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!