Narratives, adjectives, spooky figurative language & research

Ms. D was absent yesterday.

6th: We began by discussion adjectives. What are they? What are some that we know? We figured out who was officially done with their narrative writing project and who still had work to do. Then, 1/2 of the class worked on completing the narrative writing project and 1/2 worked on beginning adjective work. Monday is a field trip. Tuesday there is no school. Wednesday we will be sharing our narratives with Ms. Glow's class.
Homework: none

7th: Today we began class by brainstorming figurative language that had to do with Halloween. We wrote our best figurative language on a sheet of paper, illustrated it and shared it with the class. Then, we did book commercials. Kynedi, Joshua and Naima- good work. From there, we continued with the research on our period of African history.
Homework: You need to write a letter to your book buddy that you were assigned about your book. Due Wednesday.

"On the Front Lines" & African history research time

6th: Today we began class by reflecting on our experience at the Bremen yesterday. Then, we divided back up into our revise/edit groups and finished revising/editing each others' papers. Then, we took the feedback received, modified our papers and began to publish the final draft version of our "On the Front Lines" narrative report. Several students already began to create their news spread by putting their article with the related picture and caption and a map of where the story takes place.
Homework: Due on Friday: thank you letter to guide and/or speaker at the Breman AND final, published news spread with final article. You may work on either of these tonight.

7th: Today we began class with book commercials. Sophie, Vinnie and Selina did a great job with those. Then, we reviewed what we already knew about our research topics and shared out our KWL charts from Monday. Then, students got together in research groups and developed 10 research questions for their topic. They got these questions approved by Miss D and then received the folders with information on their topic to begin highlighting information to answer their research questions.
Homework: none

Holocaust Museum trip & Africa movie

Today the 6th graders took a trip to the Holocaust museum and the 7th graders stayed back at school and watched a movie about Africa. The Holocaust Museum was great and we learned a lot!

Homework: none

Peer revising & editing, African History project & book commercials

6th: Today we started class by reading the book Terrible Things: an Allegory of the Holocaust. We talked about how this book related to the Holocaust, in preparation for our field trip tomorrow. Then, we discussed how we would be editing/revising our narrative "On the Front Lines" stories in peer groups this time, rather than in partners. We go together with these peer revise/edit groups and worked together to revise/edit our narratives. The groups did not finish so we will continue to do this on Wednesday.
Homework: Get excited for our field trip to the Bremen tomorrow!

7th: Today we started class by discussing how we would "sell" our book to the class if we were giving a book commercial. Then, Miss D handed out the expectations on "book commercials" and students signed up to do one book commercial before the end of the term. Three super-excited students volunteered to do a book commercial today and we heard those in class and gave the students feedback. Then, Miss D discussed the African History Project that students would be starting. She assigned students to project groups and told them the topics they would research. Students went to the library to begin to get information on their topics and complete a KWL chart.
Homework: none

Assessing reading, "On the Front Lines" & Africa catch-up day!

6th: We began class today by looking at some artifacts from Gerda's life from "One Survivor Remembers." We analyzed these artifacts and reflected on the part of Gerda's life that they were from. We passed back graded work and went over who has/has not turned in permission forms for Tuesday's Holocaust museum trip. Then, we took an assessment to show our understanding of our book club book. We finished drafting our on the front lines narratives...and then, class was over!
Homework: Your "On the Front Lines" narrative draft is due on Monday.

7th: Today, we began class with the read aloud. We shared out some examples of good reading letters to Miss D. Then, we finished publishing our poem and/or completed watching the National Geographic: Africa, Tuareg desert story, while describing a scene from the movie with detailed imagery.
Homework: none, enjoy the weekend!

Publishing a poem & Gerda's story

6th: Today we began class by going over our vocabulary homework and then we wrote sentences with each of our 12 vocab words. Then, we discussed how we would be watching a movie about a Holocaust survivor and her story. We watched the movie "One Survivor Remembers" and took notes as we watched the movie. Then, we reflected on how we felt watching the movie and what we learned. We started to look at the artifacts we had about Gerda's life...but, we will continue that tomorrow.
Homework: none

7th: Today we began class with the read aloud and wrote down figurative language we heard and then drew what we visualized with regards to this figurative language. We shared more figurative language from the radio and from our own writing. Then, we passed out writing folders, where we will now keep our writing in progress. Then, we published one of our poems that has been revised by a teacher/peer. We submitted the poem with the accompanying rubric, in our new "creative writing anthology" folders.
Homework: Reading letter to Ms. D due at start of class tomorrow.

