Happy Summer Vacation!

Happy summer to all. Enjoy, be safe and I look forward to seeing everyone in the fall!

Project presentations

Today we presented our "Making the World a Better Place" projects. One more day left of school. Tomorrow is a half-day celebration. Be prepared to enjoy.

No homework.

Finish up projects!

Today students worked more on their "Making the World a Better Place" project. Projects will be presented tomorrow during a class exhibition.

Homework: Be prepared for class exhibition of "Making the World a Better Place" project.

Working on "Making the World a Better Place"

Today students worked on their "Making the World a Better Place" project. They will have a short class tomorrow to work on it and should be prepared to present their project in the exhibition on Thursday.

Work on project for homework.

"Making the World a Better Place" project

Today we finished watching Rabbit Proof Fence and discussed the movie's theme and how it pertained to what we've learned this year. Then, Miss D. introduced the end-of-year project, "Making the World a Better Place." For this project, students are to complete the project packet, journaling about who they are as a people, what their perfect world looks like, what problems they see in the world preventing the existence of the perfect world and what solutions they can develop for one of those problems. On Thursday, students will be presenting their problem and developed solutions in a form of their choice. Many choices are listed in the packet.

You may choose to work on your project packet for homework.

Field Day, Grant Park

Today was field day at Grant Park. Sunny and warm.

Next week, we'll begin a fun, end-of-year project reflecting on all we've learned.

Also, we will begin presenting portfolios in advisory.

No homework.

Rabbit Proof Fence

Today students finished sharing their memoirs as a whole class. Then, we began watching the movie Rabbit Proof Fence, documenting three aboriginal girls as they run away from the Australian Government. Students completed a study guide as they watched the film.

No homework. Field day tomorrow.

Memoir share day

Today, Miss Devine gave students half of the class period to finish up their memoir project. She also gave students who were finished the opportunity to gain 10 points of extra credit by drawing and coloring a picture of their favorite scene from Whale Rider, describing the scene, explaining why it was their favorite scene and whether or not they thought it was important in the movie.

Then, for the rest of the class, we shared memoirs and gave each other feedback on them.

No homework.

Complete your memoir!

Today, Miss Devine returned edited versions of students' memoirs and students rewrote them, creating their final drafts. We read Miss Devine's example memoir and went over the memoir requirements. Students spent the class period writing final drafts, creating covers and binding their memoirs. Completely bound memoirs are due tomorrow for in-class share day.

Homework: Finish Memoir Project

Memoir- first draft

Two weeks left of the school year! Time is rolling.

After reading an example memoir in class, students used the prewriting that they did on Friday to write their first draft of their memoir. First draft memoirs were due by the end of the period, or they are homework. Students also did a little work on their Humanities portfolio which they will continue to finish in Ms. Ramsey's class this week.

Homework: Complete first draft of memoir if you did not do so in class.

Memoir prewriting

Today, we went over our reflection questions from watching Whale Rider. We talked about Pai's defining moments in the movie and then began to talk about defining moments from our own lives. Miss Devine modeled highlighting defining moments from her life and then students brainstormed these in their own lives. We did some prewriting in order to jot down as many details as we could about our memory and why it was important to us. We are now beginning the last part of our Aus/NZ/Oceania unit- writing a memoir of self-definition.

Then, we spent some time talking about how the portfolio process will look in Humanities class and what we will be doing with that over the next two weeks.

No homework. Enjoy the weekend.

Whale Rider continued

Today, we finished watching the Whale Rider. Students completed their movie study guides. Then, we did an outdoor carousel where students ran around and answers various reflection questions on the movie that we will use to start class tomorrow.

No homework.

Whale Rider

Today, we began the end of year portfolio process and watched half of the movie, Whale Rider, about a Maori girl. We will finish the movie tomorrow in class. Students are responsible for submitting the Whale Rider study guide at the end of class tomorrow.

Homework: If you did not work on the Whale Rider questions as we watched the movie today, do so tonight for homework. The study guide is due tomorrow.

Maori/Aborigine exhibit!

Today, students displayed their exhibits in the Maori/Aborigine indigenous cultures museum. They had the chance to walk around and see their classmates' exhibits and take notes on what they learned. When we finished the exhibit, we discussed the similarities and differences between these two cultures, how the experiences of these groups compared to groups in the United States and whether or not we felt it was important to study indigenous peoples. Tomorrow we will use what we've learned and begin watching the movie The Whale Rider.

Homework: None.

Quiz & completion of creative displays

Today in Humanities, students took a quiz on vocab words. Then, they used the rest of the class period to complete their creative displays for the Maori/Aborigine museum exhibit tomorrow.

Homework: Complete creative display for museum exhibit tomorrow.

Creating our Maori/ Aborigine displays

Friday, Friday...what a lovely day!

Students turned in their reports on their topic related to Maori/ Aborigine culture. Then, they used the remaining class time to work on their creative display for the museum exhibit on Tuesday. For Tuesday, students will need to have their report and creative display so that they can display and present these items for their peers. The vocab quiz has been moved to MONDAY.

Homework: Continue to work on Maori/Aborigine creative display project. This is due Tuesday. Vocab quiz has been moved to MONDAY. Study your words this weekend.