Concept Mapping- What Is Courage?

Ideas for Courage Concept Map:

Courage is...

People who have courage are...

People who have courage do...

A time when I've shown courage was...

E.R. Response

What do you notice about characters, setting, and point of view?

Reading Groups

Sadako: Jer, Kalista, Shelby
Kira-Kira: Brennan, Ike, Allyse
Fever 1793: Olivia, Alex B., Jake C., Maddi
SOS Titanic: Sierra, Andrew, Jake T.
Uprising: Kennadie, Jess, Riley
Timothy of the Cay: Alex H., Hailey, Cody, Dan
Blood-Red Sun: Todd, Mitch, Autumn, Mackay
Lyddie: Katrina, Jasmin, Jaycee, Seth

Essay guidelines

Intro:
a) Hooks you into reading more
b) Introduces the main idea


Paragraph 1:
a) Topic sentence
b) Support
c) Why will this help me become better friends with people of other cultures?


Paragraph 2:
a) Topic sentence
b) Support
c) Why?


Paragraph 3:
a) Topic sentence
b) Support
c) Why?


Conclusion:
a) Say goodbye to the topic without actually saying "goodbye".

Essay Enrichment Activity

E-mails vs. Letters (Compare & Contrast)

Emails and letters are similar forms of communication, yet they have some important differences. Write an essay comparing and contrasting e-mails and old-fashioned letters. Are there specific times when you use one or the other, or are the two interchangeable? Do you write letters to the same people that you e-mail? How do the rules for writing letters differ from the rules for writing e-mails? Use specific examples from your experience to support your comparison.

Comprehension Strategies

These are the things that good readers do while they are reading.  Sometimes they are not even aware they are doing them.  Most good readers use many, if not all, strategies every time they read. 

They use these strategies whenever they are reading text, even in Math, Social Studies, and Science.

1.  Monitoring for Meaning - good readers know when what they are reading is not making sense.  They use fix-up strategies to take care of this.  Some fix-up strategies are:  figuring out the meaning of an unknown word, rereading, reading slower, or leaving tracks of your thinking on sticky notes or a notebook.  This strategy is important when you are reading independently.

2.  Questioning - good readers wonder about things as they read.  They ask themselves questions as they are moving through a piece of text.  Some questions get answered, so they create new questions.  Some questions never get answered - we call them lingering questions.  This strategy can make you want to read on in a piece of text.

3.  Creating Sensory Images - good readers make a movie in their heads as they read.  They visualize what is happening.  Sometimes if the writing is descriptive enough they can even 'hear,' feel, taste, or smell what is going on in the text.  This strategy can help you understand exactly what is going on while reading a page of text.

4.  Inferring - good readers know there is more to reading than what is on the page.  They predict what will happen.  They 'read between the lines' to figure out things that aren't said directly on the page.  Sometimes inferences are wrong, so good readers revise them.  This strategy helps you realize that you need to think deeply about what you read.

5.  Schema - good readers think about what background knowledge they have about the text before they start reading.  They make connections to themselves, other texts, and the world.  They can explain how these connections help them.  This strategy helps you connect new learning to things you already know.

6.  Determining Importance - good readers know what to focus on as they read.  They look for text features in nonfiction books to help them.  When reading fiction, good readers look for major details that are important to remember.  This strategy helps when you have to summarize something.

7.  Synthesizing - good readers realize when they put more than one strategy together when they are reading.  They understand things after reading a text that they did not know before.  Using this strategy shows that you understand the reading strategies and are aware of how you are using them to help you understand.

E.R. Response

What do you know now that you didn’t know before?

Student Songs/Poems

America is Awesome (song)

Alex Hammond and Jess Low

Freedom represents the people,

50 states represents our home,

The schools represent the good jobs we have.

(CHORUS)

A-M-E-R-I-C-A

America is awesome!

RED, BLUE, WHITE and SPARKLES.

America is awesome!

Our jobs feed our family,

Our money buys us goods.

Children go to college to support.

(CHORUS)

Cody Atkinson and Jake Thurston

We had to fight throughout the night, and live on such little food. 

But since we live in America now, our lives are so much greater.

America, America, land of freedom and liberty. 

America, America, I am so proud to live in America.

