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:

Greetings
Sharing - short news items from members of the class
Activities - short, fun community building activities
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 -quiz

Thursday, 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:

Causes of the War
The War itself
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.