Today in Humanities 6

JUNE 2012

Week of June 11
Monday, June 11
Students spent the entire class period working on their Civilization project. The will be given additional time on Tuesday (tomorrow) to continue creating all required elements. See the pdf for June 8 below for all of the specifics.

Tuesday, June 12
Class time was, once again, about the Civilization project and the creative juices were flowing. Students will have 45 more minutes on Wednesday before they present their "artifacts" for their fellow archeologists to check out. If you're confused, make sure to reread the "Create Your Own Civilization" pdf posted on June 8.

Wednesday, June 13
Apparently creating a civilization takes longer than you'd think. Guess that explains why Ancient Egypt lasted for thousands of years! Today was devoted to more work time so that tomorrow each student can present their finished projects. Note the major change to the requirements: the artifact is now recommended but not required. Consult the June 8th pdf for an explanation of what you MUST include: name of civilization written big; description of the relative location; aerial map containing at least 12 physical and/or man-made features (8 1/2 x 11 paper recommended); banner, flag or pennant (each side at least 4 inches); tourist t-shirt with slogan in the language of your civilization and English translation (at least 6 inches tall); and a day-in-the-life document (diary entries, daily schedule, short story, letter home, etc).

Thursday, June 14
A fun final day of class! Congratulations to our Abydos Nome (The Egypt Guys) who barely beat out two other Nomes to claim the Sky-High passes. All of the groups did a stupendous job learning together during our seven week Egypt unit. Hopefully the knowledge they gained while traveling down the Nile and the cooperative learning skills they practiced will serve them well for years to come. Students then shared their imagined Civilizations. The creative power of this group was definitely on display with this final project-- a perfect way to end the year! Before being dismissed, students were given back their Compare/Contrast essays with teacher comments as well as formal evaluations of the assignment. Tomorrow, before cleaning out their lockers, students will have a few moments to go through the stacks of other work they've done in Humanities this year and pull out what they would like to save.

THANK YOU SIXTH GRADERS FOR A MEMORABLE SCHOOL YEAR. ENJOY YOUR SUMMER! ~Ms. C-R


Week of June 4
Monday, June 4
After checking off the students' last formal homework assignments of the year, the adult edits, we headed to the computer lab to make the recommended revisions. Wednesday will be our final day to work on our Compare/Contrast essay in class; we'll talk about choosing relevant and interesting titles and also how to write appropriate concluding paragraphs. The clock is ticking and Wednesday's due date is looming, so students are encouraged to be thinking about how to improve their essays even when they are not in class! We then headed to the library for the final time this year (and the final time with Ms. Slater who is moving to Reno this summer with her family). We reviewed how to access PJA e-books from home this summer, heard about some great new graphic novels and perused some of the summer reading titles. A letter introducing this year's summer reading program and a list of books from which to choose will be distributed this week to both students and parents (via email). As usual, Ms. Slater did a fantastic job preparing for our visit and had lots of literary recommendations to share. She (and her organized and enthusiastic approach to library time) will be greatly missed!

Tuesday, June 5
Our class started with Betsy Bailey explaining exploratories for next year. Sixth graders were given a form to fill out; a parent signature is required. These forms should be turned in no later than next Monday, June 11. Students then took about 20 minutes to put the finishing touches on their Dinner Party presentations and an additional ten minutes to make a list of all the facts about their Famous Egyptian that they planned to include. Then dinner was served--metaphorically that is! All of the Nomes presented thoughtful and entertaining conversations highlighting the special traits and accomplishments of each of their Famous Egyptians. The class ended with Nome groups considering what they would do for their final project on Thursday...A board or card game based on the Book of the Dead? A collection of hand-drawn Egypt-themed cartoons? A retelling of an Egyptian myth using Story Jumper? An on-line Jeopardy game based on all the facts we've learned about Egypt? Nomes will make the final decision on Thursday and then have exactly one hour to produce something special for our final trip down the Nile on Friday!

Wednesday, June 6
Before heading to the computer lab for our last official day of essay writing, we spent a few moments talking about what makes a good conclusion. Using the model essay from last week, we noted how the intro and conclusion share a symmetry--similar in content. length and structure--like bookends. Both frame the body paragraphs and state similar ideas. The conclusion of a formal literary analysis is not a place to add new information or leave the reader hanging. Instead, it is the last opportunity for the writer to emphasize important content already shared, including the ideas conveyed in the thesis. One major difference between the introduction and the conclusion is how the thesis is presented. In the intro, it is reduced down to a single statement; the conclusion, on the other hand, allows for a bit more elaboration. While the ideas from the introduction are repeated in the conclusion, wording is not. Rather the conclusion should echo the introduction with fresh language. Students then moved to the lab where they put their newly learned knowledge into action. Most printed out final copies of their essays at the end of the period; the others will have to complete essays as tonight's homework.

Thursday, June 7
Remaining essays were turned in, The Giver novels were returned--it's definitely feeling like the year is wrapping up! We took some time to review current Nome points for our Trip Down the Nile Simulation. Remaining points will be awarded on Tuesday and a winning Nome announced then. We also talked about the final project of the year. The "Create Your Own Civilization" project will be a fun way to bring together all we've learned this year and the perfect opportunity for each student to showcase his or her amazing creativity. All work will be done in class next Monday and Tuesday and presented in class Wednesday and Thursday. A formal assignment sheet will be posted on the wiki tomorrow with all of the details. We then returned to Egypt, talked briefly about the recent political developments in modern Egypt (the election results and Mubarek's life sentence), and then chose final Nome projects (see the posting above for Tuesday for all of the options). Evaluations of students' Newspaper Book Report Projects and The Giver packets are now available from Ms. C-R. Summer reading lists are also available for students and will be sent out to parents via email and then posted on the PJA website.

Friday, June 8
With a few of our students preparing for the play, we were left with a small but fun group of enthusiastic learners. We started by reviewing the "Create Your Own Civilization" handout; students are encouraged to read through it in its entirety in order to prepare for Monday's work day. We then watched an excerpt from a BBC production about the race to decipher the Rosetta Stone. Would it be the young French scholar who would break the code first or the experienced linguists from Britain? They took different approaches and ended up... Well, you'll have to check out the "Egypt: Rediscovering a Lost World" DVD to find out who won!




Week of June 1
note that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday May 28, 29, 30 and 31 are listed under "May" in the Table of Contents at the top of this page or can be found by scrolling down to the May 2012 listing

Friday, June 1
We enjoyed our last All School Kabbalat Shabbat of the year with our kindergarten buddies. It really has been great fun helping them out and getting to know each other these last few months. We then returned to our Humanities classroom and, thus, to Egypt for one of our final journeys down the Nile. Students completed their Famous Egyptian research and then worked out their Nomes' Dinner Party Conversation presentations for next Tuesday.

MAY 2012

Week of May 28
Monday, May 28
NO SCHOOL--Memorial Day and Shavuot

Tuesday, May 29
With only 13 1/2 days of school left, it seemed like a perfect time for students to review their 4th quarter goals. The hope is that they can remain focused and committed to doing their very best as we make our way through the last days of sixth grade. A positive work ethic will be especially important as we finish writing our compare/contrast essay. Today we read a sample essay comparing The Giver with the dystopian novel Among the Hidden and took special note of how the thesis statement provided structure for the entire essay. We also looked at paragraphing and the incorporation of quotes from the novels (textual evidence). Students spent about 30 minutes in the computer lab adding to their rough drafts and cleaning up the formatting for tonight's peer review.

Wednesday, May 30
Peer Reviews of the compare/contrast essay were collected at the start of the period. Students then went to the computer lab to print out another copy for tonight's homework--another review by another peer. Both of these reviews will be used on Thursday to revise our current work. Then a trusted adult editor will weigh in over the weekend paving the way for all students to write their final drafts on Monday. Also in the lab, students printed out their "Mummies for Dummies" pages and began researching a famous Egyptian. Each Nome member will assume the identity of the Egyptian he or she researched and together the Nome groups will script a dinner party conversation that highlights each individual's most notable details. These "conversations" will be presented to the rest of the class next Tuesday.

Thursday, May 31
We started class by looking over the schedule for the remaining weeks of school. Hard to believe how little time we have left and how much we still must accomplish! Students took special notice of essay due dates; the revision based on this weekend's adult review will take place in class on Monday, and a final version of the essay will be due at the end of the period next Wednesday, June 6. Students used the feedback they received on Peer Edit #1 and Peer Edit #2 to help them improve their essays. Each author stapled a green Adult Peer Review form to a print out of his or her improved draft and will take this home so a parent or another trustworthy adult can provide feedback.



Week of May 21
Monday, May 21
We started the week by announcing which Dystopian novels we read and finding out who else had read the same book either for this assignment or in the past. Knowing this will help us share resources as we prepare to write our final essay for the year. We then started filling out the "Similarities" chart (see homework). Moving on to Egypt, Nomes finished their slogan pyramids and then read information about mummies. Each student was randomly assigned a topic related to mummification. The goal will be to design an informative page on this topic for our "Mummies for Dummies" publication.

Tuesday, May 22
Students embarked on their compare/contrast essay today by first focusing on what a thesis statement is and then how to write one that works for this kind of essay. As a class we discussed different facets of The Giver so that we would have lots of potential material from which to choose as we identify similarities to and differences from the Dystopian novel we read. Lots of good ideas came out of this discussion and lots of great clarifying questions were asked. We reviewed how to construct an outline that guides our writing and then made our way to the computer lab to let the composition process begin. Kudos to students for jumping right in! Most concentrated on writing their body paragraphs and then will go back to construct an introduction that really works as a lead-in to the points they are trying to make.

Wednesday, May 23
We were back in Egypt ready to tackle our "Mummies for Dummies" book. Each student did a great job preparing a page on a specific topic related to mummies. After having their Nome buddies proofread their work for both content and grammar, they received teacher approval. Once the color printer is back in order, we will print out the pages and post the book on our bulletin board for all to see. A study of mummies would not be complete without a mummy-wrapping competition. Nomes had a fantastic time wrapping their members in the modern material known as one-ply toilet paper. Keep your eyes open for the super fun photos which will be posted on this wiki soon.

Thursday, May 24
After looking over a sample compare/contrast essay, we noted paragraph breaks, located the thesis statement, and identified the weaknesses in the work. We reviewed possible organizational structures including concession paragraphs. We also brainstormed on terms related to comparing and contrasting information such as "similarly," "alike," "in contrast," "on the other hand," etc. We took all of this content to the computer lab where students worked diligently on their essays. The goal was four-fold: write an introduction, include a thesis statement at the end of the intro, compose at least three strong body paragraphs, and insert at least one example of textual evidence in each of the body paragraphs. On Tuesday, we will offer peer revision advice.


Friday, May 25
NO SCHOOL--Teacher Work Day


Week of May 14
Monday, May 14
It was all about Egypt today. To start, Nome groups finally finished up that pesky Gods and Goddesses Crossword Puzzle. They then moved on to pyramids, the topic that will help guide them through the third cataract of the Nile. Students read about the pyramids and collaborated to create a list of fifteen crossword puzzle questions (and answers). A pyramid teaching tool activity came next--using the shape of a pyramid to organize their thoughts, each Nome will be teaching the rest of the class about a famous myth of Ancient Egypt or a related topic of their choice.

Tuesday, May 15
We are trying to keep The Giver fresh in our minds since next Monday we will begin writing an essay in which we compare and contrast the novel with another Dystopian Novel. To that end, we read the final chapter aloud and then discussed what we believed happened at the end. We then returned to the world of poetry, reading over examples of poems focused on colors. Using an optional template (see resources) or their own creativity, students composed "Color Poems."

Wednesday, May 16
We had to make a little "U Turn" at the pyramids and rethink how students were going to teach their classmates about the famous myths of Ancient Egypt. Instead of illustrating the story line on a paper pyramid as originally advertised, students will be finding another way to share this information on Friday. So, today we all paddled back to our Hieroglyphics unit. First the Nomes raced to decipher a hieroglyphic message and then they came up with catchy slogans that captured the essence of their Nomes. Each group wrote the slogan on the three sides of their pyramids--in English, hieroglyphics and Hebrew.

