Mayans, Incans, Aztecs

Today, we had an afternoon extended advisory, so the class periods were shorter.

We brainstormed all that we knew about early Latin American civilization- the Mayans, Incans and Aztecs. Then, with our teams, we read about one of these early civilization groups and took notes about certain aspects of the civilization in a graphic organizer. Then, we used the information gathered to create a "teaching poster" that we will use to present the information to our classmates on Monday.

There is no homework. Enjoy the weekend!

Latin American revolution

Welcome back from Jekyll Island! We were all pretty sleepy today.

Today we reflected on the Jekyll trip and began preparing for our next unit entitled: How would you fight for your rights? A look at Independence Movements in Latin America. We discussed the unit's essential questions and reflected on what we already knew about revolutions and our background knowledge going into the unit.

Then, we spent part of the class period organizing our work folders. Miss D gave an organization check and gave students a grade for the organization of their binder.

There is no homework.

Happy Inauguration!

Happy Inauguration Day!

Today, students took a quiz to assess what they learned from the Latin America country museum on Friday. Then, they worked in partners to complete their weekly grammar quiz (pronouns).

We discussed the significance of inauguration day and learned about some precedents and notable events of past inaugurations. Then, we completed a team-race-inauguration-trivia-hunt with prizes.

Homework: Study this week's vocab for the quiz tomorrow.

*Ms. Devine will be out Wed, Thurs and Friday of this week due to a family emergency. Our student teacher, Mrs. Cassaro, will be returning tomorrow. There is a Jekyll Island field trip meeting this Wednesday at 6pm in the library.

Latin American country museum!

Today we reviewed demonstrative pronouns. There will be a quiz on pronouns and all of the ANTHROP/DEMO vocabulary on Wednesday. Students set up their Latin American country museum with food, relics and travel books. Students visited the exhibits of their classmates and took notes about each of the aspects of the country. Students sampled food, listened to music and played various games from these countries. Over the long weekend, students need to study the notes sheets and be prepared for an assessment on the information that they learned on Tuesday. Tuesday will be a shortened class period day due to the school watching of the inauguration.

Homework: Study country notes and be prepared for the assessment on Tuesday.

Thanks to family members who helped students prepare their exhibits!

Prep work- museum day

Today we did some review work with personal and demonstrative pronouns. Students evaluated the performance of their group members in the travel book project. Then, they worked together to plan out their museum exhibit for tomorrow. Museum exhibits must contain: travel book, country representative who answers questions about the country/project, and at least 3 relics to display knowledge about the aspects of the country studied.

Homework: Finish demonstrative pronoun sheet. Bring in any necessary materials for TRAVEL BOOK museum presentation exhibit tomorrow.

Student quote of day:
Student 1: You look like Tina Turner.
Student 2: Yeah, well you look like foot fungus.

travel books continued...

Today, students used their finished travel book pages to lay out their travel book and bind it. Students began to plan out their museum exhibit. Travel book museum presentation has been MOVED TO FRIDAY. Tomorrow will be used for exhibit planning.

Homework: EXTRA CREDIT= vocab story with 8 vocab words. Complete the pronoun sheet.

travel book pages

Today we went over the grammar part of speech of the week- PRONOUNS- and did some practice identifying pronouns and antecedents in sentences. Then, we began to design our travel book pages. Travel book pages are due tomorrow at the start of class. We will spend tomorrow binding the books and planning for the Latin American Country Museum Day on Thursday.

Homework: Do the vocab sentences. Complete Exercise two (bottom half) of the pronoun worksheet we started in class today. Finish travel book pages.

Sunny Monday

Students took their quizzes- both grammar (all nouns) and vocab (BIO, VIV, VIT words). Then, students peer edited the rough draft versions of their travel book reports and began to write the final draft of these reports. There will be no class time given to type these reports. If students choose to type their reports, they must do so at home. Tomorrow we will design travel book pages. Books must be bound and complete for travel book museum presentation on Thursday.

