Today in 6A!
ENGLISH: Using the guidelines from yesterday's peer editing session, we continued with that effort today. There did seem to be a bit of confusion as to how long the essays were tobe. If the directions say 2-3 pages, that means 2 full pages minimum to 3 full pages maximum. There are students struggling with both ends of this limit. If you find yourself with not enough material. Do some more research and add a section, or add more analysis to your research. Give me more reasons why the existing evidence supports your claim. If your essay is too long, consider rephrasing sections in a more concise manner. Or eliminate sections all together.
SOCIAL STUDIES: We finished our last lesson of our Greek unit which covered notable achievements in academics. Significant minds like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle are persons that students should be familiar with. Homework for this section is on Page 433 #1, 2, 4, 5.
While I haven't assigned specific review questions (coming Monday) students have had all lessons already and should spend time each day this weekend reviewing their homework in order to prepare for Wednesday's test.
Friday, April 12, 2019
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Today in 6A & 6B
RELIGION: Students wrote their chapter 13 quiz and later worked on their research essays.
ENGLISH: Today was our first peer review session for our research essays. For each paper we review of others we need to follow the below process:
1-Each peer will review our essay 4 times
2-First read - looking at sentence structure and grammar. Does this flow nicely?
3-Second read - Review transitions - Is it repetitive? Are there transitions? Are they appropriate?
4-Third read - Review clinchers - Are they wrapping up their idea nicely?
5-Fourth read - Review spelling - Are all words spelled correctly?
6-Always ask "How does this support the thesis/claim statement?"
7-Provide suggestions for all of the above. Suggestions should be helpful and lead to better writing.
LITERATURE: I reviewed the expectations for participation in the Socratic Seminar which will be held on Tuesday of next week. Students are expected to created detailed notes that will help them not only express their impressions and understanding of the story, but will help get them involved in the conversation.
SOCIAL STUDIES: We used our time to work in our polis groups.
MATH (8:00 class) Accelerated Math (9:00 class) Ws 8-1, 8-2 & 8-3
STUDENTS SHOULD BE 55%-60% to Goal in Accelerated Math
RELIGION: Students wrote their chapter 13 quiz and later worked on their research essays.
ENGLISH: Today was our first peer review session for our research essays. For each paper we review of others we need to follow the below process:
1-Each peer will review our essay 4 times
2-First read - looking at sentence structure and grammar. Does this flow nicely?
3-Second read - Review transitions - Is it repetitive? Are there transitions? Are they appropriate?
4-Third read - Review clinchers - Are they wrapping up their idea nicely?
5-Fourth read - Review spelling - Are all words spelled correctly?
6-Always ask "How does this support the thesis/claim statement?"
7-Provide suggestions for all of the above. Suggestions should be helpful and lead to better writing.
LITERATURE: I reviewed the expectations for participation in the Socratic Seminar which will be held on Tuesday of next week. Students are expected to created detailed notes that will help them not only express their impressions and understanding of the story, but will help get them involved in the conversation.
SOCIAL STUDIES: We used our time to work in our polis groups.
MATH (8:00 class) Accelerated Math (9:00 class) Ws 8-1, 8-2 & 8-3
STUDENTS SHOULD BE 55%-60% to Goal in Accelerated Math
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Today in 6A & 6B
ENGLISH: Students continued writing their drafts for their research papers. Students have been informed that by tomorrow's class they need to be ready to peer edit theirs and other peoples' essays. This will require some work from our students at home this evening. The consequence for not meeting this expectation is a detention to be held on Monday (4/15) with me so that I may ensure that students are ready and able to submit their essays for the deadline on Tuesday (4/16).
RELIGION: We reviewed our chapter 13 lessons from this week in preparation for our open book test tomorrow.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Our lesson shared a focus on both Art and Literature in ancient Greece. In Art, we talked about pottery, sculpture and architecture and how the Greek spent a great deal of time debating the ideals of beauty. It is from this line of thinking that we get our modern conflicts around racism and the justification for slavery here in the U.S. From the literature perspective the lesson detailed the similarities and difference between Greek tragedies and comedies as well as the importance of fables in everyday life. Homework is on page 427 #1-4.
MATH (8:00 class) pg 338-339 6-24 + 31-33 Chp 6 test tomorrow (9:00 class) pg 400-401 2-28 evens + 30-37
ENGLISH: Students continued writing their drafts for their research papers. Students have been informed that by tomorrow's class they need to be ready to peer edit theirs and other peoples' essays. This will require some work from our students at home this evening. The consequence for not meeting this expectation is a detention to be held on Monday (4/15) with me so that I may ensure that students are ready and able to submit their essays for the deadline on Tuesday (4/16).
RELIGION: We reviewed our chapter 13 lessons from this week in preparation for our open book test tomorrow.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Our lesson shared a focus on both Art and Literature in ancient Greece. In Art, we talked about pottery, sculpture and architecture and how the Greek spent a great deal of time debating the ideals of beauty. It is from this line of thinking that we get our modern conflicts around racism and the justification for slavery here in the U.S. From the literature perspective the lesson detailed the similarities and difference between Greek tragedies and comedies as well as the importance of fables in everyday life. Homework is on page 427 #1-4.
MATH (8:00 class) pg 338-339 6-24 + 31-33 Chp 6 test tomorrow (9:00 class) pg 400-401 2-28 evens + 30-37
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Today in 6A & 6B
ENGLISH: Students continued with the drafting phase of their essays. There are still a few students who are slowly progressing to this phase. These students will need to do additional work at home to ensure that they are prepared to submit for our Tuesday deadline.
LITERATURE: Today 6A finished reading "A Long Walk To Water" and we will now begin preparing for our Socratic Seminar, ideally, Tuesday of next week.
