In Language Arts today the students learned about making connections to a text. Then, we practiced by reading the story, “The Good Deed”, and making connections to it.

The students also finished peer editing their personal narrative. We will peer edit the ending of “All Summer in a Day” tomorrow. Both final drafts will be due on Tuesday. They are to by typed, double spaced, and in 11 or 12 point font. The title can be 14 or 16. The font should be Arial or Times New Roman. I will be giving students time in class to type tomorrow.

Have a great evening!

Homework:

1. Read for 20 minutes
2. Read Theory due TOMORROW
3. Personal Narrative and “All Summer in a Day” Resolution Final Drafts due Tuesday
4. Moby Max: Adverbs due Friday, March 15th
5. One-Pagers Five and Six due Friday, March 22nd

Since we had our in school zoo field trip, classes were significantly shorter today.

During class time, students were taken to the library to select new good fit books.

Then, we peer edited our personal narratives for voice and word choice. Students who were absent last week also had their papers edited for ideas and organization.

They also spent time reflecting on their NWEA data, setting new goals, and adding their goals to their Learning Plan page through. Feel free to have them show this to you tonight and talk about their goals!

Have a great evening!

Homework:

1. Read for 20 minutes
2. Read Theory due THIS THURSDAY
3. Personal Narrative and “All Summer in a Day” Final Drafts due Thursday
4. Moby Max: Adverbs due Friday, March 15th
5. One-Pagers Five and Six due Friday, March 22nd

Today in Language Arts the students spent time peer editing their personal narrative. We will continue to peer edit next week.

The students also spent time taking the Figurative Language Quiz.  I will have grades updated to reflect the quiz scores next week.

Have a fantastic weekend and don’t forget your money for the zoo assembly on Monday!

Homework:

1. Read for 20 minutes
2. Moby Max: Adverbs due March 15th
3. One-Pagers Five and Six due March 22nd

In Language Arts today the students continued to learn about adverbs. We practiced identifying adverbs in sentences. Adverbs practice was also assigned on Moby Max and will be due on Friday, March 15th.

The students also spent time reviewing figurative language in class today in order to prepare for their quiz tomorrow. They may use the practice stories as well as the work in their ISN to study.

Lastly, the students spent time working on their personal narrative and “All Summer in a Day” resolution. We will be peer editing both of these in class tomorrow.

Have a great evening!

Homework:

1. Read for 20 minutes
2. Study for your Figurative Language Quiz Tomorrow
3. Make sure both of your narrative drafts are ready to peer edit tomorrow!
4. Read Theory due Tomorrow
5. Moby Max: Adverbs, Pronouns, Prepositions, and Conjunctions due Friday, March 15th

In Language Arts today the students spent time learning about adverbs. We practiced coming up with adverbs for various sentences and creating stories about fictional characters using adverbs. We also watched the Schoolhouse Rock video about adverbs. I have attached it to this blog post.

The students also spent time in class reviewing the figurative language they found in “The Jacket”. They discussed the literal meaning of the examples they found and shared their examples with the other people at their table.

Lastly, the students were given a checklist for their personal narrative. Their homework is to make sure everything on the checklist is included in their personal narrative. I have attached the checklist to this blog post. For the resolution of “All Summer in a Day”, they are required to add two pieces of figurative language.

Since we are more than half way through the school year, I am raising the bar and changing my expectations of the students. Starting today, the students will be allowed to turn in three late assignments per marking period.  That means that between now and March 22nd, they may turn three assignments in late.  Turning an assignment in late should be rare and used in case of an emergency. However, many students are turning in half of their assignments late.  This is not acceptable and does not prepare them for their future. I will not take points off for turning an assignment in late but I will no longer accept an assignment if the student has already turned in three late ones during the marking period.

Have a great evening!

Homework:

1. Read for 20 minutes
2. Add figurative language to “All Summer in a Day”
3. Add any missing items from the checklist to your personal narrative
4. Read Theory due Friday
5. Figurative Language Quiz on Friday

Reminders:

1. Don’t forget tomorrow is a late start!
2. The PBIS reward for January is taking place in the cafeteria at 7:30 on Thursday!
3. We will be having a special animal presentation coming to our school on Monday. Please see Mr. Peterson’s blog for the details. All money and permission slips are due Friday. You may drop them off in his room even if you have Ms. Jones that day.

Personal Narrative Requirements

Today in Language Arts the students took the argumentative writing assessment. With the completion of this assessment, we are FINALLY done with all of our testing and we will be going back to our regular classroom routine!

