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
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