Humanities Update (4/29)

Hello Families of House C Students!

Here is an update about the work done this past week in Humanities!

In order to create a more complete argument, we’ve been introducing students to responses to The Omnivore’s Dilemma. One article called The Omnivore’s Delusion, written by a farmer named Blake Hurst, questioned many aspects of Michael Pollan’s book. In addition, and to work on our listening skills, we listened to a discussion between Hurst & Pollan, hosted on National Public Radio.

We applied our close reading skills to a modified version of an article from Seven Days about James Ehlers, a passionate advocate for water quality in Lake Champlain who presented in our science classes on Thursday. We used our NPS (Non-Fiction Positioning System) Coordinates - which help readers know what an author is trying to communicate - to better understand the text and to gain some background knowledge for Thursday’s presentation. NPS Coordinates include metaphors, similes, comparing and contrasting, expert opinions - we use these as road signs that help point the way to understanding the reading! Your student should have a handout that displays what each coordinate is and what they mean.

For the last part of this week, we have been preparing for a debate. Students have been assigned topics such as college education, school uniform, violence in video games, and tablets vs. textbooks. They have spent time researching both sides of the argument on procon.org and are now in the process of creating their debates. Some students may not have finished this preparation; there is a two-page worksheet that they should use to capture their best arguments for their side as well as some arguments that might come their way from the other side (and rebuttals to those counter-arguments).

Next week, we will be debating these topics in teams, with an eye towards using these skills to complement their argument writing.

Students are now just over a month from when their book project and blog post are due. Those assignments are on the Google Classroom.

We will also be completing weekly quizzes on the United States geography and capitals! Links to practice are also on the Google Classroom!

Please let us know if you have any questions. We hope you have a great weekend.

Humanities Update (4/17)

Hello House C Families:

Happy break week! Since this is a week away from school, and since we have been working hard on some interesting things, we thought we'd take a moment to let you know what we've been doing in humanities, as it may spur some thoughtful discussions (and we know that sometimes the only response to "What did you do in school today?" is..."Not much!")!

As you may have heard, we are reading a student edition of The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. We are using this as an informational text for students to work with in creating an effective argument. Over the past three weeks, we've been reading about three food systems: Industrial, Industrial Organic, and Local Sustainable. Students have been collecting arguments for and against each food system and upon their return to class, we'll start creating arguments for which food system students think is best to meet the needs of our community. We will also read some articles written in response to Omnivore's in order to get a sense of both sides of the argument and to round out our understanding of the material.

On Friday, each student highlighted one piece of evidence and created a poster to display in our classroom. Students then participated in a gallery walk to collect evidence they might not have already had on their note sheets. Their work is really informative and eye-catching. This book has been the fuel for some really interesting discussions, and we encourage you to ask your child about what they're thinking about!

To link geography skills to the content of the book, students have undertaken a series of activities to sharpen their geospatial thinking skills. They first thought about some of the foods they typically eat in a week. Then they used several maps to determine where those foods would likely have come from if bought in a conventional supermarket and mapped the states of origin of those food products. Based on that data, they wrote paragraphs to analyze what grows where, why there, and why we should care. Many students still need to follow through with all of those steps. It would be great if they could work on that over the break.

We are 44 days away from our book projects and blog posts being due (May 31). As a reminder, each student is expected to read at least two books per trimester, and then complete a book project about one and a blog post about the other. Hopefully students are finding books that interest and entertain them! You can find the links to the assignments here: Book Project - Blog Post.

We are also working on knowing our state capitals. We've used this very catchy song and video as a way to remember them. Students have completed two attempts at naming all 50, and on Friday, we set a goal for our third attempt, which will take place shortly after returning from break. This might be a great opportunity to ask your student to name the capital of a certain state - or to watch the video with them and challenge each other!

Finally, in celebration of National Poetry Month (and to go along with Omnivore's Dilemma), we spent some time on Friday looking at the grass and making observations related to our senses in Milton Middle School's field. Students then wrote a short poem about the experience, or about the grass, or about the strange request of looking and listening to grass. We hope they share their work with you!

We hope that this break week is refreshing for our students and that you get some time to enjoy their company. If you have any questions, please let us know. Thank you for you all that you do.

Color Run

 

Greetings House C families,

The next big thing in fundraising is here: The Milton Color Run.
On May 14th, at Bombardier Park, at 10:00 a.m., we will be running a 5K with tons of color.
Check out this video for more information about the Color Run:
http://shop.schoolathon.org/EventIndex.asp?EID=183883 (The video is on the right side of the page)

Registration is $30 to participate in the run. Students can get pledges from relatives and friends to run. Students will receive prizes depending on how much they raise. PLUS students will receive 50% of the amount donated in their name to their Boston Field Trip Account. Donations need to be received by April 25th.

Students have received a registration packet (or can get one from their advisor). There has been a lot of interest shown, but we now need folks to register on the website to show their commitment. The website to register is http://shop.schoolathon.org/EventIndex.asp?EID=183883

Our School Code is 140066

This has the potential be a big, big event. This event is open to everyone in the community, so spread the word.

Thanks for your support!