"For eighteen hours it came down in blinding sheets three feet and more. It buried cars, it covered streets, It weighted down branches on the trees, it dusted roofs, It snarled the roads, The winter storm did as it pleased." ~John F McCullagh

We start our week with the threat of a Nor'Easter/Blizzard moving into New England on Monday night.  The Weather Channel says it's shaping up to be "historic" and will move up the coast, most certainly affecting my three children whose homes span the Maine coastline from Portland north to Bangor.  They can expect to get smacked -- 50-60 mph winds and upwards of 2 feet of snow are predicted at this juncture. What we'll get this far inland remains to be seen. Still, the potential for a snowstorm is no small matter and we would be wise to pay attention to local weather forecasts and prepare ourselves "just in case."

WEATHER.COM

WINTER SAFETY CHECKLIST

BE SAFE. . .

~

ASSIGNMENTS FOR THE WEEK OF 

JANUARY 26 - 30

SCIENCE

Monday:  Water Unit Review  -- Look over information from previous weeks' blogs.  Review Vocabulary, Water Cycle (another Interactive Water Cycle can be found HERE), Conservation, Oceans, and Bottled Water   Check your Drive for your very own personal study sheet.  Woo-hoo!                                        

Thursday: Water Unit Test 

Take THIS interactive quiz on the Water Cycle!  Great test prep--you'll see some of this information again on your BHT!

Here's 8 minutes of engaging vocabulary review in a great video format:

     

NASA/THE WATER CYCLE:  "Water is the fundamental ingredient for life on Earth. Looking at our Earth from space, with its vast and deep ocean, it appears as though there is an abundance of water for our use. However, only a small portion of Earth's water is accessible for our needs. How much fresh water exists and where it is stored affects us all."

Take this Interactive Question & Answer Game *- A flash animated game that gives the Answer.  You have to choose the correct Question from three possible answers. The game lets  you know instantly if you have the right answer. Play the game as often as you'd like to improve your score. When you're done, click on "print" to save to Google Drive and send it to me.

Want to learn more?  Check out these 6  Drinking Water Bloopers. Write each of them in a sentence
(or two) explaining why each one is a blooper -- as part of your test grade. Can you think of any more?

INTERESTING, INTERESTING, INTERESTING. . .

Water Facts of Life - Amazing facts about water.    

Water Trivia Facts - Fun water facts continue - how long can you live without water.

Want to be puzzled? Click HERE!

                                                                   

                                                                                                                  

SOCIAL STUDIES

Tuesday:  Finish Pyramid, by David Macaulay and associated activities.  Focus for this lesson: the mummification process. Way cool activity to follow! (See Video 2 below.)

Friday:  Introducing Independent Egyptian Book Project. Stay tuned for directions and lots of opportunities to create!

Two short videos to watch this week:

Try this ALL ABOUT MUMMIFICATION trivia quiz.

Although these instructions will vary slightly from ours, it clearly shows how to use paper mache and a few common supplies to create a sarcophagus. This is a project that will take several sessions to complete.

The written directions can be found HERE.

DONATED SUPPLIES WE COULD USE: 

Small soft butter tubs with lids

small stick-on gems/sequins for decoration

metallic markers or paints in various colors

LANGUAGE ARTS

Monday - Wednesday:  Complete 2nd draft of Personal Narrative. 

• Highlight in blue your great beginning.  On the margin, write down the kind of lead you chose. 
• Highlight in pink any examples of setting.
• Highlight in yellow all dialogue.
• Highlight in orange all examples of "Show Don't Tell."

Thursday & Friday:  District Writing Prompt

REMEMBER TO USE THIS RUBRIC TO GUIDE YOUR WRITING. . .

 WORD STUDY 

Unit 9 due Friday

MATH

Monday: Unit 3 Test
Tuesday: Corrections  
Wednesday:  Retest
Thursday: Rates and Ratios Introduction & 4.1
Friday:  4.2

A Great Introduction!

