Tuesday
SS: Students were given time with their partner to finish their campaign ad and to practice their short speech. Each pair shared their view and reasons as to whether or not students should have to walk in the blue. They did a great job presenting! Each student then received their own ballot and cast their vote. The final tally ended up being Blue: 14 and No Blue: 12. It was a close one!
ELA: We finished reading the last chapter of Narnia today... very sad, but a great ending! The students are working on their last quick write for the unit. The stories titled Bridge to Terabithia and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe both include make believe settings. Using evidence from each text, describe how each setting impacts the plot. Analyze Jess' reaction to Terabithia and Edmund's reaction to Narnia using the details from each excerpt. Compare and contrast each character's reaction to the setting.
Students will continue working on this writing tomorrow and get to finish watching the movie!
Monday
SS: The students participated in a simulation about the history of voting rights today. Each student received a slip of paper that contained an age, race (white, black, Hispanic, Japanese or Native American) and how much land they owned. The represented the gender that they already are. The simulation started with 1776 when only white men over 21 and with land could vote. The students who held a card that did not qualify had to sit down. Only 3 students were standing, so I asked whether or not the class found it fair for only these 3 to make decisions about laws, presidency, etc for our classroom "country"? All said no. We moved on to future years ending with 1971 when all persons 18 and up could vote regardless of race, gender and if they owned land or not. This was great visual to help students see how voting rights have progressed since the founding of our country.
The students then had they chance to campaign for a voting topic. The topic was: "Should the students of Holt be made to walk in the blue in between class periods?" Students paired themselves with a partner with the same view. They created posters to campaign their view and to convince their classmates to join their side.
ELA: We are coming to the end of reading Narnia! We finished chapter 16 today and talked about how the characters have changed from beginning to end. We also visited the book fair that opens for business tomorrow!
