4 day week

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, we started to put a bow on our unit Characters Across series by talking about theme.  We defined theme as answering the question "What is this story/movie/article etc. REALLY all about?"  Students were also given a resource that listed 75 popular themes.  We recognized that there are far more than 75 themes in the world today and we also recognized that our stories WILL have more than one theme.  We also took the time to raise the level of our work by providing evidence for the themes that are recognized withing a text.  Lastly, we asked the question "What about what it's REALLY all about?" In other words, if a theme is perseverance, what ABOUT perseverance is the author trying to say?  Or, if a theme is family, what ABOUT family is the author trying to explain?  

As writers we looked at finding compelling pieces of evidence to support our claim about a character or theme across books.  This could be direct quotation, making a comparison using similes, metaphors and other figurative language or summarizing sections of text.  We also looked at the rules for citing sources within our paragraphs.  We will be spending most of our Language Arts time in the upcoming weeks looking at our writing in order to complete our argument essay.  This argument essay will be due on November 20th.

Social Studies

We are in a transitioning week for Social Studies.  We finished our letters to the curator Ms. O. Potamia about our Mesopotamian topic and participated in a Breakout.  We also did a geography challenge to familiarize ourselves with Egypt, our next unit of study!

Claims and Letter Writing

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, students worked on developing a clear claim (thesis statement) about a character or theme in their books.  They needed to find an idea that was big enough to write multiple paragraphs about that could be supported by evidence.  They turned those claims in to me in order to receive feedback before we start creating lengthier paragraphs next week.  We also talked about how to grow ideas as we move across series by noticing and noting character change as well as theories that we have adjusted throughout the unit.  We looked at some thought prompts that focus our responses to include this type of thinking work.  For example:

• _____used to be the type of character who _______.  Now he/she __________, which shows me ______________
• I think_________ because in both books ______
• My belief in ______ is more/less stronger because _________

We also found some mentor sentences that we will be analyzing in the weeks to come.  These sentences were not moments where we felt surprise, sadness of wonder.  Instead, these were sentences that when we read them we wanted to give the author a high-five or fist-bump because it was so well written! :)

Students should have their second book completed in their series by Wednesday of next week, the 25th.

Social Studies

In Social Studies this week, students finished up on their research and transitioned to their letter writing.  We spent some time looking at the proper formatting of an MLA works cited and started to put together our own citations.  We also looked at some exemplars from previous students and compared them to the rubric.  Students will have about 20 more minutes next class to finish up on their letter before we start transitioning to our next unit, Egypt!

Keep on keeping on...

Language Arts

This week in Language Arts, students began to make the transition from their first book in a series to the second (or sometimes third, fourth or fifth...these kids LOVE to read!!)  As readers, we talked about the importance of the advice one character gives another.  Often times, that advice is not just for the character but for us as well.  It can change the way we view the world or the way we react to different situations.  We also met as a partnership to talk about the books we have been reading so far.  We watched a video of an effective partnership, listed their positive qualities and tried to use as many of them as we could during our meeting.  The kids loved talking about their books so much, I had to cut them off!  Since we are transitioning from our first to our second (or beyond) books, it is important to start the next book in a series loaded with knowledge from the first books.  This can include: events, motivations, changes, settings, relationships, struggles etc.  Being aware makes us more prepared to look more deeply at the story as a whole.

As writers, we wrote a formal paragraph about a character of our choice.  Some students spent some time getting some tips about paragraph structure/design.  We then looked at the expectations for sixth grade writers using a checklist, highlighted what we WERE doing and then designed a working plan to revise our work.  Notebooks will be collected today so that I can see their reading and writing work.

Student paragraphing checklist

Social Studies

In Social Studies this week, students learned the requirements for their next project about Mesopotamia.  They received a letter from Ms. O. Potamia, who is a museum curator.  She is looking for new exhibits to be included in her "Cradle of Civilization" presentation and wants the 6th graders help.  Students will need to research a topic of their choice AND persuade Ms. O. Potamia as to the value of that topic.  We reminded each other about the steps of paraphrasing and used a digital note card system to record our learning.  Students will have about 50 more minutes of research time before transition into our letter writing.

A full 5-day week!

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, students looked at the possessions that characters have and that they reveal, rather than being just "stuff".  Showing a character's possessions show their expertise, interests, values, social class and more.  There are messages about the character also based in how they treat the possessions they have which can indicate a larger change within a character.  We also looked at how characters treat one another as gateways into the characters themselves.  You not only learn about the main character, but also about the characters who come into contact with those central characters.  

As writers, we started to develop some ideas that could turn into the topics for our larger argument pieces.  Students used the thoughts prompts: My initial idea..., But now that I think more..., Perhaps it could be... and The evidence points to... as a way to tease out what a character REALLY wants.  Do they REALLY want to go on a quest, or is it the desire to contribute positively to the world?  Is it REALLY popularity or being afraid to be alone?  As we gather a variety of ideas, students will be asked to create a thesis statement and argue their idea.  We will practice paragraph writing next week and then transition into our claim statements.

Students should have completed their first book by October 10th.  Their second books is due on October 25th.

Social Studies

In Social Studies this week, we learned about the 4 major groups of Mesopotamia: Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians and Neo-Babylonians.  We even created a dance to remember some of their major accomplishments!  We also looked at a variety of print and electronic sources to help identify a topic about Mesopotamia that we want to study in more depth.  Examples could be: daily life, arts and crafts, roles of men and women, Sargon, Hammurabi's Code, Assyrian war techniques etc.  

Mr. Callaway also came in to introduce the research process and distinguish between paraphrasing, quoting and plagiarizing.  We will be using these skills next week when we get into researching our topic in order to write a letter.