It’s raining today…which makes it the perfect time to get the second page of your scrapbook done!

The “I am from” poems were completed and typed yesterday in class. This week, students need to mount their typed poem onto the card stock they got in class and decorate it in any fashion they would like.  This is due Monday, July 6.

Poets, be thinking about a complete thought or stanza from your poem you would like to add to our school poem.  Make sure this line really gets at where you are from!

Expand Your Mind:  Check back later in the week for the assignment that will go along with the EYM books.

Have a great break!

Hi everyone!  We took a little haitus from our webpage - sorry about that.  You know when you’re traveling, and things are just so awesome that you forget to update your blog?  Well, that’s kind of what it’s been like around here so far this summer!  But we are back at it in full force now.  Thanks for understanding!

Our essential question (and its subquestions) for this summer’s learning:  What is my worldview?  Where did it come from, and what can make it change?  Very challenging, important, and all-encompassing.  A great unit of study for the last few weeks of our first year together.  We’ve seen some great work from the girls so far.  They are currently in the process of writing “I am from” poems, which are coming along very well.

Ask your daughter about Expand Your Mind!  We are excited about its possibilities this quarter. 

Ladies, please remember to study your spelling words!

We’ll give another post at the end of the week.  Until then…

Holy cow!  LJA is almost 3/4 of the way through its first year.  We’ve had an incredible third quarter in LASS.  The poems were beautiful pieces of art, and the dramatizations last week were very elaborate (and fun!).  We apologize for not updating the site last week - it was a crazy one.  We found out that Laurie Halse (pronounced “haltz”, rhymes with “waltz”) Anderson was going to be in town, and organized a semi-last minute trip to see her speak.  Thanks, parents, for either taking your daughter or for allowing her to be a part of this incredible experience with short notice.  She was a great speaker, and the girls were really engaged.  They asked great questions about Chains and about writing in general, and I think many girls came away with a different sense of what a book is and what it means to write.  Yay!

We’ve had a great quarter, and we look forward to quarter 4, which will include more writing instruction and opportunities to creatively write as well.   We’ve added our email addresses as a link on our page, since we’ve heard from numerous people that they’re hard to find on LJA’s website.  We love hearing from you and hope to work more closely with you in the future.  Until next time…

Monday and Tuesday of this week students will be revising, editing, publishing and practicing performing their Poems for Two Voices.  This assignment has allowed the girls to show what they know and understand on Native American removal in the 1800s in a very creative way.  We are excited to see the finished products.  Students will be in partners to perform their poems, which will occur on Wednesday.  Also, technology permiting, students will get to record their poems via podcasting if they would like! Once the poems have been performed, we will be able to wrap up our first essential quesion, how was the west “won”? 

The remainder of the quarter will be spent answering our second essential question, did the pioneers find what they were looking for?  Students will work to answer this question by working in groups to research one particular group that moved west. For this project, we will be grouping students based on what grade they are in. The 6th graders will be required to look at more resources while doing their research than the fifth graders will.  We are doing this because 5th graders will be getting pulled from our classes to do the science portion of the MCA test, and to ensure that everyone is being challenged at the appropriate level.  However, the outcome of the project will be the same! Once their research is complete, they will create and perform dramatizations of that groups’ experience moving west in the 1800s. 

Don’t forget!

Spelling is due on Friday!

The girls have been working hard to create their very own poem for two voices, and the drafts we’ve seen so far are just excellent.  Next week they will be publishing and performing the poems, and they will also (hopefully - if we can get the technology going!) have the chance to podcast them as well! 

The girls were instructed to continue revision this weekend, as their poems are due on Monday (Tuesday for two classes due to MCA testing).  Please ask to see your daughter’s poem, help her read it, and give revision suggestions as you see fit!  We’re so excited to see the final products.  Good work, ladies.

We didn’t get as far as we had anticipated last week with the poem.  So, this week is all about the Poem For Two Voices!  We started our first draft today (April 22) and it is due tomorrow (April 23).  We will continue drafting on Thursday and Friday.  Students will finalize their poems on Monday and present them to small groups on Monday as well!! 

