Teacher Plans
April 9th - 13th
This week
It's another remarkably busy week coming up. On Monday, a substitute will be carrying out my 'master plan' involving reading from the Journey books and doing some final ELA practice reading and writing before the ELA MCAS actually lands on Tuesday and Thursday. Students will need to come to school with healthy snacks, a good book to read for if they finish early, materials to make their chairs more comfortable, good luck charms, etc. They will arrive at school well rested after a week with almost no homework and hopefully plenty of calming and excellent, high-quality family time.
We will be trying to wrap up a number of subjects this week. This will include the story of the Revolution (all except the stand-alone section on the Declaration of Independence), the Coding Workshop on Friday afternoon, and the publication and gifting of the books the students have been working on with their Kindergarten buddies. You can see some of the covers for these books adorning the teacher plans page this week!
Also on Friday is the ever-popular Always Changing video which the students get to experience (in gender-separated groups) during Gym class!
Phew.
Talk about busy.
It makes me dizzy just writing it, never mind teaching it!
Morning meeting
As part of the whole-school philosophy each class begins each day with a thirty-minute long class meeting.
The meeting is structured into four phases:
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Greetings
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Sharing - short news items from members of the class
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Activities - short, fun community building activities
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Message - topic of the day, often with academic angle.
Language
Reading and Writing
This week, we wrap up the stories of the battles of the Revolution and the students crunch through the ELA MCAS tests.
Student designed Revolution Website
Here's the link to the student web-design practice site. The students are learning about web design using Weebly.com while producing work relevant to our Social Studies project.
Google Classroom link
Here's the link to our Google classroom.
Monday, April 9th:
Read about Molly Pitcher and Ann Darragh.
Writing prompt - How did Molly and Ann's actions show their bravery?
Tuesday, April 10th:
ELA MCAS test 1.
Prepare Buddy books for publication.
Wednesday, April 11th:
Learn about and diagram the British and American strategies for 1777.
Battle of Saratoga - 1777.
Work on web design, podcasts and Revolutionary replicas.
Thursday, April 12th:
ELA MCAS test 1.
Finalize and publish Buddy books.
Friday, April 13th:
Book buddies - Finalize and gift the Kindergarten buddie's books.
Finish work on the main story of the Revolution.
Always Changing video during Gym class!
Coding workshop - the final session
Math
This week, the ELA MCAS is likely to interfere with Math class.
Monday, April 9th:
Unit 11-8 Division and fractions
(Homework - P11-8)
Tuesday, April 10th:
No Math due to ELA MCAS.
Wednesday, April 11th:
Unit 11 Division and fractions -quizThursday, April 12th:
No Math due to ELA MCAS.
Project
The American Revolution
This is a three to four week plan for the next Social Studies unit, the American Revolution.
There are three main parts:
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Causes of the War
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The War itself
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The Meaning of the War
This week we will be concentrating on life in the colonies. We will try to immerse ourselves in the language, dress, and style of the times. Students will be encouraged to come to school dressed in colonial-era fashions, and to use colonial-era language throughout the project.
Causes of the War
Life in the Colonies
The French and Indian war
The Stamp Act
The Intolerable Acts
The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Massacre
The War Itself
Lexington and Concord, Breeds Hill/ Bunkers Hill/ Dorchester Heights/ Ticonderoga
New York/ Trenton/ Princeton
The Grand Strategy/ Germantown/Brandywine/ Howe takes Philadelphia/ Gentleman Johnny and Saratoga- the turning point.
Yorktown
The Meaning of the War
The Declaration of Independence
The Compromise over slavery
The Constitutional Convention
The students will be working in teams of three or four. Each group will be formed around a ‘Tavern’ that they will create, using historical data to inform their choice. The 'Taverns' work on various projects each week and are rewarded using ‘Revolutionary dollars’ for completion and quality of finished products.
Activities for ‘The Causes of War’
Create a Tavern
Create a Tavern logo, sign, cheer, secret handshake, and scarf.
Create a fictional journal – based on Joseph Plumb Martin’s journal – life during the Revolutionary war
Find out about the Stamp Act, the Intolerable Acts, the Boston Tea Party, and the Boston Massacre
Make a timeline of the precursors
Watch DVD 'Liberty' part 1
Patrick Henry speech competition
Loyalist vs. Patriot – podcast
Activities for ‘The War itself’
Continue with timeline
Journal entry – on the battlefield - design web pages.
Making diagrams of the Grand Strategy
Revolutionary replicas – life sized portraits of famous characters
Codes and Spies – inventing codes, Washington’s ‘mask’, and a real life spy mission!
Activities for ‘The Meaning of the War’
The musical ‘1776’
Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Hancock
How to make a fair system – The House of Representatives and the Senate
Best form of Government?
Diagrams of the Constitution
The PBS series ‘Liberty’ is a main source of information for this unit. The students will watch and discuss selected pieces of the series.
Liberty - PBS website linked to the series.
Causes of the Revolution - pictures
Portraits of the Revolution
Battle Maps of the Revolution
Here are some maps we'll be using in class to show the early action in the Revolutionary War.
Homework
The students will be receiving more homework through Google classroom - roughly twenty minutes each night this week, starting on April 2nd.
Each writing prompt will be posted on Google classroom.
Check out the 'News’ page for the 'Parent's Guide to Homework', as well as other delicious treats!
Science-class teacher plan
This is the route to the 'Specialist Class' page.
This page is for the students and parents of Ms. O'Donnell to find out about what happens during the Science class!