Monday, December 10, 2012

Happy snowy Monday!

Advanced Math:  Students finished up 1.4, and the assignment (which will be used as a formative assessment) is p. 15, 25-30, due at the beginning of class tomorrow.

Language Arts:  Debate essay is due Friday.  Directions are on Edmodo, and there will be no more class time devoted to this task.  I am available after and before school every day, except Thursday after school.  Also, if you need to use a computer, Homework Club in the LMC is available after school, and so is Sunrise Club in Room 208.

Social Studies:  NHD group should have a list of 5 usable resources located at the Main Library so that when we go to the library with Language Arts classes Wednesday or Thursday, these resources can be checked out or read from.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Because of our field trip today and the changing of Art/Guided Reading classes next week, I have no news to share with you.  However, there are a few updates:

1. NHD:  All of you should continue to find resources (articles, books, etc.) about your topic.  We will be going to the library next week, so maybe a good idea would be to check out what they have and put some books on reserve.
2. DEBATES: Debate essays should be started.  Mr. Sprain will discuss this more on Monday in Science.  However, the majority of it will be done "flipped classroom" style.  You should be sure to have all your notes together.  I'd be willing to have a video-viewing session for those of you who didn't take such good notes if that's something there is interest in.
3. BLANKET DRIVE:  Lincoln FBLA is having a blanket drive right now.  I believe we have ZERO blankets donated by 7th grade students.  Please consider bringing in your gently used but still nice blankets for this.  Any style of blankets will do!
4. DOOR DECORATING CONTEST:  Student Council is having their door decorating contest again this year.  CC Pod will be going boys vs girls like we did last time.  Let's be creative!
5. LIBRARY FIELD TRIPS:  Next week on Wednesday (for my first block of LA--the one that meets right after math) and Thursday (for my second block of LA--the one that meets right before social studies), we will take a walking field trip to the Main Library.  Please remember your library cards if you have one so that you can actually check out and take home books. In the past, they have given us the privilege of free printing (of NHD sources only), so have some ideas of what you would like to print ahead of time to save time while there.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Sorry for the lapse in time with updating my blog.  I was home with an ill child for the past two days.  

Guided Reading/Grammar:  Today the students were given a quick assessment of their sentence structure knowledge and then had silent reading the remainder of the period.  Tomorrow, those who have some struggling areas will have a chance to work one-on-one with me and my student teacher.  Hopefully the extra help will clear up any confusion.  Next week, this group will go back to art during Guided Reading/Grammar time.

Advanced Math:  Mr. Bergemann has been teaching out of the Growing, Growing, Growing math book. There was no additional homework for today.

Debates:  We finished our debates today. The debate essay directions will be on Edmodo and will be an assignment to completed for science.  Mr. Sprain will formally introduce this on Monday.

NHD: Everyone's topics should now be approved, except for a few people in the last group who had me.  Be sure to talk to me as soon as possible so I can give the public library a list of topics about which they can pull information to help you with your research next week.

TOMORROW: Tomorrow is our fieldtrip to Lanesboro to see the play version of the classic by Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol.  We will compare and contrast this to the movie version.  Comparing and contrasting two media versions of the same title is one of the Common Core Standards.