Parents Check Here! Updated Daily!
This is the most important place on my website!
This is where I write down what we did in class and what should be done outside of class. You should check daily to see what students did and what they should be doing.
Imagine how powerful it would be if you looked at this every day and then asked your student to explain what they did in class. If they can't tell you an answer, I would wonder what it was they were doing.
This is where I write down what we did in class and what should be done outside of class. You should check daily to see what students did and what they should be doing.
Imagine how powerful it would be if you looked at this every day and then asked your student to explain what they did in class. If they can't tell you an answer, I would wonder what it was they were doing.
COMING SOON! THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR BEGINS!
OLD SCHOOL YEAR BELOW
May 20--We turned in some things today before taking the final quiz of the year: Warm-up 18, Vocabulary Study Guide 18, and the "Amigo Brothers". I will be finished reading and grading the essays by the end of the day on Monday!
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May 19--Read the story "Bario Boy" on page 323 today. If you were not here, you need to answer the questions on page 329. Answer question 1 and 5.
May 17-18--I am learning all about next year's new curriculum at the district office, so there is a sub these two days. If you are absent or on the field trip, you can do the assignment, though. Read the story called "Amigo Brothers" on page 309 of our literature book and answer the questions at the end of the story on page 318. If you were absent today (17th) you will still have your books at home.
May 16--Today we used Quizlet.com to study the vocab unit that we will be quizzed on this Friday. You can certainly do the same thing at home if you joined Quizlet.
May 13--Today was the last day we work in class on our narrative essays. Remember, any computer with an internet connection can be used to sign into your essay to finish anywhere. No internet? Go to Starbucks. Heck, go to Target; they have the internet there too. Anyway, I am expecting it to be done at the end of the day on Monday.
May 12--We did the same thing as yesterday. Friday will be the last day in class we will work on the narrative essays.
May 11--We did the same thing as yesterday. Friday will be the last day in class we will work on the narrative essays.
May 10--We spent most of today getting on the iPads and beginning to write our narratives essays. The instructions for the narrative essay are at tiny.cc/narrativeprompt. The two samples are at tiny.cc/narrativemodel and tiny.cc/narrativemodel2. We also introduced two new words for Unit 18 vocab today.
May 9--Today we began the final Unit of Vocabulary, Unit 18. We introduced the first two words and then we looked at some examples of narrative essays prior to starting our work on writing our own tomorrow.
May 5--Today we did a little exercise where we took a scenario and and came up with a few examples of hooks to go with them. This is all in preparation to write our narrative essays. We talked and took notes on what should be in those narrative essays as well. Tomorrow is the Unit 17 quiz!
May 4--We finished reading "An Unforgettable Journey" today and we did some practice with a slight introduction to narrative essays. If you were not here, make sure you read the story on page 270.
May 3--Today I was at the district office learning about our new curriculum. That means we had a sub in class. Students were to read the story called "The Competitors" and the paper we answered the questions on was also called by the same name.
May 2--Today we had the last couple of words of Unit 17 vocab. After that, we wrote a paragraph to answer the question about events that happened in the autobiography we have started reading called "An Unforgettable Journey." Some were able to finish the paragraph in class, but some may have needed to finish at home.
April 29--Last school day of April already! Today we continued with vocabulary 17. We then went back to the autobiographical article "An Unforgettable Journey" and began reading the first page of it. We stopped and wrote down the main events that happened that caused Maijue Xiong to have to leave her homeland.
April 28--Today was a minimum day. We had shorter classes. We reviewed the new vocab in unit 17, and then we worked in our table teams to find the details to support the topic sentences we wrote about the volcano in Mexico city.
April 27--Today we got to the second two words of Unit 17 vocab. We also continued with the story of the volcano near Mexico City that we started yesterday. Today we focused on how to find the central idea and supporting details of the article and we will continue tomorrow with along the same line.
April 26--Today I am in a meeting all day in another room on campus, so we will have a sub. We will be reading a news article in our interactive readers and responding to the text for understanding. Students should be able to show their parents the answers they have written.
April 25--Today we started vocabulary unit 17 and talked about some of the sentence rules we use when combining sentences. We also introduced the autobiography "An Unforgettable Journey" which we will read and write about later this week.
April 22--Today we finished reading "Merlin and the Dragons" and then we took quiz #16. If you were absent (many were) make sure you take the quiz and turn in the items that everyone else turned in already when you were gone.
April 21--I was at a district meeting today so we had a sub. If you were absent, to make up the assignment come to my room and use the green interactive reader to read the Volcano story and answer the questions. See me. Be ready for tomorrow's vocab quiz!
April 20--Today students worked in table teams to complete a paragraph where they made an inference about Arthur from the story "Merlin and the Dragons." If you were not here, you will have to do it yourself. The paragraph will start with a topic sentence, give an inference that you made from the first four paragraphs on page 440. Support your inference with textual evidence and elaborate on it before giving a conclusion.
April 19--We continued our warm-up exercises designed to remind us about clauses, phrases, and subordinate clauses because part of Fridays's quiz deals with those things. We then began reading the story on page 438 called "Merlin and the Dragons." We did not get far because we first wanted to practice making inferences and writing about them. The question was, "What inferences can be made about Arthur from the events in the first few paragraphs of the story?" We came up with a few things that we will discuss further on Wednesday.
April 18--The last day of testing, so the last day of shortened periods! We finished up the last two words of Unit 16. Check on quizlet.com!
April 15--Still doing SBAC testing, but in class we did introduce the next two vocab words from Unit 16. They are on Quizlet.com as well.
April 14--Still doing SBAC testing, but in class we did introduce the next two vocab words from Unit 16. They are on Quizlet.com as well.
April 13--Still doing SBAC testing, but in class we did introduce the first two vocab words from Unit 16. They are on Quizlet.com as well.
April 12--Today we did the Exploring the World activity that we needed to do before taking the Performance Task portion of the language arts SBAC test. If you were absent (no one was), you will make it up at another time before the text. Come rested and focused to do well on the SBAC Wednesday and Thursday!
April 11--Today we had shortened classes due to SBAC testing in the morning. It will be that way all week. Make sure you do your best in the testing. All we did was finish reading King Arthur.
April 8--Today we took quiz #15 and read some more of King Arthur.
April 7--Today we talked about how to use quote marks properly. We also continued reading the King Arthur story in our text on page 414. We read until page 420 where we stopped to answer question five there in the text. If you were absent, make sure you have a paper titled, "King Arthur" and that you have read and answered the questions we have answered as explained here and on previous days.
April 6--Today we had an introduction about legends in general and King Arthur legends in particular. Then we began reading the King Arthur story that begins on page 414. If you were not here, make sure as you read that you stop to answer the questions in the little yellow boxes that come throughout the story. Make sue you always practice the type of topic sentence answers we have been working on.
April 5--Today students had a chance to finish the paragraph they were writing about comparing the two poems on page 387. If they didn't finish, no more time will be given and they will need to find time to finish on their own. See previous days' entries for more details.
April 4--First day back from Spring Break. We finished off the Unit 15 vocabulary today and will have the quiz on Friday. We continued talking on the paper titled, "Two Poems Compared" that we started before we left. Everyone should have a list of things that are the same and things that are different. Everyone ought to have at LEAST the topic sentence written for the paragraph based on the task which is: Compare and contrast the poem "I forget the name right now" and "I forget the Name Again."
March 24--Today we shared with each other the similarities we came up with about the two poems on page 387 of our literature book. I talked about them and told the class which ones were the best to use in a paragraph that we will write about the poems after Spring Break. We then began but didn't finish writing down the things that were different. We will use the lists of similarities and differences to write a nice paragraph about the poems when we come back. Of course, keep on studying the vocab for Unit 15.
March 23--Today we read the two poems on page 387 of our book. We read them and then started making a list of ways they are similar and ways they are different. We only started on the "similar" and we based our answers on everything we have talked about in our poetry notes and in the poem we did previously. Of course, we also did the next two vocabulary words, and we talked about some extended metaphors in our warm-ups.
March 22--Today we added to some notes called "Poetry Notes" that we started a couple weeks ago. We talked about tone, mood, end rhymes, couplets, internal rhymes--all of these things you can look up on the internet or in the glossary of our book. We need to know them so we can talk about the poems we are reading. We also introduced the new words for today and you can also find them on Quizlet.com if you have joined my class.
March 21--Today we did the first two words from Unit 15 Vocabulary. We then talked about and went over the answers for the sheet I gave out last week called, "Oh, Oh Sentences." We turned this in after we finished working on it, so if you were absent, make sure you get it to me. Also, if you were absent on Friday, make sure you turn in the other things and take the quiz you missed.
March 18--Today I allowed students time to work on the writing guide for the poem, "Oh, Oh." They should be pretty close to finished. Monday we will simply go over the results and talk about what they found. After we did that, we took quiz #14 and we turned in Warm-up #14, Study Guide #14, The Overhead Man, and The NO-Guitar Blues.
March 17--Today we took the little district quiz to measure our progress. Yes, it is a part of our grade. No, unlike my quizzes, it can't be taken again. It is a good opportunity to practice your skills for the SBAC test coming up in April. I am so excited to see how my students are going to dominate on that test! We also handed out a writing guide for "Oh, Oh" which we will start today after the quiz and do tomorrow before our Vocab Quiz.
March 15-16--Don't forget to study the vocab words at quizlet.com. We are still talking about the poem "Oh, Oh". We have written down the questions we have when we read it and now we are discussing the answers to our questions. If you have not been here, you can start a piece of paper titled, "Oh, Oh" and read the poem here at this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13RE2yF45OlquLqqCdjBh4g0YLIpLm70pGhUm8Allilg/edit?usp=sharing
March 14--Today we are still catching up on the vocab we didn't get to when I was sick. We are doing words 5 and 6 today. The quiz is still on Friday. After that we read the poem, "Oh, Oh" and began digging into it. Every student should have written down questions they had about the poem.
March 11--Back from the flu! Today we continued with the Unit 14 Vocabulary and finished with the story we were reading with the sub on Thursday. Study the vocab for now! I have a lot of catching up to do as far as grading, so please accept my apologies! I will get caught up!
March 8-9--I am sick! Wow, I can't recall the last time I needed a sub because I was sick! We are doing various things out of the interactive reader today and Wednesday. If you are absent, you can come in when I get back and make up the work that we did in class. You don't have the book at home that we are using, so nothing can be done at home. Of course, study the vocab words in unit 14!
March 7--We started vocabulary unit 14 today. We also introduced the new writing/grammar skill of knowing how to punctuate a sentence that starts with a participial phrase. We then continued talking about poetry and specifically how to read poetry. Tell your parents what I said about reading poetry. Tomorrow we will try it out!
March 4--Vocabulary Quiz 13 was today. I had a sub who administered the quiz.
March 3--Today we took some notes on poetry. For now these are for you to hold onto, to keep. We will be adding to them.
March 2--Today we prepped for the quiz on Friday and then I went over a list of the main problems I found with the essays when I graded them last week. For homework, make sure you are studying the vocab and getting an initial from your parent that you did. Also, we were answering the question on page 230 of the literature book. It was question #7 and you were supposed to make sure it was finished. Start with a topic sentence, give examples with textual evidence, elaborate. There should be three examples at least.
March 1--Today we finished reading "After Twenty Years" and answering a couple questions about it on a piece of paper of the same name. The questions were the two prediction questions on page 227. Each question was to be written with a topic sentence, support sentence, and elaboration. Don't forget to study the vocab for Unit 13; we have the quiz on Friday.
February 29--Today we talked about foreshadowing; everyone needs to know what foreshadowing is, so look it up if you can't explain it to your parents. There is lots of info and examples on the internet! We began reading the story on page 224 today. It is called, "After Twenty Years." Everyone should have a piece of paper that says "After Twenty Years." On that paper we need to have answered the first question on page 227 of the story. That is as far as we got today. More tomorrow.
February 26--Today we caught up on the vocabulary we missed when there was a sub yesterday. We have now finished the introductory part of the unit and it is up to students to study the words for 10 minutes a night. The Quiz will be on Friday. Next Friday. It will be the first quiz of the final trimester.
February 25--Today we had a sub as I was out with the other Language Arts teachers correcting essays. We worked on a story in the Interactive Reader. If you were absent, see me to work on the assignment during lunch to make it up.
February 24--Today we did the 5th and 6th vocab words for this unit number 13. We then were given time to work in our table teams (groups of 4) to write an answer in paragraph form to the question: "What is the central idea of the story "Journey Back in Time." We had already written the topic sentence to start it off, and we already went over the details that support the topic sentence. If you were absent, just make sure to use details from the story, elaborate on those details, and write a closing sentence. This will be a pretty long paragraph when it is done.
