For the week of December 7 - December 11, 2009
LANGUAGE ARTS:
There is a friendly letter this week (#9) - From this point on, I would like
for the students to only write TWO paragraphs each week. The first paragraph
will still be a summary of what they have read in their book since the last
literature letter. It should be succinct, but thorough. They should also
include the author's name and the book title (underlined).
The second paragraph is still the FOCUS for the week - this week the focus is
this: If you were to add a new character to your book what would he/she be
like? Who would he/she be? What would he/she do? How does he/sh interact with
the other characters in your book?
Today (Monday) the students will finish the book, SCHOOLED, by Gordon Kormon.
The author will be visiting here the week before the holiday break.
The rest of the week, students will be working on WRITING by learning how to
add anecdotes to their writing to enrich it. We will use a student example
from our last practice FCAT writes prompt and I will model for them how add
details through anecdotes. Then they will try.
They will also have a lesson on the validity and reliability of a source and
how those types of questions look on the FCAT. Once that lesson has been
taught, they will take a FOCUS test to see how well they understand the
material.
Of course, students should STILL be reading a minimum of three nights during
the school week and on the weekends for no less than 20 minutes. More is
preferred, but for some students with a busy schedule this may be difficult.
WORLD GEOGRAPHY:
In World Geography this week, the kids are beginning their study of CHINA:
The Most Populous Country. They will examine the essential question: How does
a country meet the challenges created by a large and growing population? They
will study population graphs, learn about the Great Leap Forward, the one-
child policy, the building of the Three Gorges Dam, and China's economy under
Mao Zedong and economic zones. They will think about and answer critically a
series of questions related to each of these topics relating to the essential
question.
Of course, students should be actively working on their HISTORY FAIR PROJECTS
this week. They are due on the 18th!
