War Lords of Japan

We are in the midst of War Lords of Japan: A Simulation of Shogun History of Feudal Japan.  During this simulation, students join one of five Samurai clans.  The clans are competing with the ultimate goal of taking of Japan and becoming Shogun, the ultimate military ruler of Japan. 

In conjunction with our ELA Asia/Pacific Rim Literature Unit, students are studying the socio-political landscape of Feudal Japan.

Before we began the simulation, we talked about the structure of Japanese Feudalism.  As our classroom is usually collaborative and student centered, I wanted to make sure students were prepared for the shift in power structure.  During the simulation, I take on the role of Empress Lau, and students take on the role of Samuri.

Students are arranged into five clans, and it is their job to work together with their clan.  Each day, students are assigned one of the following roles:

• Leader:  The leader organizes the groups and directs the Empress where to move the clan's troops
• Accountant:  The accountant completes the ledger for the day.  The accountant keeps track of  the koku (rice currancy) which is earned and spent and the armies gained and lost.
• Journalist 1: Informs the Empress of the clan's army movements and battle accounts.
• Journalist 2: Informs the Empress of the knowledge earned and the day's fortune.
• Artist: Completes an art project to decorate the classroom. 

Take a look into the classroom below:

Maps of Japan on the back wall.  Each clan is represented by a different color thumb tack.  Each thumb tack represents one army regiment.

Clan leaders gather around Empress Lau (me) to inform the Empress of armies to be bought and troops to be moved.

In province R, Oska and Edo prepare for battle.  Only one army my occupy a province at a time.  

Samurai in their castle groups plot their next moves.  You can see the Japanese artwork hanging from the ceiling.

Artists hard at work on their Japanese Kite Fish

Book Discussion Skype

To wrap up Global Read Aloud, our ELA class 3/4 Skyped with our blogging partners in Ms. Pinnigar's class.  Students skyped in small groups, and took turns asking each other questions about the book One for the Murphy's.

Students worked together to create the questions they wanted to discuss. Here's some highlights of the questions they came up with:

• How did you feel about the ending?
• What do you think would have happened if.....?
• How do you think the story would have been different if Carley had been a boy?
• How do you think Mrs. Murphy feels about Carley's mother?

I was impressed with how deeply the students were thinking about the book.  It was great to see how invested they were in the plot and the characters!

Here's some more photos from the Skype:

The other class had to go a bit early, so we will be finishing up this Skype sometime next week.  A blogging partner Skype for ELA 5/6 will be coming up next week as well!

Google Hangout with Author Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Friday Nov. 14th, we participated in a Live Google Hangout with Lynda Mullaly Hunt.  Students from around the world sent in questions to Pernille Ripp, the creator of Global Read Aloud, and Mrs. Ripp asked Hunt the questions.  We learned everything from what motivated Hunt to write the book (Starwars!  We couldn't believe it!) to how she got the inspiration for Carly (Hunt was in foster homes growing up too!)  

It was so interesting to hear more about Hunt's writing process, and how she makes the characters come alive.  My favorite part of the Hangout was when Hunt told us the epilogue to the book....we got to find out what happened with Carley years in the future!

For the full interview, check out the video below.  To learn more, visit Hunt's blog or website.

Hunt's next book, Fish in a Tree, comes out February 5, 2015.  We can't wait to read it!  It's already on the list for book contenders for Global Read Aloud 2015!!

Book Fair!

Book Fair

IMMS LMC

Mon. 11/10-11/14

We have the Book Fair coming up next week!  Students will have time in class on Monday and Wednesday to go to the book fair and look through the books.  The book fair will be open during the school day Monday-Friday next week, and after school until 7:00pm on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.  If you are here for conferences, that would be a great time to take a look!

Here's a video we watched about the book fair:

 

Book Groups!

Today, I introduced our Second Quarter Reading Unit to the students.  Students told me that they enjoyed Esperanza more when they sat down and read it in large chunks rather than spreading it across an entire quarter, so this quarter, we will plan to spend no more than three weeks on one text. For second quarter, students will be reading a book and discussing the books in book groups.  Then, students will choose one to two additional texts from a text set to read individually and make text-to-text connections.

Today in class, I introduced and talked about the books.  Then, students ranked their book preferences in order. Take a look at the initial information regarding the project.  Students will receive their book groups and their books on Friday, and I'll be sure to update with more information soon!