More Activist Presentations!

Today, we finished up activist project presentations and students took notes and gave feedback. We ended the period with a trivia game to see what students learned from their classmates.

Click here to see a great YOU TUBE video on Mexican Immigration produced by Mark and Ewan.

A reminder to those students doing Dominican Republic Extra Credit Research: be prepared to present on Monday! Here is the rubric.
Kennedy & Josh: history
Mac& Ava: culture
Dominick & Britney: geography

Homework: Only for those who are doing the extra credit project!

Activist Presentations!

Today, students presented their Persuasive Projects and classmates took notes on what they learned and gave feedback. Here are some of the creative projects we saw in class today: power point on rainforest destruction in Brazil, a music video about how to fix oil pollution in Venezuela, a scavenger hunt leading to the solution to mining pollution in the Canadian Shield...and many more.

Students have no homework unless they are preparing to present their presentation tomorrow.

Adverb quiz & Persuasive project!

Today, we took a quiz on adverbs. We voted on two class representatives to be on the Haiti Bake Sale Fundraising Committee. These students will meet with Ms. Laura each Thursday during lunch to plan out our Humanities Night Bake Sale Event for Haiti.

We went over requirements for the oral presentation and then students had the rest of the period to work on their persuasive project that is due either Thursday or Friday.

Homework: Persuasive project and presentation- make sure they're ready to go on your presentation day!

Persuasive Project work!

Today, we reviewed adverbs from our homework last night. We have a quiz on adverbs tomorrow. Study your review sheet to get a good grade! Then, we voted on the charity to which we wanted to send the money that we will raise in our Humanities Night bake sale on March 4th.

Students brainstormed ways that they would be assessed in the learning about each others' social and environmental issues during presentations on Thursday and Friday.

Finally, students had the rest of the class period to work on their project with their partner.

Homework: Study adverbs for quiz. Work on persuasive project.

Time to make your persuasive PROJECT!

Today, we reviewed adverbs. Students have adverb review work for homework because there will be an adverb quiz on Wednesday. Then, we turned in our final persuasive essays along with each part of the writing process, stapled to the rubric. Then, we got together with our partners, decided what multiple intelligence project we wanted to do to persuade our classmates of our opinion and then we got started planning and making the project.

Project presentation are Thursday and Friday of this week and students should know which day they are presenting. We will be working on these projects Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week in class.

Homework: Adverb review sheet. Work on your persuasive project.

Revision, editing and a GUEST speaker!!!

Today, we broke off into partners and peer revised each other's papers with red pens. Then, we returned to partners and discussed the comments we made on each others' papers. Final, neat copies of essays are due on Monday and then we will begin our projects that go with the essays!

Then, Maya Webster's dad, Jim, visited our class to talk about the Mayas.

Homework: Finish final copy of essay. Bring Monday.

Transition words and the 1st DRAFT!

Today, we brainstormed what we could do to help Haiti. The kids came up with several ideas and we're going to figure out which one we can do soon.

Then, we talked about using transitional words and phrases in our writing and how the paragraphs of our persuasive essay should "flow like butter." We used the 4-square transition word chart to add transition words and phrases to our 4 square. Then, we broke off into partners and wrote our first draft of our essay using the Persuasive Writing packet Miss Devine gave out yesterday. Miss Devine met with partner and gave them a grade on their research notecards. If students did not finish the first draft of their essay in class today, it is homework.

Homework: Finish 1st draft of persuasive essay. Bring to class and be ready to revise & edit.

Prewriting for the persuasive essay

Today, we practiced with adverbs. Students need to finish their adverb packet for homework.

Then, Miss Devine explained the 4-square method of prewriting in order to plan for writing the persuasive essay. We practiced using this method together as a class utilizing the sample essay provided by Miss Devine. Then, students broke off into their partnerships to decide the best solution to their problem and then brainstorm the the three reasons why this is the best solution. Students used the class period to complete their 4 square chart. Here is the "How to Write a Persuasive Essay" packet.

Homework: What can we do to help Haiti? Brainstorm ideas and bring to class tomorrow. Complete adverb packet. Complete 4 square if you did not do so in class today.

