In history we are starting our study of the Civil War, beginning with Abraham Lincoln’s election and the bombing of Fort Sumter six months later. Besides our text we will be using a lot of primary source documents and, of course, watching episodes of Ken Burns’ class documentary on the war.

In language arts we are bringing our short story unit to a close this week. On Wednesday we read a truly wondrous story called “The White Heron,” which has some of the most beautifully poetic language I have ever read.  We will end the week with another great tale: “A Horseman in the Sky.” I always read this with my students just as we begin our study of the war because it conveys the true horror of what a civil war is. By the way, both stories that I mentioned are available online. I highly recommend that you read them.

We are finishing The Boy in the Striped Pajamas in Judaics and interpreting each chapter for either theme, characterization, symbols and other literary issues.

In art, the students finished their mola creations.