Friday, October 28, 2011

Week of October 31- November 4

Advanced LA
Some spooky stories will be shared in class on Monday!  Remember it is black and orange day - sorry no costumes allowed!
Tuesday - Pass backs - Wow - I have a lot to get back to you!  Let's seriously consider doing a rewrite for compare/contrast essays.  So many of you are on the right track and really  need to work on improving your writing in terms of elaborating your ideas further.  Take your writing to the next level advanced students!
Wednesday - Friday - Unit 3 - Verbs.  This unit will continue into next week.

Advanced Reading - Period 4
Monday - Chapter 6 discussion using the "quote finder" worksheet and continuing with chapter 7.  Stalin - what do you know about him?  Bring in three facts to share with the class on Tuesday and you could earn more than just a Spartan Star!
Tuesday - Ch 7 journal and Chapter 8 read aloud.  There is an interesting point for discussion on page 177.
Wednesday - Chapter 9 - main details worksheet - similar to what you have done in science.
Thursday - not sure if we will be following this exact schedule this week.  We may be moving on to chapter 10 if we stay on schedule.
Friday - book report work time

Advanced Reading - Period 6
Monday - Chapter 6/7 discussion worksheet - I'm sure you will bring some interesting thoughts and discussion to offer to your groups!
Tuesday - Are you keeping up with your vocab?  In class we will discuss chapter 8 and move on to Chapter 9 with a main details worksheet.
Wednesday - Chapter 10 and a character journal.  Ch. 6-10 vocab. is due tomorrow!
Thursday - Chapter 11
Friday - Book report time/ silent reading - AR book!

LA 7
This week's focus will be Unit 2 - Nouns!  Many students think, "this is easy" or "do we have to?"  Nouns are important in regards to writing and especially showing possession!  Students struggle with possessive nouns as well as identifying when an idea is a noun (beauty, time, etc.).  A graded picture prompt will be given on Friday for students to demonstrate their knowledge about noun usage.

Reading 8
Still reading our classroom novel, Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie.  Students will work through chapters 11-14 this week.  We read independently, in groups, with partners or I read a chapter allowed.  We will also be checking out our final book report book for the trimester.  This is an accelerated reader book report.  Students will select a free-choice fiction book in the genre they enjoy  most, science fiction, mystery, adventure, horror, realistic fiction and so on.  Before the end of the trimester, students will need to take an AR test in my room and turn it in for their final book report.  If they are unhappy about their grade they can
1.  choose to read another book and replace the grade
2.  discuss an alternative book report to turn in showing comprehension/understanding of the book.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Have you considered...

Have you considered...

why I offer challenge activities to your class?

when Project Challenge is given an assignment, I also offer it to the whole class?

why I make you think "outside the box"?

why I use words like "elaborate" or "extend" in terms of your writing?

why I don't settle for average?

why I don't accept the bare minimum?

Because you CAN and because you should push yourself to be the BEST you can be!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie - book report - period 8

Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie Book Report  - Period 8

Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie - Book Report Planning Guide - Period 8

Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie Rubric - Period 8

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

After - Book Report for advanced reading - period 4

After Book Report Description/Guidelines - Period 4

After - Book Report Planning Guide - Period 4

After - Book Report Rubric - Period 4

Advanced LA - Fairy Tale/Fable

Adv. Fairy Tale/Fable Unit

Friday, October 14, 2011

Week of October 17-21

Advanced LA
This weeks focus will be on fairy tale and fable writing. Students will have the opportunity to create an original fairy tale or fable with a partner or individually in class this week. Students will have the entire week to work on this in class in the hopes that students will not need to get together outside of school time. I know how busy all of their schedules are so I want them to have the time they need in class. This also means that they need to be using their work time wisely! Because of many important handouts with multiple classes, I will post the fairy tale/fable assignment on Monday.

Advanced Reading - Period 4
Students just began reading their first novel - After Next week we will get through chapter 2-4. This novel has lengthy chapters so I don't want to overload them with too much reading and worksheets. The weeks focus will involve signing up for journal characters. Selecting a character in which they will write journals from that character's perspective. We will also focus on main idea/detail notes, picture representation of a scene and explore why The Catcher in the Rye would be a "banned book". Students will also get their book report assignment which will be posted on the blog Tuesday. Students will have time to work on book reports on Friday to start planning out their comparison books.

