March 21-25

Students completed In-Class Work #2 (Ancient Egypt) and scores were 
quite solid.  It was then on to Current Events, which had students 
grapple with the question of "when is it OK for militaries to invade 
other countries" in the context of the current humanitarian 
intervention in Libya. To stretch students' appreciation of the 
difficult issues that unfortunately remain part of our world, the 
teacher raised rhetorical questions (such as "is violence ever OK," 
and "should you try to save 1000 people if you know 50 will be killed 
accidentally.") Several students wrestled intently with the challenge, 
and in doing so made it a worthwhile activity for themselves. The 
teacher noted that there was indeed no "right" answer to such 
questions while stressing that this reality made posing the questions 
no less valid.

Following Current Events classes addressed some reading/study 
methodology. The teacher posed the question of "what clues help us to 
find the most important information in a textbook?" The class 
identified several answers, the three key ones being:

              - people, places, and things related to the subtitle;

              - words in bold; and

              - topic sentences.

The teacher then gave students a sheet with each Lesson 1, Chapter 3 
subtitle followed by an appropriate number of bullets. Students were 
instructed to try to identify the key points for the Chapter 3 
Introduction (p.29) and The Sumerians (p. 30), which the teacher will 
review. Students seemed to appreciate this activity--which the teacher 
plans to do regularly--and hopefully will develop the habit of writing 
study "bullets" for each subtitle (or if not, will develop/refine a 
similar note-taking strategy that works best for them).

March 14-18

After finishing their drawings that depicted an aspect of the Ancient  
Egyptian New Kingdom, 4th graders worked on an Ancient Egypt  
"scavenger hunt" in which they had to complete a chart. The chart  
consisted of key roles in Egyptian society (Pharaoh, noble, farmer,  
craftsman, woman, priest, soldier). Students--who were given a sheet  
with information on one of these roles--had to complete their chart by  
exchanging information with their classmates.

After finishing the text of Chapter 2, 4th graders squared off in a  
review game. Classes were split into two teams, with students being  
called on to respond to questions about the chapter. Students were  
generally engaged in the review game, which also included questions on  
current events issues and on Chapter 1.

One 4th grade class completed In-Class Work #2, leaving two other classes  
before the 4th grade group as a whole tackles another current events activity. 
The 4th grade will subsequently begin its study of The Fertile Crescent.

March 7-11

The 4th grade group continued its study of Ancient Egypt, doing a  
great job of reading aloud and completing related in-class exercises.  
One of these was for students to write in their notebooks "how the  
Hyksos conquered the Egyptians?" Students also began to assess the New  
Kingdom by way of a poem, drawing, essay, or song (as they chose).

To recognize this week's ruling in the Hague on the San Juan River  
dispute, 4th graders were tasked to use a resource created by the  
teacher and an article to summarize on the board either the position  
of Nicaragua or Costa Rica, or to record facts about the International  
Court of Justice.

The highlight of the week was when students engaged in a game invented  
by the Ancient Egyptians; tug-of-war. 

Week of February 28-March 4

After having previously previewed the new chapter with a brainstorming  
of what we already knew about Ancient Egypt and a brief discussion of  
its societal class structure, last week we started fully into our work  
on Ancient Egypt (Chapter 2). We defined key terms (silt, pyramids,  
pharaoh, afterlife, mummies, hieroglyphics, and papyrus) in our  
notebooks and read silently then aloud p. 16-20. We did so using our  
new reading method of allowing students to call on each other, which  
proved quite effective.

Students were told that the next week they would get the chance to do  
a very hands-on activity dealing with one of the legacies of Ancient  
Egypt.

We also handed back In-Class Work #1 and reviewed the answers, making  
clear that it was important to ensure they had the correct answers and  
that--hint hint, hint hint--they might be seeing similar questions in  
the future.

Students also completed Homework #1, which was to read part of a CNN  
transcript on events in Libya and to define four new words from it in  
their notebooks.