The week of November 9th-13th was yet another busy week in Room 212. This week contained the Veterans Day Assembly, a visit from the Schools-to-Watch Initiative, a visit from the Smithsonian Learning Lab, and the beginning of a great fundraiser called Pass The Turkey! Please take a look at the images below to see how you can help make a difference for Elizabeth Forward families this Thanksgiving holiday!
Monday: Students were introduced to the thirteen colonies, specifically looking at the geography and economic activities of the colonies. Students listened to an oral history from Olaudah Equiano on the Middle Passage. Students participated in a jigsaw activity to investigate these aspects of the colonies. Students worked in their collaborative groups to complete a virtual graphic organizer on eBackpack on the New England, Middle, and Southern colonies. Students then shared their portion of the virtual graphic organizer with their group members. By the end of class, students had the entire virtual graphic organizer completed. The students will utilize this virtual graphic organizer when they begin their Google Docs & Slides Project next week. Tuesday: Students were introduced to one of my favorite primary sources today, George Washington’s Rules of Civility. George Washington wrote his “Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior” as a school exercise sometime before he reached the age of sixteen. His handwriting on the manuscript is childlike, his grammar and spelling mediocre, but what is of far greater importance is that this was the code of conduct that molded his character and help him assume the leadership of his country. The importance of the document cannot be denied. It influenced our first president and therefore an entire nation. Students were given several rules and “translated” these rules in a way that makes sense to us today. Wednesday: Students applied what they learned from the Tuesday’s lesson to create an image or comic strip that reflected one of George Washington’s Rules of Civility. Students could use their artistic ability to create a picture that portrayed a rule or students could use an iPad application called Comic Strip Creator to depict the rule. Students showed off their creativity and really impressed me with the scenes that they developed! I also wanted to say that I was very impressed with the Veterans Day assembly at the Middle School. The amount of support from the community was very admirable! The students who performed during the assembly did a fantastic job. A special thank you to all of the veterans and current service men and women who have sacrificed so much for the rest of us! Thursday: Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a workshop presented by the Smithsonian Learning Lab. Kate Harris, a member of the Learning Lab, joined our classroom to help utilize the Learning Lab tool. Students first performed a Thinking Routine titled Zoom In. This Thinking Routine shows zoomed in images of a famous portrait and asks students to think critically about each image they see. The painting that students were analyzing was Ben Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky. I picked up this Thinking Routine from Harvard University’s Project Zero Summer Institute. Students then completed an activity using the Smithsonian Learning Lab website that centered on Benjamin Franklin. Students viewed several images and artifacts from the Smithsonian’s collection and also read a primary source on one of Franklin’s experiments with electricity. Friday: Students were introduced to several important concepts in today’s class. The Glorious Revolution, mercantilism, and types of colonies were all discussed in today’s class. In addition, students investigated several major movements taking place during the colonial era. The two major movements that were discussed were The Great Awakening and The Enlightenment. Finally, students held a discussion about different cultural aspects in the thirteen colonies, specifically gender roles and education. These topics will be revisited next week during the Google Docs & Slides Project.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Mr. Steve Hartnett
Mr. Hartnett will update the Room 212 Blog with classroom updates on a regular basis. Be sure to follow me on Twitter @ MrHartnett212 Archives
July 2019
Categories |