Hello!

I cannot believe it is the end of February and that when we return to school on Monday, it will be March!  Where has this school year gone?  For the past few days, the students have been working on a vocabulary/reading project.  This has required some work outside of the classroom and most students have done well with completing this.  Please check parent connect if you are concerned about grades because the marking period will end in two weeks.  Everything I have been given is graded except for the Close and Critical Assessment.  Papers take a little bit longer to grade and my goal is to have the grades posted by Sunday night and the papers returned on Monday.

At this point, all students should have read the article, “Like Black Smoke,” in their textbooks.  If you are struggling with the online textbook, I have allowed students to check out the books in our classroom. Today the students should have turned in a paragraph about the Author’s Craft for this article.  Students should also have notes for the article too.  This is something we worked on in class yesterday.  If you were absent, it will be your responsibility to take notes and talk to the text on your own.

We have begun looking at the second article for The Black Plague, “A World Turned Upside Down.”  I expect all of my students to have talked to the text and summarized what they read by Monday.  This can be done through the use of the online textbook (found in unit 8) or by renting a book from the room (pg. 936).

I have attached pictures of the Word Wall to this blog post for students to use.  We will be having a vocabulary test next Friday.  Please be studying!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Hello!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful break.  I know I enjoyed the extra time with my friends and family.  Now it is time to get back in school and get focused!

Today in class we wrapped up our debate about athlete’s salaries.  We discussed how our views had changed throughout these last few weeks due to the articles that we have been reading.  The results of the students’ thoughts can be seen in the pictures below.

We also began a new topic today.  We are going to begin reading an informational text about The Black Death.  We read an article that helped us gain a deeper understanding of our medical needs.  We also watched an informational video about where The Black Death came from.  I have added the link to this video in my blog post.

For homework, the students have been asked to go to our online textbook and hover over the text.  They are not to read it, yet.  We are looking for words we don’t know and making a list of those words.  We will need this for an activity that we will be doing in class tomorrow.  I have attached the link to our textbook to this blog post as well.

Our journal entry focused on writing about the book that we have been reading.  A few students volunteered to get up and share their books with us.  We will continue to do this on Mondays throughout the school year.

Textbook:  my.hrw.com

Video:  https://discovery.resa.net/videos/v2.5/25241/chp915382_2Mb.mp4

Have a great evening!

Hello!

Today the students were given the opportunity to go to the library. Students were encouraged to select books to read over the break.

During class time, the students played a vocabulary game to review the vocabulary we have learned during this unit. We will be taking a short vocabulary quiz in class tomorrow. I have attached pictures of our Word Wall to today’s blog post.

The students were also given time to prepare for our debate on the compensation of professional athletes. This will take place tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a wonderful night!

Hello!

Today in Language Arts the students finally got the opportunity to think about their own viewpoints for our argument: Are Athletes Overpaid?  The students were divided into four teams based upon their thoughts on the subject.  We discussed the important components of debate (argument, claim, support, counter argument, and rebuttal.)  The students were given time to research and prepare their debates which will be taking place on Friday.  I have added the Thinking Maps the students may use to this blog post.

This is a reminder that we will be going to the library tomorrow and playing a game that goes along with the vocabulary terms we selected for this unit.

Have a great night!

Journal Topics:

• Our society feels that a person’s 13th birthday is a milestone.  Do you agree?  Why or why not?
• What does your perfect 13th birthday party consist of?  Describe it.

persuasionmap3reason

 Argument graphic organizer

Today in class the students worked in small groups to complete a Summary and the Author’s Craft for the article, “Do Athletes Make Too Much Money.”  We discussed important components of each of these paragraphs and peer edited our work with a partner.  As a class, we determined that the following are important things to include in a Summary:

• Main Idea
• Article Title/Author
• Supporting Details
• Vocabulary from the text

We determined that the following list contains important parts of Author’s Craft:

• Point of View
• Genre
• How the information is organized

Tonight, the students have been asked to summarize the article “Pro Athletes’ Salaries Aren’t Overly Exorbitant.”  They have been asked to determine the Author’s Purpose for writing this article too.

Have a great evening!

