Thank you so, so much to all the students and families who so generously brought me holiday cards and gifts. I cannot tell you how heartwarming it is! I carried an entire box-full of holiday cheer to my car after school last Thursday!
THANK YOU.
-Ms. Hood
P.S. Happy New Year!
P.P.S. @MsHoodsHoodlums @twitter.com
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Semester's End!
We're halfway through the year! So far this has been the best year yet for me in my teaching career; I have great students, a supportive parent/guardian base, and some years of teaching experience under my belt. Although I'm looking forward to the break, I'm full of ideas for next quarter!
Here's how we're finishing out the semester in Social Studies:
7th Grade
Students were tested just today over the 50 states in the United States; it's a big quiz, but they had three weeks to study and lots of study tools to use.
Last Friday we did a Readers' Theater piece about the Russian Revolution, which prepped us for the movie Nicholas & Alexandra; it's an old film, but it does a good job of accurately conveying the events of the Russian Revolution in sequence; the portrayal of real historic figures by actors is always questionable, but I feel that this film captures much of the spirit and complexity of the revolution; students are recording key events and facts as they watch, and we pause every so often to do quick-writes in response to critical thinking questions posited verbally; hopefully these exercises keep students accountable to learning from the chosen medium, and more actively engaged in watching the movie.
8th Grade
This week we finished reading George Orwell's classic "fairy story", Animal Farm, an allegory for totalitarian rule. Today and tomorrow we are watching a movie version of the book. We'll reference the characters and events often next quarter when we study more in-depth Maoist China, Soviet Russia, and McCarthyism in the U.S.
Earlier this week we used credible internet sources to learn about Nelson Mandela and the Apartheid system in South Africa; we also read and analyzed some Apartheid-era poetry, which is pretty powerful stuff.
7th and 8th grade students have another opportunity for extra credit over Winter Break; it is basically the same assignment as was offered over Fall Break, but with different titles to support next quarter's Social Studies content; students can receive the equivalent of one quiz worth of extra credit points by reading (or listening to) a novel related to our upcoming units and completing a basic book report or other pre-approved project which demonstrates comprehension and learning.
Please always feel free to contact me with questions, concerns, or constructive feedback.
Enjoy the break and any holidays you might celebrate!!
Take care,
Leah Hood
Here's how we're finishing out the semester in Social Studies:
7th Grade
Students were tested just today over the 50 states in the United States; it's a big quiz, but they had three weeks to study and lots of study tools to use.
Last Friday we did a Readers' Theater piece about the Russian Revolution, which prepped us for the movie Nicholas & Alexandra; it's an old film, but it does a good job of accurately conveying the events of the Russian Revolution in sequence; the portrayal of real historic figures by actors is always questionable, but I feel that this film captures much of the spirit and complexity of the revolution; students are recording key events and facts as they watch, and we pause every so often to do quick-writes in response to critical thinking questions posited verbally; hopefully these exercises keep students accountable to learning from the chosen medium, and more actively engaged in watching the movie.
8th Grade
This week we finished reading George Orwell's classic "fairy story", Animal Farm, an allegory for totalitarian rule. Today and tomorrow we are watching a movie version of the book. We'll reference the characters and events often next quarter when we study more in-depth Maoist China, Soviet Russia, and McCarthyism in the U.S.
Earlier this week we used credible internet sources to learn about Nelson Mandela and the Apartheid system in South Africa; we also read and analyzed some Apartheid-era poetry, which is pretty powerful stuff.
7th and 8th grade students have another opportunity for extra credit over Winter Break; it is basically the same assignment as was offered over Fall Break, but with different titles to support next quarter's Social Studies content; students can receive the equivalent of one quiz worth of extra credit points by reading (or listening to) a novel related to our upcoming units and completing a basic book report or other pre-approved project which demonstrates comprehension and learning.
Please always feel free to contact me with questions, concerns, or constructive feedback.
Enjoy the break and any holidays you might celebrate!!
Take care,
Leah Hood
Monday, December 12, 2011
Less Than 2 Weeks!
With only 8 days of school left before Winter Break, here's what we're up to:
7th:
This week we are wrapping up our unit on WW1. Today our Journal prompt was, "How do you think life changed for people after the war was over? Life for people on the winning side (The Allies)? Life for people on the losing side (The Central Powers)? What might have been better about life after the war? What might have been challenging about life after the war? How do you think the new wartime technologies effected peoples' daily lives after the war?"
We also started reading a new novel by Marian Hale, entitled "The Truth About Sparrows". The best way I can think of to describe this work of historic fiction is to compare it to "The Grapes of Wrath". (Sorry, my computer isn't allowing me to use italics for some reason!) "The Truth About Sparrows" is a novel set in the U.S. during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression; we will not be able to finish this book before next Thursday, so we'll have to carry it over into Q3. We will complete a Reading Packet for each chapter, including Pre-Reading, During Reading, and Post-Reading exercises.
Today students also completed a graphic organizer about the life of president Woodrow Wilson; later this week we'll examine Wilson's "14 Points" and the League of Nations. We'll also be discussing the Supreme Court decision in Schenck v. United States, and discussing quotes such as, "War is the health of the state", "Peace without victory", and "Making the world safe for democracy".
Next week we'll be watching an historically accurate movie entitled "Nicholas & Alexandra", about the Russian Revolution.
8th:
We finally finished watching the film "Gandhi", starring Sir Ben Kingsley; I don't show very many movies in my classes, but this one I like because it is so well done and historically accurate. Students kept a connections chart during the movie to record similarities between the events and people depicted in the film and events and characters in the novel "Animal Farm", which we will finish before the end of this quarter. Students also did quick-write responses to many questions I asked them during the movie; we would pause the film to do 1-3 sentence written responses and would then share our responses with partners or the whole class before moving on in the movie.
For the remainder of this quarter we'll be learning about the Apartheid system in British South Africa and Nelson Mandela's leadership in that country.
DDI was very successful for both grade levels! The class averages for all sections of 7th and 8th grade Social Studies was 80% or above, which is quite good!
There will be another extra credit reading/book report option over Winter Break, so look for information about that coming up before the end of the quarter.
7th graders have their 50 states map quiz next Wednesday, December 21st. They have lots of study tools available, but please feel free to contact me if you need any assistance in helping your child to study.
Thanks!
Ms. Hood
7th:
This week we are wrapping up our unit on WW1. Today our Journal prompt was, "How do you think life changed for people after the war was over? Life for people on the winning side (The Allies)? Life for people on the losing side (The Central Powers)? What might have been better about life after the war? What might have been challenging about life after the war? How do you think the new wartime technologies effected peoples' daily lives after the war?"
We also started reading a new novel by Marian Hale, entitled "The Truth About Sparrows". The best way I can think of to describe this work of historic fiction is to compare it to "The Grapes of Wrath". (Sorry, my computer isn't allowing me to use italics for some reason!) "The Truth About Sparrows" is a novel set in the U.S. during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression; we will not be able to finish this book before next Thursday, so we'll have to carry it over into Q3. We will complete a Reading Packet for each chapter, including Pre-Reading, During Reading, and Post-Reading exercises.
Today students also completed a graphic organizer about the life of president Woodrow Wilson; later this week we'll examine Wilson's "14 Points" and the League of Nations. We'll also be discussing the Supreme Court decision in Schenck v. United States, and discussing quotes such as, "War is the health of the state", "Peace without victory", and "Making the world safe for democracy".
Next week we'll be watching an historically accurate movie entitled "Nicholas & Alexandra", about the Russian Revolution.
8th:
We finally finished watching the film "Gandhi", starring Sir Ben Kingsley; I don't show very many movies in my classes, but this one I like because it is so well done and historically accurate. Students kept a connections chart during the movie to record similarities between the events and people depicted in the film and events and characters in the novel "Animal Farm", which we will finish before the end of this quarter. Students also did quick-write responses to many questions I asked them during the movie; we would pause the film to do 1-3 sentence written responses and would then share our responses with partners or the whole class before moving on in the movie.
For the remainder of this quarter we'll be learning about the Apartheid system in British South Africa and Nelson Mandela's leadership in that country.
DDI was very successful for both grade levels! The class averages for all sections of 7th and 8th grade Social Studies was 80% or above, which is quite good!
There will be another extra credit reading/book report option over Winter Break, so look for information about that coming up before the end of the quarter.
7th graders have their 50 states map quiz next Wednesday, December 21st. They have lots of study tools available, but please feel free to contact me if you need any assistance in helping your child to study.
Thanks!
Ms. Hood
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!
Hello, all!
I hope you had a restful and enjoyable holiday. I traveled to Iowa to visit my immediate family and my mother's side.
When we start back tomorrow, here's where we'll be heading, content-wise:
7th:
We will spend about a week, week-and-a-half, learning about the U.S. entry into WW1 and the Russian Revolution, which occurred in the midst of Russia's participation in WW1. We will finish our read-aloud/listen-and-draw of the book War Game, and then begin reading together from The Truth About Sparrows; this latter novel will pre-empt our study of the Great Depression, which will take place next quarter.
Along with our study of the Russian Revolution I have a readers' theater piece; we'll probably read some excerpts of the novel The Kitchen Boy, and I'm (even as I type this) currently previewing an older British film entitled Nicholas & Alexandra; my tentative plan is to have the students do some background reading and research about the Russian Revolution and then to watch the film and analyze it for historic accuracies and inaccuracies (this is dependent upon my assessment of the film by its end, however). This assignment actually relates to what we're studying in 8th grade, as well, so I am tentatively planning to do these same lessons with 8th grade.
8th:
Coming up for 8th graders is the film, Gandhi, starring Ben Kingsley. Then we'll move into our study of Apartheid in South Africa and the leadership of Nelson Mandela; I have a really great new graphic novel about the life and work of Nelson Mandela that we'll use in some capacity.
We'll also work on finishing up with reading and analyzing the classic novel, Animal Farm; the students seem really into this story! It's a great, manageable introduction to the concepts of allegory, metaphor, symbolism, and analogy. I think we need to pause for a bit in our reading and solidify our understanding of the characters and plot-line of the story; I'm planning to have the students get into small groups to act out a chapter of the book so far; they'll also have the choice to draw it out in storyboard form, create a puppet show, or build key scenes from the chapter they are assigned out of Legos and/or Play-doh. Should be fun.
Both grade levels will have some in-class work time to do credible internet research on the country of their choosing for their independent research project; we'll be breaking the research down into what I call The 10 Categories: Business, Transportation, Socialization, Environment, Education, Technology, Recreation, Government, Religion, Fine Arts. Both grade levels will also begin new 4-Source Comparison Packets for their respective units of study.
Please remember that homework assignments and due dates are posted on my class Twitter account: @MsHoodsHoodlums @twitter.com.
If you have any questions, concerns, or constructive feedback, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thanks!
Ms. Hood
I hope you had a restful and enjoyable holiday. I traveled to Iowa to visit my immediate family and my mother's side.
When we start back tomorrow, here's where we'll be heading, content-wise:
7th:
We will spend about a week, week-and-a-half, learning about the U.S. entry into WW1 and the Russian Revolution, which occurred in the midst of Russia's participation in WW1. We will finish our read-aloud/listen-and-draw of the book War Game, and then begin reading together from The Truth About Sparrows; this latter novel will pre-empt our study of the Great Depression, which will take place next quarter.
Along with our study of the Russian Revolution I have a readers' theater piece; we'll probably read some excerpts of the novel The Kitchen Boy, and I'm (even as I type this) currently previewing an older British film entitled Nicholas & Alexandra; my tentative plan is to have the students do some background reading and research about the Russian Revolution and then to watch the film and analyze it for historic accuracies and inaccuracies (this is dependent upon my assessment of the film by its end, however). This assignment actually relates to what we're studying in 8th grade, as well, so I am tentatively planning to do these same lessons with 8th grade.
8th:
Coming up for 8th graders is the film, Gandhi, starring Ben Kingsley. Then we'll move into our study of Apartheid in South Africa and the leadership of Nelson Mandela; I have a really great new graphic novel about the life and work of Nelson Mandela that we'll use in some capacity.
We'll also work on finishing up with reading and analyzing the classic novel, Animal Farm; the students seem really into this story! It's a great, manageable introduction to the concepts of allegory, metaphor, symbolism, and analogy. I think we need to pause for a bit in our reading and solidify our understanding of the characters and plot-line of the story; I'm planning to have the students get into small groups to act out a chapter of the book so far; they'll also have the choice to draw it out in storyboard form, create a puppet show, or build key scenes from the chapter they are assigned out of Legos and/or Play-doh. Should be fun.
Both grade levels will have some in-class work time to do credible internet research on the country of their choosing for their independent research project; we'll be breaking the research down into what I call The 10 Categories: Business, Transportation, Socialization, Environment, Education, Technology, Recreation, Government, Religion, Fine Arts. Both grade levels will also begin new 4-Source Comparison Packets for their respective units of study.
Please remember that homework assignments and due dates are posted on my class Twitter account: @MsHoodsHoodlums @twitter.com.
If you have any questions, concerns, or constructive feedback, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thanks!
Ms. Hood
Friday, November 18, 2011
Midterm again!
Hello, Paideia families!
Here we are again at Midterm! I am always taken by surprise :)
This week we had a good experience with our student teacher from St. Mary's University-- we wish him well as he completes his teaching degree and strikes out on his own!
Here's what we've been up to:
7th:This week we discussed the "during war" part of WW1. Students wrote letters or diary entries from the perspective of a soldier off at the front, which are currently displayed on my bulletin board in the hallway. We used different graphic organizers to gather basic information about living conditions for soldiers during the war, as well as important events of the war; we compared, contrasted, and reacted to poetry written by WW1 poets. We also learned a bit about the technological advancements in weaponry that came out of WW1; students worked in small groups to make models of tanks, U-boats, Howitzers, zeppelins, machine guns (and more) out of Plah-doh, Legos, construction paper, or by sketching; students then presented their models to th class and discussed advantages, disadvantages, and the impact each weapon had on the war. Students also tested over countries in Eastern Europe.
Next week we will finish up learning about the "during the war" part of this unit and then discuss the Russian Revolution and U.S. entry into WW1 after Thanksgiving break.
8th:This week 8th graders learned more specifically about the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi. Students used basic graphic organizers and teacher-selected websites to record introductory information, and completed short answer response questions as they watched a documentary about Gandhi and his role in the Indian Independence movement. Students did a great job creating (fake) Facebook Profile pages for Gandhi! These will be displayed in our hallway.
Next week we will do a simulation activity recreating the Indian National Congress and also read on in Animal Farm, which the students seem eager to continue on in; after Thanksgiving we will watch the film, Gandhi, and then move on to discuss the Apartheid system in South Africa and Nelson Mandela's role in toppling that system.
Look for midterm grades shortly before Thanksgiving, and I hope to see you at the 80s dance tonight!
Have a nice weekend!
-Ms. Hood
Here we are again at Midterm! I am always taken by surprise :)
This week we had a good experience with our student teacher from St. Mary's University-- we wish him well as he completes his teaching degree and strikes out on his own!
Here's what we've been up to:
7th:This week we discussed the "during war" part of WW1. Students wrote letters or diary entries from the perspective of a soldier off at the front, which are currently displayed on my bulletin board in the hallway. We used different graphic organizers to gather basic information about living conditions for soldiers during the war, as well as important events of the war; we compared, contrasted, and reacted to poetry written by WW1 poets. We also learned a bit about the technological advancements in weaponry that came out of WW1; students worked in small groups to make models of tanks, U-boats, Howitzers, zeppelins, machine guns (and more) out of Plah-doh, Legos, construction paper, or by sketching; students then presented their models to th class and discussed advantages, disadvantages, and the impact each weapon had on the war. Students also tested over countries in Eastern Europe.
Next week we will finish up learning about the "during the war" part of this unit and then discuss the Russian Revolution and U.S. entry into WW1 after Thanksgiving break.
8th:This week 8th graders learned more specifically about the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi. Students used basic graphic organizers and teacher-selected websites to record introductory information, and completed short answer response questions as they watched a documentary about Gandhi and his role in the Indian Independence movement. Students did a great job creating (fake) Facebook Profile pages for Gandhi! These will be displayed in our hallway.
Next week we will do a simulation activity recreating the Indian National Congress and also read on in Animal Farm, which the students seem eager to continue on in; after Thanksgiving we will watch the film, Gandhi, and then move on to discuss the Apartheid system in South Africa and Nelson Mandela's role in toppling that system.
Look for midterm grades shortly before Thanksgiving, and I hope to see you at the 80s dance tonight!
Have a nice weekend!
-Ms. Hood
Friday, November 11, 2011
Veterans' Day
Hello, Paideia families!
Here's what's been going on lately in Social Studies:
7th grade:
We continue our study of WW1; students now know about the five main causes of The Great War, and even have a slick way to remember them (ask your 7th grader about MANIA)! We've been studying the concepts of militarism, alliances, nationalism, and imperialism, and have been considering how physical and political geography is affected by and in turn affects war. The MN State Social Studies Standard we are working on right now is, "I. U.S. History; H. World Wars and the Emergence of Modern America; the student will demonstrate knowledge of the political, geographical, cultural, social, and economic forces shaping the modern United States."
