Homework:

Due every day: Read for thirty minutes.

Due Thursday, May 30th;  In our class discussions on Maroo of the Winter Caves, The House of The Scorpion, and When You Reach Me, we have noted that one of the qualities of a good novel is that the main characters grow or change in some way. Please write a two-paragraph essay explaining two ways Miranda has grown or changed, over the course of the novel. For each way that you note she has grown or changed, please give at least two examples from the novel to support your answer. Please be as specific as possible, giving quotes and/or page numbers where appropriate.

Dear Wildcat Parents,

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, one of our final Humanities projects will be to put on a short one-act adaptation of Nancy Farmer’s The House of The Scorpion.

The sixth graders will begin working on the play on Monday, May 27^th, the week after we finish our unit on When You Reach Me. The tentative performance date is Tuesday, June 11^th. We will let you know the exact time and place. Rehearsals will take place during our Monday and Thursday classes. We may need a couple of after school rehearsals, and will let parents know if that is the case.

The play will be an ensemble production with all the students performing a role. As is often the case in drama productions, some actors will have more of a speaking role than others. The students will have an opportunity to manage their expectations around getting or not getting the role of their choice. The performers will be working on basic theater skills such as memorizing lines, communicating clearly with the audience and their fellow performers, and staying alert and alive on stage.

•               Mitch will continue to teach grammar on Tuesday afternoons.

•               During the Humanities class on Wednesday mornings the students exploration of Ancient China will focus on theXia, Shang, Zhou, Ch’in, Han, and T’ang dynasties.

•               Next week the students will begin working on an end of year writing project. The students will work on this project at home with mini-lessons and scaffolding taking place during the Tuesday & Friday writing classes.

•               If you have any questions please feel free to get in touch with me.


Homework:

Due every day: Read for thirty minutes.

Due Thursday, May 23rd; Come to class with your Literature Circle job completed and ready to discuss pages 134 - 197 with your Lit Circle members, and ready to complete a reading assessment.

We continued our exploration of Ancient China today by asking the question: What is a natural barrier? We then went on compare the story of the legendary Chinese heroine Mulan, with the Disney version. During this compare and contrast exercise we established the importance of certain ideas and values to the Ancient Chinese, such as honor, ancestor worship, dragons as representative of power, strength, and luck. We finished the class by dividing into groups responsible for researching the significant mountains, deserts, rivers, and seas that severed as natural barriers in Ancient China.

Homework:
Due every day: Read for thirty minutes.
Due Thursday, May 9th; Come to class with your Literature Circle job completed and ready to discuss pages 1 - 63 with your Lit Circle members.
Due Wednesday, May 15th; Complete your work on the "natural barrier" you chose to research. Please come ready to share what you learnt with your classmates.

In Humanities this afternoon the students were put into groups that will serve as Literature Circles while we read and discuss When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. In order to encourage different perspectives during their Lit Circle discussion the students were given jobs that they will change each week. The jobs were Discussion Director, Vocabulary Enricher, Illustrator, and Connector.

Homework:
Due every day: Read for thirty minutes.
Due Thursday, May 9th; Come to class with your Literature Circle job completed and ready to discuss pages 1 - 63 with your Lit Circle members.