Expedition Express: Redcoats and Rebels
The Akers Crew has wrapped up their studies regarding the onset of the American Revolution by completing various tasks centered around the interactions between the Redcoats and Rebels. We Skyped with a Minuteman from Lexington who gave us information on many of the individuals and their roles in the Battle at Lexington and Concord. He was dressed in full uniform and showed us some authentic tools and weapons used back during the Revolutionary time period. We also Skyped with an outreach coordinator from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. During our Skype we observed famous paintings and learned about the artists and their process to produce such amazing work.

Our final project for our second case study was a Socratic Seminar. The students engaged in rich discourse, answering the question “How and why did the colonists identify with the various opinions dictating how early America should be run?” The learning targets for the seminar were: (1) I can participate in a Socratic Seminar that analyzes the position of colonists in early America. (2) I can defend my position as a Patriot, Loyalist, or Naturalist in a Socratic Seminar Fishbowl, and work with my partner to develop strong arguments.

Students were assessed on a rubric individually by their peers and teacher. Overall, the arguments were intelligent, thoughtful, and energetic!

Our final product for our expedition is a George Washington Minuet, complete with public speaking and information from the Revolutionary time period. Students will be in full costume and excited to present!

Questions to Ask Your Child:
Describe the artist’s style who painted the portraits at the Museum of Art, Boston.
What did you learn from your Minuteman Skype?
What side did you identify with while you were in character during your Socratic Seminar? What were some of your arguments? What did you learn?
How did you do on your On Demand Write following the Socratic Seminar? What did you argue since it was a persuasive piece?

Crew News
Celebration of Learning: We loved sharing our final product performance at Celebration of Learning!

Bridges 4th Grade Math: Students will be kicking off Unit 3 when we return from break by studying equivalent fractions. Unit 3 utilizes a variety of tools to model, read, write, compare, order, compose and decompose fractions and decimals.

Bridges 5th Grade Math: Students kick off Unit 3 when we arrive back from school in January. In this unit, students study skills and concepts related to place value, from reading, writing, and comparing decimals to rounding and examining the decimal patterns of multiplying and dividing numbers by 10. Students use their place value understandings to convert within a measurement system, and they use both whole number strategies and place value understanding to add and subtract decimals to hundredths. Division is the focus of Module 4, in which students model, solve, and pose long division problems.

ELA:
Reading – We finished Chains! Please hold tight for information on our Book Talk in January. Next, students will continue conferencing with me and practicing reading strategies. We will start another anchor text in February.

Grammar / Conventions / Spelling – We continue to work on our Daily Oral Language, Hard and Fast rules for punctuation/grammar, and spelling rules. The Brisbin Crew is kicking off the second spelling rule: vowel- consonant-e. We will have Friday assessments that alternate between Language Study and Spelling. Please see your child’s planner for spelling word practice and assessment calendaring. *Our schedule has been off due to final product practice and preparation for the Socratic Seminar.

Writing – Students took an opinion / persuasive on demand write based on their ideas on the American Revolution. Looking at our rubric, we isolated one piece of the criteria and focused on the construction of the piece, making sure the three paragraph piece had a developed claim and evidence to support it. Overall the students’ scores were fantastic!

Students have also been responding to their reading of our anchor text Chains in their active reading response journal.

Parent Volunteer Highlight
Harvest of the Month – Thank you to Jenna Shropshire and Yvette Durant-Bender for sharing their culinary genius with our crew – this month we tasted sweet potatoes!