Sixth Grade Teachers

“If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.”

                                                  -Rudyard Kipling

In school, there is a time for reading and a time for social studies, a time for math and a time for music. Textbooks are neatly labeled with appropriate titles and pictures highlighting the subject area, and children know in which subject folder to file their notes. But what if social studies and reading collided? What if the lines were blurred and subject folders were kept closed?

Story telling is part of our day to day lives. Everyone has been on the other side of the table as a family member recounted a story from the past, and everyone has spun a tale to entertain others. Sad, funny, or scary, we enjoy hearing stories of ordinary heroes, antagonists, and climactic moments. Some of the greatest stories ever told, however, don’t get discussed at the dinner table. They remain “locked” in the pages of a social studies textbook.

In reading we talk of main characters, conflict, climax, and resolution. Our antagonists and heroes come from short stories, novels, and poems. The sixth grade teachers decided to do an experiment: in considering our unit covering the Empire of Islam, what if Muhammad became the main character of our story and the climax was the Battle of Tours? What if the fall of the Abbasid Empire in Spain was the resolution?

The three Photo Stories contained in this post reflect the information the sixth graders studied over the past few weeks. Told as a story, will it be less likely to be forgotten?

Sixth graders, please revisit the stories of the Islamic Empire. Retell the story to others, and visualize the pictures in your mind. What are your opinions on this style of social studies? How has it helped you to understand?

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ISLAM UNITES

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ISLAM EXPANDS

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ISLAMIC SPAIN

In anticipation of tomorrow’s open panel discussion in values class, sixth graders are busy reflecting on last week’s class and the reading about the Joseph Sams School. For homework tonight, students are to post one (new)question for the discussion on Tuesday in the form of a comment.

Students: make sure you read ALL of the comments before posting your question. It’s important that you think of a unique question that hasn’t been added to the comment page!

Hi Ms. Howard’s Class – we had quite a fun discussion today about White Lilacs and wikis! I am excited that you are excited about starting our own WIKI for the exciting novel we are about to read. Did I need to edit that sentences? I think so! BUT I am just so excited!

Wikis in Plain English

If you need a review, here’s the short video we watched in class today. You may even want to show it to your parents. You can teach them about wikis…

Take a moment to think about the following questions. Please write a comment (or two or three on this post) with your thoughts…the more you write, the more I will be able to plan for this new, exciting, groundbreaking, earth-shattering experience.

 1. As we work on our wiki, what necessary sections (or pages) must we include? Should we include an area with character studies, plot summaries, vocabulary? Why or why not?

2. When you read a novel, how do you interact with the text on a deeper level? Do you like to daydream about characters? Setting? Do you like to draw what you read? What are your TALENTS – and HOW can you use your talents to SHOW how you interact with a text?

3. What are some of your classmates gifts (for one, Emma K is a great writer – could she make a play that goes alongside the narrative?) that we could use to make this wiki a phenomenal learning experience AND a phenomenal example of learning through technology in 2008?

YOU ARE THE CREATORS…this wiki is YOURS! It’s up to you to make it great!

Ms. Howard

In social studies class, half of the sixth graders were randomly chosen to participate in a challenging activity. Using their non-dominant hand, they were asked to complete the interactive lesson with the peers who had use of both hands. In anticipation of the January visit to Joseph Sams School, sixth graders learned a lot about themselves, disabilities, and discrimination.

In Values class, students had a chance to discuss the following questions (the first two questions were addressed to the group of students who only had use of their non-dominant hand; the last four to the group who had full use of both hands):

     1. What did it feel like to have a physical handicap?

     2. Did your classmates treat you differently since you didn’t have use of both hands?

     3. Did you feel uncomfortable because you had the ability to use both hands?

     4. Did you treat your peers differently because they didn’t have use of both hands?

     5. How did you relate to your peers?

     6. Did you gravitate toward the people who were in a similar situation?

Coach Brian found two interesting YouTube videos. The values team is interested to see what conversation these short video clips inspire. Take a minute to watch one (or both!) of the videos below. Please leave a comment – we hope these videos will inspire rich discussion.

 Video #1: Jason McElwain

Video #2: Team Hoyt

Don’t forget – homework for next week is to think of possible questions to ask our panel! Also, feel free to find links to interesting articles (or other videos that relate) and post those on your blog – that would be a way to CONNECT, don’t you think?!