February 23--We introduced the third and fourth words of the Unit 13 Vocab today. Make sure you are part of Quizlet.com so you can have access to all the cool study tools on these words and the rest of them. We also talked about the story "Journey Back in Time" and what the support details were for the central idea that a visit go Grandma's house was like a trip back in time. We talked about all the things that were in the story that prove that is true. Students should have either written it down on the story itself--they have it on a paper--or underlined the details right there in the story. Today we are going to use those details to write.
February 22--Today we introduced the first words from Unit 13. We also began an assignment titled, "A Journey Back in Time" and we started looking for evidence in a story that supported the idea that going to grandma's house was like going back in time.
February 19--Today was quiz #12. We also talked a bit about the story "A Journey Back in Time." We talked about how to find the central idea of the story and common errors that are made when trying to find the main idea of a story or an article. People who were done with the quiz also went back and found the support for the central idea of this article.
February 18--Today we finished writing about the central idea of the passage from "Anne of Green Gables." If you didn't finish in class, it is homework. I am collecting it tomorrow. Also, we are having vocab 12 quiz tomorrow. Don't forget!
February 16-17--Sorry, what I posted yesterday mysteriously disappeared, so I am combining the past two days. The argumentative essay is due. People have been turning them into me for the past two days. Even though we wrote each part piece-by-piece in class, some people apparently lost those pieces. If you are in that situation, you still have the graphic organizer and tiny.cc/argumentativemodel to help you put it all together.
Also, we have talked about and practiced the last two days on finding the central idea of an article and writing about it. We will continue with that tomorrow.
February 13--Today the essays were due! Did you turn yours in? If not, please still do it. I won't be grading them for a few days and it is crucial for your grade and the trimester is over next Friday. Don't forget, if you did the parts of the essay in class with everyone else (and why wouldn't you?), you have ALREADY WRITTEN IT. All you need to do is clean it up by checking for mistakes and making sure you have included everything, then write it out neatly.
February 12--See yesterday's entry! Today we covered the next two vocabulary words and students had an opportunity to write their essays. They need to turn the FINAL DRAFT in on Tuesday. We are finished talking about this in class. If your student is upset that they have to write an essay over the weekend, tell them that it is supposed to be written already. At the most, they are just re-writing it for the final draft because we already worked on it for two weeks in class.
February 11--If parents want to make sure that their students do a good job on this very important essay, the best thing they can do is go to tiny.cc/argumentativemodel and look at what each paragraph of the essay needs to contain. Students have constantly left out many things that they are told need to be in their essay. Tomorrow we will work on our final drafts a little bit and have the final drafts turned in by Tuesday.
February 10--Today we went over the introductions and practice of two more words in Vocabulary Unit 12. I also laid out the plan for where we are going with the argumentative essay. Except for the last two paragraphs, students should be done with their rough drafts on the first three paragraphs. If that is the case, they can start doing the final draft. Final draft needs to have lines skipped and no writing is allowed on the back of the paper. It is highly encouraged to type the final draft. It is also highly encouraged that students ask a parent, sibling, or someone older than they are to check their paper for accuracy. The links are below in yesterday's entry to compare the essay with my model.
February 9--New vocabulary today, Unit 12. Make sure you study the words and get signed off that you did. Don't forget how easy it is to study with Quizlet. If you haven' t even signed up for Quizlet, here is the link to join my class: tiny.cc/quizletsignup. Today I also modeled for everyone exactly how to do a concluding paragraph for your essay. Write your concluding paragraph. Don't forget that there is step-by-step essay help at tiny.cc/argumentativemodel.
February 5--Quiz today on Vocabulary Unit 11. If you were absent, you need to make arrangements to take it next week as well as turn in Warm-up 11 and Vocab Study Guide 11. After the quiz, we worked some on our essays. Tuesday we will learn by my model how to write the concluding paragraph. If you are not almost ready for the concluding paragraph, you have some work to do to catch up. See yesterday's entry for the link to my models and tips for this essay. The link is there.
February 4--Today I modeled how to write the third body paragraph, the one we call the counter-argument paragraph. If you missed it because you were absent, you can see the examples on tiny.cc/argumentativemodel. Remember, ALL of the tips you need are at this link. Click on any part of my examples and tips and hints pop out for you. Additionally, don't forget to study for tomorrow's quiz, Unit 11.
February 3--How are you doing on your essay? Are you at the very least part way through the second body paragraph? Today we looked at some student examples and discussed things that they did well and things that need improvement. Is yours perfect? Make some changes if not! Also, don't forget to study for the vocabulary quiz on Friday!
February 2--Today we turned in our first body paragraphs. Many are already working on their second, and tomorrow I will model how to write the third. Don't forget to study the vocab for the quiz on Friday!
February 1--Today we had a ton of time to work on our body paragraphs. I went through some examples of what people might use from the article to support their reasons, then I cut them loose to work on their own. Everyone will need to turn in the first body paragraph tomorrow. Many are already working on the second. The whole things should be done by next Tuesday, but we are going step-by-step all week and working on them here. Quiz Friday, so make sure you study your vocabulary 11!
January 28 and 29 --Don't know why there was nothing written for this day until now. We have turned in the intros and except for period 1, I have given them back. On a separate sheet of paper everyone should have begun their first body paragraph. I recommended to everyone that they use their graphic organizer and a person who is a good writer to help them make sure they are doing this essay correctly. Also, the link tiny.cc/argumentativemodel is a wonderful place to check to see if you are on the write track or if you need some extra help. Do not fall behind! If you are behind and haven't even finished your rough draft of the intro, you need to do something. It won't get written by itself! Also, if you were absent and didn't do the noredink assignment, you need to do it.
January 27--Everyone should be finished with his or her introduction by tomorrow. Many were finished today. Tomorrow we will turn them in. Also, we have noredink.com due tomorrow night. Don't forget! We did two new vocab words today, so don't forget your 10 minutes of studying a night! For links to help with the essay or signing up for quizlet.com, see the previous days of this week.
January 26--Today we took the next step toward completing the introduction of our argumentative essay. We worked on the part where we introduce the issue. That part comes right after the hook, or attention-getting opening. So right now, students need to have written their hooks and the summary/background info that comes after the hook. I gave them a fill-in-the-blank template to pretty much copy, so everyone should be done with this part. We also have two more words in Unit 11 to study. If you are not on quizlet.com, what are you waiting for? Don't forget, if you need more help on the argumentative essay, go to tiny.cc/argumentativemodel for detailed instructions and examples. Also, don't forget to do the new noredink.com assignment!
January 25--Today we introduced the first two words of Unit 11 Vocabulary. Don't forget to study every night for 10 minutes. Wise students use quizlet.com where I have all the words! We also started writing our essay today. Remember, we are writing it step-by-step, piece-by-piece right along with what the graphic organizer says. Today we wrote the hook. Everyone should have written the hook to their essay because tomorrow we are writing the next part of the intro. Also, don't forget that we are having a Noredink.com assignment that is due on Thursday at midnight. Jump right on that!
January 22--Students were all told that they needed to have decided which article they are going to write about from the two I handed out. By Monday they need to know which articles issue is the one they want to argue, AND what their main reasons will be. They should also have a very very good idea WHAT evidence from the text they are going to use to back up their reasons. Additionally, today we took quiz #10 and if you were absent, it needs to be made up.
January 21--We continued reading and talking about the two articles that students will base their argumentative essay on. Don't forget that Friday (tomorrow) there is a vocab quiz. See yesterday's entry for more info as we were just continuing the same thing.
January 20--Today we continued working with the articles that we are going to base our argumentative essays off of. If you were not here, but have a copy of the articles on kids and reality TV and sports in schools, you can read them and fill out the part on the back where there is the YES/NO chart. You need to do this to find your main points for supporting your side in the argument. In class we are reading and filling out the chart as a class. After that, students will decide which article they are going to write on. Remember, there is a great help tool with examples at tiny.cc/argumentativemodel. Also, don't forget to study the vocab words for Unit 10. We have a quiz Friday. If you haven't signed up for Quizlet.com yet, what are you waiting for?! My easy signup link is tiny.cc/quizletsignup.
January 19--Today everyone got handed the three articles we are using as we go step-by-step through how to write an argumentative essay. Today we read the article on trophies and as a class we listed on the back the reasons FOR giving trophies to everyone and the reasons FOR NOT giving trophies to everyone. We didn't quite finish making this list. When we do, we will go on to the next article. When we are done, each student will pick an article to use in their essay. We will have already as a class talked about all the points on both sides of the issue. Remember, there is a great resource on tiny.cc/argumentativemodel that we can use.
January 14--We got in the next two words--five and six--of the Unit 10 vocabulary today, so make sure you include them in your studies. We also worked today in groups to write a summary/background section on an issue. Each group thought of an issue like cell phone use in school and wrote an example of what a summary would look like. Each student had his or her own written down. This is an essential part of the argumentative essay that we are starting to write.
January 13--Today we started talking about the argumentative essay we are going to be learning how to write. We took some notes on what an argumentative essay is and we talked about how there are different issues that an argumentative essay can be about. We mostly worked with groups today to brainstorm some issues and tomorrow we will talk about the issues we came up with and write a background/summary of the issue. Don't forget to do the Noredink.com assignment and study the vocab words!
January 12--Today we introduced the second two words of the Unit 10 Vocabulary. Don't forget to study the words. Also, there is an assignment for homework to do the NoRedInk.com assignment I mentioned on Monday. It is the assignment on subject and verb agreement. If you are having a hard time understanding what we mean by subject and verb agreement, there are so many resources on the web you can Google for extra help.
January 11--Today we introduced the first two words of Unit 10 Vocabulary. As always, spend 10 minutes a night studying this unit. It is best to use quizlet.com to do so. We also took notes on subject and verb agreement and talked about what it meant. There are may places on the web that you can look at to find more about subjects agreeing with verbs. If you want extra practice, just google it!
December 18--If you were absent today, you need to make up the quiz for unit 9 that we took. Since it was a minimum day, we didn't do anything more than take the quiz. We did also turn in a few items: Warm-up #9, Vocab Study Guide #9, and the paper we titled, "Song of the Trees." THIS IS NOT THE PAPER THAT WE TOOK NOTES ON ABOUT HEROES IN THE SAME STORY. THAT PAPER IS FOR YOU TO HANG ON TO FOR LATER.
December 17--Today we took some notes on literary devices. We talked about figurative language and imagery and how both could be terms that apply to similes and metaphors. We then spent time looking through "Song of the Trees" to find examples of similes and metaphors. Here is the sentence frame we used to write when we found examples: "A great example of the literary device _____________is where it says, "..." This is a clear example of _______________because it compares __________ with _________________. " After we spent some time working in partners finding examples, we took the short quiz on the story, "Mirror, Mirror." Students who were not here will need to make up this quiz and the other work we did today.
December 16--After our daily warm-up today, we continued talking about the heroes in "Song of the Trees." Students should all have some detailed notes about things they can say about who is and who is not a hero in this story. The purpose of the notes is so they have something to refer to when we write an essay on heroes at the end of the trimester.
December 15--Today we finished writing about the examples of personification we found in "Song of the Trees." The assignment (begun yesterday) was to write a multi-sentence response to the task of finding two examples of personification and explaining those examples. We finished our class time on that assignment and moved on to creating a document about the heroes you might find in the story. We will continue with that on Wednesday.
December 14--Today we finished reading the story "Song of the Trees." If you were absent, make sure you finish reading it. For homework you need to study the vocab. Also, we were looking in the story for two examples of personification. We were to find those examples and write about them, explaining why they were personification.
December 11--We finished off introducing the week 9 vocab today, so now the responsibility is to study it every night for 10 minutes in preparation for Friday's quiz. We also read some more of "The Song of the Trees" today and wrote a multi-sentence response to the question, "When the children were out picking berries, what were the main events that occurred."
December 10--We continued week 9 vocab today. It is on Quizlet.com. See me if you haven't signed up. As we read the story today, we were looking to find answers to the following question (we had already changed the question into a topic sentence before we started reading): When the children were out picking beries, what were the main events that ocurred?' Just like yesterday and any time we write, we want multi-sentence answers that start with a topic sentence, have reasons and/or examples, and plenty of elaboration that points to evidence in the text.
December 9--We continued week 9 vocab today. It is on Quizlet.com. See me if you haven't signed up. We were talking about the background of the story we are about to read. This involved talking about The Great Depression. We spoke about and wrote about things that we learned about the depression in general and the African American experience in particular. We then started reading the story and answered the following question very thoroughly: What are the indications from the text evidence that the family from "Song of the Trees" is probably very poor." This is a multi-sentence answer with examples and elaborations that follow a topic sentence!
December 8--We continued week 9 vocab today. It is on Quizlet.com. See me if you haven't signed up. We were talking about the background of the story we are about to read. This involved talking about The Great Depression. We focused on some of the things that African Americans experienced that made The Great Depression harder particularly on them. We wrote a short answer of what that was.
