Mrs. Fink's Class, Week of November 1-5

Greetings:

I enjoyed meeting some of the parents at Conferences today. If any parent was not able to make it to conferences, but would still like to meet with me about their student, please feel free to e-mail me at kfink@discoveryschool.edu.hn.

FYI: I will not be at school next week (I will be chaperoning Discovery students on a Medical Brigade with Cape Cares.) I hope to have access to my e-mail via BlackBerry, but who knows :)

Meanwhile, students, this is what you will be doing with the sub: (a little more detailed than usual, since I will not be around to answer any questions)

6th Grade:
Monday: Intro to the Aztecs: Pages 1-2 in your Aztec packet (some of you might be surprised at the grades on the Maya packets. Please be sure you are giving your WHOLE effort on these packets--they will be a major part of your Quarter 2 grade.)

Tuesday: Aztec writing: Writing was a 2-person job for the Aztecs, so, in pairs you will be making symbols based on the Aztec language, then writing a sentence using the symbols you created.

Wednesday: Aztec creation story: you will be looking at the beginnings of the Ancient Aztec religion, and creating a short book based on the creation story

Thursday: Aztec Mythology Mystery and the Spanish invade!

Friday: Interview with Moctezuma and Cortés. You will be working with a partner to re-enact the historic meeting between the Conquistador and the Aztec King! (These will be presented to the class on Monday, when I return.)
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7th Grade:
Monday: Did you know that, even after all these years, India still follows the Caste system to stratify their society? You will use Internet-based resources to answer a series of questions about the Caste system in 2010. Questions assigned last Friday will be due!

Tuesday: The Harappan city of Mohenjo-Daro was built using a grid pattern, with streets running either north and south or east and west (rather different than our own beautiful city of Tegucigalpa!) Using a city map of Mohenjo-Daro as your guide (and a city map of Tegucigalpa as a "what not to do") you will be creating a 15x15 grid ancient city, much like Mohenjo-Daro!

Wednesday: Continue working on your city. Be sure you follow the rubric to get all the points!

Thursday: Following the Aryans, the Mauryans and Guptas took over Ancient India. You will be comparing and contrasting these civilizations, much like you did with the Harappans and Aryans last week.

Friday: So many things happened in the history of Ancient India that it might be hard to keep track of them all. So, you will spend your Friday organizing the 25 major events into a Timeline! Don't worry...this isn't due on Monday! :)
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8th Grade:
Monday: Remember the Greek Life Project topics you chose in class on Thursday? Well, now is the time to start working with them. You will be in the computer lab every day this week (except Thursday) to give you time to research your topic, answer the questions, and begin to complete your collage and prepare for your in-class presentation!

Tuesday: Continue working in the lab. Don't forget that how you use your class time is part of your grade...the sub will be leaving me detailed notes, so please use your time wisely so I can give you all the participation points!

Wednesday: To the lab again. Hopefully by this point you will have all your questions answered and may have collected some excellent images for your collage.

Thursday: Work in the classroom on your collage. You may cut images from magazines or those you have gotten from the Internet or drawn yourself. Be sure to follow the rubric to get all the points possible!

Friday: Back to the lab for one final day of research and preparation. You will be presenting to the class on Monday!
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Senior Communications:
Thursday: You will be working on your speech conclusions, the 2nd most important part of the speech! Make sure you go back over what you talked about in your conclusion...and end with a bang! :)

Friday: More conclusion work, and prep for the following week when you will present your persuasive speeches!!! :)


I hope you all have a great week, and I will be looking forward to being back with you the 2nd week of November!

KF

Senior Blog Post: Due Monday, November 1

Hi Seniors:

I will be out of town next week, but you still need to be responsible for this blog post! I will be checking them when I get back! :)

For this week's post I would like you to continue your focus on speech introductions.

Please visit one of the speech links to the right (American Rhetoric or Famous Speeches) and find a persuasive speech in one of those databases. Then read, view, or listen to the speech (or do all 3 if you can) and evaluate the introduction of the speech. Does it follow the 4 steps I am asking you to follow? Does it grab your attention? Does it establish credibility? Does it "tell what they are going to do?

Answer these questions, then link to the speech in your post.

Have a great week next week, I am looking forward to your first speeches when I am back at school!! :)

KF

IMPORTANT PS: Mr. Fenn will be assigning the blog post for the week following (due Monday, November 8) in class next week. IT WILL NOT BE UP ON THIS BLOG. It will be YOUR responsibility to get the assignment and complete the blog post as usual.

8th Grade Projects

Recently I had the 8th graders do an "archaeological dig" in 3 different Greek city-states. They had to complete different activities then present their findings to the class.

Here are the videos:

Sparta


Troy


Athens


Enjoy!
KF

October...almost over!

