Monthly/Unit Updates

In this unit, students will learn the tools and strategies needed to approach poetry.

 

Why poetry? Students will explore the methods and devices used by poets, which will prepare them to read and interpret both formal and free verse poems. Students will also have many opportunities to practice what they have learned by creating their own poems.

 

What will my student learn? Students will use a Poet's Journal that contains activity pages tied to each instructional lesson. The poems for each lesson are printed in the journal, and the activity pages allow students to review material, answer questions, complete comprehension activities, and compose poems themselves. In their writing lessons, students will work either independently or collaboratively to create original poems that model the structure and style of the poems they studied in each lesson.

 

Ask your student questions about the unit to promote discussion and continued learning:

1. What is an apostrophe poem?

Follow up: Tell me about the apostrophe poem you wrote or heard a classmate share.

 

2. You have been learning about tone. What is tone?

Follow up: What are some different kinds of tone? Can you give me an example?

 

3. What have you learned about the poet Walt Whitman?

Follow up: Tell me about his poem "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer."

 

4. What is anaphora?

Follow up: Why do poets use anaphora?

 

5. Who was your favorite poet, or what was your favorite poem from this unit?

Follow up: Why? What new things did you learn about poetry?

 

 

In this unit, students will learn how large civilizations, such as the Maya, Aztec, and Inca, developed in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans.

 

What’s the story? Students will explore the geography, climate, innovations, discoveries, and overall history of each of these civilizations.

 

What will my student learn? Students will be exposed to a variety of complex texts. They will learn about the way of life of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca, and will read myths from these ancient civilizations. Students will integrate what they have learned about the civilizations as they review the stages in the writing process and engage in an informative writing piece. They will also collaborate with their classmates and share their ideas as they develop and deepen their understanding of these literacy skills.

 

Ask your student questions about the unit to promote discussion and continued learning:

1. Why did so many civilizations start around rivers?

 

2. How did the Maya use the plants and animals in the rain forest?

 

3. Can you tell me about the different types of education that boys of different social classes in the Aztec Empire received?

Follow up: What did each type of education prepare them to do?

 

4. Can you compare and contrast the Maya and the Aztec civilizations?

Follow up: What was the same about them? What was different?

 

5. What were some of the things the Inca did to create a network of roads?

Follow up: Why was it so important for them to have this network?

 

 

In this unit, students will have the opportunity to explore the genre of personal narratives.

 

Students will read a variety of personal narratives and they will focus on identifying the unique elements of this genre.

 

Students will build their knowledge of descriptive writing and will put that knowledge to use in their own writing. They will examine and use those features of personal narrative writing to compose works about their own lives and experiences.

 

This unit will help students discover that they are capable of personal writing and that it can be a fun and creative way to share what they have to say about themselves. This unit provides a supportive environment for them to begin to identify themselves as writers.

 

Ask your student questions about the unit to promote discussion and continued learning:

 

1. What has been your favorite personal narrative from this unit?

Follow up: Why? Could you relate to the person in the story? Why?

 

2. What is a personal narrative?

Follow up: How is it different from other genres of writing that you have learned about? What are some of the elements of personal narratives that stand out to you?

 

3. How can the use of strong verbs and adjectives impact your writing?

Follow up: What are some strong verbs you could use instead of the word said to really make an impact?

 

4. What is personification?

Follow up: Consider this example: "The ice cream in the freezer was calling my name." What is the nonhuman thing? What human action does it have? Can you personify a vacuum? A car? Your pet? Give me an example.

 

5. In this unit, you read a personal narrative by Rosa Parks. What did you know about her before you read it?

Follow up: What new things did you learn about her? How was her school different from yours? How was it similar? Can you talk about her experience based on her point of view? And from her teachers' point of view?

 

6. What is tone?

Follow up: Can you tell me about our weather today using a scientific tone? Now try doing it in a sarcastic, a passionate, and an optimistic tone.

 

• Describe the geographic features unique to the Northeast and its effect on the people who have lived there.
• Explain why new ideas that prospered in the Northeast helped start the revolution against Great Britain.
• Define conditions that worked together to start the Industrial Revolution.
• Describe how the education system, reform movements, opportunities, and tourist attractions draw people to the Northeast.
• Provide examples of people, places, and organizations from the Northeast that have impacted world events.
• Write a story from a historical figure’s point of view about changes that have occurred in the Northeast since the Revolutionary War.