Update on Dec. 1, 2020

Students are reading Hoot by Carl Hiaasen and should read 75 pages each week to stay on schedule. The book should be completed by Dec. 15th. In the novel, a pancake restaurant wants to build its newest location on a site that is currently home to a group of endangered owls. The main character gets involved with a boy who repeatedly sabotages the construction site to prevent the destruction of the owls and their burrows. We've already had some interesting pre-reading conversations about indifference toward injustice and the conflict between human progress and the environment. Today students chose an endangered animal to research. This is not an animal project where they will look up every single fact about their animal. We will be focusing on why the animal is endangered, how the loss of this animal will affect the its ecosystem, and what can be done to save the animal from extinction. Students will then write a TED Talk and film themselves giving the talk using Flipgrid. Below are the guiding questions for this research project.

BASIC FACTS

1. The name(s) of your animal and what family of animals it belongs to.

2. Where they live -- tell us not only the continent, but the specific location and what that ecosystem is like. How have they adapted for survival there?

3. What are some other interesting facts about this animal that you think people should know? What made you interested in them?

4. Tell us how they affect that ecosystem. Are they a predator? Prey? Do they have a symbiotic relationship with any other animals? Why/how are they important in that ecosystem?

ENDANGERED STATUS

5. What is causing them to be endangered?

6. How many are left--tell us about how their population has decreased or increased over time.

7. What caused them to become endangered? Was it a human-made cause or a natural cause?

8. Why is it important to save this animal from extinction?

9. What is being done about their plight?

10. What do you think should be done? How can people help?

Update on Oct. 8, 2020

Students have chosen from the list of Refugee writing assignments and are working on their drafts. This week we learned ways to plan our writing and organize our ideas. We also spent a lot of time writing our drafts. Next week we'll be working on topic sentences and complete our rough drafts. Students will submit a sample of their written work (one paragraph) so I can see how they're doing and what skills we need to work on in the editing process. The following Wednesday, Oct. 21, students will finish editing their drafts and turn in their final work for a grade.