Greetings all,
What an excellent first week back! It was so great to see returning students as well as welcome new students and the incoming 6th grade class, I'm really excited for this year!
Here are a few tidbits from Social Studies this week:
Building the Foundation Before the House
All three grades spent a good amount of time this week getting back into school routines, learning new procedures, and getting organized and set up for a successful year. Once we've mastered some the how we can really dive into the what. Homework for all three grades will be folded in throughout the coming weeks and become more consistent as move through September.
6th Grade Social Studies
Sixth graders completed their first homework assignment as active historians by conducting an interview in order to try to answer What is Social Studies? We'll use this intro assignment as a foundation to help us explore how social scientists interpret the past to help us understand our world today. Sixth graders also started work on their Place Papers--an informal narrative writing assignment that we'll complete in class through writer's workshop that answers the question What is your favorite place and why? We also completed a world map pre-test (it will be fun to look at these at the end of the year and see how much more geographically aware we are!).
7th Grade Social Studies
Seventh graders began practicing discerning reading strategies to define and gain an understanding of some academic vocabulary that we'll be using throughout the year in our expository writing: analyze, cite, evidence, and perspective. We also looked at some source analysis via photos and started what will become our first Current Events entry with a focus on learning how to properly cite an article.
8th Grade Social Studies
Eighth graders began building some background knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict via mapping and vocabulary. We then started reading Tasting the Sky, a memoir of a Palestinian woman recalling her childhood and teen years during the Six-Day War and it's aftermath. This unit's focus is not so much understanding the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (although students will gain a foundational understanding in this), but rather to begin to examine multiple perspectives of complex issues as well as what different primary and secondary sources can tell us about events past and present.
Have a great weekend!
Best,
Mr. Radich
