BINDER  CORE:                 11 // 22 / 2 0 1/ 2 0 1 33

WELCOME BACK A break is a wonderful thing.

Students will be coming back excited…and then eventually drained. It takes two weeks for the body and mind to adjust to a new schedule. School is not a new schedule, but I can guarantee you that few students went to bed and got up at a normal time during the break. It will take until mid-January for students to be back into the swing of things. Good luck with that.

As we head into the second half of the second quarter, please keep me apprised of successes and struggles that students may be having that I may not always see. I do have a tough and demanding persona, but as a parent I am (or can at least make the attempt ♠

READING CEREAL BOX (LOG #5) [repeat]

Reading Log #5 is actually a cereal box. Students will have to create a cereal box book report for a novel to represent 250 pages of reading. Students will create a cereal box book report. Decorate a real cereal box with illustrations and information related to the book you read using the directions below. Use pieces of white or colored paper to cover the cereal box. (You will probably want to measure, cut, and create the different sides of the cereal box before gluing them on to your box.)

On the front of the box, students need to include the name of the cereal and a picture. Invent a name for the cereal that is related to the storyline of the novel and sounds like cereal. Do not use the exact book title.

Choose a shape for the cereal as well as colors and ingredients that all relate to the book. For example, for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, you might invent a cereal called Wizard Wands, a toasted oat cereal in the shape of miniature lighting bolts and brooms with marshmallow cauldrons and wands.

On the right side of the box, make a list of ingredients that includes the story elements of “Characters” and “Setting”. Under the heading “Ingredients,” list the main characters and write a sentence about each one. Then describe the setting under the same ingredients heading.

Create a “Nutritional Facts” chart that rates the book by giving the percentage of the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) in several categories (humor, drama, suspense, action, education, vocabulary, etc.) Make sure you include these and at least one category of your own.

On the left side of the box, write a “teaser” summary that describes the main problem and the solution of the book. Try to use words that will “grab” the readers’ attention and make them want to buy your cereal. Unlike a real teaser, you will provide the climax to the novel.

For the back of the box, design a game that is based on the story. It can be a puzzle, a hidden picture illustration, or any other fun activity that might be found on the back of a cereal box. Make sure it includes information from the book.

On top of the box, include the title, author, number of pages, and number of stars you would give this book if you were a book critic. The maximum number of stars would be 5. Include at least three quotes from “famous” (made up) people who endorse the novel.

Finally, a good cereal often includes a prize. Your prize must be something that the main character could have used in the book or something that reminds you of the main character. You can either include a picture of the prize on the front of your box to let the reader know what is inside the box or an actual replica of the prize (that you create) that rests inside the box.

The cereal box book report is due at the beginning of class on Tuesday (1/8). I recommended that the students start the project during winter break. They did not, necessarily, need to start the cereal box, but the reading should have been done in order to start the project when we returned from winter break. Cereal boxes should be edited and revised. They should not be first drafts.

SHORT STORIES We resume our regularly

scheduled short story program with Anton Chekhov’s, “The Bet”. "The Bet" is an 1889 short story by Anton Chekhov. It is about a banker and a young lawyer who make a bet with each other about whether the death penalty is better or worse than life in prison. The story, like many of our other stories, has a twist ending.

As the story opens, the banker is recalling the occasion of the bet fifteen years before. Guests at a party that he was hosting that day fell into a discussion of capital punishment; the banker argued that capital punishment is more humane than life imprisonment, while the young lawyer disagreed, insisting that he would choose life in prison rather than death. They agree to a bet of two million rubles that the lawyer cannot spend fifteen years in solitary confinement. The bet was on, and the lawyer cast himself into isolation for fifteen years.

The man spends his time in confinement reading books, writing, playing piano, studying, and educating himself. In the

meantime, the banker's fortune declines and he realizes that if he loses, paying off the bet will leave him bankrupt. The day before the fifteen-year period concludes, the banker resolves to kill the lawyer so as to not owe him the money. How the story ends may surprise you. ♠

WRITING VOCABULARY #7

Vocabulary #7 resumes with a shortened week, from Wednesday, January 2 through Friday, January 4. Students will have time to work on the assignment on Wednesday and Thursday (1/2-3), and the assignment is due at the beginning of class on Friday (1/4). It is an extremely short week and students will be a little “winter break hung over”. Your attention and foresight will go a long way to helping ensure success.

The next vocabulary quiz is next Thursday (1/10). Regular vocabulary students use context, antonyms, synonyms, and their noggins to help fill in blanks (any 12 for 6th graders and any 14 for 7th). W3 students on lists #1-20 have stems to define and mystery questions to answer.

W3 students on list #21 have words and stems to define (as well as words or definitions to provide based on definitions or words provided), and a “flip side”. The flip side asks students to recognize and use the context of a sentence (which is bolded) to determine which word from their current list fits the context.

MARKET A CLASSMATE For the month of January, students

will be learning a little bit more about one another. They will practice interview skills by asking one another questions. Each person will interview every other person in class. The goal is to figure out what makes each student a valuable member of the Binder Core community.

The ultimate objective is to create a visually appealing poster that persuades us that a student’s partner is a valuable member of our community. As part of the project, students will use interviewing techniques to research what qualities (humor, dependability, creativity, etc.) their partner has that actively contribute to the well-being of our classroom.

Students will eventually cull information from interviews and research to create a poster. Posters will include a front and a back with a variety of elements. The front of the poster should include graphics and images that are visually appealing and thoughtfully placed. The poster’s content should clearly indicate who the classmate is and include text and artwork that expresses the theme the student (your) are trying to communicate.

The back of the poster will include at least two paragraphs, in biography form, that clearly states why s/he is a valuable member of our community. Students should use convincing examples and details should be included as evidence. Writing

can be typed or in one’s best penmanship (in ink, not in pencil). All writing is expected to be free of errors and neat.

The project is due at the beginning of class on Tuesday, January 22. We will be presenting the posters Tuesday (1/22) through Friday (1/25) of that week. We will be presenting three posters toward the beginning of class and three more at the end of class each day. We will continue presentations during the beginning of the following week (1/28-?) as needed.

As with all projects, we will break it into smaller chunks with due dates along the way. The idea is to take small bites and check in with students to help ensure they understand what they are supposed to be doing and they are heading in the correct direction. We begin next week with an overview of the project and interviews. ♠

HISTORY

CURRENT EVENT #7 Current event #7 has a strange

presentation schedule. Wednesday (1/2) current event presenters will begin the seventh round of current events. We will continue on Thursday and Friday (1/3-4) and resume the following Monday and Tuesday (1/7-8). Missing and late current event #7 news items will be presented on Wednesday, January 9. We will review the current events on Thursday (1/10), and the group quiz will take place on Friday (1/11).

MIDDLE AGES [bits repeated]

We begin our journey through the Middle Ages of Europe. We will be studying the Middle Ages from January through spring break. It will be two and one-half months of plague, mass hysteria, siege machines, and seeing if women weigh the same as a duck. The best of all, however, is only having to bathe once a year.

We will begin our Middle Ages unit by reading and watching films providing a great background of information. After that, we move into our medieval storyline. It will occupy about a month of our unit.

During the storyline, students will take on the role of a medieval villager. They will construct their domicile and write accounts of their life. Students will work their way through medievle history via the lens of a bailiff, squire, peasant, or one of a plethora of other medieval villagers.

Our first step is to read a chapter in the textbook. It should be a review of where we started our year, the end of the Roman Empire. It will be a nice segueway into the calamitous situation that is called, “The Dark Ages.” We will read, review, and take a short quiz on the chapter on Friday (1/4). Next week we tackle the joy that is feudalism. ♠