Good morning everyone.

If you didn't read my blog yesterday, you need to go there. 

I posted my etiquette/manners expectations for our meetings and 

I want you to be familiar with them and behave accordingly.

I'm having two meetings today; 

the grade 7 class will meet at 11 and the grade 8 class will meet at 1.  

I'll be unavailable for emails during these times.  Meetings will last about a half hour.  

On my blog yesterday I posted project information for 7s and 8s--

please print the handout, read it and have it handy; it's what I'll be discussing at the meeting.

8ELA

-Please continue to read for 40 minutes to an hour.
-In today's meeting, we'll briefly review the answers posted below for Intro Questions-Part 1 since they provide setting details for our novel.
Answers
1.  Approximately 50 million people died, including six million Jews, as a result of WWII.
2.  Three problems communities had to deal with because of the war were transportation systems (roads and rails) were destroyed, communication systems (phone lines) were destroyed, cities and towns were destroyed (thousands were homeless, people had no jobs or businesses to go to), rural areas, such as farms, were destroyed (food supply was damaged/destroyed), and the death of so many meant people had lost their families and friends (their support system).
3.  A communist is a person who believes that the whole community owns everything and individuals own nothing of their own.  All possessions and businesses belong to the state/government/people.  Two beliefs of communists would be religion is forbidden, owning private wealth is forbidden, and a free press is forbidden.
4.  Winston Churchill first used the term "iron curtain" and it means the division between democratic western Europe and communist, USSR-controlled eastern Europe.
5.  A labour camp is a place of very hard work and torture, people were sent there because they disagreed with the government.  The government sent them there.
6.  (answers will vary) Three countries behind the iron curtain include Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria and three countries opposing this iron curtain were Italy, France, and West Germany.
7.  (answers will vary)  North Korea, China, Cuba, Laos, Venezuela are similar to Warsaw Pact countries.

-Continuing our introduction to the novel, today we're learning more about the setting and how our main character interacts with it.
-Review the handout Europe in the 1950s and compare it to the map of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, 1955.  Using the blank map below, use a red pencil crayon, not a marker (too dark) to shade those countries that are part of the Pact AND other communist nations.

-In the book, I am David, the man tells David (our main character) to travel to Salonica then "Find a ship that's bound for Italy, and when you get there go north till you come to a country called Denmark--you'll be safe there."  Imagine doing that by yourself!
-Do the following questions to get a better appreciate for David's journey.
Intro Questions-Part Two
1.  David escapes a labour camp in Belene, Bulgaria.  Review the map you shaded; what do you now know about Bulgaria?  Why might David, a child, be in a labour camp?  /2
2.  Continue working with the map you shaded; draw a possible route David would have travelled to Salonika.  Approximately how many kilometres is it?  How do you think David got to Salonika?  /2
3.  Draw David's possible route from Salonika to Salerno.  How do you think he arranged his journey on the boat from Greece to Italy?  /1
4.  From Salerno, using what you know about Europe's geography and the politics, identify and explain two problems David might have on his journey to Denmark.  /2
5.  Predict a character trait David will need to reach Denmark safely.  Explain why you think this trait will help him  /2

8SS

-Meeting will discuss the ancient Rome project.  It was posted on yesterday's blog; print it if you haven't yet done so.

7SS

-Meeting will discuss the Quality of Life project.  It was posted on yesterday's blog; print it if you haven't yet done so.