Hello!

I did a journal check in Language Arts once bell work was complete.  The following are the journal topics:

Divergent: In Divergent, Tris has to face her fears through simulations.  If you had to face your fear in a simulation, what do you think yours would look like?

The Giver: In what ways do we preserve memories in our society?  Is this the same as how Jonas’s society preserves memories in his?  Why or why not?

Once bell work was complete, students were given time to copy their assigned terms from the previous day onto final draft paper.  I have attached pictures of the word wall to this blog post.  Towards they end of class, we defined theme and related this to our novels.  We chose to focus on the idea of making choices.  We made a list of all the choices we had made from the time we woke up this morning until we got to Language Arts.  We discussed how this compares to the choices Tris and Jonas are allowed to make.  We also discussed how we would feel if our choices were controlled like Jonas’s and Tris’s.

I did spend time assigning homework to students while they are on break.  The first thing they need to complete is an hour on mobymax.com in the vocabulary section.  The username is their name in all lowercase letters.  The password is the student ID number.  For most students, the username is their first name.  Others are using their last name.  They should know which one they need to use.  Once they log in, they are to complete the vocabulary placement exam.  One this is complete, the boarder around the question will change from blue to green.  Some students have already completed this step.  Once they have completed the placement exam, they are to work in the vocabulary section for sixty minutes by the end of break.  They will have to take the SRI test on May 15th and I do not want the break to hinder their vocabulary skills.

In addition to mobymax.com, the students need to complete the reading log.  They should have 100 minutes for this week and 100 for next week.  This should be easy to complete because I have also assigned reading from the novel.  Students reading Divergent are to have read through chapter 27 of their novel by the time we return from break.  They also need to hover for words they do not know.  Students reading The Giver need to be through chapter 16 by the time we return from break.  They need to hover for words they do not know as well.  To ensure that all students read, I will be giving a summative comprehension quiz on Monday when we return from break.  This does not require studying.  As long as the students have read, they will be successful on the quiz.

Lastly, we will be having a vocabulary quiz on the words we have been working with in class for the past two days on Wednesday, April 30th. I have attached pictures of the word wall to this blog post.  I have also updated vocabtest.com so students can use this to study.  The username is trayloa and the password for Divergent students is Divergent Chapters 6-15.  The password for Giver students is The Giver Chapters 4-9.  Words from the old vocabulary lists may appear on the quiz as well.  The old password for Divergent students is Divergent Chapters 1-5 and the password for Giver students is The Giver Chapters 1-3.

If anyone has any questions over break, please feel free to post to this blog, send me a note on mobymax.com or email me at trayloa@dearbornschools.org.  I should be checking these three places every other day if not daily.

Have a great and safe break! 🙂

 Divergent Words Divergent WordsDivergent Word Wall

 Giver Word Wall Giver WordsGiver Words

Hello!

Today in Language Arts we discussed words we do not know for various sections of text.  Students reading The Giver focused on chapters 4 through 9.  Students reading Divergent focused on chapters 6 through 15.  We identified words we do not know with small groups of students and used these lists to create a whole group list.  Students in class were assigned a word to find the definition, term in a sentence, synonym(s), and have an idea of a picture that would go along with their word.  The following are the lists of words each student is responsible for and they are broken up by class period as well.

First Hour:

Fraternize- Noor

Plummets- Zoe

Eradicate- Tristan

Antagonize- Hussein S.

Triumphant- Adam I.

Coddling- Adam A.

Patronizing- Joey

Writhing- Ali A.

Hysteria- Hussein N.

Prosperity- Mohammed W.

Nostalgic- Cole

Leaden- Farh

Camaraderie- Deanna

Vigorously- Moody

Pang- Reda

Second Hour

Concede- Yasmine A.

Glance- Zainab

Antagonize- Gino

Knack- Nasrene

Pang- Alex

Stifle- Yasmine B.

Demeanor- Faye

Tactic- Noor

Fraternize- Adriano

Eradicates- Ben

Patronizing- Billy

Coddling- Adam

Camaraderie- Aya

Prosperity- Hussain

Writhing- Bilal

Third Hour

Stifle- Kazem

Bulbus- Haley

Eradicate- Nadine

Coddling- Tasnim

Antagonize- Celine

Trudge- Deena

Dilapidated- Meghan

Vigorously- Mike

Patronizing- Hussein

Jarring- Melony

Scrutinizing- Amelia

Hoist- Keith

Illogical- Kareem

Cringing- Zahraa

Fifth Hour

Fraternize- Gabby

Scrutinizing- Aaliyah

Reprieve- Ahmed A.

