Did You Know?

Did you know that our class is currently working on a wide variety of in-class projects that are summative (end-of-unit) tasks that will be evaluated?  As I promised at the beginning of the year, I will never assign projects that will be done at home because anything that earns marks must be done at school under my supervision.  With that in mind, if students need assistance, then I know exactly what they needed and how they were assisted.  Currently we are working on....

• writing a suspense narrative of three or more paragraphs (done independently): writing mark
• a cyber civics project from nine options (done independently or with a partner): health mark and media literacy mark
• a movie poster based on the book the students are currently reading for independent reading (done independently):  visual arts mark and media literacy mark

Ask your child(ren) what they are working on!

Coming to a classroom near you:  a science Powerpoint presentation.

WHERE DOES HALLOWEEN COME FROM? We celebrate Hallowe'en every year on October 31st. Where does the holiday come from? The holiday originally comes from a people called the Celts. The Celts lived in Europe more than 2000 years ago. On November 1st they celebrated the end of summer. They thought ghosts visited the living on October 31st. They dressed up like ghosts so the spirits would not harm them. Today, many countries still remember the dead on November 1st. It is called All Saints Day. Another name for it is All Hallow’s Day. The day before, October 31st, is called All Hallow’s Eve, or Hallowe'en for short. Hallowe'en is an old tradition in Ireland and Scotland. In those countries, people dressed up and carried lanterns made of turnips. When people moved from Ireland and Scotland to the United States, they started using pumpkins. This is where the jack-o’-lantern comes from. They also had a tradition of giving food to the spirits. Later, they gave the food to poor people. This is where trick-or-treating comes from. Halloween has changed a lot since its origins. New people have brought new traditions, and changed the old ones. What do you think Hallowe'en will be like in another two thousand years? BE SAFE AND HAVE FUN TOMORROW NIGHT!

Nate asked me to blog this saying that I said in class yesterday.  Apparently he found it funny.  See if your child can explain it to you:
"Close only counts in horseshoes, dancing, and atomic warfare."