December 7--We started week 9 vocab today. It is on Quizlet.com. See me if you haven't signed up. We were talking about the background of the story we are about to read. This involved talking about The Great Depression.
December 4--Took our Unit 7 quiz today and collected many items. I left that on the board so you can see what I collected when you get back if you are absent.
December 3--Today we continued making our reflection sheet about heroes in "The Highwayman." I wrote a model example of how to take the information and write about it. Students were supposed to copy it down to use as a guide when they do the same. Tomorrow is the quiz for Unit 7 vocabulary and we are turning in a number of items as well.
December 2--Today we began gathering information so that we can write about heroes later on this trimester for the benchmark essay. We all got out a piece of paper and discussed as a group and sometimes as shoulder partners whether or not certain characters were heroes. So we started a paper titled, "Heroes in The Highwayman." We first listed people who might be considered a hero. Then we talked about character traits that they showed in the story that helped make them a hero. Tomorrow we will continue by listing things that happened and textual evidence that shows they have those character traits. Don't forget to sign up for quizlet.com and be studying for the quiz on Friday!
December 1--Today we finished up the current vocab unit.(On Quizlet.com, the words are actually Unit 7). Anyone that hasn't signed up for quizlet.com, well, WHAT ARE YOU DOING! The link to sign up for my class direct is tiny.cc/quizletsignup. We then talked about and heard results from our assignment on finding the theme of "The Highwayman." Everyone should have finished a short paragraph that tells the theme of the it and gives an example from the poem that explains how we come up with that theme.
November 30--Today we introduced the fourth pair of words of Unit 8 Vocabulary (On Quizlet.com, the words are actually Unit 7). Anyone that hasn't signed up for quizlet.com, well, WHAT ARE YOU DOING! The link to sign up for my class direct is tiny.cc/quizletsignup. After the vocab, we broke up into groups to discuss possible themes in the the poem "The Highwayman." We looked for the big events and tried to find a universal truth in that.
November 25--Today we introduced the third two words of Unit 8 Vocabulary (On Quizlet.com, the words are actually Unit 7). Anyone that hasn't signed up for quizlet.com, well, WHAT ARE YOU DOING! The link to sign up for my class direct is tiny.cc/quizletsignup. We also shared with each other the observations we made about the video "The Highwayman" compared to the poem in our book. We then had some more time to write. The sentence starter is in yesterday's entry below.
November 24-- Today we watched the video of "The Highwayman." Students were to compare the video to the reading. Here is the sentence starter they were to use: In discussing similarities and differences between the written version of Alfred Noyes' "The Highwayman" and the video version, I noted that..." Today we introduced the second two words of Unit 8 Vocabulary (On Quizlet.com, the words are actually Unit 7). Anyone that hasn't signed up for quizlet.com, well, WHAT ARE YOU DOING! The link to sign up for my class direct is tiny.cc/quizletsignup. We also continued reading "The Highwayman." We are just about done. Students should be able to show their parents a whole page or more of their paraphrases they did on each stanza.
November 23--Today we introduced the first two words of Unit 8 Vocabulary (On Quizlet.com, the words are actually Unit 7). Anyone that hasn't signed up for quizlet.com, well, WHAT ARE YOU DOING! The link to sign up for my class direct is tiny.cc/quizletsignup. We also continued reading "The Highwayman." We are just about done. Students should be able to show their parents a whole page or more of their paraphrases they did on each stanza.
November 20--Today we read through all the stanzas of "The Highwayman" up through page 165. Students did not all have time to write paraphrases of each of those, so I told all that it was homework. We also took the vocab quiz today and turned in four items which are written on the board and will stay there so they can see what to turn in if absence.
November 19--Today all classes made it through stanza 10 of "The Highwayman." Some made it all the way to 11. Students should have a paper that talks about each stanza. We want to see 1)What is described? 2) What events have occurred and 3) What notable literary devices are in that stanza. Don't forget to study for the quiz tomorrow! Quizlet.com is a great way to do that!
November 18--Today all classes made it through stanza 6 of "The Highwayman." Some made it all the way to 8. Students should have a paper that talks about each stanza. We want to see 1)What is described? 2) What events have occurred and 3) What notable literary devices are in that stanza.
November 17--Today all classes made it through stanza 4 of "The Highwayman." Students should have a paper that talks about each stanza. We want to see 1)What is described? 2) What events have occurred and 3) What notable literary devices are in that stanza. Also, we introduced the last two words of this unit of vocabulary. Remember that the quiz is Friday and you should study at home on quizlet.com.
November 16--Today we introduced two new Unit 7 vocabulary words. I announced to the class that if they are looking at quizlet.com for the words, that the ones we just started are actually under Unit 8 there. My mistake. Just be aware of it. Do not forget about the wonderful resource that quizlet.com is going to be. Make sure you sign up by going to tiny.cc/quizletsignup. If for some reason that doesn't work for you, please let me know and I will email a link to you! We also continued reading "The Highwayman" in our literature book. Each student should have a paper with that title on it. We will be going stanza-by-stanza determining what is being described and what events occur. Every class has so far made it through the second stanza.
November 13-- Today we introduced two new Unit 7 vocabulary words. I announced to the class that if they are looking at quizlet.com for the words, that the ones we just started are actually under Unit 8 there. My mistake. Just be aware of it. Do not forget about the wonderful resource that quizlet.com is going to be. Make sure you sign up by going to tiny.cc/quizletsignup. If for some reason that doesn't work for you, please let me know and I will email a link to you! We also began reading "The Highwayman" in our literature book. Each student should have a paper with that title on it. We will be going stanza-by-stanza determining what is being described and what events occur.
November 12--Today we introduced two new Unit 7 vocabulary words. I announced to the class that if they are looking at quizlet.com for the words, that the ones we just started are actually under Unit 8 there. My mistake. Just be aware of it. Do not forget about the wonderful resource that quizlet.com is going to be. Make sure you sign up by going to tiny.cc/quizletsignup. If for some reason that doesn't work for you, please let me know and I will email a link to you! We also finished our discussion and writing about what a hero is.
November 10--Today we introduced two new Unit 7 vocabulary words. Do not forget about the wonderful resource that quizlet.com is going to be. Make sure you sign up by going to tiny.cc/quizletsignup. If for some reason that doesn't work for you, please let me know and I will email a link to you! We also had a discussion in groups about what a hero is. Each student should have piece of paper that contains their list of adjectives that describe a hero. Also, each student should have finished the following statements: "A hero is someone who..." "A hero would never ..." and Someone could still be described as a hero even if they..."
November 9--Today while I was out meeting with the other teachers, students had a sub and they read the story, "Duffy's Jacket." They answered questions 1-4 on the page right after the story ends.
November 6--Today we took the first quiz of the trimester. It is now in the books as Quiz 6. After that, some people still had to finish up their benchmark essays, so that is how we finished out the period.
November 5--Same as yesterday! We worked on writing our benchmark essays.
November 4--Today a number of important things happened. 1) We spent the majority of the period working on our district benchmark essay. This is not something that can be worked at from home. 2) I showed students the new assignment I made on noredink.com and explained that it can not be a late assignment. They have the rest of the school week to do it. 3)We have the Unit 6 quiz on Friday.
November 3--Today we introduced two new vocabulary words. Do not forget about the wonderful resource that quizlet.com is going to be. Make sure you sign up by going to tiny.cc/quizletsignup. If for some reason that doesn't work for you, please let me know and I will email a link to you! After we introduced those words--quiz Friday!--we started on the district benchmark writing exam. We will continue with that tomorrow.
November 2--Today we had to take the district benchmark exam. After we finished the exam, students were supposed to write what we didn't have a chance to write after we watched "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street." You need to finish that at home. We were finding textual evidence to support the theme that "Sometimes when people make hasty judgements about each other, relationships can be harmed or worse. Continue studying the vocab. The quiz on this Unit 6 is Friday.
October 30--Today we introduced two new vocabulary words. Do not forget about the wonderful resource that quizlet.com is going to be. Make sure you sign up by going to tiny.cc/quizletsignup. If for some reason that doesn't work for you, please let me know and I will email a link to you! We also watched the video version of "The Monsters are Due on Maple St." and will write more about it on Monday.
October 29-- Today we introduced two new vocabulary words. Do not forget about the wonderful resource that quizlet.com is going to be. Make sure you sign up by going to tiny.cc/quizletsignup. If for some reason that doesn't work for you, please let me know and I will email a link to you! Today we read some more of "The Monsters are Due on Maple St." and we heard answers from question 7 and then we read to the end of the story. At that point we answered question 9.
October 28--Today we introduced two new vocabulary words. Do not forget about the wonderful resource that quizlet.com is going to be. Make sure you sign up by going to tiny.cc/quizletsignup. If for some reason that doesn't work for you, please let me know and I will email a link to you! Today we read some more of "The Monsters are Due on Maple St." and we heard answers from question 6 which was done with your group. Every class began writing the answer to question 7 before we left today.
October 27--A grand total of four people signed up for Quizlet today. Quizlet is seriously the best thing you can do to help yourselves on quizzes in my class. It makes studying your ten minutes of vocab a day so easy. Go to tiny.cc/quizletsignup now! Today we read a good deal of "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street." We stopped on page 81 and split into groups to discuss and write a great response to question #6 there.
October 26--Today we introduced the first two words of Unit 6 vocabulary. A big deal and a new resource is now available to help you study your 10 minutes a night. Go to tiny.cc/quizletsignup to sign up for the games and study tools available for each unit. Make sure you sign up! Also, we continued today with "The Monsters are due on Maple St." We were focusing today on question #3 on page 77, and students should make sure they answer it completely and fully.
October 23--Check the parent portal because today's quizzes have been entered. Other than the three items that were turned in today, all has been updated. Students should all have a paper titled "Maple St." that is in progress. We have answered one question and are in the middle of answering the second question. See yesterday for more details.
October 22--Today we continued talking about Question #2 from yesterday. It was on page 74 of our textbook in the bottom left corner. Anyway, many people wrote what the stage directions said, but they didn't explain WHY the stage directions made them have a certain opinion. We are working at elaborating and explaining ourselves. We saw many examples today and practiced this. Each student should have a pretty nice paragraph that explains WHY Steve did or didn't believe what he was saying. Don't forget the quiz tomorrow! Unit 5 Vocab!
October 21--Today we began reading the teleplay "The Monsters are due on Maple Street." We will be stopping along the way to answer questions that we have to make inferences to answer. Today we stopped at Question #2 (We skipped the first one) and wrote part of our answer before we had to stop because the period was over.
October 20--After vocabulary today, I passed back the essays. If you didn't turn one in, I will still take it. It would be a very good idea if you did. We are preparing to read the teleplay, "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street." We were just about finished assigning parts today and we will begin reading it on Wednesday.
October 19--Today we continued with the vocab for Unit 5. We also continued to talk about the themes we discovered in the story "User Friendly." People came up with several good universal truths (themes) for topic in the story like, love, jealousy, loneliness, revenge, technology, etc. If you did not finishes writing about a topic and a theme that went with it, you should have heard plenty of good examples to help you.
October 16--On our paper titled "User Friendly," we picked one of the topics that were present in the story and with the following sentence starters wrote about the one we picked and the theme it suggested: "As we flushed out the story trying to discover the theme, we notice that there are a few topics, and I propose that one of those topics is...We can see that this is a topic in the story because (text evidence here)..." Then write a theme that comes out of what you see in the topic you chose. A good way to start talking about a theme is to start with "Sometimes in life..." or "Often people ..."
October 15--Today we resumed working on our vocabulary from Unit 5. We are up to only words three and four so far. Don't forget to spend time studying every night. After the vocab, we returned to the story from yesterday, "User Friendly." We had some discussion about how to find the theme of a story, and were in the process of applying it to this story. We broke into groups and the students wrote a list of topics or subjects that they came across in the story. Tomorrow we will use that information and other things to come up with a theme.
October 14--I have a sub again today because I am working with a group of teachers to improve our teaching. Students will be reading the story "User Friendly" in our Holt Literature book and answering the Reading Check questions 1-5 at the end of the story.
October 13--Today we began vocabulary unit 5. Don't forget, if you have an Apple device, you can get the app, Word Dynamo and study playing games with my word list. Anyway, we did the first two words today. We also talked about theme and how we need to pick a theme that we think is important from the first trimester so we can write about it in a couple of weeks.
October 12--I was here today, but in another room with the other teachers making plans. The sub will lead you through reading the story in the Interactive Reader, "Learning to Float." We will do the assignment on page 81 of the reader.
October 9--Did you turn in your essay today? Today was the day, so I hope so! Today we also took the Unit 4 Vocabulary quiz, so if you were absent, you need to make it up.
