Monday, November 23rd through Friday, December 4th

For this blog post, I have combined two weeks in one since we had a break during this last full week of November.

The students finished all of their annotations for “Tuesdays of the Other June” and turned in their story. They also participated in a rainbow write activity where each person in the group was responsible for writing one sentence in a constructed response. They had to identify one of the conflicts in “Tuesdays of the Other June” and give two pieces of evidence to support their thinking.

They will be taking a quiz on conflict on Wednesday, December 2nd. We played a Kahoot game to practice this in class and an additional game was posted in Schoology for students to play and practice with.

Before the break, students were given time to work on their One-Pager Number One during class. This should have focused on the good fit book they have been reading for the past five weeks. This is a book they chose to read an notified me of the book they would be doing their project on. This assignment was due Monday, November 30th by the end of the day and I am working as quickly as possible to have grades updated to reflect scores on this. This was a summative grade since it was a lengthy project so students who didn’t take their time or didn’t turn in the assignment need to make sure they get caught up. Otherwise, this will heavily impact their grade.

We have started learning about the specific types of fiction and non-fiction genres and will be spending a majority of our week on this since returning from break.

Have a great evening and I hope everyone was able to get some relaxation time in with our time off!

Homework:

  1. Study for Conflict Quiz on Wednesday, December 2nd
  2. Select your new Good Fit book and tell Mrs. Bailey by Friday, December 4th
  3. 5 Read Theory Quizzes due Friday, December 4th. You should have 20 quizzes passed by this day!

Monday through Friday November 16th-20th

This week in Language Arts the students have been focusing on conflict. We have discussed the different types of conflict and how to be specific when referring to conflicts in a story.

We also read “Tuesdays of the Other June”, talked to the text while we read, and explored the vocabulary terms within the story. The students were asked to write a discussion post this week about their vocabulary words and respond to a classmate’s post. Then, they had to identify the most important part of the story and explain why.

For their asynchronous assignment this afternoon, they were asked to annotate the conflicts in Tuesdays of the Other June by identifying them and explaining what they are. The students should have two of these but could have added more if they wanted.

Have a great weekend!

Homework:

  1. 5 Read Theory Quizzes due Today (Friday, November 20th)
  2. Finish reading your good fit book this weekend!
  3. Annotate the conflicts in “Tuesdays of the Other June”

Monday and Tuesday, November 16th and 17th

In Language Arts the students have looked at a new story called “Tuesdays of the Other June” on Common Lit. We have been analyzing the vocabulary in the story and today, we read it during class. None of my classes finished reading, each class only had a few paragraphs left. The students are expected to finish reading the story for homework.

Here is the link to the story in case you wanted to read it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4NgqwcfyWg&t=1s

For the vocabulary, the students needed to highlight the words they did not know in green and predict what they think the words meant on the side of their paper. They then needed to chose one of the words to post on our discussion in the white Current Assignments folder on Schoology. This assignment is due at the end of the day today.

For the rest of the week, we will be analyzing the conflicts in the story.

Have a great evening!

Homework:

  1. Read for 20 minutes
  2. Finish reading “Tuesdays of the Other June” and highlight the words you don’t know in green
  3. Post one of the words you didn’t know in our discussion post on Schoology. Then, respond to a classmate.
  4. 5 Read Theory Quizzes due Friday
  5. One-Pager Number One due Monday, November 30th

Monday, November 9th through Friday, November 13th

This week in Language Arts the students have been discussing the difference between facts and opinions. The students were assigned IXL Lessons K.1 and K.2 to help them gain more practice with these concepts.

We have become CSI Members to determine what happened between Queenie and Arthur, two characters we read about in class. The students have been working on a graphic organizer in small groups. They were given time at the end of class to write a constructed response about Queenie and Arthur using multiple pieces of textual evidence to support their thinking. If they didn’t finish this in class over the past two days, they are required to finish it as homework by the end of the day on Monday.

Starting Monday, we will be following a new school schedule per our district. If you have questions about this, please reach out to your Advisory teacher!

Have a great evening!

Homework:

  1. Read for 100 minutes every week
  2. Pass 5 Read Theory Quizzes by Friday, November 13th
  3. Finish your Slip or Trip Graphic Organizer and Constructed Response if you didn’t finish in class. They are due Sunday night!
  4. IXL K.1 and K2. due Monday, November 16th

Wednesday and Thursday, November 3rd and 4th

In Language Arts today the students dug deeper into plot by learning about the pyramid of action. We learned about the five parts of the pyramid of action and how we can utilize them to organize the events that take place in a story.

With the remainder of class time, the students were given time to read either their good fit book or work on their Read Theory. They were also given information about a retake for the Unit 1 Test. The test retake will be on Monday from 1:00 to 2:00. The students must have no missing assignments in order to be eligible for a retake. They also have to email me by the end of the day on Sunday to sign up in advance.