We analyzed some historic political cartoons on the subject of imperialism, and I was so pleased at how engaged my students were in that discussion! Next week we are moving away from the background and causes of the war and will be learning more about the war itself-- conditions for the soldiers, inventions that came out of the war, etc. It was timely that Veterans' Day happened in the midst of this unit, since the observance began as Armistice Day in honor of the end of WW1! Thanks to all our vets, past and present, and their loved ones!!
Next week we'll be reading some poems that came out of WW1, as well as some WW1 literature; we'll also be listening to some songs from and about the war.
7th graders have a "Letter Home" assignment due on Monday, and a map quiz over countries in Eastern Europe next Wednesday.
8th grade:
In 8th grade this week we've continued to build background knowledge about India, Pakistan, the British Empire, Gandhi and Nehru. We used some great websites from the BBC to complete graphic organizers (e.g. Venn Diagram) with topics such as "Hinduism and Islam"; having an understanding of the religious and cultural exchange and conflict is a necessary part of understanding the Indian Independence Movement and subsequent Partition.
Students did a fabulous job analyzing political cartoons about imperialism/colonialism and Social Darwinism; we read about The Scramble for Africa and discussed the concept of Spheres of Influence in China; next week we'll listen to some History Tunes (corny but informative!) about Imperialism and The Monroe Doctrine.
8th graders also had a lesson this Wednesday on Informational/Non-fiction Text Study Skills, including pre-reading the questions, skimming and scanning for key terms, and re-reading sections of text for comprehension.
Next week we'll be reading on in Animal Farm and continuing our discussions on stereotyping, imperialism, the British Empire, and the Indian Independence Movement; students will also pretest over the world map as it appeared under European colonial rule.
The MN State Social Studies Standard we are currently working on in 8th grade is: "III. World History; G. Western Civilizations; the student will demonstrate knowledge of the rise of colonialism and its effects worldwide; 1. Students will examine the effects of imperialism on colonial societies of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries."
8th graders have a homework packet over stereotyping and imperialism due on Monday.
Please be reminded that next week we will be hosting another student teacher from St. Mary's University; his name is Mr. MacLean and he'll be with us for one week. Please join me in welcoming Mr. MacLean!
If you have any questions, concerns, or constructive feedback, please feel free to contact me.
Enjoy the weekend!
Thanks,
Ms. Hood
Here's what's been going on lately in Social Studies:
7th grade:
We continue our study of WW1; students now know about the five main causes of The Great War, and even have a slick way to remember them (ask your 7th grader about MANIA)! We've been studying the concepts of militarism, alliances, nationalism, and imperialism, and have been considering how physical and political geography is affected by and in turn affects war. The MN State Social Studies Standard we are working on right now is, "I. U.S. History; H. World Wars and the Emergence of Modern America; the student will demonstrate knowledge of the political, geographical, cultural, social, and economic forces shaping the modern United States."
We analyzed some historic political cartoons on the subject of imperialism, and I was so pleased at how engaged my students were in that discussion! Next week we are moving away from the background and causes of the war and will be learning more about the war itself-- conditions for the soldiers, inventions that came out of the war, etc. It was timely that Veterans' Day happened in the midst of this unit, since the observance began as Armistice Day in honor of the end of WW1! Thanks to all our vets, past and present, and their loved ones!!
Next week we'll be reading some poems that came out of WW1, as well as some WW1 literature; we'll also be listening to some songs from and about the war.
7th graders have a "Letter Home" assignment due on Monday, and a map quiz over countries in Eastern Europe next Wednesday.
8th grade:
In 8th grade this week we've continued to build background knowledge about India, Pakistan, the British Empire, Gandhi and Nehru. We used some great websites from the BBC to complete graphic organizers (e.g. Venn Diagram) with topics such as "Hinduism and Islam"; having an understanding of the religious and cultural exchange and conflict is a necessary part of understanding the Indian Independence Movement and subsequent Partition.
Students did a fabulous job analyzing political cartoons about imperialism/colonialism and Social Darwinism; we read about The Scramble for Africa and discussed the concept of Spheres of Influence in China; next week we'll listen to some History Tunes (corny but informative!) about Imperialism and The Monroe Doctrine.
8th graders also had a lesson this Wednesday on Informational/Non-fiction Text Study Skills, including pre-reading the questions, skimming and scanning for key terms, and re-reading sections of text for comprehension.
Next week we'll be reading on in Animal Farm and continuing our discussions on stereotyping, imperialism, the British Empire, and the Indian Independence Movement; students will also pretest over the world map as it appeared under European colonial rule.
The MN State Social Studies Standard we are currently working on in 8th grade is: "III. World History; G. Western Civilizations; the student will demonstrate knowledge of the rise of colonialism and its effects worldwide; 1. Students will examine the effects of imperialism on colonial societies of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries."
8th graders have a homework packet over stereotyping and imperialism due on Monday.
Please be reminded that next week we will be hosting another student teacher from St. Mary's University; his name is Mr. MacLean and he'll be with us for one week. Please join me in welcoming Mr. MacLean!
If you have any questions, concerns, or constructive feedback, please feel free to contact me.
Enjoy the weekend!
Thanks,
Ms. Hood
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Week 2, Q2!
Hello!
Gosh, with break in the mix it's been awhile now since I made a new post!
Happy belated Halloween!
Here's what's been going on in Social Studies so far this quarter:
7th Grade:
We have been learning about World War 1/The Great War; right now we are still learning about the causes of the war, which were Imperialism, Nationalism, Militarism, and Alliances. We've been writing journal entries each day about each one of the four main causes in turn, thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of each attitude/policy (e.g. What are some positive outcomes of "nationalism"? Negative outcomes?) Students have been working on a listen-and-draw activity where I read small sections of the textbook while they draw what they hear; then they have time to verbally share with each other what they have drawn, and to write captions describing each little sketch. Students have also introduced themselves to the topic by exploring the PBS website, The Great War, and completing some graphic organizers.
Along with this, students are now testing over countries in Eastern Europe; because of the larger number of countries in this region, and the students' general unfamiliarity with them, I have broken the region into two, eleven-point quizzes.
We've also been listening to some instrumental interpretations of WW1, particularly the soundtrack to the documentary, The Great War, and the soundtrack to the Minnesota-based original stage play, All Is Calm.
Later this week and next week we'll start looking at some digital archives of sheet music (primary source documents) from the WW1 era, as well as some WW1 poetry.
8th Grade:
We started off the quarter last week by learning some of the basics of capitalism and communism; students watched online tutorials from Khan Academy and took some basic notes about the major tenants of each paradigm. This will come in handy as we continue to read through the novel, Animal Farm, which we began together in class yesterday. Students also created graphics to explain the major tenants and then used each other's drawings to play a game of Charades acting out the same themes.
Today in class 8th graders did a truly FABULOUS and impressive job analyzing two well-known political cartoons depicting European imperialism in Africa and China. I wish you all could have witnessed the high-level of observations, analysis, and discussion that my students created in class! I was so pleased.
For the next few weeks we'll be studying the decline of European imperialism, looking especially at the British Empire and independence movements in India (i.e. Gandhi) and South Africa (i.e. Nelson Mandela). Students will become familiar with terms such as The Salt March, and Apartheid.
Many 7th & 8th grade students took advantage of the extra credit reading opportunity, and both grade levels have had a few class periods of work time on their independent country research projects.
Hope to see you at Family Night this Thursday!
Thanks,
Ms. Hood
Gosh, with break in the mix it's been awhile now since I made a new post!
Happy belated Halloween!
Here's what's been going on in Social Studies so far this quarter:
7th Grade:
We have been learning about World War 1/The Great War; right now we are still learning about the causes of the war, which were Imperialism, Nationalism, Militarism, and Alliances. We've been writing journal entries each day about each one of the four main causes in turn, thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of each attitude/policy (e.g. What are some positive outcomes of "nationalism"? Negative outcomes?) Students have been working on a listen-and-draw activity where I read small sections of the textbook while they draw what they hear; then they have time to verbally share with each other what they have drawn, and to write captions describing each little sketch. Students have also introduced themselves to the topic by exploring the PBS website, The Great War, and completing some graphic organizers.
Along with this, students are now testing over countries in Eastern Europe; because of the larger number of countries in this region, and the students' general unfamiliarity with them, I have broken the region into two, eleven-point quizzes.
We've also been listening to some instrumental interpretations of WW1, particularly the soundtrack to the documentary, The Great War, and the soundtrack to the Minnesota-based original stage play, All Is Calm.
Later this week and next week we'll start looking at some digital archives of sheet music (primary source documents) from the WW1 era, as well as some WW1 poetry.
8th Grade:
We started off the quarter last week by learning some of the basics of capitalism and communism; students watched online tutorials from Khan Academy and took some basic notes about the major tenants of each paradigm. This will come in handy as we continue to read through the novel, Animal Farm, which we began together in class yesterday. Students also created graphics to explain the major tenants and then used each other's drawings to play a game of Charades acting out the same themes.
Today in class 8th graders did a truly FABULOUS and impressive job analyzing two well-known political cartoons depicting European imperialism in Africa and China. I wish you all could have witnessed the high-level of observations, analysis, and discussion that my students created in class! I was so pleased.
For the next few weeks we'll be studying the decline of European imperialism, looking especially at the British Empire and independence movements in India (i.e. Gandhi) and South Africa (i.e. Nelson Mandela). Students will become familiar with terms such as The Salt March, and Apartheid.
Many 7th & 8th grade students took advantage of the extra credit reading opportunity, and both grade levels have had a few class periods of work time on their independent country research projects.
Hope to see you at Family Night this Thursday!
Thanks,
Ms. Hood
Friday, October 14, 2011
Social Studies Supplementary Activities
Hi all!
Hope you're enjoying the break, and that the kids are doing their extra credit reading for Q2!
Below is a list of extracurriculars that will support 7th and 8th grade Social Studies content:
The Rose Ensemble's Songs of Temperance and Temptation:
http://www.roseensemble.org/shows/songs-temperance-and-temptation
PBS & Ken Burns' Prohibition:
http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/
The James J. Hill House in St. Paul:
http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/jjhh/
The Russian Museum of Art in Minneapolis:
http://tmora.org/
PBS's The Great War:
http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/
Q1 was a great quarter and we're well underway in our curricula! 7th graders learned about the late 1800s and will start off next quarter studying WW1 before moving into the roaring 1920s; 8th graders studied U.S. government last quarter and will start off by studying the early Cold War at the beginning of Q2.
Enjoy the break!
-Ms. Hood
Hope you're enjoying the break, and that the kids are doing their extra credit reading for Q2!
Below is a list of extracurriculars that will support 7th and 8th grade Social Studies content:
The Rose Ensemble's Songs of Temperance and Temptation:
http://www.roseensemble.org/shows/songs-temperance-and-temptation
PBS & Ken Burns' Prohibition:
http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/
The James J. Hill House in St. Paul:
http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/jjhh/
The Russian Museum of Art in Minneapolis:
http://tmora.org/
PBS's The Great War:
http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/
Q1 was a great quarter and we're well underway in our curricula! 7th graders learned about the late 1800s and will start off next quarter studying WW1 before moving into the roaring 1920s; 8th graders studied U.S. government last quarter and will start off by studying the early Cold War at the beginning of Q2.
Enjoy the break!
-Ms. Hood
Friday, September 30, 2011
Last Week, Q1!
Hi all!
It was great to see so many of you at conferences this week! I truly enjoy conferences, and I wish that they didn't feel so rushed! If you weren't able to schedule a time to meet with me this week, please let me know if you're interested in meeting another time, whether next week or next quarter...
Here's the update:
7th grade:We finished The Surrender Tree! There is an extra credit opportunity for 7th graders over the Fall Break; if they choose one of the three book options to read over break and complete a basic book report they can get some extra credit towards their Second Quarter Social Studies grade. All of the book options are about WW1, which is what we will start off studying Q2.
Students have now been tested over countries in South America, and their last map quiz of this quarter will be this coming Wednesday, October 5th, over countries in Western Europe (preparing us to study WW1).
We are wrapping up our study of the late 1800s; this week we'll talk more about Teddy Roosevelt and the Panama Canal...
Next quarter we'll be reading Out of the Dust and The Truth About Sparrows, both about the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. I recommend watching the new PBS special, Prohibition, which I believe airs this Sunday evening; it will preempt our study of that part of U.S. history.
8th grade:This coming week 8th graders will finish the novel, Year of Impossible Goodbyes; we will watch some of those good old fashioned Schoolhouse Rock videos about U.S. government (i.e. "I'm Just A Bill") and learn more about the law-making process, as well as amendments 11-27 to the U.S. Constitution.
Students took their last vocab quiz last week, and next quarter it's back to map quizzes.
8th graders have been doing regular homework assignments (reading and writing) about controversial topics in U.S. politics, such as the death penalty debate, religion in politics, and homeland security "vs." civil liberties and individual privacy rights. Many of the students have been really agonizing over their positions! I'm so impressed by their thoughts and commitment to making the right decision in their own minds.
Next quarter we'll be reading Animal Farm as part of our study of the early Cold War. 8th graders also have an extra credit reading opportunity over fall break; if they check out the book The Good Earth from my classroom and do a basic book report over it, they can earn extra credit towards their Q2 Social Studies grade; this is a Core Knowledge book about the Chinese revolution, and will support our learning about Communist China during Q2.
It's been a truly great quarter! I can tell that the rest of the year will be great, as well.
Please remember that I'll be at the Museum of Russian Art (in Minneapolis) this Sunday at 2 PM. Hope to see you there!
Thanks for reading,
Leah Hood
It was great to see so many of you at conferences this week! I truly enjoy conferences, and I wish that they didn't feel so rushed! If you weren't able to schedule a time to meet with me this week, please let me know if you're interested in meeting another time, whether next week or next quarter...
Here's the update:
7th grade:We finished The Surrender Tree! There is an extra credit opportunity for 7th graders over the Fall Break; if they choose one of the three book options to read over break and complete a basic book report they can get some extra credit towards their Second Quarter Social Studies grade. All of the book options are about WW1, which is what we will start off studying Q2.
Students have now been tested over countries in South America, and their last map quiz of this quarter will be this coming Wednesday, October 5th, over countries in Western Europe (preparing us to study WW1).
We are wrapping up our study of the late 1800s; this week we'll talk more about Teddy Roosevelt and the Panama Canal...
Next quarter we'll be reading Out of the Dust and The Truth About Sparrows, both about the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. I recommend watching the new PBS special, Prohibition, which I believe airs this Sunday evening; it will preempt our study of that part of U.S. history.
8th grade:This coming week 8th graders will finish the novel, Year of Impossible Goodbyes; we will watch some of those good old fashioned Schoolhouse Rock videos about U.S. government (i.e. "I'm Just A Bill") and learn more about the law-making process, as well as amendments 11-27 to the U.S. Constitution.
Students took their last vocab quiz last week, and next quarter it's back to map quizzes.
8th graders have been doing regular homework assignments (reading and writing) about controversial topics in U.S. politics, such as the death penalty debate, religion in politics, and homeland security "vs." civil liberties and individual privacy rights. Many of the students have been really agonizing over their positions! I'm so impressed by their thoughts and commitment to making the right decision in their own minds.
Next quarter we'll be reading Animal Farm as part of our study of the early Cold War. 8th graders also have an extra credit reading opportunity over fall break; if they check out the book The Good Earth from my classroom and do a basic book report over it, they can earn extra credit towards their Q2 Social Studies grade; this is a Core Knowledge book about the Chinese revolution, and will support our learning about Communist China during Q2.
It's been a truly great quarter! I can tell that the rest of the year will be great, as well.
Please remember that I'll be at the Museum of Russian Art (in Minneapolis) this Sunday at 2 PM. Hope to see you there!
Thanks for reading,
Leah Hood
Friday, September 23, 2011
Social Studies Update
Hello!
Here's what we've been up to in Social Studies lately...
7th Grade:
*Central and South America map quizzes; we've used Geography Choreography as a kinesthetic study tool.
*Part 5 (which is the last section!) of The Surrender Tree.
*Graphic Organizers researching and compiling important details about The Cuban Independence Movement, The Spanish-American War, The U.S. War with the Philippines, The U.S. Annexation of Spanish Colonies (e.g. Puerto Rico, Guam) and Hawaii; and The Panama Canal.
*4-Source Comparison Packet about the Spanish-American War.
*Charades to review terms (e.g. Rough Riders, Teddy Roosevelt, Jose Marti, Anti-Imperialist League).
*We've done journal entries such as, "In your opinion, do we still have 'yellow journalism' today? Why or why not? Explain. Use specific examples."
*Original sheet music (primary source documents) from the Spanish-American War era.
8th Grade:
*Vocab work using the Frayer Model (Definition, Characteristics, Examples, Non-Examples); our current terms include "Natural Rights", "Constitution", "Checks & Balances", "Limited Government", and the three branches of U.S. government.
*A website and graphic organizers to compile important details about the three branches of U.S. government.
*History Tunes about U.S. government (very, very corny, and very, very informative ;) ).
*Journal entries such as, "What is your favorite of the rights in the Bill of Rights? Why? Explain."
*Charades to review government related terms.
*Written response homework assignments about "When Rights Collide", and "Theocracy and Democracy in Iran".
Please sign up with me for conferences next week! If you weren't able to get a spot through VolunteerSpot, please let me know and we'll work something out via email.
Have a great weekend!
Leah Hood
Here's what we've been up to in Social Studies lately...
7th Grade:
*Central and South America map quizzes; we've used Geography Choreography as a kinesthetic study tool.
*Part 5 (which is the last section!) of The Surrender Tree.
*Graphic Organizers researching and compiling important details about The Cuban Independence Movement, The Spanish-American War, The U.S. War with the Philippines, The U.S. Annexation of Spanish Colonies (e.g. Puerto Rico, Guam) and Hawaii; and The Panama Canal.
*4-Source Comparison Packet about the Spanish-American War.
*Charades to review terms (e.g. Rough Riders, Teddy Roosevelt, Jose Marti, Anti-Imperialist League).
*We've done journal entries such as, "In your opinion, do we still have 'yellow journalism' today? Why or why not? Explain. Use specific examples."
*Original sheet music (primary source documents) from the Spanish-American War era.
8th Grade:
*Vocab work using the Frayer Model (Definition, Characteristics, Examples, Non-Examples); our current terms include "Natural Rights", "Constitution", "Checks & Balances", "Limited Government", and the three branches of U.S. government.
*A website and graphic organizers to compile important details about the three branches of U.S. government.
*History Tunes about U.S. government (very, very corny, and very, very informative ;) ).
*Journal entries such as, "What is your favorite of the rights in the Bill of Rights? Why? Explain."
*Charades to review government related terms.
*Written response homework assignments about "When Rights Collide", and "Theocracy and Democracy in Iran".
Please sign up with me for conferences next week! If you weren't able to get a spot through VolunteerSpot, please let me know and we'll work something out via email.
Have a great weekend!
Leah Hood
Sunday, September 11, 2011
This Past Week in Social Studies
Hello, all--
First off in today's post I feel it appropriate to take a moment to acknowledge the tenth anniversary of 9/11. My heart goes out to the loved ones of all the victims, as well as to all the servicemen and women, and their loved ones, as well.
It has now been ten years to the day since the 9/11 attacks, and there has been a lot of discussion in the media surrounding how we address this historic event in our collective memory, in the media, in physical memorials, as well as in classrooms around the country. What's somewhat interesting about teaching 9/11 is that our legislature hasn't yet included 9/11 in the state standards, so there's no law about covering (or not covering) 9/11 as historic content; although it's been ten years since the attacks, it's still so new that our interpretation of it is still "under construction", even moreso than historic content reaching further back in time. So what's a teacher to do?
In keeping with my philosophy of teaching history (and current events), I have decided to give my students an opportunity to decide what, in their opinions, is the "best" way to remember (and study) 9/11 by comparing and contrasting different sources. On Friday, I assigned a short article from my college-level American Government & Politics textbook to 8th graders as homework; the article is entitled, "Terrorism and Information Awareness", and presents readers with the debate surrounding "national security" "v." "civil liberties". I've asked that students read the article and write a minimum of one paragraph in response to the ideas presented. Tomorrow (9/12) our daily journal entry will ask students to reflect on 9/11 and its aftermath; I reserved the COW (laptop cart) on Wednesday so that we can look at online news sources from around the world (e.g. CNN, Fox News, NPR, MPR, BBC, India Times) and compare/contrast the various angles taken by reporters.
I hope these activities will provide my students with an opportunity to participate in the public discourse surrounding the issue(s), as well as to reflect on both the losses and the future.
And now on to the week in Social Studies...
7th Grade: 7th graders watched a series of short video clips about the late 1800s and paid attention for what they all shared in common; we continued reading The Surrender Tree, and pretested over countries in Central America (quiz next Friday, 9/16).
8th Grade: 8th graders handed in their "break-up letters" to King George III, and watched a series of short video clips about the U.S. Constitution and did a variety of learning activities to help solidify our second set of vocabulary terms. All the vocab terms from last week had to do with different systems of government (e.g. autocracy, democracy), and students took their quiz on Friday. Next week 8th graders will be pretested over the third set of government-related vocab terms.
This past week, all 7th and 8th graders wrote their first letters to our pen-pals in Honduras! We're waiting on Ms. Abbott's 6th graders to finish up with their letters and then I'll put them in the mail! Very fun stuff. (Next week we'll write another set of introductory letters to our pen-pals in China!) Students always love writing to pen-pals; it's a wonderful way to learn about world geography and to foster international connections, friendships, empathy, understanding, and respect.
Tomorrow (Monday, 9/12) I will discuss with all 7th and 8th graders this year's year-long research project, which is an in-depth study of a country (not the U.S.) that is of interest to the student.
As always, please feel free to contact me with questions, concerns, or constructive feedback.
Thanks for reading,
Leah Hood
First off in today's post I feel it appropriate to take a moment to acknowledge the tenth anniversary of 9/11. My heart goes out to the loved ones of all the victims, as well as to all the servicemen and women, and their loved ones, as well.
It has now been ten years to the day since the 9/11 attacks, and there has been a lot of discussion in the media surrounding how we address this historic event in our collective memory, in the media, in physical memorials, as well as in classrooms around the country. What's somewhat interesting about teaching 9/11 is that our legislature hasn't yet included 9/11 in the state standards, so there's no law about covering (or not covering) 9/11 as historic content; although it's been ten years since the attacks, it's still so new that our interpretation of it is still "under construction", even moreso than historic content reaching further back in time. So what's a teacher to do?
In keeping with my philosophy of teaching history (and current events), I have decided to give my students an opportunity to decide what, in their opinions, is the "best" way to remember (and study) 9/11 by comparing and contrasting different sources. On Friday, I assigned a short article from my college-level American Government & Politics textbook to 8th graders as homework; the article is entitled, "Terrorism and Information Awareness", and presents readers with the debate surrounding "national security" "v." "civil liberties". I've asked that students read the article and write a minimum of one paragraph in response to the ideas presented. Tomorrow (9/12) our daily journal entry will ask students to reflect on 9/11 and its aftermath; I reserved the COW (laptop cart) on Wednesday so that we can look at online news sources from around the world (e.g. CNN, Fox News, NPR, MPR, BBC, India Times) and compare/contrast the various angles taken by reporters.
I hope these activities will provide my students with an opportunity to participate in the public discourse surrounding the issue(s), as well as to reflect on both the losses and the future.
And now on to the week in Social Studies...
7th Grade: 7th graders watched a series of short video clips about the late 1800s and paid attention for what they all shared in common; we continued reading The Surrender Tree, and pretested over countries in Central America (quiz next Friday, 9/16).
8th Grade: 8th graders handed in their "break-up letters" to King George III, and watched a series of short video clips about the U.S. Constitution and did a variety of learning activities to help solidify our second set of vocabulary terms. All the vocab terms from last week had to do with different systems of government (e.g. autocracy, democracy), and students took their quiz on Friday. Next week 8th graders will be pretested over the third set of government-related vocab terms.
This past week, all 7th and 8th graders wrote their first letters to our pen-pals in Honduras! We're waiting on Ms. Abbott's 6th graders to finish up with their letters and then I'll put them in the mail! Very fun stuff. (Next week we'll write another set of introductory letters to our pen-pals in China!) Students always love writing to pen-pals; it's a wonderful way to learn about world geography and to foster international connections, friendships, empathy, understanding, and respect.
Tomorrow (Monday, 9/12) I will discuss with all 7th and 8th graders this year's year-long research project, which is an in-depth study of a country (not the U.S.) that is of interest to the student.
As always, please feel free to contact me with questions, concerns, or constructive feedback.
Thanks for reading,
Leah Hood
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Midterm?! Crazy.
Hi all!
I CANNOT believe it's midterm already! That feels nuts. This year has truly started off better than any other year so far-- and it's going fast!
Sorry I was delinquent on my post last week; I was out of town for quite a few days in a row for a wedding, my 10-year high school reunion, and a bridal shower...
Here's the update:
7th Grade:
In 7th grade Social Studies we continue to learn about the late 1800s; this includes the Gilded Age with such figures as Carnegie and Rockefeller (the "Robber Barons") and such issues as monopolies and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, and the Spanish-American War era, which includes the Cuban Independence movement. We are about halfway through The Surrender Tree; we have been doing lots of Listen-and-Draw activities along with this novel, as well as written summaries and reactions. Students are being tested this week over countries in the Caribbean (including Cuba and Puerto Rico, which we are studying as part of the unit); we have been reviewing for the quiz this Friday by practicing Geography Choreography, which seems to be going really well and helping to solidify the kids' mental maps of the region. We have been working through our 4-Source Comparison Packet, examining four different sources on the same topic (Topic: Late 1800s) and analyzing those sources for perspective and bias by asking the following questions: Whose voice is heard in this source? Whose voice is not heard? Who or what is made out to be the hero? Who or what is made out to be the villain? This exercise is challenging for students at first, but eventually they get the hang of it and I believe that it really sticks with them as a tool for historic (and contemporary!) analysis. Next week we will begin discussing the Spanish-American War, the sinking of the USS Maine, Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, the Anti-Imperialist League, Cuban Independence, and the U.S. war with the Phillipines, among other things. We have been examining some PBS websites about Andrew Carnegie and the Spanish-American War; in the next week or two we'll be watching some documentaries about the late 1800s. We're also in the process of writing to our pen-pals in Honduras!
8th Grade:
In 8th grade Social Studies we continue to learn about the U.S. government; after taking more time to study for our first vocab quiz, 99% of the students nailed it! I'm glad we slowed down and worked at solidifying the definitions and concepts some more. More government-related vocab quizzes to come...
We also continue to read through the novel, Year of Impossible Goodbyes; we're on Ch. 4 right now. We have been studying the Declaration of Independence this week, as well; students will be assigned to write a break-up letter to England and King George III, which is generally a fun assignment for them. We also got our new issues of Upfront Magazine, which the kids absolutely go bananas for! As we wrap-up our Declaration of Independence activities and begin our study of the U.S. Constitution, we'll be using the Upfronts to learn vocab terms by doing a text scavenger hunt. Next week we'll talk more about the Constitution and have a brief discussion comparing it to the Articles of Confederation; we'll also look into the influential works of Thomas Paine, John Locke, and Jean Jacques Rousseau, among others.
As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or constructive feedback, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me.
Thanks for reading!
Leah Hood
P.S. Thanks so much to our fabulous student teacher, Lisa Schmid! We miss her already, but we wish her well as she begins her teaching career!
I CANNOT believe it's midterm already! That feels nuts. This year has truly started off better than any other year so far-- and it's going fast!
Sorry I was delinquent on my post last week; I was out of town for quite a few days in a row for a wedding, my 10-year high school reunion, and a bridal shower...
Here's the update:
7th Grade:
In 7th grade Social Studies we continue to learn about the late 1800s; this includes the Gilded Age with such figures as Carnegie and Rockefeller (the "Robber Barons") and such issues as monopolies and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, and the Spanish-American War era, which includes the Cuban Independence movement. We are about halfway through The Surrender Tree; we have been doing lots of Listen-and-Draw activities along with this novel, as well as written summaries and reactions. Students are being tested this week over countries in the Caribbean (including Cuba and Puerto Rico, which we are studying as part of the unit); we have been reviewing for the quiz this Friday by practicing Geography Choreography, which seems to be going really well and helping to solidify the kids' mental maps of the region. We have been working through our 4-Source Comparison Packet, examining four different sources on the same topic (Topic: Late 1800s) and analyzing those sources for perspective and bias by asking the following questions: Whose voice is heard in this source? Whose voice is not heard? Who or what is made out to be the hero? Who or what is made out to be the villain? This exercise is challenging for students at first, but eventually they get the hang of it and I believe that it really sticks with them as a tool for historic (and contemporary!) analysis. Next week we will begin discussing the Spanish-American War, the sinking of the USS Maine, Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, the Anti-Imperialist League, Cuban Independence, and the U.S. war with the Phillipines, among other things. We have been examining some PBS websites about Andrew Carnegie and the Spanish-American War; in the next week or two we'll be watching some documentaries about the late 1800s. We're also in the process of writing to our pen-pals in Honduras!
8th Grade:
In 8th grade Social Studies we continue to learn about the U.S. government; after taking more time to study for our first vocab quiz, 99% of the students nailed it! I'm glad we slowed down and worked at solidifying the definitions and concepts some more. More government-related vocab quizzes to come...
We also continue to read through the novel, Year of Impossible Goodbyes; we're on Ch. 4 right now. We have been studying the Declaration of Independence this week, as well; students will be assigned to write a break-up letter to England and King George III, which is generally a fun assignment for them. We also got our new issues of Upfront Magazine, which the kids absolutely go bananas for! As we wrap-up our Declaration of Independence activities and begin our study of the U.S. Constitution, we'll be using the Upfronts to learn vocab terms by doing a text scavenger hunt. Next week we'll talk more about the Constitution and have a brief discussion comparing it to the Articles of Confederation; we'll also look into the influential works of Thomas Paine, John Locke, and Jean Jacques Rousseau, among others.
As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or constructive feedback, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me.
Thanks for reading!
Leah Hood
P.S. Thanks so much to our fabulous student teacher, Lisa Schmid! We miss her already, but we wish her well as she begins her teaching career!
Friday, August 19, 2011
Second Week Success!
Hi all!
Only week two and we're well underway! I'm so pleased with how focused we have been so far this year; we are really moving through content, and it feels like the students are learning. All of my classes have a positive class dynamic; every single student is respectful and ready to learn.
7th Grade:
In 7th grade Social Studies this week, we wrote about and discussed journal assignments such as, "What might be some causes of a revolution? Why might people want to revolt against their leader or government?" And, "Why do you think the author chose to write this novel entirely in poetry form, rather than prose? What effect do you think it has on her readers?" I continue to be impressed by the quality of student responses to these daily journal entries! Typically students write independently for 3-5 minutes, share their responses with classmates in pairs or small groups, then come back together as a whole class to take some responses on a volunteer basis. During this sharing time we practice respectful listening skills, as well. Most days we compile our shared responses on the white board (and in students' notes) in a graphic organizer. (Students are expected to write 5-8 complete sentences about the assigned topic in the time given.)
7th graders also tried their hands (and arms... and legs... and feet...) at Geography Choreography, a kinesthetic study tool for map quizzes. Since it was the first time they had practiced this learning strategy they needed quite a bit of structured guidance, but I know from past experience that after a few times students get the hang of it and many really look forward to it! Our first map quiz was today, over the provinces of Canada.
We did some listen-and-draw activities with our novel, The Surrender Tree, which is helping us to learn about the Cuban Independence movement; we also used multiple strategies to clarify and solidify the 5 Elements of Fiction (Characters, Point of View, Setting, Plot, and Theme) in students' minds early on in our reading-- we don't want anyone to be confused! Students were especially impacted by the descriptions of how the Spanish authorities treated runaway slaves. Just today (after testing), students worked for the first time with the "4 Source Comparison Packet", which we will complete for each unit of historical study; in this activity (which spans several days) students read four different sources about the same topic and record "Whose voice is heard in this source? Whose voice is not heard? Who or what is made out to be the hero? Who or what is made out to be the villain?" This activity aims at building awareness of perspective and bias in sources-- historic or contemporary. It is often a challenging concept for students at first, but we helped each other through it and I could tell that it was becoming more clear in their minds as we moved through the lesson.
Next week we will continue to read on in The Surrender Tree, take a map pretest over countries in the Caribbean, read some textbook chapters about the Spanish-American War era, and listen to some History Tunes.
8th Grade:
In 8th grade Social Studies this week we did a lot of vocabulary building work. We were planning to take our first vocab quiz today, but by the end of class yesterday it had become clear to me that-- while the students were truly trying to understand the terms and the concepts they embody-- they simply needed more time, practice, and guidance before being tested. We will take the quiz next week instead to ensure student learning and success. Students made mini-posters of Examples and Non-Examples of each vocab term; we added to our Frayer Model packets (which we started last Friday); students built, drew, or acted out the vocab terms, and wrote crossword puzzles, haikus, word associations, or short stories that correctly used each of the six vocab terms. The 8th graders also read Chapter 1 of the novel, Year of Impossible Goodbyes, by Sook Nyul Choi, which is about the start of the Cold War in Korea. We created a graphic organizer to help map out key elements of the book, and students wrote reactions to Ch. 1 and predictions about Ch. 2 in their journals.
Next week we will finish up with our first set of vocabulary terms about government, read on in the novel, and discuss key documents such as the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, and the U.S. Constitution.
Please remember to check Twitter (@MsHoodsHoodlums) for homework assignments and due dates, and please do not hesitate to contact me with questions or concerns.
Thank you and take care,
Leah Hood
Only week two and we're well underway! I'm so pleased with how focused we have been so far this year; we are really moving through content, and it feels like the students are learning. All of my classes have a positive class dynamic; every single student is respectful and ready to learn.
7th Grade:
In 7th grade Social Studies this week, we wrote about and discussed journal assignments such as, "What might be some causes of a revolution? Why might people want to revolt against their leader or government?" And, "Why do you think the author chose to write this novel entirely in poetry form, rather than prose? What effect do you think it has on her readers?" I continue to be impressed by the quality of student responses to these daily journal entries! Typically students write independently for 3-5 minutes, share their responses with classmates in pairs or small groups, then come back together as a whole class to take some responses on a volunteer basis. During this sharing time we practice respectful listening skills, as well. Most days we compile our shared responses on the white board (and in students' notes) in a graphic organizer. (Students are expected to write 5-8 complete sentences about the assigned topic in the time given.)
7th graders also tried their hands (and arms... and legs... and feet...) at Geography Choreography, a kinesthetic study tool for map quizzes. Since it was the first time they had practiced this learning strategy they needed quite a bit of structured guidance, but I know from past experience that after a few times students get the hang of it and many really look forward to it! Our first map quiz was today, over the provinces of Canada.
We did some listen-and-draw activities with our novel, The Surrender Tree, which is helping us to learn about the Cuban Independence movement; we also used multiple strategies to clarify and solidify the 5 Elements of Fiction (Characters, Point of View, Setting, Plot, and Theme) in students' minds early on in our reading-- we don't want anyone to be confused! Students were especially impacted by the descriptions of how the Spanish authorities treated runaway slaves. Just today (after testing), students worked for the first time with the "4 Source Comparison Packet", which we will complete for each unit of historical study; in this activity (which spans several days) students read four different sources about the same topic and record "Whose voice is heard in this source? Whose voice is not heard? Who or what is made out to be the hero? Who or what is made out to be the villain?" This activity aims at building awareness of perspective and bias in sources-- historic or contemporary. It is often a challenging concept for students at first, but we helped each other through it and I could tell that it was becoming more clear in their minds as we moved through the lesson.
Next week we will continue to read on in The Surrender Tree, take a map pretest over countries in the Caribbean, read some textbook chapters about the Spanish-American War era, and listen to some History Tunes.
8th Grade:
In 8th grade Social Studies this week we did a lot of vocabulary building work. We were planning to take our first vocab quiz today, but by the end of class yesterday it had become clear to me that-- while the students were truly trying to understand the terms and the concepts they embody-- they simply needed more time, practice, and guidance before being tested. We will take the quiz next week instead to ensure student learning and success. Students made mini-posters of Examples and Non-Examples of each vocab term; we added to our Frayer Model packets (which we started last Friday); students built, drew, or acted out the vocab terms, and wrote crossword puzzles, haikus, word associations, or short stories that correctly used each of the six vocab terms. The 8th graders also read Chapter 1 of the novel, Year of Impossible Goodbyes, by Sook Nyul Choi, which is about the start of the Cold War in Korea. We created a graphic organizer to help map out key elements of the book, and students wrote reactions to Ch. 1 and predictions about Ch. 2 in their journals.
Next week we will finish up with our first set of vocabulary terms about government, read on in the novel, and discuss key documents such as the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, and the U.S. Constitution.
Please remember to check Twitter (@MsHoodsHoodlums) for homework assignments and due dates, and please do not hesitate to contact me with questions or concerns.
Thank you and take care,
Leah Hood
Friday, August 12, 2011
GREAT First Week!
Hi all!
What a fantastic first week back! Truly, this has been the best start to a school year I have ever had. The class dynamics of each one of my class periods is focused and positive; the students are so precious and polite, and we are off and rolling! It feels good. We're actually well into content and it feels like we've been together for longer than one week.
7th Grade:
This week in 7th grade Social Studies we discussed The Gilded Age, which is the time period at the end of the 19th century, following the U.S. Civil War. The Gilded Age is defined by big, unregulated business (laissez-faire economics, the Gospel of Success, the Gospel of Wealth, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act) and robber-barons/tycoons such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller.
We start each class period with a 3-6 minute writing assignment that leads us into the day's topic and lesson. Some examples from this week were: "What might these images tell us about The Gilded Age? Describe what you see. Compare and contrast this set of images and analyze what they might symbolize about the era." And, "In your opinion, what might be some positive effects of imperialism? Some negative effects? Is the U.S. imperialistic today? In the past?"
7th graders also did some reading from Flocabulary, and performed sections of a hip-hop song about The Gilded Age.
Today (Friday), 7th graders took a map pretest over Canada; the quiz is one week from today, Friday, August 19th; the quiz will cover the Canadian provinces. Students have two Study Guides for reference, and I'll be sharing with them some other study tools early next week.
8th Grade:
This week in 8th grade Social Studies we jumped right into learning about the U.S. government. Students wrote and shared journal responses to questions such as, "What words, phrases, facts, opinions, or images come to mind when you think of the term, 'Government'?" And, "Write down anything and everything you know (or think you know) about the U.S. government." I have been so pleased at the high level of student participation in our group discussions, as well as the high level thinking the kids have been bringing to the table about this topic!
8th graders did some reading from Flocabulary about the American Revolution and performed a hip-hop song that summarized the reading; we're not going to spend any more time covering the Revolutionary War (because our unit is really about U.S. government), but I think it's extremely important (if not necessary) to review and discuss the basic historic context from which the key documents (the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and Bill of Rights) arose.
There are a TON of vocabulary terms that go along with this unit; because of this we will be laying aside our regular map quizzes and temporarily replacing them with vocab quizzes. 8th graders took a pretest today over six terms: Government, Politics, Anarchy, Ideology, Sovereignty, Federalism; the quiz will be next Friday, August 19th.
Please be aware that I am continuing to post homework assignments and upcoming quizzes and due dates on my class Twitter account: @MsHoodsHoodlums
This week was truly one of the best weeks of teaching I have ever had! I am so looking forward to the year-- I can tell it's going to be a positive and productive one!
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Have a great weekend!
Take care,
Leah Hood
What a fantastic first week back! Truly, this has been the best start to a school year I have ever had. The class dynamics of each one of my class periods is focused and positive; the students are so precious and polite, and we are off and rolling! It feels good. We're actually well into content and it feels like we've been together for longer than one week.
7th Grade:
This week in 7th grade Social Studies we discussed The Gilded Age, which is the time period at the end of the 19th century, following the U.S. Civil War. The Gilded Age is defined by big, unregulated business (laissez-faire economics, the Gospel of Success, the Gospel of Wealth, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act) and robber-barons/tycoons such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller.
We start each class period with a 3-6 minute writing assignment that leads us into the day's topic and lesson. Some examples from this week were: "What might these images tell us about The Gilded Age? Describe what you see. Compare and contrast this set of images and analyze what they might symbolize about the era." And, "In your opinion, what might be some positive effects of imperialism? Some negative effects? Is the U.S. imperialistic today? In the past?"
7th graders also did some reading from Flocabulary, and performed sections of a hip-hop song about The Gilded Age.
Today (Friday), 7th graders took a map pretest over Canada; the quiz is one week from today, Friday, August 19th; the quiz will cover the Canadian provinces. Students have two Study Guides for reference, and I'll be sharing with them some other study tools early next week.
8th Grade:
This week in 8th grade Social Studies we jumped right into learning about the U.S. government. Students wrote and shared journal responses to questions such as, "What words, phrases, facts, opinions, or images come to mind when you think of the term, 'Government'?" And, "Write down anything and everything you know (or think you know) about the U.S. government." I have been so pleased at the high level of student participation in our group discussions, as well as the high level thinking the kids have been bringing to the table about this topic!
8th graders did some reading from Flocabulary about the American Revolution and performed a hip-hop song that summarized the reading; we're not going to spend any more time covering the Revolutionary War (because our unit is really about U.S. government), but I think it's extremely important (if not necessary) to review and discuss the basic historic context from which the key documents (the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and Bill of Rights) arose.
There are a TON of vocabulary terms that go along with this unit; because of this we will be laying aside our regular map quizzes and temporarily replacing them with vocab quizzes. 8th graders took a pretest today over six terms: Government, Politics, Anarchy, Ideology, Sovereignty, Federalism; the quiz will be next Friday, August 19th.
Please be aware that I am continuing to post homework assignments and upcoming quizzes and due dates on my class Twitter account: @MsHoodsHoodlums
This week was truly one of the best weeks of teaching I have ever had! I am so looking forward to the year-- I can tell it's going to be a positive and productive one!
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Have a great weekend!
Take care,
Leah Hood
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
7th & 8th Grade Curriculum Maps for 2011-2012 School Year
7th Grade:
This year in 7th grade Social Studies we will cover as much as we can of early 20th century U.S. and world history, as well as some basic physical and human geography. The 7th grade curriculum spans from The Gilded Age in the U.S. (late 1800s) to the end of WW2 (1945). We will start off the year by reading the book The Surrender Tree, by Margarita Engle; this piece of historic fiction is a book written entirely in free verse poems, about the Cuban Independence Movement (from Spanish colonial rule), told from the perspectives of a traditional Cuban nurse, her husband, the Spanish General Weyler ("The Butcher"), and his son. We will use this novel as a pivot around which we will discuss the decline of European colonialism, Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, Yellow Journalism, the Panama Canal, and American Imperialism/Expansionism (take your pick). Roughly the second half of First Quarter we'll be covering WW1; along with this we'll read some excerpts from All Quiet on the Western Front, and we may even watch a movie or documentary about the Christmas Truce; we'll also be learning about the Russian Revolution (which took place during WW1), and that's always a good time to go over the basics of capitalism, communism, and socialism.
Second Quarter we'll be learning about the Roaring 1920s! There's a lot to this era, including the Women's Suffrage Movement in the U.S., Prohibition, the Labor Movement, and the Harlem Renaissance. The more years I teach this decade, the more I love teaching it. It is such a rich subject area. (Last year's 7th graders enjoyed learning to dance The Charleston!) We'll be reading the book The Truth About Sparrows, which will transition us into learning about the 1930s.
Third Quarter we'll be focusing on the 1930s, including the Dust Bowl, Great Depression, and New Deal. Along with this unit we'll be reading the book Out of the Dust, as well as some excerpts from On Hitler's Mountain, a memoir by Irmgard Hunt. We'll listen to FDR's Fireside Chats and watch the original movie version of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Depending on our pace at this point in the year, we may or may not begin studying WW2 toward the end of Third Quarter...
Fourth Quarter we'll delve pretty deeply into WW2, learning about the infamous conflict from the perspectives of the U.S. Homefront, the European theater, and the Asian/Pacific theaters. Students will have the choice between three books about WW2: The Diary of Anne Frank, When My Name Was Keoko, and A Farewell to Manzanar.
8th Grade:
We'll begin 8th grade by learning about the history and processes of U.S. democracy and government. We'll study the First Continental Congress and Articles of Confederation, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the three branches of U.S. government, and some landmark Supreme Court decisions; this will take us to about midterm. After we wrap up our unit on U.S. government, the 8th grade curriculum picks up right where we left off at the end of 7th grade (the end of WW2). We'll start off right away reading the book, Year of Impossible Goodbyes; this historic fiction novel set in Korea does a great job of transitioning us from the end of WW2 to the (simultaneous) beginning of the Cold War. While we read through the book we'll be learning about the decline of European colonialism, which was occurring at the same time as the early Cold War. We'll learn about Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian Independence Movement, Partition, Nelson Mandela and Apartheid in South Africa. (The kids always enjoy watching the film, Gandhi, with Ben Kingsley!)
Second Quarter we'll be learning about the Communist Revolution, the Soviet Union and its early leaders (Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin); we'll also learn about Mao's China and McCarthyism in the United States. Along with this unit we'll read the allegorical classic, Animal Farm (always one of my favorites!). These subjects will definitely take up the whole quarter!
Third Quarter we'll learn about the 1950s and 1960s, particularly in the U.S., but working in some world history wherever possible. We'll cover the Korean War, the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, Environmentalism, JFK's presidency and all that came with it, the counterculture... this unit continues to resonate strongly with students of all ages and is always a favorite! There are lots of famous speeches and songs from this time period, which we will examine.
Fourth Quarter we'll study the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Carter and Reagan presidencies, and work as far up to the present day as time allows! We'll read excerpts of The Things They Carried and read the classic American play, A Raisin in the Sun, readers' theater-style.
In both 7th & 8th grades we'll take regular map quizzes, work on geography skills, discuss current events issues, write to pen-pals in Thailand, China, and Honduras, and work on a year-long research project that is centered around a country (students can choose the country from a pre-determined list). More information about these activities to come...
Whew! And that's just the outline version! We're going to be really smart by the end of this year... :)
This year in 7th grade Social Studies we will cover as much as we can of early 20th century U.S. and world history, as well as some basic physical and human geography. The 7th grade curriculum spans from The Gilded Age in the U.S. (late 1800s) to the end of WW2 (1945). We will start off the year by reading the book The Surrender Tree, by Margarita Engle; this piece of historic fiction is a book written entirely in free verse poems, about the Cuban Independence Movement (from Spanish colonial rule), told from the perspectives of a traditional Cuban nurse, her husband, the Spanish General Weyler ("The Butcher"), and his son. We will use this novel as a pivot around which we will discuss the decline of European colonialism, Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, Yellow Journalism, the Panama Canal, and American Imperialism/Expansionism (take your pick). Roughly the second half of First Quarter we'll be covering WW1; along with this we'll read some excerpts from All Quiet on the Western Front, and we may even watch a movie or documentary about the Christmas Truce; we'll also be learning about the Russian Revolution (which took place during WW1), and that's always a good time to go over the basics of capitalism, communism, and socialism.
Second Quarter we'll be learning about the Roaring 1920s! There's a lot to this era, including the Women's Suffrage Movement in the U.S., Prohibition, the Labor Movement, and the Harlem Renaissance. The more years I teach this decade, the more I love teaching it. It is such a rich subject area. (Last year's 7th graders enjoyed learning to dance The Charleston!) We'll be reading the book The Truth About Sparrows, which will transition us into learning about the 1930s.
Third Quarter we'll be focusing on the 1930s, including the Dust Bowl, Great Depression, and New Deal. Along with this unit we'll be reading the book Out of the Dust, as well as some excerpts from On Hitler's Mountain, a memoir by Irmgard Hunt. We'll listen to FDR's Fireside Chats and watch the original movie version of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Depending on our pace at this point in the year, we may or may not begin studying WW2 toward the end of Third Quarter...
Fourth Quarter we'll delve pretty deeply into WW2, learning about the infamous conflict from the perspectives of the U.S. Homefront, the European theater, and the Asian/Pacific theaters. Students will have the choice between three books about WW2: The Diary of Anne Frank, When My Name Was Keoko, and A Farewell to Manzanar.
8th Grade:
We'll begin 8th grade by learning about the history and processes of U.S. democracy and government. We'll study the First Continental Congress and Articles of Confederation, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the three branches of U.S. government, and some landmark Supreme Court decisions; this will take us to about midterm. After we wrap up our unit on U.S. government, the 8th grade curriculum picks up right where we left off at the end of 7th grade (the end of WW2). We'll start off right away reading the book, Year of Impossible Goodbyes; this historic fiction novel set in Korea does a great job of transitioning us from the end of WW2 to the (simultaneous) beginning of the Cold War. While we read through the book we'll be learning about the decline of European colonialism, which was occurring at the same time as the early Cold War. We'll learn about Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian Independence Movement, Partition, Nelson Mandela and Apartheid in South Africa. (The kids always enjoy watching the film, Gandhi, with Ben Kingsley!)
Second Quarter we'll be learning about the Communist Revolution, the Soviet Union and its early leaders (Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin); we'll also learn about Mao's China and McCarthyism in the United States. Along with this unit we'll read the allegorical classic, Animal Farm (always one of my favorites!). These subjects will definitely take up the whole quarter!
Third Quarter we'll learn about the 1950s and 1960s, particularly in the U.S., but working in some world history wherever possible. We'll cover the Korean War, the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, Environmentalism, JFK's presidency and all that came with it, the counterculture... this unit continues to resonate strongly with students of all ages and is always a favorite! There are lots of famous speeches and songs from this time period, which we will examine.
Fourth Quarter we'll study the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Carter and Reagan presidencies, and work as far up to the present day as time allows! We'll read excerpts of The Things They Carried and read the classic American play, A Raisin in the Sun, readers' theater-style.
In both 7th & 8th grades we'll take regular map quizzes, work on geography skills, discuss current events issues, write to pen-pals in Thailand, China, and Honduras, and work on a year-long research project that is centered around a country (students can choose the country from a pre-determined list). More information about these activities to come...
Whew! And that's just the outline version! We're going to be really smart by the end of this year... :)
Welcome to the New School Year!
Paideia's Vision:
We envision a new generation of engaged, productive global citizens.
Paideia's Mission:
The Mission of Paideia Academy is to challenge and inspire learners by providing a rigorous, content-rich, classical education incorporating languages, music, and the arts while nurturing positive character development.
Welcome back, everyone!