Thursday, May 17
Students spent about 30 minutes in the computer lab working on either their memory poem or color poem before they returned to the classroom so that a prospective teacher could share a model lesson. Congratulations to the sixth graders for bringing their very best to this important part of the hiring process.

Friday, May 18
After students submitted their updated reading cards and heard the important reminder about finishing their Dystopian novel by this coming Monday, we made our way back to Egypt. With the pyramids as this week's theme, we viewed a fascinating documentary on one of the latest theories regarding how the ancient Egyptians moved all those heavy blocks to build the pyramids. An interview with the man responsible for the internal ramp theory can be found on the resources page along with an interview with the narrator of the film, a famous Egyptologist who is best known for his study of mummies.


Week of May 7
Monday, May 7
After a quick Weekend Update journaling activity, we spent some time in Nomes reflecting on the process that went into preparing for our latest Each One/Teach One assignment (from last Friday) and an evaluation of the final presentation. We then got ready for our special time with our Kindergarten buddies by reviewing the requirements of their Gruffalo Habitat Project which included working with them to find a good spot for their imaginary creature behind their classroom and helping them build a structure that would protect it. Photos will be posted soon. We'll return to Egypt on Wednesday ready to finish up several Nome projects and learn about our new topic for the week: Hieroglyphics.

Tuesday, May 8
Our morning started with the students handing in their packets for The Giver. Now that everyone has finished the novel, we can talk about some of the big concepts presented in the book. We used an interview with the author, Lois Lowry, as our starting point. After reading her responses to some student questions about the novel, students pretended to be her and answer similar questions. On Thursday, they will be presented with two answers for each question (one written by Lowry herself and one student-generated) and will have the opportunity to guess which is which. We then talked about the Dystopian literature each student will need to begin reading immediately. Students who have read books from the list shared their impressions as a way of helping everyone find a novel. Our class ended with a trip to the ballroom to see this year's presentation of In Portland. For many, it was a trip down memory lane.


Wednesday, May 9
Students got to "break the code" one final time as they figured out the seating chart for the remaining weeks of school. Then we returned to Egypt as Nomes presented their evaluations of their most recent group process and presentation (the Each One/Teach One from last Friday), explained why the chose the Common Expectation they did as the most important one and how they symbolically represented the Common Expectation. They then reviewed the gods and goddesses flashcard and gave the crossword puzzle a try. It will be all about hieroglyphics on Friday as Nomes struggle to make it past the fourth cataract on their journey down the Nile. On another note, the deadline for finishing reading a Dystopian novel has been extended to Monday, May 21. All students should be prepared tomorrow to share the title of the book they have chosen.

Thursday, May 10
Class started with students filling in cards listing the Dystopian novel they are currently reading. They will be comparing and contrasting this text with The Giver for the final essay of the year. It's imperative that they focus on getting through their books; the due date is Monday, May 21 which will leave us just enough time before school ends to write the essay. We then played a guessing game related to a Lois Lowry interview. On Monday students posed as the author and composed "fake" responses; today we guessed which response was Lowry's and which was the student's. Congratulations to Benjamin and August for "tricking" the masses. Class ended early to allow the sixth graders time to prepare for their Science Fair.

Friday, May 11
After a lovely Kabbalat Shabbat with our kindergarten buddies, we returned to the classroom to look over the Dystopian Novel guide (called "Be on the Lookout") which can be found on the Homework page. The hope is that after students read over this document with care, they will be able to read their novel with a sense of purpose. This is a crucial part of preparing for our final essay of the year in which we compare and contrast The Giver and the Dystopian Novel of choice. We then learned about hieroglyphics and made cartouches of our first names.

Week of May 1
note that Monday, April 30 is listed under "April" in the Table of Contents at the top of this page or can be found by scrolling down to the April 2012 listing

Tuesday, May 1
After checking students' homework for The Giver, we reviewed the answers to the questions for chapters 12-16. Lots of intriguing thoughts and comments came out of our conversation about the role "choice" plays in our lives and how memories are controlled and viewed in the novel. We then spent time in the computer lab composing our memory poems which are developing into really beautiful pieces of writing.

Wednesday, May 2
We were back in Egypt today--"There's no place like (our) Nomes" --and ready to take on the many challenges of getting past the fifth cataract including proofreading for content and spelling errors of the Nile River Facts; completing the symbolic representation of the most important rule from the Correct Behaviors list; and double-checking for completion, correctness and readability of the God and Goddess Flashcards. Then Nome groups participated in another Each One-Teach One activity. This time they became masters of a particular group in the Egyptian social structure: Nobility, Priests, Scribes/Government Workers, Artisans/Skilled Workers, and Farmers/Laborers. They worked together to learn the material and prepared an overhead transparency that they will use on Friday to guide their presentation to the rest of the class. Nomes should plan on using the first 15 minutes of Friday's class to put the finishing touches on their 3-5 minute presentation.

Thursday, May 3
The latest homework assignments from The Giver were checked off before we watched a fascinating 60 Minutes episode about autobiographical memory. It's worth checking out the video again; you can access Parts 1 and 2 on the Resources page. Our viewing led to some interesting conversation about memory as it relates to ourselves and the characters in The Giver. We then moved on to one of the most emotional parts of the novel: Release. Students shared their thoughts about what they thought "Release" was before reading the latest chapters. We ended class by contributing to our "Rites of Passage" chart (see April 24) and starting a list of "Community Rules."


Friday, May 4
Students spent the first part of class working on their Nome presentations focused a specific class within Ancient Egypt's social structure. They then presented the material to the rest of the class. On Monday they will work in their Nomes to compose a written evaluation of their group process and the final product. Also next week, we will wrap up our understanding of some of the better known gods and goddesses before moving on to Hierglyphics, the next enthralling topic we will cover on our trip down the Nile!

APRIL 2012

Week of April 30
Monday, April 30
Our Monday was packed with all things Egyptian, with a short yearbook survey thrown in. We started with our Each One-Teach One activity from last Friday. Student groups reviewed their material (either Egyptian Clothing, Egyptian Art, or the Animals and Plants of Ancient Egypt) and then returned to their Nomes to teach the other members about their "specialty." We then moved on to gods and goddesses. Nomes prepared flashcards using the images and information on the Resources page of the wiki. These will come in handy when the Nomes need to review and master the most well-known (or intriguing) of the Egyptian gods and goddesses; they will prove their expertise later this week by filling in a crossword puzzle without their notes. Students then chose favorite songs from a list provided as part of a yearbook survey.


Week of April 23
Monday, April 23
Students started the week with Weekend Update and then we moved on to our next big unit of study--EGYPT! We began by reading an Egyptian Creation Myth which helped familiarize us with some of the gods we will be encountering in our studies and then divided up into five adventure Nomes (provinces): Bubastis, Abydos, Thebes, Memphis and Hermopolis. These groups will travel down the Nile together, overcoming many challenges, hurdling the cataracts and racing to reach the fertile Nile Delta. The journey should take a full six weeks. In order to be prepared, the Nomes reviewed a schedule, assigned roles, read about their particular Nome and designed identifying headbands to be worn whenever we are "on the water" (which will be most Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from now until June 1st). It should be a fun simulation filled with great learning!


Tuesday, April 24
After checking that students completed their assignments (both questions and vocabulary) for chapters 4-8 of The Giver, we discussed some of the major developments in those chapters, especially the notion of "Release" and the "Rites of Passage." We first listed these ceremonies or rituals in our own life (Bar/Bat Mitzvah, reaching driving age, etc) and then listed the change of status associated with each specific age in the novel. We will complete the chart on Thursday. We then moved on to our poetry unit. Reading aloud more examples of Memory Poems allowed us to identify poetic elements such as rhythm, repetition, metaphor (the "helicopter of water" in Ode to the Sprinkler) and consonance (when a consonant sound is repeated within a line of poetry such as "hissed" and "guessed" in the last stanza of Flash Cards). All of this "paying attention to language" will help us on Thursday as we finally convert the prose version of our neighborhood memory into poetry.



Wednesday, April 25
Our morning began as we joined with other members of our school community for Yom HaZikaron, a time to honor and memorialize Israeli soldiers. The strong voices of the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) band enhanced the beauty and meaning of this event. Our solemn thoughts will turn to enthusiasm and joy as we celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) tomorrow. Back in the classroom, we read about the geography of the Nile and highlighted important facts. Students returned to their Nomes, with headbands readily displayed, to work together creating a list of the "Top Ten Things You Should Know About the Nile River." Points will be awarded for the groups that demonstrate cooperation, diligence and thoroughness. Everyone was off to a great start on Monday as there was a five-way tie between all the Nomes. Keep it up Egyptian Simulation Specialists!!! On Friday we meet the Gods and Goddesses of ancient Egypt.


Thursday, April 26
We began class reading an article in The Oregonian that appeared on Sunday about a "student" who 39 years after the fact reaches out to apologize to his teacher. We connected this to the scripted (and therefore meaningless) apologies in The Giver as well as the recent release of the documentary "Bully" now playing in local theaters. We then spent some time discussing the most recently read chapters of The Giver; homework was checked off as well. The last part of class was devoted to our memory poems. Specifically students looked at the quick write they did on a memory from their neighborhood, pulled out the most compelling phrases, and then added to it to create something new and poetic. Powerful word choices, imagery and rhythm created by line breaks and repetition were encouraged but, ultimately, students were given free reign. We read the final poem in our Memory Poem packet for additional inspiration (taken from Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai's book Open Closed Open). We will be editing our own poems next Tuesday in the computer lab and those who want to may share.


Friday, April 27
It was all about getting ourselves down the Nile today as Nome groups worked hard to finish their lists of "Top Ten Things You Should Know about the Nile River," describe in writing what the symbols on their headbands represent and then deliver this orally to Ms. C-R, and then choose from a list of traditional Ancient Egyptian rules. For the latter, Nome groups came to consensus on which of the 8 rules is the most important and then collectively created a poster that represented the rule using symbols rather than words. Finally, we started our first "Each One-Teach One" activity. All the Nobles came to together to learn about Egyptian Art, all the Administrators learned about Egyptian Clothing and all of the Scribes learned about Plants and Animals of the Region. On Monday, they will review what they learned and then return to their individual Nome groups to teach the rest of the group all that there is to know about these fascinating topics.


Week of April 16
Monday, April 16
Welcome Back! Students were especially focused during journaling this morning as they jotted down the highlights from their Break for Weekend Update PLUS. That could only mean that everyone enjoyed the time off and was excited to share the details. We then heard from some of the students who did not turn in their newspaper projects prior to Break. They presented their work focusing on those things that distinguished their finished projects from their classmates'. Students then spent time filling in a comprehensive self-assessment of their Newspaper Book Report project which they will need to finish tonight as homework. Tomorrow we begin The Giver. In keeping with the importance of memory in the book, we began sketching a neighborhood from our past rich with memories. This activity will lend itself, eventually, to creating a poem filled with the kind of sensory details that help make memories come alive.


Tuesday, April 17
After collecting the student's Newspaper Book Report Self-Evaluations, we revisited our neighborhood sketches and spent some time sharing our memories with classmates. We then took pencil to paper and wrote down the most vivid of those memories being certain to include as many details as possible. We will pull from these details to create memory poems in the not so distant future. We then spent time talking about the origins of the words "utopia" and "dystopia" before jumping in to our reading of The Giver. Students were given a book, reading calendar and packet with questions and vocabulary to guide them through the novel, as well as a folder in which to keep everything. This they will need to bring with them to school each day and to home as it contains all of the homework assignments for the next few weeks. We started the novel by reading aloud and already it seems to be moving quickly thanks to its unique and engaging content. The reading schedule, template for vocabulary work, first set of questions and first set of vocabulary words are available in the pdf below.


Wednesday, April 18
We had a thought-provoking and productive class period. We started by listening to John Lennon's "Imagine" and then looking closely at the lyrics noting parts that we agreed with, disagreed with or wondered about. The discussion that ensued was quite thoughtful. This led in to our O-WOW! which was the short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut. Both the song and the story will reappear once we start digging deeper into the details and themes of The Giver. We spent the last half hour of class working independently on our novel reading, the assigned questions and/or the vocabulary. For the most part, it was a fruitful undertaking and should have taken a bite out of tonight's homework for those who used their time wisely!

