Week at a glance Oct 19 - 23, 2009

Curriculum focus: identifies, interprets, and analyzes the use of symbols (1.3.K4i), compares and contrasts character traits (1.4.K7a), compares and contrasts themes across multiple stories ( 1.4.K7b), identifies and describes the protagonist (2.1.K1a), identifies and describes the antagonist (2.1.K1b), analyzes the contextual aspects of setting (historical, social, and cultural) and their impact and influence on characters and events in the story (11.2.1.K2), recognizes ways that literature from different cultures presents similar themes differently across genres (11.2.2.K1), and compares and contrasts works of literature that deal with similar topics and problems (2.2.K2).

This week we'll finish our brief unit on mythology from China and Japan. We'll wrap up our discussion over Chinese mythology with a review of last week's story from the movie Hero and an overview of the Chinese god Monkey. We'll then read and discuss two tales from Japan. We'll end the week with a short quiz and an introduction to the Creation Story Research Project coming up next week.

• Mon: Chinese mythology - finish discussion of Hero. "Monkey" - discussion and notes in class.
  
• Tues: Japanese mythology -"The Creation of the Universe and Japan" and "Amaterasu," pgs 369 - 376. Discussion and notes in class.
  
• Wed: Pass back and discuss Mesopotamian Myths quiz. Review for a short quiz. Short quiz over Chinese and Japanese mythology.
• Thurs: Introduction to the Creation Story Research Project - What is it? What are the expectations? How are we going to do it? Discussion and notes in class.
  
• Fri: No school