RELIGION: Today's conversation centered around conscience and what informs our consciences. The text makes a great analogy to a search engine; if you plug in data that is incorrect, you'll get incorrect results. Similarly if we inform our conscience incorrectly, we will not behave in a moral way.
SOCIAL STUDIES: If we were not completing such a large project already, this lesson would have been an ideal opportunity to spend a great deal of time. In our overview of ancient Greek religion, we explored the popular tales of the Gods and demi-gods. Homework for this session is on page 419 #1, 2, 4, 5, 6
MATH (8:00 class) pg 330 1-16 Chp 6 Test on Thursday (9:00 class) pg 400-401 1-29 odds
ENGLISH: Students continued with the drafting phase of their essays. There are still a few students who are slowly progressing to this phase. These students will need to do additional work at home to ensure that they are prepared to submit for our Tuesday deadline.
LITERATURE: Today 6A finished reading "A Long Walk To Water" and we will now begin preparing for our Socratic Seminar, ideally, Tuesday of next week.
RELIGION: Today's conversation centered around conscience and what informs our consciences. The text makes a great analogy to a search engine; if you plug in data that is incorrect, you'll get incorrect results. Similarly if we inform our conscience incorrectly, we will not behave in a moral way.
SOCIAL STUDIES: If we were not completing such a large project already, this lesson would have been an ideal opportunity to spend a great deal of time. In our overview of ancient Greek religion, we explored the popular tales of the Gods and demi-gods. Homework for this session is on page 419 #1, 2, 4, 5, 6
MATH (8:00 class) pg 330 1-16 Chp 6 Test on Thursday (9:00 class) pg 400-401 1-29 odds
Monday, April 8, 2019
Today in 6A!
ENGLISH: Students wrote their Unit 14 Vocabulary quiz today. This will be graded and returned to students by tomorrow. After their test students gained approval of their pre-writing and began the drafting process. There a select few students who have yet to meet the pre-writing component. I caution these students to not draft until they have mapped out their research and defined how they plan to go about writing this essay. A good plan is the key to a good essay. All students should be at the drafting stage for tomorrow.
LITERATURE: We continued our read of "A Long Walk To Water" and will likely finish the book by the end of this week. This means that next week we will have our Socratic Seminar discussion to assess our learning of this material before we break for Easter. Students will have class time to prepare properly for this discussion.
RELIGION: To prepare students for our lesson I had small groups take 5 minutes to come up with an invention that would make their live easier. All of their inventions had a similarity, that they saved the user valuable time. This is a theme in our lives, making things easier or getting results immediately, however the only area of our lives where the opposite is true is in our pursuit of Jesus. We are not racing to get those results immediately, in fact, we often actively push it back or delay it. We observed the Hebrews as they languished in the desert for forty years in order to see the covenant made with Moses fulfilled.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Our lesson focused on the emergence of democracy in Ancient Greece and how this change impacted their societies. In addition, our lesson explored several other types of leadership and governance which lie in stark contrast to Democracy. Homework for this section is on page 392 #1-7.
ENGLISH: Students wrote their Unit 14 Vocabulary quiz today. This will be graded and returned to students by tomorrow. After their test students gained approval of their pre-writing and began the drafting process. There a select few students who have yet to meet the pre-writing component. I caution these students to not draft until they have mapped out their research and defined how they plan to go about writing this essay. A good plan is the key to a good essay. All students should be at the drafting stage for tomorrow.
LITERATURE: We continued our read of "A Long Walk To Water" and will likely finish the book by the end of this week. This means that next week we will have our Socratic Seminar discussion to assess our learning of this material before we break for Easter. Students will have class time to prepare properly for this discussion.
RELIGION: To prepare students for our lesson I had small groups take 5 minutes to come up with an invention that would make their live easier. All of their inventions had a similarity, that they saved the user valuable time. This is a theme in our lives, making things easier or getting results immediately, however the only area of our lives where the opposite is true is in our pursuit of Jesus. We are not racing to get those results immediately, in fact, we often actively push it back or delay it. We observed the Hebrews as they languished in the desert for forty years in order to see the covenant made with Moses fulfilled.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Our lesson focused on the emergence of democracy in Ancient Greece and how this change impacted their societies. In addition, our lesson explored several other types of leadership and governance which lie in stark contrast to Democracy. Homework for this section is on page 392 #1-7.
Thursday, April 4, 2019
Today in 6A & 6B
RELIGION: Students wrote their chapter 12 quiz today.
ENGLISH: Continuing our work with our research essays, our class time was focused on developing a strong pre-writing phase. In this work we are writing out our plan on how we intend to write our essays. We begin by turning our best research question into a strong thesis/claim statement. This sentence will be what we set out to prove or reveal. All of our evidence needs to support this so we then design the order in which we will talk about these things. After setting the order we plug our evidence into this order. We then write 3-4 sentences for EACH of the pieces of evidence that explains how this evidence supports our claim. This analysis will be the most important part of our essay, and the most difficult step in the pre-writing process. From here we will be ready to draft. Students whould be ready to begin drafting for our Monday class. Students will write their Unit 14 vocabulary quiz on Monday morning and begin drafting with the remainder of class time.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Shortly after taking up the homework from yesterday, we examined a new lesson which discussed trade and expansion of Greece. For different City-States the pressures and responses were different, and therefore yielded a different result. Homework for this section is on page 379 #1, 2, 4
MATH (8:00 class) pg 325 11-23 (9:00 class) pg 394 1-31
RELIGION: Students wrote their chapter 12 quiz today.
