Students have been hard at work and are getting back into a routine after spring break.  Thank you to Mr. Mernin for making sure their learning continued while I was away from school on a family matter.

Literacy

Our writers are working on a poetry unit this week and next.  Students have looked at what makes a poem and studied a variety of mentor texts including “The Eagle” by Alfred Lord Tennyson and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost.  Students looked at imagery and figurative language, with a Friday workshop on metaphors.  One metaphor from a student’s writing to share is: “Decisions are pastries, they require effort and are hard to make.”

IPC

Students began the week with the guiding research question “What was it like to be a 17th century scientist?” and looked at new words such as “gravity” from the Latin “gravitas” meaning heavy.  Students looked at how the British Empire influenced the English language by words being borrowed from the colonies and did some research on borrowed words.  They ended the week by looking at the differences between American and British English.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Mr. Wanner