The History project and the play have been our main topics this week. These projects have given us all a new energy and enthusiasm. Again I have to almost pinch myself to believe that I am seeing these preadolescent & adolescent students getting so involved with their work.
So far, we have had seven presentations for the history project. They were – The Fertile Crescent, Alexander the Great, Japan’s isolation from the 1800 to 1854, the causes of WWII, the Temple of Artemis – one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Protestant Reformation, and Mesoamerica. Each presentation took about a half hour. With each student having six to do that would leave us with 101 left to finish by the end of the year After each of the presentations, we have had a question-and-answer time, and then each student in the class took notes as I went over important parts of the presentations. One of the things we have all learned is that history is not pretty, it’s very complicated, and often depressing. Our discussion sessions have been amazing – here are some of the things we talked about – Where did the Christian religions begin or come from? – Was the Treaty of Versailles so demanding of Germany that it helped push them into WWII? Martin Luther nailed his 95 issues on the churches’ doors only 30 years after Richard III’s death! What was a shogun? And many other questions and topics all generated by members of the class.
Richard III also appeared in Discovery Magazine’s hundred most important developments in the year 2013. This of course was the discovery of Richard III’s bones buried under a parking lot in England (which we had watched in a video produced by National Geographic).
The play is tapping into student’s appreciation of Shakespeare and their desire to always enjoy big creative projects. I know that several of my students have viewed the video The Boisterous Bard over five times, they have been practicing their lines, and making shopping list of props. J seems very involved and has really enjoyed making his shopping list of key ingredients that the witches need to put into their cauldron in the scene from Macbeth. A led a group at making a 9 x 12′ mural of the Globe for the back of the stage. She researched a picture of the Globe and used the grid technique (which we are expert at after last year’s animal project) to create this backdrop and was helped by 5 other students. Sara and I also added our drawing skills to help get this picture ready for the younger class to collage. During this play work, we will not be covering any other Shakespeare in-depth but I do plan to cover three more plays. They are A Winter’s Tale, The Taming of the Shrew, and 12th Night. That will give us a total of 10 plays that we have covered in depth this year!
This week we had a new Scope Magazine. We read the mini play which was about Nazi Germany, we had eight vocabulary and grammar sheets, and we read articles. I also presented a puzzle from New York Times Magazine which turned out to be a great success. The puzzle presented 35 words in an activity that involved taking one letter from a common six letter word and changing that letter into a double letter creating a common seven letter word. (ex. chapel turned into channel) I was so surprised how much excitement and effort this puzzle generated in the class on Monday. If you would like your own copy just let me know.
The schedule for the week also included math workbook pages, phys. ed., reading partners, reading our essays, and going over some of the sheets that I had given out over the past two weeks. We also had an all-out search for four lost math books this week. I am on the verge of doing something drastic like having students start over in new books if they continue to lose these books. However many students are very responsible about keeping their three ring binders and materials in a place where they can always locate them.
Today we read The Queen’s Progress a book on Queen Elizabeth’s summer journeys. The class is researching life in Elizabethan England. They will be collecting information that will help them write a fictional story that will incorporate these facts. The children are intrigued by the daily life of people who lived in the various classes. Some of the questions that have been generated are, “How were children educated?”, “What kind of money did they have?”, “What kind of clothes did they wear?”, etc.
During the play we will be continuing to work on individual math packets, writing our Elizabethan stories, finishing watching the Nova series, Making Stuff, writing in our nature journal and starting seeds to plant when the weather is warmer. Please send in a translucent gallon milk jug for your child to make a winter sowing “greenhouse.” If you have extras, we would appreciate those also.
The third year’s and I are planning our “microsociety” which will be part of our May work. The theme will be mythological worlds and we will be reading mythology from several different cultures in preparation for creating characters and a society.
Just a reminder that May 6-9 is “Moving Up Week” when the third year students in my class will visit in the older class for the week.
Kathryn will continue working with individuals during the next few weeks to tie up any loose ends and wrap up our origami and math unit. After the play, we will pick up with our regular Friday schedule.
We have had a very full week. First, we have had several visitors who all fit very well in our classroom. And the class was very welcoming and enjoyed spending time with them. They love having visitors!
We had a great day last Friday when we went to see Henry and Mudge. The kids were so well behaved, and everyone seemed to enjoy the play. (Although the reviews the class wrote on Monday were not all that positive.)
We have been working on many different aspects of the play. The class learned a new part of the play (Midsummer Night’s Dream) that they will be in. We have practiced our sonnets, and I am very impressed at how many of the children know their sonnet line already. Please help them keep practicing their line every day! We also practiced our songs.
Jay, with help from some older classers, has drawn an amazing version of the Globe Theater. The little class will be collaging this to use as the background scenery for the play. With help from our visitors, the class has cut many colored squares from magazines to use for the collage, which we will start next week.
We have also been cutting huge piles of leaves out of green paper to use to make trees for the little class’s scene from Macbeth, the trees of Birnam Woods.
We also have worked on math activities, wrote reviews of Henry and Mudge, finished newspaper writings, and researched more facts about Elizabethan times.
Happy first day of Spring!!
YARD SALE Updates!
• Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! to all those who have signed up to help with the Yard Sale! We can’t do it without you!
• We still have tasks & shifts that NO ONE has signed up for! PLEASE check the Volunteer Sign-Up Sheets outside of Jill’s office and take a shift if you can.
• If you are donating clothing, please group them by gender and size (it will save a lot of time when we organize them for the sale).
• Donation drop off will be from Monday, March 31st – Friday, April 4th. Karen Antone is graciously donating her trailer again this year so we can store items. Specific drop- off times and instructions will be included in next week’s bulletin.
• Large item donations (furniture, etc.) can only be accepted the night before the sale on Friday, April 4th due to limited storage space and manpower. Again, specific drop- off times and instructions will be included in next week’s bulletin.
• CALLING ALL STRONG PEOPLE! We need at least 3 strong people to help us move the heavy things the night before the sale, Friday, April 4th. We have a furniture donation about a mile from the school and need people to help move it.
• Please continue to post YARD SALE Fliers (located on wall outside of Jill’s office next to sign-up sheets) in area stores. If you can advertise the sale on your social media accounts, we’d appreciate that too!
• Please contact Patty Aber (pcaber [@] yahoo.com) with any questions or concerns.