Greetings!
The weather was seasonably cold today and I had more than a few out with different viruses. We are one week away from a break, and I sense we are in need of some time off! These students are a joy to teach–even when circumstances are challenging.
Since Valentine’s Day is tomorrow, our Quick Write today was on the subject of conversation hearts. After watching a short video on this candy’s history, students brainstormed as many aspects of, things about and topics pertaining to this subject. I even challenged them to come up with as many “Gen Z” messages as possible. The heart shaped lollipops helped this process along! Students also made some Valentine’s for a friend or family member. Sweet!
Literature
We have read up to chapter 8–almost done with the book, so we took some time to think about all the different characters we’ve met so far. They had some time to brainstorm 3 strengths and 3 weaknesses of one of them. For homework, they’ll need to write a “character sketch” that details these aspects of their chosen character. They should finish the novel and complete the Reader Response questions.
For Writing, I gave the students a few minutes to review the assigned reading for today–specifically about the “Battle of the Windmill” in chapter 8. After reading that short section aloud, I passed out a series of pictures from the graphic novel Animal Farm by Odyr which depicts this episode. Although the pictures suggest a story, they are fairly minimal. I told the students that their job is to describe the events depicted in each picture. Simply report.
In order to think about the events effectively, one must ask questions! This is something we have been practicing in our Quick Writes since last semester: who, what, (what are they thinking/doing/saying/feeling) when, where, why, how? And then a level deeper: what happened before the picture? After? Outside the picture? What may have happened before or after? In this way, students begin to access their thinking and imagination using the novel and the pictures as a base.
After taking notes on the process, we made a Key Word Outline for the first two pictures together. They wrote their own outline for the third picture and then compared it with a table mate. Their homework is to finish this KWO and post it (or bring it to class) for next week. They are welcome to make any changes to their story from what we competed in class together. Four points per picture (plus the topic and clincher is plenty. Changes will happen organically as they begin to write.)
I gave an option to use a different set of pictures if they’d rather. The second set has nothing to do with Animal Farm, and will challenge them to come up with a completely new story based on each picture. Though the KWO is due next week, the three paragraph composition will be assigned next week (due March 7).
At the end of class, I assigned the Grammar worksheets, practicing identifying and classifying prepositional phrases. Prepositional phrases function either as adjective phrases or adverb phrases, and it can be tricky to tell what kind of phrase it is. They have these as homework.
Blessings on your weekend!
Mrs. G
Homework
Read Ch. 8 & 10 Animal Farm
Prepositional Phrases -- Adj or Adv
Links for This Week
History of Conversation Hearts–video
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