New vocab this week:
anthrop- man
demo- people
1. anthropology-n- study of human beings and their ancestors
2. misanthrope-n- a person who hates or distrusts mankind
3. anthropomorphize-v- to give human characteristics to non-human things
4. philanthropy-n- love of mankind
5. anthropologist-n- one who studies the science of human beings
6. demographics-n- the statistical characteristics of a human population
7. democracy-n- government by the people
8. epidemic-adj- affecting a large number of individuals in a population or community

Homework: Vocab pictures. Make sure you bring the final draft of reports to class tomorrow.

Rough draft reports- travel book

Happy Friday!

Today students reviewed vocab words and nouns for a quiz on Monday. Then, they wrote their second rough draft for their travel book project. If they did not finish the rough draft in class, they must do so for homework this weekend.

Homework: Study vocab words and noun practice for Monday's quiz. Make sure the 2 rough drafts are completed by Monday.

Congrats to color table winners and Wolf Bone winners.

Also- congrats to Connor Bayliss who was first runner up in the final round of the school geography bee.

hoy

jueves, jueves:

Este es que hicimos hoy:

Students shared their vocabulary stories from homework. Then, we spent the rest of the class period finishing up our research on our specified aspect of the Latin American country. Students were responsible for turning in at least one rough draft report for their travel book by the end of class. If they did not finish, it is for homework. Remember, reports are on your specified theme and must be at least two 5-7 sentence paragraphs.

Homework: Noun worksheet- front and back. Finish one rough draft report for your travel book.

Small update: Mrs. Cassaro will be returning to be with our class on January 21st. In the meantime, Ms. Dowdell will be helping out.

Latin American country research

Today in Humanities, students did research on their Latin American country. We will continue to research for part of the class time tomorrow. If students need to bring in any additional materials to conduct their research, they should do so because tomorrow will be the last day that we will gather research before we begin drafting our travel book pages.

Homework: Vocab story using the 8 vocab words. Underline all nouns in the story.

Student quote of the day:
Student (while looking with wide eyes at a poster of ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu): "Man, this is nowhere near where I live."

Bienvenidos a America Latina!

Here begins our voyage to Latin America:

We began the class by reviewing the vocab and grammar homework from last night. Tonight, students need to use their vocab words in sentences and underline the nouns in each sentence.

Then, in groups, students completed the Latin America trivia challenge and used the atlases to answer trivia questions about Latin America. Miss Devine explained the project that students will be working on for the next week:

Students are working in groups to research a specific Latin American country. Students are responsible for gathering information on the following country aspects: geography, government and economy, history, people and lifestyle, language and literature, the arts, leisure and festivals and food. Students have divided themselves into separate jobs as well: editor, layout mananger, artist/designer or photo collector. Together, they will work on gathering information on their specific topic and then creating a page with the information gathered. Today, students selected their country, the topics they will research and their specific job.

Homework: Bring in index cards if you have them at home. If you would like to bring in any information from the internet or books on your country, you may do so. Do your vocab sentences and underline the nouns in each sentence.

Back to school!

Welcome back from break!
Today in Humanities, students received their new vocab for the week:

Bio, Vit, Viv= life
1. biography-n- written history of a person's life
2. biology-n- the study of living organisms
3. biodegradable-adj- capable of being broken down into harmless material by the help of living things
4. revitalize-v- to give new life or vigor to
5. revive-v- to restore life
6. vital-adj- necessary to maintain life
7. vivacious-adj- lively
8. vivid-adj- having the appearance of life or freshness

We also practiced identifying common nouns (ex: school), proper nouns (ex: Atlanta Charter Middle School), abstract nouns (ex: love) and concrete nouns (ex: bicycle).

We introduced our Latin America unit by working in groups to see how well we could label countries on a map of Latin America. Later, we correctly labeled and colored the map.

Homework: Students need to draw the pictures for their new vocabulary words. Students need to write three examples of each type of noun discussed in class. Finally, students need to finish labeling and coloring the map of Latin American and bring this with them to class tomorrow.