Today in Language Arts the students took their SRI test. I was very impressed by their results. The effort each student has put forth is definitely paying off! To celebrate this, I told the students they did not have a journal entry today and their only homework is to work on their reading logs.
Have a wonderful evening and I hope to see everyone at Family Math and Literacy Night from 6:30 to 7:30.
Hello!
Today in Language Arts the students continued to work on identifying poetic devices in song lyrics. Students worked with the people at their table to identify poetic devices in the song lyrics brought in by the students. I am currently in the process of having a few of these turned into a powerpoint show to help the students recall poetic devices.
Students also worked on building our word wall during class. I will have pictures of the word wall posted on the blog tomorrow. I will work on updating vocabtest.com at that time as well.
Homework: One hour in the vocabulary section of MobyMax due tomorrow. To access this, log on to mobymax.com. The student’s username is their name in all lowercase letters. For most students, this is their first name. For students who have the same name as someone else, their username is their last name. These students should know who they are. The password to log in is the student’s ID number.
Journal Topic: Choice day! Write about a topic of your choice.
Suggested Topic: If you could create your own ipad application, what would it be and why?
Today in Language Arts the students began our poetry unit. We began by defining poetry and discussing its importance in small groups. We also took a pre-test to determine what we know about poetry. This will not be graded. It is simply to help us see what we know and what we still need to learn. The students also looked at a powerpoint about poetry terms. We looked at some examples of these terms in song lyrics we are familiar with. The powerpoint and youtube video with the song lyrics have been attached to this blog post.
Homework: 1 hour on the vocabulary section of mobymax.com is due Thursday. Students were assigned a poetry term to research with a partner. Students were asked to find and bring a song to school that has an example of a poetic term in it. This song must be school appropriate.
Journal Topic: Tell me about the book you are currently reading. (Followed by book presentations.)
Today in Language Arts the students continued to review for their novel test on Monday. Students reading The Giver went over their study guide and discussed symbolism within the novel. Students reading Divergent played Jeopardy to help them recall information from the text. This weekend I expect all students to be reading because reading logs are due on Monday. I extended the due date for the journals. This will be due on Monday as well. I am also asking that students complete 30 minutes on mobymax.com in the vocabulary section sometime between now and Monday morning. The SRI assessment will be here before we know it and I want to make sure students are prepared.
Have a great weekend!
Journal: youtube Friday!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJNNugNe0Wo
Today in Language Arts students finished reading the book, Divergent. We also focused on a few questions to help us wrap up the text. At this point, all students are done reading their novels. We will spend the remainder of the week reviewing for our test on the novels. This test will take place on Monday during class. Students will be able to use their books on the test but they will have the class period( and only the class period) to work on it.
Have a great evening!
Journal Topic: Identify an example of foreshadowing in your novel. Support and explain your thinking using evidence from the text. There are examples of foreshadowing on the following pages. Use these to help you. Pgs. 7, 12, 16, and 26.
Hello!
In Language Arts the students were given time to go to the library. We discussed that this would be the last opportunity the students would have to visit the school library during class time. We also discussed the importance of selecting a “good fit” book and what that means. With the remainder of our class time, students reviewed the end of their novels and identified figurative language. Students reading The Giver focused on analyzing characters while students reading Divergent focused on comprehension questions. These will be due tomorrow at the end of class.
Have a great evening!
Journal Topic: Choice day! Write about a topic of your choice.
Today in Language Arts students reading The Giver finished their last section of guided questions. They also watched the trailer for the new movie The Giver coming out this August. Students reading Divergent experienced the Choosing Ceremony. We discussed the symbolism related to each element as well as how each relates to the factions.
Today is the first day of the sixth marking. All grades have been updated and are ready for report cards.
Have a great evening!
Journal Topic:
Tell me about the book you are currently reading and be prepared to present.
I cannot believe that it is already May 1st and the last day of the fifth marking is upon us! Please make sure that all late work is turned in before fourth hour tomorrow. I cannot accept any late work after that time. All grades will be updated later tonight. If something was turned in today, it has not been graded yet.
During class today students reading Divergent finished Four’s fear landscapes. We presented them to the class and explained what these landscapes would look like. We also got time to read Chapters 32 and 33 in class with our small group. Anything that was not read, was assigned for homework.
Students reading The Giver finished reading the novel. We had a small group discussion about what it means to be released and how the ending of the book can be interpreted. Students also needed to support their reasoning with textual evidence. They also began to make a list of words they do not know from chapters 10 through 23.
This is a reminder that tomorrow is Faction Friday. We will be focusing on the Erudite faction. If you wear blue to school tomorrow, you will get two points of extra credit. Also, any tests that need to be retaken can only be done tomorrow morning at 7:30. If you need to retake a test, I will see you then.
Journal:
Divergent: If you could be in any faction, which one would you choose? Why would you pick this faction?
The Giver: Now that you know what being released is, how do you feel about it? Why do you feel this way? Was it what you predicted it would be?
Have a wonderful evening!
During Language Arts today students were given their second vocabulary quiz on the Novel Unit. I was impressed with many of the scores. This was a summative test and the students’ grades reflect their test results. At this point, I have everything graded that I have been given with the exception of a few writing prompts. I have about half of my second hour and half of my fifth hour to go. I will have these done by Saturday at the latest. Other than that, students’ grades should not change much between now and the end of the marking period. If your student has missing work, please make sure it is turned in by Friday at 2:55 because I will be submitting grades.
If you are reading Divergent, you need to have read through Chapter 31 by tomorrow. If you are reading The Giver, you need to have read through Chapter 21 by tomorrow.
I hope everyone has a wonderful evening!
Today in Language Arts the students were given a comprehension quiz on the reading they did over the break. The scores for this have already been updated. The end of the marking period is this Friday. Please make sure all assignments are turned in by then or they will not be graded. I am doing my best to keep grades updated. At this point, everything I have has been graded with the exception of the Argumentative Essay we wrote. I am still in the process of grading the papers for second and fifth hour but I will have them done by the end of the week.
During class, students were given the opportunity to review for their vocabulary quiz on Wednesday, work in the guided questions that correspond to the reading we did over break, and silent read their assigned reading for this evening. Students reading Divergent are to be through chapter thirty by tomorrow. Students reading The Giver are to be through chapter eighteen by tomorrow.
Have a great evening!