We spent time last week viewing clips from Ken Burns' "Prohibition" in preparation for his visit with 6th-8th graders last Friday. We looked in particular at how the events and issues surrounding Prohibition related to the Klan presence we read about in Witness. Ken gave an inspiring talk and students had time to ask questions about “Prohibition” in particular and Ken’s filmmaking in general.
We've started reading Elizabeth Winthrop's Counting on Grace, the story of a 12 year old girl working in a textile mill in 1910 Vermont. As with Witness, we’ll be looking at some of the social issues of the time, as well as looking at the way the story is told and how characters develop.
With the new year, we've returned to our vocabulary studies, and since our class will be meeting four days a week, I'm hoping we'll be able to move a little more quickly. (I've posted the chapter 3 words at right.)
