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.