Conferences Next Thursday and Friday!

Hi everyone! Guess what!? I am currently in the process of transferring all of my communications from this blog and my class Twitter account into my new class website! You can see the work-in-progress by going to the "Classroom Pages" section of the Paideia website. Our school-wide goal is for this process to be completed by the start of Q2. Here's a quick update: 7th: 7th graders have a map quiz coming up this Friday over countries in Central America; they made up their own Geography Choreography this time and did a GREAT job! I recommend this website as a great study tool: www.ilike2learn.com We finished our novel, The Surrender Tree! We have wrapped up our study of the Spanish Empire and Cuban Independence Movement and have now moved on to studying the Spanish-American War. So far this week we have worked with graphic organizers and the PBS website "Crucible of Empire"; Thursday and Friday we'll watching the documentary that complements this website. By the end of next week we'll be studying the presidency of Teddy Roosevelt and the Panama Canal. 8th: 8th graders continue to learn about U.S. government; we've been looking pretty closely at the documents that have helped our government evolve over hundreds and thousands of years. We've studied the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, Common Sense, Declaration of Independence, and U.S. Constitution. This week we are looking at Articles 1-3 of the U.S. Constitution, which describe the three branches of government. Soon we'll start reading our first novel of the school year, entitled Year of Impossible Goodbyes, by Sook Nyul Choi. This is a work of historic fiction based on the author's real life experiences; the novel begins in Korea during the Japanese occupation during WW2 and ends with the division of Korea into North and South-- the Soviets in the North, the U.S. in the South and thus the start of the Cold War. Our next unit will be on systems of economics as we prepare to learn about different iterations of the Cold War for the remainder of the school year. DDI tests are already coming up in a few weeks!! Be on the look-out for a Study Guide at least one week in advance of the exam. Please remember that I continue to update my class Twitter account (@MsHoodsHoodlums @twitter.com) with homework and quiz due dates. Please feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns, or constructive feedback! Thanks and take care, Leah Hood

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

Welcome to a new school year!