Adverbs & Research

Today, we did some more practice with adverbs. Students have adverb homework tonight- the WHERE and WHEN pages of the adverb packet. Then, we watched a short documentary called Eusebio's Dream about a Peruvian man fighting for the rights to his land in the Machu Picchu Valley. We discussed his problems and potential solutions and the best solution and referenced this to the problems that we have been researching. Finally, we spent the last part of the class period finishing our research. Miss Devine collected the research and the cited sources from partners today.

Homework: Adverb packet- the WHERE and WHEN pages.

Adverbs and research

Today, we practiced more with adverbs. We read a book and played an adverb game. Then, we continued with the research process that we started yesterday. Students continued researching their topics using the research questions.

Homework: Continue with your research process. Finish up as much research as possible. We will only have half the day Tuesday to continue researching.

If you haven't already done so, check out Mark's RAFT project posted yesterday.

Remember: the "If I Were Mayor Essay" contest submissions are due next Friday.
Here is a link to the contest. Here is a list of tips for writing a good essay. This is worth +10 bonus points in your writing grade category!

Now that's a rap!

RAFT Project: Mark's rap about Montezuma II:

Adverbs and Activist Research

Today, we began our study of adverbs. We did some practice together as a class. For homework, students need to brainstorm how, where, when and to what extent about a verb of their choice and come up with a list of at least 20 adverbs.

Then, students decided who they would partner with for their activist project and what topic they would choose to research. Students received index cards and research folders and began the research process. We will continue to research tomorrow in class.

Homework: Brainstorm 20 adverbs!

Mad Libs, Current Events, Activist Project

Today, we shared the mad libs we created last night for homework. We laughed and laughed at those. Then, we regrouped with our partner from yesterday and finished working on our current events in Latin America/Canada that we started yesterday. We made a list of all of the topics that we were reading about and created a list of things going on in Latin America/Canada. We spent some time discussing the recent earthquake in Haiti. Then, we participated in a class discussion about one group's current event. Thank you Sophie, Duvan, Ryan and Thomas for sharing.

Lastly, Miss Devine passed out the project overview sheet that described the project we will be starting: Becoming an Activist Research Project: A Look at Social and Environmental Issues In Latin America and Canada. Here is the project overview sheet and here are the multiple intelligence project options.

Homework: Finish looking over the project overview sheet. Decide who you want to partner with and what topic you want to research.

Mad Libs & Current Events!

Today, we reviewed what we talked about yesterday in our group discussions about exploration. Then, Miss Devine collected pen pal letters which will be mailed out today. Tonight for homework, students will be writing their own Mad Lib using the instructions handed out in class. We'll be reading those with partners tomorrow in class!

Later, we began to explore current events taking place in Latin America and Canada. We did a geography review game of the region and then began to investigate events in the New York Times newspaper. Students worked with a partner to find a current event about Latin America/Canada, read the article and then worked on a current events sheet on the article.

We will finish up the current events work with our partner in class tomorrow and have a discussion about what we've discovered.

Homework: Make your own Mad Lib!

RAFT presentations and Exploration discussion

I hope everyone enjoyed their snow day on Friday!

Today, we collected last Friday's homework- the final RAFT assignment and the Mad Libs practice. Several students presented their RAFT writings for bonus points and we gave feedback to these students. Then, we reflected on the topic of Exploration of the Americas by completing some pre-discussion questions. Then, we gathered in smaller groups with discussion leaders, Miss Devine and Mrs. Tillery. We discussed the discussion questions using the "bean system" and then we completed a reflection writing assignment. If the reflection writing assignment was not completed in class it is for homework.

Homework: Discussion reflection assignment. Also, pen pal letters are due tomorrow so that they can be mailed off.

RAFT editing & final copy

Today, we peer edited our RAFT drafts and then rewrote these drafts to make a final copy. Final copy of RAFT assignments are due tomorrow. Students should come prepared to share their writing and then participate in a class debate about exploration.

We also did some mad libs games to practice parts of speech. Students need to finish Mad Libs packet for homework.

Homework: Final draft, mad libs packet.

Brrr! Happy Wednesday in 2010!

Welcome back from break! It's brrrr out there!

Today, we reviewed our parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives & pronouns) and received our pen pal letters from our friends in Honduras. We shared some of these out in class. Then, we went over the RAFT assignment that we did over break. We shared some of these in class as well. Students revised each others' RAFT assignments using this revision sheet. Then, they received their revision feedback from peers. Homework tonight is to write the second draft of the RAFT assignment.

Homework: RAFT 2nd draft due tomorrow.