Research, Mesopotamia and Retelling

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, students became introduced to a nonfiction reading app that we have a subscription to called Newsela.  Right now, students are taking a diagnostic so the app can find articles that are at a "just right" reading level for them.  We will then use this site to supplement our read aloud, find articles of interest, and link to our units.  We also read a short story called "How to Transform an Ordinary, Everyday Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning with You at the Podium" by Matt De La Pena.  We talked about strategies for recording our thinking about reading (annotating) and also participated in a class discussion about the story.  We then transitioned into the idea of retelling/summarizing using different lenses.  We are very good at summarizing using events only. However, I proposed you could also focus on a character, their changes, a theme or symbolic elements to raise the level of your work.  As a result, you have to filter what is important from what is not differently, depending on the lens you are working with.

Next week, we will officially be launching our Characters Across Series unit and students will start bringing a book home.

Social Studies

In Social Studies this week, students looked at a variety of resources and practiced inquiry but finding topics of interest about Mesopotamia.  Mr. Callaway, the librarian, stopped by to teach us the five steps of effective paraphrasing, which we will be using this year when we research.  Today in class will be the first time we get to gather research and then we will be turning our research into a letter to Ms. O. Potamia, a curator at a museum.

Drama

We are continuing our pantomime unit.  Students learned about the ideas of ground plans as a way to organize the small movements that make up a larger pantomime.  It also allows them to think about where on the stage these different elements take place.  They will be presenting these pantomimes on Sunday and then based on feedback, will create a longer, more complex pantomime.