Riley Cooper and Andrew Montgomery

America, America

                                                For freedom we go

We travel through hardships    

                                                 and even through snow.

                        We come for the land

We came for glory 

                                                 we came for freedom.

We came from England

                                                through the sea.

The natives have helped us.

                                                Now we are free.

Freedom in the USA

Jaycee Davis and Jasmin Barker

Freedom is sweet

                                        Freedom is kind

                 Freedom gives you a really great time.

Put these together

                                        And what do you get?

                America the free is awesome yet!

Shelby Roskelly and Katrina Fronk

Pioneers came from all over the globe

                                                          They came in ships in cart, on foot

To share our U.S. brotherhood.

                             America is open to all.

Here We Come to America

Kennadie Skinner and Olivia Webb

America might be far away, but we are getting closer every day.

Here we come to America, we're gettin' closer.


Across the waves, freedom we crave.


Now we start our journey- TODAY.

Jake Checketts and Mitch Barker
Amazing country, our free country
                                                   Metals from the Olympics
Earn, our country works hard
                              Real, freedom isn't fake
Independent, we help ourselves
                                                   Canada, our cool neighbors
Awesome, we can pool together and help others!


Alex Butters and Sierra Reeder
The pilgrams came to America
                                               the land of the free
and the home of the brave.
                          They came for freedom
justice and liberty, 
                                                because they didn't have any freedom.
They came to America by "the Mayflower"
                         and that's why America is free!


Todd Isrealsen and Seth Vellarreal
We like freedom
                           We like America, we like the States
                                                     Freedom, freedom, we like freedom
We like our ancestors
                                                     We like most of our presidents
                           Freedom, freedom, we like freedom.

To Think of Our Land 
To think of America, red, white and blue.
So true.
With rolling hills and spacious mountains.
Freedom of speech to say what I want.
White house standing tall, never fall.
Our land, our land, our land so beautiful.
Lady Liberty welcomes all. 

Jeremy Devey
The home of the free, the home of the brave.
America, you're our fave.
We took the perilous journey, the storms attacked.
The wind pushed us really far back.
We got to the land, we walked on the sand.
The journey is over, and it was not bland.
The waves did not stop us, we made it through- to America. 

Hailey Checketts and Allyse Tibbits
The pilgrams came over on the seas.  There was no food, and
it smelled kind of funky.
The pioneers walked across the plains.  There were lots of indians
and aching feet.  Today people came in planes, boats, and cars.
America is great. 

Mackay Baugh and Brennan Duffin
The pilgrims came across the sea in a boat called the Mayflower.
 Many then came to America to be free in liberty.

America, America, you gave freedom for all.

No more king, no more rulers.  The land is governed by us, 
the people of the USA. Come and join us any day.

                                               

Song/Two-Voice Poem

Joyful Noise
Coming to America

With your writing partner, brainstorm a list of words that are important to your idea. (You don’t have to use all of these, but ask other poets what words they would use about this topic).

Begin crafting your poem into two columns—one column for each speaker in the poem.

Interviewing older family members

Sometimes interviews can feel awkward or stressful.  Here or some tips that will help you have a fun time as you get to know your older relatives:


1.  Do something together while they talk.  You could take a drive, go on a walk, put together a puzzle, etc.  


2.  Come with a list of questions, but don't feel frustrated if you don't get through them all, or if the conversation takes a different turn.  Be flexible.


3.  It helps a LOT to look at pictures as you talk.  They will remind your relative of things that happened in the past.


4.  Bring a tape recorder if you can, AND a notebook.  The notebook is to jot down important names, dates, or details, but you mostly want to be looking up and giving the person your attention.  It's not good to be writing frantically the whole time.


5.  Remember to say thanks when you're done!  :)

Genealogy Project

Students, we are going to interview three different members of our family to create a kind of genealogy project.  The purpose of this project is to get perspectives from different generations within one family to show how we are shaped by the experiences we have and by the people we encounter.

Once you have recorded your three interviews, you will have to choose a special, meaningful way to present your information.  It's up to you how you want to do this, wether you decided to make a timeline or a powerpoint with family pictures, a book or journal entry, or something unique to you.  You will get extra credit points for creativity, and I want this looking POLISHED and very classy.  Keep in mind, it may become a family treasure someday!