January 19 "Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Happy Tuesday! Today was a great day....

1. For those of you who may not know, my Literacy group is reading Milkweed, by Jerry Spinelli. It takes place in war-torn Warsaw, Poland during the time of the Holocaust and is an engaging and thought provoking story about a young orphan boy. It really lends itself to group analysis and the subsequent development of shared meaning. We've been enjoying it immensely and have had some pretty intense discussions so far! Ask your son or daughter about it or about ANY book they're presently reading in their Literacy groups. We try to keep the interest level high...
2. Because I don't have everyone for Social Studies today and many didn't have the opportunity to see the Marco Polo short on the blog, we took the time to watch it today as a review, then did the map interactive activity (see yesterday's blog). For those students who watched it last night--you guys are AWESOME!!) I think everyone now gets why it's important to remember this geographic explorer/merchant/storyteller/co-author of one of the most influential books in history.
3. Fifth grade has hopefully finished up their B.E.E. final drafts and turned them in. If not, they need to be completed for tomorrow. (Does anyone need to stay in to finish? Please make arrangements...)
   

Tomorrow the sixth grade will do a short compass activity in Social Studies as part of their unit. It should be fun.

(Check out the apture links I've included on this blog to learn more about Marco Polo and/or direction finding techniques.)

Just a heads up: tomorrow the fifth grade is having a bake sale, the proceeds of which are going to the Haiti relief fund. Great food, great cause! Great kids!

Well, I guess I'm heading home now; I hope you all have a well-deserved restful evening!

Teri