by Kathryn Fetter | Oct 25, 2018 | Blogs
Monday 10/22:
- SSR
- Sassy Sentences (finish dependent clauses)
- Main Idea Activity with Ms. K!
Tuesday 10/23:
- SSR
- Word Part Mini Presentations – ask a neighbor for the notes if you were absent!
- “The Most Dangerous Game” Pre-Reading Interview Activity
Wednesday 10/24:
- Library Visit/SSR for first half of class
- Finish “The Most Dangerous Game” Pre-Reading Survey and write a brief CER about one of the statements provided. This was due at the end of the hour.
Thursday 10/25:
- SSR
- Word Part Mini Presentations – ask a neighbor for the notes if you were absent!
- “The Most Dangerous Game” Vocab Activity
- Sort words into “Know” or “Don’t Know” Categories
- Define or make educated guesses using roadblock strategies
- Look up the correct definitions to check your work
- Draw pictures to help you remember the definitions for the words that don’t already have pictures provided
- Leave the last column blank – this will be completed as we read!
Friday 10/26:
by Kathryn Fetter | Oct 15, 2018 | Blogs
Monday 10/15:
- SSR
- Sassy Sentences (completed examples 2-4 of dependent clauses, see us if you were absent)
- Stakeholder Letter (finish)
- Discuss the difference between using various sentence structures just to check them off a list vs. using them to enhance the meaning.
- Discuss proper letter format (see me if you were absent)
- Letter structure:
- Paragraph 1 = Stakeholder and Introduction sections combined
- Paragraph 2 = Successes
- Paragraph 3 = Challenges
- Paragraph 4 = Conclusion (SMART Goal)
- REMEMBER: You must have AT LEAST 2 beginning participial phrases and AT LEAST 2 appositive phrases in your letter! Highlight these in the final product and turn it in on Google Classroom before tomorrow!
Tuesday 10/16:
- SSR
- Word Part Mini Presentations – ask a neighbor for the notes if you were absent!
- AOW #3
- Chunk the text
- Solve roadblocks
- Talk to the text – reference the sentence starters in your binder!
- Highlight essential details for each chunk
Wednesday 10/17:
- SSR
- Sassy Sentences – find examples of dependent clauses in your SSR books and write them down!
- Watch 2081 and complete the Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting it with “Harrison Bergeron.”
- Due at the end of the hour!
Thursday 10/18:
- SSR
- Word Part Mini Presentations – ask a neighbor for the notes if you were absent!
- AOW #3 (concluded)
- Chunk summaries
- Interactive Constructed Paragraph Activity – students work together to complete a CER for the article by following certain sentence stems. Then they rotate and add on to what their peers in other groups have come up with.
- Students must answer one of the two prompts at the bottom of the last page of the article in CER format. This is due on Monday, October 22.
Friday 10/19:
- SSR October Assessment for the entire hour. If you were absent, you must make this up after school with me. See me for more information.
- If done early, students should answer the yearbook survey and/or work on their AOW CER.
by Kathryn Fetter | Oct 11, 2018 | Blogs
I apologize for not updating this sooner — this week has been hectic. Here is what we have done this week:
Monday 10/8:
Tuesday 10/9:
- SSR
- Word Part Mini Presentations – ask a neighbor for the notes if you were absent!
- “Harrison Bergeron”
Wednesday 10/10:
Thursday 10/11:
- SSR
- Word Part Mini Presentations – ask a neighbor for the notes if you were absent!
- Main Idea Assessment – see us if you were absent!
- Evidence For And Against Harrison Bergeron
- Students should write a brief CER on the back of this worksheet by selecting one claim (from the middle column), supporting it with one of their pieces of direct textual evidence, and explaining how that evidence supports the claim. Please see me or Ms. Reiff if you need clarification.
- Stakeholder Letter Assignment (to assess usage of various sentence structures practiced during Sassy Sentences):
Friday 10/12:
by Kathryn Fetter | Oct 1, 2018 | Blogs
Monday 10/1:
- SSR
- Sassy sentences – we went through the last three given examples, analyzed structure, and then wrote our own examples. See us if you were absent.
- Maya Angelou – “Still I Rise”
- We watched the video of Maya Angelou reading her poem “Still I Rise” and noted her tone, expressions, hand gestures, and body language to help us understand her message.
- Students were asked to do a write up regarding the main idea (due at the end of the hour):
- Claim: What is the main idea of the poem?
- Evidence: What pieces of direct textual evidence support my claim?
- Reasoning: How do these pieces of direct textual evidence support my claim?