Last book club & Revising our poems

6th: Today, we began class by drawing pictures from these words from our Holocaust vocabulary: upstander, bystander, perpetrator and victim. We went over our drawings and then met in book clubs for our final, official meeting. In our meeting, we also reflected on who was a bystander, upstander, perpetrator and victim in our books and then we shared these in front of the class after book clubs. Then, we read from the read aloud.
Homework: Complete the rest of the pictures from your Holocaust vocab packet. Don't forget Bremen permission slip and money!

7th: Today we began class with the read aloud and we wrote down figurative language and drew what we visualized about this figurative language. We shared out lots of figurative language from songs and music that we've heard. Then, we discussed how we're going to work to make our poetry better. We partnered up with a revising buddy and exchanged poems and then used this to give each other feedback. Then, we took the feedback to heart, made changes to our poem and then rewrote the poem to include these changes. If you did not finish rewriting your revised poem, that's your homework tonight. Also, Miss D returned reading journals. A new reading letter is due to Miss D by Friday.
Homework: Work on reading letter & complete revised poem

"On the Front Lines" reporting & African Kingdom poetry

6th: We began class by introducing the "On the Front Lines" reporter narrative project. Students are to use the photograph that they analyzed the other day to begin to craft the narrative report from that scene in WWII. They planned out their writing using the narrative report planning sheet and then they began to draft the report on notebook paper. Students will have more time to work on their report in class. I have read some amazing reporter stories so far! Also- Miss D gave out a permisson slip for the field trip to the Bremen Jewish Heritage Museum- next Tuesday, Oct. 22nd. These should be turned in by Friday!!! Permission form here.
Homework: Come prepared for your last book club meeting tomorrow. The whole books should be read!

7th: Today, we began class by sharing our African kingdom creative writing ideas from yesterday. We took 45 minutes to write creatively: revising our geography poem and crafting a poem to reflect understanding of the African kingdoms. Then, after lunch, we watched a video about the Ashanti people and the Golden Stool and what happened when the British took over this kingdom.
Homework: Bring your completed draft of your African kingdom poem tomorrow to class.

Book clubs & Hyperbole-a-rama

6th: Today we began class with book clubs. We got together in our groups and followed the agenda that Miss D set forth for our meeting. After meeting, Miss D chose one group to go into the center of the room and repeat their club meeting for the class to observe. This was the "fishbowl." Then, we debriefed the feedback we gave the fishbowl group. After, we evaluated our group members based on how each person has been doing based on the book club expectations. Finally, we reviewed the photo analysis that we completed on Friday in preparation for writing about these photos for our reporter project.
Homework: Do assigned book club reading and role to prepare for Wednesday.

7th: We began class by analyzing similes and metaphors to distinguish whether everything that said "like" or "as" or "is" was a simile or metaphor. We found out- it's not always true! Then, we did some work with hyperboles, creating many and then realizing that our favorite yo mama jokes were actually hyperboles. Then, we analyzed "Ego Trippin'" by Nikki Giovanni and found tons of hyperboles and we speculated on what we thought the poem meant. Finally, we tried our hand at creating a poem to reflect understanding of the 3 kingdoms we learned about last week. We'll continue tomorrow.
Homework: Read. Bonus: find a hyperbole in a song or rap and bring it to class!

D-Day writing & African Kingdoms

6th: Today we began class by visualizing and drawing what we imagined when we read the D-day report yesterday. Then, we used the article and wrote an "It's a small world" news report about the article. We went over our news report sheets. From there, we each got a picture from the WWII time period and used a series of questions to analyze the picture. We will share out our analysis on Monday so that we can start to be reporters and report on this picture.
Homework: Make sure you do your book club reading and role!