ENGLISH: Continuing our work with our research essays, our class time was focused on developing a strong pre-writing phase. In this work we are writing out our plan on how we intend to write our essays. We begin by turning our best research question into a strong thesis/claim statement. This sentence will be what we set out to prove or reveal. All of our evidence needs to support this so we then design the order in which we will talk about these things. After setting the order we plug our evidence into this order. We then write 3-4 sentences for EACH of the pieces of evidence that explains how this evidence supports our claim. This analysis will be the most important part of our essay, and the most difficult step in the pre-writing process. From here we will be ready to draft. Students whould be ready to begin drafting for our Monday class. Students will write their Unit 14 vocabulary quiz on Monday morning and begin drafting with the remainder of class time.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Shortly after taking up the homework from yesterday, we examined a new lesson which discussed trade and expansion of Greece. For different City-States the pressures and responses were different, and therefore yielded a different result. Homework for this section is on page 379 #1, 2, 4
MATH (8:00 class) pg 325 11-23 (9:00 class) pg 394 1-31
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Today in 6A & 6B
ENGLISH: Students continued with their research from yesterday. Our time was filled with seeking answers to the questions we created yesterday. With this information students will begin pre-writing tomorrow.
RELIGION: After reviewing the key concepts from this week's lesson we worked on a "Love Chain" craft, which will be completed after students write their quiz tomorrow morning.
SOCIAL STUDIES: After reviewing the homework of our students, we conducted a new lesson that explored the details of daily life for most Greeks. This detailed the social structure of Greek city-states, the division of labor between men and women, the expectations of young boys and girls when it comes to their education, as well as the role of slaves within Greek society. Homework for this lesson is on page 373 #1, 2, 4, 5
MATH (8:00 class) pgs 324-325 1-10 (9:00 class) Accelerated Math
SCIENCE Study for chp 7 Test Tomorrow
ENGLISH: Students continued with their research from yesterday. Our time was filled with seeking answers to the questions we created yesterday. With this information students will begin pre-writing tomorrow.
RELIGION: After reviewing the key concepts from this week's lesson we worked on a "Love Chain" craft, which will be completed after students write their quiz tomorrow morning.
SOCIAL STUDIES: After reviewing the homework of our students, we conducted a new lesson that explored the details of daily life for most Greeks. This detailed the social structure of Greek city-states, the division of labor between men and women, the expectations of young boys and girls when it comes to their education, as well as the role of slaves within Greek society. Homework for this lesson is on page 373 #1, 2, 4, 5
MATH (8:00 class) pgs 324-325 1-10 (9:00 class) Accelerated Math
SCIENCE Study for chp 7 Test Tomorrow
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Today in 6A & 6B
ENGLISH: After reviewing our flash cards for unit 14 vocabulary, students were instructed on how to conduct research for their Social Studies research essays. In our research it is important to start by narrowing our topic and we do that by asking questions. This begins with simple questions to determine scope, but our core is determined by questions that lead us in the direction of more questions. This is the basis of good research. A decent research question is one that someone cannot satisfy with a simple Google search, but one that requires thorough analysis of different sources to piece together information. Each student is researching a different topic so there is no cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all way to ask correct questions, but the part that unites all is the line of questioning, the questions that lead to more questions. From here students cast a wide net gathering all they can and keeping what answers their questions.
LITERATURE: On Monday our students began reading "A Long Walk To Water," a touching story that follows two parallel plot lines about life in Sub-Saharan West Africa. Today we continued with this read. Students were given the discussion questions that will guide the Socratic Seminar which will serve as their assessment of learning for this read. The book reads quickly and I anticipate that this will be completed prior to Spring Break.
RELIGION: Our lesson picks up from yesterday's review of the 10 commandments and we examined how each shows our respect for God and his wishes. Similarly, we talked about names, nick-names and how God calls each and every one of us by name, specifically.
SOCIAL STUDIES: After correcting the homework from our last lesson, we pressed on for a new one. Today we examined what a City-State was and how certain features of the Greek history have lead us to where we are today. Homework for this section is on page 368 #1, 2, 4
MATH (8:00 class) Ws 6-5 (9:00 class) pgs 376-378 1-45 Chp 7 Test Tomorrow
SCIENCE Chp 7 Test Thursday
ENGLISH: After reviewing our flash cards for unit 14 vocabulary, students were instructed on how to conduct research for their Social Studies research essays. In our research it is important to start by narrowing our topic and we do that by asking questions. This begins with simple questions to determine scope, but our core is determined by questions that lead us in the direction of more questions. This is the basis of good research. A decent research question is one that someone cannot satisfy with a simple Google search, but one that requires thorough analysis of different sources to piece together information. Each student is researching a different topic so there is no cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all way to ask correct questions, but the part that unites all is the line of questioning, the questions that lead to more questions. From here students cast a wide net gathering all they can and keeping what answers their questions.
LITERATURE: On Monday our students began reading "A Long Walk To Water," a touching story that follows two parallel plot lines about life in Sub-Saharan West Africa. Today we continued with this read. Students were given the discussion questions that will guide the Socratic Seminar which will serve as their assessment of learning for this read. The book reads quickly and I anticipate that this will be completed prior to Spring Break.
RELIGION: Our lesson picks up from yesterday's review of the 10 commandments and we examined how each shows our respect for God and his wishes. Similarly, we talked about names, nick-names and how God calls each and every one of us by name, specifically.
SOCIAL STUDIES: After correcting the homework from our last lesson, we pressed on for a new one. Today we examined what a City-State was and how certain features of the Greek history have lead us to where we are today. Homework for this section is on page 368 #1, 2, 4
MATH (8:00 class) Ws 6-5 (9:00 class) pgs 376-378 1-45 Chp 7 Test Tomorrow
SCIENCE Chp 7 Test Thursday
Friday, March 29, 2019
Today in 6A!