Hello all:

Due to family coming in over the long holiday weekend I thought I would post this a little early...hope nobody minds :)

6th grade: Feedback time...how do you like the packets?! Most of you seem to be very successfully navigating your way through them, and gaining some "Extra Extra" points... :)

We will continue with the Maya packet next week, looking at (and re-enacting!) an Ancient Mayan story and finding out what happened to the Maya people...maybe :) Packets are due by the end of the day next Thursday, the 28th!
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7th grade: We only get to have class 2 times next week, due to Monday's holiday, Thursday's costume parade, and Friday's conferences, but we will make the most of them. We are going to do an in-class activity demonstrating the societal roles of the Ancient Indian castes...some of you may need to be prepared to get your hands dirty... :)
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8th grade: Next week we are going to watch an oldie but a goodie, The 300 Spartans (see a bit about the movie here). NO, this is not the über-violent 300, but the 1962 movie that 300 is based off of. As we watch each part of the movie (each day we will watch about 40 minutes of the movie) we will have 10 minutes of review/questions before and after. The point of watching this movie is to give the students an idea of the differences and similarities between the people of each of the Ancient Greek city-states, something which made this time period unique.
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Communications: Due to Friday's conferences, next week will be a one-class week. During that one class (Thursday) we will look at speech conclusions and work on perfecting our conclusion-writing skills. Get ready...your first full-length speech will be assigned during the first week of November! :)
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Conferences: Just a reminder, student-led parent-teacher conferences will be held all day next Friday, October 29 at the school. I will be down in Room #4, happy and excited to see anyone who wishes to stop by...remember, the conferences are first-come, first-served.

**If you wish to have a conference with me, but are unable to
attend on Friday, please send me an e-mail at
kfink@discoveryschool.edu.hn
so we can arrange an alternate time. Thanks!**

I hope everyone has an excellent and safe holiday weekend!

KF

Senior Blog Post: Due TUESDAY, October 26

**PLEASE NOTE THE DAY CHANGE**

Hi Seniors:

Since Monday is a holiday I decided that I'll give you a break on the blog post, so it is now due Tuesday.

This week I want you to think about your impromptu speech from last Friday (those of you weren't in class--look up impromptu speeches and describe what they are). Answer the following questions:

1) What was your topic?
2) Was it hard or easy to talk about that topic for 1 minute? Why?
3) What was the best thing about your speech?
4) What was the worst thing about your speech?
5) What did you learn while doing that speech that will help you on your future speeches?

Have a great long weekend! :)

KF

Projects, Projects, are so fun...

As this is the last day of the quarter, two of my classes have turned in projects in the past few days (the Seniors also turned in papers...check out their blogs (to the right) if you are interested in reading those!)

Here are some of the 8th Graders' Ancient Egypt projects:


























The 6th graders also presented projects, trying to encourage people to visit the North or South American country they researched:



Enjoy!
KF

Welcome to Quarter 2! October 18-22

Good morning everyone:

Well, say goodbye to Quarter One and hello to Quarter 2! The next time we meet for class we will be starting a whole new grading term, a whole new ballgame! Let's make Quarter 2 the best quarter yet!

To start off the new Quarter, the 6th Graders will start learning about the history of the Americas! Our first mini-unit will be the culture of the Maya. The students will be given packets to guide their learning and activities (DO NOT LOSE THESE!!! I WILL NOT BE PRINTING MORE!) with built-in extra credit that can be done during down-time in class.

**Teacher's note: I chose to move to packets for the 6th graders because I found they had trouble taking the instructions I wrote on the board and fully completing them. I'm hoping that these packets will solve this problem by having the instructions RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM!! :)**

The 7th Graders had a great time "judging" Christopher Columbus this past week, but next week will shift their focus across two oceans to Ancient India. They will start on Monday and finish on Thursday looking at how geography shaped the culture and people in India's past.

Tuesday and Wednesday will be "odd" days in 7th Grade--we will have less than 10 students in the room! The track and field competition will be claiming over half of our class for those two days, but the students who stay behind will be watching a short movie explaining the scientific contributions of the Ancient Indians and will completing a webquest in the computer lab!

8th Grade finishes their Ancient Egypt unit today, and will start fresh next Monday with the Greeks. We will begin with the Greeks' arch-enemies the Persians on Monday, then look at the geography of the area on Tuesday. Wednesday-Friday will give the 8th Graders the opportunity to become "archaeologists" and find out about some of the ancient Greek city-states.

The Seniors Communications curriculum for quarter 2 calls for a focus on speeches...but we only get to meet 11 times during the quarter!! So, expect a lot of at-home speech practice and prep. Next Thursday the seniors will look at speech outlines, and learn how to write a totally great speech introduction!

And, of course, on Friday we will be celebrating United Nations day! The students have told me that this is "The BEST day of the year" so I hope to see you all there enjoying it with the students and me! Remember, school is out at 11:45 next Friday. (Click here for a bit of history on the UN!)

Have a great weekend! See you in quarter 2!

KF

Dear 8th Graders:

I am really, really, REALLY sorry I didn't put the review questions up on the blog like I said I promised yesterday. I could give you some excuses about being really busy, but they wouldn't make my forgetting right, so I won't.

To make it up to you, I will be curving today's test (not that I think any of you will need that--you are Ancient Egypt experts!!). Also, I will do my very best to remember to put the review questions up on the blog PROMPTLY in the future. Please feel free to remind me if I forget again.