Thursday, April 19
Our Staying Current on Thursday (SCOT) article focused on the current situation in Egypt. With our study of Ancient Egypt beginning next week, we want to be sure to follow the developments in contemporary Egypt. Elections will be held in about a month, so we will be watching carefully as the history-making events unfold. After SCOT, The Giver packets were collected and will be reviewed tonight to ensure that everyone is on the right track; they will be returned to students tomorrow. Anyone who wants to get a head start on the next section of assignments related to chapters 4-8 can refer to the pdf below. We spent the majority of the period discussing the novel, especially the characteristics of the Community and what seems to be the positives and negatives. We also looked at the Hebrew origins of the names Jonas, Asher, Gabriel and Lily. Finally, we did a Color Roundabout. Since color (or the lack of it) figures significantly in The Giver and it also lends itself to our poetry unit, we reflected on how colors make us feel, what unique comparisons we can make between colors and objects in our world, and what kind of memories colors evoke for us. This involved walking around the room, looking at colors, and documenting our responses.


Friday, April 20
Declare it a national holiday! Today we spent the first part of the period cleaning out the Humanities section of our binders to prepare for the last eight weeks of school. Hopefully improved organization will lead to more improved organization!!! We then heard our last few Newspaper Book Report Project presentations, followed by a discussion of Dystopian literature. Students were given an annotated list of Dystopian Fiction for their last Independent Reading assignment of the year. They may choose a book from this list or find another title that fits the criteria. Some information about more advanced works of Dystopian fiction can be found on the "Text Messages" Podcast. Sixth graders are encouraged to look over the list and begin reading as soon as they finish The Giver. The absolute deadline for finishing the Dystopian novel is Friday, May 18th. As they are reading, students should be focusing on how their novel compares to and contrasts with The Giver. We ended class by reading Sherman Alexie's poem "The Summer of Black Widows." Next week we will look at more "memory poems" in preparation for writing our own.




Week of April 2
Monday, April 2
Our journaling for Weekend Update consisted of writing about this past weekend, the weekend prior, or plans for this coming Pesach Break. Sounds like there are some great trips coming up! We then chatted briefly about the Newspaper Book Report Project. Most students asked good clarifying questions indicating that they are right on track for the Wednesday due date. April is National Poetry Month, so we then did a quick write on what makes poetry different from other forms of writing (a lesser known verse of Ma Nishtanah, perhaps). Each student glanced at a list of quotations about poetry and chose the one that "spoke" to him or her and responded in writing. We will revisit all of this when we start our Poetry Unit after Break. The second half of the class period was library time. Our next category for Independent Reading, Science Fiction, will complement our in-class reading of The Giver. We talked briefly about the sub-category of "Dystopian Literature" made popular so recently with the release of The Hunger Game movie. Ms. Slater let us peruse the back covers, inside flaps, versos and opening paragraphs of some really gripping Science Fiction books before sharing our impressions with each other. Though reading one of these books is not required until after we return from Pesach Break, many students selected a title to read while on vacation.

Tuesday, April 3
Last minute Newspaper Book Report Project questions were asked and answered just in time for students to put on the finishing touches for tomorrow's due date. We then finished up our study of Mesopotamia by completing the Comparing Civilization chart. The class ended with a sneak peek of what we'll be studying after Pesach Break: Egypt! We watched a short video about what life was like for the ancient Egyptians and already started to draw some comparisons between Egypt and Mesopotamian Civilization.

Wednesday, April 4
Today was all about presenting our Newspapers. Students highlighted for the class those elements of their project that were most unique and explained how these elements related to the books they read. Not only was it fun to see the many ways that students incorporated the requirements of the assignment into newspaper format, but it also was a joy to listen to them speak excitedly about the books they read. There are still a few who will be working on the project over break; we look forward to hearing the remaining presentations when we return on Monday, April 16.

HAPPY PASSOVER!
Enjoy Break!!!
School resumes Monday, April 16th.

MARCH 2012

Week of March 26
Monday, March 26
It's hard to believe we're starting the final quarter of 6th grade! We spent our morning helping our Kindergarten buddies with their writing and then checking out the Book Sale. Each student was able to choose one book for free. It's was definitely a different kind of Humanities day--a fun way to start the new quarter!

Tuesday, March 27
August, Andy and Ms. C-R finally had a chance to present on their Book Club Novel, Esperanza Rising. Hopefully the class learned something about this excellent novel, including information about the experience of California farm workers back in the 1930's. We followed this with a review of our latest comma rule (what to do when punctuating non-essential information). The remainder of the period was devoted to questions about the Newspaper Book Report Project and an opportunity to get started on a draft of the layout which is due on Thursday. We reviewed an example of what this draft should look like, as well as Ms. C-R's final product which is still a work-in-progress.

Wednesday, March 28
We started class by reviewing the requirements for the Newspaper Book Report Project. The layout draft is due at the beginning of the period tomorrow; many have already turned in a version to get approval before proceeding. We then read a not-that-recent article about the ruins of an ancient ziggurat found in Iraq about 15 years ago. Despite the age of the article, it still contained lots of interesting information about the ziggurat and the archeological process. In the computer lab, students finished up the ziggurat research and note-taking activity (see March 21 for a pdf of the assignment) and then took a trip down memory lane. Specifically, they revisited their Cave Painting Short Stories to see if time away from the piece helped them identify opportunities for improvement. After all, published authors often step away from their writing in exactly this same way. Student printed out their revision and submitted it for a teacher edit. They will encounter these stories (and revise them) a few more times between now and the end of the year. Most students had time to study their Mesopotamia vocabulary terms using Quizlet before the class came to an end.

Thursday, March 29
Today, our Outstanding Writing (O-WOT!) was a very informative introduction to the Epic of Gilgamesh and then a child-friendly translation of one of the first stories in which Gilgamesh is described as a somewhat arrogant and self-centered leader. It won't be long before he meets the wildman, Enkidu, who is introduced in this first section. From our review of the basic plot, we know that Gilgamesh will be drastically changed by the friendship he develops with Enkidu. We spent time discussing the characteristics of myths and epics, two topics we will revisit when we study Egypt next month. Students then worked together to fill in their Ancient Civilization chart. They added to the "Sumer" column by reading a short article about what the the daily life of a Sumerian was like. Tomorrow we'll look to the textbook and other short articles to fill in the "Babylon" and "Assyria" columns.

Friday, March 30
We started our Friday with a "Staying Current" article about an Early Human discovery. Even though it's not our tradition to bring in articles on Friday, this one about a cousin to "Lucy" was just too significant to ignore! Check out this link to read all about it. We then moved on to our Civilization Chart. Students were right on target with what they included in their "Sumer" column. We then moved on to "Babylon." We'll go over this on Monday and add "Assyria." Then our formal of study of Mesopotamia will be complete! To celebrate, we played an action-packed version of Mesopotamian Jeopardy. Students can go on the resources page to play at home!


Week of March 19
Monday, March 19
Students were in the "journaling zone" this morning and, as a result, brought a focused approach to our Weekend Update. We then switched gears and spent some time taking care of Humanities Housekeeping details--mostly passing back papers and collecting wayward homework. Then it was a return to our Hammurabi studies. We read a short excerpt from the text book related to the the conquests of the Sumerians and the rise of the Babylonians under King Hammurabi. Students finished the period in the computer lab where they revised their "Letters to the Editor." Their arguments for and against some of the laws in Hammurabi's Code are quite creative and compelling!

Tuesday, March 20
Instead of our usual "Troubleshooting on Tuesday," we spent the first part of the period going over the details for tonight's homework. Students are encouraged to use this "Third Quarter Self-Evaluation" to highlight what they are doing well in Humanities and where there are opportunities for improvement; goal setting is crucial to making the most of our final quarter together. Then, students worked at their own pace on readying their cylinder seals for "firing," revising their Letters to the Editor and learning more about Ziggurats.

Wednesday, March 21
We started class by talking about our upcoming visit with the Kindergartners. We will review again how to be the best Writing Workshop helpers before joining them in their classroom on Monday morning. We will also be going to the Book Sale on Monday, so if anyone has a coupon for a free book, be sure to bring it. In the computer lab, students finished their "Hammurabi" Letters to the Editors and started making their way through the Ziggurat article. We will complete this in class next week. We then used our cylinder seals to create the borders for our Letters to the Editors. Students enjoyed pressing the seals into clay but found working with paint a little trickier. Those ancient Mesopotamians knew what they were doing with using clay instead of paper for their important documents; of course, paper hadn't been invented yet, but still... Class ended with a quick look at the requirements for the Newspaper Book Report Project. All deadlines are listed on the bottom of the second page.



Thursday, March 22
NO SCHOOL--conferences

Friday, March 23
NO SCHOOL--conferences

Week of March 12
Monday, March 12
We were a little in slow-motion this morning due to the time change, but were able to pull it together for our Weekend Update journaling activity followed by an opportunity to meet with our Book Club groups and review how we are going to present our material to the rest of the class tomorrow. It is important that each student does his or her part to make the group presentation a success. This includes making sure to practice, practice, practice!

Tuesday, March 13
Students received back their Book Club novel reflections; those who were a bit skimpy with some of their answers will have to add to their reflections tonight and resubmit for credit. There was then a short time prior to the Book Club Group Presentations to get everything in order. Then the presentations themselves! Students should be congratulated for their strong level of preparation and for all that they taught their peers about their novel during these presentations. Due to technical mishaps, we went right to the end of the period. We will do some catching up tomorrow including an encounter with TOW--Troubleshooting on Wednesday.

Wednesday, March 14
We continued our discussion about Sudan today as a follow-up to yesterday's presentation by the group that read A Long Walk to Water. There are several related links on the resources page of this wiki, including information about Friday's Fast Day to increase awareness about the current situation in the Nuba Mountains. Then it was time for TOW--Troubleshooting on Wednesday--a leftover from yesterday's agenda. Students learned about the use of commas with non-essential information, including appositives. We will continue to work on this comma rule next week. The last part of the class period was devoted to Hammurabi's Code. Students read scenarios and then wrote out what they believed would be the just consequence. Then we compared our "sentences" with what Hammurabi came up with. Homework includes finding at least one of Hammurabi's Laws that you agree or disagree with strongly.


Thursday, March 15
Student submitted their Independent Reading cards at the start of class and we briefly discussed the need to tend to missing assignments or those that have been returned with a request for additional information. Tomorrow each student will receive a "Homework Update" indicating what work has been turned in and what has not. The hope is that students will address any missing work this coming weekend in preparation for next week's conferences. We spent the remainder of the period learning more about Hammurabi's Code. After a quick glimpse at some recent Letters to the Editor on the subject of texting while driving, students worked in the computer lab on their own letters imagining they were writing to a newspaper published during Hammurabi's reign asking for the people of ancient Mesopotamia to support or reject one of Hammurbabi's laws. We will continue working on these letters tomorrow.


Friday, March 16
Our morning started with student accompanying their Kindergarten buddies to the ballroom for a lovely All School Kabbalat Shabbat. The two groups got to lead the whole school in the Shabbat Blessings. Kol ha Kavod to our 6th graders for being such sweet and attentive buddies! Upon our return to the classroom, we jumped into all things Babylonian. Students finished up their first drafts of their Letters to the Editor regarding support or criticism of a "proposed" law by King Hammurabi. We then learned to write like a Babylonian. We are creating cylinder seals, the stamps that were used in ancient times to sign important documents such as contracts and combat identity theft, using our cuneiform initials. See the resources page for more details. Our morning concluded with a third quarter homework update. Any missing assignments should be submitted on Monday.


Week of March 5
Monday, March 5
Our Monday ritual, "Weekend Update," started our day, followed by Book Club meetings in which everyone brainstormed on presentation ideas. The group presentations will be due Tuesday, March 13th. There will be several opportunities between now and then for the groups to coordinate, but for now each student is responsible for working on his or her portion of the presentation. We spent the second half of the period in the library learning about some of Ms. Slater's favorite books. For Independent Reading in March, each person is asked to choose a book that is new for him or her and begin reading 30 minutes a night.

