Weekly Update

It was so nice seeing many of you last night at Back-to-School Night.  I know some of you had other commitments, but you are always welcome to stop by our classroom!

English
We have been discussing the art of persuasion in class during the past week.  The students have been developing arguments for hypothetical situations, which we then analyzed to determine what type of persuasive techniques they were using.  Next we will be looking at a specific structure for a persuasive essay that they will be writing in response to the debate they will be witnessing in History class next week.

We also briefly departed from persuasive papers last week to work on dog booties.  That's right, dog booties!  As some of you might know, in February and March, we will be using the Iditarod sled dog race as a tool for learning in our language arts classes.  Students will be following the race; learning about concepts such as perseverance, goal setting, and team work; reading a novel; and writing for various purposes and audiences.  Since they will each be following at least one musher, it is fun to have a personal connection to the race.  I am the co-founder of a volunteer group that makes dog booties to help mushers.  The students assisted me by cutting fabric strips and Velcro/Velstretch so that I can begin sewing.  When I am finished, I'll have them write personal messages on the booties to send off to Alaska.  It's always exciting during the race to see how "our musher" is doing!

I have a few pictures on my computer at home that I'll upload later.

Literature
We are currently reading short stories and reviewing their major elements: setting, plot, characterization, and theme. In our first story, "A Mother in Mannville," we focused on setting. The students picked out descriptive details that helped to make the setting come alive and are incorporating them into a newscast. They are currently writing the script and will be  performing the newscasts on Monday. Each story or feature must relate to the literature story in some way.  I'll post the videos next week.

Religion
This past week we have looked at the Gospels and discussed how and why they are similar and different.  I am also placing a focus on the rosary this year.  This is such a beautiful Catholic tradition that I think is fading from our prayer repertoire.  I know it's not something I have done regularly, but am planning to revive.  To begin, the students researched how to pray the rosary and then created posters that demonstrate that.  Others groups created posters for the four mysteries of the rosary and for the prayers that we pray.  Then we prayed it and even involved a modern twist.  Check out this website I used to lead our prayer session today:
http://www.comepraytherosary.org/