End of Q1, Week 3!

Hello, all! We are off and running! It feels really good to be past the first few days' work of establishing rules and routines and clarifying expectations; last week and this week we have really been delving into content and learning. Feels good :) Here's the summary: 7th Grade: 7th graders had a hugely successful map quiz over countries in the Caribbean; we did Geography Choreography each day to study and the students really enjoyed it. We watched the PBS documentary, When Worlds Collide (2010), and completed a detailed pre, during, and post-viewing film guide. The documentary taught us about the history of the Spanish Empire in Latin America, with particular focus on the exchange of cultures and the Spanish caste system; this gave us really great, solid background knowledge to put into the context the novel that we started reading this week-- The Surrender Tree, by Margarita Engle. The Surrender Tree is a work of historic fiction written in free verse poem form, which reinforces Mrs. Kempf's unit on Poetry in Language Arts! We have already used multiple formats for reading the novel: Monday we read aloud as a whole class and discussed the 5 Elements of Fiction, Tuesday we used the audiobook as we followed along in our reading, and at the end of the week we did Listen-and-Draw activities as well as independent reading. Students have a homework reading packet with related written response questions due next Friday, August 31st; this is meant to deepen students' contextual understanding of the Cuban Independence Movement and Spanish-American War, which the plot of The Surrender Tree traces. Next week we will finish the novel and learn more specifically about the Spanish-American War and the U.S. empire/expansionistic phase. 8th Grade: 8th graders are learning about different types of government! Last week we worked to solidify terms such as "autocracy", "dictatorship", "democracy", "direct democracy", "representative democracy", and "totalitarianism", just to name a few. The students have been very patient in their note-taking :) This week we have been learning more about the early development and influences of U.S. government. We watched some School House Rock clips (which the kids LOVED) and used most of this week to learn about primary source documents such as the Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, Common Sense, and the Articles of Confederation. Next week we will learn about the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the three branches of government. These topics will probably take us the next two weeks of class time, after which we'll move on to the law-making process and the election process. Students have been learning the state capitals and have their second map quiz of the year next Friday, August 31st; they also have a homework assignment due the 31st, which covers democracy in Ancient Athens as well as the contributions of Enlightenment thinkers to the development of modern democracies. It has been a great start to the year-- the kids are so much fun to be with and they impress me each and every day! Please remember to check my class Twitter account for homework and quiz due dates: @MsHoodsHoodlums @ twitter.com Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns, or constructive feedback! Take care, Ms. Hood