Tuesday, 29 January

Today we began with a short cursive writing practice and then we read two "scrolls" from the Ostia novel (12 - 13 or should I say, XII and XIII).  For Scroll 12 we wrote a one-sentence topic sentence/summary.  It is difficult to try to squeeze a whole chapter into one sentence.  We shared our writing so everyone could hear a variety of responses.  After recess we had the QMUNITY Gab Youth presentation.  The two speakers handled their talk very professionally and respectfully.  I learned the history of some of the current homophobic slurs and that was very interesting for me.  I thought the class was very engaged and the students had many ideas to share with the presenters and one another.  Hopefully we'll all think before we consider saying, "That's so gay."  If you want more information on this group, here is the link to their website: QMUNITY

After lunch we worked on our social studies inquiry projects.  Now that everyone has a question to answer, and now that we've had a chance to refine our sub-topics, we're ready to move forward.  Students do not need to work together in their groups because each is doing his or her own research.  Each will also be graded on the merits of his or her own demonstration of learning.  Parents can ask students when and how they plan to conduct their research at home because i expect that everyone will have to do some out-of-class research.  I'll give updates as they become available.