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Week Eight: Friday, October 20, 2023

Welcome:

Another week down and we are getting ever closer to the end of the first marking period. The students finished up our school fundraiser this week and also kicked off the Make a Difference Day drive. Be sure to check out the information about the event on our homepage. Each year I am lucky enough to help unload the bus of goods collected by OJR with our wrestling team and I can tell you that the North Coventry Food Pantry is very appreciative of our district. 

This week I showed a quick inspirational video on Friday because we had so much going on in class. The clip was just over 2:00 of a great scene from one of my favorite movies--Dead Poets Society. Check out the video below about the importance of being yourself and not always trying to conform to the crowd. 




Social Studies (Pd. 1, 5 and 6):

This Past Week:
  • Monday: The students started the week off by completing a Google Form to help them reflect on their understanding of the Common Craft project in #029. We then played a Blooket to review for Friday's content check and the students were given the rest of the class period to work on their Common Craft videos. 
  • Tuesday: The students spent today finalizing their scripts and creating props for the common craft videos. We also played the Blooket to review for the content check-in on Friday. 
  • Wednesday: Today mirrored yesterday as the students continued to work on their projects. 
  • Thursday: Today was all about reviewing for the content check tomorrow and then finishing and filming their common craft videos. 
  • Friday: Today was all about finishing up the American Revolution as the students took the content check and recorded their videos. 
Next Week:
  • New Content: We'll be moving on next week to investigate the Constitutional Convention, the series of compromises that helped to save the convention and create our nation, and the guiding beliefs behind the Constitution. 
  • Three Branches Mastery Grid: The students will be completing their first mastery grid of the year this week. Mastery grids are great ways to give students the ability to work at their own pace and to move on in the learning process when they are ready. 
  • Content Check #3: Just a heads up--the final content check-in of the quarter will be worth 15 points and will be on November 2. 

Accelerated Social Studies (Pd. 3 and 8):

This Past Week:
  • Monday: Today was spent selecting debate topics for the first quarter debate, finishing up any outstanding assignments from the #031-Three Branches of Government Mastery Grid, and reviewing for tomorrow's content check-in. 
  • Tuesday: We took some time to dive into the debate procedures today so the students could really understand the assignment. The students then spent a good deal of today researching for their debate. 
  • Wednesday: The students spent both Wednesday and Thursday researching for their debates and doing metacognitive reflection activities at the end of each class to help the students think about their thinking when researching. 
  • Thursday: Saame as Wednesday.
  • Friday: The students were assigned their debate groups and sides today so they could finish up their research and plan their roles for the debate prep they will be doing next week. 
Next Week:
  • Debate Prep: The students will spend this week preparing for their debates. They'll assign roles, prepare, and practice throughout the week. We'll also take some time to review for the Civics Exam that will be held on 11/16. 
  • Debates: The debates will begin on Friday, October 27 for period 3 and on Monday, October 30 for period 8. 

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