RELIGION: Students wrote their quiz on the Chapter 11 lessons that we held this week.
ENGLISH: We picked up today's lesson where yesterday's left off with us working on creating citations. As a means of helping students determine the language of the cheat sheet given to them, I worked them through the first one together as a class. Students who are still working on this assignment over the weekend will need to skip the YouTube video because the website is restricted on their Chromebooks. Each of the provided sources deals with a different type of source asking students to retrieve information and present it through a variety of standards.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Our lesson/activity built on yesterday's examination of Grecian geography by identifying significant locations on a map of Greece and then having them answer a number of questions that address our topic from yesterday's lesson.
****Monday is "Teresa Day" where students may dress in free dress for a $5 donation to the Nguyen family to support their daughter's cancer treatments. Students must wear Purple or Pink****
An alarming trend has come to my attention recently where some of our students are using "gay" as an insult toward each other. This is inappropriate behavior for many reasons but primarily because it suggests that being gay is something inherently bad or to be ashamed of. It's not, and we need all hands on deck to ensure that our kids grow up understanding the value of people who are different from ourselves. I have spoken to both classes about this issue and I assured them that if this continues I will pursue the maximum allowable discipline for this type of discrimination.
RELIGION: Students wrote their quiz on the Chapter 11 lessons that we held this week.
ENGLISH: We picked up today's lesson where yesterday's left off with us working on creating citations. As a means of helping students determine the language of the cheat sheet given to them, I worked them through the first one together as a class. Students who are still working on this assignment over the weekend will need to skip the YouTube video because the website is restricted on their Chromebooks. Each of the provided sources deals with a different type of source asking students to retrieve information and present it through a variety of standards.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Our lesson/activity built on yesterday's examination of Grecian geography by identifying significant locations on a map of Greece and then having them answer a number of questions that address our topic from yesterday's lesson.
****Monday is "Teresa Day" where students may dress in free dress for a $5 donation to the Nguyen family to support their daughter's cancer treatments. Students must wear Purple or Pink****
An alarming trend has come to my attention recently where some of our students are using "gay" as an insult toward each other. This is inappropriate behavior for many reasons but primarily because it suggests that being gay is something inherently bad or to be ashamed of. It's not, and we need all hands on deck to ensure that our kids grow up understanding the value of people who are different from ourselves. I have spoken to both classes about this issue and I assured them that if this continues I will pursue the maximum allowable discipline for this type of discrimination.
Thursday, March 28, 2019
Today in 6A & 6B
RELIGION: As part of our review for tomorrow's open-book quiz, students answered ten questions that help them center around how they might navigate the road to god on their spiritual journey.
ENGLISH: After reviewing our flash cards we continued our work on citations, this time focusing on "how" we cite information in MLA format. Students were issued an assignment that requires them to make full and proper citations for 5 different sources of information. This assignment will be picked up tomorrow and if not finished by the end of our English session, will be weekend homework.
LITERATURE: Today was our last literature class to work on our Egypt Game essays. Next week we will be starting a new class read that will have a different assessment associated with it.
SOCIAL STUDIES: As we begin our Ancient Greece unit, today was our first of eight instructional lessons. Homework for this session in on page 362 #1, 2, 4, 5, 6.
Students have 2 projects (one group, one individual) and a chapter test for this information, all of which is finishing within a 3 day period right before we break for Easter. It is important that students pay close attention to their ongoing studies and do good work throughout so that they can be well prepared for the various assessments that all seem to show up at once. We have lots of time, but please don't use that as an excuse to avoid work.
MATH (8:00 class) pg 314 #'s 2,4,6,8,12,14,16 & 18 (9:00 class) pg 367 3-13
SCIENCE pg 218 1-4
RELIGION: As part of our review for tomorrow's open-book quiz, students answered ten questions that help them center around how they might navigate the road to god on their spiritual journey.
ENGLISH: After reviewing our flash cards we continued our work on citations, this time focusing on "how" we cite information in MLA format. Students were issued an assignment that requires them to make full and proper citations for 5 different sources of information. This assignment will be picked up tomorrow and if not finished by the end of our English session, will be weekend homework.
LITERATURE: Today was our last literature class to work on our Egypt Game essays. Next week we will be starting a new class read that will have a different assessment associated with it.
SOCIAL STUDIES: As we begin our Ancient Greece unit, today was our first of eight instructional lessons. Homework for this session in on page 362 #1, 2, 4, 5, 6.
Students have 2 projects (one group, one individual) and a chapter test for this information, all of which is finishing within a 3 day period right before we break for Easter. It is important that students pay close attention to their ongoing studies and do good work throughout so that they can be well prepared for the various assessments that all seem to show up at once. We have lots of time, but please don't use that as an excuse to avoid work.
MATH (8:00 class) pg 314 #'s 2,4,6,8,12,14,16 & 18 (9:00 class) pg 367 3-13
SCIENCE pg 218 1-4
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Today in 6A & 6B
ENGLISH: After reviewing our flash cards, I asked the students what they understand about citations and why we might put them to use. For the remainder of the week students will practice using MLA citations, which will prepare them for not only next year, but for the next 10+ years of their education. Understanding the importance of and reason for citing evidence is the key to respectfully using evidence in life.
Today we visited Rabbi Young at the Congregation B'Nai Tzedek in Fountain Valley. Rabbi Young was a very informative and gracious host who presented the Seder with a lot of color and then gave us a tour of the sanctuary, complete with a revealing of one of his congregation's Torah's. I am so proud of the participation and behavior of our students, for the support of our volunteer parent chaperones and facilitators, and for Rabbi Young's warmth when opening his doors to us. This was a truly wonderful experience for all in attendance.