October 8--Today we took a bunch of notes on some important topics. We took notes on the difference between a sentence and a fragment and then we began taking notes on the themes in "The Smallest Dragonboy." We have some important things due tomorrow. We have the final draft of the essay due, and we have a quiz on vocab 4.
October 7--Today was a day to get most of your final draft written. We will not have any other time to finish the final draft of the essay. The essay is due on Friday! We also have Noredink.com #4 due tomorrow at Midnight, so it is basically due Friday as well. And of course, we have the unit 4 vocab quiz on Friday.
October 6--Today we did our peer reviews of the essay. Each student should have a essay rubric that they filled out while reading a peer's essay. On the back, everyone is supposed to finish two statements: one that specifically give recommendations for the peer's essay, and one that tells what they plan on doing to make their own essay better. Tomorrow, students will be writing their final drafts in class and then need to turn them in by Friday.
October 5--Today we DID NOT begin the peer edit. Some people were ready and that is awesome, but I only had 20 minutes at the most for each class and I opted to let people work a tad more on their rough draft. That being said, we MUST do the peer edit on Tuesday. Make sure you have your rough draft done. Also, today we finished up with the Unit 4 vocabulary word and we still need to be studying them as the quiz is on Friday. Also, we have a noredink.com assignment due Thursday at 11 p.m.
October 2--After going over two more vocabulary terms, we spent the rest of the period working on finishing up our rough drafts of the essay on Keeven. Many students showed me their work so far and asked for advice. If students are not going to be finished with their rough draft, they need to do some work at home.
October 1--Today I explained that by Monday, everyone's rough draft needs to be finished so we can peer edit our essays. We worked on our essays today (most are still working on body paragraphs) and we will work even more tomorrow. It is highly suggested that you work some at home on it before Monday so that you can have something to be edited by a peer. Another good idea would be to use my teaching points on tiny.cc/explanatorytips to make sure you are following the plan.
September 30--Today we continued with the Unit 4 vocabulary introductions before getting back into more of our essay writing. Today we walked through exactly how to write a conclusion. We wrote one in class as an example. Of course, we have many resources that explain it as well.
September 29--Today I had jury duty and students did work in the Interactive Reader with my sub. The page they ought to have is titled "The Musician."
September 28--Today we started vocabulary unit 4 with the introduction of the first two words. Remember that we always are expected to study the vocab 10 minutes a night and have a parent initial on your study guide that you spent that time. Also, don't forget to use the app word dynamo to study and play games with the words. Today we also spent some time working on our essays, continuing to write the body paragraphs. Remember, you have a ton of handouts to guide the process as well as this site: tiny.cc/explanatorytips.
September 25--Today we looked at some of your fellow students' essays to talk about what was good and what needed work. After that we took the vocabulary quiz. If you were absent, you need to make us the quiz.
September 24--Today we continued working on the first body paragraph of our explanatory essay. By the end of the period it was clear that most students didn't do what I showed them to do when introducing textual evidence! Tomorrow we will put students examples on the screen and talk about this before we move on to the next body paragraph. Remember, you have a ton of resources that help you step-by-step with this essay. One of the best is the document I put at tiny.cc/explanatorytips.
September 23--Today we took notes on and participated in the writing of a body paragraph that is much like the body paragraph we will be writing for our essays on Keevan, from "The Smallest Dragonboy." More than any other thing, I emphasized making sure that students correctly put in their textual evidence in a way that the essay naturally leads into the evidence--don't just drop the evidence in out of nowhere. We also practiced some of the skills we need for Friday's quiz. Don't forget to be ready for that!
September 22--Today each student should have finished his or her introductory paragraph on Keenan from "The Smallest Dragonboy." We are moving on to the first body paragraph tomorrow and it is very important that students do not fall behind! Parents can help by looking at my online guide of what the paper needs to look like. It is at tiny.cc/explanatorytips.
September 21--Today we continued with our RTT Model Essay Notes. Every student should have this page and have on it the notes we took on the thesis statement, hook, and summary. Before we left today, EVERYBODY should have written a thesis statement for the essay on Keeven from "The Smallest Dragonboy."
September 18--Today we finished up the unit three vocab introductions. You still need to study the words every day for 10 minutes. The quiz is next Friday. Today we started talking about the introduction of an explanatory essay. We will write the intro together on the subject of Rikki Tikki-Tavi as a model so that you know how to do the same thing with the story, "The Smallest Dragonboy." Don't forget the major help you have at your fingertips: I put together a step-by-step guide at this web address: tiny.cc/explanatorytips.
September 17--We reviewed the 7th and 8th vocabulary words today, so don't forget to study the for 10 minutes, not just those two, but all of Unit 3. In class today we did a very important task: we talked about possible character traits of Keeven and evidence for them. This will be valuable information for you to use when you write about it yourself.
September 16--We finished reading "The Smallest Dragonboy" today. We discussed and wrote down some ideas for character traits and themes that the textual evidence will reveal about the story. We also did the next two vocab words. Make sure you study the vocab for 10 min. a night and that you do the noredink.com assignment which is a quiz called "prepositions 3."
September 15--We continued reading "The Smallest Dragonboy" up to page 126 where question #4 is. We were in the middle of hearing what people had for the answer to that question. Tomorrow we will continue reading. We also went over words three and four of the vocab today. Also, I assigned a noredink assignment called Prepositions 3. It is due on Thursday night at 11.
September 14--Today we read a good deal more of the story, "The Smallest Dragonboy." As we read, we were making sure we were aware of the character traits that Keeven exhibits. Not just that, but we were making sure to write down the evidence in the text that makes us aware of those character traits. This is because we will be writing an essay about Keeven's character traits. We have the reflection sheet to gather this information on. We also started the third Vocab Study Guide today and introduced the first two words.
September 11- Today we took Quiz #2. If you were absent, make sure your make it up when you return.
September 10--Today we began reading the story, "The Smallest Dragonboy," but we didn't get very far...We stopped at the very first question on page 120 to answer it with a topic sentence, support, and elaboration. If students don't have theirs finished, it is homework.
September 9--Today we learned about how to write topic sentences whenever we answer a question in any class. We practiced them and will put them to the test tomorrow. Today I also learned something about noredink.com. Many people are shown as getting 100% on the assignment Prepositions 2 even though they never did that assignment. I talked to the owners of the website and they are working on fixing this. Right now, if you log in and it says you got 100 percent, there is nothing you can do. Don't worry about it.
September 8--Today I handed out the form that we are going to use for every story we read. We filled it out for Rikki Tikki Tavi. The purpose of the form is to keep track of textual evidence on the stories so that we have that information when we have to write an district benchmark essay on theme at the end of the trimester.
September 7--There is now a second assignment in noredink.com for students to do. It is due on Thursday night. Today we filled out our sheet for the story, "Rikki Tikki Tavi." This is a sheet that we will fill out for all stories we do so that when we have the district benchmark essay in October, we can refer to the sheet for examples and textual evidence.
September 4--Today we introduced the last set of vocab words for Unit 2. That means that each student should have a new yellow Vocabulary Study Guide that they have begun to fill out. We do two words a day and it is the responsibility of the student to spend ten minutes per night studying those words as they are added to the list. Parents initial the paper in the righthand margin to indicate that their students have done the ten minutes. We also finished reading "Rikki Tikki Tavi" and took time to write and discuss some of the key events. Students wrote down key events of each part, another student asked them for more information, and the students elaborated on what they wrote.
September 3--Today we introduced the fourth set of vocab words for Unit 2. That means that each student should have a new yellow Vocabulary Study Guide that they have begun to fill out. We do two words a day and it is the responsibility of the student to spend ten minutes per night studying those words as they are added to the list. Parents initial the paper in the righthand margin to indicate that their students have done the ten minutes. We continued reading Rikki Tikki Tavi and practicing the skill or retelling and then elaborating on what we said/wrote.
September 2--Today we introduced the third set of vocab words for Unit 2. That means that each student should have a new yellow Vocabulary Study Guide that they have begun to fill out. We do two words a day and it is the responsibility of the student to spend ten minutes per night studying those words as they are added to the list. Parents initial the paper in the righthand margin to indicate that their students have done the ten minutes. We also continued to read through the story, "Rikki Tikki Tavi" and tracing the plot. Today we practiced questioning each other and asking each other to elaborate on what we had written down already.
September 1--Today we introduced the second set of vocab words for Unit 2. That means that each student should have a new yellow Vocabulary Study Guide that they have begun to fill out. We do two words a day and it is the responsibility of the student to spend ten minutes per night studying those words as they are added to the list. Parents initial the paper in the righthand margin to indicate that their students have done the ten minutes. Students should also have a piece of paper that says Rikki Tikki Tavi. On that paper they should have two clear statements of events in the story. Everyone had ample time to do that part of the assignment. What they might still need to do at home is write their sentence that elaborates on what they already said. You would know if this is done because it will say "Elaborate" right next to it.
August 31--Today I introduced the first two words of Vocabulary Unit 2. That means that each student should have a new yellow Vocabulary Study Guide that they have begun to fill out. We do two words a day and it is the responsibility of the student to spend ten minutes per night studying those words as they are added to the list. Parents initial the paper in the righthand margin to indicate that their students have done the ten minutes. Today that is the only homework, but parents should know that we also took notes today on how to cite textual evidence and students all got a handout to use all year as a guide on that subject.
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August 28--I am out of town for a funeral and we are doing an assignment called "Elephant's Child" today with a sub. No home work.
August 27--Today we took our first vocabulary quiz which included a few questions on prepositional phrases. There is no homework tonight unless you still haven't signed up for noredink.com and done the first assignment, you still need to do that. It is late and you will be marked down, but it needs to be done.
August 26--Today at 11 p.m. the NoRedInk.com assignment is due. In class we had a sub because I was in district training all day. Students should have worked on a paper called "Danny's Plant." They answered some questions about the story and made a plot chart telling what the basic situation, main conflict, complications/events, climax and resolution was. Don't forget that the first quiz is Thursday.
August 25--Today our counselor, Mrs. Collins, had a presentation for the class. Take a look at yesterday's entry because there is homework that you need to make sure is done. Most notably, the noredink.com.
August 24-Today we introduced the last two words and recorded them on our study guide. Remember to study the words for 10 minutes a night and have your parents initial that you have done so. The quiz is Thursday (they are usually Fridays). Today I showed students how to sign up for an account at NoRedInk.com. They need to sign up and complete the first assignment called, Prepositions 1. This needs to be done by Wednesday night at 11 p.m.
August 21--Today we introduced words 7 and 8 in our first unit of vocab. We also continued taking notes and talking about the different plot features of a typical story. Everyone should have a sheet of paper called "Plot Notes" where we talked about the various parts of a story's plot. We also answered some questions. Every student should have at least two places where he completed this frame: "A spirited discussion resulted in the opinion that the story's _____________ was the part where (tell what happened." Some classes had the blank fill in with "complications," others with "resolutions" and others with "Climax."
August 20--Today we introduced two more of our vocabulary words; that means that all students should have on their study guide the definitions and examples and other things for the first six words of Unit One. They should study these words for 10 minutes a night and parents should sign in the margin that they put in the time. We also talked about plot elements in a story. We were taking notes on the various elements and will continue with this tomorrow.
August 19--Today we introduced and added to our study guide two more vocabulary words, bringing our total reviewed so far to four. Every student should have a yellow Vocabulary Study Guide #1 that is filled in through the fourth word. Homework is ALWAYS studying the words for 10 minutes a night and getting a parent signature in the margin of the yellow sheet.
August 18--Today I handed out the Vocabulary Study Guide #1. We talked a lot about how we use it and the expectations as we are introduced to new words.
August 17--Today our main activity and one you can connect with your parents on is our "Assignment List" and the Preposition Notes. If you still don't have a binder with a tab for language arts AND a pouch for pencils, you need to have that. Also, don't forget to have your parents take the survey at tiny.cc/firstdaysurvey. If for some reason that doesn't work right for them, they can send me an email letting me know that they have read my letter about the class.
August 14--We continued for the last time of procedures, and rules.
August 13--Today we continued going over my rules and procedures. I handed out the letter to be taken home to parents which came with a slip describing the homework assignment. That assignment is going to tiny.cc/firstdaysurvey to take a short informational survey that helps me know that parents received the letter.
First day of school 2015:
The only homework today is for students to have their parents go tiny.cc/FirstDaySurvey and fill out my survey. This is worth points!
Last year's homework archive below this line:
______________________________________________
May 12-15--We introduced the unit 15 words each day this week. Also, we read the story, "Mother and Daughter," on page 108 of our textbook and made a list of character traits for the two characters. We are going to use that list to write about and support with proof that they have those traits.
