video Camera to film the action. Next week we will also be going to the computer lab to work on our letters using Google Docs.

Week of 9/29-10/3

2008-10-06T09:46:00.005-04:00

This week we started a unit called American Dreams and discussed what the American Dream means to different people, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., our family members, and teachers. James Truslow Adams first used the phrase, "the American Dream" in 1931.Each class created a wordle or word cloud of our collective American Dreams. We also talked about how the financial crisis and the failed bailout will affect the American Dream for many people.
We also made posters with our groups about what the American Dream means to us.
Each class also made a wordle, click here to view one.

Back to School Night 08

2008-09-23T14:19:00.002-04:00

Mrs. Hartman is in Chicago at Google learning about new google tools for the classroom and showcasing work from Sparta Middle School students and teachers in a presentation on Google Docs.
Below, is her back to school night presentation.

Google Docs Rocks

2008-09-23T14:17:00.004-04:00

This week in Connections, with Mrs.Hartman's we went to the computer lab. We learned how to sign onto Google docs. We also signed
onto Hartman http://www.hartmanhoopla.blogspot.com. Google docs can be accessed from home!| How cool is that! Then Miss.Blanos, our Language Arts teacher, said that we can save the work that we do in her class (that's on the computer) can be saved to Google docs also! On google docs we took a journal survey, too. The journal survey was to make sure that everyone completed all six of their journal entries. It was also to make sure that everybody had the right dates and the right prompts. Their are so many other things to do on google docs. You can share documents with your other friends! Fifteen people can work on the same document at the same time! That's the coolest of them all! But then why just send your documents to read, send them for people to correct mistakes! Now that's really really cool! This week was pretty exciting in Connections!
by LL

GOOGLEY EYES

2008-09-19T11:44:00.008-04:00

Go to my homepage on www.sparta.org and check my animoto video. You may need headphones to hear the sound.
Click on this link to create your own animoto account.
Use images from google images to create your own animoto on what the American Dream means to you.
Go to the this Hartman Hoopla post, using your notebook journal, take the survey. The magic number of entries is 7. Assess yourself and submit the survey only once.
Also, check out voicethread and sliderocket for other presentation ideas.
On welcome.hartmanstudents.com, click on "More" then "Even More" and explore Books, News, and Maps. Think about some ways in which we could use these tools in Connections.
Create a new Google document in your google docs called, "The American Dream."
Write about what the American Dream means to you.

Google Apps Day 2

2008-09-17T20:30:00.010-04:00

On Day 1 of Google Apps for Education, we learned how to log in to the computers at the middle school and how to access our Google Apps Account at http://welcome.hartmanstudents.com
We watched a video by Common Craft about Google Docs and started typing up our first RAFT - a letter to Mrs. Hartman from the point of view of a 5th grade teacher about us (the student).
On Day 2 we are going to set up folders in Google Docs to keep organized and learn how to collaborate and share with Mrs. Hartman and our friends. We are also going to learn how to insert comments and give feedback on writing.
We are going to view a Google Docs tutorial
and create a spreadsheet in google docs.
We are also going to practice our typing skills or here
and submit our wish for the future at http://www.millionfutures.org.uk/

Journal Checklist

2008-09-16T11:50:00.002-04:00

Students in Mrs. Hartman's connections classes. Please take the survey only once before Monday, September 22.
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First Two Weeks of School

2008-09-10T14:13:00.009-04:00

The first 2 weeks of school were exciting. We figured out what Connections is all about by watching short videos and reading a short story by Avi, called "How I Got My English A." It was about a student who was a horrible speller and grammarian, but had great story ideas. ("Not that good spelling and grammar aren't important, but ideas and content are equally important," said Mrs Hartman).
We talked about the possible educational uses of cellphones (good and bad) and met Cha Cha.
Next we created trading cards of ourselves and filled in Who I Am graphic organizers so we could get to know each other better. Finally, we created comics about school and learned about a comic creator website, MakeBeliefsComix.com.
We have been sharing our ideas and comics with the FruitPicker. It spins our names and the name that the machine stops on is the person who is shares.
Videos we discussed:

Did You Know?

Nokia's 4th Screen

Our Google Certified Teacher!

2008-06-11T11:16:00.005-04:00

Also, this week in Mrs. Hartman’s class we found out that she would be
attending the Google Teacher Academy. In this program, 50 talented teachers were selected out of many applicants. These 50 teachers are selected based upon their professional experience, their love for teaching and learning, and their use of technology. After attending this program these teachers will become Google Certified Teachers.
She asked all of her classes to make a one minute video showing her using technology in class. Period 7-8 made a video that included a rap and a demonstration of how Mrs. Hartman catches the children’s attention with her nifty technological skills. All classes have viewed the video and came to the conclusion that it ROCKS!!
The video was submitted and, you guessed it, Mrs. Hartman was picked. She is planning on attending this 12 hour event on June 25^th in Mountain View, California. Luckily, this is after the last day of school so we won’t be without our favorite Language Arts teacher!

