Happy New Year

The new year is a time for new beginnings.

I spent a lot of time here over the holidays preparing for the new year.

We're starting the year with the following units:

Reading: Emphasis on the reading strategies of questioning and inferring combined with study of non-fiction (in social studies and science) and historical fiction genres.

Writing: We're doing a short unit on Writing on Demand (moving through the writing process quickly to produce results in one class period). Then we will move into a longer unit on writing essays.

Communication: We're doing a week-long unit on listening skills and active listening. We will be working on collaboration skills in our hands-on science activities.

Science: We're starting a unit on levers and pulleys

Social Studies: We're beginning a mega-unit on how History is Intertwined. We will study Chapters 10-15 in the Social Studies book and work to answer the following essential questions:

• What caused the Revolutionary War?
• Which side would you have chosen and why?
• When is it right to revolt?
• What does freedom for all mean?
• Why is civic responsibility required of people who live in a society based on the ideal of individual liberty?
• What skills do we need to participate effectively in a democracy?
• How important is compromise? Can compromise be wrong?