Mapping the Seedfolks & Wrapping up the Giver

6th: Today, we began class by brainstorming a list of why people might leave their home country and move to another country. Then, we shared out our homework from last night, the research we did on our characters. Then, we brainstormed a reason why our character might have moved from their home country to Cleveland. We reviewed the requirements for the Mapping the Seedfolks story and then broke off into character groups to begin brainstorming some introductory lines to our stories. Finally, we took some of the class period to write our story using the format and maps Miss D. passed out in class.
Homework: Work on Mapping the Seedfolks story. Be prepared to show Miss D. the work you did in class tomorrow.

7th: We began class by going over the manifestos that we worked on yesterday. Each group shared out one manifesto, sharing the RAP summary, the government of each manifesto and a picture to represent this government. Then, we summarized chapters 20-22 of the Giver and read chapter 23 together in class. We discussed the last chapter, theorizing about what might have happened to Jonas, talked about themes in the book and then completed the plot structure chart about the events in the book.
Homework: Complete plot structure chart tonight. If you have a Mapping the Seedfolks story that you can share with Miss Devine as an example for the 6th graders, bring it in. Miss D will give you a Tootsie Pop.

Mapping the Seedfolks and Manifestos...!

6th: We began class by reflecting on Seedfolks- themes and opinions of the book. Then, we did some mapping practice to warm up for our Mapping the Seedfolks writing project. Ms. D introduced the project and then kids selected the character whose perspective from which they would be writing. Then, we did this activity to have students dive into character, using books and encyclopedias to do background research on the country of our character.
Homework: Finish character background research sheet.

7th: We began the class by talking about what we began on Friday, what we believed the type of government in The Giver to be. Then, Ms. D. taught students the RAP-Q method of summing up text. We worked together to sum up one of these manifestos together and then students broke off into groups to complete the RAP-Q of each manifesto.
Homework: Read chapters 20-23 of the Giver. Complete one active reading activity for each chapter you read.

Cultural celebration day & The Giver...

6th: Today, was cultural celebration day! We broke off into small groups and shared our completed pizza box projects with one another and gave each other positive feedback on those projects. Then, we shared a huge meal of foods from all of our personal cultures. Parents, ask you students about all of the different foods they tried today. Then, we reviewed the Amir chapter of Seedfolks and together read the final, Florence chapter of the book.
Homework: What is a message or theme of the book Seedfolks? Write down your thoughts and bring it to class on Monday.

7th: Today we began class by summing up the reading we did for homework, chapters 16-19. We wrote down deep-thinking discussion questions and then got together in groups to have book conversations. Then, we presented out what we had talked about in groups. Finally, we got in partner groups to compare/contrast 2 types of government and reflect on the type of government we thought existed in Jonas' community. We will begin class on Monday by talking about these things.
Homework: Read chapters 20-23 and do an activity for each chapter, due Tuesday.

Writing using quotes & Reading Strategies assessment

7th: Today we began class by reading a case study, "Ancient Egyptian Government" and we answered questions and then discussed this case study together. Then, we began to think about character traits of people we knew, characters in The Giver and in other books. We completed this quotes/character traits sheet about Jonas and then worked on a paragraph (topic sentence, set-up, quote, explanation) describing a character trait of Jonas, supported by a quote from the text.
Homework: Come to class tomorrow having read chapters 16-19 of the Giver and having completed an active reading activity for each chapter. Also, complete your Jonas quote paragraph.

6th: Today we took a reading strategies assessment using the Amir chapter of Seedfolks. Then, students completed this mapping activity. Students then worked on their pizza box projects (due tomorrow). Don't forget- tomorrow is cultural food day. Students can bring their foods to my room in the morning and we'll have a table set up for what you're bringing.
Homework: Finish up your pizza box project and prepare any food you're bringing for cultural food day.

Pizza box projects & Amazing Giver discussions

6th: Today in class we worked on the writing piece that will accompany our pizza box project. We used this paragraph starter sheet to begin writing our 6 paragraphs. We wrote our 1st draft of writing, got a peer to revise it and then began to write our final copies. Complete pizza boxes and write-ups are due on Friday.
Homework: Complete the writing aspect of pizza box project. Don't forget to bring in the slip to let Ms. Devine know if you will be bringing in foods for Friday's cultural food day.

