Today in 6A!

ENGLISH: Students spent their class time putting finishing touches on this week's composition; a personal review of "Click, Clack, Moo; Cows That Type." They shared their work with peers for critique and made the necessary changes to their grammar and mechanics. This work should have been submitted at the end of class. Absent students will need to submit as soon as possible.

Today in 6A & 6B

RELIGION: Students took a short quiz on the meaning behind the Advent wreath and candles.

ENGLISH: Students have been assigned a new writing composition, a personal response to literature. Here students are asked to express their feelings about a piece of award winning literature, "Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type." In this composition students will practice expanding on their "why" in each of their body paragraphs. They will also get practice developing their essay writing format (intro-body-conclusion). In tomorrow's class students will share their work with their peers, make necessary edits, and submit for review.

LITERATURE: In today's excerpt from "The Wednesday Wars" we pick up with Holling haven just had the image of his hero, Mickey Mantle, destroyed after having met him. There was a strong paragraph on page 93 where Holling describes this painful feeling. Later in that same chapter, Holling uses familiar language to describe his new heroes, signifying that he refuses to close his heart off once damaged. We took a moment to examine that interaction and reflect on keeping our own hearts open, despite the fact that we may also later be burned.

SOCIAL STUDIES: In class we performed a role-playing activity where groups students were divided into individual castes, following the Indo-Aryan tradition. Students were required to follow the rules of their caste, which in some cases involved only speaking when spoken to. They had to navigate certain obstacles all the while staying in character. It was a helpful exercise to understand the benefits and limitations of a rigid social structure.

MATH (8:00 class) Worksheet 3-6  (9:00 class) pg 183 1-44

SCIENCE 6B takes their test Tomorrow

Today in 6A!

ENGLISH: Clash began with our Flash cards, minus the assistance of our word lists. Shortly thereafter, students were asked to identify some changes to sentences presented to them and justify why they made that choice. Students are now better able to identify their "why" then ever before.

RELIGION: As part of our Advent preparation, we examined the Advent wreath, its history and the meaning behind the 5 candles. This will be what is tested tomorrow.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Today's lesson examined the Vedic age of Indian history, which speaks about the Aryan people and their influences in this region. The lasting influence of the Indo-Aryans was their implementation of a robust and rigid Caste system. In tying this to our more modern influences, it is known that the Aryan traditions were hugely influential to the spread of Nazi-ism in Germany and Racism in America's South. The purposeful creation of rigid classes within society with the expressed intention of maintaining relational separation is an important legacy of this ancient people. Students were assigned questions 1-6 for homework.

Today in 6A & 6B

ENGLISH: We began with some flash cards and the students in both classes are really on top of these words. Tomorrow we will take away the word lists and have them make those connections without them. After completing our Vocabulary in Context and Passage-Based Reading, we took some time to play Scrabble as a class. Having students manipulate letters and find word combinations that generate points is helpful for their quick thinking and problem solving skills.

LITERATURE: We read another 20 pages on "The Wednesday Wars" as a class, witnessing how Holling Hoodhood's classmate reacted in various scenarios that Holling is fearful of.

RELIGION: We continued our discussion of Advent and why the methods of preparation matter in order to help us get into the spirit of the season.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Students continue their look at Mohenjo-Daro where we analyze how, and infer why, the concept of "cleanliness" was presented in this early culture.

MATH (8:00 class) pg 153 1-25  (9:00 class) pg 178 1-43

SCIENCE Test moved to Thursday Dec 6

Today in 6A & 6B

ENGLISH: our lesson begins with the week's vocabulary terms (unit 7) and there are some doozies in there! Students should have a bit of fun putting these together in their writing pieces. We first list the word. then define it, then find associations to help us understand and remember the term.

LITERATURE: We read the 'November" chapter in "The Wednesday Wars" and our antagonist is beginning to understand an enjoy his Shakespeare lessons. He's read "The Merchant of Venice" and "The Tempest" falling in love with the creative insults and curses that Shakespeare uses.

RELIGION: We opened our new books for the first time today, this week exploring Advent and tyhe many symbols the Old Testament has for the coming of Jesus. We used the analogy of a blackout to help us understand the coming of the "light," that is Jesus Christ, at Christmas.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Students were given a new assignment to help them understand some of the findings of the earliest discovered sites in the Indus River Valley, Mohenjo-Daro and Harrapa. This information was researched and taken up as a class.

MATH (8:00 class) worksheets Quiz Wed (9:00 class) Pg 174 1-48

SCIENCE finish packet science Test Chp 3 will be wed