SOCIAL STUDIES: With the remainder of our day, students gathered in their Polis groups to set their team colors, determine logos and generate strategies for cooperation and collaboration.
MATH (8:00 class) WS 6-4 (9:00 class) WS 7-6
ENGLISH: After reviewing our flash cards, I asked the students what they understand about citations and why we might put them to use. For the remainder of the week students will practice using MLA citations, which will prepare them for not only next year, but for the next 10+ years of their education. Understanding the importance of and reason for citing evidence is the key to respectfully using evidence in life.
Today we visited Rabbi Young at the Congregation B'Nai Tzedek in Fountain Valley. Rabbi Young was a very informative and gracious host who presented the Seder with a lot of color and then gave us a tour of the sanctuary, complete with a revealing of one of his congregation's Torah's. I am so proud of the participation and behavior of our students, for the support of our volunteer parent chaperones and facilitators, and for Rabbi Young's warmth when opening his doors to us. This was a truly wonderful experience for all in attendance.
SOCIAL STUDIES: With the remainder of our day, students gathered in their Polis groups to set their team colors, determine logos and generate strategies for cooperation and collaboration.
MATH (8:00 class) WS 6-4 (9:00 class) WS 7-6
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Today in 6A!
Many thanks to everyone for such a wonderful day yesterday at Knott's Berry Farm. Students were well behaved, checked in when asked, and had a great time. Parent volunteers, thank you for your time and help in making this a successful Ditch Day. Finally, a huge thanks go out to the families that sponsored this event for us at this year's auction. Without naming names, I just want to express my deepest gratitude for your generosity.
ENGLISH: As we start another Vocabulary week, students begin with defining and associating our new list of 20 iWords.
LITERATURE: Our class time was used to work on our Egypt Game essays which will be due this coming Friday. Students should be finishing up their first draft and getting peers to edit and suggest changes.
RELIGION: We started Chapter 11 in our Christ Our Life texts that explores in depth the laws of Moses, not just the Ten Commandments, but all messaged passed on to Moses from God. We likened our story of the Exodus to what happens when we move from our homes to a new place many miles away. What do we need to consider when moving? How do we adjust?
SOCIAL STUDIES: Students were issued their culminating projects for our Ancient Greece unit on the first day of the section. Students will have 2 projects to work on; one independent and one as a group. The group project requires students to study their assigned City-State's characteristics and be model citizens while representing that city-state in the Greek Olympics. There will be 6 events that all students participate in, and are listed on the assignment page. The independent project will be a research essay that students will complete and then present in a symposium on our Greek Day just before the Easter holidays. Greek Day will be Thursday, April 18, 2019 (a half-day on our calendar). Students are expected to be in attendance that day to participate in both events. Research papers will be due on Tuesday, April 16, 2019, that day being our review session for the Unit Test April 17, 2019.
Many thanks to everyone for such a wonderful day yesterday at Knott's Berry Farm. Students were well behaved, checked in when asked, and had a great time. Parent volunteers, thank you for your time and help in making this a successful Ditch Day. Finally, a huge thanks go out to the families that sponsored this event for us at this year's auction. Without naming names, I just want to express my deepest gratitude for your generosity.
ENGLISH: As we start another Vocabulary week, students begin with defining and associating our new list of 20 iWords.
LITERATURE: Our class time was used to work on our Egypt Game essays which will be due this coming Friday. Students should be finishing up their first draft and getting peers to edit and suggest changes.
RELIGION: We started Chapter 11 in our Christ Our Life texts that explores in depth the laws of Moses, not just the Ten Commandments, but all messaged passed on to Moses from God. We likened our story of the Exodus to what happens when we move from our homes to a new place many miles away. What do we need to consider when moving? How do we adjust?
SOCIAL STUDIES: Students were issued their culminating projects for our Ancient Greece unit on the first day of the section. Students will have 2 projects to work on; one independent and one as a group. The group project requires students to study their assigned City-State's characteristics and be model citizens while representing that city-state in the Greek Olympics. There will be 6 events that all students participate in, and are listed on the assignment page. The independent project will be a research essay that students will complete and then present in a symposium on our Greek Day just before the Easter holidays. Greek Day will be Thursday, April 18, 2019 (a half-day on our calendar). Students are expected to be in attendance that day to participate in both events. Research papers will be due on Tuesday, April 16, 2019, that day being our review session for the Unit Test April 17, 2019.
Friday, March 22, 2019
Today in 6A & 6B
ENGLISH: As soon as students finished their Unit 13 vocabulary test, they had the remainder of class to work on their assignment for the poetry analysis. Most, if not all, students are nearly completed with this assignment which allows them to work on their literature essay which will be due one week from today.
The remainder of our day was spent working on the various open assignments that our sixth grade students have.
With Ditch Day on Monday, students are reminded to be on their best behavior for this outing. Students are encouraged to wear free dress for this day and are allowed to bring their cell phones. This is mentioned with caution as we understand that kids like photos, but to beware not to post any of their locations to social media and restrict sharing to family and friends directly. Let's keep the fun times fun and worry free!
MATH (8:00 class) Pg 307-308 1-14 (9:00 class) pg 362 4-28 skip # 8
ENGLISH: As soon as students finished their Unit 13 vocabulary test, they had the remainder of class to work on their assignment for the poetry analysis. Most, if not all, students are nearly completed with this assignment which allows them to work on their literature essay which will be due one week from today.
The remainder of our day was spent working on the various open assignments that our sixth grade students have.
