Today, students participated in a "Naval Review Board Hearing" where a ship captain's rights were put on trial. Should they continue to have nearly unlimited power? Should they be allowed to whip their crew? Should they be allowed to say whatever they want, no matter how it makes others feel?  Listen to the videos to find out!

Spoiler alert! The Naval Review Board's decision is below!

Hello Parents!

I just wanted to let you know about a few activities/events that are upcoming in our classroom. This will give you an opportunity to ask your child about what they learned or if they had any fun while doing them!

• We just finished our Revolutionary War unit where we participated in a tug-of-war that demonstrated (metaphorically) how the war was won by the Americans. I uploaded some photos onto the blog for you to check out. We also prepared extremely short skits where students acted out portions of the Declaration of Independence in order to make it more understandable for children. These videos are on the blog as well. (paulsolarz.weebly.com)
• We'll be finishing up our Elections unit by watching the Presidential Inauguration in class tomorrow. I think the students had some fun learning about the basics of presidential elections (Electoral College, Political Parties, etc.) and will now be learning about our nation's constitution and government in our newest social studies unit. By the way, this unit is our special unit where I teach, textbook strategies, note-taking strategies, test-taking strategies, and study strategies. It will look very old-fashioned, but I will be reading each chapter with the kids and helping them understand all of the concepts as we discuss them as a class. Students will have homework in this just about every other day, so if you are able to follow their progress in their "We the People" packets, that would be really appreciated. At the end of each packet, students will take a formal test. I will help them learn to study for each test and analyze their mistakes on the tests. That being said, these tests are hard and are meant to help students learn how to study. This will hopefully prepare students for their time in middle school and high school.
• A short Erin's Law lesson will be taught in class next Tuesday by our social workers. I sent a blog post out with a link to what that is if you weren't sure.
• MAP Test results will be coming home next Friday (1/27/17). I have not seen the results of these yet, but please remember that it is just a moment in time and that grades fluctuate up and down depending on dozens of factors. They are just one assessment I use when determining what is taught in the coming months.
• We have started Mystery Skype! This is pretty exciting to the kids! Mystery Skype is a 45-60 minute critical thinking challenge that a class takes part in while Skyping with another class somewhere else in the world.  Our students' goal is to guess the other school's location (country, state, city, school name) before they guess ours.  We do this by asking yes and no questions. So far, we've only practiced against me, but we should be Skyping one classroom per week for the next couple months. It's a great way to connect with students from around the world!
• The Book Fair is coming up (students are previewing books next Tuesday) - This is a great way to support our PTA and get books into your child's hands. That being said, I have WAY too many books, so please don't buy any for our classroom! Thanks in advance! :)
• We are going to the Museum of Science and Industry on February 2nd.
• Finally, the students will be participating one (or more) fun national contests starting next week. They all focus on inventing and solving problems through creative thinking. Feel free to ask your child next week about it!

Hope all is well with everyone - talk soon!

Paul A. Solarz
5th Grade Teacher
Westgate Elementary School
500 S Dwyer
Arlington Heights, IL 60005

Dear Parents,

Just a reminder that your child will be participating in the yearly Erin's Law presentation on Tuesday, January 24th.

Thank you, 
Paul

Ask your child about our culminating activity that demonstrated how America won the Revolutionary War! We focused on about eight aspects of the war, including things that affected the British side. Hopefully, students were able to express those factors in their video on their ePortfolios!

Below their video, they have been asked to explain any mistakes that they may have made in their video in writing.

I was recently invited to attend the Varkey Teacher Ambassadors Programme (March 16-17) and the Global Education & Skills Forum (March 18-19) in Dubai, due to my association with the Top 50 Global Teacher Prize Finalists. This is an incredible opportunity to work with educators from around the world on key issues in education (and they have even offered to pay for all my expenses)! Therefore, I will be missing the following four days of school:

• March 15
• March 16
• March 17
• March 20

Prior to this opportunity, I already had a district meeting scheduled on March 21st in the morning that I will also need to attend, but I will return to class that afternoon to be with the kids.

All that being said, the school is trying to get a consistent substitute to cover the four days that I will be in Dubai. The additional half day has already been picked up by one of my favorite substitutes, Mrs. Noble. If you have any questions for me, just drop me an email! :)

Additional Information on the events:

• Varkey Teacher Ambassadors Programme
• Global Education & Skills Forum
• Global Teacher Prize