7th: Today, we taught each other about the aspects of the 3 African kingdoms that we researched yesterday. Then, Miss D returned reading journals with her letter response to each student. The last part of the class period we spent writing response letters and independent reading.
Homework: Complete the reading letter to Miss Devine

3 African Kingdoms & D-Day!

6th: Today we began class by brainstorming what we learned about the Holocaust from yesterday's presentation by Ms. W. We learned a lot! We will continue to talk more about this as the unit progresses. Then, we talked about a major event in WWII- D-Day. We read about D-Day, looked at maps and even looked at a primary source document from General Eisenhower about the event. Then, we read the article "Dispatch from D-Day" and highlighted the main and coolest points the reporter made about this event.
Homework: Finish reading "Dispatch from D-day."

7th: Today we began class by sharing our best metaphor from last night's homework. We went over the metaphor homework and collected it. Then, we did an activity, revisiting the definition of poetry. Students broke off into groups with poetry books and answered questions about: what poetry looks like on the page, how it sounds, the role of figurative language, meaning and whether or not songs/raps were poetry. We shared out responses and created a new class definition of poetry. Then, Ms. Sarah, Ms. Glow's student teacher, taught the class about 3 African kingdoms- the Ashanti, the Zulu and the Egyptians. We had a reading about the Ashanti, the Zulu and the Egyptians and then we used this chart to research the the specific area we were studying.
Homework: Read. Come prepared with notes on your area of study for each of the 3 kingdoms.

Learning about the Holocaust & AFRICA poetry!

6th: We began class by writing down deep-thinking discussion questions for our book club meeting. Then, we met in book clubs using this agenda. In book clubs, we made sure we assigned roles for our next meeting which will be on Monday. So, those roles will be checked ON MONDAY. After this, we listened to Ms. Waldman's powerpoint presentation on the Holocaust and took notes and asked her questions about this time in history.
Homework: Do assigned book club reading. Be prepared to discuss what you learned about the Holocaust tomorrow.

7th: We began class by reading from the read aloud book and taking notes on the figurative language we heard. Then, we added figures of speech to our figure of speech chart. We then used the Africa discussion homework that we completed over the weekend to begin a discussion about diversity in Africa as well as the essential question- how does where you live affect how you live? We used the second half of the class period to complete our creative poetry from Friday and to begin on this metaphor work.
Homework: Tonight, be sure to finish the first draft of your geography of Africa poem. Also, complete the metaphor packet.

More on WWII & Creative writing about Africa's environments

6th: Today we spent the class talking about WWII. We looked at this timeline and used it as we watched and took notes on a WWII movie about life on the homefront, military action and effects of the war. Then, we process what we saw in the movie and completed a WWII postcard activity. Finally, we met briefly in book clubs to make sure everyone understood their weekend reading and role.
Homework: Do assigned book club reading and complete reading role.

7th: We started class by reflecting on these 4 different climate/environment regions that we've studied and how the people in these places have adapted to their environment. We went over the rainforest homework from last night. Then, we did some discussion prep work for Wednesday's discussion. Finally, we introduced this Africa creative writing anthology project and tried our hand at the first piece- poetry about African geography and environment.
Homework: Discussion prep sheet.

Masai, Rainforest and IR letters & WWII

6th: Today we began class by thinking about what we think about when we read. Students listened to the read aloud and took notes on what Miss D thinks about when she reads. Then, we made a chart: "Reading is thinking." We talked about how we'd be using these thinking topics next week in book clubs. Then, we finished up the summary paragraphs from yesterday. We used the paragraphs to create a timeline of events about what began WWII. Then, we dug into the WWII trunk from the History Center and explored many of the materials that we had on WWII. We wrote down interesting and unique things we saw in the trunk and will discuss these tomorrow.
Homework: Do your assigned reading for book clubs.

