Literature:

Your child should always have a book that they enjoy reading with them throughout the class day. Also, although your child is getting older, they still need to read at home daily for a minimum of twenty minutes to help improve skills. The analogy I like to use with kids is; If I am a baseball player I do not only practice baseball when my team meets, I practice on my own too. Likewise, reading class is our team practice time, where we practice strategies and skills. When your child is at home, it is important for them to read and apply what they have learned. 

Year Long Goal: - To become a better reader and develop an appreciation for reading. 

Your child is reading fiction and nonfiction texts on a regular basis. When reading each text they are practicing reading strategies that are being taught throughout the year.  Below is the current strategy we have been working on.

Inferences: "Inferring is at the heart of reading. Writers don't spill information onto the page; they leak it slowly, leaving clues along the way to keep the reader engaged in the act of constructing their own meaning." 

BK + TC = I  (Background Knowledge + Text Clues = Inferences)

This is a skill that your child continually works on throughout various lessons in class. They are learning to use the facts presented in the text to help them read "between the lines," thereby inferring what the author is trying to say. 

 Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech will be the next fiction piece of literature. 

Learning Goals throughout the unit....

Social Studies

Learning Goals / Activities

Year long goals in Social Studies:

LG: To be able to be to identify the location of the ancient civilizations within the modern world.

LG: To be able to show understanding of how historical cultures shaped the world in which we live in.

LG: To be able to explain the major contributions of each ancient civilization studied.

LG: To be show a general understanding of historical events.

Students are rotating between Mr. Amundson, Mrs. Bergstrom and myself as they study a different ancient civilization each month. 

All lessons are designed to meet the above learning goals and students will be assessed on each. Students will be asked to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding in different ways. Some assessments may be project based. 

When your child is with Mr. Amundson for Social Studies they will be studying Ancient Egypt and Ancient China. 

When your child is with me they will be studying Ancient Greece Ancient India. 

Mrs. Bergstrom is teaching the unit on Ancient Rome  Ancient Myans, Aztecs and Incas.   

The following questions will be used as a final assessment after the study of each civilization is completed.

 Use a variety of maps and atlases to gather and compare information

 Summarize technological achievements in _____________’s society.  

 Choose the technological achievement you feel was most important and explain how it impacted ________’s society. 

 Justify why the technological achievement you chose was more important than the other achievements during that civilization.  

 Summarize events that changed ___________________’s society.     

 Choose the event you feel is most important and explain how it impacted ____________________’s society. 

 Justify why the event you chose was more important than the other events during that civilization. 

 Summarize the governmental structure of ______________’s society.   

 Explain the advantages of this form of government.

 Explain the disadvantages of this form of government. 

 How are the structures of __________________’s government interrelated?

 Explain how the various parts of ____________________’s government rely on each other to function.

 What are the key resources or geographical features or natural resources of _______________?   

 What natural or geographical resources enabled ____________ to develop and succeed? Explain why. 

 Rank the geographical elements/natural resources crucial to __________’s development and justify your ranking.

Language Arts

Integrated Language / Social Studies Unit

Integrated Newspaper Project

Cross-Curricular: Social Studies & Language

Students are expected to be active participants in this integrated Language/Social Studies Newspaper Project. Expectations include active listening, reading assigned articles, participating in discussions, and completing all assigned practices.

Students may come in for extra help before Advisor, Academic Intervention, and during recess (with prior permission)

Standards:

Students will write effectively for a given purpose.

Students will use conventions correctly.           

Students will focus on a different component of the newspaper every week during this six week unit.  The ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, China, India, Aztec, Inca and Maya will be used as the basis of their newspaper project.

Students will begin each class period by reading a required section from an online newspaper.

Students will be reviewing the writing process during each section. Students will be completing the final copy using an online program.

TBAT write an obituary of an historical figure.

TBAT write a news article informing readers of an ancient news worthy event.

TBAT to write a Sports story covering an ancient sporting event so that the reader feels that they are there.

TBAT give a supporting argument of an historical controversial  event or individual.

TBAT describe how an invention/achievement increased an ancient culture’s economic climate.

TBAT  inform the public on a current festival or community event.

Students will also be completing a Sitton Spelling Unit each week.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

            Mr. Amundson            Mrs. Bergstrom            Mrs. Johnson

Ideas for your project: 

Feature News Article 

China:Marco Polo,Terra Cotta Army,  Mongols, Silk Road, Emperor Qin, Forbidden City, book burning

Egypt:  Menes, Flooding of the Nile, Building of the Sphinx, Mummies, Tut, Ramses,  Cleopatra

Rome:  Julius Caesar, Marc Antony, Romulus and Remus, Writing of the Twelve Tables, Punic Wars,Colosseum, Circus Maximus, Gladiators

Greece: Sparta vs Athens, Marathon, battles, olympics, trial of Socrates, 

Mesopotamia:  Hanging Gardens, Hammurabi, Code of Hammurabi, Assyrians, 

India:  Harappia, Aryan, construction of Taj  Majal, Mother Teresa,

Inca/Aztec/Maya:  Floating Gardens, Tenochtitlan, city states, temples Stelas,

  Sapa Inca, Terrace Farming

Obituary:   

China:  Qin, Confucius, Genghis Khan, Empress Wu Zetian, Shi huangdi, Saragon, 

Egypt:  Tut, Menes, Hatshepsut, Khufu, Ramses II

India:  Ashoka, Siddhartha Gautama

Rome: Julius Caesar, Remus, Romulus, Marc Antony, Cleopatra. Augustus Caesar, Hannibal, Constatine, 

Greece:  Plato, Socrates, Alexander, Hippocrates, Aristotle, Homer, 

Inca/Aztec/Maya:  Montezuma I

Mesopotamia:   Hammurabi

Sports: 

Rome:  Gladiator competitions

Greece:  Olympics

Aztec/Inca/Maya: Ball game

Business: 

China:  paper, silk, matches, wheelbarrow, gunpowder, decimal system, sundial, astronomy, porcelain china, pottery wheel, fireworks, paper money, compass, seismograph, kites, playing cards, cross box

Egypt:  irrigation, shaduf, cartouche, pyramid, written language, number system based on 10, mummification, use of textiles to make clothing

Greece:  Democracy, columns, architecture, olympics,

Mesopotamia:  wheel, sailboat, first written laws, Hammurabi’s code

Rome:  concrete, paved roads, road signs (milestone)

India:  button, plough, wells, bathhouses, grainary, 

Community: 

holidays, festivals, marriage customs, myths, 

Opinion:  

India: sacred cow, Hinduism vs Buddhism..... 

Newspaper Printing Press

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