Welcome to my class blog, 7th & 8th grade students and families! First, I want to apologize for the lack of indentation and spacing in this post; there seems to be a glitch in the system because in my draft the spaces appear, but when I publish the post they go away! I am trying to get help to rectify this annoyance! I am hoping to upgrade to a class website as soon as possible, but until that is finalized, I will continue with this blog. I had a great summer, but it went fast because it was so full! I spent a week at the MAGE Summer Institute at Macalester College in St. Paul (which happens to be where I did my undergrad), played a show with my band, and spent the rest of break traveling with friends and family. I traveled to Boston, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, St. Bart's, Detroit Lakes, and Vancouver! So definitely a whirlwind, but very, very fun. I hope you all had an enjoyable summer, too. I really believe that Social Studies as a discipline empowers individuals to be engaged, conscientious citizens in our democracy and aware, informed, empathetic members of the global community. To me, Social Studies is fundamentally about people and their stories; Social Studies is a place where we take time to analyze how human institutions act upon and are shaped by people; it is a place where we weigh our options and develop our worldview. We have such an archive of stories and examples to help guide us in making the world a more equitable, peaceful, happy place for everyone! Here's an overview of Social Studies this year: 7th Grade: Throughout the school year we will study the time period roughly between the 1890s to the end of WW2 in 1945; a large percentage of that time is spent covering U.S. history, but we do a fair amount of world history, as well. We rely heavily on Upfront magazine to keep us up to speed on current events, and the kids just love this publication every year (so do I!); we will regularly work in geography skills and content (map quizzes are a regular feature), and briefly touch upon some basics of government and economics as needed to contextualize the history content. I love to use literature in my Social Studies classes (I used to teach a course that combined Language Arts and Social Studies skills into a two hour block), so memoirs and novels will be a big part of our class; I really believe that literature brings the content to life and helps students to connect and empathize with the characters as representations of historic perspectives. I still remember characters and stories from elementary, middle school, and high school! Reading is powerful. We will begin the year briefly reviewing the Gilded Age and European colonialism to give context to our focus unit, "American Imperialism/Expansionism"; under the umbrella of this unit are sub-units such as Cuban Independence and the Spanish-American War. To support this unit we will read the novel The Surrender Tree by Margarita Engle, a work of historic fiction written entirely in free verse poetry from the perspectives of six different but related/tangentially related characters; this will support Mrs. Kempf's opening unit in Language Arts about poetry. Later this quarter we will study WW1; as the year progresses we will begin work on a long-term research project; there will also be some opportunities for extra credit reading projects both during the quarter and over breaks. 8th Grade: 8th grade Social Studies continues, more or less, from the point where 7th grade Social Studies leaves off-- with the end of WW2 in 1945. We will spend the first part of this quarter learning about systems of government and economics so that students can meaningfully understand what we will study for almost the remainder of the year-- the Cold War. By the end of the school year we will have learned about the latter half of the 20th century, some units focusing on U.S. history, others on world history. Geography skills will be worked in as often as possible, with an attempt to align the geography content with the history content whenever possible; students will take map quizzes, but not as regularly as in 7th grade. As in my 7th grade Social Studies classes we will read lots of great literature in 8th grade Social Studies! Extra credit reading opportunities will be available again, although this year I've decided to allow students to complete extra credit reading and related projects throughout the quarter, as well as during breaks. We won't start reading our first novel in Social Studies until about midterm, but students will read the book Code Talker with Mrs. Kempf in Language Arts; I'm really excited about this because Code Talker is about the Navajo "code talkers" in WW2, which is the unit this year's 8th graders ended on just a few weeks ago at the end of 7th grade Social Studies; we placed the novel here deliberately to maintain the flow of content. After Mrs. Kempf's classes finish reading Code Talker, then we'll begin reading the novel Year of Impossible Goodbyes, by Sook Nyul Choi; this will again flow seamlessly from where Code Talker leaves off! Year of Impossible Goodbyes is a work of historic fiction from a Korean perspective during WW2; the novel begins in Korea under Japanese occupation nearing the end of WW2 and ends with the beginning of the Cold War as it manifested itself in the newly divided Korea-- Soviets in the north, Americans in the South. Later in the quarter we will study the decline of the European colonial system and learn about Indian Independence (i.e. Gandhi), as well as the end of the Apartheid system in South Africa (i.e. Nelson Mandela). Later in the year we'll begin work on a new long-term research project. Mock Congress Elective: Some 7th and 8th graders are scheduled to take Mock Congress with me this year! This is a new course offering at Paideia and will meet once per week, all year. We'll start the year by learning about the legislative process. Once we have a handle on that we'll simulate the Minnesota State Congress, debating and "voting" on bills that are on the floor of the MN House and Senate; then we'll repeat the exercise as though we are the U.S. Congress. Later in the year we'll create our own bills-- all of which are aimed at community service projects-- and pass some into law. (Hopefully we won't have too much gridlock! ;) ). Depending on how much time we have left at the end of the year, we may or may not enter into some comparative politics, where we would look at other legislative systems throughout the world and compare them to our own. I will continue this year to post announcements, reminders, homework due dates, and upcoming quiz dates on my class Twitter account: @MsHoodsHoodlums@twitter.com This is merely one quick, easy tool of communication; it is by no means required of students or their parents/guardians and is not the only (or even the primary) method of communicating. It's just easy and lots of people are already on Twitter, so it's an option. Data Driven Instruction (DDI) quizzes will continue this year; DDI quizzes happen near the end of each quarter and are graded for middle school students. I'm excited to start the year with returning students and families, as well as to meet and get to know new students and families! Please never hesitate to contact me with questions, concerns, and constructive feedback, and thank you in advance for your support! Sincerely, Ms. Leah Hood