Tuesday, March 6
Our "Troubleshooting on Tuesday" involved a wee bit of comma review and a revelation that the trend to minimal punctuation in American English is making the rules of comma usage more "gray" than "black and white." Still, good writing involves knowing these rules...and knowing when you can break them. Hence, our very in-depth study of commas which will continue next week. We then moved on to Mesopotamia, reading about the significance of the Tigris and Euphrates in our social studies textbook. While we usually think of the flooding of rivers as a natural disaster, it was a necessary and desirable occurrence in ancient Mesopotamia. We ended the class by looking closely in the atlas at brief descriptions of the countries we recently studied. Details included each country's size, population, monetary system, exports and history of its flag.


Wednesday, March 7
We started our Wednesday with Weslandia, a children's story about a young boy inventing his own civilization. This O-WOW! led us into our reading about the important features of Mesopotamian Civilization. We also looked at various definitions of the world "civilization" to find common terms and themes that would help us better understand the characteristics of a civilization, ancient or otherwise. We will use this knowledge to compose a "Recipe for a Civilization." Students are encouraged to be creative with this activity while staying true to the real ingredients of any civilization (predictable food source, system of government, religious beliefs, innovations, etc).

Thursday, March 8
Chag Purim Sameach!
After a few quick Humanities announcements regarding assignments due on Monday (see homework), students worked on their Purim carnival games or, if finished, created ziggurats out of legos.

Friday, March 9
NO SCHOOL--Conference Prep Day


Week of March 1
note that Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday February 27, 28 and 29 are listed under "February" in the Table of Contents at the top of this page or can be found by scrolling down to the February 2012 listing

Thursday, March 1
Today was "Staying Current on Thursday: the Newspaper Edition." Students learned about the format of The Oregonian and then went on a hunt through recent copies of the paper to become more discerning readers of print news. We then worked on the comma-less paragraphs that students wrote for Monday night's homework. With another half-dozen comma rules to come, we are still developing our comma using skills. We then added to our Mesopotamia Vocabulary lists and reviewed for the quiz over the Political Map of the area surrounding Ancient Mesopotamia. Students are encouraged to use all of their study guides (and computer resources) to aid their review for tomorrow's quiz.

Friday, March 2
The sixth graders accompanied the kindergartners to Kabbalat Shabbat this morning and enjoyed a wonderful dedication of the 50th anniversary artwork and a farewell to the eighth graders. Thanks to Aedan and Anton for speaking about the artwork on behalf of our class. After dropping off the little ones at their classroom, we spent a few minutes reviewing and then taking the quiz over the political geography of the area surrounding Ancient Mesopotamia. We also spoke briefly about the group presentations students will be preparing next week spotlighting their Book Club novel. We had a great day! Whether it was the many students dressed in their best for Spirit Week, the responsibility of buddying with a young kiddo, or the confidence that comes from knowing their Humanities stuff, these students really shined!

FEBRUARY 2012

Week of February 27
Monday, February 27
Students did a great job journaling about their weekend and then brainstorming on a mnemonic for remembering the seven coordinating conjunctions that require a comma when combining independent clauses. Then everyone found their new seats by breaking a complicated numerical code based on their birthdates. We spent most of the period with our Book Club groups talking about what we've learned about the culture represented in the book and finding evidence to support our assessment of the novels' characters. Class ended with students getting back their physical geography quizzes from Friday. Every student identified the features correctly; only some spelling errors got in the way of everyone earning a perfect 100%.

Tuesday, February 28
This morning presented another opportunity for sixth graders to review the use of commas when joining two independent clauses. During "Troubleshooting on Tuesday" students highlighted all of the coordinating conjunctions in a practice paragraph (see pdf below) and then decided when to insert a comma and when not to. Then students took time to finish drawing boundaries and labeling countries on their political map of the area surrounding ancient Mesopotamia. We ended the period by heading to the computer lab to check out some of the review games listed under the resources section of this wiki (see the Political Geography of the Middle East). Just a reminder: Students are encouraged to contribute to our weekly current events discussions by bringing in "Staying Current on Thursday" articles; it's best if these articles are brought in on Wednesday so that they can be copied for Thursday's class.


Wednesday, February 29
Happy Leap Day! As the snow fell, we read a few passages from the Newbery Honor Award Winner Inside Out and Back Again. This was definitely an O-WOW! as author Thanhha Lai describes in free verse the story of young Ha who is forced to leave Vietnam and head to the "foreign" world of Alabama. We followed our reading with Book Club meetings and look forward to Friday when everyone will have completed their reading and we can begin planning our presentations. We used the last part of class to review our political maps. Students are encouraged to use whatever study strategy works best for them: computer games, matching game on paper using map and stickers, etc.

Week of February 20
Monday, February 20
NO SCHOOL--President's Day

Tuesday, February 21
It was great to return to class after an amazing week of Taglit (discovery) and an enjoyable four day weekend. We started class with a "Week-Ago Update." Instead of journaling about our weekend, we focused on what we learned and what we liked about our Taglit week. We then turned our attention to our usual "Troubleshooting on Tuesday" ritual. We reviewed the comma rules we've learned so far and moved on to Rule #3--using certain connecting conjunctions to combine independent clauses (aka complete sentences). We will continue to give this important rule our attention over the next few weeks. We used the last half hour of class to meet in our Book Club groups. Students confirmed that the reading schedule they created still makes sense, added to their "Cultural Encounters" log and began brainstorming on a list of characters. The groups will spend time on Friday talking about each character and ranking his or her importance to the overall story.



Wednesday, February 22
We started with an AFONSYB chant: and, for, or, nor, so, yet, but! We're working on memorizing these to help with when to use commas between independent clauses. Moving on to our homework assignment, we took time to write explanations of why we chose the O-WOW! excerpts from our Book Club novel and what POW's we noticed in these passages. Then we traded novels and had our partner read the excerpt, comment on what made it an O-WOW! and list their own POW's. We compared our responses. For the most part, students found that when identifying outstanding writing or particularly original word usage, there are some features that we can't ignore; emotionally charged writing and descriptive language top the list for how to get and keep a reader's attention. Next we got closer to digging into Mesopotamia and watched the National Geographic movie on the resource page to get us in the mood. We ended class by using pre-printed stickers to label the physical features of Mesopotamia on another copy of the blank map to help us prepare for Friday's quiz over this material.

Thursday, February 23
Another review of the seven coordinating conjunctions--this time in alphabetical order (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet, but) and then an invitation to all students to begin contributing to our Staying Current on Thursday ritual by finding articles to share from the newspaper or on-line. Students are also encouraged to look through the class copies of National Geographic to expand their world view and learn more about the topics we are studying this year. We spent the bulk of the rest of the period preparing for tomorrow's quiz over the physical features of Mesopotamia. Students have three maps from which to study this evening. We ended the morning with a quick glimpse into our textbook; we wrote down terms important to our understanding of the first civilization and their definitions.

Friday, February 24
Student really learned their Mesopotamia map features as made evident by their strong work on today's quiz. We are moving on to the political features of the land once known as Mesopotamia and the surrounding area. After the quiz, with the help of the atlas, students began outlining boundaries and labeling countries in the region. Next week, we will add to this map and learn about the natural resources of this area and the present day exports. Our Book Club originally scheduled for today was postponed until Monday to allow everyone to catch up with their reading and to accommodate Ms. C-R's schedule as she was at a Writing Workshop today; the one-and-only Mr. Eden (our esteemed Hebrew teacher) served as today's substitute.

Week of February 13
TAGLIT!!!

Week of February 6
Monday, February 6
For Monday update, students could journal about their sunshine-and-Superbowl-filled weekend or any other noteworthy activities. We then reviewed the plan for the week including this Wednesday when students will be receiving their novels for "Book Club." As we move forward into our study of Mesopotamia, we took time to read an excerpt from our textbook regarding the effects of agriculture on population growth and the establishment of walled cities, divisions of labor and systems of leadership. We spent the last half of class in the library learning about award-winning books from Mrs. Slater, Librarian Extraordinaire.

Tuesday, February 7
Troubleshooting on Tuesday was all about commas. We reviewed and practiced two rules (see document below), and students will be demonstrating mastery on tonight's a-MAZE-ing homework. We then took time to spiff up our aggy-pets; we're looking forward to watering them daily and bringing them to life over the next few weeks as they serve as constant reminders of the importance of agriculture in creating civilization. We finished the day concentrating on the physical features of Mesopotamia and will be adding to our blank maps on Thursday.


Wednesday, February 8
Our review of the a-MAZE-ing homework showed that students are feeling confident about using commas with geographical locations, dates and addresses as well as when listing items in a series. We then moved on to our O-WOW! which revolved around our new Book Club novels--revisiting the sections we already read and deciding, as a group, what we would be reading tonight. Once we know how long it takes each of us to read about 10 pages, we can come up with a schedule. We spent the last part of the period in the computer lab working on our cave painting short stories.


Thursday, February 9
"Staying Current on Thursday" focused on a fascinating new discovery: the //Otavia Antiqua//. Students then spent time organizing the reading schedule for their Book Club novel and adding to their Cultural Encounters list. Tomorrow each group will look more closely at the characters in their book. We then labeled the important physical features such as rivers, mountain ranges, seas, etc. on our Mesopotamia Maps.

Friday, February 10
Lots of spirited singing during our morning All-School Kabbalat Shabbat and then back to class to read an excerpt from the novel Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth. We looked at how the author develops her characters and then used our knowledge to look closer at the characters in our our Book Club novels. The Character Chart (see below) will help us keep track of the major characters and how we learn about them. Students are asked to read their Book Club novels using the schedules they set up as a group and fill in the Character Chart and Cultural Encounters Log as they make their way through their books. We ended the class by watching a newscast announcing that the Russian researchers in Antarctica (or Artantica if you are the reporter) have reached the water of Lake Vostok. Students are encouraged to watch the first 15 minutes of the documentary about Lake Vostok found on the resource page and view the short newscast as well.

Week of February 1
note that Monday and Tuesday, January 30 and 31, are listed under "January" in the Table of Contents at the top of this page or can be found by scrolling down to the January 2012 listing

Wednesday, February 1
A reading of Langston Hughes short story "Thank You M'am" was today's O-WOW! It is rich in content and an excellent example of how a talented writer uses dialogue effectively. Students are aiming to employ similar techniques when composing and revising their cave painting short stories. We then headed to the computer lab where the choices were: work on the short story, peer edit or, if finished with these, create a book cover showcasing your cave art!

Thursday, February 2
Students turned in their Independent Reading requests before moving on to "Staying Current on Thursday," an article about the unexpected outcome of melting glaciers--more fossils and artifacts are turning up for scientists to study. Then, thanks to our wonderful substitute, Mrs. Blattner, the students enjoyed moving around stations learning about different topics related to our study of Human Origins including how human being express themselves, benefits of walking upright and the significance of changing body shapes and sizes.

Friday, February 3
We enjoyed an All-School Kabbalat Shabbat featuring the newest Israel trip fundraising video from the 8th graders. Then, back in class, we made the move from early humans to the dawn of civilization by learning about the role agriculture played in making this transition. To keep agriculture foremost in our mind as we begin our study of Mesopotamia, we created aggy-pets (think chia-pet) with both curly and straight hair. We hope that our experiment with seed planting will lead to the harvesting of parsley and chives around Pesach time.

JANUARY 2012

Week of January 30
Monday, January 30
While Ms. C-R was at a workshop, the students enjoyed a new face. The substitute led everyone through the traditional Monday morning Weekend Update activity, followed by a group Inherit the Wind quiz. The students then made their way to the computer lab to work on their cave painting short stories. Those that finished had the opportunity to do a peer review.

Tuesday, January 31
The day started with Troubleshooting on Tuesday. Student looked at various sentences in which commas were used correctly and then tried to deduce the relevant rules. Comma overuse runs rampant, so we want to make sure that any time we opt to use a comma that there is a rule to support it. We then briefly discussed our plan for choosing our next Independent Reading book. Tonight's homework is to read installment #2 which includes excerpts from two more novel choices. Then things took a dramatic turn as students prepared for "Fire!" They were charged with preparing short skits which focused on one of two topics--either how humans discovered that they could make and control fire or what how the lives of humans were changed by the "discovery" of fire. The class ended with the presentations of these wonderfully creative skits.