Tuesday 10/2:
- SSR
- Word Part Mini Presentations – ask a neighbor upon return to see the notes!
- AOW #2
- Chunking – we chunked the text according to the subtitles.
- Roadblocks – We solved roadblocks using strategies from class and then shared out with the rest of the class.
- Talking to the Text – we used our annotation sentence starters to talk to the text. We called on students to identify a part of the article that they found interesting, and then asked them to verbally share what their thoughts were. This was then copied onto the copy of the article on the board for all to see.
- Homework:
- Students were asked to finish talking to the text and to highlight essential details — information absolutely crucial for understanding the author’s message.
Wednesday 10/3:
- SSR
- Sassy Sentences – see us if you were absent.
- AOW #2 (continued):
- We reviewed highlighting essential details –discussion: what’s the difference between what we need to know vs. what is nice to know?
- Students were separated into groups based on which skills they needed help with. If you were absent, see us for the appropriate strategy sheets.
- Homework: finish whatever work you need to for main idea (depending on which group you were in).
Thursday 10/4:
- SSR
- Word Part Mini Presentations – ask a neighbor for the notes if you were absent!
- Bullied Documentary
- Bullying: Facts vs Myths Activity
- T-chart: the left side is where students should record direct quotes or specific moments from the film, and the right side is where students should record their reactions. Students will have 7 total entries on both sides by the end of the movie.
Friday 10/5:
- SSR
- Bullied Documentary
- Finish the film and the t-chart
- Students should identify the main idea/message of the video in a claim, use supporting evidence from their t-charts, and explain how that evidence supports their claim. This should be done on the back of the t-chart and turned in by Monday.
by Kathryn Fetter | Sep 24, 2018 | Blogs
Monday 9/24:
- SSR
- Sassy Sentences
- Appositive Phrases Notes:
- Appositives interrupt the sentences to provide more information.
- They describe the noun or pronoun they are placed next to, often giving more vivid details.
- Appositive phrases usually come after the noun they describe, but can sometimes precede it.
- Creative Writing Prompt
- Our focus is, once again, on using precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language.
- Use one of the pictures from today’s PowerPoint to act as inspiration for a fictional story. Feel free to write whatever comes to mind, as long as it’s school appropriate, while remembering what standard we are honing in on.
- Ideas for how to start:
- Create a list of potential scenarios for each photo. Why might they be taking place? Then select the scenario that’s the most interesting to you.
- Answer the following questions to help you start figuring out a plot:
- What is the setting? (time and place)
- Who is the character? (age, gender, job)
- Why are they alone?
- What is the main problem/conflict?
- Who are the other characters (if any)?
Tuesday 9/25:
- Library Orientation – Please let me know if you were absent so I can clue you into the policies and layout of the library.
- Mini Presentations
- Work time – Students had some time to finish their rough drafts for their creative writing assignment. The rough draft is due tomorrow Wed. 9/26!
Wednesday 9/26:
- Grades Conversation: We discussed students’ current grades as well as gave a reminder as to how standards-based grading works.
- Practice with Conveying a Vivid Picture:
- Showing vs Telling Foldable
- Strong Verbs List (#13 in binder) – Use this list to help you use stronger verbs (precise words and phrases) in your writing.
- Sensory Words (#14 in binder) – Use this list to help you include more of the 5 senses (sensory language) in your writing: touch, smell, hearing, sight, and taste.
Thursday 9/27:
- Using your rough draft, choose one chunk (about 1-2 paragraphs) of your story to showcase your ability to convey a vivid picture (Standard W 9.3D). Follow these instructions in order to make sure you include everything and highlight it properly:
- At least 2 examples of precise words and phrases, ie. strong verbs or dialogue (highlighted in yellow)
- At least 2 examples of telling details, ie. actions (highlighted in green)
- At least 2 examples of different sensory language ie. smell, taste, touch, sight, hearing (highlighted in pink)
- This is due to the Google Classroom assignment titled “Creative Writing – Final Product” before midnight tonight.
Friday 9/28:
- SSR
- Maya Angelou – Still I Rise (pages 5-6)
- We watched a brief bio on Maya Angelou and finished the following sentence starters:
- I was interested in…
- I was surprised by…
- I wondered…
- We did an activity analyzing quotes (pages 1-4) by Maya Angelou and answering the following questions:
- What stuck out to you after reading the quote?
- What is her message in the quote?
- Do you agree/disagree with her message? Why?
- Main Idea through Pictures
- We did an example as a class with the first stanza. See me if you were absent and need this tutorial.
- Students were expected to draw one picture for each stanza before Monday.