Don't Call the Principal!

2008-06-11T10:41:00.003-04:00

This week in Mrs. Hartman’s language arts class we experimented with a new type of poll system called http://www.polleverywhere.com. Mrs. Hartman suggested that we bring our cell phones to class in order to participate with this website. She submitted a question from the book Freak the Mighty (which we are currently reading) into this polling website. We then texted our response to the number provided. A few seconds later our texts arrived and were submitted into the poll. They were even displayed on screen! We could see other people’s responses as well as our own. This was an interesting and up to date experiment. In our opinion it was definitely worth while!

KC & SB

Amber Field Day 08

2008-06-10T14:59:00.002-04:00

Here are two takes on Amber Field Day -08

Pictures will be up tomorrow!

Take 1:This week has been very interesting. On Friday we had field day. It was very fun. We played many games my favorite was the folding blanket. Mrs. Sawey ran the game. Our group won. It was a lot of fun. A challenging game we played would be the ping pong ball spoon race it was really hard because you had to balance the ball on a spoon and go at a certain speed or you dropped it and then you had to go back. When we played kickball Mr. Miller was the umpire. Our team lost but it was still fun. these were all the games kickball, alphabet game, dress up game, extreme shoe race, three legged race, Frisbee toss, chicken over the head, beach towel ball toss, shoe box relay, hula hoop toss and tug of war. At the end we got ice cream. Mr. Iadarola’s homeroom won field day. This was a very nice end of year party!!

Take 2:Field day was a great day. We did a lot of fun stuff. We played a lot of fun games like the clothes relay, ping pong relay and the shoe box relay. In the ping pong relay you had to balance a ping-pong ball on a small spoon and walk around a cone and back. That game was a lot of fun especially when the other team was 2 people were ahead of us and when won 3!!! We also played a game called the alphabet game which was really fun. In that game you had get all the alphabet pieces and put them together. Our team won that. At the end we had a tug-o-war game and when it was our turn we didn’t know we were starting and Mrs. Hartman’s class beat us!!!! Out of all the games Mr.Iadarola’s class won!!! We were tied for dead last!!!! Oh well, It was the best end of the year party ever!!!!!

Week of Fun

2008-05-30T10:48:00.001-04:00

It’s been an awesome week! On Monday there was no school; let’s thank Memorial Day for that! Tuesday was the best! We had an assembly second and third period about knights. It was awesome. We saw the actors fight and they taught us how the life was in the medieval times. Sadly we missed language arts because of the assembly, but that didn’t ruin our week. On Wednesday we had another assembly! Too many assemblies! But this assembly was very special. The sixth grade students were honored at this assembly. The assembly was for the student of the marking period. Two people from sapphire team, two from topaz, and the best of course, two from AMBER TEAM! To make the assembly even better there were two seventh graders. The seventh graders were singing and playing the guitar!!!!!!! They were awesome! We saw HB and AY dancing… lol! On Thursday we started reading Freak the Mighty in language arts. We read the first two chapters. From reading the first two chapters I felt that it was going to be a great book. In lunch there was a mini assembly on the program H2H. It was ok; it was kind of boring but a good entertainment for lunch! Finally on happy Friday we went to the computer lab to finish up our poems. Just a regular day. That was an awesome week and I hope next week is as good as this one!

2008-05-19T13:11:00.003-04:00

Sterling Hill Mineral Museum

The Sterling Hill Mineral Museum is a very fun place to go for a field trip or for just any old day that you have nothing to do. It is located in Ogdensburg. You get to go into the mine, get a florescent rock or two and even see a fault line. The guides there are very nice. Inside the museum you get to see 8lbs of gold, even a t-rex skull. They even have very beautiful minerals and gems in the museum too.

After you tour around the museum you either get too got to the rock discovery (where you get to find garnet, slate, sandstone, marble, coal and basalt) or go into the mine. When you go into the mine you get to see a mine shaft, the equipment the miners used to wear, a real fault line, a very deep body of water, stalactites and even an open pit mine. After you come back from your tour you get to go and have lunch. After that you get to go into the gift shop. They sell fossils, shark teeth, fools gold, gemstones (including sapphires, diamonds, rubies and emeralds) and a lot of other neat rocks. Sterling Hill Mineral Museum was a fun field trip. J.D.R

