Almost mini-courses

Good morning!

We had a great last week before our mini-courses and Winter Holiday!

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, we watched the documentary called Wonder Women!  The Untold Story of American Superheroines, which walked through the development of female superheroes from the 1940's to the present day.  As students were watching, they were trying to see if the superheroines were defined more as the archetype of a hero or were more defined by the stereotypes of females.  They also had to find the filmmakers message, explain their level of agreement with that message and make connections between this film and out work with fairy tales so far.  I was very impressed with their thoughtfulness, use of vocabulary and analysis of reading work so far this unit.

Today we started supplementing our family interviews with research to fill in the gaps about time period or location so our expository nonfiction has life in it!  We start the actual story writing process after break.

Social Studies

In Social Studies this week, students successfully logged into their GoAnimate accounts and learned the essential features of this video making platform that will be used to explain their ancient Egyptian topic.  They have had about one class period to start making their video and will continue this process after the holiday.

Short Week, Short Post

Good morning everyone! 

I hope you enjoyed your 5-day holiday!  I know my family did!  It is hard to believe that we are already into December!

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, students looked at the difference between archetypes and stereotypes.  We also looked at how authors, in text and media, like to play with archetypes to add a new dimension or fight stereotypes within their texts.  We looked for these in the fairy tales we read.  Next week, we will be watching a documentary about Wonder Woman and female superheroes to continue our archetype/stereotype conversation.

Students should complete their family interview by December 12th.  We will then begin the research process to supplement our story telling.

Social Studies

Students were asked to complete their research about their Egyptian topic.  We will log into GoAnimate accounts next week to bring this research, and the link to our Social Studies standard, to life!