This week in Language Arts the students have been focusing on whether or not professional athletes make too much money.  The students have been given two articles, one on each viewpoint.  The students have looked for words they do not know and shared those words with a partner.  We then made a list of those words during a whole group discussion.  Once our vocabulary list was created., the students were given the task of creating our new interactive Word Wall.  This Word Wall consists of the term, definition, the word in context, a visual, and a synonym.  All of the research for the terms was done by the students.  They were also responsible for creating their own sentences and drawing their own pictures.  The words we have chosen to focus on will be included in tomorrows post.

Once all of the information for each word was assembled, the students created their personal Word Walls to be kept in their journals.  They went from one table to another checking to make sure that everything made sense before the copied down the information.

This semester I wanted to give students the opportunity to choose what they respond with on their Reading Log.  In order to do that, I had to create a new Reading Log document.  I have attached this document to the blog post.

Before entering class tomorrow, all students are responsible for making sure that they have Talked to the Text for both articles, taken notes on each one, and identifying the argument, claim, and support in each.  I also asked students to write a summary of the first article, while incorporating one of their new vocabulary words, and determine what the Author’s Craft was.

I hope everyone has a wonderful evening!

Reading Log Template

Today in Language Arts the students created a rough draft of their I Am poems.  This is a memoir in the form of poetry.  The students worked on a rough draft while in class today.  Their assignment for this evening is to go home and edit their work or have someone edit their work.  Once they have completed the editing process, they are to create a final draft of their poem.  This can be typed or hand written.  They are to use the piece of construction paper they were given in class today as a backing for their poem.  The other half of the construction paper should contain a picture that relates to their poem.  This could include a picture of them, something they like to do, or something the aspire to in the future.  I have encouraged the students to be as creative as possible with this assignment.

The end of the marking period/semester is this Thursday.  I have grades completely up to date.  I will be grading these projects tomorrow and submitting grades on Thursday after school.  Please make sure all homework assignments are completed before school on Thursday.

The journal topic for today was to write about the book the student is reading or just finished reading.

Spirit Week is currently underway.  Today was Sports Day and tomorrow will be Blue and White Day.  As of now, the seventh grade students are in last place.  We need to step up our game tomorrow in order to be the victors of the school.  I hope everyone has a wonderful evening!

Today in class the students focused on reviewing for their assessment on the Life Lessons unit.  We played jeopardy which allowed us to review each story during class.  Students were given the opportunity to take textbooks home if they wanted to study further.  Each student does have access to the online textbook if they have come home this evening and decided they would like some additional support.

The following were our journal topics for the day:

• How many books did you read over the break?  What were the names of the books?  Write a summary of one of the books that you read.
• Why is reading outside of school an important thing to do?

Hello,

In Language Arts today the students focused on completing talking to the text for the story Dirk the Protector. This can be found in our online textbooks for students that need to reference it at home.  In small groups the students began to discuss the connections that they made to the text.  Tomorrow the students will be working together to create a paragraph on a connection that they made while reading the story.  These connections will then be presented to the class.

The journal topics for today were:

1. What kind of qualities should a person you look up to (admire) have?  Why?
2. Which person do you look up to the most and why?

• Parent
• Teacher
• Sibling
• Celebrity
• Grandparent

We will be having a multiple choice unit assessment on Friday.  This will be an open book test.  We will be playing a review game of jeopardy tomorrow during class.

I hope everyone has a wonderful evening!

Hello,

Today in Language Arts the students began to read Dirk the Protector found on page 276 of our literature books.  Any student that needs the book at home can access it through our online textbook.  We will complete this reading tomorrow and discuss how we can make a connection to this text.

All students should be writing the final drafts for their compare and contrast papers focusing on how Scrooge from “A Christmas Carol” changes and stays the same in the story.  Tomorrow I expect to see a typed final draft. the rough draft, the IBC Chart, and the Thinking Map that the students have been working on for the past two weeks.

As a reminder, we will be have a multiple choice unit test on Friday.  This is going to be an open book test.  The following stories will be covered:

• Zebra
• Scholarship Jacket
• A Christmas Carol
• Dirk the Protector

We will be reviewing these stories on Thursday during class.  Any students who feel they need additional support have access to the online textbook.  They can also request to check out one of our literature books.

Today we had choice day for journal writing.  The students were allowed to write about a topic of their choice.

Have a great evening!