Last week, we did a peasant/monarch simulation to get an idea of what life was like for the majority of Europeans during the 15th-18th centuries, and to understand why some people would risk their lives to sail across the Atlantic ocean to start a new life in "the New World." Here is a slideshow from the activity: And here is a slideshow of some of the students' thoughts about the activity:
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Post written by Abby
About a couple weeks ago we read a book called Encounter By Jane Yolen.
It is told in first person point of view, by a young boy. The story kind of has the same plot as when Columbus traveled to America but told in the point of view of a Native American boy.
Once we read the book, we got paired up in groups of three and four. Each group got assigned two to three pages of the book to reenact in front of the class to make a short, free play. The challenge was that we only had minimum time to do it. Check out our skits in the videos below.
Written by Ella
A few days ago in class, we learned about the battle of Constantinople in 1453 (present-day Istanbul, Turkey), when the Ottomans tried to conquer Constantinople so they could get more money by controlling the trade between Europe and Asia. If the Ottomans conquered Constantinople they would cut Europe out of the Silk Road. The Ottomans used cannons to try to shoot down the wall. It took 53 days for them to finally break the wall. We tried to recreate the wall out of our wonders books, and Mr. Salsich brought out the mega nerf gun he has, and we all tried to shoot down the wall from a nearby desk. It was so fun! None of us shot it down, probably it could have taken 53 days! (*Update: The wall did fall on the second day after about 35 of us shot at it!) I liked the activity and some of my classmates did too. “I thought it was fun because we got to shoot things,” said Sarah. We all had fun learning about the battle of Constantinople! (especially Sarah) In social studies, we have been learning about the battle of Constantinople in 1453 and how that event impacted European exploration and world history. We also learned about inventions like the printing press, the compass, and other navigational instruments. Students worked on sketching their ideas and understandings through "Quick-Draws." Then they selected their favorite sketch to include in a class slideshow.
Check out the awesome creativity by clicking on the image below! As mentioned in previous posts, we worked in groups to learn about several native American tribes of the east coast of North America, Sometimes these tribes are referred to as "woodland" peoples because they lived in heavily forested areas. Their lifestyles were shaped by their environment. Below are our final "Iron Chef" slides sharing what we learned about the Wampanoag, the Powhatan, and the Iroquois/Haudenosaunee tribes. Click on the image of each slideshow to view the entire slide. What do you find surprising or interesting about the tribes we learned about? "Iron Chef" Slides from Class 5.1"Iron Chef" Slides from Class 5.1"Iron Chef" Slide from Mr. Salsich & Co.Post written by Nico Photographs by Kinsley and Abby Today we all are working together to edit and revise our Iron Chefs. If you read one of our other posts, we were working with a group to learn about certain Native American tribes. I had the Iroquois as my tribe and we were working on our Iron Chefs. So once we presented our slides, Mr. Salsich went in and added comments to our slides. For example, he would comment on a slide “This needs more detail” or “try to be sure to put it in your own words in the future” and maybe point out a question we didn't answer. So now we are editing and revising our slides. Once we are done editing we are able to change the background and font of our slides. What did you change and improve about your slide?
Post written by Finn M
Photographs by Hayden, Avery, Maya, and Gwendolyn Today in class we are presenting more of last week’s Iron Chef activity, which is researching a Native American tribe and making a slide about the tribe. We worked in groups on Friday to make the slides, but we couldn’t present all of them on time. The groups are groups of 4-5 people, and they all share a slide deck, but each person only does one slide of a different topic. The tribes we are presenting are; the Iroquois, the Wampanoag, and the Powhatan. The topics we researched are; housing, farming and gathering, hunting and fishing, a child's life, leadership and decision making, and spiritual beliefs. During social studies last week, we used the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) to begin our learning unit about the European "discovery" of America. Starting with questions instead of answers is a great way to get the brain ready for learning. Also, in our modern world of information abundance, the "right" question is often more helpful than the "correct" answer... Finally, as any toddler will tell you, asking a bunch of questions is just plain fun! The QFT procedure is pretty straightforward. Given a statement or an image to respond to, students are asked to:
Below is the statement and image that we responded to: "These items led to the discovery of America."As groups, we came up with lots and lots of questions. Each group had at least 20. We then talked about the difference between a close-ended question (one that can be answered with a yes or a no or a short phrase) and an open-ended question (one that requires an explanation) and the advantages and disadvantages of both kinds.
We will be referring to the questions we came up with and using some of them as launching pads for research as we begin to learn about the different people who have called "America" home over the years, and what happened when they met each other. Below are pictures of use coming up with our questions. |
About UsWe are a 5th grade ELA and social studies class in coastal Connecticut. We post about our learning, our activities, our ideas, and our creativity. Quick LinksStar360 Archives
February 2019
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