Poetry Palooza

2008-05-16T10:58:00.007-04:00

Our NJ ASK testing is finally over! This week, we got back to our normal schedules and started some new stuff. We got new vocab words and spelling words that were all poetry words. We even have a new assignment on writing poems in different categories, for example: haiku's, definition, shape/concrete etc. On Monday, we got a poetry packet and we started a poem called "The Sneetches" by Dr. Seuss. We did some questions on the Sneetches and on Tuesday, we went over them. On Wednesday, we did more from our poetry packet. We did three poems. They were called "Ode to Mi Gato", "In a Neighborhood in Los Angeles", and "Hard on the Gas." We answered some more questions in the packet and went over them. On Thursday, we read a great story on John Henry in the poetry packet. We answered all of the questions and went on to watch some videos. We watched The Sneetches and John Henry. We also took our vocab quiz's. On our rainy Friday, we took our spelling test. We got a worksheet on how to read a poem... the right way! After we read a poem called "A Scarcity of Words." We had an assignment afterwards where we had to write down ten words we would say if we could only use ten words. This was a challenging task for some of us. After we did this, we wrote down a definition/list poem. We could choose a person or a place but we couldn't use adjectives to describe them, we had to use nouns. We had to list twenty nouns describing this person or place and then change it down to ten. We then changed it into a poem. This was especially hard because we usually describe people with adjectives but we could only use nouns. We also got a poetry crossword puzzle using our spelling words. We have certainly had a poetry palooza week!

What we did on Spring Break

2008-05-02T11:11:00.002-04:00

It was a perfect week of sun and temperature. I interviewed some classmates and here is how some of us spent our Spring Break:
1. Had sleepovers with friends.
2. Made the competition cheerleading team.
3. Went to Disney World.
4. Visited Washington DC and saw the monuments.
5. Stayed up late and slept late.
6. Went to The Great Wolf Lodge in PA.
7. Went shopping with friends.
8. Went to Atlantic City and out to eat.
9. Went to the Jersey Shore.
10. Hung out with friends and played video games.
11. Went on a cruise.
12. Went to Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum in NYC.
13. Went to the Grand Cayman Islands.
14. Went to Boston.
15. Went to Martha's Vineyard.
16. I found out I was moving!
17. My sister came home from college.
18. Went to Cancun!
19. Took long walks on the beach.
20. Shopping at the mall.

Last Chance Workout

2008-05-02T11:00:00.002-04:00

This week we practiced for the NJASK and reviewed tips for test taking and preparation. Here are a list of tips from all classes:
1. Go to bed early the night before.
2. Eat your Wheaties! (Eat breakfast)
3. Listen to classical music on your way to school.
4. Don't stress!
5. Write 5 paragraphs for a persuasive letter.
6. Aim for 3 paragraphs for a speculative prompt.
7. Always restate the question in the answer for an open-ended question and answer ALL questions.
8. Neat handwriting!
9. In the Reading section, read the questions first so you know what you are looking for in the passage.
10. If you are writing a letter. make sure to write "Dear_________," and sign your name at the end.
11. If you have extra time go back and make sure you answered all the questions.
12.Be careful not to skip a question completely.
13. Think outside the box.
14. Stay relaxed.
15. It is better to guess than to leave something blank.
16. Try your best.
17. Eat brain food for dinner the night before such as fish or foods high in Omega 3.

Friday, April 17

2008-04-18T08:53:00.009-04:00

This week we went to the computer lab. We worked on our photo stories. We went Monday, Tuesday, and some people went Wednesday and Thursday! Monday when we came in we did a Vocab review sheet. Tuesday we did a practice for the NJ ASK testing. Wednesday, we went back to the computer lab for the people who didn’t finish. Thursday, we went to the computer lab for the last time and listened to some Photo Story projects. On Friday, we went to the book fair! Then we went to Vocab Bingo! Today was our last day of school before Spring Break!!!
This week was very exciting. We learned how to do Photo Story and turned our fairy tales into media files. The requirements were 10 images and our fairy tales had to be re-written in modern times from a different point of view. We also learned that a book we read at the beginning of the year (Chasing Vermeer)is being turned into a movie by Brad Pitt! Today we are going to the book fair and playing vocabulary bingo against Mrs. S's class. We also did some NJASK practice and review. We had to tell what it would be like to live in your favorite book, short story, or television show for one day.
In science we celebrated Earth Day by creating a mural of hands on our team wall, "The Future of Our Earth is in Our Hands."

Fairy Tale Frenzy

2008-04-08T21:24:00.002-04:00

This week in Mrs. Hartman's class, we did a lot. On Monday, we read several versions of Rumpelstiltskin. After that, we started to re-wright our fairy tales. On Tuesday, we wrapped up Rumpelstiltskin, and continued our fairy tales. This Wednesday, we read Rumpelstiltskin, but different character's points of view. And once again, we continued our fairy tales.
On Thursday, we took a vocab quiz, did a worksheet, and started to finish the fairy tales. On Friday, we took a spelling quiz, checked the work sheet we completed Thursday, and finished our fair tales. After a fairy tale frenzy, we'll go home and relax on the weekend!