May 11--Today we introduced the first two words from Unit 15, our last vocab unit of the year. As always, make sure you go to dynamo.dictionary.com to study the words ten minutes a night and remember to have a parent sign off that you did so. Also, there is a new noredink.com ready for you and it is due Wednesday evening at 7 p.m.
May 8--Today students had all period to finish up their narrative essays. This is the last day in class for this district-mandated assignment, but if students still need to finish it up, they can come in at lunch and before and after school until we grade them.
May 7--We continued with our narrative essays. Students were to peer edit a neighbor's essay and then begin writing the final draft. Some people think that they won't be able to finish. If that is the case, students can come in before school, after school, and at lunch to work on it.
May 6--Today we got even further into writing our rough drafts. Students are supposed to be done with the draft tomorrow so that we can peer edit and move on to the final draft. If you are looking at this before 7 p.m., you still have time to do the noredink.com homework.
May 5--Today we continued on the essays we started planning yesterday. Most students should be well along on writing their rough drafts. Don't forget that homework is due tomorrow evening at 7 from NO Red ink.com.
May 4--Today we introduced the prompts for our district benchmark writing assignment. We started using the graphic organizers to map our what we are going to write. Ask you student what his or her essay is planned to be about. Also, we have a No Red Ink.com assignment due Wednesday evening.
May 1--Today we took vocab quiz #14 and collected items from the past two weeks. Did you turn in the items listed on the board?
April 30--Same homework! Quiz is tomorrow. Today we reviewed the skills necessary to write dialog in narratives.
April 29--Same homework; the quiz is on Friday. Today we took the District Benchmark Test.
April 28--Homework is the same, study the Unit 14 words. Today in class we finished up the two questions we were answering about the article, "Your Cell Phone could Ruin your Life."
April 27--Today the homework is to continue studying the vocab from Unit 14; we have the quiz on Friday. In class we had a sub and we answered questions and filled out a chart about the story, "Learning to Float" which is located in the interactive reader.
April 24--Today we went over the last words in this vocabulary unit and then returned to the story we were reading in the Scope Magazine. We read the article on cell phones and began to answer the questions. The first question was: "What did author Kristin Lewis do to draw in her readers at the beginning of the story." Everyone should have that one answered by now and next week we will answer others.
April 23--Today we went over the next two vocabulary words after practicing writing and citing what someone said. We then read a magazine article about smartphones and began to write a topic sentence to answer the first question about the article. Tomorrow we will finish writing the answers to questions about the article.
April 20-22--These days are combined because when I did them earlier in the week, things somehow disappeared, so I am recapping what we did this week in one post. We have reviewed and introduced the vocabulary for Unit 14 up through words 5 and 6. Students' homework is to study them for 10 minutes a night. We have a noredink.com assignment due Wednesday night at 7 p.m. We have also made a page called, "Writing Details" where we took six sentences and re-wrote them to add more details.
April 17--Today we talked more about the hooks and about writing descriptive settings in our notes for narratives. We then took the Unit 13 Vocab Quiz.
April 16--Today we heard student answers from their group assignment on writing a series of hooks for topics of pretend personal narrative essays. We then talked about the importance of using descriptive words and details in the beginning when the scene is set. This was added to their notes. Quiz tomorrow!
April 15--Today at 7 p.m. the newest noredink.com assignment was due. We also need to be spending our 10 minutes a night studying the vocab. The quiz is Friday. Today in class we worked in groups to produce a list of great hooks for the personal narrative scenarios I gave each group.
April 14--Today we finished going over the words for Unit 13 vocabulary. We then started talking about and taking notes on how to write a narrative essay. We will be talking about how to write two types of narrative essay: personal and fictional. Students will have a choice of which kind they write. Today we took notes on the beginning of a personal narrative. A hook is the best way to start a personal narrative and is a possible way to start a fictional narrative. Tomorrow students will try out making up "hooks" or strong beginnings for a personal narrative.
April 13--Today we picked back up with the Unit 13 vocab we had not yet finished. We will have the quiz on those words tomorrow. For homework tonight (due Wednesday at 7 p.m.) we have a Noredink.com assignment.
March 30-31--We are still taking SBAC state test in language arts.
March 23-27--We are taking the SBAC state test all week in our language arts classes. The only homework would to be studying our unit 13 vocabulary.
March 20--Here is the question we were working on answering today and yesterday: "What were the moments when the narrator recalled special memories?" This is from the story, "Mason-Dixon Memories" on page 259 in our literature book. We were practicing our skills in using a quote and then an elaboration to support our support sentences. Also today, we have a noredink.com assignment due by 6 p.m. Remember to bring headphones next week for SBAC testing.
March 19--Today we introduced the Unit 13 Vocabulary, so it is time to start studying it ten minutes a night. Besides that, we also have been assigned a new assignment in noredink.com that is due Friday evening. Finally, in class today we read half of the story, "A Mason-Dixon Memory" and were practicing some writing skills based on it. We will finish that up tomorrow.
March 18--Today we didn't introduce any new vocabulary unit, so there is no vocab to study like there normally is. We had a special lesson we had to work on first. We are doing a close reading lesson on a Fredrick Douglass speech excerpt. It will take at least until Wednesday to finish it. You can tell if your student is doing what they were supposed to do in class by whether they were filling out the form that was handed out. They should be done with the first side and should be able to explain what they did so far.
March 17--Today we didn't introduce any new vocabulary unit, so there is no vocab to study like there normally is. We had a special lesson we had to work on first. We are doing a close reading lesson on a Fredrick Douglass speech excerpt. It will take at least until Wednesday to finish it. You can tell if your student is doing what they were supposed to do in class by whether they were filling out the form that was handed out. They should be done with the first side and should be able to explain what they did so far.
March 16--Today we didn't introduce any new vocabulary unit, so there is no vocab to study like there normally is. We had a special lesson we had to work on first. We are doing a close reading lesson on a Fredrick Douglass speech excerpt. It will take at least until Wednesday to finish it. You can tell if your student is doing what they were supposed to do in class by whether they were filling out the form that was handed out. They should be done with the first side and should be able to explain what they did so far.
March 13--Today we took vocabulary quiz 12. We also turned in a bunch of stuff: Warm-ups #12, Vocab Study Guide #12, "The Competitors," "An Unforgettable Journey," "Man in the Arena," and the group paragraph that we finished off today before the quiz.
March 12--Today the homework is to finish the noredink assignment by 5 p.m. Also, study the vocab words as we have the quiz tomorrow. In class we worked in groups to answer a question about "An Unforgettable Journey." The question was, In Maijue Xiong's autobiography, "An Unforgettable Journey," what caused her the most confusion or was surprising to her when she first arrived in America? Each group wrote on their own paper and on the group paper. They were to follow the plan of topic sentence, support sentence, quote from text, elaborate on quote from text.
March 10--Finished up the Unit 12 Vocabulary. The quiz will be on Friday. We also talked today about textual evidence and went over some details on the screen as I showed students exactly how I want textual evidence written in paragraphs. They still have the paper "An Unforgettable Journey" and we will add to this on Thursday. On Wednesday we have to take a state survey that is mandated, but that doesn't mean that you can stop studying the vocab each night.
March 9--Today and tomorrow we will finish up the vocabulary in unit 12 in preparation for the quiz on Friday. Students should be studying 10 minutes a night to be ready for the quiz. Today we continued working on how to use textual evidence like we started on Friday. We were going to be finished on Friday, but today I took a step back to model how to do it because I was not sure everyone got it. We will continue on Tuesday and anyone who was absent will be able to catch up.
March 6--Today we introduced two more vocab words, so don't forget to use dynamo.dictionary.com to study them and get your study guides signed off for studying 10 minutes a night. Also, the new noredink.com is due on Monday at 4 p.m. Today we started working on a plan for textual evidence so that we can introduce it more effectively. It took me longer than I thought, so we will continue it on Monday. People who were absent will probably be able to catch up.
March 5--Today we introduced two more vocab words. We also read the story, "An Unforgettable Journey." Tomorrow we will write about it with an emphasis on using textual evidence properly. I also assigned a new noredink.com assignment that is due on Monday at 4 p.m.
March 4--Today we finished off the work with "The Competitors."
March 3--I was gone with the rest of the L.A. teachers at District Office reading benchmark essays. With the sub, students read the story, "The Competitors" in the Interactive Reader and answered questions on a piece of paper the same name as the story. We didn't do any new vocabulary words.
March 2--Today we introduced the first two Unit 12 vocab words. Don't forget to study for ten minutes a night, and don't forget that dynamo.dictionary.com is a great way to do that. We also finished up the "Man in the Arena" close reading.
February 26--What it says yesterday PLUS: we are turning in warm-ups and study guides tomorrow, as well as the work we did on the paper, Finding and Using Textual Evidence. Quiz on Unit 11 Vocab tomorrow!
February 25--Today we were working on a close reading activity that we will continue tomorrow. This is not something that needs to be done at home. Studying vocab IS something for home, though.
February 24--
February 23--Continue studying the vocabulary words for Unit 11. Ten minutes a night is all we ask! Don't forget dynamo.dictionary.com! Today we went over a handout I gave everyone; this is to be kept all year and even next year! It is called "How to Cite Textual Evidence." Show it to your parents and explain it to them.
February 20--Today we worked on the sheet that we titled, Find and Using Textual Evidence. We got to #3 in our work and will continue Monday with this exercise designed to help us know better how to use evidence from the text in our writing. We also did two new vocab words today, so make sure to be doing your 10 min. per night studying.
February 19--Homework: study the vocab words; we have been at this for months now, but some people still aren't using dynamo.dictionary.com to study the words. We started a piece of paper today called "Finding and Using Textual Evidence." We only got to the first part of it. We are practicing textual evidence on this paper using a handout I put on the board as a guide.
February 18--Homework! Study the new vocabulary. We introduced two new words today as we started Unit 11. After that, we spent the very last in-class time we are allowed on the District Benchmark Writing.
February 17--No homework. Students worked on the District Benchmark Writing Test.
February 13--No homework. Students worked on Day 4 of the District Benchmark Writing Test.
February 12--Today was day three of the District Benchmark Writing Test. We will continue tomorrow. There is no homework.
February 11--We continued today with the District Benchmark Writing Test. This is not something that can be done from home if you are absent. You can make sure you got the latest Noredink.com done, though.
February 10--Today's homework is the latest assignment on NOREDINK.com. Go there and you will see it. Do it. In class we started working on the District Benchmark Writing Exam. This is a process that will take the rest of the week. We are gathering the information and will begin to write on Thursday. Ask your student what information they learned today.
February 6--We took Vocabulary Quiz 10 today, so if you were absent, make plans to make it up. We also turned in a bunch of stuff: Warm-up #10, Vocabulary Study Guide #10, Summaries of literary devices, and the "Song of the Trees" paper.
February 5--Today we finished reading "The Song of the Trees." Before we read the final part, we talked about the key events that happened up to the point we had read. We did this so that students could answer Entry #3 on the paper we are using as we read the story. The paragraph we are supposed to be writing is in answer to this question: What are the key events of the story, "Song of the Trees" so far? Of course, students need to be ready to do well on the quiz on Friday for Unit 10 Vocabulary.
February 4--Today I was somewhere else on campus working on some things with other teacher; there was a sub for my class. We read a story in the Interactive Reader that we have in class. If you were absent, see me so that you can make it up during lunch or before/after school. Don't forget to study for Friday's Unit 10 Vocabulary quiz! Remember, use dynamo.dictionary.com or your study guide every night for 10 minutes.
February 3--Today we again worked on writing a good topic sentence and talked about how important it is to start well so we can finish well when it comes to answering academic questions. We then moved on to reading the story "Song of the Trees." We read half of it and answered some questions under Entry #2 on our paper. Here are the questions: A. The point of view for this story is ____________. The tale is being told by ____________ who is... B. When it says the trees' voices "whispered to me," that is an example of the literary device_______________. It is figurative language that means... C. As the scene is set at the beginning of the story, we learn...
February 2--Today we worked twice on writing a great topic sentence, first in warm-ups and then as part of the main assignment. We watched a video to hear a bit of background about the Great Depression since that is the setting of the story we will start tomorrow. Students were to answer the following question for homework: Pondering what happened during the Great Depression, what hardships would you guess we would have to deal with if something like that ever happened again? If you were absent, watch a video on Youtube about the depression or look up something on the depression so you can answer the question. Don't forget to study the vocabulary for the quiz this Friday. It is homework to study 10 minutes a night.
January 30--We finished introducing all the words for Unit 10 today. Until the quiz next Friday, students are expected to study the words for 10 minutes a night using their study guide and dynamo.dictionary.com. Of course, parents initial the study guide to show that they did this and that gives them more credit when they turn in the study guide. Students should also have more notes on literary devices as we continued talking about that today. At the end of class, they had a few more minutes to finish the paragraph they were supposed to finish about the literary devices.