Students should use their perpspectives chart, their mind map, their example poem, and the rubric to help them complete the poem! 

We are glad to see our smiling faces back today after the short break.  Today we learned more about the westward movement of people, both people from the colonies and Native Americans.  Tomorrow we will be solidifying our knowledge of the two conflicting perspectives of indigenous groups and of the United States government.  We will spend the rest of the week working on our poem for two voices, using the knowledge and understanding we’ve gained to powerfully express our understanding of this historical reality.   We’ll be reviewing and expanding on our knowledge of figurative language in the process of writing the poem.

It was so great to see some of you at conferences!  Thank you so much for your encouraging comments, suggested resources, and general interest in the work we are doing here.  We hope to see some more of you tomorrow night at our arena-style conferences. 

MCAs are next week already!  We’ve been working on specific math and reading skills during excel time, which has included working through practice MCA questions.  You can access these questions (we haven’t done all that are available) online at http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/Accountability_Programs/Assessment_and_Testing/Assessments/MCA/Samplers/index.html if you’d like to further assist your child in practicing her skills for this important test. 

A short week!  Today and tomorrow will be spent solidifying our understanding of the conflict between Native Americans and the U.S. government in the westward expansion of the United States.  It’s a heavy topic but one that we are working to break down.  Today we talked about perspective and began to infer what might be parts of the perspectives on both sides of the issue based on the information in “Tsali of the Cherokees.” Tomorrow we will continue that quest by examining some primary sources.  Next week we’ll be using our understanding of these two distinct perspectives to write an original poem for two voices!  Stay tuned…

Announcements:

There is no spelling due this week. 

Congratulations to yellow and red for winning last week’s scholarly contest! 

As we begin our new unit (moving on - literally and figuratively!), the students in LASS have been showing their understanding of ‘moving’ by creating tableaus around our own writing and reflection.  We’ll be using tableaus throughout our unit and into the future.  Ask your daughter what a tableau is - she’ll tell you!

This unit’s essential questions are: 

How was the West “won”? 

Did the pioneers find what they were looking for?

We will be working to answer the first question this week by doing a colonization simulation on Monday and Tuesday.  We will then move into a reading called “Tsali of the Cherokees,” a true story of Native American removal in the 1800s.  Students will engage with this text by acting out character journeys and reading aloud.  Next week, we will be doing a shared inquiry discussion around the text.  

This Monday, students will be given a contract that has all of the activities for the quarter laid out.  They will be asked to sign the contract to show they are commited to doing the best they can to complete the activities and be a scholar!  This quarter, a parent or guardian will be asked to sign the contract as well.  Please look it over with your daughter and support her by signing the contract!

Scholary contest results:

Red and green beat out the other two classes yet again in our second week of the contest (good work - keep it up!).  BUT, this past week, in an unprecedented win, yellow cinched the victory in both the spelling and Friday check-in.  Way to go yellow - we knew you could do it.

Reminders:

Every week students are required to study five spelling words.  They are to come to class on Friday with their green spelling folder and their five words studied!  See the Spelling Routine link for more information.

Last week was a big week.  Everyone got a great start on their revolution essay!  We will be spending tomorrow and Tuesday (due date extended one day) finishing revision and finally publishing them.   Wednesday we will begin our new unit, in which we will learn about what went on in America after the Patriots’ victory in the Revolutionary War!

Ask your daughter about the scholarly contest going on in LASS!  In an effort to create more Individual Responsibility and Mutual Accountability in our classroom, we have begun a friendly class vs. class competition around spelling mastery and our weekly check-in.  Congratulations to the first week’s winners, RED and GREEN! 

Reminders: 

-If you emailed yourself your essay, remember to do it again with your most recent work attached!   We’ll be working on the computers tomorrow all day!

-The Chains cover re-design is due tomorrow if you’ve not handed it in already.  We are impressed with what we’ve already collected.