~ and. . . ~

Blizzard image  Water Cycle image  Faucet image  Egyptian border image  Anubis/mummification image  Anubis image  Pyramids image  Teal banner mage  Quadrants image  Word study image  Pencil image  Writing Boy image    Oops image  Animated water droplet  The weight of snow image

“Without a struggle, there can be no progress.” ― Frederick Douglass

"Fredrick Douglass rose from slavery to become the leading African-American voice of the nineteenth century." He is often referred to as the father of the civil rights movement because of his commitment to freedom and an inclusive nation "strengthened by diversity and free of discrimination."

Visit THIS site to learn more about this prominent 

abolitionist, author, and orator.

~

JANUARY 21-23

LANGUAGE ARTS

To really understand the genre of personal narrative--and the power of "VOICE" in writing, a timely, heartrending example can be found in A STORY OF SLAVERY. . .  This 14-minute video provides the audio of "Ashokan Farewell" as performed by David Roberts and a narration of Mark Twain's "A True Story, Repeated Word For Word As I Heard It" as read by Richard Henzel.  Various pictures of slaves from the 1800s, as well as photographs of Mark Twain and black Union soldiers provide strong visual support.  The summary of "A True Story. . ." can be found HERE.

A STORY OF SLAVERY: A TRUE STORY. . .

. . .So where are we now?

Your comic strip narratives should be done and submitted to my Drive for grading. Now it's time to show what you learned about the power of strong beginnings, dialogue, and the elements of story. Incorporate dialogue in your Personal Narratives. Use planning sheets from THIS site to be sure all elements of a good narrative have been covered.

This week:

• Concentrated effort on Personal Narratives. Check your Google Drive for a checklist to guide your completion.  
• This Assessment Rubric will also help you:  

SOCIAL STUDIES

Friday:  Pyramid, by David Macaulay--pages 42-57 and associated activities

SCIENCE

The Story of Bottled Water was released in 2010 on World Water Day. "It tells the story of manufactured demand—how to get Americans to buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week when it already flows virtually free from the tap.  . . .the film explores the bottled water industry’s attacks on tap water and its use of seductive, environmental-themed advertising to cover up the mountains of plastic waste it produces." Finally, it poses a compelling question. . .

Thursday: Discuss and complete "The Story of Bottled Water" (located in your Google Drive).

THE STORY OF BOTTLED WATER

                   

                       
No WORD STUDY this short week 

                                         

MATH

Wednesday: Pages 137, 138 & 3.10
For a fun game to practice coordinate planes           go HERE!
Thursday: Unit 3 Review Test (go over quadrants!)

Friday: Corrections, discussion and BHT, Unit 3

Fredrick Douglass image

About Fredrick Douglass

Story of Slavery: A True Story Story, Repeated Word For Word As I Heard It

Personal Narrative Six Traits Rubric

Egyptian pyramids image

Bottled Water image

Virtually Free image

Study and Learn image

Math image

“We're all stories, in the end.” ― Steven Moffat

ASSIGNMENTS FOR THE WEEK OF 

JANUARY 12-16

LANGUAGE ARTS

There's nothing like a good story. Our lives are filled with them, and we relish sharing them with those around us. When we write our stories down, we have the added benefit of being able to choose our words carefully, for greatest clarity and effect.  

Personal narratives allow our audience to vicariously experience a personal moment in our lives.  We create a window through which that particular moment is captured in all its vivid detail - all the sights, sounds, actions, and emotions. If done well, the writing connects us to our audience creating a shared experience.

Let's look HERE for more information about writing Personal Narratives.

Sample of a PERSONAL NARRATIVE.  Also look HERE and HERE for others written by middle school students.

Great NOTES that can help you in your writing.

GETTING THOUGHTS DOWN ON PAPER

Last week we explored the power of good beginnings. This week, we'll better understand the place dialogue has in narrative writing. (Dialogue, you'll remember, gives your writing personality. It is an essential component of good narrative writing.)

