Heroes!

Today in class, we finished writing a six-paragraph essay on heroes in Greek mythology. This essay should take this form.

Paragraph 1: Introduction
Paragraph 2: Discussion of Theseus
Paragraph 3: Discussion of Perseus
Paragraph 4: Discussion of Jason
Paragraph 5: Discussion of Heracles/Hercules
Paragraph 6: Conclusion including comparison of these heroes' similarities

For homework tonight (Tuesday), please transcribe your essay from your notebook to the computer and submit it to the blog.

REMEMBER!: As is the case in class, you should be using word processing (like Microsoft Word) to write this essay, should be saving frequently, and should copy-and-paste your work in the blog only when you are finished. If you compose directly to the blog, you may lose your work!

Heracles/Hercules!

Today we have finished reading "The Twelve Labors of Heracles". Please write a short three-paragraph essay about the hero Heracles/Hercules in the following form.

Paragraph 1: Heracles in the written myth "The Twelve Labors of Heracles"
Paragraph 2: Hercules in the film Jason and the Argonauts
Paragraph 3: Hercules in the film Hercules

Further Summary! (It Never Ends!)

Today we continued viewing the film Hercules. Please use your previous work and your ideas about today's portion of the film to summarize everything we have seen so far. (Remember that just because we have now seen more does not mean that your summary should now be longer!)

Summary (Friday plus a little Tuesday)

Please summarize the portion of the film Hercules we have already seen. (We didn't see much new today, so you can cut and paste most of Friday's summary and then just make some small additions.)

Twelve Conflicts, Twelve Resolutions

Today, we read the Greek myth "The Twelve Labours of Heracles" and spoke about each of these "labours" in terms of conflict and resolution. Please list these conflicts and resolutions here.

Friday's Summary

Whoops! I forgot to put this up over the weekend.

On Friday, we viewed the beginning of the animated film Hercules. Please spend 5-10 minutes tonight summarizing what we saw.

Compare and Contrast - Jason!

You knew it was coming! Please compare and contrast the myth "Jason and the Golden Fleece" with the film Jason and the Argonauts and submit it here.

Paragraph 1 : Introduction
Paragraph 2: Compare (Similarities)
Paragraph 3: Contrast (Differences)
Paragraph 4: Conclusion

Book Report - Final Draft!

Please submit the final draft of your book report here. This final draft does NOT need to be printed, but MUST be submitted to the blog before Friday, January 15.

Summary!

Today in class we viewed the beginning of the film Jason and the Argonauts. For homework tonight, please spend TEN MINUTES writing a ONE PARAGRAPH SUMMARY of what we saw. In case you forget anything important, here is the video.

Empathy - "Jason and the Golden Fleece"

This period, write a retelling of the myth of "Jason and the Golden Fleece" in the first person from the perspective of one of the Argonauts. This is NOT homework. You should spend the WHOLE class writing, but should finish writing at the end of class. Let this represent forty minutes of your best work.

Book Report First Draft!

Today we will begin writing first drafts of book reports on the books we have been reading independently. Book reports should include one illustration of a moment in the story’s action with a caption, be six paragraphs long and include all of the following.

Paragraph 1: An introduction including the book’s title and author.

Paragraph 2: A discussion of the book’s setting (the “where and when”) and main characters.

Paragraph 3: A summary of the book's plot. (This paragraph may be long, but you should use just one paragraph for this!)

Paragraph 4: A discussion of the way that the book connects with one or more other texts. Have you read similar books? What are the similarities? Can the themes of this book be found in other books? Have you read other books of the same genre? Other books by the same author? How do they compare? etc.

Paragraph 5: A discussion of the way that the book connects with you. What is your personal response to this book? What did it make you think about? Did you empathize with the characters? Did anything about the story give you insight into aspects of your life? etc.

Paragraph 6: A conclusion including a discussion of whether or not you recommend this book to other 6th graders and why. Include at least two good reasons for recommending or not recommending.

This first draft is to be finished for homework before Monday and submitted as a comment to this entry.

Let's have fun with this project!

Three Versions of the Perseus Myth

Today in class we will be writing an essay about the three versions we have been working with of the Greek myth of Perseus. Your essay should take the following form.

Paragraph 1 - An introduction.

Paragraph 2 - A summary of the myth as told by Geraldine McCaughrean in her book Greek Myths.

Paragraph 3 - A summary of the myth as told in an episode of the television series The Storyteller.

Paragraph 4 - A summary of the myth as told in the film Clash of the Titans.

Paragraph 5 - A conclusion including comparison and contrast of the three versions.

Reading Log - Monday December 14

Please submit your reflective writing from today's reading time here.

Please also remember to submit any other work you may be missing as comments to the appropriate places on the blog!

Group Presentations!

This week we will be working on projects that will involve the retelling of Greek myths by small groups. We will give oral presentations of these retellings on Thursday and Friday. Each retelling will have a poster that has the following.

The TITLE of the myth.

The CONFLICT of the story. (Conflict = Problem)

The RESOLUTION of the story. (Resolution = Solution)

At least one illustration corresponding to the BEGINNING of the story.

At least one illustration corresponding to the MIDDLE of the story.

At least one illustration corresponding to the END of the story.

The following will be our groups and their respective myths.

Luke B, Isabella - "The Wooden Horse"
Michael, Max - "Arachne the Spinner"
James, Oceane - "KIng Midas"
Albert, Luke W - "Atalanta's Race"
Alex, Charlotte, Begimai - "Odysseus"
Denis, Celine, Amber - "Jason and the Argonauts"

It is important to remember that in these presentations, you will be retelling the story of the myth, but you WILL NOT be READING. You need to know and understand the beginning, middle, and end of the story as well as the CONFLICT and RESOLUTION. Please do not include sentences or paragraphs of summary on your poster that you plan to read. Your group should be retelling the story in your own words with every group member speaking for about the same amount of time. Be sure to plan who in your group will be retelling what parts of your story, who will be explaining which illustrations and who will be discussing the CONFLICT and RESOLUTION. There should be more than enough for every group member to do!

Let's have fun with these projects!

Reading Log - Wednesday, 25 November

Please leave your ten minutes of reflective writing on today's reading as a comment here.

Comapare and Contrast - "Perseus"

For homework this weekend, please spend fifteen to twenty minutes writing two paragraphs comparing and contrasting the written and filmed versions of the Greek myth of "Perseus".

Paragraph 1 - Similarities between the two.

Paragraph 2 - Differences between the two.

Compare and Contrast : Theseus and the Minotaur

Please spend fifteen to twenty minutes writing two paragraphs comparing and contrasting the written version of the myth of "Theseus and the Minotaur" and the filmed version.

(Please do not concern yourself with how many words you write. This writing should represent fifteen to twenty minutes of good 6th grade thinking and writing. You know what fifteen to twenty minutes of your good thinking and writing look like!)

Reading Log from Friday, November 20

Oh no. I forgot again to post this to the blog on time! Don't worry. We'll find time for you to post your work this week.

Reading Log from Wednesday, November 18

Oh no. I forgot again to post this to the blog on time! Don't worry. We'll find time for you to post your work this week.

Compare and Contrast - "Daedalus and Icarus"

Please write the following two paragraphs.

Paragraph 1: Discuss similarities between the written and the filmed versions of the Greek myth of "Daedalus and Icarus".

Paragraph 2: Discuss the differences between the written and the filmed versions of this myth.