Lastly, the students were assigned IXL E. 2 on point of view. This lesson will be due on Monday.

Parent Teacher Conferences will be taking place on Monday and Wednesday from 3:20 to 7:00. Ms. Taha and I will be doing conferences together via Zoom. Ms. Taha will be sending a sign up sheet through email to families by the end of the day tomorrow.

Have a great evening!

Homework:

  1. Read for 20 minutes
  2. Read Theory due Friday: This is a new marking period! You should now use October 31st as your start date. You should have 5 quizzes passed by the end of the week when you do this.
  3. IXL E.2 due Monday, November 9th

Week of October 26th

This week durinng Language Arts the students have been applying what they have been learning about story vocabulary, author’s purpose, and point of view. We have been reading the story, “Stray” during our Zoom sessions and analyzing the story for these elements as we read.

If the students did not finish their “Stray” Notetaker in class, it was assigned as homework to be completed before their next Zoom meeting. To dig deeper into the story, the students were also assigned five “Stray” Analysis questions to complete during their asynchronous time.

At our Wednesday/Thursday Zoom sessions, the students will review and discuss their responses. They will also play a review game on Kahoot.

At our Friday/Monday Zoom sessions, the students will take a test on author’s purpose, story, vocabulary, and point of view. They will be allowed to use their “Stray” story to go back and help them on the test. Students who need help studying to should attend my afternoon Learning Labs which occur daily from 1:00 to 2:00.

Friday, October 16th-Monday, October 19th

In Language Arts the students have been learning about author’s purpose and story vocabulary. We have been looking at examples on nearpod.com and taking notes in our interactive notebook. The students have been assigned a practice lesson on IXL to continue to explore these ideas. This lesson will be due on Friday.

The end of the 1st Marking Period is NEXT Friday. This means ALL LATE WORK FOR THE MARKING PERIOD IS DUE BY THIS FRIDAY!

Have a great evening!

Homework:

  1. Read for 20 minutes
  2. Pass 5 Read Theory Quizzes by Friday
  3. IXL C.3 due Friday
  4. All Late Work for 1st Marking Period due Friday

Monday and Tuesday, October 12th and 13th

In Language Arts the students were given time to silent read for bellwork. We will be starting every class period with reading from now on. The students will have the choice between reading their good fit books or reading on Read Theory.

After reading time, the students set up their reading interactive notebooks. We will set up our writing notebooks another day.

With the remainder of class time, the students learned about why author’s write. We talked about author’s purpose and that there are three main reasons why authors write; to persuade, inform, or entertain. We will continue to learn about this in our next Zoom meeting!

Homework:

  1. Read for 20 minutes
  2. Pass 5 Read Theory Quizzes

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Dc92PIf91Bc9JjFg5e0n-VS7jK6DdammFzLPS8Hydcg/edit

Friday and Monday, October 2nd and 5th

Since everyone has finished the Reading NWEA, students were given time to work on their assignments in class. While working, I met with students individually to discuss goals they have for themselves for reading this year. We also discussed how goals can be achieved.

Afterwards, the students were asked to set a goal for themselves and reflect on their goal in their My Portfolio folder on Schoology. Then, they were asked to use their new lexile score to determine what a good fit book for them would be. Students are now expected to read their good fit book for 100 minutes each week.

Since we do not DRA test in middle school, we use a lexile score that corresponds with the NWEA to determine which books would be a good fit for our students. There are also websites that help us look up the lexile of a book. Resources for this can also be found in the My Portfolio folder on Schoology.

Have a great evening!

Homework:

  1. Pass 5 Read Theory Quizzes due EVERY FRIDAY
  2. Read for 20 minutes
  3. Finish the reflection for your NWEA scores on the My Portfolio page in Schoology if you didn’t finish in class. This is due by Friday, October 9th

Wednesday and Thursday, September 30th and October 1st

In Language Arts today the students reviewed the elephant article we read earlier in the week. The students were then given a writing prompt to answer about the article they read. This is their writing pre-test and it is the last pre-test we have to take for Language Arts!

Students were given the remainder of class to work on the pre-test. They will be given fifteen minutes of their next Zoom session to review what they wrote and submit the assignment. As long as the plan for their essay was completed, they do not have to work on this during asynchronous time.

Learning Labs have officially begun! Check your student email EVERY DAY after lunch to see if you have been scheduled to be in a lab! If you were, you MUST attend with that teacher. These are not optional and are meant to support your learning.

Have a great evening!

Homework:

  1. Pass 5 Read Theory Quizzes due Friday
  2. Finish the plan for your writing pre-test