I hope you had a restful and rejuvenating summer break! I felt like my break went by very quickly, with a number of weddings, trips, and classes all crammed into six weeks. I went to Philadelphia, Duluth, and Milwaukee for weddings; Aruba with my former college roommate; Montana with my family. Some highlights for me were the National Constitution Center in Philly, the beach in Aruba, and Yellowstone National Park in Montana. (I so wish I could take all my students to the National Constitution Center!) As much as I thoroughly relish each break, though, I always look forward to seeing my 8th graders and picking right up where we left off, and getting to know my new 7th graders!
Since many of you are just getting to know me, I'll start this post with some general information about my classes and myself as a teacher:
I grew up on a farm in Northeast Iowa; my dad is a hog/corn/soybean farmer (and an engineer), my mom a 9th and 10th grade U.S. History teacher at my high school in Independence, Iowa; I have one "little" sister (who is now 22) at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (she's studying to be a Physical Therapist). I moved up to the Twin Cities in August of 2001, just after graduating high school, to start my undergraduate career at Macalester College in St. Paul; there I double majored in Geography and History, minored in Educational Studies, sang in a women's a cappella ensemble, and generally had a ball. I graduated from Mac in 2005, and immediately began working on my teaching license and Masters of Arts in Teaching at Hamline University; in 2008 I was hired at Paideia into my first real job as a teacher, and I've been here ever since! Paideia has been a truly ideal place for me to learn about contemporary public education, as well as to work my way up the steep, steep learning curve that is teaching.
I have a sincere passion for what I teach. At a "micro" level, what I think is important about teaching is to help young people develop a sense of self (and self-worth), a sense of the world around them, and their important and often challenging roles within that wonderful, confusing, diverse world. I want to help my students to become informed, thoughtful, active citizens; I want my students to be able to think for themselves, to analyze and evaluate information, and to synthesize their own set of beliefs based on thorough analysis and respectful discussion and debate. In short, I want my students to be critical thinkers! I genuinely enjoy working with middle school students because they are just on that threshold of starting to realize what's going on in the broader context of the world around them; they are so eager to formulate opinions and to express themselves in their own ways! I enjoy how middle school students understand, appreciate, and respond to humor, and how information and issues that most adults take for granted is/are new to my students.
At a "macro" level I think teaching is important because I believe the education of each individual betters our society as a whole. Education can create and reveal opportunities for each individual; education can challenge and reshape the status quo, moving us forward as a whole; education can preserve and strengthen our shared values, and promote our shared goals. If I let myself I can get pretty emotional just thinking about how lucky I am to live in a society that allows me to get up in front of others every day and share ideas and information freely; not everyone has that right or that privilege, even in 2011 and beyond.
I use as much literature in my history classes as I can. Although I teach Social Studies, we will do a lot of reading and writing in my classes. I believe literature can bring to life the people, places, and events of history so much better than most other teaching/learning tools, and those characters and plots tend to stick in peoples' minds forever. In many ways I think history is mostly a bunch of stories, and who doesn't like a good story?! It's common for people to think about history as people, places, events, or lessons from the past. That is certainly not untrue, but to prompt my students to think a bit outside the box, I tell them that "History is a collection of recorded perspectives." For each unit we will examine at least four different primary or secondary sources, analyzing each for perspective and bias. We will ask the following quesitons of each source: Whose voice is heard in this source? Whose voice is not heard in this source? Who or what is made out to be the hero in this source? Who or what is made out to be the villain in this source? Then we will discuss what information seemed to be shared between all the sources, and what information seemed to be unique to a particular source or perspective. The final step in this exercise is for each student to evaluate the information and ideas that we consider and to decide for herself/himself what they agree with, what they disagree with, or perhaps what they just aren't quite sure about yet!
I see some truth both in President Bill Clinton's quote, "There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America," and in Barry Switzer's quote, "Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple." I want my students to be aware of how human institutions are set up, how they function, how they (sometimes invisibly) impact peoples' lives, and how they can be changed or adapted to meet new challenges and to solve or alleviate long-standing, age-old problems. The subject matter I teach is, I would argue, inherently controversial, and although one of my main goals as a teacher is to present my students with as many different perspectives as time will allow, I could never possibly cover it all! (Walt Whitman said, "Do I contradict myself? Very well then. I am large. I contain multitudes." I think social sciences are like that.) But I want my students to learn to question, to think, to communicate respectfully, and to develop opinions and beliefs that are based on holistic research and consideration. I want them to be prepared to be part of the solution, not part of the problem; I want them to, as Gandhi said, "Be the change [they] want to see in the world."
I look forward to the year ahead, and I welcome your ideas, respectful feedback, and conversation. Please never hesitate to contact me with questions or concerns.
Take care,
Leah Hood
We envision a new generation of engaged, productive global citizens.
Paideia's Mission:
The Mission of Paideia Academy is to challenge and inspire learners by providing a rigorous, content-rich, classical education incorporating languages, music, and the arts while nurturing positive character development.
Welcome back, everyone!
I hope you had a restful and rejuvenating summer break! I felt like my break went by very quickly, with a number of weddings, trips, and classes all crammed into six weeks. I went to Philadelphia, Duluth, and Milwaukee for weddings; Aruba with my former college roommate; Montana with my family. Some highlights for me were the National Constitution Center in Philly, the beach in Aruba, and Yellowstone National Park in Montana. (I so wish I could take all my students to the National Constitution Center!) As much as I thoroughly relish each break, though, I always look forward to seeing my 8th graders and picking right up where we left off, and getting to know my new 7th graders!
Since many of you are just getting to know me, I'll start this post with some general information about my classes and myself as a teacher:
I grew up on a farm in Northeast Iowa; my dad is a hog/corn/soybean farmer (and an engineer), my mom a 9th and 10th grade U.S. History teacher at my high school in Independence, Iowa; I have one "little" sister (who is now 22) at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (she's studying to be a Physical Therapist). I moved up to the Twin Cities in August of 2001, just after graduating high school, to start my undergraduate career at Macalester College in St. Paul; there I double majored in Geography and History, minored in Educational Studies, sang in a women's a cappella ensemble, and generally had a ball. I graduated from Mac in 2005, and immediately began working on my teaching license and Masters of Arts in Teaching at Hamline University; in 2008 I was hired at Paideia into my first real job as a teacher, and I've been here ever since! Paideia has been a truly ideal place for me to learn about contemporary public education, as well as to work my way up the steep, steep learning curve that is teaching.
I have a sincere passion for what I teach. At a "micro" level, what I think is important about teaching is to help young people develop a sense of self (and self-worth), a sense of the world around them, and their important and often challenging roles within that wonderful, confusing, diverse world. I want to help my students to become informed, thoughtful, active citizens; I want my students to be able to think for themselves, to analyze and evaluate information, and to synthesize their own set of beliefs based on thorough analysis and respectful discussion and debate. In short, I want my students to be critical thinkers! I genuinely enjoy working with middle school students because they are just on that threshold of starting to realize what's going on in the broader context of the world around them; they are so eager to formulate opinions and to express themselves in their own ways! I enjoy how middle school students understand, appreciate, and respond to humor, and how information and issues that most adults take for granted is/are new to my students.
At a "macro" level I think teaching is important because I believe the education of each individual betters our society as a whole. Education can create and reveal opportunities for each individual; education can challenge and reshape the status quo, moving us forward as a whole; education can preserve and strengthen our shared values, and promote our shared goals. If I let myself I can get pretty emotional just thinking about how lucky I am to live in a society that allows me to get up in front of others every day and share ideas and information freely; not everyone has that right or that privilege, even in 2011 and beyond.
I use as much literature in my history classes as I can. Although I teach Social Studies, we will do a lot of reading and writing in my classes. I believe literature can bring to life the people, places, and events of history so much better than most other teaching/learning tools, and those characters and plots tend to stick in peoples' minds forever. In many ways I think history is mostly a bunch of stories, and who doesn't like a good story?! It's common for people to think about history as people, places, events, or lessons from the past. That is certainly not untrue, but to prompt my students to think a bit outside the box, I tell them that "History is a collection of recorded perspectives." For each unit we will examine at least four different primary or secondary sources, analyzing each for perspective and bias. We will ask the following quesitons of each source: Whose voice is heard in this source? Whose voice is not heard in this source? Who or what is made out to be the hero in this source? Who or what is made out to be the villain in this source? Then we will discuss what information seemed to be shared between all the sources, and what information seemed to be unique to a particular source or perspective. The final step in this exercise is for each student to evaluate the information and ideas that we consider and to decide for herself/himself what they agree with, what they disagree with, or perhaps what they just aren't quite sure about yet!
I see some truth both in President Bill Clinton's quote, "There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America," and in Barry Switzer's quote, "Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple." I want my students to be aware of how human institutions are set up, how they function, how they (sometimes invisibly) impact peoples' lives, and how they can be changed or adapted to meet new challenges and to solve or alleviate long-standing, age-old problems. The subject matter I teach is, I would argue, inherently controversial, and although one of my main goals as a teacher is to present my students with as many different perspectives as time will allow, I could never possibly cover it all! (Walt Whitman said, "Do I contradict myself? Very well then. I am large. I contain multitudes." I think social sciences are like that.) But I want my students to learn to question, to think, to communicate respectfully, and to develop opinions and beliefs that are based on holistic research and consideration. I want them to be prepared to be part of the solution, not part of the problem; I want them to, as Gandhi said, "Be the change [they] want to see in the world."
I look forward to the year ahead, and I welcome your ideas, respectful feedback, and conversation. Please never hesitate to contact me with questions or concerns.
Take care,
Leah Hood
Monday, June 13, 2011
Last Week!
Hello, everyone!
Well, it's the last week of this school year! I really hope the kids have moved forward in their knowledge and understanding of the topics in U.S. and World History and Geography that we have covered this year.
In both 7th and 8th grades we got through all of the countries in the world by continent or region; we also worked on all the U.S. and Mexican states, as well as the Canadian provinces. Not only are these places a part of the MN state Social Studies Standards and Core Knowledge, but they are a necessary part of civil discourse and cultural literacy; if you don't know that Serbia is a country, you probably won't pay attention when you hear it in the news! It is my hope that my students will have a better awareness of what is out there in the world, and that their brains will perk up and pay attention now every time they hear or read about a country mentioned in conversation or in the news.
I also think that both the 7th and 8th graders have a basic understanding of the legislative process, that there is a federal government as well as state governments, that a bill is an idea for a new law, that there is a House of Representatives, a Senate, and the executive branch involved in passing a bill into law.
I really do believe that, through our work in Social Studies this year, my students have built a broader base of knowledge throughout this past year; 7th graders now know a bit more about the Women's Suffrage Movement and Labor Movement in the U.S., the Dust Bowl, Great Depression, and some of the basics of WW2; the 8th graders have a pretty solid understanding of Gandhi's life and work, the Cold War, the Russian Revolution, and Stalin's Soviet Union, as well as some of the resistance movements (such as the Singing Revolution in Estonia).
Some highlights of the year that stick out in my mind were writing to our pen-pals in Thailand, doing The Charleston in 7th grade, and reading A Raisin in the Sun in 8th grade. The kids really seemed to love these activities, and I definitely plan to repeat these lessons in future years!
So many of these kids show such a thirst for learning. I know they will continue to learn in the years to come, and that they will do well. I just hope that they have been given a solid foundation upon which to build in the latter half of their secondary school years!
Thank you so much for all of your support this year; I had so many families offering up volunteer hours in and for my classroom, chaperoning field trips, donating money and items to different projects throughout the year... THANK YOU.
I am truly looking forward to continuing with the 7th graders as 8th graders next year, and hope to keep in touch with the current 8th graders and their families from time to time in the years to come.
It is a privilege and an honor to teach your children.
Enjoy the summer!
Take care,
Ms. Hood
Well, it's the last week of this school year! I really hope the kids have moved forward in their knowledge and understanding of the topics in U.S. and World History and Geography that we have covered this year.
In both 7th and 8th grades we got through all of the countries in the world by continent or region; we also worked on all the U.S. and Mexican states, as well as the Canadian provinces. Not only are these places a part of the MN state Social Studies Standards and Core Knowledge, but they are a necessary part of civil discourse and cultural literacy; if you don't know that Serbia is a country, you probably won't pay attention when you hear it in the news! It is my hope that my students will have a better awareness of what is out there in the world, and that their brains will perk up and pay attention now every time they hear or read about a country mentioned in conversation or in the news.
I also think that both the 7th and 8th graders have a basic understanding of the legislative process, that there is a federal government as well as state governments, that a bill is an idea for a new law, that there is a House of Representatives, a Senate, and the executive branch involved in passing a bill into law.
I really do believe that, through our work in Social Studies this year, my students have built a broader base of knowledge throughout this past year; 7th graders now know a bit more about the Women's Suffrage Movement and Labor Movement in the U.S., the Dust Bowl, Great Depression, and some of the basics of WW2; the 8th graders have a pretty solid understanding of Gandhi's life and work, the Cold War, the Russian Revolution, and Stalin's Soviet Union, as well as some of the resistance movements (such as the Singing Revolution in Estonia).
Some highlights of the year that stick out in my mind were writing to our pen-pals in Thailand, doing The Charleston in 7th grade, and reading A Raisin in the Sun in 8th grade. The kids really seemed to love these activities, and I definitely plan to repeat these lessons in future years!
So many of these kids show such a thirst for learning. I know they will continue to learn in the years to come, and that they will do well. I just hope that they have been given a solid foundation upon which to build in the latter half of their secondary school years!
Thank you so much for all of your support this year; I had so many families offering up volunteer hours in and for my classroom, chaperoning field trips, donating money and items to different projects throughout the year... THANK YOU.
I am truly looking forward to continuing with the 7th graders as 8th graders next year, and hope to keep in touch with the current 8th graders and their families from time to time in the years to come.
It is a privilege and an honor to teach your children.
Enjoy the summer!
Take care,
Ms. Hood
Thursday, June 2, 2011
1.5 weeks left!
Hello everyone!
The school year is almost over!! I think everyone is ready, but the end of the year always seems to be the busiest time of the year! We have 8th grade Graduation coming up, the horseback riding field trip tomorrow, final projects due, and the bowling/field day on the last day of school...
In 7th grade Social Studies this week we have been watching an American Experience documentary about the life and work of Eleanor Roosevelt; students are required to complete comprehension and critical thinking response questions that go along with the video. Examples of questions are: "What characteristics did Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt admire in one another?" "Why was Eleanor sometimes called Franklin's 'eyes and ears'?" "Do you think it was necessary for FDR to hide his disability from the public? Why or why not? Do you think the U.S. public would elect a person in a wheelchair to be president today? Why or why not?"
Second period finished reading the memoir, On Hitler's Mountain, and had a fantastic discussion about the author's opinions about how to secure-- and threaten-- democracy and freedom. We discussed some interesting ideas, such as whether or not the American traditions of singing the National Anthem and saying the Pledge of Allegiance consistute indoctrination. Pretty high level discussion for 12 and 13-year-olds, if you ask me! I have been so impressed at how willing our students are to be open-minded and what a concerted effort they make to avoid generalizations and stereotypes. We have good kids.
We also labeled all the states of Mexico on a map; there won't be a formal, graded quiz over this next week, but they will be getting pronunciation help from Senorita Adams in Spanish!
Next week in 7th grade Social Studies we will learn about Pearl Harbor, the Holocaust, and Japanese Internment, along with much else about WW2.
In 8th grade Social Studies this week we watched a bunch of U.S. Cold War propaganda films, which the kids really enjoy. We watched some video lecture clips from Khan Academy (online-- really neat) about the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis; then kids had the choice of portraying these events in the form of a skit, a series of drawings, or a Lego or Play-doh sculpture. We looked at primary source documents from the Harlem Renaissance, and did some Listen-and-Draw activities to textbook chapters about the Civil Rights Movement. Students also had to do haiku summaries of the assigned reading.
OK, I have to run out for dismissal and then to play practice!
Legislative Draft Write-ups are due tomorrow, and that concludes the project!
Thanks,
Leah
The school year is almost over!! I think everyone is ready, but the end of the year always seems to be the busiest time of the year! We have 8th grade Graduation coming up, the horseback riding field trip tomorrow, final projects due, and the bowling/field day on the last day of school...
In 7th grade Social Studies this week we have been watching an American Experience documentary about the life and work of Eleanor Roosevelt; students are required to complete comprehension and critical thinking response questions that go along with the video. Examples of questions are: "What characteristics did Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt admire in one another?" "Why was Eleanor sometimes called Franklin's 'eyes and ears'?" "Do you think it was necessary for FDR to hide his disability from the public? Why or why not? Do you think the U.S. public would elect a person in a wheelchair to be president today? Why or why not?"
Second period finished reading the memoir, On Hitler's Mountain, and had a fantastic discussion about the author's opinions about how to secure-- and threaten-- democracy and freedom. We discussed some interesting ideas, such as whether or not the American traditions of singing the National Anthem and saying the Pledge of Allegiance consistute indoctrination. Pretty high level discussion for 12 and 13-year-olds, if you ask me! I have been so impressed at how willing our students are to be open-minded and what a concerted effort they make to avoid generalizations and stereotypes. We have good kids.
We also labeled all the states of Mexico on a map; there won't be a formal, graded quiz over this next week, but they will be getting pronunciation help from Senorita Adams in Spanish!
