This week we continue our study of The Outsiders. Students have a study guide which is due on April 1. the objective and essay test on this book will also be on April 1. Creative Projects are due April 3. The grade for this book will be divided between the study guide, the test (objective and essay), and the creative project.

Monday- introduce study guide and creative projects. Students have all of class to read.
Vocab words - matriarch, maternal, matron, matrilineal, matrimony, patronymic, patristic, patronize, patrician, paternity

Tuesday-Thursday - Read

Friday- Read and discuss chapters 5-10

Grammar - no specific assignments
Vocab - matris meaning mother; patris meaning father
Writing- short answer on study guide.
Reading- The Outsiders

This week all sections will only meet three times.

Monday- turn in "verdict" essay ( a persuasive essay about the verdict from "The Crossing". 2-3 paragraphs, must include 3 quotes from the articles).

Tuesday-Thursday: Read Chapters 2& 3 of the Outsiders. Do NOT read ahead. As a class we will be looking at character development and symbolism.

Friday - Vocab quiz and next week's vocab

Writing: persuasive essay on the verdict, due Monday
Reading: we start our study of The Outsiders by SE Hinton
Grammar: no specific lessons this week
Vocab: inter meaning between
intra meaning within

First, my apologies for not updating my blog for the last two weeks. I was out last Tuesday and this week, time just got away. Please be assured that students have been notified in class on a daily basis of deadlines for the end of the trimester. Next week, the week beginning March 3, begins the third trimester. Its hard to believe that we've come so far.

What's coming this week -

Reading - reading logs are due Monday. Nine logs for sections 2, 3 & 4. Six logs for sections 5 & 6.
We'll also be reviewing literary terms from earlier in the year and introducing new terms for upcoming novel studies.

Writing - editing and organization

Grammar - more work with verbs - strong verbs, verb tenses.

Vocab - morph meaning change

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Friday, Feb 29 - Vocabulary Final; multiple choice.

Monday, March 3 - Vocab; working with verbs; rea ... Read More »

We've been writing a lot lately and this week is no exception. We'll be reading an article from Newsweek about the new wave of books - digital books. Kids will read the article, summarize and look for key points. This will lead into a quick look a editorials.

Monday- Read "The Future of Reading". Summary and analytical questions.

Tuesday - Discuss "The Future of Reading" and how to write an editorial. Homework is to research for your editorial.

Wednesday - Journalism kids - this is our next major deadline for the yearbook. We have 32 pages today!

Thursday - Quickwrite an editorial about digital books and their viability.

Friday - Quiz over hyper/hypo words. Reading logs due (9) for periods 5 & 6. After the quiz, work on editorials, next week's vocab and reading.

WRITING - Analyze an article from Newsweek, research for an editorial, quick write on Thu ... Read More »

We've got a great week planned. Many kids are making plans and reservations for SATs, High School entrance exams and, of course, the state required CSAPs. To better understand how to write for standardized tests, we need to look at the types of questions that are asked, and how to approach a response. The good news is that these skills are the same skills used for answering essay questions on exams.

Monday - Revise the CDE writing rubric so that it makes sense to kids and is a useful teaching tool, not just a meaningless or mysterious score. Students typed up their own rubric over the weekend; today, they combine their efforts in small focus groups.

Tuesday - Writing on Demand to a narrative prompt. We will review the necessary elements for narrative responses and write one of our own. Reading log check (7 due). Verb practice - due Thursday.

Wednesday - Journalism kids will be re-working their yearbook pages and uploading/importing pictures ... Read More »

It was great to see so many parents last week. Thank you for your continued support.

This week we will be working on identifying types of writing prompts and how they are scored. Next week we will work on how to respond to the various prompts.

Monday- No School
Tuesday - hydro vocab due; hydro quiz; writing in journal about thoughts, experiences and questions related to standardized testing.

Wednesday - Community will be setting our calendar for our work with Children's Hospital; Workshop will be looking at various ways to tell stories; Journalism - we have some pages to finalize in the yearbook, then we need to assign stories for the newspaper.

Thursday - We will look at the rubric used to score the long essay on CSAP and figure out what it means in our own writing.

Friday - pyro vocab due; Pyro test; 7 reading logs due.

Writing: Figure out how standardized tes ... Read More »

It's hard to believe that conferences are so close. Students are making great progress in their writing and the reading skills. Last week, we articulated some specific strategies that will help increase comprehension. Although this is a short week for classes, we have a lot of work to do.

Monday - Read an article and practice some of the critical thinking necessary to improve comprehension. These skills can be used whenever we are reading.

Tuesday - Review writing assignments that were turned in before just before the Winter Break. Discuss specific strategies for improving both summaries and compare and contrast essays. Also, work on vocabulary.

Reading: Read the article about Sir Edmund Hillary and his work. Answer four questions for increasing comprehension.

Writing: Review individual writing assignments from this trimester. Discuss strategies for improving the effectiveness of our writing.

Gra ... Read More »

It's a busy week. For those who have been looking for PowerSchool updates, they should be coming soon. Last trimester I had a few students whose grades ended up in two different classes because of schedule changes. This caused a great deal of anxiety and confusion. To avoid the confusion, I am waiting until the PowerSchool rosters are up to date before entering grades. I expect they will be done today and I will enter grades over the next few days. Thank you for your understanding and your patience.

Writing: We are working on our "Rick Reilly Style" compare and contrast essay. Monday - students will be writing in class. Tuesday - Rough Draft 1 due. Workshop and Revise in class. Thursday - Rough Draft 2 due - Workshop and learn how to layout a magazine article. Friday - Final Compare and Contrast article due.

Reading - Last week, I attempted to talk to kids about their next independent reading assignment. Because we are pushing to get this writing assignm ... Read More »

These weeks of December can get crazy with all we have to do, but it also means that we have a great deal to write about and many things to share. This week Student Council is busy with Spirit Days and Assemblies, while the Yearbook kids are cranking toward their first deadline.

Writing: Students need to bring their writing journal every day. Monday we work with the revision that students typed over the weekend. Our focus is great verbs and adjectives. The third draft is due Tuesday, the final (which should be no less than one full page - minimum 350 words) - is due Thursday.

Reading: On Friday we will be talking about the next reading assignment and the requirements.

Grammar: The focus is on verbs this week. Students will be working on verbs in their writing.

Vocab: This week's root word is "terra" which is Latin meaning "land or earth". Words are posted on the board.


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This week we are focusing on writing. Last week we didn't get to adverbs (I realized that we still needed to do some work on verbs before we could talk about words that describe verbs). This week students need their writing journals every day. On Friday, we will take a short break to visit the book fair.

Writing: Daily writing beginning with Heart Maps. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday - memoir development. Daily revision homework is expected.

Reading: No reading assignment this week. Please return Civil War Novels if you haven't done so already.

Grammar: As we work on our writing we will be incorporating strong, powerful verbs and looking at examples of great writers who do the same.

Vocabulary: This week's root is helio which is Greek meaning sun.