Life in Colonial Williamsburg

Chapter 10 Life in Colonial Williamsburg

Essential Question: What were key parts of life for Southern colonists in the 1700s?

Description: In a Writing for Understanding activity, students take a "walking tour" of colonial Williamsburg to examine aspects of colonial life, such as government, social life, and religion.

Students working on their "walking tour" stations. 

 

Making shoe patterns

Playing a game at the Raleigh Tavern

Signing laws in the Governor's Palace

 Listening to Slave Singing

Posting notices at the Bruton Parish Church 

Sitting in silence in church. 

Practicing stitching.

Math Centers

This week because our students are already in overdrive with the upcoming winter break and holidays we decided to do some math centers. We covered many topics. Here are some examples and pictures of students working on their tasks.

Weather and School Closing Links

Windchill

School Closing

Social Studies

Chapter 9 of Social Studies Alive covered the Triangle Trade.

Facing Slavery
Essential Question: What was the impact of slavery on Africans?

Description: In a Response Group activity, student groups analyze and respond to three dilemmas faced by Africans during enslavement: trading slaves for guns in West Africa, surviving the Middle Passage, and living as a slave in the colonies.

After the reading and responding to the text students did a flip book to show understanding of life in each stage of the slave trade, as well as the dilemmas faced by the Africans in all three stages, West Africa, the Middle Passage and the American Colonies. Here are some great examples of their work: 

Reading

     My very very very favorite part of teaching is reading great stories to these darlings.  We have already done three read aloud novels this year, Wonder, Walk Two Moons, and Replay.

     I wanted to share with you a little about Replay. In the book a boy named Leo struggles with finding ways to make his parents happy, including how to make them proud of him. He is an actor and a story weaver, a brother and a son, and the thing he wants most in the world is a little positive attention from his family. But they are so busy, four kids, jobs, family obligations, chores, etc. keep the family in constant chaos. But throughout the book Leo finds exactly what he is searching for, and he finds it in the empathy that grows inside him as he learns about who his father, Giorgio, was as a boy. Giorgio was a fun loving actor, singer, tap dancer, and yet Leo sees none of those things in his father the accountant.  Leo learns that our lives are shaped by who we were, by the people we love, and life's changes can be both heart breaking and rewarding.

One chapter tells of how Leo's dad used to tell his kids each night, "the story of What We Did Today". Here's an excerpt from the book: 

     I'm sharing this with you to ask you to spend time telling your child about who you are, and who you were.  Share with them your present day dreams, your broken dreams, and your childhood.  As well, share with them "What We Did Today". Let them know that each day with them is a story worth telling, and that who they are today will help shape who they become tomorrow.  Like Mr. Wallace says to us each day, "The choices you make today, shape your world tomorrow." Thank You Raccoons!

Fractions Test on Tuesday!

I sent students a link to check out if they'd like more practice adding and subtracting fractions.

MAP test for reading first thing Monday morning!

Writing

Our work with informational writing has continued. We spent this week working on paragraphs about raccoons. First we read and annotated, then took notes.  The next step was to form our paragraphs including a topic sentence, three detail sentences and a conclusion sentence. Students knew so much about how to write good paragraphs and we really has some quality pieces come in. Here are some examples of how the writing turned out.

Next students will be completely independent as they write about an animal of their choice. Ask your child which animal they chose and what they learned in the initial reading of their research.