January 29--Today we added words eight and nine to our vocabulary study guide. Study them. We also talked about personification and added it to our notes of literary devices and figurative language. We then wrote a paragraph in answer to this question: What are some of the flourishes that writers and speakers use to strengthen and provide meaning to what they are trying to say? The answer was a full paragraph talking about similes, metaphors and personification that we took from our notes. The latest NO Red INk was due on Thursday. It is now late.
January 28--Today we added two more words to our study guide as we make our way through Unit 10. We also handed back people's essays and talked about what made some of them better than others. The homework is to finish the NoRedInk.com assignment and to study the vocabulary.
January 27--We introduced the next two words today and I assigned a new NoRedInk.com assignment that is due on Thursday. In class we took some notes on figurative language and literary devices and began a short paragraph where we were summarizing what we learned. We will continue with that on Wednesday.
January 26--Today we began by being introduced to the first words in the Unit 10 vocabulary. That means you should be studying these words ten minutes a night. That is the only homework. Today we also took a quiz for our district data point.
January 23--We took vocabulary quiz 9 today and turned in our Warm-up #9, Vocab Study Guide #9, and all the writing we have done on "Bargain." No homework this weekend as we have not introduced the words yet for vocab unit 10.
January 22--Today we finished reading the story "Bargain." As a final activity, we added item number 6 to our "Bargain" paper that we are turning in tomorrow. Here is the frame that each student should have completed prior to turning it in tomorrow:
Looking back at the story "Bargain" by A.B. Guthrie, a ___________reader probably realizes that Mr. Baumer was working on a solution to his "Slade Problem" all along. There are some hint that foreshadow what was coming in the end. One of those hints came when (add your textual evidence and elaboration here). Another __________clue was the time (add your textual evidence and elaboration here). (Write a concluding sentence.)
Additionally, don't forget to study the vocabulary for tomorrow's Unit 9 quiz.
January 21--I had a sub today as I joined the English staff to grade our argumentative essays. So there was a No Red Ink assignment that was due today. Of course, you need to be studying the Unit 9 vocabulary words every day for 10 minutes a night. The quiz is Friday.
January 20--As usual, make sure you are spending 10 minutes a night studying the vocab words. They are on dynamo.dictionary.com under Unit 9 as well. Today we continued writing about and reading "The Bargain." We only read to page 243 where the yellow box with question number six is. We stopped there to answer that question. After answering that question, make sure you elaborate by explaining what made you think that. In fact, after writing you answer to question 6 on page 243, THEN answer the question, "What made you think that?" and "What in the text gives you that idea?" This will be entry number 5 on our paper that we have been putting things on for this story.
January 16--We introduced the last two words of Unit 9 Vocabulary today. Continue to study them for 10 minutes a night and don't forget to get a parent initial on your yellow study guides. We also continued reading a big chunk of "Bargain" today. Today we made entry number 4 on our writing for "Bargain." Also, students will be wise to note that there is a new No Red Ink assignment due next Wednesday the 21st.
January 15--We continued with both the Unit 9 vocabulary and the story, "Bargain." Students should have three separate sections written now on "Bargain." Today we answered question number three on page 240 and backed it up with reasons and elaboration from the text.
January 14--Did you do the latest No Red Ink assignment? It was due this morning and a lot of people didn't do it. We also have vocabulary words to study and if you didn't finish writing the things we were writing about the story today in class, then you should make sure you finish that.
January 13--Don't forget to complete the No Red Ink assignment on prepositions! Today we went over two more Unit 9 words before turning to the story "Bargain." We read the first few paragraphs and then stopped to write a bit. Here are the frames that students should have completed: "The short story "Bargain: looks as though it will have something to do with _______________. The initial information is that there is __________________. I infer or predict it will be about ________________________. I am led to this conclusion because of _________________.
January 12--Welcome back! Today we got our balance after being gone for Winter Break by starting out with a warm-up and moving on to vocabulary. We are now up to Unit 9, and the first two words were examined today. Of course, this means a study guide and studying them 10 minutes a night. Also, I explained to students that even though they didn't turn in their essays (some of them) they still need to do that. The teachers are getting together on grading them in a few days, so we need yours too. Finally, we have been assigned a new No Red Ink assignment that is due on Wednesday. Do it!
December 18 and 19--Students have had lots of time these two days to work on their essays in class. On Thursday I demonstrated the conclusion and on both days I circulated the class answering questions and giving guidance. The essay was due today, but I will accept it late.
December 17--Today we had an extended time for students to write their essays. I only took a short amount of time to give them examples and reminders on how to do the counter argument paragraph. I also reminded them of the resources they have to depend on to write this essay. Speaking of resources, I fixed the tiny.cc/argumentativemodel link. It should no longer require people to sign in with a Google account in order to view it. Tomorrow we will look at the conclusion and how it should be done!
December 16--Today I demonstrated in great detail how to write the third body paragraph of our essay that is due Friday. It turns out that the counter-argument paragraph is not that hard. All of the stuff I have referred to in the previous entries below are there to help you. You should come to class tomorrow with that paragraph done! Yes, homework! There are great examples at tiny.cc/argumentativemodel. Also, there are many people who have not done the recent quiz on No Red Ink.
December 15--This is a big week! We are in the home stretch of finishing up and turning in our argumentative essays which are due Friday. We also have a NoRedInk.com assignment due tomorrow. Students are supposed to come tomorrow with their body paragraphs already done for their essay. We will be working on and demonstrating the third body paragraph, called the counter argument.
December 12--I wrote this once already, but it disappeared! Oh, well. Today we took the Unit 8 Vocabulary quiz. If students were absent, they need to make it up. We also turned in four items and those are listed on the board. We also took time to write our body paragraphs for the argumentative essay. See tiny.cc/argumentativemodel for extra help.
December 11--The most important thing going on right now is all of the work we have been doing on our argumentative essay. It is incredibly important that students follow each step and pay attention to all the examples I am giving them. Today students watched as I wrote the first body paragraph of the model essay and began the second body paragraph. They then were supposed to start writing their own body paragraph with the goal being to finish in class tomorrow.
I want to remind people of the incredible amount of helpful resources there are for this because I know some students have not and will not even look at it.
1. tiny.cc/argumentativemodel --Everything you could possible need with more than one example essay and notes on how to do it.
2. The Scope Magazine article that their essay is based on.
3. The worksheet that matches their article. Attached to this are extra things as well. Check them all out!
Don't forget that vocabulary quiz #8 is tomorrow! Also, there is a new no red ink!
December 10--Today we looked at other students' introductions and discussed them so that you could see how your's stacks up. Then we began looking at the model that I am writing as I demonstrate the first body paragraph. Again, if you have the worksheet and your article, you can easily know exactly what to do by using those steps and looking at the tutorial at tiny.cc/argumentativemodel.
December 9--Students in my 6th period class need to finish writing the introduction to the argumentative essay. They ran out of time and didn't get a chance to put the three elements of the introduction together. Those elements are part of the worksheet that everyone has to put together their essay step-by-step. Parents should take a look at what their students have done so far. Students should explain what they are doing to the parents. Also, we have a new Noredink.com assignment that is due on Thursday. Also, refer to yesterday's entry to see more info about the essay that we are working on.
December 8--Today we made sure that every student had all the items they could possibly need to understand the steps to writing our argumentative essay. Each student has an article that provides two sides of an issue and they have a worksheet with the steps to follow to use that article to write a five-paragraph essay. Additionally, I have set up a document that can be accessed on the web. This document has tons of examples and hints on how to write the essay. The address is tiny.cc/argumentativemodel. As you can tell by the address, it provides a model (actually several) of a argumentative essay. I have highlighted sections of the model to explain them. In class we will be making ANOTHER model. As I write an essay in front of them, they then write THIER essay (on their topic) after seeing how I do it. Today we used our article--either the one on reality TV or the one on school sports--to begin filling out the worksheet. We also introduced the last two vocabulary words of Unit 8 today, and it is homework to be studying that unit.
December 5--Today we read the two articles that students can choose from to use to write their argumentative essay. Everybody chose one and now has a copy that they can (should!) mark up in any way they wish. They will be finding reasons to support each side and write those reasons on the Yes/No column on their article. We will be working on this Monday; it is not homework. What IS HOMEWORK is any noredink.com assignment that they haven't finished yet. Grades are turned in progress reports on Tuesday, and a lot of people have poor grades because they have not done all of the noredink.com assignments. I am graciously allowing them to be done late.
December 4--Today we introduced two more Unit 8 vocab words and then went right to work modeling how to write the argumentative essay. We got through the introductory paragraph, so all students should be able to show somebody what we have done so far. Remember, all kinds of help and info is available on this assignment at tiny.cc/argumentativemodel. It is due on the 19th of December and no student should have started it yet. We are going piece-by-piece, and students haven't yet even picked the issue they are writing about.
December 3--I was working on a special project today with a couple of other English teachers, so we had a sub in my class. All students should have a paper that they titled "The Musician" and they answered a few questions about characters in the story on that paper. On the back of the paper they filled out a chart relating to drawing conclusions about characters in the story. We still need to make sure we are studying the Unit 8 Vocabulary for 10 minutes a night and if you are not done, there is still NoRedInk.com to catch up on.
December 2--Today we continued with the new vocabulary and with the article, "Should Everyone get a Trophy," with which we are writing a practice argumentative essay. Students have a copy of the article and should have made a list of "yes" and "no" reasons to issue. A new NoRedInk.com assignment is due tomorrow. Just go to your account and you will see which one it is.
December 1--Today we began Unit 8 Vocabulary so students should be studying the words that were introduced today and the unit as a whole. Using the study guide we started is one way to do that, and another way is to use dynamo.dictionary.com. Later we introduced the fact that today begins the three-week process of teaching and then writing an argumentative essay. We began by reading our article, "Should Everyone get a Trophy?" This is the article we will use as a basis to write one of our example essays. Additional help is available at tiny.cc/argumentativemodel.
November 26--Today we finished doing paraphrasing on the five stanzas of "Annabel Lee." At the end, we talked about what the theme of the poem was. Students were supposed to end up with a paraphrase of the stanzas and then a statement of the theme.
November 25--We continued today going through the poem from yesterday.
November 24--Today we did not start a new vocabulary unit as usual. Because of the short work week, we will hold off and start on the first of December. Today we talked a bit about writing a thesis statement for an argumentative essay, and then we had an introduction to the poem, "Annabel Lee." We started a paper by the same name and all we got done was paraphrasing the first stanza.
November 21--Today we took vocabulary quiz number 7. We also gave students time to finish the paragraph talking about the differences between "The Highwayman" videos, but some people didn't finish. They were allowed to take them home to be finished and turned in on Monday. Also, don't forget that Wednesday we have a fourth noredink.com assignment due.
November 20--Today we finished up writing about the differences between the different versions of "The Highwayman" we read or saw. Tomorrow is quiz number 7 on Unit 7 vocab and clauses and phrases. Also, I assigned a new noredink.com that is due on Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
November 19--SO SORRY! I have no idea why the entries for the rest of this week have disappeared! I did them and they were here yesterday...Bizarre. Anyway, today we finished up looking at two different versions of "The Highwayman." Students were supposed to write down similarities and differences. We heard what some had to say, but we will hear more tomorrow We will then work on putting our findings into a paragraph that compares and contrasts the two versions of the poem. Earlier this week we finished introducing Unit 7 vocab words so we are on track for the quiz on Friday. Also, our latest noredink.com assignment is due 8 a.m. on Thursday.
MISSING DAYS (WHAT I REMEMBER!) After we started a paper called, "Discovering The Highwayman's Theme," we made a list of details that we felt were important on that paper. We also made a list of subjects that are in the poem like "love," "courage," etc. Then, we picked a subject and wrote a truth we learned about it in the poem.
November 13--The second noredink.com assignment was due today. For some reason, I am not seeing many people come through on this very easy assignment that I gave many days and many options to complete. We also have homework tonight studying our Unit 7 vocab. Today in class we made a list of details from the poem, "The Highwayman." We will use this list of details and a subsequent list of topics discussed in the poem to help us find the theme.
November 12--Don't forget tonight's homework: the second assignment on noredink.com is due tomorrow by 8 a.m. and you need to spend ten minutes a night studying the new vocabulary. We began Unit 7 today. In class we almost finished up "The Highwayman." If you were not here, go ahead and paraphrase the 14th and 15th stanzas.
November 7--Today we collected Warm-up #6 and Study Guide #6. We took Quiz #6. If you were not here for any of this, make sure you see me. We worked a bit more on summarizing stanza's from "The Highwayman" before we took the quiz. Some people have not done the noredink.com homework that was due on Thursday. There is now new noredink.com homework due on next Wednesday.
