We did the NWEA Language test today. NWEA Make-ups will be Monday due to Spirit Day tomorrow.  Reading logs will be due Monday, January 30th due to Spirit Day as well.

Tomorrow and Monday are both 1/2 days! Dismissal is a 11:05 am!   All grades will be updated by tomorrow afternoon (3 pm). Students have until Monday to turn in any missing work or improve their Letters of Complaint to be regraded.  If they fix their letter online, they will need to send me a message on Google Classroom or email me by Sunday evening so I know to regrade them Monday evening. I will not accept late work past Monday, January 30th.

Homework

• Read 20 minutes & respond on reading log (Due Monday due to Spirit Day, students received a new reading log for next week in class today. They should begin this tomorrow night)
  

• Reading logs are posted here on the blog for you to print out any time you did not received one or you lost it. I also have extra copies in my classroom at all times!

We did the NWEA Reading test today. Tomorrow we will begin the Language test and Make-ups will be Monday due to Spirit Day Friday.  Reading logs will be due Monday, January 30th due to Spirit Day as well.

Homework

• Read 20 minutes & respond on reading log (Due Monday, you will get a new reading log tomorrow for next week though)

• Figurative Language Project – Due TOMORROW

• Article of the Week CER response – Due TOMORROW

Today we worked on our Figurative Language Projects for the first half of class. We then reread “The Jacket” by Gary Soto and analyzed the similes and metaphors found in the text. We did some work on adjectives that we will continue after NWEA testing tomorrow.

Homework

• Read 20 minutes & respond on reading log
• Figurative Language Project – Due Thursday
• Article of the Week CER response – Due Thursday

NWEA tomorrow!

Get a good night’s rest and eat your breakfast!

Tomorrow’s Spirit Day = Twin Day!!

Today we reviewed figurative language devices and were introduced to our “Figurative Language Project”. Students were given 9 different project choices to choose from. They chose one and began to plan their idea/get it started in class today. Some students need to do further research at home to bring to class with them tomorrow.  This project is due Thursday, since we have Spirit Day in the gym during class on Friday and it’s the end of the marking period.  Whatever students don’t finish in class tomorrow will be homework.

Homework

• Read 20 minutes & respond on reading log

• Figurative Language Project – Make sure  you bring your project materials to work on in class tomorrow! (i.e. song lyrics, scene from movie/T.V. show, etc.)

• NWEA testing is here! (Wednesday and Thursday)  Please ensure that your student is reading their “good fit” book at home 5 times a week!  The only way to improve in reading is to practice reading! Talking about what they are reading will help boost their comprehension tremendously. Ask them questions about what they are reading to become involved!   You can find some great questioning ideas here! https://www.shmemorial.org/cms/lib8/NJ01912932/Centricity/Domain/55/Parent%20Flyer_Book%20talk.pdf

We worked more on making inferences in class today by analyzing the character Clark Kent from Smallville. Students wrote a CER constructed responses that analyzed what type of person they thought he was based on how he interacted with others and the choices he made throughout.  We also learned about idioms and allusions!  We will be continuing figurative language tomorrow with a small group activity.

Homework

• Read 20 minutes & respond on reading log (Due tomorrow!)

• Tuck Everlasting book order money due tomorrow! ($1.00)  Please see yesterdays post  for more information.
  • In addition, I sent home Scholastic Book orders last week. If you are interested in ordering, I will be submitting this order Friday as well! You can send the money with your student to school or order online here:  https://clubs.scholastic.com/home
  • Class code:  N8M2H   (You can purchase Tuck Everlasting online through this site as well)

• NWEA testing is here! (NEXT WEEK!!)  Please ensure that your student is reading their “good fit” book at home 5 times a week!  The only way to improve in reading is to practice reading! Talking about what they are reading will help boost their comprehension tremendously. Ask them questions about what they are reading to become involved!   You can find some great questioning ideas here! https://www.shmemorial.org/cms/lib8/NJ01912932/Centricity/Domain/55/Parent%20Flyer_Book%20talk.pdf

Today we went to the library for the first part of class and had a round of Daily 5 afterwards. We teamed up with Mrs. Bailey’s class and worked on making inferences based on facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, and camera angles on key scenes from the show, “Smallville”. The students did very well with this activity. We will continue with figurative language tomorrow!