Next week in 7th grade Social Studies we will learn about Pearl Harbor, the Holocaust, and Japanese Internment, along with much else about WW2.
In 8th grade Social Studies this week we watched a bunch of U.S. Cold War propaganda films, which the kids really enjoy. We watched some video lecture clips from Khan Academy (online-- really neat) about the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis; then kids had the choice of portraying these events in the form of a skit, a series of drawings, or a Lego or Play-doh sculpture. We looked at primary source documents from the Harlem Renaissance, and did some Listen-and-Draw activities to textbook chapters about the Civil Rights Movement. Students also had to do haiku summaries of the assigned reading.
OK, I have to run out for dismissal and then to play practice!
Legislative Draft Write-ups are due tomorrow, and that concludes the project!
Thanks,
Leah
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Q4 Midterm Update
Hi all--
While I sit here at home on this gorgeous day, sniffling away with a nasty head-cold for the third day in a row, I decided I could at least update my blog...
We only have 4.5 weeks left of the school year! I hope-- and I think-- that we have made gains in learning about history and geography this year. In this post I'll just give you a little run-down of what we've been up to and what we have left to cover in the next month and a half...
7th grade: We finished up learning about The Roaring 20s by learning how to do The Charleston; the kids really loved this activity, by and large. We pushed all the desks and chairs up against the walls of my classroom, looked at a bunch of different pictures of flappers, wrote and discussed dance today and how it reflects our culture and society, and later compared and contrasted that to how dances like The Charleston reflected American culture and society in the 1920s. Then we watched some youtube clips of Ginger Rogers dancing The Charleston, and tried to follow written directions to learn to dance it; we had some adept and brave students (who are dancers themselves) perform a much better demonstration for the class than anything I could've ever cooked up! So thank you to those students!
Then we did a stock market simulation, where students got to familiarize themselves with some basic stock market vocabulary, design a company and product, and invest fake money in other peoples' companies; the next day they got to find out which companies failed in the Crash of '29, and which succeeded. This transitioned us nicely into watching a PBS documentary entitled, The Crash of 1929 (from the series The 1930s); students responded to critical thinking questions during and after watching the film.
With the substitute today and yesterday, 7th graders continued reading about life for German people during the rise of the Nazis in the memoir, On Hitler's Mountain; they also read two chapters from our Hakim textbook-- "Down and Out", and "Economic Disaster", both about The Great Depression-- while recording most important facts from each chapter and Heard, Not Heard, Hero, Villain for each chapter.
When I get back tomorrow, I plan to play the song, "We'd Like to Thank You, Herbert Hoover", from the musical, Annie (Fun Fact: I was Annie in my high school's production when I was a senior in high school. If you read this far, let me know and I'll give you a prize :) ) We'll have a brief discussion about "Hoovervilles" and look at some primary sources from The Great Depression; the primary source set that I have is from a company called Jackdaw, if you want to google search that...
Once we finish up with The Great Depression and the New Deal, we'll spend the remainder of the year learning about WW2 at home and abroad. With that we'll read Linda Sue Park's, When My Name Was Keoko.
8th grade: We are nearly finished reading One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, which is about life in a Soviet gulag (prison/work camp in Siberia).
We have also learned quite a bit about McCarthyism and the controversy sparked by Senator Joseph McCarthy's methods of "hunting" alleged communists in the U.S. government and media. Along with this we learned quite a bit about the life and work of journalist Edward R. Murrow and his producer and friend, Fred Friendly. We watched an A & E Biography of Murrow, read a chapter in the Hakim text about McCarthyism, and watched the movie Good Night, and Good Luck, which I highly recommend if you haven't yet seen it yourself, parents and guardians. (For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Murrow and Friendly story, they worked for CBS and basically exposed McCarthy on national television, and are credited with effectively ending his influence in the Senate; it was a highly controversial undertaking at the time.)
Since I've been gone this week the 8th graders have had time to do Geography Choreography for their map quiz tomorrow over major world deserts, and today are reading two chapters from the Hakim textbook called, "Liking Ike", and "Houses, Kids, Cars, and Fast Food", both predictably about life in the U.S. during the 1950s, post-WW2 (the Baby Boomers and all that). They are doing the same partner-read/note-taking activity as the 7th graders, though they are studying a different time period.
We have a lot to do in this last month in 8th grade! We'll learn briefly about the Korean War, then spend more time on JFK's presidency (including the Space Race, Sputnik, Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, assassination), the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. (including Malcolm X and MLK Jr.; we'll be doing A Raisin in the Sun as a readers' theater along with this); the 1960s and the counter-culture movements (i.e. hippies); we'll spend a few days learning about the Vietnam War, mention the fall of the Berlin Wall, and try to discuss the 1980s very briefly at the end of the quarter. Whew!
So that's a more in-depth version of this week's newsletter, for those of you who are interested. Now I will return to trying to sleep off this pesky bug...
Thanks for reading,
Leah Hood
While I sit here at home on this gorgeous day, sniffling away with a nasty head-cold for the third day in a row, I decided I could at least update my blog...
We only have 4.5 weeks left of the school year! I hope-- and I think-- that we have made gains in learning about history and geography this year. In this post I'll just give you a little run-down of what we've been up to and what we have left to cover in the next month and a half...
7th grade: We finished up learning about The Roaring 20s by learning how to do The Charleston; the kids really loved this activity, by and large. We pushed all the desks and chairs up against the walls of my classroom, looked at a bunch of different pictures of flappers, wrote and discussed dance today and how it reflects our culture and society, and later compared and contrasted that to how dances like The Charleston reflected American culture and society in the 1920s. Then we watched some youtube clips of Ginger Rogers dancing The Charleston, and tried to follow written directions to learn to dance it; we had some adept and brave students (who are dancers themselves) perform a much better demonstration for the class than anything I could've ever cooked up! So thank you to those students!
Then we did a stock market simulation, where students got to familiarize themselves with some basic stock market vocabulary, design a company and product, and invest fake money in other peoples' companies; the next day they got to find out which companies failed in the Crash of '29, and which succeeded. This transitioned us nicely into watching a PBS documentary entitled, The Crash of 1929 (from the series The 1930s); students responded to critical thinking questions during and after watching the film.
With the substitute today and yesterday, 7th graders continued reading about life for German people during the rise of the Nazis in the memoir, On Hitler's Mountain; they also read two chapters from our Hakim textbook-- "Down and Out", and "Economic Disaster", both about The Great Depression-- while recording most important facts from each chapter and Heard, Not Heard, Hero, Villain for each chapter.
When I get back tomorrow, I plan to play the song, "We'd Like to Thank You, Herbert Hoover", from the musical, Annie (Fun Fact: I was Annie in my high school's production when I was a senior in high school. If you read this far, let me know and I'll give you a prize :) ) We'll have a brief discussion about "Hoovervilles" and look at some primary sources from The Great Depression; the primary source set that I have is from a company called Jackdaw, if you want to google search that...
Once we finish up with The Great Depression and the New Deal, we'll spend the remainder of the year learning about WW2 at home and abroad. With that we'll read Linda Sue Park's, When My Name Was Keoko.
8th grade: We are nearly finished reading One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, which is about life in a Soviet gulag (prison/work camp in Siberia).
We have also learned quite a bit about McCarthyism and the controversy sparked by Senator Joseph McCarthy's methods of "hunting" alleged communists in the U.S. government and media. Along with this we learned quite a bit about the life and work of journalist Edward R. Murrow and his producer and friend, Fred Friendly. We watched an A & E Biography of Murrow, read a chapter in the Hakim text about McCarthyism, and watched the movie Good Night, and Good Luck, which I highly recommend if you haven't yet seen it yourself, parents and guardians. (For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Murrow and Friendly story, they worked for CBS and basically exposed McCarthy on national television, and are credited with effectively ending his influence in the Senate; it was a highly controversial undertaking at the time.)
Since I've been gone this week the 8th graders have had time to do Geography Choreography for their map quiz tomorrow over major world deserts, and today are reading two chapters from the Hakim textbook called, "Liking Ike", and "Houses, Kids, Cars, and Fast Food", both predictably about life in the U.S. during the 1950s, post-WW2 (the Baby Boomers and all that). They are doing the same partner-read/note-taking activity as the 7th graders, though they are studying a different time period.
We have a lot to do in this last month in 8th grade! We'll learn briefly about the Korean War, then spend more time on JFK's presidency (including the Space Race, Sputnik, Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, assassination), the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. (including Malcolm X and MLK Jr.; we'll be doing A Raisin in the Sun as a readers' theater along with this); the 1960s and the counter-culture movements (i.e. hippies); we'll spend a few days learning about the Vietnam War, mention the fall of the Berlin Wall, and try to discuss the 1980s very briefly at the end of the quarter. Whew!
So that's a more in-depth version of this week's newsletter, for those of you who are interested. Now I will return to trying to sleep off this pesky bug...
Thanks for reading,
Leah Hood
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Legislative Draft Update: Final Phase!
We are in the written analysis stage of our year-long project. Below are the questions to which students must respond for each article, bill, or law that they are choosing to include as a part of their project. Students can have any combination of articles, bills, and laws, provided all have something to do with the natural environment. Students are required to do a written analysis for three articles, bills, or laws from each of their three states-- for a total of nine write-ups.
Here is what the form looks like:
Name:
Legislative Draft—Written Analysis
--*STAPLE THE ARTICLE, BILL, OR LAW TO THS BACK SIDE OF THIS PAGE.*--
Directions:
*Thoughtfully respond to the questions below.
*Use complete sentences.
*Use the space provided; no one word or one sentence responses.
*If you don’t understand something, it is your responsibility to ask for help.
1) What is the main idea of this document (the article, bill, or law)?
2) Summarize this document.
3) What is the problem described? (Or what are the problems described?)
4) Do you think this is an important problem? Why or why not?
5) What solution (if any) is being proposed in this document?
6) Do you think the proposed solution is a good solution or not? Do you think it is going to solve the problem? Why or why not?
7) What do you think the best way to solve this problem would be?
8) Do you think this problem will still be around fifty years from now? Why or why not?
Here is what the form looks like:
Name:
Legislative Draft—Written Analysis
--*STAPLE THE ARTICLE, BILL, OR LAW TO THS BACK SIDE OF THIS PAGE.*--
Directions:
*Thoughtfully respond to the questions below.
*Use complete sentences.
*Use the space provided; no one word or one sentence responses.
*If you don’t understand something, it is your responsibility to ask for help.
1) What is the main idea of this document (the article, bill, or law)?
2) Summarize this document.
3) What is the problem described? (Or what are the problems described?)
4) Do you think this is an important problem? Why or why not?
5) What solution (if any) is being proposed in this document?
6) Do you think the proposed solution is a good solution or not? Do you think it is going to solve the problem? Why or why not?
7) What do you think the best way to solve this problem would be?
8) Do you think this problem will still be around fifty years from now? Why or why not?
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Q4 Supplementary Resources
Please copy and paste the following web addresses into your browser bar; then explore and enjoy!
7th grade:
American Experience, The 1930s http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/collections/1930s/
Holocaust Museum http://www.ushmm.org/
Anne Frank House Museum http://www.annefrank.org/
PBS Children of the Camps Internment History http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/history/index.html
Library of Congress WW2 resources http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/WW2/WW2bib.html
Newseum http://www.newseum.org/
Smithsonian National Museum of American History http://americanhistory.si.edu/
8th grade:
Gulag Many Days, Many Lives http://gulaghistory.org/
The Cold War Museum http://www.coldwar.org/
Library of Congress Cold War Archives http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0010/coldwar.html
JFK Presidential Library & Museum http://www.jfklibrary.org/
Truman Library Korean War http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/koreanwar/index.php
PBS Battlefield:Vietnam http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/
Library of Congress Voices of the Civil Rights http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civilrights/
Newseum http://www.newseum.org/
Smithsonian National Museum of American History http://americanhistory.si.edu/
7th grade:
American Experience, The 1930s http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/collections/1930s/
Holocaust Museum http://www.ushmm.org/
Anne Frank House Museum http://www.annefrank.org/
PBS Children of the Camps Internment History http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/history/index.html
Library of Congress WW2 resources http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/WW2/WW2bib.html
Newseum http://www.newseum.org/
Smithsonian National Museum of American History http://americanhistory.si.edu/
8th grade:
Gulag Many Days, Many Lives http://gulaghistory.org/
The Cold War Museum http://www.coldwar.org/
Library of Congress Cold War Archives http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0010/coldwar.html
JFK Presidential Library & Museum http://www.jfklibrary.org/
Truman Library Korean War http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/koreanwar/index.php
PBS Battlefield:Vietnam http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/
Library of Congress Voices of the Civil Rights http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civilrights/
Newseum http://www.newseum.org/
Smithsonian National Museum of American History http://americanhistory.si.edu/
Trip to Science Museum to see King Tut
Hello everyone!
I’d like to let you know about the next outing I’m planning for the Minnesota Historical Society Club.
I will be at the Science Museum of Minnesota to see the King Tut exhibit and Omnimax movie, Mummies, at 2:00 PM, on Sunday, May 1st, 2011.
(Technically this isn’t a part of the Minnesota Historical Society, but it’s historic, and I want to go :) )
I will plan to arrive at the Science Museum in downtown St. Paul at about 1:30 on Sunday, May 1st, in order to view the movie at the 2:00 show time prior to going through the exhibit.
This one is a bit pricier than the other tours I have arranged this year, but so it goes.
You can view some information about this exhibit and movie at the websites below:
http://www.smm.org/tut/
http://www.smm.org/mummies/
https://www.smm.org/tickets/buy/
If you would like to join me at the Science Museum on Sunday, May 1st, please reply to this email and please include the number of people you will be bringing with you. Depending on the number of people committee to coming, I may or may not be able to arrange some group rates and seating in the theater. You are also more than welcome to make your own Omnitheater ticket reservations online (see above).
As always, please remember that this is not required, that all students must be accompanied by an adult other than myself, and that you are responsible for the cost and your own transportation. (If you’re interested in car-pooling, I can try to put you in touch with others who would like to carpool; I live in Minneapolis, so I will just meet everyone there.)
Hope Q4 is starting out well for you!
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Hope to see you there!
Thanks,
Leah Hood
I’d like to let you know about the next outing I’m planning for the Minnesota Historical Society Club.
I will be at the Science Museum of Minnesota to see the King Tut exhibit and Omnimax movie, Mummies, at 2:00 PM, on Sunday, May 1st, 2011.
(Technically this isn’t a part of the Minnesota Historical Society, but it’s historic, and I want to go :) )
I will plan to arrive at the Science Museum in downtown St. Paul at about 1:30 on Sunday, May 1st, in order to view the movie at the 2:00 show time prior to going through the exhibit.
This one is a bit pricier than the other tours I have arranged this year, but so it goes.
You can view some information about this exhibit and movie at the websites below:
http://www.smm.org/tut/
http://www.smm.org/mummies/
https://www.smm.org/tickets/buy/
If you would like to join me at the Science Museum on Sunday, May 1st, please reply to this email and please include the number of people you will be bringing with you. Depending on the number of people committee to coming, I may or may not be able to arrange some group rates and seating in the theater. You are also more than welcome to make your own Omnitheater ticket reservations online (see above).
As always, please remember that this is not required, that all students must be accompanied by an adult other than myself, and that you are responsible for the cost and your own transportation. (If you’re interested in car-pooling, I can try to put you in touch with others who would like to carpool; I live in Minneapolis, so I will just meet everyone there.)
Hope Q4 is starting out well for you!
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Hope to see you there!
Thanks,
Leah Hood
Monday, April 11, 2011
Welcome to Q4!
Hello everyone!
I hope you all enjoyed your Spring Break! I certainly did. I didn't do too much this time, which was perfect. Visited family in Iowa, read a lot, and did some spring cleaning.
This quarter in Social Studies we will be studying lots of different units! We will also be finishing our This I Believe projects, and the Legislative Draft project.
In 7th grade we will begin this quarter by finishing up with the Dust Bowl, Great Depression, and New Deal; then we will end the school year by studying WW2. Today we already began reading a memoir entitled, On Hitler's Mountain, by Irmgard Hunt. It is her account of growing up in war-ridden Nazi Germany; I think this work of non-fiction is an important piece to teach about empathy and perspective. The author has some profound insights as to how we can avoid repeating the horrendous mistakes of that era. I highly recommend that parents and guardians read this book along with us! After we finish reading the memoir, we will read the novel, When My Name Was Keoko, about the Japanese occupation in Korea during WW2.
In 8th grade we will continue our study of the Cold War, focusing on McCarthyism in the U.S.; we also began reading the Forward and Introduction to the Nobel Prize winning work of historic fiction, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. (Families, please recall that there is some swearing in this book; however, we will not be reading the swear words aloud here at school. It's perfectly easy to just skip over them when we read aloud as a group. An informational email went out about this last quarter.) Later in the quarter we will study the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, at least up until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. We will also read A Raisin in the Sun as a readers' theater piece, and Iqbal; I am hoping to listen to sections of Nothing to Envy and Three Cups of Tea, but I'm not sure we'll have time for all of that!
Map quizzes will continue as usual throughout the rest of this year.
If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thanks and take care,
Leah Hood
P.S. Don't forget about due dates and assignments on Twitter! MsHoodsHoodlums@twitter.com
I hope you all enjoyed your Spring Break! I certainly did. I didn't do too much this time, which was perfect. Visited family in Iowa, read a lot, and did some spring cleaning.
This quarter in Social Studies we will be studying lots of different units! We will also be finishing our This I Believe projects, and the Legislative Draft project.
In 7th grade we will begin this quarter by finishing up with the Dust Bowl, Great Depression, and New Deal; then we will end the school year by studying WW2. Today we already began reading a memoir entitled, On Hitler's Mountain, by Irmgard Hunt. It is her account of growing up in war-ridden Nazi Germany; I think this work of non-fiction is an important piece to teach about empathy and perspective. The author has some profound insights as to how we can avoid repeating the horrendous mistakes of that era. I highly recommend that parents and guardians read this book along with us! After we finish reading the memoir, we will read the novel, When My Name Was Keoko, about the Japanese occupation in Korea during WW2.
In 8th grade we will continue our study of the Cold War, focusing on McCarthyism in the U.S.; we also began reading the Forward and Introduction to the Nobel Prize winning work of historic fiction, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. (Families, please recall that there is some swearing in this book; however, we will not be reading the swear words aloud here at school. It's perfectly easy to just skip over them when we read aloud as a group. An informational email went out about this last quarter.) Later in the quarter we will study the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, at least up until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. We will also read A Raisin in the Sun as a readers' theater piece, and Iqbal; I am hoping to listen to sections of Nothing to Envy and Three Cups of Tea, but I'm not sure we'll have time for all of that!
Map quizzes will continue as usual throughout the rest of this year.
If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thanks and take care,
Leah Hood
P.S. Don't forget about due dates and assignments on Twitter! MsHoodsHoodlums@twitter.com
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
This I Believe Action-in-Art Project
Hello families!
I wanted to include you in a new project the 7th and 8th graders have been assigned—it’s an extension of their “30 Things I Believe” assignment.
Mr. Kobe in Art, Ms. Hanson in Computers, and I are working together on this project. It is aimed at getting the kids to “be the change they want to see in the world.”
It is not due until a few weeks into Q4, and students will have some work time in class; students will, however, be required to complete a significant portion of this project outside of class/school.
Some important points that we went over together in class are:
A) This project must document positive beliefs in action in the student’s community; so, for example, students should not be tearing out pictures from magazines of people in, say, South Africa doing something positive (unless, of course, South Africa is an active part of the student’s life in some way…)
B) Students must be creating a new piece of art for this project; so, for example, students should not be printing off pictures from their Facebook page of a field trip to Feed My Starving Children three years ago (even though that’s a wonderful, positive thing!).
C) “Community” for our purposes can mean your family’s home, neighborhood, local recreation center, library, Paideia, place of worship, sports team, family vacation, family friends’ home or neighborhood, parent/guardian workplace, cousin’s house, mall, dentist’s office, etc.
D) In order to be safe, students must have parent/guardian permission and/or supervision before going out into their communities to document and create positive action.
Below are some basic guidelines for the project. (Which the students have been given.)
Thanks so much, and please contact me with any questions or concerns—
Leah Hood
This I Believe
Beliefs In Action
Photo/Video Gallery Project
Social Studies-Meets-Art
Due at end of Week 3 of Q4 (Friday, April 29th)
Purpose:
*To locate and document your positive beliefs in action in the community
*To create inspiring, substantive art with a social conscience
Directions:
*Choose your Top 5 Beliefs from your list of 30 Things I Believe; these 5 beliefs should be, in your mind, some of your strongest/most important beliefs (you can also choose to include more than 5!)
*Over the next month, document your Top 5 Beliefs in action; you may choose to take photographs, shoot short video clips, or record sound bytes that show/represent your Top 5 Beliefs in action out in your community.
*During the second and third weeks of Q4, Mr. Kobe will be working with you in Art to present your beliefs in an artistic fashion; I highly recommend that you work on taking your photographs (or whatever format you choose) over break, because Mr. Kobe is expecting that you will come to Art class prepared to work on this project—and he will hold you to it! Ms. Hanson will also provide you with some work time and guidance in Computers class.
*Each piece (photo, video, sound) must have a title.
*Each piece must have a well-written caption explaining what is happening and how you think it represents that particular belief.
*Remember: This is not a list of facts, or simply a list of things that you like; this is a list of beliefs about how you think the world should be, stated in a positive way.
Examples:
*(Hypothetical) Belief: “I believe we should help people.”
*Take a photograph of the food drive at your place of worship.
*Can’t find an example of your belief in action? Make it happen yourself! Go to the grocery store with your family and buy a bag of groceries for your local food shelf; then take a picture of your family donating the food!
I wanted to include you in a new project the 7th and 8th graders have been assigned—it’s an extension of their “30 Things I Believe” assignment.
Mr. Kobe in Art, Ms. Hanson in Computers, and I are working together on this project. It is aimed at getting the kids to “be the change they want to see in the world.”
It is not due until a few weeks into Q4, and students will have some work time in class; students will, however, be required to complete a significant portion of this project outside of class/school.
Some important points that we went over together in class are:
A) This project must document positive beliefs in action in the student’s community; so, for example, students should not be tearing out pictures from magazines of people in, say, South Africa doing something positive (unless, of course, South Africa is an active part of the student’s life in some way…)
B) Students must be creating a new piece of art for this project; so, for example, students should not be printing off pictures from their Facebook page of a field trip to Feed My Starving Children three years ago (even though that’s a wonderful, positive thing!).
C) “Community” for our purposes can mean your family’s home, neighborhood, local recreation center, library, Paideia, place of worship, sports team, family vacation, family friends’ home or neighborhood, parent/guardian workplace, cousin’s house, mall, dentist’s office, etc.
D) In order to be safe, students must have parent/guardian permission and/or supervision before going out into their communities to document and create positive action.
Below are some basic guidelines for the project. (Which the students have been given.)
Thanks so much, and please contact me with any questions or concerns—
Leah Hood
This I Believe
Beliefs In Action
Photo/Video Gallery Project
Social Studies-Meets-Art
Due at end of Week 3 of Q4 (Friday, April 29th)
Purpose:
*To locate and document your positive beliefs in action in the community
*To create inspiring, substantive art with a social conscience
Directions:
*Choose your Top 5 Beliefs from your list of 30 Things I Believe; these 5 beliefs should be, in your mind, some of your strongest/most important beliefs (you can also choose to include more than 5!)
*Over the next month, document your Top 5 Beliefs in action; you may choose to take photographs, shoot short video clips, or record sound bytes that show/represent your Top 5 Beliefs in action out in your community.
*During the second and third weeks of Q4, Mr. Kobe will be working with you in Art to present your beliefs in an artistic fashion; I highly recommend that you work on taking your photographs (or whatever format you choose) over break, because Mr. Kobe is expecting that you will come to Art class prepared to work on this project—and he will hold you to it! Ms. Hanson will also provide you with some work time and guidance in Computers class.
*Each piece (photo, video, sound) must have a title.
*Each piece must have a well-written caption explaining what is happening and how you think it represents that particular belief.
*Remember: This is not a list of facts, or simply a list of things that you like; this is a list of beliefs about how you think the world should be, stated in a positive way.
Examples:
*(Hypothetical) Belief: “I believe we should help people.”
*Take a photograph of the food drive at your place of worship.
*Can’t find an example of your belief in action? Make it happen yourself! Go to the grocery store with your family and buy a bag of groceries for your local food shelf; then take a picture of your family donating the food!
Monday, March 14, 2011
HBO Commemorates the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
This comes out March 21st (over break):
http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/triangle-remembering-the-fire/index.html#
I haven't seen it yet, but it relates to what we're studying in 7th grade Social Studies this quarter, and what we will study further in 8th grade Social Studies next quarter.
Take care,
Leah
http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/triangle-remembering-the-fire/index.html#
I haven't seen it yet, but it relates to what we're studying in 7th grade Social Studies this quarter, and what we will study further in 8th grade Social Studies next quarter.
Take care,
Leah
Monday, March 7, 2011
PBS Triangle Fire
Below is a link to a fabulous new website put together by PBS to supplement its new American Experience piece, "Triangle Fire".
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/triangle/
Both grade levels have read about this famous and tragic incident in U.S. history in a Readers' Theater piece in Social Studies.
I will be showing this documentary to both 7th and 8th grades.
Check it out!
Take care,
Leah Hood
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/triangle/
Both grade levels have read about this famous and tragic incident in U.S. history in a Readers' Theater piece in Social Studies.
I will be showing this documentary to both 7th and 8th grades.
Check it out!
Take care,
Leah Hood
Thursday, March 3, 2011
In Social Studies lately...
Hello everyone!
Well, we are winding down with third quarter already! We only have tomorrow and Monday before the Chicago trip!
In 7th grade we are up to Chapter 23 (out of 30) in our historic fiction novel, The Truth About Sparrows, by Marian Hale. Parents/guardians, if you haven't read it, I really encourage you to-- it'd be a pretty quick read because it's not very dense, and it's a nice story. Some days the kids get to read independently (especially after finishing map quizzes), while other days we read aloud as a whole class, follow along with the audiobook, or read in small groups or pairs. On days when we have many other activities to try to get through I have us read all together (or with the audiobook), because otherwise everyone finishes at such different paces and that makes it difficult to move on together as a class to our next activity... tomorrow we'll be listening to Ch. 23 and "drawing what we hear". Not only does this give us a welcome change of pace to our usual near-daily reading, but it also gives more visual students a chance to show-what-they-know in a different way; this is especially nice for kids who doesn't enjoy the writing process.
Also in 7th grade Social Studies this week, we read aloud another Readers' Theater piece entitled, Child's Work, which gave us some information about child labor in the U.S.; after reading the script aloud together (with students reading the different characters' parts), each student had the choice of presenting the events and information from the script using Legos, Play-doh, storyboard drawings, or in skit form.
Next Monday (3/7) is the map quiz over countries in central and southern Africa, but the rest of the week I will be with many of the students in Chicago. The following week, however, we will be studying the Harlem Renaissance and the Dust Bowl. I think that we will have to push the Great Depression and New Deal off into Q4, but that's not a problem because the only other Core Knowledge unit we have left to cover is WW2, and we certainly don't need all 9 weeks of the quarter to cover it adequately (although we could certainly go on and on about it!).
In 8th grade Social Studies this week, 3rd Period finished watching The Singing Revolution, a documentary about the peaceful protests of the Estonian independence movement (against the Soviet Union). 4th Period watched a short documentary on the life of Vladimir Lenin; next week, 3rd Period will watch the Lenin doc. After the Chicago trip, we will learn more about Stalin's rule, as well as Chairman Mao and the Communist Revolution in China. After Spring Break we will learn about the U.S. in the 1950s, including McCarthyism, and we will read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. I had hoped that we would read that novel this quarter, but I think it would be better to read the whole thing straight through (it's not very long) rather than begin it and then leave it over the three week break. Students are working on completing posters or mobiles of the key figures of the Communist Revolution, including Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engles, Tsar Nicholas II, Aleksandr Kerensky, Lenin, and Stalin.
8th graders were pretested over either major world rivers or states and capitals in the Midwestern United States. Quiz is next Monday, 3/7.
Both grade levels have been working on their "This I Believe" assignment. We have been sharing them with each other, finding commonalities, and choosing a Top 10 list of the 30. We will continue to work with these beliefs throughout this quarter, and it will be expanded into a project due at the beginning of next quarter... details forthcoming.
On the Legislative Draft front, students can certainly be working on this outside of school; they could be looking up proposed and passed legislation relating to the environment in their three states' state legislatures; students should print out these bills and laws and keep them in their Legislative Draft manila folder, which I gave to each student in class a few months ago. My main goal for this quarter was for students to locate these documents; next quarter we will work on analyzing and writing about them.
If you have any questions, concerns, or general feedback, please do not hesitate to contact me here at school.
And please remember that I continue to post homework assignments and due dates on my class Twitter account: MsHoodsHoodlums@twitter.com
Thanks!
Leah Hood
Well, we are winding down with third quarter already! We only have tomorrow and Monday before the Chicago trip!
In 7th grade we are up to Chapter 23 (out of 30) in our historic fiction novel, The Truth About Sparrows, by Marian Hale. Parents/guardians, if you haven't read it, I really encourage you to-- it'd be a pretty quick read because it's not very dense, and it's a nice story. Some days the kids get to read independently (especially after finishing map quizzes), while other days we read aloud as a whole class, follow along with the audiobook, or read in small groups or pairs. On days when we have many other activities to try to get through I have us read all together (or with the audiobook), because otherwise everyone finishes at such different paces and that makes it difficult to move on together as a class to our next activity... tomorrow we'll be listening to Ch. 23 and "drawing what we hear". Not only does this give us a welcome change of pace to our usual near-daily reading, but it also gives more visual students a chance to show-what-they-know in a different way; this is especially nice for kids who doesn't enjoy the writing process.
Also in 7th grade Social Studies this week, we read aloud another Readers' Theater piece entitled, Child's Work, which gave us some information about child labor in the U.S.; after reading the script aloud together (with students reading the different characters' parts), each student had the choice of presenting the events and information from the script using Legos, Play-doh, storyboard drawings, or in skit form.
Next Monday (3/7) is the map quiz over countries in central and southern Africa, but the rest of the week I will be with many of the students in Chicago. The following week, however, we will be studying the Harlem Renaissance and the Dust Bowl. I think that we will have to push the Great Depression and New Deal off into Q4, but that's not a problem because the only other Core Knowledge unit we have left to cover is WW2, and we certainly don't need all 9 weeks of the quarter to cover it adequately (although we could certainly go on and on about it!).
In 8th grade Social Studies this week, 3rd Period finished watching The Singing Revolution, a documentary about the peaceful protests of the Estonian independence movement (against the Soviet Union). 4th Period watched a short documentary on the life of Vladimir Lenin; next week, 3rd Period will watch the Lenin doc. After the Chicago trip, we will learn more about Stalin's rule, as well as Chairman Mao and the Communist Revolution in China. After Spring Break we will learn about the U.S. in the 1950s, including McCarthyism, and we will read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. I had hoped that we would read that novel this quarter, but I think it would be better to read the whole thing straight through (it's not very long) rather than begin it and then leave it over the three week break. Students are working on completing posters or mobiles of the key figures of the Communist Revolution, including Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engles, Tsar Nicholas II, Aleksandr Kerensky, Lenin, and Stalin.
8th graders were pretested over either major world rivers or states and capitals in the Midwestern United States. Quiz is next Monday, 3/7.
Both grade levels have been working on their "This I Believe" assignment. We have been sharing them with each other, finding commonalities, and choosing a Top 10 list of the 30. We will continue to work with these beliefs throughout this quarter, and it will be expanded into a project due at the beginning of next quarter... details forthcoming.
On the Legislative Draft front, students can certainly be working on this outside of school; they could be looking up proposed and passed legislation relating to the environment in their three states' state legislatures; students should print out these bills and laws and keep them in their Legislative Draft manila folder, which I gave to each student in class a few months ago. My main goal for this quarter was for students to locate these documents; next quarter we will work on analyzing and writing about them.
If you have any questions, concerns, or general feedback, please do not hesitate to contact me here at school.
And please remember that I continue to post homework assignments and due dates on my class Twitter account: MsHoodsHoodlums@twitter.com
Thanks!
Leah Hood
Friday, February 18, 2011
This Week in Social Studies
Hello, Paideia students and families!
I could really tell that it was nice outside this week, because everyone had so much more energy! It really felt great.
In 7th grade Social Studies this week we read to the end of Ch. 14 in The Truth About Sparrows, by Marian Hale. The best way I can think to describe this book to adults who haven't read it is to say that it is kind of like The Grapes of Wrath for younger readers; it portrays some of the main issues American families faced during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, but is from a child's perspective (12-year-old Sadie Wynn). Depending on the day, students read independently, in pairs, small groups, or as a whole class; we also have an audiobook version, which makes for a nice change of pace some days. We have been incredibly lucky to have Mrs. Kohler and Mrs. Munson (who happen to both be teachers!) volunteering to help lead small reading groups a few days a week. It's really wonderful because it gives students the opportunity to work with an adult reader, as well as in a small group where each student has more of a chance to share their thoughts with the group.
Students were quizzed over countries in Northern Africa, and pretested over countries in Northwest Africa; the next map quiz is next Friday, February 25th.
We also listened to some music from the 1920s, and watched a bit of some Charlie Chaplin silent films; more of that to come next week....
By the end of the quarter I aim for us to have discussed Women's Suffrage (check!), the Labor Movement (which we touched upon this week), Prohibition, the Harlem Renaissance, the Dust Bowl and Great Depression (which we are already learning about through The Truth About Sparrows, but will formally cover once we get to it chronologically); because of all the shortened weeks and the Chicago trip, I have a feeling the New Deal will have to get pushed off into Q4, but that's ok.
