Terry Fox, MS Musical, Social Studies and Language Arts

Happy Terry Fox day to everyone!  I am greatly looking forward to the run this afternoon.  I am always so inspired by those around me before, during and after the run!  There are so many examples of courage all around us and there is no better way to celebrate than the Terry Fox Run! #TAISMcourage

Also, on a personal note, the MS Musical is coming up next weekend.  The shows are Thursday, February 8th at 7PM and Saturday February 10th at 2PM.  As the director of the show, I can attest to the dedication, perseverance and professionalism of the group of students I have had the pleasure to work with.  I hope you will be able to support their hard work by coming to a performance!  Tickets are 2RO as long as they are purchased before the evening of February 8th.  If you buy tickets at the door, the tickets will be 3RO each.

And now, class this week...

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, we shifted our storytelling style to legends.  We learned that legends are based in truth but that the story was changed, added onto, subtracted from etc. during different periods in history or depending on who was telling the story.  We did a lot of inferencing work about what grain of truth the legend might have been based on as well as why the story may have grown or changed over time.  We also looked at the themes of different legends and how those themes reveal information about the storytellers themselves.  

Students also turned in the rough draft of their family folklore piece for feedback.  The tentative due date for the final draft is February 18th.

Social Studies

In Social Studies, we took the time to share the results of our parent interview about a religion of belief system.  There were certain religions that popped out as more popular and students began to notice a lot of similarities between religions.  We also started explaining the scored discussion the students will participate in.  Students watched a sample and were looking for positive/negative discussion behaviors of each member of the discussion.  I explained that I would be looking at the content of the discussion (what they are explaining about their religion) but their classmates would be looking for those discussion behaviors.

We also started researching about our religions.  

A full five days! January 14-18

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, we started drafting our family folklore story.  We talked about how it is important to layer important details about time and place in the opening sequences of a story in order to set the reader up for success.  This can include including historical facts as well as setting the mood or feeling of the piece.  We also looked at varying our use of the English language depending on our purpose.  We looked at how different people speak in varying ways depending on the situation.  This also needs to be reflected in our writing.  

As readers, we looked at how fables are a style of story that was used as cautionary tales.  Therefore, it is essential to figure out the moral/message of the story as well as evidence to support your idea.  We also looked at how words have emotional value (connotations) either for being more positive or negative.  For example, being called cute or gorgeous.  They are on a scale of "pretty" and depending on the person/situation using those words might produce a more positive or negative reaction.

Social Studies

In Social Studies this week, we spent time viewing the GoAnimate videos that our classmates created.  We used those videos to create our unit blog post to synthesize our learning.  Next week we will launch our mini-unit on Religions and Beliefs.  

Welcome Back! We hit the ground running!

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, we transitioned into the myths portion of our Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends unit.  We talked about how there are numerous modern day cultural references to myths in literature, movies and video games.  Whenever we come across a reference, it is worth going back to the original myth as it will help you understand the modern reference more clearly and complexly.  We also talked about how myths were a direct lens into the values of a given culture.  Typically, personality traits that were valued in a culture were rewarded in a myth.  The opposite is also true.  Whatever a culture did not want a person to be, would be punished within a mythological story.

Next week, we turn our attention to our family folklore pieces and will officially begin the rough draft process.

Social Studies

In Social Studies, we continued our work on our GoAnimate projects.  Students had most of the week in class to work on their video and complete their Works Cited.  The videos should be completed by Monday, January 15 and then we will view them as a class.