Blue: Flower Dissection, Literature Dissection
Flower DissectionThis week has been about diving in to things, really, really deep, only to take them apart, and get a good close look at their insides.So far in the Seed Arc, we have talked a lot about what Blue knows and doesn't know about seeds and plants, and, to be quite honest, plant sex kept popping up.
- How do plants reproduce?
- Are there male and female plants?
- How does the pollen go from plant to plant?
- What happens when pollen reaches a new plant?
It's one thing for us to talk about it, and it's another thing entirely for them to just figure it out themselves.To that end, last night's homework was simply this: Amanda doesn't know how to dissect a flower. Look it up, and be prepared to teach her. And that's exactly what they did.
In an unexpected twist, we ended up getting the microscopes out to look at some plant parts up close. This was a magical moment, and I had a lot of fun teaching everyone how to work a microscope!The photos speak for themselves:
Literature DissectionLast week, we started reading Raisin in the Sun, and while we got off to a slow start -- this week our discussion got pretty interesting!Educator side note: I dwelled on this text for quite a few weeks before I decided that we should read it. Most of the blogs, and literature sites, and standard core curriculum suggests that this is a text meant for high school. Everyone suggests that the language is too sophisticated, the characters are too complicated, and the nuances of the story line are too subtle for folks younger than grade 9. To that I say, bring it on.Because of the setting and time period of the text, the language is a little dated. At about halfway through, we've had to navigate the use of some racy language, we talked about abortion, we talked about what the word "assimilation" means, and how it relates to a persons' race, ethnicity, and cultural identity. With middle school, these discussions have been difficult waters to navigate. There's been confusion, furrowed eyebrows, and a lot of pausing mid-scene to unpack some of what's been happening. Because of all that, the group reading has gone slow and we've had to talk about content and recap, a lot.This has all been worth it. The close reading of a play like this, as a group, as the story unfolds in real time, is a real treat. It has given us an opportunity to connect the play to real life and really walk through it together.My recommendation: Make your middle schoolers read this text, and take the time to unpack it with them. It is so worth the experience.
The Blue Band is so invested in these characters.Today, they had a blast today reading through Act II, and even paused everything to beg me to have them reenact one of the scenes for the school. They want to be actors, they want to watch the movie, and they begged to continue reading when we had to pause to go to Park.Incredible! So worth it.