7th Grade Agenda 11/30-12/4

I hope everyone enjoyed the nice long break. I know I enjoyed this much needed vacation. We will be starting a poetry unit. Each day will be learning a new form or strategy in poetry.

11/30--One paragraph on what you did over the long break
Introduction to poetry.
Homework: Bring in a copy of favorite school appropriate lyrics. The website lyrics.com is a good place to go.

12/1-- Write a poem using the poem "This Is Just to Say" by William Carlos Williams as their example.
Poetry Responses: A poetry response is what the students will be doing to start analyzing poetry. There are a few steps:

1-Read the poem aloud TWICE (for longer poems we only read it once)

2-Rate the poem on a scale of 1-5, 1 being the worst and 5 being the best. Nothing below 0 or above 5.

3. List 2 reasons why they liked/disliked the poem. Student must provide concrete examples from the poem. Because it rhymes can not be an example. Try pick out imagery words or some type of figurative language that stands out to you. If you can justify a meaning, you can use that, but you still have to prove your point by using examples.
Poetry Response on their favorite lyrics
DUE: Favorite lyrics

12/2--Poetry Response: "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes
Begin word choice projects.

12/3-- Poetry Response: "The Sidewalk Racer" by Lillian Morrison
Finish word choice projects.

12/4-- Poetry Response: "Giant Thunder" by James Reeves
Personification

6th Grade Agenda 11/30-12-4

I hope everyone enjoyed the nice long break. I know I enjoyed this much needed vacation. Over the next couple of weeks we will be working on their first 5 paragraph essay. The topic for this is "3 Wishes" The final will be due on Friday December 18th which is the last day before Christmas Vacation. The 1st book report of the new trimester is due THIS FRIDAY Dec. 4.

Monday 11/30-Cursive practice and free read for the book report due on Friday.

Tuesday 12/1- Introduce the 5 paragraph essay
Write the introduction paragraph for the 3 wishes essay
Double check to see if we have a good hook.

Wednesday 12/2- Continue to write our 5 paragraph essay.

Thursday 12/3- Spend the day in the computer lab typing for their book report. We will be making a book mark on the computer.

Friday 12/4- Spend the day in the computer lab finishing our book reports. DUE AT THE END OF CLASS

Wow! It's been a while since I've posted. Time just seems to run away from me. Sorry about the delay. I have recently updated your students grades and it is about as close to accurate as possible at the moment. Here is the plan for this week.

Monday 11/23- Work on different types of sentences (Compound, complex, and simple) and different types of clauses (independent and dependent). Quiz will be Tuesday.

Tuesday 11/24- Quiz on sentences and clauses.
Discussing finding the main idea in writing.

Wednesday 11/25- Shortened day: NO LUNCH WILL BE SERVED
Finish discussion on main idea.

Remember your students reading is due every Monday and your signature is required. With the start of the new trimester, your student now needs to read 75 pages a week from a book he/she has not read. That breaks down to 15 pages 5 nights a week.

6th Grade Agenda 11/23-11/25

Wow! It's been a while since I've posted. Time just seems to run away from me. Sorry about the delay. I have recently updated your students grades and it is about as close to accurate as possible at the moment. A few things that you, as parents, need to be aware of:

1-I am offering a redo on their Parts of Speech test. They can find the correct answers, change them on their test, and turn it in to me no later than MONDAY NOVEMBER 30 for 1/2 credit per question they correctly fix. They can find these answers in two ways: 1) check out a blue Elements of Language text book from our school library which will hold the answers to all questions or 2) they can come to me for extra help before or after school. Because of the variety of answers one can find on the internet, that will actually be harder than looking it up in a book. I taught from the book and chose many test questions from that book. Also, please do not allow your student to copy off a friend's test. They will not be learning it, it is just copying, which I do considering cheating.

2- The first book report of the 2nd trimester is coming up! We will be working on it in class Thursday and Friday Dec. 2nd and 3rd. It will be a typed one where we will be working on the computer (hence the two days of working on it). It will be due at the end of class on the 3rd. The genres for this book report are: horror, suspense, mystery, or science fiction.

Here is the plan for this week:

Monday 11/23- Cursive practice
Peer editing Thanksgiving paragraph

Tuesday 11/24- Finish Peer Editing
Rewrite Thanksgiving paragraph
Type Thanksgiving paragraph

Wednesday 11/25-Shortened Day
Finish Typing Thanksgiving Paragraph
Paragraph due at the end of class today!

7th Grade Agenda for 11/2-11/6

Another week, another unit, and the end of first trimester! So much is going on. Here is the plan for this week

Monday: Read the teleplay "Monsters are Due on Maple Street"

Tuesday: Read "Monsters..."
HW: For Thursday your student will need to bring to school their address (if it is not memorized. I find this a lot if a student has just recently moved), a standard mailing stamp (I think they are .49 now), and their favorite snack food.

Wednesday: Finish "Monsters"
Parts of a business letter and how to address an envelope
HW: For Thursday your student will need to bring to school their address (if it is not memorized. I find this a lot if a student has just recently moved), a standard mailing stamp (I think they are .49 now), and their favorite snack food.