Please don't hold it against me. :)

Sincerely,
Mrs. Fink

Senior Blog Post: Due Monday, October 18

Hi Seniors:

I know you have been doing a LOT of writing lately, and are ready for a break, so this will be an easy post.

Please reflect on your first quarter of your senior year. What went well? What do you hope to improve or change for the second quarter? Did anything surprise you? What was the biggest challenge? What has been your favorite part so far?

I am looking forward to your responses :)

KF

PS: This will be your first grade of the new quarter...let's shoot for 100% participation! :)

Mrs. Fink's Class: Week of October 11-15

Hello everyone:

I hope you are looking forward to the long weekend ahead...and that you are ready to finish the Quarter strong starting next Tuesday!!

6th Grade: You asked for it, you're getting it...I really enjoyed looking at archaeology with you this week, but next week we are going to move back to geography: specifically, the geography of the Americas! You requested map quizzes, and you are going to get one next week!

Because THE REST of the school year we will be focusing on the history of the Americas, we are going to finish Quarter 1 by learning the countries and capitals of the continents! Then, each student will choose one American country (not Honduras or the country of your birth) to create a tourism-commercial about! Yay!

7th Grade: Monday is a school holiday celebrating Christopher Columbus and the legacy of the Age of Exploration and the colonization of the Americas. Columbus Day (originally October 12, the day on which Columbus first arrived in the Americas) was named as a national holiday in the United States in 1937 by then-president Franklin Roosevelt. The date of celebration was officially moved to the second Monday in October in 1971. You can read a more detailed history of the holiday from the History Channel here.

It may surprise you to know that there is some controversy about the celebration of Columbus Day. The 7th Graders are going to explore this controversy this week by putting Christopher Columbus on trial. Over the long weekend they will be asked to research their "roles" and we will spend the rest of the short week deciding whether or not Columbus deserves all the fame and glory he has been given over the years. Want other resources on Columbus Day? Check out this and this from Time Magazine.

8th Grade: Our unit on Ancient Egypt is winding down...Tuesday you will give your presentations on the Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt, Wednesday we will look at why Ancient Egypt fell, Thursday we will play a fun review game, and Friday will be your test!

Seniors: Don't forget your MAJOR, IMPORTANT, MUST BE DONE paper that is due next Wednesday. Because of the small amount of times (11!) that we will get to meet next quarter, we are going to start our speeches unit a week early so we can get in ALL the important information. Thursday we will spend time in the computer lab looking at some famous speeches, and Friday we will practice the speech outlining process. :) Something to look forward to. :)

Have a great long weekend! :)

KF

Senior Blog Post: Due October 13

Hello again, Seniors:

I have enjoyed the papers that you posted last week...hopefully you learned a bit about senioritis (and how to get rid of it!!), as well as how to write a paper using research.

This week's post will also be a paper, this time about the career of your choice. Remember that you need to follow the rubric closely to make sure you get ALL the points.

Also, remember that you MUST include a works cited page with ALL resources you used. Failure to do this will cause you to receive a zero on the paper.

If you have trouble uploading the paper to the blog, you can make another post of your choice and e-mail the paper to me.

The paper is due Wednesday, October 13 by 8:00 AM.

For your benefit, I have attached the rubric below:

Category	Explanation	Total
Historical Background	A background of the history of the position is given and explained	___/10
Job Skills	Necessary skills for this position are given and explained	___/10
Day-to-day operation	Details of the job’s function are given and explained	___/10
Other details and page minimum	Other interesting information is explained, and page minimum (3) is met	___/5
Summarization, Paraphrasing, and Quotation skills	Author shows mastery of skills in summarization, paraphrasing and quotation. Plagiarism is eliminated.	___/15
Works cited included		Yes/No
Total		___/50

I am looking forward to these papers...the last assignment of Quarter 1!

KF

Classroom Activities: Week of October 4-8

Hello everyone!

Well, quarter 1 is quickly winding down... only two more weeks! How quickly time flies when you're having fun! :)

6th Grade: Next week we will be a short one for us, as we will be enjoying the Opera on Monday! Tuesday you should plan to present your 7 Elements Project Poster to the class, and from Wednesday-Friday we will have our (very short!) Archaeology unit!

7th Grade: Your focus next week will continue to be world religions. We will focus on Islam, the final religion we will study, on Monday-the first half of Wednesday. On Thursday we will play a fun review game, and Friday will be your open-note test!

8th Grade: I hope you are enjoying learning about Ancient Egypt as much as I am!! Next week our study will continue, and in groups you will prepare a lesson on one of the three "eras" of Ancient Egypt: the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom. You will present these to the class (and will be evaluated on your teaching and learning in your test the following week.)

12th Grade: I am looking forward to reading your papers (which you are going to submit as your weekly blog post no later than Monday)! On Thursday and Friday we will continue to work on your final research paper, due no later than Wednesday the 13th, also as a blog post. Check your information page and rubric to remind you EXACTLY what I expect on this paper!

So, there it is...keep up the great work, and sprint to the finish of this first quarter of school!

KF