LATIN

Grade 6 (Maripat)

The 6th grade is tackling noun cases, arguably the toughest hurdle for beginning Latin students who speak English, as except for “I know Latin; Latin doesn’t know me” and other pronouns.

We’ve been doing Quizizz games to cement their knowledge of endings. There are also Blooket games in the offing, but I dare not mention this until exactly one second before we play!

Grade 7 (Cilla)

This week: Students took a multiple choice test with questions about the Latin stories they’ve read and history lessons from Suburani, chapter 8.

Looking ahead: In chapter 9 we will read about Boudica’s rebellion and the Roman campaign to win over hearts and minds that followed the destruction of Londaon and Camulodunum.

Extra Fun: For the last days of December, in the spirit of the Roman holiday Saturnalia, we will take a break from language practice and watch the made-for-TV-movie of Caesar’s life starring Jeremy Sisto. (The full movie is free to watch on YouTube if you’re interested.) This three-hour saga chronicles Caesar’s rise to power, the subsequent civil wars, and the attempt of sixty or so senators to restore the Roman Republic on March 15, 44 BCE.

Grade 8 (Maripat)

The entire 8th grade met in the Latin room at lunch on Monday. The occasion was the annual lottery by which students pick their Roman building. Most come in with a few buildings in mind, but the order of choosing is where the lottery comes in! The student with #1 has the widest choice, while the student with #39 waits with waning patience for their turn.

This year, the Pantheon was still up for grabs, and #39 got his first choice in spite of the luck of the draw! The lottery is always a raucous and chaotic process, and it’s such fun to see students’ enthusiasm directed at things both ancient and Roman.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Grade 6 (Cilla)

Reading: Language Arts students are identifying Freytag’s elements of plot for a book they chose in October. This week they are striving to finish reading that book. Be sure to encourage them to make time for reading at home!

Writing: Next week they will create bullet points for the falling action, and find a quote that captures the resolution. In class, we are learning how to write a literary analysis paragraph. Students found a passage that answered the guiding question and are now setting forth an argument for how this passage can be interpreted with a view toward that guiding question. They will also get the chance this week to revise and expand a personal narrative. The first draft is due on Friday, with a more polished draft due mid-January.

I’m impressed with their artful storytelling skills and vivid descriptions!

 

Grade 7 (Lisa)

Seventh-graders are deep into another all-class novel, Donna Barba Higuera’s Newbery-winning The Last Cuentista. To prepare for the book, students read non-fiction articles about the origins and history of dystopian literature and reflected on the cultural phenomena the genre seeks to critique. We’ve discussed sources of power in our society and how people respond to power–by seeking it, exerting it, submitting to it, and resisting it.

Ask your student which character in our novel they think has the most power. Bonus points if they tell you what sort of power they are thinking about!

As we progress with the unit, students will learn better how to determine a text’s theme(s) and articulate those themes effectively in writing. To do so, we’ll be learning about the “moral universe” of a text and how reflecting on a character’s beliefs can give us insight into an author’s intentions.

Finally, as Higuera does in her novel, students will be re-writing folktales with a twist of their own devising as a creative writing project in January.

Part of what I enjoy about The Last Cuentista is the way Higuera weaves science fiction and traditional Mexican folklore into her story. This provides a fun opportunity for speakers to visit our classroom. If you have a background in botany, space exploration/engineering, storytelling, or Mexican folklore and you’d be interested in sharing your experiences with our class, please reach out!

 

Grade 8 (Lisa)

The suspense and horror unit was a big hit with our 8th-grade classes. Students continued their close reading and annotation practice with non-fiction articles centered around the brain science behind why so many people love to be scared, the differences between fear and anxiety, and why humans seem driven to create “monsters.”

Students analyzed texts to discover how writers carefully cultivate mood and learned tools for building suspense. Part of this analysis involved creating storyboards to highlight key narrative moments in “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Poe or Sylvia Garcia Moreno’s short story, “Lacrimosa”. I was impressed by your young people’s thoughtfulness and creativity with the assignment!

When writing their own short stories, students practiced using tools of suspense, “showing not telling,” and being intentional about their precision of word choice to elicit specific emotions from their readers. The results of their hard work were strong and many students enjoyed sharing their stories with classmates at our authors’ party last Friday.

As we head into winter break, we’ve launched a criticism mini-unit, where students will be writing reviews of either an album, film, or concert. We’re reviewing mentor texts and building our background knowledge of what information and content makes for strong critical review. Try checking out a review for a favorite band or film with your student–what makes the review interesting to read? What compelling language or point of view did the author bring to their text?

And, as always, keep encouraging your students to read!