7th: Today, we began class by reading a case study about the United Fruit Company and answered questions about it, determining the kind of government in Guatemala at the time of the study. We discussed our opinions about what we read and the type of government we determined it to be. Then, we broke off into groups to discuss our deep questions about The Giver, went off and had AMAZING book conversations and then presented to the class what our groups discussed. Then, we used this sheet to talk about reading and using quotes to describe the way we felt about characters in the book. For homework, complete the 2 practice paragraphs, designating the topic sentence, set-up, quote and explanation sentence.
Homework: See above description. Also, keep reading The Giver. Chapters 16-19 & reading activities due Friday.

Reading strategy practice & Government types jigsaw

6th: Today, we began class by sharing out the artifact that we brought in reflecting our personal heritage, where our family is from originally. Then, we did more practice with the 5 reading strategies (predict, connect, question, evaluate, visualize) while reading the Nora and Maricela chapters of Seedfolks. Ms. Devine worked with students who needed extra help with the practice and the rest of the class worked independently or in pairs. Then, the class came together and discussed the chapters of Seedfolks. We did a mapping activity using the characters' hometowns at the end of class.
Homework: none

7th: We began the class by reviewing the government types we discussed in class yesterday. Then, we broke off into table groups and jigsaw-taught our table members about our government types. Afterward, we organized the different government types on a spectrum of complete government control to complete citizen control and debated each other on the order the different groups chose. Finally, we took a quiz on our reading of the Giver.
Homework: Do your reading of the Giver, due Friday: Ch 16-19, with a reading activity for each chapter.

Types of government & deep-thinking questions

6th: Today, we began the class by reading a story (The Empty Table) and formulating deep-thinking discussion questions about the story, using our Bloom's Taxonomy questioning sheet. Then, we read the Curtis chapter of Seedfolks and formulated more deep questions and had a class discussion about the chapter. Finally, we shared the artifacts that we brought in to represent our personal culture surrounding food and we glued these artifacts to our pizza boxes. We discussed the personal culture food celebration that will be on Friday and sent home this note to families to inform about the celebration.
Homework: Tonight, bring in an artifact or picture to represent something about your heritage. Here are some questions to think about:
How long has your family lived in Atlanta?
Where were you born?
Do you when your family immigrated to America?
Where did your ancestors come from originally?

7th: Today, we began class by going over our informational text homework from Friday. We pointed out the text features and graphic aids in the text, discussed the text and reflected on how these features added to our understanding. Then, we began our discussion of government types. Ms. D modeled how to take notes on the government informational text "Oligarchy," then students worked together to take notes on the informational text "Monarchy." Finally, students broke off into groups to study one of these 6 types of government: dictatorship, communism, theocracy, international government, democracy and anarchy.
Homework: Finish up reading and taking notes on your type of government. Be sure to have chapters 12-15 read in The Giver and come prepared with an active reading activity for each chapter in your readers' notebook.

Making evaluations, awesome Giver discussions, info text...

6th: Today we began the day by brainstorming about what it means to evaluate as you read. We figured out that it means forming opinions about things as you read. Then, we did an activity, "stand by your opinion," about events/people in Seedfolks, where kids formed evaluations about the book. We read the chapter on Sae Young and completed the evaluations portion of our reading strategies packet and then turned in these packets. Finally, we marked up our world maps with where these new characters in the book are from.
Homework: Bring in something to glue to your pizza box about your personal culture about food.

7th: We began the class by writing our thoughts about government. Then, we broke off into small groups and had a discussion about our Giver reading, chapters 8-11. Then, we shared out in the large class what was discussed in the small groups. Finally, we touched back on the topic we started yesterday- informational text. We discussed text structure as a means of understanding informational text and then started on our homework for the weekend- reading the article attached to the packet and analyzing it for text features, graphic aids and text structures.
Homework: Read the Giver, chapters 12-15 and complete one active reading option per chapter (due Tuesday). Then, complete the informational text packet.

STAR tests, informational text

7th: Today, we began class by reflecting on what happened in our summit meetings yesterday. Then, we went to take the STAR test in the computer lab. These reading scores will be discussed with students next week. When we returned from taking the test, the summit meeting groups shared out what took place in the meetings yesterday and from these presentations we generated a list of reasons why communities cooperate, disagree and settle conflict. We will use this list when we begin to talk about government soon. Then, we began to talk about reading informational text, using examples of the text in the room to identify text features and graphic aids. We will continue talking about this tomorrow.
Homework: Read chapters 8-11 in the Giver and come prepared with your active reading work in your reading journal.

