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.