We'll have a history test next Tuesday over the Civil War, which is found in ch. 10.  We'll be reviewing in class starting tomorrow.

Take a look at some of the topic sentences below.  Remember, a topic sentence has a topic and a main point, and that main point should be as specific to the paragraph as you can make it.

Below is an example of what student research should look like at this point.  The subject of this project is Abigail Adams and the topic of this "paragraph" is early life.  Individual facts have been gathered from three different sources, with at least one being a physical book.  Those facts are recorded in loose keyword outline format, the goal of which is to speed up the gathering a facts and also to remove the facts from their original form so that it is easier to avoid plagiarism later.

A number of students will need to be doing some research at home in order to be done by the end of class next Thursday.  This post is so parents can have a clear idea of what effective research looks like in the 6th grade.

1.  In which early colony would you feel most at home?  Please provide at least three specific reasons based on facts from the text.

2.  The House of Burgesses was the first example of representative government in the colonies.  How does representative government work?­­­­­­­­

Look at the following topic sentences.  Which ones are effective?  Which are not?  Why?

1. Roger Williams against the Puritans.
2. Roger Williams separated from the Puritan Church.
3. Roger Williams was important in American history.
4. Roger Williams was a man who wanted to give people religious freedom.
5. Roger Williams big part in history.
6. Roger Williams great interesting story.

Which of these are complete sentences?  Which contain the actual main point of the paragraph?

Today is the last class day we'll be using on the Canada poster before it's due.  My hope is that most students can turn it in before Thanksgiving break so that it can be a true break from school.  However, if some people need extra time, the official due date is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (the 27th).  The expectations for the poster are listed below.

A TITLE/LOGO
Use your art skills to add interest and meaning to the name of your province.

A SLOGAN
Think of a catchy phrase that will stick in people’s minds and highlights what is great about the land in which you live!

A MAP
Use the resources available to you (your textbook, your map book, encyclopedias, the internet, etc…) to create a hand drawn map of your province or territory.  Your map must include labels for at least five places in your province.

2 PICTURES with CAPTIONS
What facts about your province will help you show the brand you are creating?  Create at least two fact/picture combos on your poster.

My mistake!  Originally I had our history test next Tuesday, thinking it would be the second day we were back after the weekend.  However, since there is no school next Monday, we'll have our history test on Wednesday and use Tuesday to review in class.

You probably can easily notice how negative space was used in the Finding Nemo and Shark Tale logos...

...but can you see how it was used in the FedEx and Hershey's logos?

Use the Chapter Checkup for Chapter 3 to study.  You do not need to study the maps.

We will be reviewing in class this Wednesday, Thursday and next Monday.