6th: We began the class by taking the STAR test to determine students' reading levels. Then, we returned to the classroom to talk about asking questions while reading. Students brainstormed all types of questions that they could ask while reading. Then, we read the Virgil chapter of Seedfolks and practiced asking questions while we read. Finally, we shared the pizza box artifacts that we brought in for the past 2 night's homework, on our personal traditions and on our beliefs/values. Then, we glued these pieces to our pizza projects.
Homework: The next thing you need to bring in for your pizza box project is something to represent the food in your personal culture. Think about these questions: Does your family have traditional foods? What do you eat on holidays or special occasions? Where do you get your food – garden, grocery store? Because this was not mentioned in class today (but it was written on the homework board), we'll make it homework for Monday.

Seedfolks & Perfect World summit meetings...

6th: Today, we began class by thinking about what it means to make connections as we read. After sharing our ideas, we took notes in our reading strategy packets about what it means to make connections as we read as well as 4 different types of connections (text to self, text to text, text to world and text to media). Then, we modeled together how to record our connections as we read. Then, we read the Leona chapter together, recording our connections as we read. Then, in partners we read the Sam chapter, continuing to record connections as we read. Afterward, we used our maps to label the locations where each character of the book is from. Finally, we took out the artifacts/pictures we brought for homework and glued them on our pizza boxes.
Homework: Bring in an artifact or picture that represents something that you and your family value or believe.

7th: We began the class by talking about what would happen if members of your perfect world community chose to leave. Then, we prepared for our Perfect World Summit meetings. We got together in these meetings, presenting our perfect worlds to the members of our group and then had a discussion using these discussion questions and scenarios. I witnessed several interesting things happening during these meetings; some groups chose to make peace, others had a war, while others built walls to separate themselves. We will share out the details of what happened in these meetings tomorrow.
Homework: Read chapter 8-11 in The Giver, due Friday.

Mapping, Gonzalo, Giver discussion & Perfect World descriptions...

Here we are, Tuesday.

6th: We began the class by reading the book, "People," in order to discuss interesting things that we noticed about cultures around the world. From there, we shared the artifacts/pictures we brought from the personal culture of our family. Then, we completed the mapping activity from earlier this week and checked our maps together. Finally, we read chapter 4 from Seedfolks, about Gonzalo.
Homework: Tonight, bring in a picture or draw something that you can glue to your pizza box to represent your personal customs or traditions. Remember customs and traditions are things that you do year after year and have importance to you.

7th: We began the class by forming discussion questions about our reading from The Giver. As a class, we summarized the reading of chapter 4-7 and added to our wall charts big, yet-to-be-answered questions about the book as well as observations about the community, characters and community jobs. Then, we broke off into small discussion groups to discuss the book, guided by the discussion questions we made. Later, we had a full class discussion about what we discussed in small groups. After lunch, we broke off into our Perfect World groups and used these guiding questions to write a description of our perfect world.
Homework: All perfect world stuff is due tomorrow. Be sure to have completed map and written description of community. Keep reading The Giver. Chapters 8-11 and your reading reflection in the reading journal is due on Friday.

Pizza box projects & Perfect Worlds...

6th: Today, we began the class by sharing the recreation and play artifact that we brought in for homework. Then, we discussed our Pizza Box Personal Heritage project that we'll be working on for the next few weeks. Students put together their pizza boxes, covered them with colored paper and then pasted their recreation/play artifact on the box. Then, we began to talk about one of the reading strategies we'll be looking at tomorrow- visualizing.
Homework: Bring in a picture/artifact for your pizza box project about your family.

7th: Today we began the class by talking about our ideas for our perfect worlds. Ms. Devine gave students a reading calendar for The Giver, mapping out what chapters need to be read by when. Then, students had the rest of the time to work on their perfect world projects.
Homework: Work on perfect world project. Remember that the map of the community and written reflection will be due Wednesday. Read chapter 4-7 in The Giver and complete one reading activity from the reading calendar in your mini-reading-notebook.

Mapping & Perfect Worlds...

