Oceanography Party!

The class celebrated the completion of an entire year of Oceanography class!  Ms. Gail truly went all out!  The students helped make cinnamon sea snails, cookie clams, jello/vanilla wafer beaches, hot dog octopi, and more!   These kids have spent two years learning from Ms. Gail, and this was an awesome way to wrap it all up!

The social studies class focused on Native American rights.  The students studied Native American history and issues that specifically affected the Native American people.  They learned about the Native American Civil Rights Act, the Indian Appropriations Act, the Indian Reorganizational Act, and other important protections.  Finally, Mr. Dennis taught about famous Native Americans and their contributions to society.

Although the class is working on their persuasive essays at home, I wanted to take the time today to work on in-class essays.  A lot of times, students can "freeze up" when expected to write on the spot.  Today, we talked about strategies for in class essays.  We walked through examples of organizational techniques for this type of writing.  They have all spent the last few years improving their writing.  Next week, they will show me what they can do with this new essay type!