Science in Language Arts

Students are writing a blog post for an interdisciplinary project in language arts and science. They recently found the volume of an irregular shaped pond in the science classroom. The pond had two levels so each had to be measured separately and then added together. Units were also converted from standard to metric.

The assignment for Reading Workshop students is to write an overview/essay detailing this process. This post should include an introduction, detailed steps, and conclusion. As always, PUGS count!

This project will count as a grade for both classes. The science grade will be based primarily on content. The language arts grade will be based on content, organization, and PUGS.


Image From: www.wikihow.com

Pond Informational Report

You can see all the Informational Reports HERE.

Informational Report--Science and L.A. Project

Reading Workshop students are working on an interdisciplinary unit in science and language arts. They are finding the volume of the classroom pond in the science class determining how many liters of water will be needed for this new and improved home for the class turtles.

In language arts, students will be writing an informational report detailing the process, and what they discovered. Essays will be scored based on the PARCC rubric below.

Submit Your Project for a Grade

Reading Workshop students, please copy your Element Essay and Element poem from your blog and paste them into this form to be graded.

Interdisciplinary Element Project

Students will be doing an interdisciplinary research/writing project in Reading Workshop and science.  Students will choose an element from the periodic table and describe the stages of the element's life.  

The language arts grade for this project will be based on organization, creativity, PUGS (punctuation, usage, grammar, and spelling), completeness, and overall quality of writing.  Students will also be writing a poem about the element and it will be graded too.  The science grade will be based on content and quality of overall project as described on the project information sheet provided by Ms. Huysman.

Before beginning to write, students must know the following information:

1.   Name of element

2.   Element symbol

3.   Atomic number

4.   Atomic mass

5.   Number of protons

6.   Number of electrons

7.   Number of neutrons

8.   Date of discovery

9.   Discoverer

10. Country of discovery

11. Boiling Point

12. Melting Point

13. State of Matter

14. Family name

15. Names of family members

16. Period/group

17. Uses for element

18. Type of element

All of this information is expected to be included in the project.  The written part will be posted on student blogs.  This will be printed out and included with other parts of the project as required for science.

Image from http://quantumartandpoetry.blogspot.com

Grading Student Blog Posts

The students in Reading Workshop just completed an interdisciplinary project for social studies and language arts.  They had to research about a place they had visited, list five facts, and then write a story about their trip.  In addition, for their blog, they had to write an introduction, find relevant links, and post pictures that supported their writing.

The project was graded using this rubric.

A 

• Follows project guidelines
• Has an introduction that explains the project telling W's (who, what, when, where, why)    
• Interesting/draws in the reader
• Writing has a sense of style
• Provides relative and interesting facts
• Writes a narrative that is detailed, exciting, and complete
• Has numerous links to relevant websites
• Correct PUGS (Punctuation, Usage, Grammar, and Spelling)
• Does not plagiarize

B

• Follows project guidelines
• Has an introduction that explains the project telling W's    
• Provides relative and interesting facts
• Writes a narrative that is detailed and complete
• Has links to relevant websites
• Correct PUGS (Punctuation, Usage, Grammar, and Spelling)
• Does not plagiarize

C 

• Follows guidelines
• Has an introduction that explains the project
• Provides facts
• Writes a narrative that is complete
• Has links to websites
• Two - Four mistakes with PUGS (Punctuation, Usage, Grammar, and Spelling)
• Does not plagiarize

D 

• Does not follow guidelines
• Incomplete introduction
• Provides some facts
• Incomplete narrative
• Errors with PUGS (Punctuation, Usage, Grammar, and Spelling)
• Does not plagiarize

F 

• Plagiarizes
• Little sign of effort
• Did not publish post on blog

Writing in Social Studies

In Mrs. Griffey's social studies class, students studied, researched, and then wrote essays about Mesopotamia. Students had to follow the writing process. They wrote a rough draft, peer edited, and then published a final draft to be graded. This project counted as a social studies grade which was weighted based on content, and as a writing grade which was weighted towards the writing. Overall, the essays were filled with information, interesting, and well written.

Justin did a good job with his introduction and conclusion. He used a W's beginning to introduce the topic to the reader.

I discovered a lot of interesting things about Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia was located in the fertile crescent in what is now present day Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syrian, Jordan, Israel and Syria. Mesopotamia started in 4000 B.C. Mesopotamia was also located by two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates.

His closing sums up the topic, and restates a few key points.

Mesopotamia was a very successful culture. In Mesopotamia they had laws, a form of writing and technology. The people of Mesopotamia still affect us today.

By using a simple, but effective opening and closing, and having a body with many details, Justin and many of his classmates did well with this interdisciplinary project.