November 6--Vocabulary 6 quiz tomorrow! There is a new noredink.com assignment and some have not finished the last one. Today we continued with the Highwayman. If you were absent for any of the Stanzas, write what happened in that stanza in your own words.
November 5--Don't forget, the noredink.com assignment is due tomorrow morning by 8 a.m. This means that if you need to do it at school in the library, you can do so there beginning at 7:30. People who get all the sentences right the first time, will earn the right to not do the assignment again (with different sentences), so you should pay attention to the teaching parts they give you in the program. Also, Friday is vocab quiz number 6, so be studying your vocab! Today we made it through stanza seven of "The Highwayman."
November 4--Something new! Today I assigned a homework assignment on a website called noredink.com. Each class was walked through how to sign up (it is free) and how to set up their account. I have an assignment for each class. When students sign in, the assignment is right there on the home page. It is due Thursday morning at 8 a.m. Don't forget that there is also a quiz this Friday and students are supposed to be studying their vocab ten minutes a night. Finally, in class we finished going over the fourth stanza of "The Highwayman." Each student should be able to read to a parent what they wrote and explain the poem so far.
November 3--Today I handed back the group paragraphs we did on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I explained that if a student was not happy with his score, he could do their own version and give it to me by Friday. We also picked up where we left off with the poem, "The Highwayman." We only got to the third stanza and will make more progress tomorrow. We are working on summarizing the poem a stanza at a time. Our goal would be to get details and form an opinion on what the theme is.
October 31--Today we continued with stanza-by-stanza trek through the poem "The Highwayman." Every student should have a sheet of paper that he titled "The Highwayman." On this paper we will go through each stanza to write a summary. Today we did the second stanza. While walking around the room, I noticed that a number of people didn't finish the first stanza's writing. This is how people get messed up: they don't finish something in class and then they don't finish it at home. At this point everyone should have written sentences about the first and second stanza. If you do not have that, you are falling behind. Also, we finished introducing our Unit 6 vocab words today. Study for 10 min. a night!
October 30--Today we started our stanza-by-stanza trek through the poem "The Highwayman." Every student should have a sheet of paper that he titled "The Highwayman." On this paper we will go through each stanza to write a summary. Today we did the first stanza. Our starter sentences looked like this:
In the ____________stanza of Alfred Noye's narrative poem "The Highwayman," the poet is essentially describing/talking about...The specific things described are...There are also some significant details that advance the plot. First...Second... Then...
October 29--Today we introduced the next two words in the vocabulary unit. We also took some notes on what we mean when we talk about theme here in language arts. There was a section on what theme is and what theme isn't. This was notes to be saved in the student's binder in their notes section. We also had a brief introduction to the poem "The Highwayman" which is on page 160 of the literature book. We are going stanza-by-stanza and summarizing what is being described and what is happening.
October 28--Today we spent more time working on the group paragraph for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz excerpt. Most groups are very close to finished. I will allow a few minutes to wrap it up tomorrow before we move on to something new. We also introduced new vocabulary today. Keep studying the vocab words!
October 27--Today we started another group paragraph based on the things individuals wrote in response to the question: In the brief paragraph from The Wonderful Wizard of OZ, what was the central idea? Each student has the worksheet where we discovered the central idea and details to support it. We are now taking those pieces of information to make a fabulous paragraph. We also started the new vocab unit, which is unit 6. Don't forget to study the words.
October 23--Don't forget to study the vocab for the quiz tomorrow! We are also turning things in tomorrow as usual. Today we used the article on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to continue working on finding the central idea. We will continue on that tomorrow as we write a paragraph on it.
October 22--Don't forget to study the vocab for Friday's quiz! It will go on this trimester's grade! Today we went over the paragraphs we wrote yesterday (see October 21st below). While some were good, others contained obvious mistakes which indicated that people did NOT work together to present their best writing possible. Armed with what we learned looking at today's paragraphs, we will find the central idea of another paragraph tomorrow and do the same writing assignment. I expect it to be better.
October 21--Continue to study the vocab for Friday's quiz. Make sure you get the parental initials that show you studied 10 minutes a day. Today in class we tried a different strategy because so many people had a hard time writing a paragraph on the excerpt from yesterday. Today we got in groups of four and put our heads together in order to write a perfect paragraph with all the details and elaboration we talked about yesterday. Everyone was accountable to contribute and question whether it was correctly done. If you are not here with us today, I guess you just make sure you have your own paragraph written. Maybe your "group" can be parents or siblings.
October 20--Today we continued working on finding the central idea of something and writing about it. We have really hit a bump in the road as people are having a hard time giving textual evidence correctly and then elaborating about it. We will continue on this tomorrow. Don't forget that we have vocab quiz on Friday and we need to be studying the words each night!
Excerpt from "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
BUT there was no hilarity in the little town that same tranquil Saturday afternoon. The Harpers, and Aunt Polly’s family, were being put into mourning, with great grief and many tears. An unusual quiet possessed the village, although it was ordinarily quiet enough, in all conscience. The villagers conducted their concerns with an absent air, and talked little; but they sighed often. The Saturday holiday seemed a burden to the children. They had no heart in their sports, and gradually gave them up.
We made a list of the details from this paragraph last week. Then we determined what the central idea the writer was getting across with those details. Now we are going to write a paragraph using those details and elaborating on each. Here is our beginning frame:
With a careful reading of the excerpt from "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain, the central idea that __________________ can be discovered. One detail that reveals this ...(then elaborate after giving the detail). Another...(Elaborate again) Finally (Elaborate again). Concluding sentence next.
October 17--Today we worked with our shoulder partners to find the central idea of a paragraph we read. First we made a list of the details in the paragraph and then we came up with what must be the central idea based on those details. Each student should have a list of details and a final, main idea. We will continue with this on Monday and write further about it. We also had the last two vocabulary words of Unit 5 today. We still need to be studying them every night and getting parental signatures on our study guides to say we studied.
October 16--Today we took some detailed notes on finding the central idea of a piece of literature or an information article. Each student should be able to show that to someone and explain it to them. Also, don't forget to study the vocab for the week at Dynamo.dictionary.com and have parents sign that you studied for at least 10 minutes.
October 15--We have more homework than usual today! I am expecting the "Monsters are Due on Maple Street" fill-in paragraph sheet to be finished tomorrow. I will be collecting it tomorrow. Everyone has one, including the people who were absent earlier this week. There may be some who didn't see the second version of the story, but that can be seen on Youtube. No excuses. Of course, we are also still supposed to be studying the vocabulary for this week every night.
October 13--Today we began out introductions to words in the Unit 5 Vocabulary. I will remind again that going to Dynamo.dictionary.com is the best way to do your 10 minutes per night studying. If you didn't finish writing the paragraph from Thursday and Friday (see Thursday and Friday), then finish it. Today we are watching the other version of "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street." We will be writing about its differences and similarities tomorrow.
October 10--Today we collected three pieces of work: Warm-up #4, Vocabulary Study Guide #4, and "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street." We also took quiz #4 and students will know their scores immediately. Parents can check the scores on the parent portal this evening. We also started a new assignment today that we titled, "Monsters Video." We worked on that after we did the quiz today. Students should have some notes and a nice paragraph that answers the question, "After having viewed the actual show and having read the teleplay, what aspects stand out in stark contrast to what expected in "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street?"
Most likely people didn't finish this is class. It is not just a one-sentence answer, but a multi-sentence answer with a topic sentence, support sentences, elaboration, and a conclusion.
October 9--Today we took the first step to writing about the differences between the script of "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street" and the recorded version. We watched the show and took notes on surprising differences we noted. We worked on these in groups, so everyone ought to have plenty of examples of how the video was different from the story. Tomorrow is the Unit 4 Vocabulary Quiz.
October 8--Today we were given a handout about prepositions that we used to take notes all over. Each students should have a number of things written on their notes as I gave plenty of tips on how to use this sheet as an aide to help students with their writing. We also finished reading "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street" so if you were not here, you should make sure you have read the entire thing. The paragraph we started on Tuesday should be finished. See yesterday's entry to see what it needed to consist of.
October 7--We introduced the last of the Unit 4 Vocabulary words today. Students need to have parents sign their study guides when they study for 10 minutes a night. The quiz is Friday. We also continued reading our story, "The Monsters are due on Maple Street." As we read, we have been stopping to write detailed responses to questions in the text. We are adapting frames that I wrote to make sure we have a topic sentence, support sentences, elaboration, and conclusions. Todays frame looked like this: (Topic sentence)Apparently Charlie has made an inference about the fact that...(Support sentence)Since Steve and Les are ...he must think... ((Elaborate) --This is where you say something else about what you just said--(Conclude) This shows that...
October 6--Continue to study the Unit 4 words in preparation for Friday's quiz. Today we introduced words seven and eight. We also continued reading "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street." We will finish in the next couple of days. Today we answered questions orally, but tomorrow we will be back to writing in our topic sentence answers.
October 3--Today we looked at the next two vocab words of our unit. After that we used the computers in my classroom to take a survey that all students needed to take by the end of this week. If there was time after that, we read some more of "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street." Keep studying the vocab, but other than that, you missed nothing that you need to make up.
October 2--Today two more vocabulary words were introduced and notes taken on your Vocabulary Study Guides. Tonight, as usual, you are to study 10 minutes a night and have a parent initial your study guide. The best study aide is dynamo.dictionary.com. Go there (You don't need an account.) and search for "Bjerke 7th Grade Ustach" and all of my word lists will come up. Also today, we read some more of "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street." Here is the paragraph frame we were to fill out in answer to question #2 on page 74: Considering the stage directions that go with Steve's dialog, I get a better idea about the feelings behind his words. In those directions, the fact that it says_______________________________makes me think_____________________. (Next sentence is where you ELABORATE by explaining why that makes you think that.) Therefore, it is pretty clear to me that_______________________________.
October 1--Today we began our in-class production of "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street." We are reading the parts as a class as we go through the play. For those who did not finish the assigned writing for today's reading, here are the frames we used: As I consider the stage directions at the beginning of "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street," I can make a few observations and inferences. First of all, the description of __________________makes one think__________________. (Then elaborate on that). Second of all, because it says ____________________, it can be inferred ______________________ (Elaborate again.)
September 30--Today I was grading the essays with all the other language arts teachers. With the sub, students were taking an assessment to see where they are as far as what we expect when it comes to answering a question in writing. If students were absent, they need to see me to make up this assessment.
September 29--Today I collected the essays. You can still get it in by tomorrow BEFORE school. We also worked on Unit Four Vocabulary words today, so students need to study 10 minutes a night, as usual. We also assigned reading parts to the story we are beginning.
September 26--The most important thing is to have your essay finished and turned in on Monday. We have worked on it in class this week today, Thursday, and Wednesday. Everyone has been urged to work on it at home. I have handed out the list of critical attributes rubric so that you know what each paragraph MUST have. I have created multiple examples of each paragraph in the essay, and given you time to make your own. The site tiny.cc/explanatorytips has detailed instructions about each aspect of the essay. We have looked at student examples and talked about what is good and what is not so good. I can't think of anything more I can do, so now it is up to you. Today we also took the Unit Three Vocabulary Quiz. If you were absent, you need to make it up.
September 25--Here is the best tip I can give at this point about the essay that is due on Monday: help your student with it. That's right, help them. There is nothing wrong with reading it and letting them know where they need to fix things. If you don't feel qualified, have a friend or relative read it and give them advice. Most students turn in essays that nobody has every read. Sometimes I don't think THEY have every read them! Today in class we reviewed what the conclusion should look like and then they had lots of time to write. Tomorrow after the vocabulary quiz, they will have time to write. This needs to be done Monday. I told them it can be typed and I really appreciate typed! Double space, though, and no fancy fonts and colors. If you need help with the essay, the the rubric is in your possession, and you can access the link tiny.cc/explanatorytips from any computer with an internet connection.
September 24--Today we learned what needs to go in the conclusion of the essay. I explained all the parts of the conclusion, gave them some resources, then wrote a conclusion to my model essay. Students were then asked to write their own conclusion which I collected at the end of class so I can record that they did one. I will give them back tomorrow and we will look at and judge examples from other classes tomorrow. This will give students a chance to see what common mistakes are and how to make sure they don't make them. Students also still need to study the vocabulary for Friday's quiz, and if they have not written all of the pieces of their essay yet, they should work at home on that too. Take a look at what I had to say about that yesterday for some helpful links. Many students are basically finished and just need to put all of the pieces together into their final draft. if they are doing that, they should skip lines and not write on the back of their paper. Some are also planning on using Google Drive to turn their essay in. See my "Class Essential" page on Google Drive for more info about that.
September 23--We are at a critical point in the writing of our essay. There should be no student who doesn't have at least the introduction and the first body paragraph finished. Most should be wrapping up the second body paragraph. I am concerned that some students have not done anything at home on this, and if they do not do some work outside of class, I fear they will not finish. This essay is due next Monday, and that will not be extended because it is being graded on Tuesday. All students have a number of resources to help them in this. I have modeled every piece of the essay in front of them. We have looked at student progress along the way, and they have a sheet that lists the critical elements for each part from introduction to conclusion. Additionally, I have compiled tips on each part of the essay and they can be found online at tiny.cc/expanatorytips. Students want to know if they can type this--PLEASE, PLEASE DO! If students know their Google school account, they can type it into Google Drive and "share" it with me. Also, we still have a vocabulary quiz on Friday on Unit 3.
September 22--Students had a lot of time today to write their first body paragraph of the "Smallest Dragonboy" essay. Some even got the second one done. This is your rough draft, and I collected the first paragraph before you left so that we can share each other's examples on the big screen tomorrow. If you don't have your complete intro paragraph with hook, summary and thesis, you are WAY behind. You should be able to catch up if you start now, but this is due next Monday. Take a look at the last entry here so you can see the links and advice I have provided to help you. Also, don't forget to study the vocab as the quiz is Friday.
September 19--Today I gave notes on and modeled how to write an awesome body paragraph in our essays about the character traits of Keevan in "The Smallest Dragonboy." I am adding those examples to the link I created with tips for writing each and every part of the essay. The link is tiny.cc/explanatorytips and the models are at the end of the document, so scroll down to find them. It is highly recommend that students have most of their first body paragraph written before Monday in class.
September 18--Today we handed back what students have done so far on their introductory paragraphs for their "The Smallest Dragonboy" essay. They added the thesis statement and tomorrow all should be ready to write our body paragraphs. As usual, I will model how to do this using a different story and they will work on doing the same thing with their story. Remember the whole essay is due on the 29th of this month, a Monday. Additionally, we went over the new words for the vocabulary unit, so don't forget to study those tonight as well.
September 17--Another big day. I gave many examples of what a thesis statement should look like and we also looked at some student efforts at writing the introductory paragraph. We talked about what was good and what needed improvement. I emphasized that everybody needs to look carefully at what they write and take time to fix things that are wrong. We also looked at the next to vocabulary words. Tomorrow, we will talk again about the introductions of our classmates and peer edit. Then we will talk about how to write a body paragraph!
September 16--Big day today. Students completed their hook and summary portions of the introduction to their essay on "The Smallest Dragonboy." Those have been turned in to me. Tomorrow we will discuss what they did right and what needs improvement before moving on to the next portion of this essay. We also introduced the vocabulary words and it is expected that students are spending ten minutes a night studying the current unit.
September 15--Today was a big day! All students should have finished writing a hook for their essay on "The Smallest Dragonboy." Most got it done in class, but if they didn't, it needs to be done by tomorrow. Our essay will be due on the 29th of September and we are going now step-by-step through the process. I am modeling each and every part to show them how to do it. I have even set up a guide that explains in detail what the essay should have. That guide is at tiny.cc/explanatorytips. Additionally, there is a new vocabulary unit they should be studying. We have started Unit Three and the words are there for the ten minute per night study at dynamo.dictionary.com.
September 12--Vocabulary Quiz 2 was today. If you are absent, see me to make it up. If you got a poor score, you can try again before the next quiz. We also turned in three items today: Warm-up, Vocabulary Study Guide, and Finding Textual Evidence (for Rikki-Tikki-Tavi). We had already turned in the work we did last Friday out of the Interactive Reader on the story called "Danny's Plant." In addition to taking the quiz today, we continued to work on information we will need to start writing a character essay on "The Smallest Dragonboy." You should have written down three traits that you are going to talk about with evidence of those traits from the story. I also asked you not to simply list the evidence, but to write it like you would in the essay. An example would be instead of just giving a quote that shows Keevan acting brave, talk about the situation and explain it. Here is an example: Keevan shows a great deal of bravery throughout this story. One point where his courage is obvious occurs when he is trying to get to the hatching ground in spite of having severe injuries. He is described as thinking to himself, "What is pain to a dragonman?" as he drags his body to the hatching. Someone who is not brave would not have endured this kind of pain.
September 11--Today we started a new paper titled, "My Evidence" where we started to gather the textual evidence for the character traits we are going to write about in our essay on "The Smallest Dragonboy." Everybody has picked three traits to highlight about Keevan. Today's work consisted of settling on what traits you were going to write about, finding evidence from the text, and writing it out like you would in the essay. We were not expected to finish this today. We have vocab quiz #2 tomorrow, and then we will work on it some more.
September 10--We finished reading and discussing the story, "The Smallest Dragonboy." Students who were absent need to make sure they have read it. As far as homework, every day you are expected to study the vocabulary unit we are working on. We have the quiz for Unit 2 on Friday.
September 9--We continued reading "The Smallest Dragonboy" and likely will be finished with it tomorrow. It is very important that students are thinking about what three character traits Keevan has and the evidence from the story that proves it. We have been talking about it all along the way and you already have some ideas, but we will soon need to make sure we have a whole list of evidence to support that he shows certain character traits. Also, don't forget to study the vocab! Quiz on Friday!
September 8--We usually take care of introducing all the vocab words in one week, but due to the holiday last week, we still have Unit 2 Vocabulary to introduce today and tomorrow. All of this doesn't change that you need to be spending ten minutes studying the vocabulary and have your parents sign your study guide every day. Other homework for tonight is making sure you have evidence from the story "The Smallest Dragonboy" that supports the character traits that you are going to write about. We were working on this in class, but you need to make sure you have everything you need as far as evidence to write the essay that is coming up.
September 5--Today I was involved with a special assignment out of my classroom for half of the day, so we had to veer away from what we were doing temporarily while a substitute took some of my classes. Even in the classes I taught myself, we did the same things that I had the sub do. With the holiday this past Monday and the interruption of today, we will review the next few Vocabulary Unit 2 words next week. This won't hinder the fact that we have the quiz next Friday and doesn't change anything as far as you studying the words every night. We read the story "Danny's Plant" today in the Interactive Reader and answered the questions along the way. We focused on elements of plot, so students should be able to explain what the conflict of the story was, who the characters where, what the climax was, what the main events were, and what the resolution was.
September 4--Besides the vocab introductions and our warm-up today, we took some time before moving on in the story, "The Smallest Dragonboy" and on pages 120-121 tried to find things in the story that showed us what kind of a person Keevan was. This is a key task in preparing information for the essay we are working toward writing. In the essay we will be discussing three character traits about Keevan, so we are looking for which traits stand out to us as we read the story and writing them down so part of our work will be done.
September 3--New vocab words introduced again (second two), so see yesterday for more details on that, but studying them is always homework. We didn't get very far in the story "The Smallest Dragonboy," but we did brainstorm some of the first character traits we think he might have. We will be reading the story every day and stopping to talk about Keevan's character traits. We will also be talking about and recording the evidence from the story that lead us to see those character traits. This is all information we are going to use to write an essay about the story.
September 2--We began Unit 2 vocabulary today, so students have a new set of words to master. The best way to do this is by using dynamo.dictionary.com and searching "Ustach 7th Grade Bjerke" to find the word lists. Today students should also be finished with thier textual evidence on a character trait of Rikki Tikki Tavi. They worked on this in a group, so even if they refused to do any work, they should have at least been able to copy what the rest of their group had. Every group and individual in that group had to take a character trait that I gave them--for instance, "brave"--and find evidence in the story that proved that character trait. They should be finished with this and if not, it is homework.
August 29--Today was the first quiz of our year. If a student is absent for a quiz, they need to take responsibility to come by at lunch, after school, or before school to take it. We also collected the following items today: Warm-up #1, Vocab Study Guide #1, "First Day Sentences," and "Plot and "Rikki Tikki Tavi." After we finished with today's warm-up and quiz, students were to work on continuing to find textual evidence on the character trait that was given to them on Thursday. It is important to note, that I allow people who do not like their quiz scores to retake the quiz the following week. See me.
August 28--Today each student should have made progress on a list of evidence from the story "Rikki Tikki Tavi." They worked in groups and each group was assigned a different character trait. For instance, one group was given "brave" and another "curious." Whatever a group's character trait was, the members of the group were supposed to find at least three things from the story that proved that Rikki was brave, or curious, or whatever they had. We didn't quiet finish, but everyone should have some evidence that they could share with a parent to explain a character trait of Rikki. This is a key exercise in preparing to write an explanatory essay about a character that is backed up with evidence from the story. Don't forget that tomorrow is the first vocab quiz of the year!
August 27--Today we finished reading "Rikki Tikki Tavi." If you were absent, you should read it. It began on page 22 of the Holt Literature book. Today after we read it, we talked about how to write a topic sentence for the following question: If you had to pick one word to describe the personality of Rikki in the story "Rikki Tikki Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling, what word would you use? We will be talking about how to write that topic sentence tomorrow and we will work on answering it. Of course, every day we are to practice the vocabulary unit. Don't forget that dynamo.dictionary.com is a great tool for studying in addition to your study guide. Friday is the quiz!
August 26--After a warm-up where we worked at telling the difference between a real sentence and a fragment, we went back to our story, "Rikki Tikki Tavi." Today we read and continued to stop at the yellow boxes and practicing our topic sentences. We didn't answer the whole prompt like we did with #1 on page 23, but we worked on finding the ways we could write the topic sentence to each prompt. Keep in mind that students are still supposed to be studying their vocab words for Unit One, and that there is our first quiz on Friday where we will also turn in the work we have done so far.
August 25--Today we continued with Rikki Tikki Tavi and stopped a couple of times to write solid topic sentences where we were prompted to respond in the book. The main point of today is getting through the story and stopping only to focus on how to answer questions or respond to writing prompts using a topic sentence. For instance, on page 23 there was a question about the events that brought Rikki to the point where he was ready to explore his new home and we wrote the topic sentence: "Before Rikki explored his new home, there were a few event that brought him to that point." Students should have a topic sentence for the prompt on page 25 as well. We are only focusing on the topic sentence, not answering the entire prompt.
August 22--Continuing with Rikki Tikki Tavi, we again will stop to answer questions along the way. As described below in yesterday's entry, these answers are very detailed and are crucial practice of the type of writing we want every student to be able to demonstrate here in the 7th grade. Please take a look at your student's answer and make sure it makes sense, is legible, and they followed the format describe in yesterday's entry. We are trying to raise up students who are prepared for college and career, students who can read something and revisit the text to answer questions.
August 21--After we introduced the next two vocabulary words of Unit 1, we set to work reading and writing. We read the first section of Rikki Tikki Tavi and stopped to answer the question in the little box on page 23. We did this as a class and step by step. It was not a question--nor will it ever be a question--that we answer with one sentence. We practiced answering with a topic sentence answer: a topic sentence, followed by a support sentence, followed by elaboration, followed by another support sentence, followed by elaboration, followed by a third support sentence and another sentence of elaboration. When we add a concluding sentence, this will be an answer consisting of ten sentences.
August 20--Today we introduced words five and six of Unit 1 vocabulary. As always, you are expected to study for 10 minutes a night. We also began with the introduction of the story "Rikki Tikki Tavi." Tomorrow we will get further into the story and begin to write some responses to what we find there.
August 19--Today we introduced words three and four of the vocab words and of course, you are supposed to study the unit 10 minutes a night. We also introduced and took notes on various elements of plot. I used a favorite TV show episode to illustrate to students what elements like plot, subplot, climax, resolution, complication, event, and basic situation all mean. If you don't have notes on those terms, look them up because you need to know them as we move forward.
August 18--Today we did our first vocabulary lesson. Students are supposed to study the words 10 minutes a night every weeknight and parents initial that they have done so. Parents, ask your students to see the yellow Vocabulary Study Guide. There are some instructions on the top on how to access the dynamo.dictionary.com word list for Unit 1.
August 15--In class today I introduced students to SWABI's, a tool that we use to help us to properly punctuate our sentences and one that they certainly will not have mastered yet--we will talk about it many times before they are experts. We also talked about topic sentences and a few other parts of a well-constructed response to a question. As far as homework, some still have not coaxed their parents into doing the survey at tiny.cc/FirstDaySurvey. We need to get that done. Have a great weekend!
August 14--Today in all of my classes students took the 7th Grade Intervention assessment. This was a test to see how well they meet the SIXTH GRADE standards for reading and writing. We will use this assessment to see who needs extra help, particularly in writing. Don't forget to do the first assignment, parents! Go to tiny.cc/FirstDaySurvey and complete the survey!
August 13--Today we had a minimum day because it is Back to School Night. Because it is the first week, we don't have any homework other than parents need to fill out the First Day Survey that can be found at tiny.cc/FirstDaySurvey. Next week, we will begin more typical assignments including the vocabulary words which need to be studied every night.