Update-- long overdue!! I have been delinquent in updating my blog this month! I'm so sorry. I feel like I've been so busy, focusing each moment on what needs to get done in the next hour... The end of the year is always a bit of a crunch! Here's what we've been up to: 7th: We are learning about WW2 right now in 7th grade Social Studies. We finished up learning about FDR's presidency (e.g. Fireside Chats, the New Deal programs) and transitioned naturally into learning about WW2 (the transition being natural since FDR was president at the start of WW2). So far students have learned about the Axis Powers v. the Allies, and about the worldwide economic depression which contributed to the destitution of the German people leading up to Hitler's climb to power. We have gone over an overview of the war via PowerPoint and a video on United Streaming; students were able to choose in which format they received their intro/overview. We have discussed various world leaders during WW2 and done some work with maps of Axis v. Allied territories during the war. This week we will be learning more about why so many Germans were attracted to Hitler as a political leader, as well as more about the Holocaust. Next week we will be discussing the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the subsequent "internment" of Japanese Americans, U.S. involvement in the war, and the end of the war. (On a somewhat separate note, students have now completed map quizzes over all regions of Africa.) 8th: We have finished our study of the the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and have been focusing on the 1960s and 70s, namely the Vietnam War and the Counterculture Revolution. Students are in the midst of learning about how the Vietnam War began as a part of the "containment" policies with relation to the spread of communism, and the fear that the "Domino Theory" would prove true. To me, this is an exciting unit because of how dynamic and turbulent the 60s were! Students will be reading/listening to excerpts of The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, and watching the documentary 1968. You would all be so impressed if you could hear some of the 8th grade discussions about A Raisin In The Sun!! Very high level. I nearly cried a few times, out of pride :) All 7th and 8th graders have their Independent Country Research Projects due next Thursday, June 7th; there is a 5 Paragraph Essay due, as well as an oral and visual in-class presentation. Additionally, all 7th and 8th graders have their DDI Social Studies quiz this Friday, June 1st! Study Guides have been distributed and there are many, many study activities in Quia. Thanks so much for a great year! I can't believe it's almost over!! -Leah Hood

Week 3, Q4

(Please note: I apologize for the formatting and aesthetics of this post; I have tried repeatedly to correct it but it will not recognize spaces between paragraphs! This has never happened before. Hopefully this issue will resolve itself before my next post. Thanks for your patience.) The Great Depression & The Civil Rights Movement Hello, Paideia families! This week in Social Studies we were pretty much back to normal after MCA testing last week; some students still had to be pulled from classes for make-up testing throughout the week, but other than that we were back to our normal routine. Here's the update: 7th grade: This week we read a few more chapters in our novel about the Great Depression. We are almost (finally!) finished reading The Truth About Sparrows; we hope to finish up with this by the end of next week, when we plan to wrap-up our study of the Great Depression and New Deal. Students watched the PBS documentary Landslide, about the presidency of Herbert Hoover, and completed a film guide aimed at building and assessing comprehension and analysis about the topic. Students used a PBS online timeline and packet of graphic organizers to define and describe terms relating to the Great Depression and New Deal. Students also tested over countries in northwest Africa, such as the Ivory Coast and Senegal. Next week students will pretest over countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and make posters about the Great Depression and New Deal for display in the hallway. Lastly, students received detailed grading rubrics and expectations for their 5-paragraph essays and oral/visual presentations of their independent research, both due June 7th. All weekly research assignments are due Monday, May 7th; these have been assigned weekly since the start of Q3; students have had time in Computers class each week to work on these assignments. 8th grade: We made lots of progress in our learning about the U.S. Civil Rights Movement this week! Students used a PBS online timeline and The History Channel website to define and describe key terms (people and events) of the movement and record their notes in a packet of graphic organizers. Students also worked in pairs to make mini-posters about key people and events in the Civil Rights Movement and we used these posters to create a timeline in the hallway; students then read each others' posters and summarized each term in a packet. We ended the week breaking into two small groups to do some direct instruction about different philosophies within the Civil Rights Movement. Next week we will read the class play, A Raisin in the Sun, readers' theater-style in class, and study music of the Civil Rights Movement. Lastly, students received detailed grading rubrics and expectations for their 5-paragraph essays and oral/visual presentations of their independent research, both due June 7th. All weekly research assignments are due Monday, May 7th; these have been assigned weekly since the start of Q3; students have had time in Computers class each week to work on these assignments. If you have any questions or concerns about your child in Social Studies, please feel free to contact me. We're already approaching midterm! Have a nice weekend, Ms. Hood

MCAs!

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

Welcome back to Fourth Quarter!

Welcome back from a beautiful Spring Break!

