When examining the news...

Read this article on the "myth of objectivity," with guidelines for understanding bias in the media.

PBS Video: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Watch the full episode. See more American Experience.

Response to "The Bells"

Today in class, the Elements (Emilie's class), read "The Bells," by Edgar Allan Poe. We discussed sounds in poetry and the students created their own bells to accompany the poem!

National Poetry Month

To celebrate National Poetry Month, we are dedicating our Wednesdays as Poetry Days.  Students will need to write an original poem to share, in addition to bringing in a poem that they like.  Last week, we read Gwendolyn' Brook's "We Real Cool."  We looked at the rhyme scheme, subject, stanzas and the "jazz" of the poem.  Check out the way each class styled their readings!

Language Arts Notes for April

Students are currently reading either Chasing Lincoln's Killer or Assassin. We plan to finish these books by the end of the week, and start our class project next week.  As they read independently, each student is choosing ten pivotal scenes from the book.  Next Monday, students will share their ten choices and then each class will choose ten scenes to stage.  Students will have the opportunity to be in, to stage and to photograph at least one scene.  In the computer lab the following week, students will edit their photos and create a Photo Story to share.  The students are excited about this project; it allows them time to work both independently and cooperatively on a creative project. They are reviewing the elements of a story, building skills in reading fiction and nonfiction works, evaluating the material and producing a slideshow based on what they've learned.  It will be an intense, but rewarding month!

Spring!

Hello readers!
My apologies for the time between posts; February and now March have flown by here at school!  Between our spring trip to St. Augustine, the Woof and Warps' intensive study of the American Revolution and spring break approaching, we've filled our hours at school with research, projects, cooking projects, cool Friday Groups and lots of other hands-on activities.
In social studies, the students all chose topics concerning the American Revolution to research.  Each student was required to use three sources (at least one needed to be a print source and Wikipedia did not count as a source!)  I shared Easy Bib with them, in efforts to make sure they all included bibliographies.  At home, they prepared a poster to share with their classmates.  We'll use this information, along with notes from the online game, Mission U.S: For Crown of Colony and PBS's video series, Liberty!,  next week in a culminating activity. I have been so impressed with their enthusiasm for this project-- bravo, Woof and Warps!

New Year!

Happy New Year to all of you!

In December, students in all language arts classes had the choice of two books, Fever 1793 or Chains, both by Laurie Halse Anderson.  Students took notes on the use of historical facts in fiction, character development and symbolism in the novels.  Due to snow days prior to winter break, we concluded these novel units yesterday.  Students wrote papers using their notes, and shared thoughtful insights during a whole class discussion.  They also shared their favorite scenes from the books.

Next week, we will be starting The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, by Avi.  Each student may choose an individual project to focus on for this novel, but may help others.  I am ordering extra copies that will be available for purchase, but there will also be class copies available.  In addition, this book should be easy to find at your local library.

In social studies, we are beginning research on the history of the thirteen original colonies.  Please use
this link to begin your research.  Projects will be due January 27th.

Important Dates this month:
Friday, January 14th-- Local Hero Award Ceremony
Monday, January 17th-- MLK Jr. Day, No School
Friday, January 28th-- Conference Day, No School