Advanced Reading - Period 6
We have read the first 2 chapters of The Christopher Killer. Monday we will review the main ideas from these chapters and read chapter 3 in class. As we are introduced to Cameryn's best friend Lyric, students will create a Venn diagram about these friends! Students will be introduced to a new character - Adam and will complete a R.A.F.T. activity. Students will also have book report time on Friday to continue making their mystery puzzle book reports!

Language Arts - period 7
Moving into expository writing! Students will thoroughly enjoy this assignment - even if they don't like to write! Students will be a writing a "Character Sketch" about a friend or family member! This week will focus on brainstorming, writing the introduction and body paragraphs. I will also give some suggestions for incorporating new transitions and using other words besides "said."

Reading - period 8
Class on Monday will introduce the comparison book report - storyboard. There were some problems with directions from the last book report. I will post this assignment on Monday in order for all information to be accessible to all students/parents as I did the last time. Reports must be on a LARGE piece of poster board. If you cannot get the right size, see me - I will get you one! Students will have a chapter 1-7 quiz on Wednesday. We will finish up the week by reading chapters 8 and 9 in Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie.

Friday, October 7, 2011

October 10-14

It's time to make sure you are paying close attention to the homework board and my blog advanced students! Next week you will each begin your classroom novel. In order for you to be able to bring the novels home, each class will be reading a different novel. At the conclusion of each novel unit we will "switch" books! Happy reading!

Advanced LA
Because of the short week, we will be using the Buckle Down wb in LA to work on a short lesson about story elements. This unit will review plot structure while we read a story that is in the advanced textbook. I will also be incorporating a CRISS strategy into the lesson called a RAFT write-up. I am going to randomly give out a variety of different RAFT assignments and students will produce many different products. RAFT is an acronym for Role, Audience, Format and Topic - if you are in my advanced class - come in on Wednesday with what RAFT means to earn yourself 2 extra credit points!!!

Advanced Reading - Period 4
This week will focus entirely on pre-reading activities to get your ready to read our first novel, After. We will discuss the Columbine school shooting and explore our rights as Americans. This will lead into a classroom debate focusing on 3 different roles, student, principal and parent. Should be fun!

Advanced Reading - Period 6
Book report assignment will be discussed which goes along with our first novel, The Christopher Killer. Students checked out mystery books and will be creating a mystery puzzle for their next book report assignment! I have included the assignment at the bottom of the blog.

LA 7
Buckle Down - comparison/contrast will be this weeks focus. The lesson is short therefore we will get through it in one day, but there will be a journal assignment as a follow up on Thursday. This journal will be a direct connection to our novel, Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie. Be ready to share journals in class on Friday!

Rdg. 8
Continue with Drums and a discussion about the 5 Stages of Death and more information about Leukemia. We will get through chapters 5 & 6 this week.

Period 6 - Mystery Puzzle Book Report

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Week of October 3 - 7

Advanced LA
This week we will focus on Nouns!  Pre-test was given in classes where 3 students tested out of the noun unit!  Congratulations to those students!  Parents were e-mailed if their son or daughter tested out.  There will be a test on Friday.

Advanced Reading
Students are working this week to write a compare/contrast essay.  Students were given the assignment on Monday to compare and contrast, The Third Wish and The Monkey's Paw.  They need to show 2 examples of how the stories compare and 2 examples of how they contrast.  We discussed in detail about the difference between strong and weak examples and how our evidence should be extended and justified by our own explanations.  The assignment is shown below.

Third Wish - Monkey Paw Compare-contrast

Language Arts - period 7
Students received their Buckle Down workbooks this week.  This is an ISAT prep. workbook that we use in both LA and Reading classes.  The workbook doesn't just prepare students for ISAT it also focuses on important elements of literature and poetry.  These elements will be important for students to remember for both high school and college.  This weeks focus in on story elements. The students are reading a humorous adaptation from the short story "The Ransom of Red Chief" by O. Henry.



Reading - period 8
Finally, it's here - Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick!  Students found out on Monday what "Dangerous Pie" finally is!  Did they tell you?  Did you guess correctly?  Poor Steven, or I should say, his drumsticks!  His prized possession, autographed drumsticks, were used by his 4 year-old brother Jeffrey, to mix a concoction of eggs, coffee grinds, coca-cola and matchbox cars to make "dangerous pie"!!!  Can you imagine how old this 13 year-old boy was to see his brother using his prized possession sticks?  The students love this book already!  By the end of the week we will have made our way through the first 4 chapters.