This week, the students will continue to work on creating plays. Some students chose to work independently, while others chose to work in small groups to create scripts. Unlike our stories throughout the year, students are collaborating with each other to create their scripts. This allows them to work together outside of school on Google Drive without having to go to each others' houses like WE used to do for group work. This is new to them, and their grade will only be based on effort and collaboration as well as adhering to specific computer rules. Students are only allowed to use the Chrome Book they are assigned to use. Students are never allowed to touch another person's computer. I've already had to remove someone from using the computer for a day for getting on to someone else's computer and deleting some information. This was not in my homeroom class.
In class this week, students' imaginative stories are due Monday, May 2nd. We will have a sharing day on Tuesday for students to get with small groups and share what they wrote. In addition, there will be some time to work on scripts in class during the week, but that will soon become something they will finish on their own as we move into more independent writing assignments. The first one will involve students taking a picture of something in nature and writing a free verse poem that compares themselves to the object. Other upcoming assignments will include writing newspapers and writing pieces of a choose your own adventure class book.
Klein's Class Only:
In Texas History, we have completed our study of cattle drives and the positive and negative effects of the railroad system in Texas during the cattle boom. The kids worked in small groups to choose a cattle brand and ranching company name. Each team played a simulation game to see what it may have been like to work a cattle drive, complete with the dangers the ranchers faced and what it was like to make it to market with fewer cows than anticipated. The time it took to reach the market had a direct affect on how much money they made for each head of cattle. Ask your child about his or her ranching company to see how they did.
This week, we will move forward in Texas History, looking at the discovery of oil.