Hello, Paideia families!
This week is MCA testing, school-wide, so I only see each group of students two times this week instead of five. During those two class periods, though, we are moving forward in our studies! Here's what we're up to:
7th Grade:
We are now almost finished with the novel, The Truth About Sparrows; some of the predominant themes at this point in the plot are hard work, change, loneliness, friendship, and sacrifice. Woven throughout the novel are interesting little tidbits of information about daily life for Americans impacted by the Great Depression, such as making mattresses using chicken feathers and listening to The Lone Ranger on the radio. Today we read Ch. 18 in class; I read aloud while the students did a "Listen and Draw" activity to create a pictoral summary of events in the chapter.
Also in the past week, we watched a PBS documentary entitled, "Surviving The Dust Bowl", and made a "musical timeline" of Woody Guthrie song lyrics to chronicle the era.
Next week 7th graders will be tested over countries in Northwest Africa, such as Senegal and the Ivory Coast. We will also analyze cartoons from the 1930s as primary sources, recording evidence of, for example, standards of beauty and strength, as well as stereotypes of men and women from the period. We'll continue to study different aspects of the 1930s and 40s until about midterm this quarter, at which point we'll move on to WW2.
8th Grade:
Last week in Social Studies I was sincerely impressed with the students' analysis and discussion of primary sources from the Harlem Renaissance; we looked at paintings, photographs, music, and poetry to examine themes of the movement. I worked directly with the "Paintings" station, and with some prompting cues, students were noticing some very high-level similarities between all the paintings at the station and discussing the literal and figurative meanings of the images!
This week we have continued to look more closely at the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. during the 1950s and 60s. We just started watching excerpts from the PBS series, "Eyes On The Prize"; today's excerpt focused on the murder of Emmett Till. Future excerpts will cover the full spectrum of "classic" Civil Rights Movement people and events, including MLK Jr., Rosa Parks, Freedom Summer, and the Little Rock 9, among others.
Next week we will do a series of lessons looking at "Freedom Songs" from the Civil Rights era; students will analyze song lyrics, messages, and rhythm and draw comparisons to political and social events from the same time period.
Students have a homework assignment due next Friday, April 27th; it is a reading packet over Black history with some comprehension and response questions.
We will continue to study the 1960s and 70s until about midterm, at which point we will shift to finish out the school year studying the 1980s and 90s.
All 7th and 8th grade students have Quia study activities available as supplementary learning activities outside of class; detailed DDI Study Guides for our Q4 units will be distributed next Monday, following MCAs. Also, all 7th and 8th graders continue to make progress in their independent country research projects; this past week their research topic in Computers class was "Free Choice" research. Next week students will research Travel & Leisure in their countries by creating a one-week vacation inside their countries; this will include hotels and restaurants, sports, national parks, arts and entertainment, and historic sites within various countries in the world.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact me with questions, concerns, or constructive feedback!
Thanks for reading!
-Ms. Hood
