Viewing Africa through the eyes of an archeologist: Social Studies Update

Our Amazing Expedition through Africa continues as we explore through the eyes of an archeologist.  Students have worked on various stations to discover more about the history, animals, climate, and land found on this diverse continent. 
We began our expedition with four roadblocks.  Our first roadblock required the students to take an archeologist's view of animals found in Africa. Hopefully parents joined in the fun at home by viewing the live webcams stationed by various watering holes in locations in Africa.  We saw lions, rhinoceros, giraffes, oh my!  Students acted as archeologists in the field and sketched and documented behaviors of animals into field journals.  Another roadblock asked students to take an archeologist's view of the land (and water) in Africa. By labeling a map with these land features, students were able to notice where and why civilizations grew in particular places.  The third roadblock looked at climate zones.  Students defined the various climate zones found within Africa, color-coded a map, and located three countries within each climate zone.  Our final roadblock helped the students locate countries within Africa.  The students used this rotation to help study for the map quiz.  Knowing where countries are located helps tremendously as we study Africa.  The location of a country deeply impacts the resources, culture, issues, and events.  The students were given a quiz to identify each of the countries.  Those who demonstrated mastery are asked to maintain.  Those who were unable to demonstrate mastery at this time will continue to be given opportunities to retest until mastery is obtained. Please encourage your child to continue to work towards mastery by studying.  Practice websites are posted on my webpage under Useful Links.  A few minutes each night will really help!

As we continued our view of Africa through the lens of an archeologist, students worked in teams to research Ancient African Kingdoms.  They created a seal to symbolize what was important to the Ancient African Kingdom.  Each group is in the process of presenting their findings, so that we can all learn about Songhai, Kush, Benin, and Ghana.  Ask your child about Mansa Musa and Timbuktu!!
Most recently, we began to explore Ancient Egypt.  Students worked as a team of archeologists to analyze Egyptian Tomb paintings!  Next up, a mission to find King Tut's tomb!

Language Arts Update

Students have continued the study of sentences by focusing on dependent and independent clauses. We learned the acronyms FANBOYS and AAAWWUBBIS to help remember coordinating conjunctions and many of the subordinating conjunctions. We have also been singing a song about the parts of speech to help us remember the role these words play in sentence construction. Students will be asked to demonstrate understanding of these concepts through defining, indentifying, and practical application in their own writing.

Our reading focus has been on “digging deep” in a text. One of the goals we have when digging deep in a literary text is to determine the theme. We also discussed the difference between literal meaning and interpretation of text. Students practiced interpretation of song lyrics. We also learned a new term, allusion. Students learned about the role of background knowledge with respect to allusions. We determined that understanding an allusion helps add another layer of meaning.

Students completed a baseline writing assessment. We are in the process of assessing the products created and will provide feedback to the students as soon as this is available. The results of this assessment will help drive instruction and conferencing for individuals.

Regular review of daybooks in all subject areas is important for all students. It is also important for your student to remember to see us upon return from an absence to get make-up work. Students will need to make-up the work outside of class. (They can see us for help before school if needed.) When student work is returned, they are placing it in the language arts section of the accordion folder. We are keeping it there to help with review for assessments and for future reference and goal setting.

Link for curriculum night information

September 12, 2011

7^th grade Language Arts and Social Studies

THE AMAZING EXPEDITION…IT’S ON!

     We have kicked off our “Amazing Expedition” in Language Arts and Social Studies.  With our field guides and field journals in hand, we have begun to explore the continent of Africa.  Ms. Barbara Christian was kind enough to lend us her “real” field journals so that we could determine what those in the field deem important to record and how those discoveries are recorded. We will use this information to replicate those efforts on our virtual experiences in the field.  An important lesson in “note making” versus merely “note taking” accompanied this experience.  Mrs. Hobday captivated the students with some information on Ancient Egyptian mummies.  This made for some fascinating “note making” which enabled students to record facts and interesting information without copying the information directly from the text.  The students then added why these facts were significant along with personal comments, making the information more meaningful.

     Each leg of our expedition will be viewed through the eyes of an archeologist, sociologist, political scientist, and activist.  Some interesting props helped us understand how to view the world through each of these lenses.  Students learned one word definitions to help remember the roles of each of these perspectives.  Donning masks and cool heart sunglasses made learning about these roles a lot more interesting!

     Mrs. Tomalis led the students through additional “note making” as they began to learn about the diversity of the geography, people, history, governments, economics, and issues within Africa’s countries.  Students took part in an independent study of a country in Africa as viewed through each of the lenses.  Then each shared their “expertise” about their country with their classmates through a scavenger hunt.  Using a map of Africa as the “game board,” students located where each of the countries of Africa could be found.  Check out Mrs. Tomalis’ webpage under useful links to find websites to practice locating countries in Africa. 

Mrs. Hobday shared a planning tool for writing called the CPA strategy. This tool takes a writer through the process of thinking about the content, purpose, and audience of a piece of writing. We practiced using this tool to respond to writing prompts. Students also got a chance to use this tool when they participated in a formal writing assessment last week. This assessment is a baseline of student performance in writing. The results of the assessment are used to help plan and individualize writing instruction.

     We have begun our study of conventions with sentences. We did a “Sentence Smack-Down” to pare sentences down to the subject and verb. Students learned some essential questions to help identify whether a sentence is a complete sentence or not. We moved to looking at vivid verbs and the impact a great verb can have in a two-word sentences. Students now have list of vivid verbs in their field guides to use for inspiration. Another activity we did was sentence expanding. This activity segued to introducing phrases and dependent and independent clauses as students analyzed what they added to expand the two-word sentences.

     Our theme for the year is Change. We’ve been inspired by quotes, videos, and music related to this theme.  It is exciting to think about all of the changes that have already taken place as your children transitioned into seventh grade.  We look forward to watching them continue to change and grow on this journey.  We believe that these seventh graders will take to heart the famous words of Mahatma Ghandi and will “be the change you want to see in this world.”