6th: Today, we reviewed one of the reading strategies we practiced yesterday- predicting. We made predictions and completed the prediction page of this packet. Then, we read chapter 3 of Seedfolks together. Then, we did a world map activity using the atlases. We will complete the activity on Monday and use our maps to trace the characters in the Seedfolks.
Homework: Bring in an artifact that represents what you do for fun in your free time. This artifact/picture will be used for your pizza box project in the recreation/play part of your personal culture. Don't forget to bring your binder to class on Monday.

7th: We began the class by sharing what we visualized when reading chapter 2 last night. We made a timeline of our pictures and explained what happened in chapter 2. Then, we shared our active reading strategy posters we made in groups yesterday. Afterward, we read chapter 3 as a class, discussing the book and practicing more with active reading. Lastly, Ms. Devine introduced the Perfect World project and students worked in pairs or independently to brainstorm about their perfect world. We will continue working on this project on Monday.
Homework: Read chapter 4 of The Giver. Don't forget to bring your binder to class on Monday. You may work on the perfect world project, if you like.

Starting 2 great books! The Giver and Seedfolks

Thursday, Thursday...I can hardly believe how quickly this first week has passed.

6th: We discussed what it means to be a good reader and some things that good readers do. We talked about Active Reading Strategies and practiced making predictions with Seedfolks. We read chapters one and two of the book aloud in class, using sticky notes to keep track of our thoughts as we read. Then, Ms. Devine met with students individually to give a reading diagnostic to each student.
No homework tonight.

7th: Today, we reviewed what makes a good reader and things that good readers do. We reviewed the active reading strategies we learned last year (predict, evaluate, question, connect, visualize) and applied these strategies when we previewed and read chapter one of our class book, The Giver, in class. We also took a pretest on all of the skills we'll be focusing on in this first unit to check students' current knowledge.
Homework: Read Chapter 2 of The Giver.

New Units: Cultural Diversity and The Perfect World!

6th: Today, we reflected on why we write and used our thoughts from the last night's survey to create a bulletin board on this topic outside the classroom. We discussed classroom jobs and assigned jobs to each table. Then, we discussed the unit that we are about to start, Unit 1: Exploring Cultural Diversity. Then, we took a unit one pretest to show our current level of knowledge of the topics that will be the focus of unit one. No homework tonight.

7th: Today, we reflected on why we write and used our thoughts from the last night's survey to create a bulletin board on this topic outside the classroom. We discussed classroom jobs and assigned jobs to each table. Then, we shared our shields in small groups and then with the larger class. Then, we did a shield-sharing activity using our shields to deflect obstacles that keep us from success. It was a symbolic activity. Parents, ask your students about it. We started to go over the unit overview for our first unit, The Perfect World.
Homework: On the back of the overview, write one thing in the unit you're excited about, one thing you're concerned about and one question you have.

Procedures, Shields, 8 Smarts & Writing Diag

6th: We began the class with a burial or killer statements, or words that hurt others, so that we no longer used these words in our class. We continued to discuss classroom procedures, rules and consequences. We completed our 8 kinds of smart presentations and with a partner brainstormed project ideas for this year in Humanities. Then, we took a writing diagnostic to show our current level of writing.
Homework: Who are you as a reader/writer? survey

7th: We began the class with a burial or killer statements, or words that hurt others, so that we no longer used these words in our class. We continued to discuss classroom procedures, rules and consequences. Then, we worked on our shields, which we will be sharing out in class tomorrow. Then, we took a writing diagnostic to show our current level of writing.
Homework: Who are you as a reader/writer? survey

Back to school!

Well, here we are...already in the 2010-2011 school year. I hope everyone had a wonderful summer!

6th grade: We did a warmup activity with 8 questions and then went over the course syllabus. Then, we reviewed the 8 kinds of smarts quiz we did during orientation. We figured out what our greatest strength was and then brainstormed ways we could demonstrate understanding of knowledge utilizing that strength. We will finish sharing out these presentations tomorrow.
Tonight's homework: Get parent signature on syllabus and have your parent fill out the Family Learning Survey.

7th grade: We did a warmup activity with 8 questions and then went over the course syllabus. Then, we did an activity where students created their personal shield to represent themselves. Students may do brainstorming and work on this at home tonight, but we we will finish up working on shields in class tomorrow.
Homework: Get parent signature on syllabus and have your parent fill out the Family Learning Survey.