This week in ELA we completed two mini-lessons from a unit about developing ideas in writing. Students are learning and applying several different writing techniques to support their writing process when engaging in a variety of genres. For each mini-lesson students learn a few specific writing techniques and apply them to the revision of a mentor text. After reviewing the practice writing task, students complete a paragraph assessment using a prompt from the New York Times Learning Network, engage in a peer-edit conference and submit their final draft.
We also started our World War I unit. Students are learning MAIN, an acronym standing for Militarism, Alliance, Imperialism, and Nationalism. Understanding these concepts, and the important role of industrializaton, will support their understanding of the major global conflicts of the 20th century. This week we examined nationalism and imperialism and the role each played in laying the groundwork for the Great War.