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.