7th: Today we began class by getting back in our Masai/savannah learning groups to continue the notetaking process from yesterday. We continued to take notes on our classmates' teaching and then we shared out and made a class chart about all that we had learned about the Masai life in the savannah. From there, we wrote notes on our "how does where you live affect how you live" chart. We also brainstormed figurative language to describe each of the environments that we have studied so far. We brainstormed things like this metaphor: "the savannah's acacia trees are sprouts of hope coming from the heart of Africa" (Kaia). Also, this personification- "I am stuck in a brown box while the sun sits there laughing at me while the sand is pulling me down and the slow, hot air is whispering in my ear" (Mark). Then, we began our study of the rainforest. We read this page on the rainforest and answered the questions that follow.
Homework 1st IR letter to Miss D. Finish up rainforest reading and question activity.

Book clubs, WWII & the African savannah

6th: Today, we reviewed our homework from last night and realized that not everyone understood the expectations of reading and doing the role. We went over what is expected each time we do our nightly book club reading and reading role. Then, we broke off into book clubs and followed this agenda when we met. We shared out what happened in book clubs. Then, we broke off into groups to summarize our WWII reading by paragraphs. We will complete this tomorrow, making a timeline of the events.
Homework: Do your book club's assigned reading and then reading role.

7th: Today, we began class by talking about what we thought the African savannah was. We did this reading on the savannah and then watched a video from the Lion King to record a list of animals that we saw that live in the savannah. Then, we began to read about people who live in the savannah, particularly the Masai people. We broke off into groups to do our reading and then got together in other groups to teach each other about what we had learned.
Homework: Read for 30 minutes and record it.

Book clubs, WWII & Desertification

6th: Today we met in our book clubs for some business. We reviewed our group expectations, did a membership grid, mapped out our reading on the reading calendar and went over our book club roles for tonight's reading. Then, we read a little in our groups. Then, we reviewed what we had learned about WWII by going over the WWII graphic organizer.
Homework: Do your group's reading for the night and do your book club role.

7th: Today, we began class by revisiting the idea of desertification that we discussed in class yesterday. We read a picture book about Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan woman working against desertification in Africa and answered questions about desertification. Then, we watched the movie: National Geographic Africa and took notes in our graphic organizer: how does where you live affect how you live?
Homework: Read for 30 minutes and record it.

Beginning Book Clubs & Peace Corps speaker & Life in the Sahel

6th: We began class by taking a pronoun quiz. We got our book club books and started to dive in! Then, we discussed what book clubs are and reflected on what makes a good book club discussion based on our Friday discussion. Then, we did a read aloud from our read aloud book and reflected on Spaz as we did that. Then, we did a fishbowl discussion where a couple of students gathered in the center of the room to have a "book club discussion" and students on the outside observed what they did well and what they did not do well. We discussed this and then broke off into our book clubs to write down group expectations for book club.
Homework: All groups- read chapter 1 of your book club book. Milkweed group- read chapter 2 as well.

7th: We began class with a presentation from Teresa, our speaker from the Peace Corps who spent two years living and working in Uganda. She shared pictures and lots of cool experiences. Then, we reflected on the weekend homework, our reading about life in the Sahel. We did a marker-talk to share what we had read and then added details about life in this environment to our environment chart. Afterward, Robert shared his interview with his African friend.
Homework: Write a thank-you letter to Teresa for speaking to our class. It needs to be at least half a page and contain some things you learned from her presentation.

Diversity in Europe discussion & Tuareg music dance-off!

6th: Today we began class by talking about the advantages and disadvantages of living in diverse society. We dove write into our Europe diversity discussion and used our notes from last night's homework to do so. Students did awesome! Then, we reflected on the discussion. Students are to finish the discussion reflection for homework. We did a review of pronouns using this review sheet. Use it to study because there will be a pronoun quiz on Monday.
Homework: discussion reflection, prep for pronoun quiz


7th: We began class by reading from Home of the Brave and finding figurative language in what we heard. Then, we presented to the class from our Tuareg people homework. We added information to this chart, documenting notes about life in the desert in Africa. Then, we listened to this Tuareg song, read the lyrics and read 2 poems about nomadic life, further adding to our chart about desert life. Finally, we practiced what it means to "present and perform" a poem and had a little poetic competition. Oh yes- we also had a dance off to the Tuareg song. Very fun.
Homework: Read the document about life in the Sahel. Write down the main idea of each paragraph and come prepared to discuss on Monday.