Pang- Dunia

Arrogant- Alex

Sensible- Sydney

Eradicate- Shelby

Illogical- Ali A.

Vigorously- Lillian

Writhing- Layan

Camaraderie- Megan

Trudge- Aya

Jarring- Glenn

Coddling- Laila

In addition to looking at vocabulary words, the Divergent students worked on guided questions chapters 16 through 20.  Giver students worked on chapter 12. The questions will be due tomorrow at the beginning of class along with journal entries for the past two weeks.

Have a great evening!

Journal Topic: Choice day!  Write about a topic of your choice.

Hello!

Yesterday in Language Arts the students took the District Writing Prompt.  I am doing my best to have these graded before we go on spring break.  I am already done with first hour and their grades have been updated.  I have done part of third and fifth hour.  I hope to finish most of those tonight.  Second hour took the test today because they were in an assembly yesterday.  Please keep in mind that the end of the fifth marking is the Friday we return from break.  It is vital that the students keep up on their homework because the end of the marking period will be here before we know it.

I returned vocabulary tests to students and am offering test retakes tomorrow before (7:30) and after (3:00) school.  If students need an additional study tool, all of the words have been posted to vocabtest.com.  The username is trayloa.  The test name for Divergent students is Divergent Chapters 1-5 and the password for Giver students is The Giver Chapters 1-3.  All letters that I have capitalized need to be capitalized when you type it in.

In Language Arts today I read an excerpt from the novel to the Divergent groups about fear.  We discussed how fear plays an important role in the novel.  We also discussed how different factions respond to fear.  The students were given a scenario and they had to think about how the faction they are in would respond to the situation.  Once they came up with a response, they needed to report out to their classmates.

The Giver students continued to work on their ten word summaries.  Tomorrow we will be editing summaries from the other classes to determine what is meaningful in a summary and what is not.

I hope everyone has a great evening!

In LA the students focused on character analysis.  We continued to build upon what we know about the main characters in our novel.  We also went back and reread parts of the book that gave us insight as to what our characters are like.  We used this information to support our thinking and add page numbers to our character analysis.

The Divergent students were given guided questions for chapters 13, 14, and 15.  These will be due tomorrow

The Giver students were given guided questions for chapter 9.  These will be due tomorrow.

Journal Topic:

Divergent: In chapter 15, we learn that Tris’s mother was Dauntless-born.  What kind of figurative language is this?  How would you feel if you knew one of your parents left the life that you have chosen to live?  What would you say to them?

The Giver: In chapter 9, Jonas learns that his new job allows him to lie.  Why is this surprising to Jonas?  What if you found out you were allowed to do something you have always been told was wrong?  How would this make you feel?  Would you look at your friends and family the same way if it were possible they were allowed to do it too?

Have a great evening!

Hello!

In Language Arts today the students were taught how to use a new computer program. This program will be used as additional Math and Language Arts practice.  It is called Moby Max and can be found at mobymax.com.  Each student has their own account.  The password for this account is the student’s student ID number.  The username is the student’s first name all lower case.  Some students have their last name as their username instead.  The students know which username to use.  From time to time, Math and Language Arts teachers will be assigning homework to this website.

When students were not on the computers, they were silent reading. Divergent students are to have read through chapter eighteen.  Giver students need to have read through chapter nine.

Journal Topic:  Choice day!  Write about a topic of your choice.

Have a great evening!

Today in Language Arts the students continued to focus on box one of our close and critical chart.  They rotated stations to determine the ten most important words in various sections of their novel.  They used these words to create a summary of what was happening in each chapter.

For homework, the Divergent students are to answer the guided questions for chapters 11 and 12.  They are also to complete the character analysis worksheet.  The Giver students are to answer the guided questions for chapter 8 and complete the character analysis of Jonas.

Journal Topic:  Tell me about the book you are currently reading.  Include important parts from the Pyramid of Action, the antagonist/protagonist, setting, where you got the book from, etc.

Have a great evening!

Good Afternoon!

Today in class the students had various centers to go to.  Each center related back to the novel they are reading in class.  The first center was at The Big Idea board.  Students were asked to answer the question “How would you feel if you lived in a society that had a lot of rules and forced you to do something you did not want to do?  Explain why you would feel this way.”

The second center was at the word wall.  Each novel has their own word wall at this point.  The title of the Divergent word wall is “All The Words You know” and the background is blue.  The Giver word wall is titled “All The Words I’ve Received” and the background is pink.  I have attached pictures to this post for study purposes.  I ran out of velcro for the word wall and therefore, not all of the Divergent words are up on the actual wall yet.  The additional pictures taken with the desk as a background is for Divergent students.  I do NOT expect Giver students to know Divergent words and vice versa.  vocabtest.com has been updated to reflect these new words.  The Divergent test is called Divergent Chapters 1-5.  The Giver test is called The Giver Chapters 1-3.  The username is trayloa.