Week of January 23
Monday, January 23
Students began class by submitting their first homework assignment of the new semester ("What I would do if I were in charge of Humanities 6?") and then embarked on our final Book Commercial presentations. Despite all of the technical difficulties we faced (and the scheduling setbacks due to our snowy mornings last week), the Book Commercials were worth the wait. They were informative and creative and showed real growth from the Book Talks earlier in the year. We ended our morning by putting the finishing touches on our cave paintings--just in time to use them tomorrow as inspiration when we finally begin writing our short stories.

Tuesday, January 24
With a renewed emphasis on nightly homework to get us back into the swing now that second semester is underway, we started the class by collecting our Book Commercial Self-Evaluations. Next we tried our hand at inserting missing quotation marks from a short story rich with dialogue as part of our Troubleshooting on Tuesday exercise. Students are getting the hang of where to include punctuation when using quotation marks and will be able to put this to the test later in the week (with a Quotation Mark Test on Friday) and then with our Cave Painting Short Story. We went over the requirements for this assignment (eliminating the formal brainstorming and prewriting stage in favor of sharing ideas orally) and then moved to the computer lab to begin writing. All students made good progress and will have a chance to add to their story this coming Thursday.

Wednesday, January 25
Today was O-WOW! (Outstanding Writing on Wednesday!) from beginning to end, starting with our discussion about Particularly Original Words (POWs) that we found in John Robinson's account of his visit to the Chauvet Cave. We are working on finding the language to talk about language; we hope to recognize POWs in our own writing and be able to describe to ourselves and to our classmates why the words we choose to use work well...or don't. We then moved on to one of the best examples of outstanding writing--Inherit the Wind. We watched the scene from the film in which Drummond questions Brady on the witness stand and noted that the actor playing Drummond (Spencer Tracy) did not follow the script exactly but went with where the energy of the interrogation took him; it's an amazing bit of drama. We watched the verdict scene as well. Our class concluded with a quick trip through the quotation mark resources listed on this wiki in preparation for tomorrow's quiz.

Thursday, January 26
Students started the period by showing all that they've learned on their quotation marks quiz, then read a "Staying Current on Thursday" article that was not at all current (published in 1995, in fact) but still relevant given that it was the obituary of Marcel Ravidat, one of the teens who discovered the Lascaux cave paintings back in 1940 and died in France at age 72. We then read (and thoroughly appreciated) the final scene of Inherit the Wind. Anton did a fabulous dramatic interpretation of Drummond weighing in his hands Darwin's Origin of the Species and The Bible and then holding them together as he walks out of the courtroom. We then went to the computer lab to continue writing our cave painting inspired short stories.

Friday, January 27
A full day of tying up loose ends. We started the morning by checking off the homework cards which we will use next Tuesday when groups put together skits (or songs or infomercials) about how humans figured out the fire thing...and how it changed their lives. Some past homework was returned and each student received their Book Review evaluation. Next we took a look at what's in store for next week: working on our cave painting short stories in the lab on both Monday and Wednesday, choosing our next independent reading book as Tuesday night's homework and starting our Mesopotamia unit next Thursday. We went over our quotation mark quizzes (which showed a sound understanding of the material) and learned a few extra details about the Scopes Trial to help us better understand the verdict in Inherit the Wind. Finally, it was an honor to award Ben a Bagels for Books certificate for his awesome Book Commercial. If you want to enjoy it again, just go to the student gallery page.


Week of January 16
Monday, January 16
NO SCHOOL--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day

Tuesday, January 17
NO CLASS--Late Start due to Snow
Be sure to check out the homework link to find out how we'll make up for our missing class

Wednesday, January 18
NO CLASS--Late Start due to Snow
Be sure to check out the homework link to find out how we'll make up for our missing class

Thursday, January 19
So nice to see everyone back and ready for action! Today we had five students present their Book Commercials--they were so creative and informative! While our hope was to get through even more, some complications with our technology slowed us down a bit. That means we will pack as many presentations into tomorrow's slightly shorter schedule; any students who do not have a chance during Friday's class will present on Monday. We also took time during today's class to talk about all the major units of study, projects and assignments we have explored and completed during the first semester of sixth grade Humanities. Students will use this review to compose a self-evaluation tonight for homework detailing what they have accomplished in this class thus far and what they hope to improve upon in the new semester.

Friday, January 20
Our special Kabbalat Shabbat program celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was such a wonderful way to start our Friday and mark the end of our first semester. The morning was filled with the warmth of community and the bright eyes, voices and ideas of our outstanding students. Following the assembly, our sixth graders had the pleasure of viewing a few more Book Commercials. The final group of presenters will go on Monday. All of the students should be congratulated for the creativity they brought to this project and their patience with our schedule as we try to make up for the time we lost earlier in the week. There has been much learning and growth during this first semester; we look forward to all that awaits us during the second half of the year!

Week of January 9
Monday, January 9
Students spent only a few minutes journaling about their weekend as our attention turned to welcoming five fifth graders to our class as part of our Middle School Shadow Day. Joining forces with our visitors, we spent the bulk of Humanities class continuing our exploration of cave paintings. Students formed archeological teams and proceeded to a dark and mysterious space (the Beit K'nesset) to look for some cave painting clues. Using a limited number of excavation tools (a craft stick, plastic spoon, paint brush and paper plate) and their great ingenuity, they found pieces to the Cave Art Puzzle. Each team put together the pieces into informative explanations of the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of cave painting. These were read to the class as a way to increase our knowledge of this important stage in our evolution into imaginative, creative human beings. We then took time to share some of the highlights of this class wiki page with our guests. They had a chance to see some of our earliest ancestors talking about their lives on our student gallery page and to go on the virtual tour of Lascaux Cave.


Tuesday, January 10
Welcome to our new sixth grader! What an exciting day!!! We introduced Andy to our Troubleshooting on Tuesday tradition. Students took some time to review our quotation mark mazes from last week concentrating on how to fix the incorrect sentences. This will help us use punctuation correctly when it comes to incorporating dialogue in our upcoming short stories. Students then watched a demonstration of what a Book Commercial could look like. The Tiger's Wife was Ms. C-R's text of choice and she used Blabberize, Power Point, and a good old-fashioned oral report to introduce and promote the book. On Thursday we will figure out when each student will be presenting his or her Book Commercial when next week. We then moved to the computer lab to look at cave painting images one more time. We sketched our favorites in preparation for our cave painting project; coloring in our drawings will take place later this week.

Wednesday, January 11
A lively group of fifth graders joined our Humanities class getting a good glimpse into how we incorporate both language arts and social science into our morning. We started with O-WOW! reading an incredibly well-written article about cave paintings discovered in Wales. With highlighter in hand, we marked attention-getting words and phrases called POWs (Particularly Original Words) and then compared our selections with those of our classmates. We then used POWs in our own writing as we described a half slice of orange without using the word "orange." Concentrating on all of the senses (what the orange looks like, feels like, smells like, sounds like and tastes like) allowed us to work our magic with descriptive language. We ended the class watching a short excerpt from Inherit the Wind. While fifth graders will have to wait until next year to get the complete story and watch more of the movie, the current sixth graders will use the image of Drummond putting Brady on the witness stand as they conclude their reading of the play next week.

Thursday, January 12
Our day began with assigning who will be presenting their Book Commercial on what day. We look forward to Tuesday's group: Aedan, Philip, Sam, Solek and Ben. We then worked on coloring in our cave paintings. We hope to finish this project on Tuesday after the Book Commercials so we can begin brainstorming for our Cave Painting inspired short story. Student were given the handout describing this next big writing assignment and are encouraged to look it over this weekend. Finally, we were welcomed back to the library and enjoyed book talks related to the Civil Rights Movement, especially The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis.


Friday, January 13
NO SCHOOL--Teacher In-Service Day


Week of January 2
Monday, January 2
NO SCHOOL--Last Day of Winter Break

Tuesday, January 3
Happy 2012! We started off class by sharing the highlights from our break and some new year's resolutions. For Troubleshooting on Tuesday we reviewed proper quotation mark usage. This information will help us with tonight's homework and an upcoming writing assignment in which we will incorporate dialogue. Students then looked over the The Portland Jewish Academy Book Review, "hot off the press." A pdf version can be accessed by going on the home page of this wiki site. Seeing one's work in print is always exciting; each reviewer reread his/her writing to make sure there were no changes or corrections needed and then began reading other reviews. Sixth graders are encouraged to share their copies with their parents, as well as take the time to read all of their classmates' reviews and discuss their impressions and recommendations. There were many excellent contributions to the publication. Congratulations to Tamir for the outstanding effort he gave to his review of Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli; Tamir received a Moonstruck certificate for a free truffle in recognition of his hard work. We then went over the Book Commercial requirements (due in two weeks) and spent the last half hour of class rejoining Drummond, Brady and Cates as we read aloud additional scenes in Inherit the Wind.


Wednesday, January 4
With a new year comes a new seating chart! Each student broke another code related to a word that (kind of) rhymes his or her first name to find out where to sit for the next few weeks. Then we read an article about pigeons who can count (and understand concepts of "more than" and "less than") as part of Staying Current on Wednesday (yes, it's usually Thursday, but we're mixing things up this week). This research will connect to our own understanding of how humans differ from other animals and how brain development in early human species took place over millions of years. Students then went to the Computer Lab to either finish up their Blabberize recording or print up a poster on the species they researched. If time, students were encouraged to listen to their classmates' recordings and check out a Rick Steves' video on the wiki resource page about the painted caves of Lascaux in France.

Thursday, January 5
An excerpt from "Boy of the Painted Cave" was today's O-WOT! (Outstanding Writing on Thursday). We will return to O-WOW! (Outstanding Writing on Wednesday) next week as it is a much better sounding acronym! Regardless, today's story sets the stage for our upcoming study of cave paintings. We then watched a few clips from the BBC special Walking with Cavemen focusing on the opening scene featuring early humans transitioning to walking upright and the final scenes in which human ingenuity and imagination become noteworthy characteristics of the more recent species. Students worked in small groups to brainstorm on what makes humans human; we will be exploring some of the ideas generated during this activity as we continue our Human Origins unit.

Friday, January 6
We started our morning at ASKS and then we made a trip to the Computer Lab to put the finishing touches on our Early Human Species print-outs (the texts from our Blabberize recordings) and take a tour of some cave painting websites. Because of technical difficulties, students are encouraged to check out the virtual tour of the Lascaux Caves at home. We then finished our class by reading more from Inherit the Wind including the scene in which the character Brady warns Reverend Brown: "He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind," which we discussed in class given its importance to the play's title.

DECEMBER 2011

Week of December 19
Monday, December 19
Students had the chance to share through their weekly journaling the highlights from their weekend or their plans for Chanukah and Winter Break. This will be their last "Weekend Update" for 2011! Next the class embarked on an Early Human Species project that involved animating an image of the species they researched and then narrating an overview of its distinct characteristics as if they were the species themselves. Despite some technological glitches, everyone seemed to get the hang of the process and will be able to complete their final project tomorrow so that each talking species can be posted to the class wiki site.

Tuesday, December 20
2011 ended with a successful "blabberize" session in the computer lab so check out the Early Humans on the Student Gallery page. We also had a few moments to look over the requirements for the Book Commercial students will be doing for the book they are reading over break. Finally, everyone enjoyed watching the opening credits and a few scenes from the 1960 movie version of Inherit the Wind starring Spencer Tracy and Gene Kelly. Come January, we will continue to read excerpts from the play and watch film clips to help us fully appreciate the drama of the Monkey Trial!

Week of December 12
Monday, December 12
Journaling for Weekend Update welcomed the sixth graders back to school. They then dove into becoming experts on a particular term or individual that we will encounter in our reading of Inherit the Wind. Each student read information about a topic which included everything from the "The Bible Belt" and "Charles Darwin" to "Problems with Getting the Play Produced" and "Douglas Fairbanks." They then prepared a very short summary to be shared when the term or person presented itself in the play. With our Southern drawls in place, we continued reading aloud this very lively piece of drama. Class ended with students jotting down the questions they need to answer for tonight's Independent Reading Card homework.

