World War Two Research Projects

Week of November 10th

Our next project will involve completing research about some different aspects of World War 2.  We're doing this to both increase our skills and learn more about the topics you will find in several book club book choices.  Instead of creating a presentation, your final product will be a paragraph for this project.  To share our learning, you will write some of your most interesting facts as a blog entry here.

We will spend 3 class periods on this project.  Narrowing your topic will make this much more manageable.  I can help you with that.

Choose a general topic area and use the Google Doc to guide your research.  There are step by step directions there.  Your notes and your paragraph will be graded. The rubric is below. These will be SUMMATIVE grades.

Creating the Atomic Bomb
Heroes of the Holocaust
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Finding Nazis that Escaped at the end of the War


Paragraph and Notes Grading Rubric



Revolutionary War - Short Research Project

Week of October 27th

This week, we will be taking time to learn more about the Revolutionary War.  Three of our book choices for book club are about the Revolutionary War.  George Washington Spymaster - How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War by Thomas Allen, The Notorious Benedict Arnold by Steve Scheinkin, and A Young Patriot - The American Revolution as Experienced by One Boy by Jim Murphy.

You will get to choose what you would like to research.  Either George Washington, Benedict Arnold, or the Revolutionary War.

After you choose a topic, you will research it, take notes, and create a presentation using either Google Presentation, Lucid Press, or Muraly.

What will you hand in?
1.  Notes Sheet
2.  One piece of annotation using Evernote
3.  Presentation - Click here for Rubric

Emmett Till

Who was Emmett Till?  Why was he important?

Thursday and Friday

Today, you will be completing day one of a two day short research project.  You will be gathering information about Emmett Till so that you can use it to create a final product that explains who Emmett Till was and why he was important.

We're studying Emmett because one of our book club options is Getting Away with Murder:  The True Story of the Emmett Till Case.  

Since this is a research project, you will probably be using several websites to find your information.  You may even want to use some videos.  Make sure you use your ear buds if you are watching videos, ok?

The notes sheet needs to be done by the beginning of class next week (Monday for B days, Tuesday for A Days)

Notes Sheet
Paragraph Rubric

Steve Jobs

Who was Steve Jobs?

We use many of his ideas every single day, but what do we know about him?  One of your choices for book club books is Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different.  Just like we did with Malala, we're going to take some time to get to know more about Steve before we pick which books we want to read.  

Today we're going to use all of the skills we've been working on to complete this assignment. Here's what we will be doing:

1.  Complete a Google Search by reading level to find a biography of Steve Jobs.

2.  Check the options to see which one seems the most reliable.

3.  Read the article carefully.  

4.  Answer the close reading questions; give a lot of details.

5.  Share the questions with me when you complete your assignment.
6.  Share your thoughts about Steve Jobs on the blog if time allows (B day hours 5-8, I will publish your comments when I get back to school!)

Close Reading Questions

Evernote - Web Clipper

October 9 & 10
Today, we're going to play around with Evernote and the annotation part of it - Evernote Web Clipper.  You will be using the directions and working with your shoulder partner to try to figure out how to use it.  Post what works as well as your questions to the blog.

Website for Web Clipper Notes

Using Advanced Search Tools

Did you know that you can sort your results in a Google search to find things at your reading level?  You can!  Today, we're going to try it out.  I want you to look for an article about Malala's attackers.  They were recently captured.  Try to find a news article about it at your reading level.  Then blog about what you found.  Reply to others' comments.

Malala Yousafzai

Today, we're going to be learning about Malala Yousafzai.  Her book, I Am Malala - How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World, is one of our choices for our nonfiction book clubs this year.

Step One:  Read the Article that you are given in class and annotate it on paper (Our next project will be digital annotation).  You will either get a Time magazine article or a Biography.com article.  I will be checking your annotation before the end of the hour.

Step Two:  Complete the close reading questions online and share your responses with me.  The links are below.  Directions are on the sheets; make sure you read them!!  :)

Time Magazine
Biography.com Article

Step Three:  Blog your thoughts about what you read.  This could include whether or not you would like to read the book as well as your reactions to Malala's story.  Then reply to others' thoughts.

What will be graded?  Close Reading Questions and Annotation

What is Smarter Balanced Assessment?

September 29 and 30

We will be taking the Smarter Balanced Assessment in the Spring.  It will test the standards that we will be learning throughout the school year.  I wanted to give you a peak at what you will be doing for that test.

You will do some practice items - for about 20 minutes in class and then we will have a group discussion about the test and what we need to focus on this year.

We will not comment on this post!

Smarter Balanced Practice Test - I will give you step by step directions for how to do this in class!

E-Cigarettes

September 17&18

After you read, annotate and discuss the E-Cigarette fact sheets, choose one fact that stood out the most to you.  Share the fact and then share your thoughts/reaction.  When you are done, reply to others' posts.  Make sure that your reply shows that you have put a good deal of thought into their comment!

Gonzales, TX, Dress Code

September 11 & 12

Today in class we read and annotated an article about the dress code in Gonzales, Texas.  On this blog, I'd like you to comment with your thoughts about the policy.  You will then reply to others' posts.

When you've done that, you need to try to find out what their policy is now.  We will discuss their new policy as well as how you found it in class.