Mississippi Trial 1955

       This week we will start reading Mississippi Trial 1955 by Chris Crowe.  It is important to understand that this is a novel based on the murder of Emmett Till. There are some strong scenes in the book based on what happened in the past. There is also some strong language in parts. It is a well written book that teaches about important historical events. This novel addresses themes such as prejudice, family reconciliation, and seeing things through new eyes. Please feel free to read the book along with your child and discuss these valuable themes with them.   Below is a summary of the book:

       "Sixteen-year-old Hiram hasn't been to his beloved town of Greenwood, Mississippi since he was a small child. He used to live there with his grandfather before his father uprooted him from his home to live in Arizona. But when he comes back, things aren't exactly the way Hiram remembers them to be. He crosses paths with Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old African-American boy from Chicago.

      A few nights later, R.C., an old "friend" of Hiram's pays him a visit to tell him about Emmett Till whistling at a white woman in public and how he needs to be "taught a lesson." Hiram is worried for Emmett, but then, the boy goes missing and a few days later, his body is found in the river. Two of the four murderers are caught and put on trial (three men and one woman picked Emmett up the night of his murder) and Hiram has a strong suspicion that R.C. was the third male killer.

      During the trial, the two murderers aren't seen as guilty, but Hiram still struggles with whether to turn R.C. into the authorities or not because of his suspicion. He is determined to find out who the others are who murdered Emmett, but when he finds out exactly who it was who killed the boy, it makes him think twice about how 'beloved' Greenwood really is. "

Here's a summary of our weekly learning for the week of 2-13-12:
In Word Work, students will start working on words that deal with the theme of communication. The words this week are acclaim, monologue, quip, humorist, impersonator, conversational, drawl, ridicule, spontaneous, and pronouncement.


In literature study, students will start the week with some background knowledge of the book we will be reading, Mississippi Trial 1955 by Chris Crowe. We will review some historical events between1955-1968. We will map out some of the place that make up the setting of the book. As we begin to read the book we will work on understanding the text by answering and discussing questions about the characters and events.

In writing workshop, students will share their realistic fictions stories with their classmates. As they are listening, students will have to identify the main problem in each story and write it down for a listening grade. Finally, we will do some Mind-up Activities to practice mindful listening and mindful smelling.

This week in math, students will add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators, and add mixed numbers. Students will write percents and read, write and generate equal ratios.

This week in science, students will identify levers that we use in everyday life such as brooms, nutcrackers, scissors, bottle openers, pliers, tweezers, hammers, and even the human arm. They will decide if they are class-1, class-2, or class-3 levers.