Tuesday, December 13
We started the morning with Troubleshooting on Tuesday, our new way of identifying frequent errors in our writing and learning how to correct them. The focus was, once again, on how to use quotation marks in order to help us properly punctuate the short excerpts and dialogue we have chosen to use in our Jewish Book Month reviews. We then looked at how a skilled reviewer panned a recent movie (New Years Eve) to better understand how we can be critical of a book (or a part of a book) without turning away our reader from what we have to say. Finally, we spent the remainder of class in the computer lab finishing our Book Reviews.


Wednesday, December 14
Our O-WOW! today came from the writings of H.L. Mencken, famed journalist who covered The Scopes "Monkey" Trial way back in 1925 and the inspiration for the character E.K. Hornbeck from Inherit the Wind. We looked at his comments on the trial's location (Dayton, Tennessee) and the jury selection process before turning our attention back to the play. The students did an incredible job staying focused on the events and characters while having fun with the play's clever language! The last fifteen minutes of class were devoted to tomorrow's research when we will look at the Smithsonian's website to learn more about the various species of Early Humans (see the resources of this wiki page to see for yourself).

Thursday, December 15
Our Staying Current on Thursday article was about a fascinating study conducted on the brains of London cab drivers. Turns out that their intense 3-4 year training involving the memorization of streets and popular tourist locations, along with their command of the most efficient routes, enlarges a portion of their brains. What a thought-provoking way for us to embark on our study of Early Humans and the changes they made, including physical shape and skull size, over millions of years. We then reviewed behavioral expectations for our visit to the eighth grade classroom tomorrow when we listen in on the students debating teaching creationism in school. The bulk of our class time was spent in the computer lab researching a particular Early Human species using the Smithsonian website. For homework, students will need to condense their information in to a 60-90 second first person presentation ("Hi, I'm one of the Homo Sapiens and I've been around for about 200,000 years...").

Friday, December 16
We were so fortunate to be in the audience for the eighth graders' debate on Creationism. Not only did it give the sixth graders a glimpse into something they would be doing in a few years, but it also helped us understand the controversy that is at the center of Inherit the Wind. We then returned to our classroom to talk about the debate and read more of the play. At the end of the period, students submitted their first person narratives describing the Early Human species they researched on Thursday. Less than half the students had their work ready to turn in so many will be working over the weekend preparing their piece for our recording on Monday.

Week of December 5
Monday, December 5
We started off our Monday morning with a change of pace--a Tech Survey instead of our usual Weekend Update. Students were given the opportunity to weigh in on their favorite types of computers and what technology would most enhance their learning at PJA. We then took time to review our River Research Cereal Box Project rough drafts to ensure that all elements have been included before going on to the final version. Finally, we headed to the computer lab to begin our Jewish Book Month Reviews. We will be in the lab again on Tuesday and then use teacher feedback to put on the finishing touches in the lab this Friday. Ultimately, the final reviews will be assembled in a class newspaper so everyone can appreciate and learn from the them.


Tuesday, December 6
Our Tuesday ritual is looking a little different from here on out. Students have shown great mastery of proofreading symbols so we're moving from Tuesday Edit to Troubleshooting on Tuesday which will be short tutorials related to issues found in their writing. Today's focus was on using quotations in our Book Review which differ greatly from the traditional use of quotes in analytical essays and research papers. We looked closely at how a New York Times Book Reviewer used quotation marks in "How to Win at Scrabble in a Parallel Universe," an assessment of a recently published novel about fictional Scrabble player Duncan Dorfman. This prepared us for our trip back to the Computer Lab where students worked diligently on their Book Reviews. Student submitted their work thus far for feedback and will return to the Lab on Friday to revise.



Wednesday, December 7
It seems like this week is all about mixing up our morning rituals. Today instead of starting with O-WOW! we ended with it. The period began with a quick write about the differences between animals and humans as a starting point for talking about what makes humans "human." We then watched a fascinating excerpt from our Journey of Man film. Our geneticist-hero is teaching us all sorts of things about how and why our ancestors migrated from Africa 50,000 years ago. We concluded the class by identifying the controversial elements of this scientific understanding of our origins and then dug into the Evolution vs. Creationism controversy by looking at Inherit the Wind, an example of outstanding writing to be sure (hence the O-WOW! part of the class). We will be reading the play aloud in class and watching excerpts from the film (the Spencer Tracy version).

Thursday, December 8
We concluded our viewing of the Journey of Man today. It will provide a great back-drop for our study of human evolution and our reading of Inherit the Wind. We then read an article about a recent fossil find in South Africa as part of our Staying Current on Thursday ritual. The fossils represents a mixture of apelike and human-like features; some scientists believe this is a new transitional species between the australopithecines and humans while others see it as an interesting find, but not necessary a direct human ancestors. The article reflects the continuing controversies related to our understanding of human origins. Finally, we began our reading of the play Inherit the Wind with great results--students loved reading their parts with southern accents and have already begun to appreciate the dry wit of this wonderfully entertaining play!

Friday, December 9
After another lovely Kabbalat Shabbat with the entire school, students presented their River Research Cereal Boxes to their classmates. Chocked full o' tasty tidbits of information, these projects spotlighted our sixth graders' incredible creativity. Each student announced the name of the river they researched, the name they gave their cereal, one especially interesting fact about the river, and one thing that shouldn't be missed when checking out the cereal box. They also pointed to the river's location on a world map. Next up was a trip to the Computer Lab to continue working on the Jewish Book Month Book Reviews using teacher comments made on their rough draft. Each student resubmitted a revised draft for additional teacher feedback and will be finishing the review next Tuesday in the lab.

Week of December 1
note that Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, November 28, 29, and 30 are listed under "November" in the Table of Contents at the top of this page or can be found by scrolling down to the November 2011 listing

Thursday, December 1
December is here and cereal boxes are in the air (well, not yet, but they will be soon). We started our Thursday with a "Staying Current" article related to a recently published collection of digital maps detailing world rivers; these can be accessed on the National Geographic website. We then reviewed the requirements for the River Research Cereal Box Project and students were given time to start constructing their boxes from templates and learned the magic of scoring poster board for clean fold lines. We then briefly discussed the information we are collecting for our Book Review of our Jewish Book Month selection--this included identifying the most significant events from the list we generated for homework on Tuesday night and also noting which events contribute to the surprise element of the book and should not be included in a review for fear of giving away something important to a prospective reader. Next, we'll look at examples of professional book reviews to help us structure our own writing.

Friday, December 2
After another wonderful All-School Kabbalat Shabbat where matching sweatshirts gave a special spirit to the middle school, sixth graders returned to class for a look at a recent New York Times review of the new Young Adult novel The Wildwood Chronicles by Portland author (and Decembrist member) Colin Meloy. We will reflect back on this article when writing our own book reviews in the Computer Lab on Monday. We then continued our look at the "Journey of Man" by watching the second part of this fascinating film about the origins of humans. We concluded our class by scoring and folding our cereal boxes into shape.

NOVEMBER 2011

Week of November 28
Monday, November 28
Substitute Caroline Buchalter had the privilege of welcoming the students back to school after their Field School experience and a week-long break. She reported that the students were a real delight! What a great way to start our second quarter. The sixth graders began by sharing what they've been up to for the past week or so as part of their "Weekend (Plus) Update" journaling activity. Then they moved into our River Research unit by choosing one of the world's longest rivers to investigate both on-line and through printed resources. They first identified the river's location by consulting the atlas and then moved on to the computer lab to check out the links listed on the resources page of this wiki. On Tuesday, students will be informed of what to do with all the interesting stuff they came across while conducting their research; each member of the class will have the opportunity to teach others through a fun project. Research will continue throughout the week.

Tuesday, November 29
It was wonderful to be back with the sixth graders! We marked the occasion by completing our last Tuesday Edit; from now on Tuesdays will be devoted to more specific grammar instruction as we troubleshoot problem areas such as comma and quotation mark usage. We then spent time going over the Global Literacy test which student took the week before Field School. There will be ample opportunities to hone our map and globe reading skills throughout the year, and the five Themes of Geography will reappear with our study of Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt and Ancient China. In preparation for the review students will be writing about the Jewish Book Month title they read, we looked at a written promotion, plot synopsis and movie review for The Muppets and compared the three. Our class continued by exploring another new unit of study: Early Humans. We will watch short snippets of the film Journey of Man to prompt discussion about how humans have developed over time and populated all parts of the world. Today we learned about the power of DNA in determining our origins and visited the Bushmen of Namibia. Finally, students were given the outline for their River Research project--designing a cereal box that is covered with info specific to the student's river as a way of sharing all that he or she has learned!



Wednesday, November 30
We spent most of our class session looking over excerpts from the students' Imaginative Autobiographies as part of our O-WOW! ritual. We identified some of our favorite sentences or short paragraphs and, as a way of improving our own writing, explained what made these excerpts so readable and engaging. Then students were able to look at the many comments Ms. C-R made on their papers. We will be revisiting this assignment toward the end of the school year as a way to gauge our growth as writers. We spent the remaining class period in the computer lab finishing our river research. Homework involves getting started on a draft of what the cereal box will look like (due Monday, December 5) and conducting more on-line research as necessary. The final project is due next Friday, December 9. Students should bring their Jewish Book Month books to class tomorrow so we can get started on our book reviews.



Week of November 21
NO SCHOOL--Conferences and Thanksgiving Break

Week of November 14
NO SCHOOL--Field School all week!

Week of November 7
Monday, November 7
Our "Monday Update" journaling got us ready for focusing in class as we began our review of our Global Literacy unit. The test will be this Thursday, and students are encouraged to go over at home their yellow note-taking sheets in their binder along with paying close attention to all the review work we will be doing in class on Tuesday and Wednesday. We then traveled to the library for a look at some newly acquired books. We also learned that author Eric Kimmel will be visiting PJA at the end of November. Even though most of the students know Mr. Kimmel as a children's book author, this is a great opportunity for our developing writers to learn from a master! He is an engaging speaker who loves to talk about what prompted him to become an author and the process he uses to write.


Tuesday, November 8
"Tuesday Edit" focused on Sesame Street which celebrates its 42nd anniversary this month! Students are doing an excellent job with these weekly proofreading practices. We then reviewed our list of ways that humans interact with the environment and determined if they have a positive or negative impact (or both). We also explored the idea of how humans modify (change), adapt to and depend on the environment as a final step for understanding this important theme of Geography. The remaining part of our morning was spent in the computer lab learning about an incredible resource for reviewing the Global Literacy terminology in preparation for Thursday's test. Students logged on to www.quizlet.com (Check out the resource page of this wiki to find out all of the log in information.) On this site, students can see and review vocabulary, print out flashcards, play review games, do practice tests, etc.

Wednesday, November 9
We mixed things up a bit this morning and combined "O-WOW!" with "Staying Current on Thursday" in order to leave as much time as possible for tomorrow morning's Global Literacy test. So, it was SCOW! We read an interesting article about some New York City residents complaining about the mayor's decision to plant one million trees. This provided an excellent springboard for our continuing discussion about the complexity of Human-Environment Interactions. Students then explored the fifth (and final) Theme of Geography: Region. Students worked together to determine which categories the different distinguishing features of a region fall under: political, cultural or physical. Revised Jewish Book Month cards were collected and then we spent the rest of the period reviewing for tomorrow's test. Students should pay close to attention to their yellow note packet and study guide. In addition to the practice made available on the resource page of this wiki, the following documents were made available to the students to help them brush up on their globe labeling and latitude/longitude skills.




Thursday, November 10
Today was a big day in Sixth Grade Humanities history--the opportunity for the students to show all that they have learned during our quarter-long Global Literacy unit. There was a seriousness of purpose as we prepared for the test, and all students were focused and productive during the test itself. Kol ha'kavod, sixth graders! Now it's off to Field School for an amazing week or learning and some well-earned fun.

