Flashdrafts and Research

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, students looked at the overt and covert lessons that different types of cultural stories teach.  They were able to identify the lesson(s) and then give evidence as support.  We also took some time to categorize all the books we've read so far in order to draw some larger conclusions.  We organized by characters, archetypes, story type, plot type etc.  We then looked at what this was telling us overall about cultural storytelling.  

We also took some time to flashdraft our family folklore.  Students then evaluated themselves and asked for feedback to move to the next drafting phase.  Students found a mentor sentence in their at home text and emulated that sentence by copying the writing technique in their own work.

Social Studies

In Social Studies this week, students spent time researching the beliefs, rituals, sacred texts, norms, taboos and traditions of a world religion.  On January 24th they will present their information in a scored discussion.

Drama

Students presented their 2-minute pantomime in class this week and created an artist statement reflecting on their learning throughout the unit.  We have transitioned into our puppetry unit and began by looking at puppets in general and then looking at hand shadow puppets.  

2019 Welcome Back!

Good morning,

I hope everyone had a great Winter Holiday!  We had family in town and enjoyed playing "tour guide" and showing them around Muscat!

Language Arts

In Language Arts this week, students were given time to work on one of the many learning targets that had been introduced since the beginning of the unit.  We also talked about how certain words have tone or emotional value.  We looked at sentences from a variety of texts, identified words that had tone and then asked questions like: What effect does this word or phrase have on the section of text?  What might using this word or phrase get me to think and feel about the story, a character or event?  What other words could the author have used, and why DIDN'T they use them?  What is so perfect about THIS word or phrase?  It really caused students to zoom into the text rather than looking for broader ideas.

We also started to prepare for our expository writing piece.  Students reminded themselves of their family interview and then asked what additional research/questions were needed?  For example, what time period was the story set?  Were there important events going on in the setting/world that would affect the story?  How can we be true to the clothing, manner of speaking and technology of the time, while also being true to our family story?

Next week, we will do a flash draft to move these ideas into a rough draft that we can revise and edit.

Social Studies

In Social Studies this week, we launched our mini-unit on Religion and Beliefs.  The purpose of this unit is to promote understanding of a belief system different from our own and to identify important rituals, norms, taboos, sacred texts, beliefs and traditions of that religion.  In this way, we can become more effective global citizens.

Drama

In the Trimester 2 Drama class, students created a 2-minute pantomime to non-lyrical music that had an obstacle to overcome.  This builds upon the pantomime that they did before break and received feedback on.  Students took that feedback and used it as part of the planning for this next presentation.  Students will perform on Sunday and then we will transition into puppetry.