This Week 2/5/18

Hello Middle School Families!

Here's what's going on in our classes this week:

Social Studies
We've been learning about things that were going on in other countries during the time of the Renaissance in Italy.  Last week we talked about the Reformation, Martin Luther, The Golden Age of England, King Henry VIII (check out this song ...the kids loved it and requested it again and again!), Queen Elizabeth I, and the Spanish Armada.

This week we're learning all about the English Revolution, Cavaliers vs. Roundheads, the Stuart kings, Oliver Cromwell, and the Puritans.  I asked the kids if they'd ever heard of the Puritans before.

• ME:  Think about Thanksgiving, religious freedom, sailing to a new world...
• KIDS:  Oh! The pilgrims!  That was them?  Now I see why they left England.

Aaaaand it comes full circle...I love it when we can make connections like that!  Along with this unit, we've been doing a Filmstrip Project where the kids take what they've learned, discuss it in small groups, decide which events or people they feel were most important, and then draw pictures on a 'filmstrip' template and add a caption.  Eventually each group will put their 'frames' together to tell the hiSTORY of what was happening during this time.

ELA
In the A Day class we had been working on revising our writing to strengthen the evidence we've given to support our answers.  This week we'll be working on description in our writing, both for objects and characters.

In the B Day class we'll be working on dialogue, adding it to our writing, and adding narration around it to fill in information for our readers.

In both classes we're focusing on Greek and Latin roots with our spelling words.  This week's spelling list can be found here,  A Day will have their homework due on Feb 14th and will have their test the same day.  B Day will have their homework due on Feb 15th and will have their test on the same day.  The kids get extra credit on their tests if they can give me the meanings of the roots (which is on the list)!

Have a wonderful week!

This Week 1/1618...

Hello Middles School Families!

We're all crossing our fingers and hoping for snow tonight and tomorrow!  In the mean time, here's what's going on in our classes :)

Social Studies
In Social Studies, we've been studying the Renaissance.  We've learned a little about the Middle Ages, feudalism, and the Black Plague in order to understand what led up to this time of renewed interest in learning and culture.  We've read about the Italian city-states, how they came to be, and why they became powerful and influential cities.  We've also been able to make connections between the European Explorers that we learned about earlier, and their influences on what was happening during the Renaissance.  This week the kids are working on a research project where they are  each learning about a famous Renaissance figure.

ELA - A Day
In our A Day class we're working on using details from a text to persuade someone to see our point of view.  We'll also get a new spelling list of words with Greek and Latin roots.  The spelling homework will be due on Thursday, January 25th, with a spelling test on that same day.

ELA - B Day
In the B Day class we're working on adding evidence from a text to our writing.  Most of the kids can do this easily!  The B Day class has spelling homework due today, and a spelling test today.  They'll have a little time to study their words prior to taking the test.  They'll get a new list of words today, with homework due on Friday, January 26th with a spelling test the same day.

Have a great week!