With Ditch Day on Monday, students are reminded to be on their best behavior for this outing. Students are encouraged to wear free dress for this day and are allowed to bring their cell phones. This is mentioned with caution as we understand that kids like photos, but to beware not to post any of their locations to social media and restrict sharing to family and friends directly. Let's keep the fun times fun and worry free!
MATH (8:00 class) Pg 307-308 1-14 (9:00 class) pg 362 4-28 skip # 8
Thursday, March 21, 2019
Today in 6A!
RELIGION: Students wrote an open-book quiz to start our day. The content covered our conversations on Exodus and the role of Moses in the Church.
ENGLISH: Students continued their work on the 3-choice submission. This work allows them to express their creativity, both artistically and in words. These expressions help them to make use of the analysis they previously completed by applying it to new writings and in different forms.
LITERATURE: This class was the first opportunity for all students to begin writing their essays. I am insisting that all students perform a robust pre-writing phases which will help them with the structure of their essay as well as organization of thoughts. By seeing it all down on paper first, they then have a better idea of where their writing will go, which is crucial in such a short piece. Some students are drafting now as well, which should go well. The deadline for submission of this essay has been pushed to Friday, March 29.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Students wrote their Chapter test for the Ancient Hebrews.
RELIGION: Students wrote an open-book quiz to start our day. The content covered our conversations on Exodus and the role of Moses in the Church.
ENGLISH: Students continued their work on the 3-choice submission. This work allows them to express their creativity, both artistically and in words. These expressions help them to make use of the analysis they previously completed by applying it to new writings and in different forms.
LITERATURE: This class was the first opportunity for all students to begin writing their essays. I am insisting that all students perform a robust pre-writing phases which will help them with the structure of their essay as well as organization of thoughts. By seeing it all down on paper first, they then have a better idea of where their writing will go, which is crucial in such a short piece. Some students are drafting now as well, which should go well. The deadline for submission of this essay has been pushed to Friday, March 29.
^^^^The structure of student pre-writing should follow this guide ^^^^
SOCIAL STUDIES: Students wrote their Chapter test for the Ancient Hebrews.
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Today in 6A!
ENGLISH: Continuing with our poetry analysis, students used the collective work we completed yesterday to choose 3 pieces to complete. Each student must choose 1 "Theme" assignment, 1 "Imagery/Metaphor" assignment, and 1 "Evaluate" assignment, of which there are three options for each column. These assignments will be due on Google Classroom on Friday.
LITERATURE: Students who have begun their essays should have a robust pre-writing session that follows the process in the image below:
RELIGION: Our review session was shortened by the many questions students have regarding my incentives to have them participate in mass more. I had been concerned by the lack of participation by a number of our students in 6A, particularly as it translates to the effect of their influence over their 3rd grade and TYKE buddies. As a means of evaluating each student's participation in mass, it makes sense to test them regarding the specific aspects of the mass (ie: what were the readings about? who presided over the mass? and similar questions). This came as a suggestion from one of my colleagues and the test I found came from the black-line masters of our Christ Our Life texts. I haven't fully decided on whether to move in this direction but this is what I am thinking.
ENGLISH: Continuing with our poetry analysis, students used the collective work we completed yesterday to choose 3 pieces to complete. Each student must choose 1 "Theme" assignment, 1 "Imagery/Metaphor" assignment, and 1 "Evaluate" assignment, of which there are three options for each column. These assignments will be due on Google Classroom on Friday.
LITERATURE: Students who have begun their essays should have a robust pre-writing session that follows the process in the image below:
RELIGION: Our review session was shortened by the many questions students have regarding my incentives to have them participate in mass more. I had been concerned by the lack of participation by a number of our students in 6A, particularly as it translates to the effect of their influence over their 3rd grade and TYKE buddies. As a means of evaluating each student's participation in mass, it makes sense to test them regarding the specific aspects of the mass (ie: what were the readings about? who presided over the mass? and similar questions). This came as a suggestion from one of my colleagues and the test I found came from the black-line masters of our Christ Our Life texts. I haven't fully decided on whether to move in this direction but this is what I am thinking.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Our review session for the Ancient Hebrews dovetails nicely with what we are studying in religion class. The Exodus and the story of the patriarchs of the Hebrew faith helps us understand the influence of the Hebrews on those who came after them.
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Today in 6A & 6B
ENGLISH: After yesterday's biographical and historical context, today we examined the poem by Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken." Beginning with the title, we tried to decipher what the author could have meant when he wrote this piece. We interpreted the figurative and descriptive language. In this exercise, we learned that it is more than just a poem about making decisions, it shows that the decisions that this individual faced are similar to the ones our students will face in the next 5 years. This was helpful in detailing the layered meaning of this poem.
LITERATURE: Today 6A finished the book "The Egypt Game." The story came to a definitive conclusion with our characters gaining some closure on who the Professor is and was and what we can expect him to become. Students know now that they have a 1-2 page essay which will outline the nautre of their chose character based solely on that character's actions, not their words. Students are reminded that they are not to "retell" this story but to reference action and analyze that action for what it tells us about their character. This essay will be due next Wednesday (one week from tomorrow) and students will be given benchmarks that they should meet each day.
RELIGION: Our lesson reviewed much of what we have learned in Social studies surrounding the exile of the Jews from Egypt and the role of Moses in that effort. It also discussed the connections to our faith as Christians.
SOCIAL STUDIES: After taking up the homework from yesterday, students were shown 2 videos. The first explained how the emergence of a monotheistic religion happened from an archaeological standpoint and presented from the ancient site of a Hebrew fortress that overlooked the place where David met Goliath. The second video was a narrated walking tour of the old city of Jerusalem where the video creator toured such important sites as the 4 quarters, the Western Wall, the Temple on the Mount, the Church of the Holy Sepulcre, and more. I found this helpful for students to connect what they have learned about the Ancient Hebrews to a physical place and see that this space is still inhabited by the ancestors of the ancients.
