Back from Thanksgiving Break

Homework due tomorrow, Tuesday, December 1st: Since I was out during last spelling period with strep throat please bring in last completed spelling homework.

Homework due Wednesday, December 2nd: Students should bring in the work they did on their literature circle assignments, and be ready to discuss the 7^th to 13^th chapters of Island of the Blue Dolphins. Each student should be able to answer the following question. Who were the Aleuts?

Ongoing Homework: Students should remember to read for thirty minutes each evening. Reading the assigned novel does count towards the nightly reading. Remember there are no restrictions on what you choose to read, as long as you make sure you get your assigned reading done. Please remember to record the date, the title of what you read, and how many pages you read on your Reading Journal entry form. Please turn in your entry forms on Friday, so that I can review how your reading is going. I will return them to you on Monday. I would encourage you to keep up with your reading over the weekend.

During writing workshop, students continued working on their personal memoirs. Most of the students are finished with their first drafts. As they work on subsequent drafts, their focus is on making their writing compelling being sure to answer any questions readers may have. Before showing me their work, the students are getting peer reviews from their classmates. Any work shown to me must be in 12 point Times New Roman type, double-spaced. It is striking to note how comfortable the 6^th graders are with the idea of writing multiple drafts before a piece of work is complete.

In drama class today the 6^th grade actors worked on tableaux. The main points we worked on were physical presentation, expressiveness of the actors, clarity of story, and relationship between actors.

In cultural studies, the students continued to work on research for their Californian Indian Presentations. We discussed some of the difficulties of conducting research, such as finding information, sorting out what is important from what is not, and putting information in our own words. The students are also confronting the advantages and challenges of collaboration. The 1^st drafts of their reports will be due next Monday.