• MONDAY:  To learn how to weave dialogue into your writing, we'll begin with Calvin & Hobbs. Check your Google Drives for a particularly wonderful (if I do say so myself) lesson on writing dialogue through my favorite comic strip characters.  You'll also find a helpful list of rules for writing dialogue and a short practice assignment, which will be due on Friday.
• TUESDAY:  We're off to the theater!  No class today. (You could work on your homework from yesterday, though. . .)
• WEDNESDAY: Continue rewriting your chosen comic strip into a narrative.
• THURSDAY: Be ready to share narratives with each other.  Turn in. Now it's time to show what you know! Incorporate dialogue in your Personal Narratives. Use planning sheets from THIS site.
• FRIDAY: Concentrated effort on Personal Narratives. Check your Google Drives for a checklist to guide your completion.  

SOCIAL STUDIES

Monday: Pyramid, by David Macaulay, pages 14-27 (and associated activities)
Tuesday: "Design-a-Sarcophagus" (unfinished activity from last week)
Thursday: No internet today; ARGH! Therefore, we're going 'Old-School' and working on activities associated with pages 28-41 of Pyramid, by David Macaulay.

VIDEO WORTH WATCHING!

WAY COOL PLACES TO INVESTIGATE!  . . .

Whatever you want to know about ancient Egypt, you'll find HERE!
Another site to get lost in is HERE! Wow!
Look HERE to see an interactive 3-D Illustration of the Giza Pyramids. Explore Khufu's pyramid HERE.
Lots of links at VIRTUAL EGYPT for those of you wanting to know more (...and more...and more...)
Free time?  HERE are a few Egypt-related games to try!
Want to know how mummies are made?  Check out THIS interactive!

SCIENCE

A Review of the Water Cycle:

Wednesday: Continued from last week

LET'S  TALK CONSERVATION!

You can find 50 ways to conserve water HERE.  Even more water conservation tips can be found HERE.  Choose one and create an eye-catching poster or bumper sticker that includes:
*  WHAT you can do
*  HOW you can do it

I was particularly intrigued by #46, which stated that 28 billion gallons of water are used to produced all the unwanted paper in junk mail.  I deplore junk mail. This provided a website for anyone interested in taking their name off direct-marketing lists: dmachoice.org   It's worth checking out!   

Friday: Internet's back! We created a representation of how much water there is on earth in the activity "All the Water on Earth." Following that, we watched and discussed "Earth: The Biography - Oceans," & completed associated activities. You ought to watch this; it's pretty amazing!

. . .AND NOW, AS WE NEAR THE END OF OUR WATER UNIT, CHECK OUT THIS  LITTLE TOE-TAPPING REVIEW!

MATH

Fun working with coordinating planes!

Here are some games, activities, and resources to reinforce this week's work: Catch the Fly,  Coordinate Game and THIS link, which provides a coordinate grid generator and fun worksheets!

~

Monday: Pages 125-126 and 3.7

Tuesday: Going to the thee-ah-tuh.  No class today; however, a little Think Central wouldn't hurt! Practice, practice those skills!  

Wednesday: Pages 229-130 

Thursday: 3.8

Friday:Pages 133-134 and 3.9

WORD STUDY

Monday - Friday: Unit 8

Friday: BHT

Stories banner

Thought bubble image
Hand holding pen image
Personal Narrative cartoon image
Eye of Horus image
Egyptian Pharaoh image
Integer cartoon

"There are far better things ahead than we leave behind." ~C.S. Lewis

Another year awaits us, a chance to start anew

We'll take one step and then one more and learn stuff, me and you

We'll explore our potential, old roadblocks we'll review

We'll create challenges for ourselves and work to see them through.

We'll show off all our talents (Yes, we've got quite a few)

We'll dazzle and electrify with all that we can do.

An optimistic attitude, a dream we can pursue--

That and a little "elbow grease," old habits we'll eschew.

~

If we set goals that matter --things we can commit to

They'll soon become accomplishments -- and a sense of pride; it's true!

Here’s to a healthy, happy, and productive 

2015!

 SOCIAL STUDIES
Independent Activities:

• Learn about Ancient Egypt through fun and educational interactive games.  Visit THIS site and complete the activities. You'll receive a code at the end of each one; keep track of them so that you can submit them when you're done. After you claim your "STAMP," forward it to me. It's worth 100 points!
• Conduct this short CYBERHUNT for another awesome 100 points!