I hope you all had as restful and enjoyable a break as I did. I often fill my breaks with trainings and travels, but this time I took it easy. It felt really nice. I visited some friends and family in Iowa, but aside from that I just putzed around, really :)

Here's a summary of what we'll be studying during Q4 in Social Studies:

7th Grade:
This quarter in 7th grade Social Studies we'll be concentrating on the 1930s and 1940s. We spent most of last quarter studying U.S. history in the 1920s, covering topics such as Women's Suffrage, Prohibition, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929. We'll start of this new quarter looking at the Dust Bowl, Great Depression, and New Deal; all that will take us up until about midterm. Then the latter half of this last quarter we'll focus on WW2-- an epic topic. We'll look at WW2 from the angles of the European and Pacific theaters, "the homefront" in the U.S., and marginally from "the rest of the world", including places such as Africa and Central and South America (places less directly impacted by the war). We will, of course, learn about the Holocaust during this unit, and will also look at the Japanese internment camps in the U.S.; after we finish up reading The Truth About Sparrows, students will choose from one of four WW2-themed novels and participate in Literature Circles. Book choices include: The Diary of Anne Frank, On Hitler's Mountain, When My Name Was Keoko, and A Farewell to Manzanar.

8th Grade:
This quarter in 8th grade Social Studies we'll be concentrating on the 1960s-80s U.S. and world history. Last quarter we concentrated on the early Cold War in the U.S. and abroad; in Language Arts students read The Red Scarf Girl, which supported our Social Studies unit on Mao's China; in Social Studies we learned a lot about the Soviet Union and McCarthyism in the U.S., and finished off last quarter learning about the Korean War, Bay of Pigs Invasion, and Cuban Missile Crisis.
In this new quarter we'll learn more about the presidencies of JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan; we'll also learn about the Civil Rights Movement (and read A Raisin in the Sun), social activism in the U.S., the Vietnam War, and the Middle East and oil politics. We'll cover topics such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, The Singing Revolution in the Baltic states, Tiananmen Square, and the Iranian Revolution. We'll get as close to 2012 in history as time allows!

Throughout all of this, all 7th and 8th graders will continue working on their independent country research projects. The weekly research topics and assignments we've been working on since the end of Q2 will be put towards a 5 Paragraph Essay and an oral and visual presentation; both the essay and oral/visual presentation will be due at the very end of the quarter/school year.

Whew! That's a lot, but we'll do our best :)

Please don't forget that I post homework and due dates on my class Twitter account (@MsHoodsHoodlums).

Please always feel free to contact me with questions, concerns, and constructive feedback!

See you next week!

Thanks,
Ms. Hood

Last Week, Q3!

Hi all!

This quarter has seemed faster than any I can remember! The results of the DDI quizzes in both 7th and 8th grades were very positive-- the average score in both grade levels was in the low 80s, percentage-wise. I was very pleased with those results.

7th graders were tested over major concepts of the 1920s U.S. history, while 8th graders were tested over major concepts of the 1950s, both U.S. and world history as it relates to the spread of communism and communist dictatorships.

Here's where we're at in Social Studies:

7th:
7th graders have been engaged in a stock market simulation for the past week; students designed inventions/products and created advertisements for their products, then simulated the trading floor of the stock exchange, recording how much money was invested in their company, and how much money they invested in other peoples' companies. Today we revealed which businesses failed and which succeeded, with a majoring of students losing money to simulate "The Crash of 1929", which led to the Great Depression.

8th:
8th graders recently completed a readers' theater piece about General Douglas MacArthur and the Korean War; for the remainder of this week we'll be learning about JFK's presidency, with particular attention to how it related to the Cold War, focusing on the Bay of Pigs Invasion and Cuban Missile Crisis; along with that we'll be learning about Castro and Khruschev.

Next quarter in 7th grade we'll finish up our study of the Dust Bowl, Great Depression, and New Deal, and end the year with WW2; in 8th grade next quarter we'll wrap up our look at the early Cold War and focus more on the social movements in the U.S. during the 1960s and 70s, including the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War era.

Please remember that an optional Sexual Education Seminar will be offered at Paideia over Spring Break; this is open to all 7th and 8th grade students and requires a signed permission slip from a parent/guardian.

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

Thanks!
Leah Hood

Social Studies Update

Hi all!

Here's the latest from Social Studies Land...

