Research Paper

In the next few days before PARCC testing begins, students will be starting to learn to write informational papers. They will do a short research project to begin with, and gradually work on longer projects as the unit goes on. Please ask your student what their first research project is about. The books we pulled have some pretty unusual information in them, such as:

• How water has contributed to diseases
• The latest development in finding a cure for leukemia
• How plants can treat sickness
• How combat medics deal with wartime injuries
• What type of damage an F5 tornado can cause
• How sheep survive blizzards
• The science of making rain

How do we know what is true?

Today students were introduced to the new unit and discussed our first essential question:

How Do We Know What Is True?

Ask your child what was discussed today in class and what they believe to be true! Challenge them by asking WHY they believe these truths! Are they religious beliefs? Superstitions? Cultural stories? It was amazing listening to the initial ideas that were brought up. A snippet of the things some believe to be true:

• There is life on other planets
• There is a secret facility under DIA
• Megalodon (giant shark) is real
• If you don't pray before a meal, you might get sick
• After relatives die, their spirits stay in your home
• If you take a volcanic rock from a volcano, you will get bad luck
• If a bird poops on your head, it's good luck
• If a lady bug lands on you, it's good luck

Unit 5: Looking Beyond Myself

Our new unit is centered around the idea of looking beyond ourselves. Please visit the What Are We Studying tab above to read more about our new unit.

Please note that PARCC testing will take place during this unit. We will suspend assessed work during testing and resume the unit when testing is completed.

Random Acts of Kindness Proposal

Students will be spending the rest of this week and the majority of next week working on a Random Act of Kindness proposal. Students must compose an argumentative paper that includes research on why their random act of kindness will help.

For example, my sample proposal is about being kind on social media. For my research, I found evidence on how unkind people are on social media and how it affects people's state of mind. I then argued that kind words on social media might affect people's state of mind in a positive way.

You can see my completed sample RAK Proposal here, and the rubric is here.

Requirements for this proposal are:

1. An introduction, outlining your Random Act of Kindness and stating your thesis on what you think your RAK will do to help.
2. Three pieces of evidence from researched sources (with sources credited) backing up your ideas.
3. Your own ideas about how this research relates to the random act of kindness.
4. A conclusion that wraps up your ideas, and calls your reader to action.

Random Acts of Kindness

As we complete our Socratic seminars surrounding what is worth fighting for, we are gearing up to next week's Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Week! Students will be creating a proposal about what they would like to do for RAK week, and spend time on Feb. 9, 10, and 11 actually implementing their plans.

Today, students are taking an article home to read about the Random Acts of Kindness movement in Denver and Boulder. They must answer questions about this article. This homework is due tomorrow (Wednesday, Feb. 4). I have attached copies of the article and questions if your student does not bring these home. They can be printed off an brought in tomorrow or even email me the answers to the questions.

Can Kindness Movements Make a Difference? (Article)
Questions to answer

FEBRUARY 9-11, 2015

The best week of the year is here! Random Acts of Kindness Week is a celebration of goodwill.

GET INVOLVED! Check out rakweek.randomactsofkindness.org to see what's happening throughout the world.