Last week officially saw the beginning of taxes. After happily earning shillings for weeks, the reality of being a British colonist hit hard, as paying the King did not come happily. The young colonists learned how ridiculous it seemed to have to pay taxes on everyday items, like shoelaces and pencils! A "lucky" few students were members of Parliament and tax collectors. The unprompted response was cries of "unfair!" and some students making signs stating "No Taxes". Letters written to King George pleaded for a repeal of these taxes.
The following day, a list of taxes payable to King Morkert included things like "Blurting Tax" and "Out of Seat Tax". Students quickly found their coveted shillings were disappearing. This week we proceed into learning about the Boston Massacre, where students become detectives, hired by John Adams, to find out the truth to what actually happened. Our classroom this week begins to change into Colonial America, with the students working together to discover how and why the 13 colonies became so upset with England. The students this week, after learning about the Stamp Act (in which colonists were taxed on everyday items), will find themselves taxed on, well, most everything. They will be asked to write a letter to King George himself, asking to have the taxes repealed. We'll have to see... We also spent a morning last week at a 1776 reenactment over at Olive school. The students prepared by learning about each of the actors, and were thus able to better understand each. I'll drop pictures onto the Class Photos section soon.
If you haven't seen it yet, a permission slip went home for a district sponsored field trip to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra give a special kid friendly Halloween performance on October 24. Please send back in by this Friday, October 17. Finally, if you didn't hear about it already, Malala Yousafzai, a 17 year old Pakastani girl won the Nobel Peace Prize last week. She fought for the right for girls to be educated and was shot and nearly killed by the Taliban. We will take some time in class this week to learn her remarkable story. Her book, I am Malala, is a terrific read, if you have the chance. Our classroom was a very busy place this past week. So much so that the "What's Happening?" update didn't happen, so, I can fill in some of the blanks here.
We've come to one of those places in the year where several units wrap up at one time. *Our Human Body in Motion unit wraps up. Our final test was taken on Friday and should be home for your signature on Monday. We took a lot of time to review last week, along with learning specifically about the digestive system, and how enzymes help to break down our food. I will work more with those who struggled on the test. We transition from science to social studies and begin our trek back to the 1700s, learning about our country's birth. This in-depth unit will continue up until Thanksgiving break! *Our Roald Dahl unit also came to a close last week. Each group got to celebrate by watching the video of the book they read. I know with my group, The Witches, we agreed that as fun as the movie was, it didn't compare to the book. We transition from there to a few weeks where we will focus specifically on non-fiction texts and strategies to help understand. In about 2 weeks, we will begin the novel My Brother Sam is Dead, used to accompany our Revolutionary War unit. This Thursday, October 9, our first midterms go home. The first midterms of fifth grade can be a wake up call for some, as they begin to learn the ropes of new expectations. Please take time to review the grades with your child, as well as expectations. Signed midterms are to be returned on Tuesday, October 14. |
Author5th grade teacher to wonderful students at Patton School! Archives
October 2015
Categories |