This and all other independent activities must be completed by the completion of the Ancient Egypt unit.

FUN STUFF!

PROJECT 1: Map of Ancient Egypt (completed) HERE's another one to color just for fun.

PROJECT 2: Make your own Cartouche. After reading about Egyptian hieroglyphic writing (see packet), use THIS link to write your name in hieroglyphs. THIS  link can also be helpful in making your own cartouche. The paper for your final draft will be provided to you.

PROJECT 3: Design a sarcophagus. Trouble getting started? HERE's just one example of how to draw some of the features. A basic pattern will be provided to you. Draw your own face onto the sarcophagus. Divide the lower half down the center or into four sections. Decorate with colorful symbols, patterns, or designs.

VIDEOS WORTH WATCHING!


ALSO. . .
A must-see: Deconstructing History: the Great Pyramid
& The Nile File

TUESDAY: PYRAMID, by David MaCauley, pages 5-13 and associated activities

THURSDAY: PROJECT 2 above

SCIENCE

MONDAY:  REVIEW--Interactive guide to the Water Cycle, click HERE. Define the terms: atmosphere, condensation, evaporation, evapotranspiration, infiltration, oceans, precipitation,run-off, sublimation, sun

For a quick guide to helping you understand the water cycle, check out Water Cycle in a Nutshell HERE.

HOMEWORK: THE WATER CYCLE on Google Drive. Check your email, then copy and paste the document into your own google doc. DO NOT EDIT MINE.

WEDNESDAY and FRIDAY:

THE HIDDEN WATER WE USE: INVESTIGATION

How much water does your family use each day? Click on THIS link to get an eye-opening rough idea! Record your data on Part 1 of your Investigation.

WHAT IS YOUR WATER FOOTPRINT?

     Your goal will be to get a more accurate idea of how much water you use on a daily basis.  Check out THIS site and answer the questions in Part 2 of your Investigation.

     Ready for a real shocker?? Want to know how much water is embedded in our daily lives? Look HERE, then answer the questions in Part 3 of your Investigation.

ASSIGNMENT:

LET'S  TALK CONSERVATION!

You can find 50 ways to conserve water HERE.  Even more water conservation tips can be found HERE.  Choose one and create an eye-catching poster or bumper sticker that includes:
*  WHAT you can do
*  HOW you can do it
*  ILLUSTRATE--big and  bold! 

SPELLING: UNIT 7 DUE FRIDAY

Friday:  BHT

           
                                              

MATH

Monday: Pages 107-108 & 3.2
Tuesday:  Pages 111-112 & 3.4
Wednesday: Mid-Chapter Test & corrections
Thursday: Pages 117-118 & 3.5
Friday:

LANGUAGE ARTS

This is a week of beginnings, so let's "begin" here, shall we?  We're writers. Amazing, elaborate stories are within each of us, just begging for an audience. Our greatest challenge [in crafting narratives] is "beginning" well--that is, producing the kind of lead that will grab the reader and not let go.  It doesn't matter if it's fiction or non-fiction, a strong beginning is what sets the tone, establishes the intent, the purpose, of the piece, and determines the author's "voice." Want to captivate your reader? Begin well.  

We'll explore THIS site for some insight (a little word play, here) into writing great beginnings for our own narratives.  Want some advice?  Pay attention to what good writers do. Play around with different ideas for leads and see what works best for you. Don't be boring. (Sorry; it had to be said. . .) 

We'll gather some tools this week and craft our own beginnings to PERSONAL NARRATIVES. Exemplars will be posted on this blog!

Nothing grabs a person's attention like a good beginning.  Check THIS out for great examples of how to write a narrative lead.


PERSONAL NARRATIVE WRITING  -- STEP-BY-STEP SUPPORT.

Map of Ancient Egypt
Man watering lawn image
Save our water image
What is your water footprint animated duck image
Don't Be a Drip image
Thanks to srrmsmolson.blospot.com for water unit information 
Great blog for writing " beginnings"
Positive and Negative numbers image
Books image
Beginnings image
Calvin & Hobbs Image