Welcome back to Q2!

Fall Break went zipping by for me! I traveled to India (to Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra) with my mom, and visited a friend who is living in Delhi and working in the media there. It was an amazing experience; it's so good to get outside your comfort zone and challenge yourself to see life through the eyes of another culture.

So, here we are, back for Q2!

We are already off and rolling, which is a good feeling.

In 7th grade, we will continue on in our historical fiction novel, The Kitchen Boy. We will be doing Pre-Reading, During Reading, and Post-Reading packets for most chapters; there are a few chapters that students will just be listening to, and drawing what they hear. We will also sometimes be using what I call, "During Reading Role Signs". Each students gets a sign, which has one thing "good readers" do while they are reading; that student will be responsible for completing that task, as we read together in class. When students share their role with the whole class, we get a fuller picture of what good readers do "During Reading".

We will study WW1, The Russian Revolution, and the dawn of the spread of Communist philosophy.

In 8th grade, we will read the novel, The Surrender Tree (which we read in 7th grade last quarter); this historic fiction book fits in with our study of the Decline of the European Colonial System, which we introduced ourselves to at the end of Q1. Later in the quarter, we will read the Core Knowledge novel, Animal Farm; this will be a part of our study of the Cold War era, and the spread of Communist Totalitarian regimes.

We will also continue our study of U.S. Government; we may even extend this unit into Q3; it's such a complex process, and such an important thing for students to understand, so I want to keep working on it until we've really covered it.

In both 7th and 8th grades, we will continue with our year-long Legislative Draft project; we will be doing some more focused research on the states on each student's "team", and writing to new legislators in those states after the upcoming elections.

Also in both 7th and 8th grades, we will be learning more about the differences and similarities between Democracies, Autocracies, Capitalism, Communism, and Socialism; understanding these systems and philosophies is at the heart of the study of modern history, and current events. We are also going to be spending a lot more time in class juxtaposing and examining contemporary maps of data about the world; for example, today we looked at a map of the world as it appeared under the European colonial system, and compared it to current maps of Infant Mortality Rates, and Women's Suffrage throughout the world; students noticed some interesting correlations!


There is a map quiz this Friday, October 29th:

7th= Eastern European countries

8th= North African countries


Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks and take care,
Leah Hood

Enjoy Fall Break!

Oh my goodness gracious! I cannot believe it's the end of First Quarter. Conferences were a great time for me to slow down a bit (even in the midst of hurried conferences!) and synthesize all those bits of information I have been learning about my students so far this year, and articulate where I think we need to go. It feels so promising to realize that we have, in fact, been moving through material, and getting to know one another. I feel really positive heading into the rest of the school year.

Second quarter, 7th graders will continue reading The Kitchen Boy, while learning more about The Russian Revolution, within the broader context of WW1; then we will learn about The Roaring Twenties, and The Dust Bowl and Great Depression; I'd like to use some poetry from the 1920s, and we'll read The Truth About Sparrows alongside our study of 1930s.

Coming up in 8th grade, we will continue our study of U.S. Government through the upcoming election, go deeper into the Decline of European Colonialism, and then learn more about the Cold War era. We finally finished reading Year of Impossible Goodbyes, and next quarter we'll read Animal Farm, which is one of the Core Knowledge novels.


And please meet me at the MN History Center in downtown St. Paul, on Saturday, October 30th, from Noon-4:00, for the "Dia de los Muertos Celebracion"! This will be the second event featured in our MN Historical Society Club.

I hope you're feeling good about Q1, and enjoy Fall Break! (I'll be in India with my mom and friend!)

Take care,
Leah Hood