A sixth grade Language Arts class was assigned the book Under a Worn Torn Sky to read during their Social Studies study of World War II.
The novel is about a young man who becomes a pilot during the war. His plane is shot down behind enemy lines and the story progresses as he attempts to escape back to his home.
The students worked together in groups of three to create a Google Map of the main character's journey. They placed markers on each of the cities Henry traveled through and wrote summaries of the events and people he encountered in each of the escape locations.
During the month of March both the sixth grade and eighth grade students were learning about the Holocaust and World War II.
The eighth grade students were assigned to read the story Anne Frank: Life in Hiding. They learned through literature what it was like for the Jews to hide in Germany during World War II when Hitler and the Nazi's were trying to establish a New Order.
The sixth grade students were learning about what life was like in America during World War II. They learned about the sacrifices that had to be made by everyone, including what life was like for children during that time.
An eighth grade class and a sixth grade class began blogging with each other about what they learned throughout their units. The eighth grade students took on an assigned role of one of the characters from the story. They summarized events that occurred in the story and shared what life was like in Amsterdam during World War II. The sixth grade students took on the role of a child in America during World War II.
Each class was paired with a student from a different grade level and they carried on a dialogue over a few days asking each other questions and composing posts that depicted what daily life was like. It was amazing to see the progression of the posts and the engagement of all students throughout the project.
This is one of my favorite times of year! The time of year when college basketball is coming to an end and the NCAA tournament fans take on their second job: backetology. The fans analyze the teams, look at records, scan for important player stats and create a bracket of winners and losers. Each person has their own method for picking the winners and this lead me to think, what if students were able to create a bracket of famous Americans in US History? How would students rank these Americans' influence in history and how would each historical figure "compete" to win the coveted title of Most Influential Person in US History II?
I created a bracket for students to use in Excel. They have to choose their "winners" and write an explanation defending their choices. There is no right or wrong answer, however just like in competitive games, defense wins. Without a strong defending argument, students will not win the bracket competition. Below are some pictures of the document students used.
The following link will take you to a site where you can download the file:
