Hello All,

In Social Studies we are continuing our regional study of Northern Europe.  Yesterday we started watching a Globe Trekker travel documentary on Iceland and Greenland.  I have attached a link to a YouTube introduction to the video.  You have to pay to see the entire video, but at least you can get a taste for what we are up to in class.  As students watch the video they will take notes and then complete the reflective questions I have attached here.

You may want to start a conversation about the lands of Iceland with your student to see what has stuck with them.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Mr. Hutchinson

Hello all,

Yesterday I was ill, but students began working through a set of maps for our regional study of Europe.  Some students did a great job, and others had some trouble, probably because I was out and could not answer questions.  If students made big mistakes we started fixing them in class today.

From now to the end of the year we will hit each of the major regions geographically and culturally.  We are starting with Northern Europe.  One question the students will be asked is "Do the British Isles fit with Northern Europe?" Students will look at geography and culture and make a judgement.

Attached are the maps we are working on, or will be working on, and the directions for the British Isles map and the Northern Europe Map.  We are doing this work in class, so this should not be homework.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Mr. Hutchinson

Hello all,

Tomorrow students will show their understanding of our conversations about borders, human migration and Europe's Schengen Treaty.  This short 10 question quiz will be open note, but you may want to ask your student a few questions tonight like...

Why borders are drawn on our globe?

How borders are decided on?

Why do people choose to immigrate to new countries?

What does the Schengen Treaty allow across much of Western Europe? Why is that both good and bad?

Define asylum in the context of immigration.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

J. Michael Hutchinson
6th Grade Social Studies
Salem Middle School
NBCT 2003
http://smsguysread.wordpress.com/

Good Monday to you all,

Today we talked about how some countries in Europe are struggling with the EU's Schengen Treaty. Students were handed the attached document, which will be due on Friday.  Students will have a little time in class on Tuesday, but any unfinished work will need to be done at lunch or at home.

Let me know if you have any questions,

Mr. H

Now that we find ourselves in the 4th quarter our focus in Social Studies will fall on what is happening in Europe today.  We will look at some of the issues Europeans are facing and explore the physical and cultural features of this awesome continent.

This week we started talking about Immigration.  Students should have a working definition of Immigration and know some major reasons why people Immigrate.

We also talked about how Illegal immigration is a "hot-button issue."

This is an example of a reading we did today.

Mr. H

Hello all,

Last week we read Peter Sis' memoir about his life growing up behind the Iron Curtain.  After reading and taking some noes, students were to draw a cartoon showing a Czech youth cut in half.  One side should represent life on the East side of the wall and the opposite side should represent the dreams of life in the west.  Students will work on this assignment in class on Tuesday and the final draft will need to be turned in by Friday.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Michael Hutchinson
6th Grade Social Studies

Hello all,

We have been reading the historical fiction novel The Devil and His Boy by Anthony Horowitz all this week.  Tomorrow we will complete a review quiz dealing with our opening discussions and the first five chapters.  Students should have a review sheet that is nearly completed.  We will review the answers tomorrow and then take the quiz.  Students seem to be very confident and ready to go, you may want to ask them about it though.

We will do another review quiz after we read the next five chapters and then finish off the story.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Mr.  Hutchinson

Hello all,

With the start of the 3rd quarter we have moved from the Middle Ages into the time of revolution and reform in Europe. Yesterday we began talking about the Renaissance and today we added in the Protestant Reformation.  We will continue these topics as we work through our 3rd quarter read-a-loud book, The Devil and his Boy by Anthony Horowitz. Each day we will read a little of this historical fiction and then do some connections to the time of Elizabethan England.

Just a reminder that students need to make a comment on our class blog (Our Opus) dealing with commemorating the Magna Carta, history or travel.  Student responses need to be well thought our, but they do not need to answer all of the posted questions, just the one that speaks to most to them.  Many students have already completed this assignment, but they are welcome to check back in and continue the conversation.  Some really interesting thoughts have already been shared.

We do have a book order circulating out there.  Students have opportunities to order from Scholastic Books up until next Friday (Feb. 3).  If you are interested in ordering online you will need the GKDV8 code to assign your order to my class account.  Remember that checks should be written to Scholastic Books.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Mr. Hutchinson

Happy Friday to you all,

This is a quick message to address a new grading glitch I have just discovered in the SPAN online grades.  Recently I handed a practice assignment back to the students and we talked about how it was not going to change their grade, but I gave a mark in the gradebook to reflect their work.  That mark was a 4, 3, 2 or 1 just like the elementary grading scale.  Unfortunately NCWise does not like 4's and thinks of them as F's.  I did a little tweaking and got the program to think of 4's as 100%, but it still thinks 3's are 75% and 2's 50%.  I'm not sure if I can get NCWise to take the percentage off, so until then ignore the percentage and look at just the number mark.  Also remember that practice grades do not influence the overall average they are just for you knowledge of completion and work habits.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

J. Michael Hutchinson
6th Grade Social Studies