We had a BLAST sledding. Lots of fun moments. We also had a chance to connect and share compliments with one another, play board games, and watch one of my favorite movies.

Happy holidays to all.

Today in ELA, we read and took notes on our biography. In Social Studies, we looked at Chapter 8 in our TCI book focusing on, "What did the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt accomplish and how did they do it?"

Tomorrow Kruger/Duffield's classes are going sledding 1st hour. If you can, please send a sled with your child to school as we only have a few at school. Also, dress in layers because we will be outside for about an hour. 

Homework:

ELA: Bring your biography to class
Reading: Mrs D- none
Mr K- Finish Book Club book by end of break
SS: none
Math: Mr K 6- none
Mr K 6/7- none

Today in ELA, we came up with questions that might drive our subtopics for our biography research paper. The students were asked to write 3-4 subtopics in their composition book and this will set the purpose for their reading. They will also take notes on these pages so they are organized when we are ready to create our body paragraphs. In SS, students presented their Egypt Brochures to the class.

Homework:

ELA: No homework except bring your biography
SS: None
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz 13- 12/15/16
Mr K- Latin Quiz #10 12/19/16
Math ; Mr K 6- 4.2.2 R & P pg 198 # 58-62
Mr K 6/7- Closure Chapter 4/5

Today we had an assembly showcasing the Mindful Artist JusTme. JusTme (Timothy Scott Jr.) is a mindful hip-hop artist and mindfulness instructor from California's Bay Area. Since 2012, he has been spreading self-care and love in the field of mindfulness and well being. Bringing students and their families positivity, mindfulness practices, and well-being through his coined term, "Mindful Hip-Hop." JusTme started in the mindful arena working with K-12 students in the West Contra Costa Unified School District of Richmond, CA. In 2015, JusTme and Breathe For Change joined forces, where he now continues to bring mindfulness to the world in a culturally relevant and accessible way through his mindful hip-hop song lyrics and practices on a much wider scale.

In ELA, we created some questions to help us form subtopics for our biography. Egypt Brochure presentations are tomorrow in class. 

Homework:
See above for some:

ELA: Bring biography to class!
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Quiz 13 on 12/19/16
SS: Egypt Brochures due tomorrow

In ELA, the students shared their co-written Literary Essays. It was lovely to see the themes and stories the students chose to focus their writing on. In SS, we had work time for our Egypt research.

Homework:

ELA: BRING biography to class every day until further notice please
Reading: Mr D- Latin Stem Quiz 13- 12/19/16
Mr K- Latin Quiz 10-12/10/16 AND Journal #3 due 12/15
Science: Experiment Lab report due 12/15/16 And corrections due 12/16/16
Math: Mr K 6- 5.3.3 R & P pg 247 #91-95
Mr K 6/7- none
SS: Egypt Brochure due 12/15/16

In ELA, we went to the LMC to check out biographies. We will use them to write 5 paragraphs essays. We continued to work on our Ancient Egypt project during Social Studies.

Homework:

ELA: Co-written Literary Essays brochure- due tomorrow (most done in class)
SS: Egypt Writing- due 12/15/16
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem 13 Quiz- 12/19/16
Mr K- Latin Quiz- 12/19/16
Science: Lab report due 12/15/16 & Corrections due 12/16/16
Math: Mr K 6-none
Mr K 6/7- none

Above are some of the co-written literary essays the students created with their writing partners.

Homework:

ELA: NONE or find a biography this weekend IF you have a specific one in mind. Otherwise we are going to the LMC on Monday to pick one out.
SS: NONE
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz on Monday
Mr. K- Latin Stem quiz on Monday
Science: None
Math: Mr K 6- None
Mr K 6/7- None

In ELA, students continued to work on their co-written literary essays using theme to drive their essay. In SS, we focused on turning notes into cohesive paragraphs with a topic sentence.

Homework:

ELA- none
SS- none
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz 12- 12/12/16
Mr K- Latin Quiz on 12/12/16 And Journal #2- 12/7/16

Science- none

Math: Mr K 6-none

Mr K 6/7- # 76 Shapes

Some examples of co-written theme-based essays are seen above. Students need to provide one sentence that shows evidence of their theme along with a picture of the same scene.

Homework:
ELA: none
SS: None
Science- Quiz tomorrow
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz 12- 12/12/16
Mr K- Latin Quiz on 12/12/16 And Journal #2- 12/7/16
Math: Mr K 6- R & P 4.1.2 pg 174-175 #16-20
Mr K 6/7- R & P 5.3.1 pg 237-238 #71-75

Students have written literary essays individually based on a short story read in class. The essays were five paragraph essays with the following format: opening paragraph containing a summary of short story and a claim/thesis about the protagonist’s main character trait, three body paragraphs and a conclusion paragraph starting to hint at the lesson learned in the story. The opening paragraph’s claim states the reasons/ideas/evidence that is shown in the text.

Now that their individual literary essays are complete, the students will get together with their writing partner this week. We will focus on the lessons learned/theme across two of the short stories we have read in class. With their writing partner, they will co-create an introduction paragraph that includes a summary of both short stories and a claim/thesis statement. They will create three topic sentences for their body paragraphs (again showing evidence of backing up their claim).  On a tri-fold piece of paper, they will write their topic sentences and create a visual showing the evidence from the text, in place of writing out the rest of the body paragraph. 

See above for an example of the work that the students completed today as they sorted through stories and tried to figure out common themes. 

Homework:

ELA: None

SS: None

Reading- Mrs D- Latin Quiz 12/12/16

Mr K- Latin Stem Quiz- 12/12 AND Journal #2- 12/7/16

Science: Quiz on Thursday- Scientific Method

Math: Mr K 6/7- 5.2.2 pg 234- R & P- #61-65

Mr K 6- Signed Test and Math Corrections- due 12/9/16

SCIENCE:  Students have been working on learning the Scientific Method and then applying the Scientific Method to designing their own experiment to investigate friction.  Thursday will be a quiz on the Scientific Method.  Notes were taken in class and are located in the 1st link.  Eventually students will carry out their experiment and do a final copy write-up of the lab.  Link 2 is the rubric used and link 3 an example that will be shared with the kids.

1.  Link to Notes on the Sci Method Notes:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1s8qtDvoK0tTmBq_Fk82tn07TkH0NLnLQYrA6aNeBdvw/edit#slide=id.g6f1e30211_0_53

2.  Link to Rubric used to grade Friction Experiment:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YTPQAE41Q8eRkX9DXhyLX8KykEpZElHSPW6laKioA_c/edit

3.  Link to Lab Write Up Example:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DCTfg7IqxCp3G01-rVbiySAty_BxXJgNAWXpYxXm6bU/edit 

Today was our last day to work on Literary Essays in ELA class. Both Home and School Essays are due at the beginning of class on Monday. In SS, we looked at the Egyptian Creation Myth.

Homework: 

ELA: HOME and SCHOOL Essay due on Monday
SS: none
Science: Think about your experiment
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz on Monday
Mr K- Latin Stem Quiz & Journal # 2 due 12/7/16
Math- Mr K 6- Get your test signed and corrections due 12/9
Mr K 6/7- none

Today was a work day for our Literary Essays- they are due on Monday. In SS, we took a quiz on the geography of Egypt, Kush and Canaan.

Homework:

ELA- Literary Essays due MONDAY
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Quiz on Monday
Mr K- Latni Stem 9 Quiz- 12/2
Science- NONE
SS- NONE
Math: Mr k 6- none
Mr k 6/7- none