In 8th grade Social Studies this week, we almost finished reading Animal Farm. We will definitely finish it next week, and then we'll be ready to move on to One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, which is a Nobel Prize winning novel about a man's life in a gulag. As we have been reading Animal Farm we have been keeping a record of the allegorical connections between the characters and main events in the book and their symbolic counterparts in the Cold War era. We have also been watching a wonderful documentary (which you can rent from Netflix, if you're interested) entitled, The Singing Revolution, which chronicles the history of Estonian resistance to Soviet occupation. It is a really moving example of creative, peaceful protest.
Although we could go on and on and on learning about the Soviet Union, we will have to wrap it up at the end of next week, so that we can move on to learning about the Communist Revolution in China (Chairman Mao, etc.), and McCarthyism in the U.S.
Next quarter we will learn about different manifestations of the Cold War, such as the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Space Race, Vietnam, and modern day North Korea.
8th graders were tested over states and capitals in the Northeastern region of the U.S., as well as Central American countries and capitals; they were pretested over states and capitals in the U.S. South, as well as major mountain ranges around the world. As we were pretesting we listened to music from the 1950s.
All 7th and 8th graders can be working on their "30 Things I Believe" assignment over the long weekend; basically the only requirements for this assignment are that the beliefs belong to the student, are positive, and are thirty in number. I already have a few turned in to me, and man! Are they inspiring. I really encourage you to read your child's when it is finished, and to share your own version with her/him.
Please remember that you can always view homework and due dates on my class Twitter account: MsHoodsHoodlums@twitter.com
Thanks so much for all your support! It was really fun to see so many of you at conferences!
Take care,
Leah Hood
I could really tell that it was nice outside this week, because everyone had so much more energy! It really felt great.
In 7th grade Social Studies this week we read to the end of Ch. 14 in The Truth About Sparrows, by Marian Hale. The best way I can think to describe this book to adults who haven't read it is to say that it is kind of like The Grapes of Wrath for younger readers; it portrays some of the main issues American families faced during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, but is from a child's perspective (12-year-old Sadie Wynn). Depending on the day, students read independently, in pairs, small groups, or as a whole class; we also have an audiobook version, which makes for a nice change of pace some days. We have been incredibly lucky to have Mrs. Kohler and Mrs. Munson (who happen to both be teachers!) volunteering to help lead small reading groups a few days a week. It's really wonderful because it gives students the opportunity to work with an adult reader, as well as in a small group where each student has more of a chance to share their thoughts with the group.
Students were quizzed over countries in Northern Africa, and pretested over countries in Northwest Africa; the next map quiz is next Friday, February 25th.
We also listened to some music from the 1920s, and watched a bit of some Charlie Chaplin silent films; more of that to come next week....
By the end of the quarter I aim for us to have discussed Women's Suffrage (check!), the Labor Movement (which we touched upon this week), Prohibition, the Harlem Renaissance, the Dust Bowl and Great Depression (which we are already learning about through The Truth About Sparrows, but will formally cover once we get to it chronologically); because of all the shortened weeks and the Chicago trip, I have a feeling the New Deal will have to get pushed off into Q4, but that's ok.
In 8th grade Social Studies this week, we almost finished reading Animal Farm. We will definitely finish it next week, and then we'll be ready to move on to One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, which is a Nobel Prize winning novel about a man's life in a gulag. As we have been reading Animal Farm we have been keeping a record of the allegorical connections between the characters and main events in the book and their symbolic counterparts in the Cold War era. We have also been watching a wonderful documentary (which you can rent from Netflix, if you're interested) entitled, The Singing Revolution, which chronicles the history of Estonian resistance to Soviet occupation. It is a really moving example of creative, peaceful protest.
Although we could go on and on and on learning about the Soviet Union, we will have to wrap it up at the end of next week, so that we can move on to learning about the Communist Revolution in China (Chairman Mao, etc.), and McCarthyism in the U.S.
Next quarter we will learn about different manifestations of the Cold War, such as the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Space Race, Vietnam, and modern day North Korea.
8th graders were tested over states and capitals in the Northeastern region of the U.S., as well as Central American countries and capitals; they were pretested over states and capitals in the U.S. South, as well as major mountain ranges around the world. As we were pretesting we listened to music from the 1950s.
All 7th and 8th graders can be working on their "30 Things I Believe" assignment over the long weekend; basically the only requirements for this assignment are that the beliefs belong to the student, are positive, and are thirty in number. I already have a few turned in to me, and man! Are they inspiring. I really encourage you to read your child's when it is finished, and to share your own version with her/him.
Please remember that you can always view homework and due dates on my class Twitter account: MsHoodsHoodlums@twitter.com
Thanks so much for all your support! It was really fun to see so many of you at conferences!
Take care,
Leah Hood
Monday, February 7, 2011
30 Things I Believe & Legislative Draft Check-in
Hello, Paideia families!
2 quick updates:
1) This week (in both 7th & 8th grades) we are beginning an assignment called, “Thirty Things I Believe.” It’s pretty much what it sounds like—students will create a list of 30 personal beliefs that they hold at this time in their lives. Over the past few years I have noticed a pattern at this point in the school year, when we’re halfway through the year and we all have a bit of a case of the winter doldrums: Everyone gets low on energy, and is unusually down or negative! I have also found that this little project seems to help restore our sense of purpose and positivity. This assignment was inspired by the following story, from NPR a few years back: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99478226 . I really encourage you to listen to it, because the little boy’s voice is so darn cute :) I also encourage you to develop your own list of beliefs, to share and compare with your child’s.
2) Legislative Draft Project:
Here is roughly where your child should be at in this process:
*Should know the 3 states on her/his Legislative Team
*Should have found and printed off at least 6 articles and/or bills relating to environmental issues in her/his 3 states (students have had 2 class periods this quarter in which to complete this)
Next steps (have not been assigned yet):
*Find final 3 articles or bills (or some combination of the two)
*Begin written analyses of the issues reported in their news articles, and/or addressed in the action plans of the bills they have found
Hope that helps! Please get in touch with me with questions, concerns, or suggestions/comments.
Thanks!
Leah Hood
2 quick updates:
1) This week (in both 7th & 8th grades) we are beginning an assignment called, “Thirty Things I Believe.” It’s pretty much what it sounds like—students will create a list of 30 personal beliefs that they hold at this time in their lives. Over the past few years I have noticed a pattern at this point in the school year, when we’re halfway through the year and we all have a bit of a case of the winter doldrums: Everyone gets low on energy, and is unusually down or negative! I have also found that this little project seems to help restore our sense of purpose and positivity. This assignment was inspired by the following story, from NPR a few years back: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99478226 . I really encourage you to listen to it, because the little boy’s voice is so darn cute :) I also encourage you to develop your own list of beliefs, to share and compare with your child’s.
2) Legislative Draft Project:
Here is roughly where your child should be at in this process:
*Should know the 3 states on her/his Legislative Team
*Should have found and printed off at least 6 articles and/or bills relating to environmental issues in her/his 3 states (students have had 2 class periods this quarter in which to complete this)
Next steps (have not been assigned yet):
*Find final 3 articles or bills (or some combination of the two)
*Begin written analyses of the issues reported in their news articles, and/or addressed in the action plans of the bills they have found
Hope that helps! Please get in touch with me with questions, concerns, or suggestions/comments.
Thanks!
Leah Hood
Friday, January 28, 2011
This Week in Social Studies-- 1/24-1/28
Hello, Paideia families!
This week in Social Studies we continued to read in our historic fiction novels (The Truth About Sparrows in 7th grade; Animal Farm in 8th), and to complete reading packets for each chapter; reading packets include Pre-Reading, During Reading, and Post-Reading activities. The novels supplement what we are studying in U.S. and world History. We also have the audiobook versions of both novels, which allows for some nice variation and choices for students; some days students read independently, some days they are allowed to read in small groups of their choosing, and some days we will read aloud all together as an entire class.
We also took a pretest over countries and capital cities in Southeast Asia & the Pacific; both 7th and 8th grades will be tested next Friday over 14 countries in that region. Students have been given a study guide, and next week we'll do another round of "Geography Choreography", which seemed to be a big hit last week!
Before heading to Orchestra Hall (which was a great experience!) on Thursday, 7th graders got to read from the latest issue of Upfront magazine; as a whole class, we read an article about child-brides in Afghanistan, and compared the rigid (and often cruel, in the eyes of most Americans) expectations in that country to the significantly more liberal Islamic culture for women in Tunisia; we listened to a short NPR clip about women and women's rights in Tunisia. This is the first year I have had a subscription to Upfront magazine, and I have been really, really pleased at how the kids have responded to it.
In 7th grade we are learning about the Women's Suffrage Movement in the United States; we are comparing and contrasting four different secondary sources on the subject, as well as watching a PBS documentary for about 15 minutes per day, until we finish it.
In 8th grade we are doing the same thing, only for The Russian Revolution, as a part of our introduction to the Cold War.
We also edited return letters to our pen-pals in Thailand-- I will get those in the mail within the next few days.
If you are wondering about the Legislative Draft project, here is what you and your child can be working on: Find articles that have to do with the environment IN THOSE 3 STATES, from local news sources in the three states your child drafted. Example: An article from The Des Moines Register about wind farms in Northeast Iowa.
If you want to keep up with Social Studies homework assignments and due dates, please refer to my class Twitter account: MsHoodsHoodlums@twitter.com
I have also taken to posting homework assignments on this blog, in the right-hand column, under the "About Me" section; unfortunatley, I can't change the header from "About Me" to "Homework", but please know that it is posted here for you and your child, as well.
Please let me know if you are interested in any supplementary reading or study materials, and as always, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions, concerns, or general feedback!
Hope you have fun at the all-school dance tonight!
Take care,
Leah Hood
P.S. Re-registration forms for next year should be coming home today with your child!! Please return those to the Office ASAP! Thank you!
This week in Social Studies we continued to read in our historic fiction novels (The Truth About Sparrows in 7th grade; Animal Farm in 8th), and to complete reading packets for each chapter; reading packets include Pre-Reading, During Reading, and Post-Reading activities. The novels supplement what we are studying in U.S. and world History. We also have the audiobook versions of both novels, which allows for some nice variation and choices for students; some days students read independently, some days they are allowed to read in small groups of their choosing, and some days we will read aloud all together as an entire class.
We also took a pretest over countries and capital cities in Southeast Asia & the Pacific; both 7th and 8th grades will be tested next Friday over 14 countries in that region. Students have been given a study guide, and next week we'll do another round of "Geography Choreography", which seemed to be a big hit last week!
Before heading to Orchestra Hall (which was a great experience!) on Thursday, 7th graders got to read from the latest issue of Upfront magazine; as a whole class, we read an article about child-brides in Afghanistan, and compared the rigid (and often cruel, in the eyes of most Americans) expectations in that country to the significantly more liberal Islamic culture for women in Tunisia; we listened to a short NPR clip about women and women's rights in Tunisia. This is the first year I have had a subscription to Upfront magazine, and I have been really, really pleased at how the kids have responded to it.
In 7th grade we are learning about the Women's Suffrage Movement in the United States; we are comparing and contrasting four different secondary sources on the subject, as well as watching a PBS documentary for about 15 minutes per day, until we finish it.
In 8th grade we are doing the same thing, only for The Russian Revolution, as a part of our introduction to the Cold War.
We also edited return letters to our pen-pals in Thailand-- I will get those in the mail within the next few days.
If you are wondering about the Legislative Draft project, here is what you and your child can be working on: Find articles that have to do with the environment IN THOSE 3 STATES, from local news sources in the three states your child drafted. Example: An article from The Des Moines Register about wind farms in Northeast Iowa.
If you want to keep up with Social Studies homework assignments and due dates, please refer to my class Twitter account: MsHoodsHoodlums@twitter.com
I have also taken to posting homework assignments on this blog, in the right-hand column, under the "About Me" section; unfortunatley, I can't change the header from "About Me" to "Homework", but please know that it is posted here for you and your child, as well.
Please let me know if you are interested in any supplementary reading or study materials, and as always, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions, concerns, or general feedback!
Hope you have fun at the all-school dance tonight!
Take care,
Leah Hood
P.S. Re-registration forms for next year should be coming home today with your child!! Please return those to the Office ASAP! Thank you!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
This Week In Social Studies
Hello, all!
This week in Social Studies we honored Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by reading a chapter in our textbook about his life, listening to his "I Have A Dream" speech in its entirety while following along with a text version (students underlined the most powerful parts of the speech), and by considering the questions: "What is 'equality'?" "How far have we come since the days of MLK Jr.?" "What work still needs to be done?"
We also wrote back to our pen-pals from Thailand! The students were very excited about this. I told the kids that they are welcome to communicate with their pen-pals outside of school as often as their parents/guardians allow; we will, however, sometimes be requiring students to write to their pen-pals in class. We will use this as an opportunity to practice the drafting and editing process in a way that is (hopefully!) less dry and more authentic.
We also began reading our novels and completing reading packets, which include Pre-Reading, During Reading, and Post-Reading activities on a chapter by chapter basis.
On Friday, students will be quizzed over some countries in central and northern Asia. Please do not forget about the following online study tools for geography:
http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/
http://www.ilike2learn.com/
If you have any questions, concerns, or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me!
Take care,
Leah Hood
This week in Social Studies we honored Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by reading a chapter in our textbook about his life, listening to his "I Have A Dream" speech in its entirety while following along with a text version (students underlined the most powerful parts of the speech), and by considering the questions: "What is 'equality'?" "How far have we come since the days of MLK Jr.?" "What work still needs to be done?"
We also wrote back to our pen-pals from Thailand! The students were very excited about this. I told the kids that they are welcome to communicate with their pen-pals outside of school as often as their parents/guardians allow; we will, however, sometimes be requiring students to write to their pen-pals in class. We will use this as an opportunity to practice the drafting and editing process in a way that is (hopefully!) less dry and more authentic.
We also began reading our novels and completing reading packets, which include Pre-Reading, During Reading, and Post-Reading activities on a chapter by chapter basis.
On Friday, students will be quizzed over some countries in central and northern Asia. Please do not forget about the following online study tools for geography:
http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/
http://www.ilike2learn.com/
If you have any questions, concerns, or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me!
Take care,
Leah Hood
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Welcome back for Third Quarter!
Happy New Year, everyone!
I hope you all enjoyed your break and all the associated festivities. I had a great time visiting family in Fargo and Iowa, and spending three nights in Lutsen with friends for the new year.
We are moving forward in both 7th and 8th grade Social Studies this quarter, putting old studies behind us and looking into other ideas and time periods.
In 7th grade this quarter, we will begin by studying "The Roaring 20s", the post-WW1 era of celebratory rebellion, including the Women's Suffrage Movement, the Labor Movement, the Harlem Renaissance-- tempered, of course, by the Temperance Movement. We will read the novel, The Truth About Sparrows. This book is of the historic fiction genre, and presents the experiences of American farm families in the Dust Bowl and Great Depression through the eyes of a 12-year-old girl, Sadie. This will, of course, serve as a lens through which to view our units on the Dust Bowl, Great Depression, and New Deal.
In 8th grade this quarter, we will study the Cold War, focusing on Mao's China, the Soviet Union, and McCarthyism in the United States. Alongside these units we will be reading George Orwell's classic, Animal Farm (a Core Knowledge novel), as well as the Nobel Prize winning One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. We will explore the philosophies of Marx and Smith, and debate the merits and drawbacks of Communism, Socialism, Capitalism, Democracy, and Totalitarianism.
In both grade levels we will continue with our Legislative Draft project, map quizzes, and our pen-pals from Thailand.
I really enjoy teaching the units on the slate for Q3!
See you back at school on Thursday!
--Leah Hood
P.S. Homework assignments are posted at MsHoodsHoodlums@twitter.com
I hope you all enjoyed your break and all the associated festivities. I had a great time visiting family in Fargo and Iowa, and spending three nights in Lutsen with friends for the new year.
We are moving forward in both 7th and 8th grade Social Studies this quarter, putting old studies behind us and looking into other ideas and time periods.
In 7th grade this quarter, we will begin by studying "The Roaring 20s", the post-WW1 era of celebratory rebellion, including the Women's Suffrage Movement, the Labor Movement, the Harlem Renaissance-- tempered, of course, by the Temperance Movement. We will read the novel, The Truth About Sparrows. This book is of the historic fiction genre, and presents the experiences of American farm families in the Dust Bowl and Great Depression through the eyes of a 12-year-old girl, Sadie. This will, of course, serve as a lens through which to view our units on the Dust Bowl, Great Depression, and New Deal.
In 8th grade this quarter, we will study the Cold War, focusing on Mao's China, the Soviet Union, and McCarthyism in the United States. Alongside these units we will be reading George Orwell's classic, Animal Farm (a Core Knowledge novel), as well as the Nobel Prize winning One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. We will explore the philosophies of Marx and Smith, and debate the merits and drawbacks of Communism, Socialism, Capitalism, Democracy, and Totalitarianism.
In both grade levels we will continue with our Legislative Draft project, map quizzes, and our pen-pals from Thailand.
I really enjoy teaching the units on the slate for Q3!
See you back at school on Thursday!
--Leah Hood
P.S. Homework assignments are posted at MsHoodsHoodlums@twitter.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)