Homework

• Read 20 minutes & respond on reading log

• I sent home a small letter explaining that we are going to do a book analysis study on Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. I will have a class set in my own classroom but it would be beneficial if your student had a copy of their own that they could annotate in as we are performing learning activities with the book or deeply discussing it’s literary elements.   I will be putting in a book order for this book along with any other Scholastic books your student would like from this month’s book order on Friday January 20th.   The cost of Tuck Everlasting is $1.00. If your student is interested, please have them fill in the order slip I sent home and bring in $1.oo next week.  The books will arrive just in time to begin our study of it!
  • In addition, I sent home Scholastic Book orders last week. If you are interested in ordering, I will be submitting this order Friday as well! You can send the money with your student to school or order online here:  https://clubs.scholastic.com/home
  • Class code:  N8M2H   (You can purchase Tuck Everlasting online through this site as well)

• NWEA testing is approaching! (NEXT WEEK!!)  Please ensure that your student is reading their “good fit” book at home 5 times a week!  The only way to improve in reading is to practice reading! Talking about what they are reading will help boost their comprehension tremendously. Ask them questions about what they are reading to become involved!   You can find some great questioning ideas here! https://www.shmemorial.org/cms/lib8/NJ01912932/Centricity/Domain/55/Parent%20Flyer_Book%20talk.pdf

The figurative language devices we learned today were Personification and Onomatopoeia. The remainder of the class was dedicated to editing/revising our Letters of Complaint and handwriting or typing up our final copies.  Students that did not finish are expected to work on it over the long weekend and turn it in on Tuesday when we return.

I sent home a small letter explaining that we are going to do a book analysis study on Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. I will have a class set in my own classroom but it would be beneficial if your student had a copy of their own that they could annotate in as we are performing learning activities with the book or deeply discussing it’s literary elements.   I will be putting in a book order for this book along with any other Scholastic books your student would like from this month’s book order on Friday January 20th.   The cost of Tuck Everlasting is $1.00. If your student is interested, please have them fill in the order slip I sent home and bring in $1.oo next week.  The books will arrive just in time to begin our study of it!

Homework

• Read for 20 minutes and respond on reading log
• Letter of Complaint final copy
• No School Monday! See you all Tuesday!

NWEA testing is approaching! (end of the month)  Please ensure that your student is reading their “good fit” book at home 5 times a week!  The only way to improve in reading is to practice reading! Talking about what they are reading will help boost their comprehension tremendously. Ask them questions about what they are reading to become involved!   You can find some great questioning ideas here! https://www.shmemorial.org/cms/lib8/NJ01912932/Centricity/Domain/55/Parent%20Flyer_Book%20talk.pdf

I sent home Scholastic Book orders. If you are interested in ordering, I will be submitting the order next Friday! You can send money with your student to school or order online here:  https://clubs.scholastic.com/home

Class code:  N8M2H

We learned about two figurative language devices today: similes and metaphors. We explored how they can be found if various forms of pop culture, especially song lyrics.  The rest of the class was dedicated to Peer Editing and revising our Letters of Complaint. They will finish their final copies tomorrow, if they do not finish on time it will be homework over the long weekend.

Homework

• Read for 20 minutes and respond on reading log (4 total this week)   DUE TOMORROW

NWEA testing is approaching! (end of the month)  Please ensure that your student is reading their “good fit” book at home 5 times a week!  The only way to improve in reading is to practice reading! Talking about what they are reading will help boost their comprehension tremendously. Ask them questions about what they are reading to become involved!   You can find some great questioning ideas here! https://www.shmemorial.org/cms/lib8/NJ01912932/Centricity/Domain/55/Parent%20Flyer_Book%20talk.pdf

I sent home Scholastic Book orders. If you are interested in ordering, I will be submitting the order next Friday! You can send money with your student to school or order online here:  https://clubs.scholastic.com/home

Class code:  N8M2H

We began our “Letter of Complaint” with the topic being “All Summer in a Day” today.  If students did not finish in the time allotted in class it is homework. In order to finish this letter, they were instructed to bring their Writing ISN home because it has the template they need glued in with sentence starters.  Please use the post from Winter Break to find the story and movie for evidence. Click here for the “All Summer in a Day” links

Homework

• Read for 20 minutes and respond on reading log (4 total this week)
• Letter of Complaint rough draft DUE TOMORROW

NWEA testing is approaching! (end of the month)  Please ensure that your student is reading their “good fit” book at home 5 times a week!  The only way to improve in reading is to practice reading! Talking about what they are reading will help boost their comprehension tremendously. Ask them questions about what they are reading to become involved!   You can find some great questioning ideas here! https://www.shmemorial.org/cms/lib8/NJ01912932/Centricity/Domain/55/Parent%20Flyer_Book%20talk.pdf

I sent home Scholastic Book orders. If you are interested in ordering, I will be submitting the order next Friday! You can send money with your student to school or order online here:  https://clubs.scholastic.com/home

Class code:  N8M2H

Happy New Year! I hope we all had a safe and relaxing break.  Yesterday we revisited our Daily 5 expectations and class agreements. We then reviewed “All Summer in a Day” (both story and film).  Today we began making connections to our article of the week and was introduced to organizing a Formal Letter.  Tomorrow we will begin our “Letter of Complaint” with the topic being “All Summer in a Day”.  We will continue writing, editing/revising, and finalizing this letter throughout the week.

