Today in 6A!

ENGLISH: Students wrote their Unit 3 Vocabulary and Chapter 7 Grammar test today. Based on student reactions, I think we have found our zone. I believe I am preparing a fair assessment and students are offered great opportunities to communicate what they know and to what degree.

RELIGION: Students write an open-book test for Session 6.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Taking a look again at our new Chapter on ancient Mesopotamia, students were instructed on Cornell notes, this time for a written text. While I am not imposing this as THE note taking strategy, I offer it to students as one of many possible strategies that will help them in the years to come to be better organized. Additionally, I explained the importance of developing a short-hand note taking style. There are ample opportunities for people to apply this skill in the real world as well as academia and I impress the serious importance of being able to take notes that make sense to each individual student. It takes time to get comfortable with any style and to each their own. Students were assigned questions 1-7 on page 70. If they did not finish it in class, it is homework.

Today in 6A & 6B

ENGLISH: After discussing the Pronoun Agreement with the students, we began reviewing the concepts and vocabulary terms that will be on tomorrow's test. At this point, students have written 2 unit/chapter tests for English and should have a strong understanding of what preparation methods of theirs have been successful and which ones have not. While I haven't assigned any specific review as homework, I have guided students to specific review materials that will help them with tomorrow assessment.

LITERATURE: Today we built on our concepts of developing inferences to creating characterizations. This means selecting a character and reviewing the text for all mentions of this character, by the narrator, by other characters, or by the character them self. It is reviewing these comments, thoughts and actions that we can begin to establish what "type" of character this is, with the idea being that someone who hasn't read the story should be able to get a good vision of our character strictly from our description.

RELIGION: Today's review session will prepare students for their open-book test tomorrow.

SOCIAL STUDIES: We began today's session with a short video that summarizes what we learned about early civilizations and adds details about ancient Mesopotamia. As we move to study this region over the coming weeks, this video served the purpose of attaching new information to old and previewing some of the details we plan to uncover. Students were provided with a note-taking style that I have found helpful in the past called Cornell Notes. This style provides an organized framework for student notes and questions about the text, any text! The use of Cornell Notes is not restricted to videos but can be used in any informational format. We then used partner reading to learn about the region known as "The Fertile Crescent."

MATH (8:00 class) WS 2-1 + pg 73 10-25  (9:00 class) pg 80 1-33 + AC Math

SCIENCE pg 47 1-4

Today in 6A and 6B

ENGLISH: Continuing our grammar week, we built on yesterday's session and the lessons from last unit as we find pronouns to replace subjects and direct objects. It is a tough lesson, especially if a student is struggling with the concept of direct objects to begin with. The easiest way to remember is that the Subject is what the sentence is about and the Direct Object is what receives the action of the sentence. When replacing these terms with pronouns you get the work we did today. I encourage all students to review the www.grammarforwriting.com worksheets in Chapter 7.

RELIGION: Today we looked at the relationship between Jacob and Esau, the two sons of Isaac and grandsons of Abraham. These two very competitive brothers bickered and fought, largely over their inheritance. Jacob tricked his brother into giving over his birthright. Later Jacob was tricked into marrying a different woman. These scenarios allow us to examine our own actions in moments of frustration and offense.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Students wrote their Chapter 2 test today covering the three lessons from this chapter.

MATH: (8:00 class) pg. 73 #1-9 + Accelerated Math (9:00 class) W.S 2-3/1-10 + Accelerated Math

Today in 6A & 6B

ENGLISH: Today we started our shortened week with our Grammar unit; we are studying Nouns and Pronouns, which is largely review for almost all students. There will be a Vocabulary and Grammar test this coming Friday. Results from last week's make-up grammar quiz show a vast improvement in understanding of the concepts and the grades are posted now on Sycamore. Students will get their tests back tomorrow.

LITERATURE: In 6A we continued with our short story examination of Dragon Dragon where we practiced making inferences. Students needed to piece together intel from the text along with what they know about certain types of actions and make a judgement or conclusion about a certain character. For example: Inference = the King is a coward. Evidence = He has a problem with a dragon. He looks around for someone else to deal with the dragon rather than solving the problem himself. He offers a significant reward for this prize. Conclusion = The king is afraid to deal with the dragon himself, avoids the problem at all costs despite being the leader, therefore he is a coward.

RELIGION: We learned about Fr. John Newmann today.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Today was a review period for our chapter test tomorrow. Again, I guided students to the sections they should study to do well on the test, but this is not an all-encompassing guide for success. Some students want to employ their own methods, and this is encouraged. Quizlet is allowed for studying. Re-reading the chapter is encouraged (roughly 20 pages). The test will have a true/false section. A chapter vocabulary section, and a written section regarding the 7 shared characteristics of civilizations (hint: the chapter only covers one).

MATH (8:00 class) pg 58-59 1-20  (9:00 class)  pg 76 11-30