Vocabulary: The vocabulary words for this week are conditions, demands, labor, negotiate, nonviolence, protest, strike, barrier, conflict, demonstrate, oppose, require, topic. A test will be given on Friday covering these words.
Spelling: We will be working on verbs ending in -ed and commonly misspelled words. The spelling words are: appointed, associated, bribed, compromised, dedicated, elected, enforced, guaranteed, inaugurated, implied, interpreted, negotiated, persecuted, ratified, gilt, guilt, insight, incite. The spelling test will be on Friday.
Grammar: Students will be working on using helping verbs and using present-progressive tense verbs. There will be a test on Friday on these objectives.
Writing: This week students will be completing a research project. The prompt is as follows: You are a history teacher at a local high school. You want to teach your students about Americans who have worked to protect human rights. Research and write a short biography about a well-known civil rights activist. Think about how this person's beliefs and accomplishments compare to those of Cesar Chavez. You will then take on the persona of your activist and present an actual speech of his or hers to the class. This project is due Friday, November 14th.
Math: We will be working on our Go Math series. We are doing Chapter 6 this week. It is about adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators. We will complete lessons 6.6-6.8 this week. We are also taking the Chapter 6 Mid-Chapter Checkpoint quiz on Monday. There will be one page of math homework assigned nightly, except for Friday. Each Friday, students will also take a multiplication timed test. It is very important for students to be fluid with their multiplication facts. Daily practice of multiplication facts is encouraged.
Social Studies: We have started a new unit on The Civil War. To help us learn about the war, we are reading the book Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt. Students have been assigned a copy of this historical fiction novel and be answer questions about the book.
Summary of Across Five Aprils: Drawn from family records and from stories told by the author's grandfather, this deeply moving novel conveys the bitterness and drama of the Civil War through the lives of an ordinary family. The story is told through the eyes of young Jethro Creighton, who lives with his closely knit family in a farming community in southern Illinois. In April of 1861, Jethro is nine years old, and too young to understand the meaning of war. By the second April, Jethro has watched his older brothers go off to fight-- two for the North, one for the South. His parents are stricken by grief and suffering as the neighbors take revenge. As the seasons change and the years pass, the family closeness dissolves, one brother is killed, and a cousin deserts the Union Army. By April of 1865, the meaning of war has become all too clear to Jethro. Although still a boy, he is forced to leave his boyhood behind. (From The Civil War: Literature Units, Projects, and Activities by Janet Cassidy)
Science: We are doing a science unit this week entitled "The Shocking Truth About Electrical Safety". We will be working on the following concepts: Electricity travels in a closed loop called a circuit. Electricity flows easily through conductors, not through insulators. Electricity always takes the easiest path to the ground. Water is an excellent conductor of electricity. Because the human body is mostly water, it is also a good conductor of electricity. Most of the work we will be doing will be completed in our science notebooks. We will be taking a test on this unit on Thursday. It will be an open notes test.