The People vs. Columbus, et al

A tense trial was wrapped up moments ago. The People made convincing arguments proving the guilt of Columbus, Columbus' Men, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, the Taino/Arawaks themselves, and the System of Empire. Each group was indicted with the mistreatment and murder of the Tainos. Two students represented each defendant, either pleading guilty or not guilty as well as accusing the groups whom they deemed most responsible for the tragedy in the 1490's and beyond. Students prepared thoughtful defenses, answered questions, made accusations and offered rebuttals to other groups. Punishments were meted out, but for some reason each was laughed at by the guilty parties.

Autumn

Wow, lots of time has passed and we've delved into many things. Let's get you updated...

Each math group is finishing up their first units of study. Students have taken a short assessment and checked their answers. As we begin our second units, students will continue to have the opportunity to review what they have already learned by completing a few "old" problems along with their new exercises.

Students have answered a series of questions critiquing the source of the textbook in its dealings with Columbus. We are now looking at their answers from a writer's perspective. Our focus on these pieces has been ideas, organization, and sentence fluency. Students have received a number of short lessons on the above topics and have put the concepts into use through peer and self editing. Transitioning between paragraphs will round out our craft lessons for this piece.

Our readings about Columbus have led us to discussions about learning to read the world. Students discussed how readers are influenced by what is included, what is omitted, and what is given the most attention to in historians' writing. Historians write by taking a side and try to convince us to agree with their perspective. Students currently believe that our textbook is taking the side of the powerful/government people, and that the Zinn book is taking the side of the everyday people. I look forward to seeing if this belief holds up as we continue to interact with each book.

Lots of other great happenings, including beginning Kamana One, exploring and expressing values concerning the environment, and the exploration of qualities possessed by the people we look up to. New pictures will be uploaded soon, so follow the link to the right.

Discovering Columbus and Flying Deer

On Tuesday we finished up reading about Columbus in Howard Zinn's book, which drew heavily from primary sources. We then read our textbook's account of Columbus. Students began exploring questions about what was omitted by the textbook's authors, what motives were given to Columbus, who the book gets you to root for, what the illustrations communicate and more.

We had a grand first day of Flying Deer. The Red Fox Clan cleaned out the firepit, gathered birch bark and built a beautiful tipi for the whole school's opening circle. Check out the pictures by following the picasa link on the right side of this blog.

Many firsts

First day of math lessons and work block. First day of social studies. First Buddy Day. First game of our ole favorite Handball. Our morning work block is busy. Students are either engaged in a math lesson as a member of one of three math groups, working on math exercises, or choosing to complete spelling exercises, writing prompts, reading assignments or a nature journal entry. With such choice comes independence and responsibility for keeping oneself on task and productive.

Today Jon "discovered" Iona's backpack and its contents just like Christopher Columbus "discovered" America. We unpacked the word discovery and began investigating Columbus' second voyage to the Americas, which is where most textbooks conveniently end their tributes to Mr. Columbus. After reading some details about how the Arawaks were treated from primary sources, the question, "Why weren't we told this before?" was raised. Students began seeing how wealth, race, and power influenced the telling of what did and didn't happen.

First Two Days of School

It didn't feel like the beginning of a new school year, but rather a continuation of the groove we got into last year. How wonderful to be among great friends again. The main focus last week was on nature journals and rubrics. There are countless styles of journal entries to be investigated and tried. A beautiful Thursday afternoon allowed us to spend 40 minutes outside, answering through writing and drawing the question, "What is going on here?"

On Friday morning I introduced a nature journal rubric for the style we tried out. Rubrics will be a key component to nearly every discipline this year, informing students what should be included in their work to make it the highest quality. Students will be scoring their own work, having the opportunity time and time again to see that the quality of their work is their choice.

School Begins!

Welcome to blog attempt #2! The first blog site I tried out was full of advertisements among other undesirable qualities, so I hope this one is kinder to read. It is here that I will be posting updates (some written by me, some written by your children) on all of the happenings in our class instead of filling up your inboxes.