Thursday: We will be addressing our envelopes and begin writing our letters. The reason for the snack food is so they will be able to taste as they write.

Friday: More work on the business letters.

6th Grade Agenda 11/2-11/6

Wow, the first trimester is almost done! I can't believe how fast it has gone by. Here is what you can expect from your student's LA class:

Monday: Read the story "What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything?"

Tuesday: Finish the story "What do Fish..."
Begin our Parts of Speech review for the test on Friday

Wednesday: Continue our review for the test

Thursday: Continue the review

Friday: Parts of Speech Test!

***Due to my being gone on Monday November 3rd. The date for the test has been moved from Thursday to Friday***

6th Grade Agenda 10/26-10/30

Wow, another week has flown by. We are almost done with the first trimester! I will not accept any late work past THIS FRIDAY! I have a due date to have our final grades to you on time. For this reason I will not accept anything past THIS FRIDAY! Here is the plan for this week.

Monday:
Today is cursive day. They will be working on a cursive worksheet.
We will be working more with prepositions and prepositional phrases
If there is time we will begin a fun activity designing a monster's life.
Homework: Memorize those prepositions!

Tuesday:
More prepositions today.
More monster fun!
Homework: Memorize those prepositions!


Wednesday:
5 minutes or so helping memorize those prepositions
Articles
More monsters
Homework: Memorize those prepositions!


Thursday
5 minutes on memorizing the prepositions
Article review
Interjections
Monsters
Homework: Memorize those prepositions!


Friday
5 minutes memorizing the prepositions
Review interjections
Finish Monsters
Homework: Memorize those prepositions!


The test on the Parts of Speech will be Wednesday November 4 (if we can stay on this schedule). It could be moved back if I see the students struggling on some things.

7th Grade Agenda for 10/20-10/23

I hope everyone had a nice long break. We have just finished reading "The Outsiders" and it seemed that many students truly enjoyed the book. Our next unit must move on quickly as we have a deadline. Please be expecting homework from your students these next 2 weeks. We will be writing personal narratives (personal stories). These stories will be put into books and sent off to have them bound. Our deadline to have those in the mail is Oct. 30. For this reason will be working through this unit faster then I would like.

Tuesday Oct. 20- What makes a good story? We'll be brainstorming ideas.
Homework: Come to class Wednesday with an idea for your story!

Wednesday Oct. 21st- Begin writing your story
Due: Story Idea
Homework:Finish writing your story

Thursday Oct. 22nd- Peer Editing
Due: Finished 1st draft of Story

Friday Oct. 23rd- Peer Editing, Revising
Homework: Finish Revising. Be prepared to receive your book kit on Monday! Your student will not receive it unless they can prove they have completed the previous steps.

6th Grade Agenda for Tuesday Oct. 20- Friday Oct. 23

I hope everyone had a nice long weekend. Here is what you can expect from your 6th graders this week:

Tuesday: We'll be working on conjunctions. These can best be memorized by thinking of FANBOYS: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, and So. We'll also be discussing how to properly use them in a sentence.

Wednesday: Moving on from conjunctions we will be working with prepositions and prepositional phrases. Your students should be coming home with a list of prepositions. Please help them memorize this list.
Homework: Memorize prepositions

Thursday: The book report is due tomorrow Friday Oct. 23. We will be making a "sandwich" We will spend the time is class making it. Whatever is not finished in class, will be homework as it is due first thing tomorrow.
Homework: Finish book report!

Friday: More on propositions!
Homework: Continue to help your students memorize those prepositions.

Parts of Speech Test will be on Thursday Oct. 29!!!

7th Grade Agenda for 10/12-10/15

Here is what you can expect from you 7th graders in my class this week:

Monday: Discuss final thoughts about "The Outsiders"
Review for "The Outsiders" Test
Homework: Study for test, read

Tuesday: "The Outsiders" Test
Watch the movie "The Outsiders"
Homework: Outside reading

Wednesday: Watch the movie "The Outsiders"
Homework: Outside reading: Parent Signature due tomorrow!

Thursday: Finish movie
Begin Personal Narrative Unit
Homework: Outside reading, idea for personal narrative

Friday: No school

Remember for the first trimester students need to be reading 63 pages a week. Please verify your student's reading by signing or intialing next to their pages read and the book that they read. This is 10 points a week.

6th Grade Agenda for 10/12-10/15

Here's what you can expect your 6th grade students to be doing this week:

Monday: Cursive Practice
Adjectives
No homework

Tuesday: Review Adjectives briefly
Adverbs
No homework

Wednesday: Continue Adverbs if necessary
Conjunctions
Homework: Bring a book to read for Free Read Day. Preferably one for the book report that is due NEXT FRIDAY!

Thursday: Free Read day

Friday: No school

Please be encouraging your students to read at home. They do have time in school to read, such as Silent Sustained Reading (SSR) and our reading days that come the Friday before a book report is due.

6th Grade Book Report

This is just a reminder that the next 6th grade book report is due this coming Friday (Oct. 2nd). This should be a non-fiction book. A biography would be the best choice.