Alona documents her grandmother's story

Personal History Project-we went from yellow post its marking dates and grandparent stories to placing the stories permanently on the official paper. The project is taking structural shape.
Personal reading-time was set aside for reading when a certain level of completeness was done on the personal history project. Some got to the reading time, others did not.
Peak-we got Peak out of the hotel and into the temple to meet his Tibetan guide.

Homework-
1) Study for vocabulary quiz
2) Bring journals to class tomorrow
3) Write three comments as assigned from Mr. Cook's list

Val, Maya, and Nora go all out for Blue and White Day

Peak-left in Kathmandu to acclimatize
Vocabulary review-oral responses plus 10 written sentences are driving the the meanings of this week's words
Personal History Project-all stories are now on post its, hanging on the time line depicting the life of our selected grandparent. Next week the stories come off the post its and onto the larger sheet
Library time-book selection and reading time was the order of the day. Once again, the JIS library, the bookstore where all the books are free.

Homework-
1) Read two times
2) Know your Personal History Zoom topic for research

The Stories Begin

Peak-we've moved Peak to Bangkok, but didn't realize that was only the beginning. Before the text ended today, he was off to climb Mt. Everest with his father and their climbing group. Now the vertical begins.
Personal History Project-we got important dates on the time line, and are now beginning to add the stories given to us by our familymembers. This is where the real interest begins to build.
Research-how do researchers do that? We went to the library and listened to Ms. Hodgson describe the Big Six research process. We'll need this by the end of next week.

Homework-
1) Bring library materials for a book exchange
2) Wear blue/white for the sports assembly on the Bali Stage
3) Bring any additional grandparent information

Creating the PHP Timeline-Practical Math

Read individual novels-we've been slightly behind on this aspect of our daily life. We took 25 minutes to read and discuss what we've selected as books of choice. Not a surprise, students rated their current selections quite high.
Journal entry-15 minutes was spent writing. Topics were recommended, but the final decision rested on each student s to their focus for this exercise.
Personal History Project-we began to block out our subject's life timeline. How old is the grandparent? What's year is the center point of their time line? What point is the first quarter, the third? The math was overwhelming, which was somewhat surprising.
Peak-We finally got Peak aboard the airplane and headed for Thailand. Still not good father-son time, but it is moving in that direction.

Homework-
1) Read 20 minutes
2) Have more of the grandparent information for inclusion of stories on the time line.

I Didn't Even Ask

Peak-We got Peak to the departure gate, but learned much about his life prior to his climbing incident in New York City. Now the story is beginning to make clear sense.
Vocabulary review-time was spent going over the vocaulary words on the context of the earthquake and resulting disaster in Haiti. Students are beginning to get them down pretty well.
Notebook writing-students used their knowledge gained this week to write a piece as if they actually were in Haiti. The context could have been a journal entry, a letter to a friend or relative residing outside Haiti, or a news report as if they were a journalist in country covering the story.


Homework-
1) read 20 minutes
2) bring journals to class tomorrow

Peak by Roland Smith-One Great Read

Blogging with TAS-today was our first day actually connecting to the blogs of Taipei American School sixth graders. We spent the first part of our block meeting new friends, albeit virtual friends for now. It will be interesting to see what they've done in the comment section of our posts.
Writing-New year's resolutions was the topic, commitment is the issue. :-) Each student worked on the basics of fluency, organization and mechanics. For some resolutions are real, for others less so. It's sixth grade.
Vocabulary review-each class reviewed their 10 words, not easy words at all this week.
Reading workshop-students spent time with their novels of choice. At the end of the reading session we rated the books, and once again, sixers rate books of their choosing very, very high.

Homework-
1. Read two times
2. Be ready with grandparent info on Tuesday

TAS - JIS Connect

Welcome TAS

Welcome sixers of Mr. Cook's classes. In Jakarta we are anxious to meet you and work together on some projects we can all enjoy.

First is our holiday. Doesn't it already seem so long ago? We did many things, some near Jakarta, some far, far away. Did you do something similar to our students? Below lists some categories and people who experienced these activities. If you'd like to read their work and leave a comment, find their name below, then find their blog on the right. It's as easy as that. Friday and over the weekend we are going to look at your blogs and do the same. See you on line.

Snow fun-Amalia, Kayleigh, Michelle, Emma

Movies-Yohannes, Kayleigh, Saige, Rinzin, Yong Hee, Stuart, Si Won, Brandon, Maya, Nora, Val, Madhav, Nadia P, Youngwoo, Ashley

Family-Yash, Jane, Saige, Yuki, Rinzin, Faqeera, Maria, Si Won Brandon, Val, Nadia K, Madhav, Nora, Stuart, Emma

Airport troubles-Elise, Kayleigh, Yuki, Val

Staying home-Yohannes, Rgee, Tobin, Daniel, Si Won, Maya, Ashley

Sports-Amalia, Nicholas, Hyun Jin

Christmas-Elise, Nathan, Matthews, Will, Tobin, Emma, Brandon, Val, Heyang, Youngwoo

New Years-Thomas, Yohannes, Elise, Rgee, Brandon, Val

Creating our Wall of Words

Peak-this is one good book by Roland Smith. It is difficult to read it in class, then eventually put it down and be about other tasks. I wonder of Roland Smith does school visits?
Private reading and discussion-we had 20 minutes of reading workshop time. Students gave short presentations of the books they have selected, and rated them 1-5 in quality.
Vocabulary words-homework words were collected in preparation for this week's vocabulary lists. Some of these words are of the 'quite challenging' variety. Stay tuned for list publication.
Whodunnit?-our next English unit was introduced, the Whodunnit. This will be different than a mystery unit. Concepts such as aliens, the yeti, ghosts, are all certainly mysterious, but the Whodunnit is more narrow, focusing on a crime and working through the steps to find the perpetrator of the misdeed. This unit of study usually generates high student interest.

Homework-Read 20 minutes from a book of choice.

First Journal Entry of 2010

Homework discussion-nice work on last night's homework. Students have got their posts ready for the TAS audience, hopefully yet to happen this week. We're on schedule for successful completion.
Personal history project-about half the students have initiated discussions with grandparents. Already there are strong hints of some very powerful narratives emerging.
Journal entry-we completed our first entry of 2010. Fifteen minutes in our paper journals or with the computers on line.
Peak-we began our next oral novel, Peak, and what a surprise we had...and to think it was not a mountain at all he was climbing.

Homework-
1. Read 20 minutes
2. Bring in 3 vocabulary words from the personal novel being read.

Back Home in Q2

Discussion-what took place over break? Where'd you go? Who were you with? What did you get for Christmas? It is fun to catch up, but also a key to getting tonight's homework done.
Blog Comments, Settings-we took time to celebrate those who took on the blogging challenge over break. Twenty minutes was dedicated to reading entries and making comments on the work of classmates.
Holiday organization groups-we broke our holiday activities up into groups, then decided where each student could fit. This will form the basis for tonight's homework, plus the initial connection with Mr. T. Cook's class at the Taipei American School.
Peak, by Roland Smith-we began a new read aloud, Peak, a new book for us. It comes highly recommended by Ms. Swartzkopf's seventh grade nephews.

Homework-
1. Write a blog post describing what students did over break. Again, this is going to form the first touch with a partner/writer from TAS.
2. Bring journals to class tomorrow.