Thursday, September 21, 2017

Congratulations to the following students, whose Day of Peace posters and writing were chosen to be honored today, which is has been designated as the International Day of Peace. They are heading to Aquinas Middle School at noon today for this experience.

Leif L.

Elisabeth A.

Kate W.

Jacob V.

Kayla H.

Norah F.

Terrence D.

Novalee W.

Isabela C.

Between working on our peace projects and listening to Holocaust survivor, Eva Schloss, we have been discussing and taking notes on nonfiction text structures.  

Research has shown that when students are aware of these text structures, they have fewer struggles with comprehension.  These text structures will also serve an important role as you take notes for different research projects and write your own various nonfiction texts.  

Click here to see the TEXT STRUCTURE NOTES we took in class. If you were absent (physically or mentally) and missed some notes, I strongly encourage you to get your writer's notebook updated.

Lastly, I have assigned a TEXT STRUCTURE ASSIGNMENT. This is scheduled to be due on Tuesday, September 26. I will give you time to work in class on Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. 

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Today we spent some time reviewing the parts of a paragraph, as well as some other components to strong writing.  Here is an abbreviated version of the notes for those who missed today's conversation:

Parts of a paragraph

1. Topic Sentence
2. Body (Supporting Details)
3. Concluding Sentence

Other strong writing components:

1. Use transitions
2. Vary your sentence beginnings
3. Vary your sentence structure and lengths
4. Use strong words

We also discussed the rubric for the Day of Peace Writing and Poster assignment, which is due Friday, as well as a checklist for "what to do" when you believe you are finished with the writing portion.  The directions for the project are below.

Tomorrow (Wednesday, September 13) will start off with a brief iPad user refresher, followed by writing workshop time on your Day of Peace assignment.

Thursday, September 14 will be spent taking the STAR assessment for Reading.

Friday, September 15 will be spent finishing up our Day of Peace projects.

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Hello, hello! There are NO NEW ASSIGNMENTS for tomorrow and this weekend.  Next week we will begin our first writing assignment. You will be given specific directions for this on Monday.

A recap of today's activities:

• Page 1 of our Writer's Notebook:  "I know..."
• Page 2 of our Writer's Notebook:  "I can't imagine a world without..."
• Page 3 (or more):  our first 20-minute "quick write"

Your notebook should have been left in the room in the designated spot for your class.  If you were absent, you will need to find time to make up what you have missed.  You are welcome to come in during Resource or set up a time before or after school to do this. Also, please be sure to update your Table of Contents and make sure all of your pages are numbered properly.

Reminder of tomorrow's activities:

1. Community Cleanup--Dress for the weather, for picking up garbage, and for walking
2. Social Contract--You will work with your Period 3 teacher in his/her room on this.
3. PBIS breakout sessions--This is another good reason to wear comfortable shoes, as you will be moving from room to room, up and down the stairs, inside and outside.