NWEA testing is approaching! (end of the month)  Please ensure that your student is reading their “good fit” book at home 5 times a week!  The only way to improve in reading is to practice reading! Talking about what they are reading will help boost their comprehension tremendously. Ask them questions about what they are reading to become involved!   You can find some great questioning ideas here! https://www.shmemorial.org/cms/lib8/NJ01912932/Centricity/Domain/55/Parent%20Flyer_Book%20talk.pdf

Homework

• Read for 20 minutes and respond on reading log (4 total this week)

I sent home Scholastic Book orders. If you are interested in ordering, I will be submitting the order next Friday! You can send money with your student to school or order online here:  https://clubs.scholastic.com/home

Class code:  N8M2H

I hope everyone is enjoying their time off! Located in this post are links to the story “All Summer in a Day” and the movie version of it. Please make sure if your student missed out on the last two days of school (Thurs/Fri) that they read and watch the movie to prepare them for an assignment when we return on the 9th!

Reading:   https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwisyLjRwJrRAhUl94MKHQsbCjEQFghDMAc&url=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fviewer%3Fa%3Dv%26pid%3Dsites%26srcid%3Dd2VzdHNhY3ByZXAub3JnfG1pZGRsZS1zY2hvb2wtZW5nbGlzaHxneDpjZGYxOTJiMDc5MmNhZmI&usg=AFQjCNFwlEkjhBCm85TfbW-LcrZgbVtXig&sig2=OE7PXhZtx8jFjpmTyRmItQ

Movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz05RhA9Cyw

Homework over break:

• 1 reading log with 5 responses due January 9th
• Read “All Summer in a Day” and watch the movie if you missed it!

Enjoy and have a safe break!

We learned about Mood and Tone today and compared the Frozen trailer to the Frozen Horror trailer. It really helped show how if the tone changes then context changes! We then read “All Summer in a Day” which was a story about students that live on Venus and only get summer one day every 7 years!

Tomorrow, students may bring a snack in tomorrow when we watch the “All Summer in a Day” video. Please, no pop!

If they are retaking their test in class tomorrow they will miss the movie and have to watch it over break. I will post the link tomorrow!

Homework

• Read 20 minutes and respond on reading log (due tomorrow!)

Students took the Story Elements Test today and I am happy to report that the average test score was a 89% overall, which is awesome!  All scores are posted on Student Connect and the retake will be tomorrow after school starting at 3pm. Since it is a test it will take them about 30-40 minutes to retake the exam after school is the best option. I, unfortunately, cannot do before school this week because I am monitoring before school breakfast time. If any student cannot make the retake after school tomorrow they need to come talk to me by tomorrow afternoon. Please sign your students planner to let me know you saw their original score!   They may review their answers and my comments on their written responses on iLearn located on the district’s website.

Tomorrow is a late start day! School begins at 9:00 am!

Homework

• Read 20 minutes and respond on reading log
• 10 Read Theory quizzes are due by Friday! Www.readtheory.com

Today we learned a new reading comprehension strategy: using prior knowledge to make connections with a text. The students applied this to their “good fit” books and their Article of the Week. We then played a vocabulary review game to help us study for our Story Test tomorrow. This will cover the vocabulary on the study guide that was given to each student as well as comprehension questions for “The School Play” and “Tuesday of the Other June”.  They may use their literature books for the story questions but may not use their study guide or Reading ISN so be sure to review the vocabulary with them tonight! All answers can be found in their Reading ISN.

Homework

• Read 20 minutes and respond on reading log (due tomorrow!!!)
• 10 more Read Theory quizzes by FRIDAY!  https://Www.readtheory.com
• Study for Story Test

We presented our Story Elements posters in class today. I have to admit, many of the students blew me away with how creative they can be! I will be putting these posters up in the hallway next week and they will take their One-Pagers home.

We do have a full week of school next week. Please let us know if your student will be missing any days as we have a full week of learning planned. In my class specifically we are reading a really interesting story on Thursday, comparing it to the short film version on Friday, and writing about it when we return from break. If your student is going to miss Thursday or Friday they need to see me immediately so I can give them instructions on how to catch up on what they miss.

Students have a test on Tuesday. They were sent home with a study guide on terms and concepts they will be tested on. All answers can be found in their Reading ISN. We will review on Monday.

Homework

• Read 20 minutes and respond on reading log (due tomorrow!!!)
• 10 more Read Theory quizzes by NEXT FRIDAY!  https://Www.readtheory.com
• Study for Story Elements Test