By:Dinah, Kira, & Jewell
Monday, 4/29: Kira
Today in Humanities with Mr. Greenberg, we worked on our speeches using the organizers we had filled out to aid in our preparation. We all had to find a way to inspire our peers to get involved with the topic we had chosen prior to writing our essays. Before the three day weekend, we had to write an essay based on a change maker in a field of our choice. We have centered our speeches around the same topic as our essays. Today in Humanities with Mr. Gornto, we talked about the meaning and the message of the Giver, our current class book. We have all finished reading the Giver and are now trying to analyze the text and understand the deeper meanings that rest behind the words. We have started to take on the larger questions that partly are based on what the message of the book truly is and how much ethics comes into play. Today in Science, we have started a new unit on forces and motion. In class, we started a lab that includes six inquiries that will help us become more familiar with this new topic. They challenged us by making us think about what common actions use such important forces.
~Kira
This is a speech organizer that was filled out by one of the students in section Y.
~Kira
This was just one of the inquiries we had to complete in class.
~Kira Patel
Tuesday, 4/30: Dinah
Humanities with Mr. Gornto on Tuesday consisted of an open discussion about the narrative arc of the novel we are reading, The Giver. In other class periods we have meticulously gone over the main theme(s) of the book, characters, takeaways, and many other things within those categories. Section Z had this discussion for an hour, which gave us plenty of time to make a narrative arc and even have a deep conversation, (some classified it as a debate,) about what the climax of the novel is. Second, Section Z had Mr. Greenberg’s Humanities class, which we spent continuing to write our speeches that will start to be presented this coming Friday. Some topics being focused on are journalist rights, use of plastic straws, and animal abuse. Ethos, logos, and pathos have been staples of the speech-writing process; we have to include all three persuasive-language tools into our speeches. The handout given as a guide and a checklist for students evaluating others when giving their speeches is pictured below. Section Z had Quest: Science last period on Tuesday, where we started our “Forces and Motion” lab; (our start date was delayed a day because we didn’t have science on Monday). Aside from challenging each partnership to think critically, we also had to use teamwork skills to do all of the fun inquires successfully.
This is the sheet given to us that includes ways of how to include ethos, logos, and pathos in our speeches.
~Dinah
Wednesday, 5/1: Kira
Today in Humanities with Mr. Greenberg, we helped each other peer review our speeches. Our final speech is due Friday which is when we start our presentations. Each person’s presentation is about two minutes long, so we will most likely take two class periods to finish all of the speeches. Today in Humanities with Mr. Gornto, Section Y discussed the Giver and the most important parts of this book. While doing this, we reviewed and discussed the climax and structure of the narrative arc of the text. Today in Science, we learned about different forces and what they each do. During this discussion, we touched briefly on the history behind some of these forces as well. We also started a movie on Isaac Newton, and wrote down some of his more well-known accomplishments. He is just one of the scientists we are now studying.
~Kira
This is the CD case for the movie we watched in class.
~Kira
Thursday, 5/2: Dinah/Jewell
Today in Science, we continued the movie about Isaac Newton. We wrote down accomplishments and background information about Newton, and discussed them at the end of class. This movie revealed a lot of things about Newton that most of us didn’t know, along with restating important facts about him that showed that he was a pioneer in the world of science. In Humanities with Mr. Greenberg we listened to, timed, and proofread each other’s speeches in small groups . Classmates gave each other advice on how to make their speech stronger, maybe by adding emphasis on a certain word, or pausing after an important sentence to let the information stated sink in. In Humanities class with Mr. Gornto, Section Z was able to ask Mr. Gornto any questions they had regarding the final project for The Giver, and was given the rest of the period to work on the project itself. It was a beneficial work period, as many kids are on different stages of the project, and this was a chance for kids a little behind to get a good thirty minutes of working time.
~Jewell & Dinah
Friday, 5/3: Dinah/Jewell
Today in Science, for Section X, we continued our discussion on the Isaac Newton Movie. For Section Z, we had a double science period. These made all of the students happy, especially since Section Z missed science for Meeting for Worship on Thursday. For the first science period, we worked on our 4th quarter Quest self-reflections. Students assess themselves in different categories, then give it to one of the three Quest teachers who gives the student feedback, and returns it to and conferences with the student. For the second science period, Section Z worked on a “Different Types of Scientists” crossword puzzle. This seemed like it would be easy at first, but every student can tell you that it was no small feat to complete. Do you know the name of the scientist who, “studies blood and its diseases”? In Humanities with Mr. Gornto, we talked about our final project for The Giver, which is due on the coming Tuesday. We have to find or create an image and describe how the image connects with a theme of the book. Today in Humanities with Mr. Greenberg we presented our Spotlight speeches to the class. Each of us was assigned a number earlier in the week and we went in the order of the numbers we had received. Each section got through about ten speeches and each person was assigned someone to critique. The people who went got assigned a log due on Monday and the people who will go on Monday will have the same log due on Tuesday.
~Dinah & Jewell
Proofread by: James, Bella D, Elise