When the students finished their writing, they read a story in their literature book titled “The Jacket”. While reading, they practiced identifying examples of imagery, personification, similes, metaphors, and hyperboles. If they did not finish this during class, they must complete it for homework. I have attached a link to the story below.

“The Jacket” Story Link: https://www.fortthomas.kyschools.us/userfiles/448/Classes/27589/The%20Jacket%20by%20Gary%20Soto.pdf

If the students finished that, they were asked to review the rough drafts they wrote on the resolution of “All Summer in a Day” and their personal narrative. We will be reviewing these in class tomorrow so they must both be completed by then.

We will be having a quiz on Figurative Language on Friday. Students need to make sure they understand the different types we have learned about in class, that they can identify them, and explain their literal meaning!

Lastly, the students were given the directions to One-Pagers Five and Six in class today. I have attached the directions to this blog post and created links for them at the top of the blog. They will both be due March 22nd.

Have a fantastic evening!

Homework:

1. Read for 20 minutes
2. Figurative Language in “The Jacket” due Tomorrow
3. Resolution Rough Draft of “All Summer in a Day” due Tomorrow
4. Personal Narrative Rough Draft due Tomorrow
5. Figurative Language Quiz on Friday
6. Read Theory due Friday

One Pager_book #5

One Pager_book #6

Today in Language Arts we finished NWEA testing. Some students were absent today and will be sent to the library on Monday to finish their tests but everyone who is done testing will be moving on to something else.

Students who were done testing were given time in class to finish their figurative language extra credit, work on Read Theory, and their personal narrative planning pages. Once all of this was completed, the students chose one of their narratives to write a rough draft about and the other plan was placed in their writing folder. All narrative rough drafts will be due on Monday.

Lastly, we will be having a quiz on figurative language in class next Friday.

Have a great weekend!

Homework:

1. Read for 20 minutes
2. Narrative Rough Draft due Monday
3. Figurative Language Quiz on Friday

We continued to NWEA test in Language Arts today. Most students are done with the reading test and are now taking the language test.

Since we missed our opportunity to go to the library as a class yesterday, students were given time to go during class today once their NWEA reading test was completed.

It is very possible that we will have a cold day tomorrow. We have two narrative writing assignments due Friday as well as the figurative language extra credit and Read Theory. The students have been told that even if we have a cold day, they will still be expected to turn in their homework on Friday.  They have had two weeks to complete these assignments and were told to take their work home with them tonight if they did not finish in class.

Have a great evening and be safe!

Homework:

1. Read for 20 minutes
2. Read Theory due Friday
3. “My Greatest Memory” Brainstorm and Plan due Friday
4. “Overcoming a Fear or Challenge” Brainstorm and Plan due Friday
5. Figurative Language Extra Credit due Friday

The students began NWEA testing today.  We will be working on the reading test in class today and tomorrow.  We will be taking the language on Monday and Tuesday.  Make-up testing will be Wednesday.  Then, on Thursday and Friday we will be taking our argumentative writing assessment.  I know this is a lot but unfortunately, all of the testing must be done by the end of the day next Friday. I am giving the kids brain breaks so they are not sitting and testing for 100 minutes straight.  That would be a lot!

When the students are finished testing, they are working on the planning pages for their two narrative pieces; their greatest memory and a time they overcame a fear or challenge. They are also practicing identifying figurative language in their extra credit stories. These are all due next Friday, February 1st.

Since we will be testing for the majority of the next week, I will not be posting to the blog.

Have a great evening!

Homework:

1. Read for 20 minutes
2. Read Theory due Tomorrow (5 more quizzes due Friday, February 1st)
3. My Greatest Memory Plan due Friday, February 1st
4. A Time I Overcame a Fear or Challenge Plan due Friday, February 1st
5. Figurative Language Extra Credit Stories due Friday, February 1st

Don’t forget Monday is our library day!  We will go to the library and take the NWEA afterwards.

During Language Arts today the students finished presenting their Figurative Language Projects.  These projects will be going on the new marking period.  I will have them graded by the end of the week.

The students also continued to learn about narrative writing by doing a final brainstorm focusing on the topic; Overcoming a Fear or Challenge in Your Life. This will not be due until Thursday.

If any students want to retake the Unit 2 Test, I will be offering a retake on Thursday morning at 7:15. Students must sign up in class with me in order to retake the test.  They must also have a signed slip from a parent that they bring with them to the test.  Otherwise, the retake will not be given.

Have a great evening!

Homework:

1. Read for 20 minutes
2. Overcoming a Fear or Challenge Brainstorm due Thursday
3. Read Theory due Friday
4. My Greatest Memory Outline due Friday, February 1st
5. Figurative Language Extra Credit Practice due Friday, February 1st