After our two week break, the students have returned and are ready to begin anew. For the next few weeks we will be studying geography, looking at the Northeast and Southeast regions of the United States. This week we began with an overview of the U.S. The students wrote down the names of all the states they know and filled them in on a blank map. Next, we did a fishbowl activity where some students participated in a discussion and their classmates listened, and then we switched. They had so many great questions about climate, geography and territories!
After spending a day overviewing the regions of the U.S., we began discussing the early colonists who came over to North Carolina. The students heard all about the mysterious Roanoke colony who disappeared without a trace. After they heard this story, they began hypothesizing what could have happened to the colonists. Students wrote in their journal from the perspective of a time traveler that stumbled across the missing colony. They had so much fun with this, and we will be continuing this activity for each region we visit!
One of the things we are going to be doing this block is looking at primary and secondary sources. Students are going to get the chance to examine both and use them to shape their writing. Today students will be looking at primary sources regarding the Lost Colony mystery, and see if those sources effect their hypothesis.
In math we are working on logic puzzles. After attending the Jamie York training last week, I relayed some important information to the students; math should frustrate you, and the length of time it takes you to solve a problem is irrelevant. As such, I gave them an incredibly challenging logic puzzle to solve, and will continue to do so each week. It has taken many of the students days to come up with the answer, but the feeling of accomplishment I have been able to see in their faces is outstanding!
Next week we will begin zooming in on our geography block to the Northeast region. Next week is also parent teacher conferences, so I look forward to meeting with you all regarding your child’s progress in class this year!
One for the golden sun 