The third station asked students to identify various kinds of figurative language from their novel.

The fourth station required for students to analyze characters from their novel.

The fifth and final station consists of guided questions the students were asked to complete based upon the chapters they just read.

As long as students completed the activity at each station, they had not homework.  If something was not finished in class, they were asked to complete it for homework.  No reading was assigned.

Journal Topics:

Divergent: Does refusing to act make someone a coward?  Why or why not?

The Giver: Now that we know what being released is, how do you feel about this?  Why do you think people in Jonas’s society allow this to go on?

Have a great evening!

  The Giver Big Idea Board Divergent One Divergent TwoDivergent Three

In Language Arts we focused on what it means to describe a character.  We discussed the character’s personality, behavior, their interests, their physical features, the way they speak, ect. Divergent students were then given the task of identifying characteristics of characters we have been introduced to in the book.  They also answered guided questions for chapters six and seven.  Their homework is to read chapters nine and ten.  Before doing this, they are to hover for vocabulary words they do not know.

Students reading The Giver also participated in a characterization discussion.  They will be identifying and describing characters tomorrow.  These students answered guided questions for chapters four and five.  Their homework is to read chapters six and seven.  Before doing this, they are to hover for vocabulary words they do not know.

Journal Topics:

Which is worse, to be idle while someone dies or to be exiled empty handed?

Which age bracket would be the most challenging to be in?  Which age bracket would be your favorite?  Why do you feel this way?

Enjoy the beautiful weather!

I cannot believe that this is the last post in March!  This school year will be over before we know it! That being said, progress reports will be going home on Friday.  Please make sure that you are keeping up with all of your assignments!

Today in Language Arts we continued to look at the novels we are currently reading.  It is Monday which means that each student should have turned in their reading log.  Also, guided reading chapter questions were due today.  Both of my novel groups worked on the word wall in class today.  They identified words that they do not know with their group mates.  Each student was assigned a word.  Tonight they are to go home and find the definition, come up with a sentence that uses the word, and a synonym for the word as it relates to our novel.  Some students finished this in class but most did not.  If you forgot what your word was, I have posted pictures to this blog post.  Make sure you have this done for tomorrow.  Your classmates are counting on you!

Students reading Divergent were given time in class to work on their chapters four and five guided questions.  They must also read chapter six for homework and identify words they do not know.  I expect all of this to be done for class tomorrow.

Students reading The Giver were given time in class to work on their chapter three guided questions.  They must read chapter four for homework and identify words they do not know.  This should be completed before class begins tomorrow.

Journal Topic:  Tell me about the book you are currently reading.  What is the setting?  Who is the protagonist/antagonist?  What is the plot?  Where did you get the book?

Have a great night everyone!

  Fifth Hour  First Hour Second Hour Third Hour

Today in Language Arts the students continued working in their factions.  The students reading Divergent were divided up into the five factions of the book for reading groups.  Yesterday they completed Chapter One Guided Questions, read and article about the author, and answered questions about her.  Today they completed Chapters Two and Three Guided Questions.  We discussed the importance of Author’s Craft in the novel and identified the genre, point of view, organization, and figurative language that has been used.  We used this information to create a paragraph about the Author’s Craft.  Their homework assignment over the weekend is to read chapters four and five of the novel and identify words they do not know.

Students reading The Giver completed Chapters One and Two Guided Questions.  They also wrote a summary about what they know has happened so far in our novel.  Today in class we discussed how the author uses vocabulary words we are familiar with in a way that we have never heard them before.  We discussed how challenging it must be fore authors to select the perfect words to use when writing.  We did an activity that corresponds to this.  Once this was completed, we also discussed Author’s Craft and wrote a paragraph about the genre, point of view, organization, and figurative language in the novel.  Their homework assignment is to read chapter three and identify words they do not know.

We have been talking about bullying in class and in honor of this, our journal topic was to respond to a new song released by Hunter Hayes, a country music artist.  Watch the video we saw in class today at the link below!

Have a great weekend!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6JQ-dORu-E

Journal for Thursday:

Giver Group: If you were a member of Jonas’s family, what feeling would you share that you have experienced today?  Why did you pick this feeling?  How does it make you feel when you share them?  Do you think Jonas feels the same way you do?

Divergent Group: Abnegation is considered to be the selfless faction.  What kinds of things do you do to be selfless?  Could you spend the rest of your life only focusing on others?  Why or why not? How do you think this makes our main character feel?