Hard to believe, but Q2 is well under way!
In 7th grade, we continue to study WW1; this week so far we have read about the Fleet Acts, and played a board game about "militarism." I have been reading aloud to the students from The Kitchen Boy, as they draw what they hear; it is a During Reading activity aimed at A) visualization, and B) visual summaries. Some students are enjoying the novel more than others, of course, but most agree that the plot is starting to pick up the pace...
7th graders were just tested over the Canadian provinces, and will next be tested over countries in South America.
Early next week, we'll be using the laptop cart to explore the following website, which contains sheet music from the WW1 era:
http://dl.lib.brown.edu/sheetmusic/ww1/
In 8th grade, we started learning about the Indian independence movement, including historic figures such as Gandhi and Nehru, and historic events such as the Amritsar Massacre, The Salt March (aka The March to the Sea), and Partition; we will be watching the movie, Gandhi, starring Ben Kingsley. We will also be covering Apartheid in South Africa, paying special attention to the life and work of Nelson Mandela.
Here are a few of the online resources we used today in 8th grade:
Amritsar Massacre: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6687085
Salt March Reenactment: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/in_pictures/4343307.stm
8th graders were tested over countries in central Africa, and are about to be tested over countries in southern Africa.
Since the midterm elections are behind us, next week (in both grade levels) we'll be moving forward a bit in our Legislative Draft project.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Thanks for reading, and take care,
Leah Hood