Friday, November 11
NO SCHOOL--Conference Prep for Teachers

Week of November 1
note that Monday, October 31 is listed under "October" in the Table of Contents at the top of this page or can be found by scrolling down to the October 2011 listing

Tuesday, November 1
Our morning was filled from beginning to end with information about reviewing our peer's Imaginative Autobiography and how to get ready for the Parent Review (oh, and we had a routine lice check). Students were re-introduced to the Six Traits of Writing before trading papers for the Peer Review. Using the information shared on these forms, sixth graders proceeded to the Computer Lab to incorporate classmate's suggestions. Students left the lab with a revised draft in hand to share with a parent (or other adult) as part of the Parent Review or they emailed their working draft to their PJA email account to access from home and make additional improvements before handing over the draft to a parent. Parent Review forms, Guidelines for Formatting Typed Writing Assignments and the list of what needs to be turned in with the Final Copy on Friday were all distributed to students. Students should not throw out any papers during this review and revision process. Keep in mind that Parent Reviews are due at the beginning of the period of Thursday.





Wednesday, November 2
The students enjoyed a story around the make-believe campfire in the Beit K'nesset as our exploration of Human-Environment Interaction (the fourth theme of Geography) continued. Before we embarked on The Lorax, however, we had to light the fire with our "what I really like about my imaginative autobiography" flame. After story time, those ready to edit additional classmate's writing did so, while the others continued to revise in the computer lab. Thankfully, the handouts were less numerous today and the students were able to focus on their own writing and how to support the work of their peers in preparation for doing one final revision in class on Thursday and turning in the final product on Friday. Be sure to ask your sixth grader about our cozy Humanities campfire and all the great info they learned in their third period meeting with Mr. Minato about Field School.

Thursday, November 3
"Staying Current on Thursdays" focused on the world population reaching 7 billion. This was a follow-up to our discussion about limited resources on Monday (the apple cutting activity) and a lead-in to talking more about how humans adapt to, modify or depend on the environment. Student groups brainstormed on all the ways humans interact with their environment, both positively and negatively. The conversation will continue tomorrow as we embark on a South Pole adventure, of sorts, and next week when we review for our Global Literacy test scheduled for Thursday, November 10. We spent the last part of the class period in the computer lab making the final revisions on our Imaginative Autobiographies. How exciting that students will be turning in their final copy (with all the edited drafts and the many prewriting activities) TOMORROW! That's worth a congratulations from a talking tomato (see home page of this wiki).

Friday, November 4
We started the morning with fun All School Kabbalat Shabbat and then returned to the classroom to begin our much-anticipated "Presentation of the Packets" ceremony during which each student stood up, announced "with pride (or confidence or relief or delight), I present my Imaginative Autobiography" and handed his or her packet to Ms. C-R. The packet was officially accepted and applause ensued. It was great to mark the completion of this major assignment with such pomp and fanfare. Students then divided into teams to decide on a packing list for an imagined adventure to the South Pole. There was lots of spirited discussion as teams came to consensus regarding which items were necessary and which were not. Then the class learned some about the race between Norway's Admundson and Britain's Scott back in 1910 and how these two exploration teams prepared for their journey to the yet-to-be-discovered South Pole. Check out the links on the resource page of this wiki to see photos, videos and gripping accounts of what these two men (and their teams) went through to be the first to reach 90 degrees south!

OCTOBER 2011

Week of October 31
Monday, October 31
We started our Monday with "Weekend Update" and then moved on to a discussion about our third Theme of Geography: Movement. To add to our understanding of the movement of products from place to place (our label reading activity from last Thursday), students considered how and why people and ideas move. Terms such as immigrant, emigrant and refugee were introduced. The class was challenged to find and document as many out-of-state license plates between now and Friday to better understand how patterns of migration impact us directly here in Portland. Next, students cleaned our their Humanities section of their binder (a much needed activity) before joining the world in marking today's milestone of the 7 billioneth birth. Each student was given instruction for cutting an apple in a certain way to represent the small section of the earth on which food is able to be produced. We also looked at how cutting up an apple allowed us to visualize how limited our ocean's food producing zones are. These revelations will help us truly appreciate the importance of the fourth Theme of Geography: Human-Environment Interaction. We will be exploring this big idea on Wednesday as tomorrow will be all about peer editing our Imaginative Autobiographies.


Week of October 24
Monday, October 24
The sixth graders started the morning with a short "Weekend Update" journaling activity followed by a reflection on their Book Talks from last week. Students then received an evaluation from Ms. C-R detailing their Book Talks' content, organization, delivery and choice/explanation of props. Overall, the talks reflected thoughtful reading of the chosen autobiography or memoir and an eagerness to share the highlights with classmates. For future oral presentations, the students will focus on adequate preparation and practice, engaging delivery skills and attention to all of the assignment's requirements. There was quite a variety among students when it came to these facets of their presentations. We then spent 40 minutes in the Computer Lab finishing up the body paragraphs for our Imaginative Autobiography. Finally, we returned to the classroom for one final Book Talk (Melina's).


Tuesday, October 25
Today is Pablo Picasso's birthday so it was appropriate to mark the occasion with an Tuesday Edit related to this artist. Students really have a handle on how to be effective proofreaders, using the abbreviations and symbols with ease. We then explored the second theme of Geography: Place. After playing the "Describe a Place" guessing game and compiling a list of both the physical (natural) and human (man-made) features that distinguish a location and give it character, we looked at photos from National Geographic looking for additional features to add to our list. We concluded the day by referring to our Social Studies text book as we defined the terms necessary to know when reading or creating a map. Tomorrow we go back into the Computer Lab to add an introduction to our Imaginative Autobiography body paragraphs. Student were informed that the final written assignment will be due next Friday, November 4.

Wednesday, October 26
A quick reading check (quiz) on the article students were to read last night ("Moving Through the World") was followed by a fantastic discussion about what makes for a good introductory paragraph and how composing a beginning of an autobiography is different from a more traditional opening paragraph. The students really know how to talk about what works in writing which is the primary reasons we include O-WOW! (Outstanding Writing on Wednesdays) as one of our weekly rituals. The sixth graders then took the ideas from the discussion into the computer lab where they diligently worked on writing an introductory paragraph for their Imaginative Autobiography. For those who didn't finish, tonight's homework is to complete the introductions while their ideas are still fresh.


Thursday, October 27
For today's Staying Current on Thursday article, we read about the researcher who was airlifted from the South Pole after suffering a possible stroke This will serve as a good lead-in to next week's discussion about the challenges that Amundson and Scott faced when their teams first explored this area back in 1911. We then spent a good portion of the period looking at the choices for Independent Reading during Jewish Book Month. Students are asked to go through the list with parents to find a title that complements their interests and reading proficiency. We then explored the third Theme of Geography: Movement, which includes the movement of people, products and ideas. Students checked out the tags on their clothes, shoes and school supplies to see where they were produced and were encouraged to look at items at home to extend their list.

Friday, October 28
Congratulations to Solek for winning a "Books for Bagels" certificate for his great work on Book Talk #1. Who will take home the prize for an outstanding book review for our next Independent Reading assignment? Students are encouraged to think about what title from the Jewish Book Month list is just right; decisions are due next Tuesday. We spent the first part of today's class breaking the name code; the correct answer led student to their new seats for both Humanities and Hebrew. We then looked at a few examples of conclusions, talked about why it's harder to explain what makes for a good conclusion that it is for an introduction, and then tried our hands at composing a conclusion for the Imaginative Autobiography that felt connected to the rest of the writing (particularly the introduction), echoed some important themes and was well-written. After all, the concluding remarks are the last that a reader will encounter!


Week of October 17
Monday, October 17
Our Monday ritual of Weekend Update journaling was followed by a review of the requirements for tomorrow's Book Talk and the timeline for writing our Imaginative Autobiographies. Students are asked to complete at least half of the body paragraphs by the end of the period on Wednesday and finish all of the body paragraphs by Tuesday, October 25. We'll work on the Introduction next Wednesday and the conclusion next Friday. The entire rough draft will be due for peer editing on Tuesday, November 1. Lots of computer time is scheduled; however, students are encouraged to bring a thumb drive or email their work to their PJA account so they can access it at home for tweaking. We spent nearly 50 wonderfully productive minutes in the lab today. Good work 6th graders!

Tuesday, October 18
Students learned a bit about Mahatma Ghandi as part of our Tuesday Edit exercise and then moved on to presenting their Book Talks. Congratulations to our brave volunteer Aedan for presenting first. He was followed by the equally brave Moses, Ben, Solek, Philip, Sam, Benjamin, and Anton. Tomorrow the remaining six students will have their turns to illuminate us about the author of the memoir or autobiography they read. We ended the class with a quick summary of what to do for the "Describe a Place" assignment (tonight's homework).

Wednesday, October 19
The class began with O-WOW! This time we read an excerpt from Anne Lamont's writing manual Bird by Bird in which she explains her unique note card method for recording the big and small moments or her life for use in future books. Given that students are diligently composing life stories that are partly real and partly fictional, Lamont's advice is timely. Following O-WOW! we enjoyed five more Book Talks; thank you Will, Mason, Tamir, August, and Jonah. We concluded our class with more time in the computer lab as we continued writing our Imaginative Autobiographies. The rough draft of all of the body paragraphs is due on Tuesday, so students are encouraged to spend some time this weekend adding to their work. Please Note: Comics have been added to this wiki page; check out the Student Gallery.

Thursday, October 20
NO SCHOOL--Shemini Atzeret

Friday, October 21
NO SCHOOL--Simchat Torah

Week of October 10
Monday, October 10
Students began the day with journaling their Weekend Update. We then reviewed the letters to Ms. C-R regarding progress with Independent Reading. Given that this was a two-night homework assignments, some students were required to rewrite their letter so that it would better reflect approximately 30 minutes of work, while some were encouraged to elaborate on ideas and correct grammatical errors. The revisions will be due Wednesday. Only a few letters were accepted "as is." We then embarked on a quick latitude and longitude practice before heading to the library to learn about recent releases and check out a new Independent Reading book. Students will have two weeks to read a title of their choice before they will be asked to pick from a list of books in celebration on Jewish Book Month (November).

Tuesday, October 11
In honor of Eleanor Roosevelt's birthday, we learned about her as part of today's Tuesday Edit. Students did a great job identifying the ten proofreading errors. We reviewed Book Talk #1 requirements, spent time in the computer lab working on the body paragraphs of our Imaginative Autobiography and reviewed the latitude and longitude practice we started yesterday. Several important deadlines to keep in mind: "Dear Ms. C-R" rewrites due tomorrow, graphic memoir page should be completed by tomorrow (log on to Pixton.com from home to put on the finishing touches) and students should use the next week to prepare for the book talks due on October 18.

Wednesday, October 12
Another special half day starting with the short, sweet and very memorable film The Man Who Planted Trees in preparation for our environmental restoration with Mr. Minato. Students also participated in a fun tessellation activity with Ms. Wygant and then finished their artistic contributions to the PJA anniversary project. Everyone did a great job. Chag Sameach!

Thursday, October 13
NO SCHOOL--Sukkot

Friday, October 14
NO SCHOOL--Sukkot

Week of October 3
Monday, October 3
After a long weekend, it was great for students to have the opportunity to reflect on their days away from school in our 10 minute Weekend Update journaling activity. This was followed by quite a bit of housekeeping related to homework assignments and missing work. After four weeks of school, students now know what Humanities 6 homework is all about and can easily commit to completing it with care each and every day. We took time to share some of the ideas that came up on our "Who Will You Be in Twenty Years?" cluster and began brainstorming on tonight's homework which is called "Quick Listing." The purpose is to bring to mind a wealth of experiences you've had or hope to have, including some that may not have shown up on "Your Personal Past" or "Twenty Years from Now" assignments in preparation for a Imaginative Autobiography which we will begin composing in the computer lab on Thursday. We concluded by adding more definitions to our Global Literacy note-taking sheet.

Tuesday, October 4
Students did a great job with turning in homework after yesterday's discussion about taking their middle school responsibilities seriously. We spent several minutes working on our weekly Tuesday editing assignment before heading to the computer lab to finish our page from our graphic memoir. The final copies will need to be completed by next Wednesday, October 12th; they will be uploaded to this wiki site shortly thereafter, so keep on the lookout for those. The homework assignment, "Dear Ms. C-R," was introduced at the end of class. This letter in which students describe the progress they have made in their Independent Reading is due at the beginning of the period on Thursday, October 6.

