Math:
The Marionettes tackled finding the percent, part, and whole problems this week. They started with straight forward questions like 45 is what percent of 60? and ended the week with application problems like 45 6th grade students made a B or higher on their math test. If there are 60 6th graders, what percent of students made a B or higher?
The Saplings reviewed how to find the area of rectangles, parallelograms, triangles, and trapezoids at the beginning of the week in order to prepare them for their lesson over finding the area of composite figures on Thursday.
The Vroomshrooms learned the product rule, the power rule, and quotient rule this week. Stand alone problems are a piece of cake, but mixing all three rules together took a lot of determination. They did a great job and will be moving on the negative exponents next week.
ELA:
During novel studies, Mondays are reserved for book clubs! This week we formed teams and answered questions about the books’ events and vocabulary game show style. Marionettes and Saplings are reading In the Reign of Terror, while the Vroomshrooms are reading Around the World in 80 Days.
We spent the rest of the week learning an important concept called text structures. First we deconstructed that term and found it means “word building,” and it refers to the five different ways authors organize nonfiction texts. Knowing the elements of each structure helps a reader comprehend what is usually dense information. Students took notes about each, then used those as a resource for a carousel activity where they walked around the room reading paragraphs and identifying the text structure of each. After that it was time to apply all this new knowledge to writing. Everyone drew a slip of paper to determine their text structure: compare and contrast, sequential order, problem and solution, descriptive, or cause and effect. All students wrote about the same topic: donuts! We met in the salon (that’s what we call the library these days…in keeping with our study of the French Revolution) to share our writing and let classmates identify the text structure.
After that we applied our learning to the nonfiction book we’re reading in class: Beware Madame Guillotine. As we finished each chapter, we worked together to analyze the text, identify its structure, and used its corresponding thinking map to summarize and process the information.
Theme:
Students REALLY divided and conquered this week in Theme classes. We dove into the first big topic on the road to the French Revolution by looking into the characteristics of the 3 Estates, the social structure that put the French people into ranks based on a number of factors.
We stated the week by creating a graphic organizer to dive into the characteristics that separated the groups. Students were able to define the characteristics and summarized them. They also made connections between that social order and society today, with some groups commenting about the wealth gap we are experiencing in America today.
OUr next step was to create Sensory Figures, a method of creating characters based on their five sense. Students wrote statements about what members of the various estates saw, touched, felt, smelled, and saw in their daily lives. With sentences like “With my nose, I smell the stench of death as my people slowly starve to death without adequate food supplies”, students were able to show their understanding of the estate system. We also discussed the differences between literal and metaphorical imagery so that students could add factual depth to their states. The resulting posters were insightful and amusing. They are hanging outside the music room on display.
We ended the week with a quick tour through the Causes of the French Revolution, using stations to mark the main reasons and the main spark for the event. We will use these in a mini-project next week. Students also made final choices for the Q3 Projects. We will be training on the computer program next week to complete the projects. Students are really psyched about their choices and can’t wait to get started!!
Laughter is always good medicine when performing tasks. Marionette students share jokes as they discussed designs for their Sensory Figures outlining the characteristics of peasants and aristocrats in pre-revolutionary France.
Top left: Vroomshrooms write donut paragraphs. Top right: Marionettes read a paragraph and determine its structure. Bottom: Marionettes “clutch their pearls” as we share gauche behaviors.
Top: Marionettes cut out text boxes to arrange in sequential order. Bottom: The Saplings take a brain/movement break.
At top left, Vrommshroom students work on outlining the causes of the French Revolution in stations, while top right, Flex Tech classes pose with Mr. Steve’s new password after learning about protecting internet accounts. Above, Marionette students discuss their experiences with the Lavish Soiree and how it applied to the estate class system in France’s Old Regime.
Theme students work to outline the characteristics of the estate class system in pre-revolutionary France, creating posters using sensory figures to show the characteristics.