7th:
This week we analyzed the famous Langston Hughes poem, "Let America Be America Again", read on in The Truth About Sparrows, and began watching certain sections of the film, Iron Jawed Angels, which is about the life of Alice Paul and her work towards achieving women's suffrage in the U.S. Prior to watching the film we reviewed the key figures and events portrayed in the movie; while students are watching they are recording important information such as, "On what issues did suffragettes disagree WITH EACH OTHER?" And, "List at least 5 different forms of protest the suffragettes used to try to win women's suffrage." Next week we will learn about the "Scopes Monkey Trial" and review the Labor Movement, Women's Suffrage, Prohibition, and the Harlem Renaissance for our DDI quiz on Thursday.

8th:
This week we learned about McCarthyism by examining both primary and secondary sources about the topic. Students watched primary source footage of the rebuttle to McCarthy ("... Have you no decency, sir? At long last, have you no decency?...") in the House and read the letter from playwright Lillian Hellman to the House Un-American Activities Committee. Today 8th grade students did a Listen-and-Draw activity while I read aloud to them from one of our three textbooks. Next week we will discuss the concept of "The Fourth Estate", and have a guest speaker to discuss how she was impacted by McCarthyism. Wednesday and Thursday will be taken up by DDI, and Friday I promised the kids we'd have a light-hearted lesson about the 1950s; we'll watch more anti-Soviet propaganda films (which the kids love) from the 50s, listen to music, and maybe even have an impromptu "Sock Hop" :)

Both grade levels have continued researching about the country of their choosing in Computers class; so far they have used sources such as the CIA World Factbook, the BBC's Country Profiles, UNESCO, and The World Bank. Research topics have so far included: Business/Economy, Transportation, Society & People, Environment, and Science, Technology & Communications. Upcoming research topics will include Education, Recreation, and Religion & Culture.

All of my students have DDI Study Guides and Quia study games available to them to prepare for their graded DDI quiz next Thursday, March 1st.

Please remember that I continue to post homework and due dates on my class Twitter account (@MsHoodsHoodlums).

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns, or constructive feedback.

Thanks!
Ms. Hood

Almost Midterm again!

Hello, Paideia families!

First, my apologies for not having updated this blog with a new post in the past few weeks! This quarter has really gotten away from me. But it's going really well-- I will describe it below :)

7th Grade:

Where We've Been:
We have been studying The Roaring (19)20s! I think this is a fascinating decade in U.S. history; it includes the Labor and Women's Suffrage Movements, as well as Prohibition, and it is these three movements that we've covered so far. We watched a PBS documentary about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and have been using a variety of sources (songs, video clips, readings) to learn about Women's Suffrage. Just today we started formally discussing Prohibition. Today's Journal entry in 7th grade was a set of questions about stereotypes, rights, and attitudes about women and men in the U.S. and in other parts of the world today. Students made some great observations and First Period in particular had a lively and engaging whole class discussion!

Where We're At:
We are currently working on discussing the connection between Women's Suffrage and the Temperance Movement in the U.S. We made timelines of important events in the Women's Suffrage Movement and used one of our three textbooks as a source for consideration in our 4-Source Comparison Packets, analyzing the chapters about Women's Suffrage and Prohibition for perspective and bias.

Where We're Going:
Tomorrow we'll be rotating through stations, all of which use different sources to teach about Prohibition, but each of which uses different types of sources; next week we'll discuss the gangster culture that arose out of Prohibition, speakeasies, flappers, The Charleston, and later the Harlem Renaissance, stock market speculation and crash, and finally the Dust Bowl, Great Depression, and New Deal.


8th Grade:

Where We've Been:
We made some really great looking flow charts (on display now in the hallway) describing the roles and relationships of key figures of the Russian Revolution, watched documentaries about Lenin and Stalin, rotated through stations teaching about life in the Soviet Union and the gulag system, did a brief reading about Chairman Mao, and reviewed communism and capitalism.

Where We're At:
Today we are doing a simulation about the redistribution of wealth during the communist experiments of the mid-20th century; we are also watching some old propaganda footage from the Cold War, and working to answer student questions/confusion about these different economic systems. Mr. Mitsch and I have been truly impressed with the students' eagerness to learn about and understand these theories, and at the high level of student questions!

Where We're Going:
We will be learning more about Chairman Mao and communist China next week, then moving on to discuss the Red Scare and McCarthyism in the U.S., along with the concepts of Containment, the nuclear arms race, the Space Race, the Korean War, and all the exciting events of JFK's presidency.


Also in 7th & 8th grades we continue to focus on Independent Research; each student has chosen a country (not the U.S.) to research throughout this school year, and is currently conducting more focused, teacher-guided research each week, in preparation for a 5-Paragraph Essay and Oral Presentation at the end of Q4. Students have been using the CIA World Factbook and other credible, online sources to find out about Business/Economy, Transportation Systems, and Population Issues in the country of their choosing. Next week student research will be focused on Environmental issues, followed by Education and Technology.


I really feel like we are building some good foundational skills this year, in history and geography, as well as more generalized thinking and research skills. This year is flying by for me, but it has been one of the best years ever for me as a teacher. This group of students and families is so wonderful to work with. Thank you.


Please keep in mind that I continue to post homework and quiz due dates on my class Twitter account (@MsHoodsHoodlums), and that many resources are available via our class Gmail account.

As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or constructive feedback, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thanks and take care,
Leah Hood

Welcome to Q3!

Welcome back to Third Quarter!

I hope everyone enjoyed his/her break and holidays. I did a fair amount of traveling in the region, visiting family in Iowa and spending a lovely long weekend on Lake Superior in Lutsen over New Year's. Other than that, I was pretty lazy :) Although, I did start taking pottery classes, which has been challenging but enjoyable.

Here are a few general announcements for all 7th & 8th graders:

First, a reminder that any Extra Credit Book Reports for Q3 are due tomorrow, Friday, January 20th, 2012.

Next, we hosted a Macalester education student on Tuesday; Ms. Johnson shadowed us for just one day, but it was a great experience and we wish her well as she works to complete her major in Education and her teaching license!

Lastly, we welcome a new co-teacher to 7th & 8th grade Social Studies this quarter: Mr. Dave Mitsch. Mr. Mitsch has been co-teaching in 2nd grade up until this point in the year, but with some welcome staffing additions in Lower Academy, Mr. Mitsch was freed up to join us upstairs; everyone wins in this situation, really, because Mr. Mitsch has a background in teaching older students, as well as teaching Social Studies, and I get the advantage of working more consistently with a co-teacher! This week has gone very smoothly, and I feel so lucky to be working with Dave.


Here's what we're up to:

7th Grade:
This week we started off on Tuesday by doing a "Source Rotation", reading children's books that pertain to the 1920s and 30s and recording facts about U.S. culture, politics, and economics during this time period; yesterday we used the laptops to do credible internet research for our Independent Country Research Projects, which are on-going throughout this school year; this quarter we will be doing the bulk of the research, and next quarter we'll be drafting and completing a 5-Paragraph Essay and Oral/Visual Presentation to inform audiences about the history, current events, and culture of countries around the world. Today we reviewed the chapters we read last quarter in The Truth About Sparrows; students numbered off, got into small groups, and performed short skits presenting at least the three main events in their assigned chapters. Tomorrow we'll end the week by reading on in the novel and completing another Reading Packet; we will also begin a new 4-Source Comparison Packet about The Roaring Twenties, our first source being a documentary video clip from United Streaming.


8th Grade:
This week in 8th grade looked very similar, activity-wise, to 7th grade, only we're studying the 1950s and 60s this quarter. Tuesday we did a "Source Rotation" activity with children's books about the 50s and 60s and recorded facts in graphic organizers about U.S. culture, politics, and economics during those decades. Wednesday we used class time to completed some introductory but directed research for our Independent Country Research Projects; today we reviewed The Russian Revolution by rotating between stations; stations included short video clips about the revolution, excerpts from The Romanov Bride (an historic fiction novel by the same Minneapolis author as The Kitchen Boy, from last school year), quotes by Trotsky and Lenin, and political cartoons about the Russian Revolution and Red Scare in the U.S. Tomorrow we will begin a new 4-Source Comparison Packet about The Cold War, our first source being a documentary video clip overviewing the 1950s.

That about covers it! I'll try to keep you updated as the weeks roll on.

Please don't forget that I post homework assignments and due dates on a daily basis on my class Twitter account: @MsHoodsHoodlums @twitter.com

Please always let me know how I can be of help!

Thanks,
Leah Hood

Happy holidays!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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