MATH (8:00 class) pg 303 13-42 (9:00 class) WS 7-2
ENGLISH: After yesterday's biographical and historical context, today we examined the poem by Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken." Beginning with the title, we tried to decipher what the author could have meant when he wrote this piece. We interpreted the figurative and descriptive language. In this exercise, we learned that it is more than just a poem about making decisions, it shows that the decisions that this individual faced are similar to the ones our students will face in the next 5 years. This was helpful in detailing the layered meaning of this poem.
LITERATURE: Today 6A finished the book "The Egypt Game." The story came to a definitive conclusion with our characters gaining some closure on who the Professor is and was and what we can expect him to become. Students know now that they have a 1-2 page essay which will outline the nautre of their chose character based solely on that character's actions, not their words. Students are reminded that they are not to "retell" this story but to reference action and analyze that action for what it tells us about their character. This essay will be due next Wednesday (one week from tomorrow) and students will be given benchmarks that they should meet each day.
RELIGION: Our lesson reviewed much of what we have learned in Social studies surrounding the exile of the Jews from Egypt and the role of Moses in that effort. It also discussed the connections to our faith as Christians.
SOCIAL STUDIES: After taking up the homework from yesterday, students were shown 2 videos. The first explained how the emergence of a monotheistic religion happened from an archaeological standpoint and presented from the ancient site of a Hebrew fortress that overlooked the place where David met Goliath. The second video was a narrated walking tour of the old city of Jerusalem where the video creator toured such important sites as the 4 quarters, the Western Wall, the Temple on the Mount, the Church of the Holy Sepulcre, and more. I found this helpful for students to connect what they have learned about the Ancient Hebrews to a physical place and see that this space is still inhabited by the ancestors of the ancients.
MATH (8:00 class) pg 303 13-42 (9:00 class) WS 7-2
Monday, March 18, 2019
Today in 6A!
ENGLISH: Since we no longer have any strict grammar lessons, students will have the opportunity to examine different types of writing and encounter some of the literary legends in our midst. This seemed like a golden opportunity to revisit poetry, more specifically "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost. Today students listened to the poem for the first time and reviewed some historical context about our author. This is helpful for understanding the poem because it gives insight as to what some of the author's motivations might be.
LITERATURE: Our reading today grew in anticipatory tension. As the kids grow ever-more engaged with their fantasy game, they happen to become involved in a very real altercation that turns some of the foregone conclusions on their ear. We learn that the professor is not a bad guy but is likely the person responsible for saving the young children from certain death. Tomorrow the book will wind down to an end and students will begin their essays which will be due next week.
RELIGION: Our lesson from today touches on some of the social studies work we have done over the past short while. We examine God leading his people out of slavery and all of the consequences (positive and negative) that this brings.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Today's lesson ties up the unit. It is the third and final lesson in the Ancient Hebrews chapter and discusses the dispersion of Jews the world over. Students learned the term "Diaspora" and how the scattered nature of our Hebrew brethren encourages them to return to the "Promised Land" in their lifetime. Homework is on page 149 #1-4.
ENGLISH: Since we no longer have any strict grammar lessons, students will have the opportunity to examine different types of writing and encounter some of the literary legends in our midst. This seemed like a golden opportunity to revisit poetry, more specifically "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost. Today students listened to the poem for the first time and reviewed some historical context about our author. This is helpful for understanding the poem because it gives insight as to what some of the author's motivations might be.
LITERATURE: Our reading today grew in anticipatory tension. As the kids grow ever-more engaged with their fantasy game, they happen to become involved in a very real altercation that turns some of the foregone conclusions on their ear. We learn that the professor is not a bad guy but is likely the person responsible for saving the young children from certain death. Tomorrow the book will wind down to an end and students will begin their essays which will be due next week.
RELIGION: Our lesson from today touches on some of the social studies work we have done over the past short while. We examine God leading his people out of slavery and all of the consequences (positive and negative) that this brings.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Today's lesson ties up the unit. It is the third and final lesson in the Ancient Hebrews chapter and discusses the dispersion of Jews the world over. Students learned the term "Diaspora" and how the scattered nature of our Hebrew brethren encourages them to return to the "Promised Land" in their lifetime. Homework is on page 149 #1-4.
Friday, March 15, 2019
Today in 6A!
ENGLISH: For class, students worked on rewriting their essays that they have worked on all week. This should be submitted today. If it has not been submitted it is homework.
SOCIAL STUDIES: I did have a nice craft planned for our students today but it appears as though a number of things went wrong. Foremost of all, my instructions were a tad flawed, in the sense that the Mezuzahs we were making would end up looking more like a cubic box rather than the square prism that I had hoped. This has been adjusted and future iterations of this craft will be vastly improved. This experience has highlighted the problem-solving abilities, or lack there of, for the large majority of our class. Which also gives me food for thought. Onward and upward.
ENGLISH: For class, students worked on rewriting their essays that they have worked on all week. This should be submitted today. If it has not been submitted it is homework.
SOCIAL STUDIES: I did have a nice craft planned for our students today but it appears as though a number of things went wrong. Foremost of all, my instructions were a tad flawed, in the sense that the Mezuzahs we were making would end up looking more like a cubic box rather than the square prism that I had hoped. This has been adjusted and future iterations of this craft will be vastly improved. This experience has highlighted the problem-solving abilities, or lack there of, for the large majority of our class. Which also gives me food for thought. Onward and upward.
Happy St. Patrick's Day this weekend to all!
