Week of April 6th - 10th


English Language Arts: 

In Language Arts this week, students continued their progression through the Narrative Writing unit. Classes worked on “Showing” rather than “Telling” within their writing. 

This included during climactic scenes, dramatic scenes, and moments in their writing involving emotion. They also worked on elevating boring sentences using this method, for example, if a sentence said, “The girl on the sidewalk saw a car accident.” - you could use 2-3 descriptive sentences to improve on this by “showing”. A student could say, “She stepped back from the curb quickly as the sound of twisted metal filled her ears. Glass flew onto the pavement, and she shielded her eyes from the carnage of twisted bumpers in front of her.” 

All classes also worked on using the five senses in their writing, knowing that bringing the senses into our sentences is a key element of “showing” instead of telling” 


Social Studies:

For Social Studies, students were told at the beginning of the week that their Iroquois Confederacy unit final test will be taking place on April 23rd. They were reminded that if they have missed any school during this unit that all resources are on Google Classroom, and that they can use them for studying and review purposes as well. 

This week each class took a more in-depth look at what The Great Law of Peace, and how its creation connected the clans and nations to one another - and also how this connects to the overall functioning of Grade Council meetings. Students were walked through the decision making process at each Grand Council meeting. 

Ask your child to explain how each of these groups / roles makes decisions, and shares information (they should think of it like a flow chart, starting in the clans, then leading to the Grand Council Meeting):

  • Men’s & Women’s Councils
  • Clan Mothers
  • Hoyaneh / Chiefs
  • Older Brothers
  • Younger Brothers
  • Keepers of The Council Fire


You can also prompt them, who discussed first at the Grand Council meetings? Who second? What would happen if any groups did not reach consensus? 


Tasks and Assignments:

  • Clan Research Project, Due Monday April 6th
  • Ensure notes are completed on The Decision Making Process
  • Ensure notes are completed on The Iroquois Confederacy Structure