This month as readers we looked at and discussed our Stanley Middle School Reading Habits, we began setting reading goals, and logging our reading.

We have also been learning about how to choose books that are "just right" for our reading levels. We have engaged in many activities to ensure that we always have a book on hand. For example this month we went to the library, we began First Chapter Friday's, we explored our classroom library, and we had a 'book buffet' book cart where kids got to explore and choose from over 100 of the most popular 6th Grade reads.

This month students also completed their textual lineage posters. For this project students were asked to think about the books that made them who they are! The posters could not have turned out to be more thoughtful and beautiful.

In September we will begin our first class novel and start working on our Deep Study of Character Unit. Throughout this unit of study students will explore and engage with the traits of the characters within various texts, as well as use evidence to make claims about their thoughts, feeling and actions. We will discuss how characters in books provide us with mirrors of ourselves as well as windows to the viewpoints of others. Students will engage in activities that probe them to think deeply and critically about their reading.

This month as writers we began by reviewing what narrative writing is. We used various mentor texts to explore what makes certain narrative pieces stand apart. As a class we came to the conclusion that powerful narratives have a moral, that they include actions, feelings, thoughts, and dialogue that drive the story and bring the reader along.

We then deepened our study by beginning to brainstorm ideas for our own narrative stories. Centering our thinking around aspects of our own lives, or life experiences that made us feel something.

We made identity icebergs to help us think about the internal and external aspects of our own selves in order to get us ready to think about these very same aspects for our characters.

Looking forward into September, we will continue to brainstorm ideas and move into the planning phases of our process. We will learn about story mountains and map the internal and external elements of our stories.

This month in History we worked on becoming acquainted with the geography of the areas we will be studying.

We started our month by having the studnets create a world map complete from memory! The students laughed, and struggled as they drew the world together.

We then spent the following days labeling and reviewing world maps, and the maps of Mesopotamia in an effort to become more familiar.

This month we also learned important timeline terminology such as: What does BC mean? How do I read a timeline? What is a century? Additionally, students became familiar with their textbooks and various online platforms that we will be using throughout our study of the ancient world!

Looking forward to September we will continue our study of Mesopotamia. We will dive deeper into the GRAPES (Geography, Religion, Achievements, Politics, Economics, and Social Structures) of these peoples.