Written Responses and BTHRILD

Good afternoon,

Today was a highly productive day in the humanities classroom with students working on several activities including a writing assignment and a BTHRILD activity workbook.

Students began a writing response on the short story, "The Novitiate", that we read yesterday. For their assignment, students have to choose one of four different options for responding to the story (see assignment and rubric link below). Many students were able to complete their brainstorming and rough drafts in class and those who were not able to finish, must do so by Friday's class. This assignment will give me an idea of how well students understood the reading and will reveal students different writing abilities. For the students, this is an opportunity for them to begin exploring their voice as a writer/responder in the ELA classroom.

To introduce the first chapter on the Renaissance, students began BTHRILD worksheets (see link below). These activities are excellent learning tools which help students gain an overview of the chapter contents and are also wonderful study tools when it comes time for quizes and unit tests. Students will have another opportunity to do some in-class work on their chapter overviews and then a due date will be set for completion.

Keep up the great work! See you tomorrow.

Ms. M

Novitiate assignment and rubric http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgg9kgjk_05zqzvwc2
BTHRILD Chapter 1 http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgg9kgjk_1gpsz2mdj&hl=en

Short Stories and Mapping

Today, students read through a short story by Jean Howarth called "The Novitiate". As a class, we investigated the process of reading narratives and discussed the fictional elements of the story. Students were excellent participators in the activity and they seem to have a firm grasp of the concepts. Tomorrow, students will begin a personal writing assignment in response to the story they read.

Students continued their mapping assignment today and were given Friday, September 12th as a deadline for all 3 maps. Maps should be handed in fully labelled, using the cartography regulations for printing and colouring.

See you tomorrow!

Our Worldviews - Textbook

This is the Social Studies textbook that students will be using for the full year. The three topics they will be studying are the Renaissance, Japan during the Edo and Meiji Period, and The Aztecs and Spanish.

Week 1 Recap

Hello all,

With week one already behind us, this new week is in full force with introductory assignments for Social Studies. Today, students began mapping the geographical areas that will be part of this year's study. For homework, students are to complete the world map before Tuesday's class.

Students will also continue to develop their reading skills with a short story study and writing assignment - details to follow.

Use the links below to access the mapping assignment and other documents.

Mapping assignment: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcbdzc94_77g2nrbddv

The maps of Europe and the World can be downloaded at: http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/pdf/eur_countrynl.pdf
http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/pdf/world_cont.pdf

Welcome Back!

Hello everyone and welcome to the brand new 2008-2009 school year!

Ms. Reiffenstein and I have planned an exciting year for the new Humanities course and look forward to seeing you all on Sept. 2.