Northeast Island is essentially a learning system for the last quarter of our 6th grade Language Arts class. Every student gets a folder where he or she keeps all work. Each folder has a map of Northeast Island and a checklist/grade sheet of assignments. The folders are checked at the end of each day for classwork and homework, and the daily point values are recorded on the checklist.
The students decide where they want to live and are divided into groups for each of the the island's six regions. Folders are stored by region, not by class. You can talk to students in other regions or classes by using the mail service. Following a specific folding and stamping procedure, a letter that a student writes is delivered to the recipient's folder. The teacher lives on the island too (a treehouse in Blackwell Forest) and sends out at least three letters daily.
There are 1000 points total for this quarter; a student needs at least 700 points to pass. Most daily assignments are 10 points, but projects and tests are worth more. The biggest assignment, due at the end of the quarter, is a 25-page creative writing story about the individual student's adventures on the island. Every Friday is devoted to writing this first-person account.
But getting good grades isn't the only incentive to do well in class. Once you reach certain point totals, you'll receive maps or artifacts in your folder that tell you about secrets of the island (which you can implement in your story). You also move up a ranking system as your points increase. For more information on points and rewards, check out the assignment section of this website. Oh yeah, and if everyone in one of the classes passes, Mr. Werner is going to dye his hair blonde.So all the work during this quarter is based on the island. All worksheets, tests, textbook stories and grammar lessons are somehow tied into benfitting the island community in some way. At the end of the year, I hope that you'll be able to take your folder home and say that you survived your adventure at Northeast Island.