Wednesday, October 5
Our morning started off with O-WOW! Excerpts from Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings definitely constitute Outstanding Writing on Wednesday (or any day of the week)! The students highlighted their favorite words or phrases and then got into pairs and talked about what made their choices so interesting or descriptive. The hope is that they will use some of Angelou's techniques when doing their own autobiographical writing. We then reviewed the requirements for the Imaginative Autobiography and finished up our review of the geographical theme of Location. Check out resources on this wikispace for some fun practice activities. Tomorrow we will be spending most of the class period in the computer lab composing body paragraphs for our Imaginative Autobiographies. Students will be using several idea generators in the process: "Your Personal Past," Twenty Years from Now" cluster, and "Quick Listing." They also will generate their own time line in order to construct a well organized piece of writing representing their past, present and future.


Thursday, October 6
Our Staying Current on Thursday (SCOT) article was about a Russian team of scientists drilling to reach the largest lake in Antarctica. They had to abandon the project 96 feet from reaching the water (after boring a hole almost 12,300 feet deep) when the winter weather turned bad in February. We look forward to watching their progress once summer begins in the area (this December). Students then created a time line (real and imaginary) for their lives, age 0 to about 30, to help with composing their Imaginary Autobiographies. We spent the remaining part of the period in the computer lab working on our body paragraphs for this assignment. Students sent their work to their PJA email accounts (which they can access at home) so that they can add more details over the weekend if so desired. This is optional; we will be returning to the computer lab next Tuesday.

Friday, October 7
Our special pre-Kol Nidre half day included several special artistic endeavors. After an all school Kabbalat Shabbat, 6th graders learned dances with Mrs. Hitz and then spent time with art teacher Ms. Jenkins as she lead "Adventures in Perception." After a brief snack, the students embarked on their part of PJA's 50th anniversary project with guest artist Lisa Kagan. The students reflected on the middah (value) of study and how it relates to their experiences at PJA. They will continue creating an art piece that represents their connection to learning during next week's pre-Sukkot half day. Warm wishes for a meaningful Yom Kippur.

SEPTEMBER 2011

Week of September 26
Monday, September 26
We started with ten minutes of journal writing ("Weekend Update") followed by a rundown of what we will be doing during this short week. We will have regular classes on Monday and Tuesday and a special Literacy Celebration related to summer reading and the concept of identity on Wednesday, which is an early dismissal day (12:15 pm) in preparation for Rosh Hashanah. As we embark on week four of middle school, we reviewed the requirements for homework including the need to put names on papers, give the work full effort and turn in assignments on time. Parents can check homework progress by noting if there are any highlighted assignments in the student's planner. We then had the opportunity to check out our brand new student atlases. Together we started the "Continents by the Numbers" assignment (to be continued in class) as a way of increasing our familiarity with the content and organization of the atlas. "Your Personal Past" homework was distributed as class came to an end.


Tuesday, September 27
Tuesday's editing practice involved some history about Banned Books Week which is appropriate given that it is happening NOW! Students spent some time organizing the Geography study guide by reviewing the first page and adding definitions for absolute and relative location. We took the time to color in the boundaries of the seven continents on a world map to be used as a cover for all of our study materials (which will be due at the end of the unit). We continued the "Continents by the Numbers" assignment and started our homework for the long weekend: "Who Will You Be in Twenty Years?" Students are encouraged to expand on the cluster handout by including all sorts of information about what their future might look like. These predictions along with the details collected on "Your Personal Past" (last night's homework) will form the basis of our next writing assignment, "Past, Present, and Future You!" to be started next week.

Wednesday, September 28
The middle school spent our special pre-Rosh Hashanah half day celebrating the theme of identity, especially as it connects to our summer reading selections. Students participated in drama games, a workshop focusing on masks and another about the significance of our names, as well as discussions about personal and community identity. What a wonderful way to begin thinking about our goals for the new year. It was a fun-filled morning of learning and doing and included a break to enjoy apples and honey together. Shana Tova to all!

Thursday, September 29
NO SCHOOL--Rosh Hashanah

Friday, September 30
NO SCHOOL--Rosh Hashanah

Week of September 19
Monday, September 19
Our class began with"Weekend Update" as a way to get Monday morning brains in gear and to promote writing fluency. We then finished our Supercontinent puzzles and discussed how Alfred Wegener's observation of the similarities between matching sides of the continents, especially in fossil plants, helped him formulate his Continental Drift theory. We reviewed how people around the world categorize the Continents (China and most English speaking countries list seven, while other regions might combine land masses to number five or six), what the five rings of the Olympic logo represent, and why Greenland is considered an island, not a continent. After smiling big for picture day (make up picture day is in November), we read a short excerpt from Kampung Boy about the narrator's first experience at school.

Tuesday, September 20
Students started the day by deciphering codes to find out where their new assigned seats would be. We then moved on to Tuesday Edit. Everyone is getting comfortable with the proofreading symbols and abbreviations we will be using throughout the year as evident by their strong scores on last week's quiz. We reviewed that quiz and then Book Talk #1 information was shared. Students should have chosen their autobiography/memoir by today. We continued our Geography unit by participating in a continent guessing game in which pairs of students took a stab at placing the continents in order based on land mass, population (both general and Jewish) and number of countries. It was great to listen in as the students tried to convince each other of their guesses based on prior knowledge and sensible deductions. Finally, students took a sneak peek of the class Wiki page and posed for a photo for its home page.


Wednesday, September 21
The class headed to the Beit K'nesset for a class meeting and our O-WOW for today. We read "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten" and then shared some memories from past school years. This will help students write their "I Remember When..." paragraph tonight in preparation for our Graphic Memoir assignment on Friday in the Computer Lab. When we returned to the classroom, we reviewed how to access the class wiki page and how to look for daily updates and homework assignments. We then used pieces of yarns and our globes to determine the farthest place we have visited. We ended class by focusing on our first theme of Geography: Location (both absolute and relative). Later in the week we will fill out our study guide related to these topics.

Thursday, September 22
We started the day with our "Staying Current" ritual; today's article about South Sudan becoming a country was published in early July, but it still feels current given our study of global geography and the continuing tensions in the area. It also explains why we currently have no completely accurate maps or globes--this new country was just established! Students were intrigued about the history of the civil war in the region and the current violence in Darfur. We then made our way to the beautiful new computer lab for the orientation that will allow us to use the school computers and have our own PJA email accounts. There was lots of excitement about all the software available to students and how user-friendly everything seems to be. We finished the morning by looking at examples of graphic memoirs (and some graphic novels) in preparation for the page we will be creating in the lab tomorrow. This will be a 3 - 6 frame "cartoon" in which we share a school memory in the graphic memoir style.


Friday, September 23
We had a super time returning to the computer lab to learn about our new email accounts (set up specifically for academic purposes such as communicating with teachers and collaborating with classmates on group projects) and creating a page from our "graphic memoir." Students enjoyed learning how to use the comic-maker on Pixton.com and made a good start capturing a school memory in this form. We hope to return to the lab in the next few weeks to finish up our projects, although students do have the option of working on it at home. Two homework assignments were collected at the end of the period (the paragraph regarding the school memory and the rough draft of the graphic novel page). Further discussion regarding homework expectations and the consequences for not submitting work on time will be discussed on Monday, the first day of our fourth week of school!

Week of September 12
Monday, September 12
Students began by journaling about the past weekend as part of our Monday ritual of "Weekend Update." They then reviewed the advantages and disadvantages of maps and globes. Details about our Independent Reading program were shared and students received a list of autobiographies and memoirs. We spent the rest of Humanities with Mrs. Slater in the library learning about the many books from the list that can be found there. Students were encouraged to check out titles from the PJA library or go to the public library to find a book from the list. Important Dates to Remember: Choose book by September 20th; Read book by October 11th; Present about the book on October 18th. More information will be given to students regarding the presentation.


Tuesday, September 13
Students learned about our Tuesday ritual of "Everyday Edit." These are short exercises providing regular practice with proofreading, a crucial skill when it comes to writing and the revision process. Students received a cheat sheet of proofreading symbols and abbreviations for immediate use. The differences between proofreading and editing were discussed. Just learned skills were put into action as students first edited a classmate's "I am Like an Object" paragraph for Organization, Ideas, and Clarity (OIC or "Oh, I see...") and then traded papers to proofread another classmate's paragraph for Capitalization, Usage, Punctuation and Spelling (CUPS). Revisions of their paragraphs using this feedback are due on Wednesday.



Wednesday, September 14
The midweek start-of-class ritual is O-WOW: Outstanding Writing on Wednesday. We read an excerpt from The Circuit by Francisco Jimenez. This autobiography is one of our Independent Reading choices. It is a moving account of a boy growing up as a migrant farm worker. We talked about what we liked about the piece and groups brainstormed on its similarities to the American Born Chinese excerpt they read earlier in the week. Given that both main characters are outsiders from other cultures trying to fit in at school, there was lots to discuss. We finished by looking at how we categorize the number of continents in the world and how our choice of listing seven differs from the approach other countries might take.

Thursday, September 15
Thursday is our "Staying Current" day. Each Thursday we will carve out time to talk about some of the interesting and important things going on in our world with a special emphasis on geography, evolutionary evidence and events in the modern day counterparts of the regions we will be studying: the continent of Africa (Human Origins), Iraq (Mesopotamia), Egypt and China. Today we learned about the recent shift in power in Egypt and the weekend attack on the Israeli Embassy there. Using an easy to understand interactive web site, students then learned how we use lines of latitude and longitude to determine absolute location. Next week, we will learn more about Location, one the five major themes of Geography. This will include both absolute and relative location.

Friday, September 16
Another lively All School Kabbalat Shabbat, this time in the gym, started off our Friday morning. Students then came to Humanities class ready to demonstrate their command of the proofreading symbols and abbreviations they have been studying by taking their first Humanities quiz. When finished, they pieced together Pangea, the 250 million year old supercontinent that Alfred Wegener "discovered" 99 years ago. Finally, students ended their second week of school by using some of Humanities time to launch their water rockets for Science class.

Week of September 5
Monday, September 5
LABOR DAY (no school)

Tuesday, September 6
Welcome to Middle School!!! Students introduced themselves by grabbing two ordinary household items out of a bag and then choosing one of them to compare to their summer vacations. What does a spoon have to do with a few months at camp, a pine cone with a trip to Mexico, or a battery with feeling "recharged" after a relaxing summer? Our sixth graders stretched their brains on their first day back at school to make these clever comparisons. We also spent the morning reviewing all the details that students need to know about life as a middle school student: schedules, lockers, planners, etc.

Wednesday, September 7th
Students began the day by doing a written reflection on their first impressions of middle school. In general, our sixth graders enjoy moving about the school, having different teachers throughout the day and feeling older and more independent. Students shared their responses to the homework: "How Do I Compare?" in which they wrote about the connections they see between themselves and a specific animal, color and food. They also described what learning feels like: opening a window, walking through a door, or looking in a mirror. We will continue to find the connections between us and the world around us and reflect on our learning and what strategies work best for us.

Thursday, September 8th
Class began with sharing guesses from the "What in the World Do You Know about Ms. C-R?" questionnaire. Students were most shocked to hear that Ms. C-R hates roller coasters and loves staying for the credits after a movie. They also learned about her trip on the Goodyear Blimp and the "gift basket of death" she received for winning a "Why I Hate Moles" essay contest. Next, they tried to guess the truths and lies that their classmates wrote. We then brainstormed a list of qualities a middle school student should have and each student chose one that best represents him or her. Finally, we puzzled out different definition of Humanities and learned a bit about the differences between The Humanities (as a field of study) and our Humanities class.


Friday, September 9th
Our school day began with a lovely All School Kabbalat Shabbat celebration in the ballroom, followed by a regular Humanities class. Our class community joined together to help generate ideas regarding the object each student chose as a symbol of who they are. This brainstorming is part of our "It Takes a Classroom to Write a Paragraph" Writers' Workshop. We moved on to our Global Literacy curriculum by looking at the advantages (and disadvantages) of using maps and globes. Students were surprised to see how distorted the shapes and sizes of countries and continents can appear on a map. As an introduction to our Autobiography and Memoir unit, we finished off the week with a read aloud: Kampung Boy by Lat, a somewhat autobiographical graphic novel about a boy growing up in Malaysia.