Thursday, March 14, 2019
Today in 6A & 6B
RELIGION: In class we examined the Act of Contrition. We took the prayer itself, used during reconciliation, and unpacked the language used and why we say what we say in that prayer. We drew connections to our own lives and that helped students understand how and why we address God in the way we do for this prayer.
ENGLISH: Day two in examining our own writing. Students were tasked with peer editing through multiple passes, each time looking for a specific feature and providing suggestions on how to improve the problems identified. The biggest trouble most students are having is in applying good concluding sentences to their paragraphs. These can be employed in one of two ways; either to wrap up the current paragraph (most common), or to lead into the next paragraph. Both are acceptable but students need to try to use at least one each paragraph.
LITERATURE: As The Egypt Game progresses, the newest members of the gang become more and more involved and interested in the game. Ken and Toby have ideas of their own and appear to be trying to steer the game off course. Trouble finds them as they begin acting as "oracles" to each other.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Our lesson helps us to understand the beliefs of the ancient Hebrews. We do this by examining the different sacred scriptures and what their purpose is, as well as the role of the Rabbi in this process. These texts are the foundation of their belief in "ethical thinking" which has had an enormous impact on the values of the entire world (basic human rights, definitions for atrocities like genocide, etc.). Homework for this section is on page 142 #1-7.
MATH (8:00 class) pg 298 11-29 (9:00 class) pg 343 1-25
RELIGION: In class we examined the Act of Contrition. We took the prayer itself, used during reconciliation, and unpacked the language used and why we say what we say in that prayer. We drew connections to our own lives and that helped students understand how and why we address God in the way we do for this prayer.
ENGLISH: Day two in examining our own writing. Students were tasked with peer editing through multiple passes, each time looking for a specific feature and providing suggestions on how to improve the problems identified. The biggest trouble most students are having is in applying good concluding sentences to their paragraphs. These can be employed in one of two ways; either to wrap up the current paragraph (most common), or to lead into the next paragraph. Both are acceptable but students need to try to use at least one each paragraph.
LITERATURE: As The Egypt Game progresses, the newest members of the gang become more and more involved and interested in the game. Ken and Toby have ideas of their own and appear to be trying to steer the game off course. Trouble finds them as they begin acting as "oracles" to each other.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Our lesson helps us to understand the beliefs of the ancient Hebrews. We do this by examining the different sacred scriptures and what their purpose is, as well as the role of the Rabbi in this process. These texts are the foundation of their belief in "ethical thinking" which has had an enormous impact on the values of the entire world (basic human rights, definitions for atrocities like genocide, etc.). Homework for this section is on page 142 #1-7.
MATH (8:00 class) pg 298 11-29 (9:00 class) pg 343 1-25
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Today in 6A & 6B
ENGLISH: For this week's writing composition, students have a hard copy of their writing composition from last week. Today they identified the structure of their writing, which forces them to examine how they wrote this piece. I consistently stress a robust pre-writing phase to help students road map their writing prior to drafting. This exercise helps to identify why that is a strong process. Similarly, it forces students to examine their writing for what is missing or not sully develop[ed, thus training their eye on how to better examine theirs and others' work.
RELIGION: In our lesson we spoke about the ways in which we can and do prepare for the coming of Jesus' resurrection. How is it that we can open the doors and windows of our soul to let the sun and fresh air in, rejuvenating our spirits. This leads us to our topic of reconciliation. I would love to take our class over to the church to take part in this sacrament but understand that this might not be received by all students and families in the same spirit that it is offered, so Fr. Daniel has agreed to come to our class on Friday and speak to the 6th grade about reconciliation and why it is a beautiful and essential part of our faith and spiritual health.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Building on yesterday's lesson about the Ancient Hebrews, their movement from Mesopotamia into Egypt and then their exile from Egypt, we examined chapters 7-11 in Exodus and the role that the 10 plagues played in this event, their symbolic nature, and the connections to what we learned about in our Ancient Egypt unit. I showed clips of the 1956 Bible epic The Ten Commandments that the scripture details, to give students a visual representation of this action.
MATH (8:00 class) pg 298 1-10 (9:00 class) pg 338 1-31
SCIENCE Pg 203 1-5
ENGLISH: For this week's writing composition, students have a hard copy of their writing composition from last week. Today they identified the structure of their writing, which forces them to examine how they wrote this piece. I consistently stress a robust pre-writing phase to help students road map their writing prior to drafting. This exercise helps to identify why that is a strong process. Similarly, it forces students to examine their writing for what is missing or not sully develop[ed, thus training their eye on how to better examine theirs and others' work.
RELIGION: In our lesson we spoke about the ways in which we can and do prepare for the coming of Jesus' resurrection. How is it that we can open the doors and windows of our soul to let the sun and fresh air in, rejuvenating our spirits. This leads us to our topic of reconciliation. I would love to take our class over to the church to take part in this sacrament but understand that this might not be received by all students and families in the same spirit that it is offered, so Fr. Daniel has agreed to come to our class on Friday and speak to the 6th grade about reconciliation and why it is a beautiful and essential part of our faith and spiritual health.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Building on yesterday's lesson about the Ancient Hebrews, their movement from Mesopotamia into Egypt and then their exile from Egypt, we examined chapters 7-11 in Exodus and the role that the 10 plagues played in this event, their symbolic nature, and the connections to what we learned about in our Ancient Egypt unit. I showed clips of the 1956 Bible epic The Ten Commandments that the scripture details, to give students a visual representation of this action.
MATH (8:00 class) pg 298 1-10 (9:00 class) pg 338 1-31
SCIENCE Pg 203 1-5
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ALL grandparents (and honorary grandparents) are invited to join us at 8:15 AM Mass and then for Continental Breakfast! Afterwards,...