Making Music

Today students wrote an acrostic poem about Mesopotamians. Then they went to VIRTUALKEYBOARD.com and turned their poem into an original song. I then showed them how to record their song and upload it into a slide about Mesopotamians in the Ancient Civilizations Powerpoint.
This was a very fun and engaging lesson blenging art, music and writing. If you are a parent of one of these amazing students, please ask them to open up their Ancient Civ. Powerpoint (last slide) to show you their song! You could even make a song together:)

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/music/piano/

First Person Narrative

Students wrote as a young Mesopotamian and described what life was like 4,000 years ago. We watched a short video, brainstormed, wrote a rough draft (including sensory details and figurative language), then typed it up. Finally students recorded themselves reading their essay into the ecamera, uploading the video into their Ancient Civilizations Powerpoint. Great job students.

Hammurabi's Code

       Today was all about Hammurabi. First we watched a short video on all things "Hammi", then we read in the text book about this past King. Next we debated about Hammurabis Code (fair/ unfair) using the debate feature in Thinkquest. Then students created their own Codes and wrote them up on a tablet. Students then took a picture of their Codes using their ECam, and uploaded the photo into their summary of Ancient Civilizations PowerPoint.

Well done kids!

Whant to learn more? Here is an extention link:

http://mesopotamia.mrdonn.org/hammurabi.html

The People of Mesopotamia!

We read and researched about the groups of people that lived in Mesopotamia so long ago. Then each student created a puzzle with the name of the group and a fact about that group on the back. Next students quizzed each other with their facts on the people of Mesopotamia.
Example:

 Putting it together

 Quizzing each other

After quizzing each other students took a picture of their puzzle using their netbooks, then uploaded the picture into the Ancient Civilizations Summary Power Point.                                                              

Extensions.... click here to learn more about the people of Mesopotamia

http://mesopotamia.mrdonn.org/sumer.html

Figurative Language Lesson

Figurative Language is an important concept for 6th grade.
Today we introduced the main types of figurative language including notes, a short video introduction, making a flip chart, then creating a power point with the words, definitions, original example and a symbol. Students will review the power points and flip chart for their test tomorrow. Enrichment activities are found on my Thinkquest page as well as the bottom of this post.
Great Job Kids!

Visual representation of the concept

 Students creating the flip chart

 How we take notes to create the flip chart (visualizer)

 Putting it all together in a powerpoint

 Reminders...

Enrichment links:
http://www.kidskonnect.com/subject-index/20-language-arts/343-figurative-language.html
http://languagearts.mrdonn.org/figurative.html
and my Thinkqeust site.

Foundation Crops (guest teacher Mrs. Harris)

We had a very hands on lesson on Foundation crops: the Origin of Agriculture presented by the fabulous Mrs. Harris.
Students held, smelled (and some tasted) seeds then drew and labeled them. Next they found out what the exact seed were.
FUN!!!!!
Students predicting using VTS strategies

 Student Work

 Our foundation seeds

 Putting it all together

Thanks again Mrs. Harris!
Enrichment Activities:
http://www.factmonster.com/dk/encyclopedia/early-farming.html

Mesopotamia!!!!

Welcome to the study of Mesopotamia. In the next three weeks we will be learning some very exciting things about this amazing ancient civilization. We have planned some fun activities to go with our learning, so make sure to try your best students. If you want a head start on the study of Meso, check out the following links:

http://mesopotamia.mrdonn.org/

http://mesopotamia.lib.uchicago.edu/

http://www.kathimitchell.com/ancivil.html

http://www.phillipmartin.info/hammurabi/homepage.htm

If you find an interesting fact you want to share, please send me a message in Thinkquest.org and I will post it for you.