April is Here

Hey all!  We have reached yet another milestone as we have reached the month of April.  The students keep mentioning that the year is flying by and I definitely agree!  This means we have to work our tails off, because we have A LOT to get done before the end of the year!

In literacy, we have recently finished up our book clubs on the topic of survival.  The students read and discussed their books in their book club groups and recently finished their iMovies for their book clubs.  We had asked the students to create their own scripts before creating their movies.  Students needed to include certain elements in their story: its exposition, conflict, and rising action.  They used their scripts to create scenes and then brought their props in for taping.  Many were filming scenes in different classrooms, outside, at home, and/or with the green screen.  Taping is now complete and viewing is the next step!  We watched and critiqued a few movies last week, but experienced technical difficulties, so we will need to view more this next week.  Take a look at the pictures below as the show all the preparations for a successful movie-making experience. 

I am not sure if your child has mentioned our new unit that we have started in literacy, but we have recently began reading, researching, and discussing the Holocaust.  The students are very interested in this topic and are curious to learn more.  We are reading aloud the book Daniel's Story, and we are discussing our thoughts, questions, and feelings through our online padlet.  Also, we are currently examining primary and secondary sources about the topic of Kristallnacht.  We will move onto discussing antisemitism, propaganda, and a few more topics before the students start their historical fiction book clubs on the Holocaust.  Look for more information on the Holocaust as we near the end of the book clubs as their will be a culminating project at the end of the unit.

In social studies, we continue to learn about the culture of ancient Greece.  The whole 6th grade did a fantastic job on their ancient Greek museum projects.  They clearly have more artistic talent than I do!  There were so many projects that we had to display them in the Discovery Center.  Take a peek at the projects below:

If you have not looked at your child's report card, please look it over and discuss it with your child.  Then, please sign and send the envelope back to school.  Thanks!

Lastly, there will be no school on Monday, April 11th, due to a teacher in-service.  Please plan accordingly.  Have a great week!

Mrs. McCarville