Reading Around the World with our 7th Graders

Students in our 7th grade Language Arts classes just completed their Read Around the World unit. This unit gives them an opportunity to read a variety of books set in different countries and understand how children from different cultures are similar and different from them. Students were able to read at their own pace and choose from a variety of titles. Some students were even able to read all of the available titles and over 1,000 pages! Amazing job, 7th grade! View the video below to see the impact that this unit had on our students and to view the variety of titles from which our students were able to choose.

Olympic Video Competition Results

The results are in.  Thanks to all of your votes, we are ready to announce the winner of the 7th grade persuasive Olympic video competition.  Which country should host the next Olympics based on your votes?  Read on for the results.

With 322 total votes, here are the final results:

Congratulations to Madagascar for winning the worldwide vote! If you missed their video, check it out below.




Even though time is up to vote for your favorite video, you can still watch all of the top 11 videos if you missed them.

Great job showing your creativity and persuasion skills 7th grade!

Which country should host the next Olympics?

Everyone out there in the world, the 7th graders at our school need your help!  They just completed an integrated Social Studies/Language Arts project creating videos to convince you to host the next Olympics in a country that they researched.  Now they need you to decide which video is the most persuasive.

To coincide with the 7th grade Social Studies curriculum of world cultures, students worked in teams in their Social Studies classes to research different countries.  Studies needed to find information on the history of the country's flag, national anthem, and popular tourist attractions, among other information.

In Language Arts, students worked to learn the different persuasive techniques that appear in advertising.  Some of the techniques learned included slogans, repetition, testimonials, glittering generalities, and bandwagon.  They learned how advertisers used these techniques to appeal to us and sway our opinions.

Once students completed the above, it was time to put what they learned together.  In Language Arts, students created videos using Animoto to persuade viewers as to why the next Olympics should be held in the country that they researched.  They needed to combine the facts learned from their Social Studies research with the persuasive techniques studied in Language Arts.  For some students the task was more challenging than others!  Despite the obstacles, students created very impressive and persuasive products.

Now we are looking to you to help decide which country should host the next Olympics.  Please view the top 11 videos on our Google Site, Olympic Videos.  After viewing the videos, please access the Google Form (also available on our Google Site) and vote for your favorite.  Voting will be open until March 15.  The winning country will be announced the week of March 17.  Everyone's vote counts, so please tell your students, parents, neighbors, friends, and other family members to vote as well.

We can't wait to see the results!  Thank you for your votes!

Photo credits: Sydney 2000 Olympics - Athletics . Photography.Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. Web. 26 Feb 2014. http://quest.eb.com/images/158_2462956

Animoto Book Trailers

To culminate their group readings of various novels related to the themes found in Lois Lowry's The Giver, 8th graders in Mrs. Koshollek's Language Arts classes created Animoto book trailers.  Below are some examples of their work.  They certainly make me more interested in reading these titles.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
 

 Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
 

Behind the Bedroom Wall by Laura E. Williams
 

Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli
 

Bar Code Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn