Animal Farm: Diagram Analysis & Essay Brainstorm - Six Pics Inquiry Activity

Students:

• Shared their Diagram Analysis of Animal Farm--See their blogs here, here, and here to see their excellent analyses.
• Brainstormed possible topics for their Animal Farm Essay, due one week from today (Thursday, 2/12/15)--See ideas here...Remember, students, you may continue thinking up ideas...just let me and Mrs. Horner know what you decide on so we can be of assistance.
• Did an inquiry activity called Six Pics
• Six pictures came onto the screen, one at a time.
• Students wrote and shared their reactions to each picture.
• Their reactions to the first three pictures were recorded on a separate document.
• Students wrote their reactions to #s 4, 5, & 6 but we didn't have time to record them.
• So, students, click here and add what you wrote to #s 4, 5, & 6. You will need to change everything to 7-point font in order for it to fit. We might have to keep finessing this.

Assignments

1. For Friday--Six Pics--Copy and paste your reactions to pics 4, 5, 6, as described above.
2. For Thursday--Animal Farm Essay due

Chapel - Animal Farm: Vocab Quiz & Diagram Analysis

Students today:

• Attended chapel
• Took the Vocabulary Quiz over Animal Farm
• Worked collaboratively (or individually--their choice) to analyze and annotate a Diagram of Animal Farm. We brainstormed some of the things students could do to demonstrate their knowledge of the novel. Due tomorrow.
• Thanks to Jaycolt for this link showing whom the Animal Farm characters represent.
• Kudos to Wingboy for his Tagxedo of Animal Farm:

Assignments

1. For Thursday: Finish annotating the Diagram of Animal Farm
2. For Tuesday, 2/10 
• Quiz over Ch. 9, 10, 11 Summaries on the Texas Revolution
• Thanks to Mr. 12345 for kindly preparing a first set of Quizlet flash cards for your learning pleasure:

Animal Farm, Ch. VII-X - 1954 AF Movie

Today our students:

• Discussed Animal Farm
• Ch. VII-X
• Quotations from the SparkNotes summaries
• See discussion notes here.
• Related the novel to Marxism and the Russian Revolution of 1917
• Analyzed the 2 flags: Animal Farm & Soviet Union

• Viewed the first 33 minutes of a 1954 animated move of Animal Farm

Assignments for Wednesday:

1. Vocabulary Quiz - Animal Farm
2. Read the SparkNotes summary of the Russian Revolution I added on to the Chapter Analyses chart.
3. Watch the rest of the animated movie of Animal Farm. 
• Use VideoNot.es while you're watching to do the following:
• Relate the movie to the novel (similarities & differences).
• Relate the movie and the novel to the Russian Revolution.
• Post your VideoNot.es at your blog.
• Be sure you give a good title to your VideoNot.es.

Audio Inquiry Mystery, cont'd - Anthem Analysis - Student-Taught Lesson on Audio Inquiry Mystery

Today students:

• Reviewed their Audio Inquiry Mystery analyses & hypotheses
• Listened again to see if they missed anything
• Vied to win the lottery to be chosen to turn the Mystery PowerPoint into a brief lesson
• Analyzed the two anthems in Animal Farm
• Were taught the Mystery PowerPoint lesson by the lucky student

Assignments

For Tuesday

1. Read Ch. IX & X in Animal Farm-formulate discussion questions
2. Read the Spark Notes Chapter Analyses for Animal Farm - Mentally relate what you are reading to the Chart you were supposed to read over the weekend.

For Wednesday - Vocabulary Quiz - Animal Farm- Many thanks to 12345, for making the Quizlet flash cards

Animal Farm Discussion, Ch. V & VI - Audio Inquiry Mystery???????

I patched together the above Timeline of the Russian Revolution from an excellent video you can view below or by clicking here. This provides some of the historical background some of you were saying you'd like to have.

On this day, students:

• Received documents relating characters and events in Animal Farm to real-life persons involved in the Russian Revolution- Click here and here to view them.
• Received a list of Vocabulary words for AF
• Discussed Ch. V & VI of AF
• Got the Mimeo device up and running and almost got the Mimeo tablet up and running
• Took notes during an Audio Inquiry about a Mystery Event--View students analyses and hypotheses here.

Assignments - Due Monday:

1. Read the documents linked to above relating AF characters to RR persons.
2. Read and be prepared to discuss Ch. VII & VIII of AF.
3. Be learning the Vocabulary words for a Quiz next week.

Animal Farm, Ch. III & IV - Debate on Causes of Texas Revolution

Today we:

• Discussed Ch. III & IV of Animal Farm - Click here to see discussion notes.
• Debated the question: "Did the Texans have the right and good excuses to revolt against Mexico?" Students debated superbly! 
• Here's the goofy doc we used to demonstrate Google Docs.

Assignment for Friday: Read Ch. V & VI in Animal Farm.

Chapel - Animal Farm Anthem & Discussion of Ch. I & II

Today our students:

• Attended chapel
• Practiced singing "Beasts of England," first to the tune of "Clementine" and then to "La Cucaracha
• Viewed a video presentation of "Beasts of England" found by a student

• Discussed Ch. I & II of George Orwell's novel, Animal Farm - Click here to see notes during discussion.
• Attended the Grade 4 presentation on Beowulf
• Did not have time to begin the debate over the Causes of the Texas Revolution and will therefore begin it on Thursday

Assignments for Thursday

1. Read and come prepared to discuss Ch. III & IV of Animal Farm.
2. Be prepared to debate the causes of the Texas Revolution.

Good background info on Russian Revolution & Animal Farm:

• Timeline Video on Russian Revolution
• Prezi on RussRev & Animal Farm
• Characters: AF & Real-life
• Top 10 Notes: Animal Farm - SPOILER ALERT - You might want to watch this one after we've finish reading the novel. (But then again, maybe you just can't wait.)

Pre-Farm Discussion - Began Animal Farm - Team Planning for TxRev Debate

Today our 7th graders:

• Hypothesized as to why the people of a country might revolt against their government (See collaborative document here.)
• Began reading George Orwell's allegorical novel, Animal Farm
• Paused from time-to-time in the reading to examine some of the events and people allegorized in the article, for example the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Karl Marx, etc.
• Watched a 5-minute video on Orwell
• Got together with their teammate to plan strategies for tomorrow's debate on the Causes of the Texas Revolution

Assignments for Wednesday:

1. Finish reading Chapters I & II in Animal Farm
2. Come prepared to debate whether the Texans had the right and good excuses to revolt against Mexico.