Busy Week Ahead!

Here is a quick look at what's going on this week in 7th grade:

Tuesday at 3:00 the middle school students will be doing a walk through and looking at each other's WWI projects.  Parents are welcome! Keep in mind that the students will all be walking around also, so the kids won't be next to their projects and able to talk about them.  Sorry about that.

Wednesday is our walking field trip to the movie theater.  We will leave at 10:15 and return around 1:30.  This is also the afternoon of our class play for drama with Mrs. Christie.  The play will start right around 2:30 and is in the cafeteria. I know the kids are really looking forward to this!

Thursday is packed....We have a guest speaker at 8:15.  John Mackedon will present information on World War I to all middle school students. Also, at 2:00 on Thursday we will do a couple of crafts in the room.  This includes decorating and stuffing stockings.  Please don't forget to send in 20 individual treats for your child to put into stockings.  

Here's to a great week!

Monday, December 8

Projects:
Students will start creating their final art product for World War 1 tomorrow.  We will move into science after the holiday break.

8th Grade Reading:
Continuing with The Outsiders. Students will take a quiz over chapters 1-4 tomorrow, and we will read chapter 5 together. We will also move into groups and discuss advantages/disadvantages of being Greasers and Socs.

7th Grade Reading:
Continuing with reading strategies and individual comprehension groups.  Students are working on building stamina with reading and writing.

Writing:
This week students will write an essay about where they fall in birth order in their family, and discuss research that outlines specific personality traits.  This will be the last expressive/reflective writing piece will will do.

Please consider donating money to the Fallon Youth Club.  Student Council will donate all money sent in to the local organization.  Every amount is helpful!

Thursday, December 4

Please consider donating a $5 gift card to our class auction. We have auctioned off almost all of them, and the kids love bidding on these!

Projects:
Students will  start working on their final product for our WWI project.  They will choose an alliance, an example of propaganda, one major event, and one example of Militarism, Nationalism, or Imperialism to display.

8th Grade Reading:
Continuing with The Outsiders, and the students are really enjoying the book.  Today, they decided if they identify more with Greasers or Socs.

7th Grade Reading:
Students are working on building reading and writing stamina through CAFE and Daily 5 activities.  Please make sure your child is reading 20 minutes per night at home every night.

Writing:
We are all enjoying our class "Twitter" page that we add to on our Chromebooks (no, it's not online and part of the social media world).  I'm enjoying watching the kids express and reflect as they "Tweet" what's on their mind.

Permission slips for our trip to the movie theater on Dec. 17 were sent home today.  Please sign and return ASAP.

Please remember our Student Council fundraiser.  We are raising money to donate to the Fallon Youth Club.  Anything counts!  

Tuesday, December 2

Please check out the link below to see a video of our Paideia Seminar.  Thank you to Cody Deegan for recording and editing!  This takes so much time and we are very grateful.  The students did a fabulous job, and I am looking forward to doing this again before the end of the school year.

http://youtu.be/tI4olejurw0

In projects, we are working on WW1 and learning about America's involvement.  Next week we will focus on our final project.  We may be in need of some art supplies.  I have a lot of stuff left from the map project and will keep you posted.

8th Grade Reading:
Students are reading The Outsiders.  They are working on pulling details about each character, as well as finding new vocabulary words to use in writing.  We will move into narrative elements of the story later this week.

7th Grade Reading:
Students are working on building reading and writing stamina through Daily 5, and are using their individual CAFE strategy to improve their reading.

Writing:
We will continue to express and reflect through our class "Twitter" page, and will move into one more reflective writing assignment to complete before the holiday break.

**Please consider donating any amount of money to the Student Council fundraising effort.  All monies will go to the Fallon Youth Club.

Tuesday, November 25

Please consider donating money toward the Student Council money drive.  All monies raised will go to the Fallon Youth Club.  

Projects:
Today, students will analyze and interpret World War 1 propaganda from several countries.

8th Grade Reading:
Continue reading The Outsiders  and building stamina with reading and writing through CAFE and Daily 5.

7th Grade Reading:
Today is our Paideia Seminar.  Students have been preparing over the last several days for this round table intellectual dialog.  I'm looking forward to facilitating and hearing the kids' responses.

Writing:
Students are finishing their revisions of their "favorite mistake" paper and moving into final drafts. Final products will be collected Monday, December 1 at the end of the class period.

Have a wonderful, safe, happy Thanksgiving!  I am so grateful for the opportunity to teach your child.

Monday, November 17

Projects:
WW1 begins!  Students will learn causes of the war, the timeline, analyze propaganda, learn various political systems that arose during the war, etc.  This is going to be a great project!

8th Grade Reading
Flocabulary--students watched and discussed the video.  Flocab. homework is due Thursday at the beginning of the class period.
We will begin reading The Outsiders this week.  This book is always meaningful, and students get so much out of it.  I'm really looking forward to it.

7th Grade Reading:
Short quiz on the end of The Outsiders; we will start preparing for our Socratic/Paideia Seminar that we will have next Tuesday.
Students also watched and discussed Flocabulary. Flocab. homework is due Thursday at the beginning of the class period.

Writing:
Students continue to work on their "mistake" expressive/reflective pieces.  I am reminding them daily to work on WORD CHOICE!!!

Friday, November 14

The week flew by!  I can't believe we are in the middle of November.

Projects:
Students presented their Gilded Age/Progressive Era slides to their peers.  They did a nice job and I'm proud of them.  On Monday, we will start our unit on World War 1.

8th Grade Reading:
I met with several groups of students and discussed their reading strategies.  Students also working on personal writing and poetry annotations, which they turned in.  They are really getting good at annotating poetry!

7th Grade Reading:
We finished reading The Outsiders.  I think some students have a new favorite book. We had great discussions.  Next week there will be a final quiz, and then students will prepare for their Paideia Seminar on the book. The seminar will take place the day before Thanksgiving break (Tuesday).

Writing:
Students are writing an expression/reflection piece about their "favorite mistake."  They just got going yesterday, and we should finish next week.

Monday, November 10

Projects:
Students need to practice their part of the presentation tomorrow in order to be prepared on Wednesday.
This was the last day for students to work on their Gilded Age/Progressive Era slide presentation.  They will present to the class on Wednesday during projects.  On Thursday we will begin talking about World War 1.

8th Grade Reading:
Students worked on reading stamina, and we reviewed this week's "Week in Rap" video on Flocabulary.  There is no Flocabulary homework this week.

7th Grade Reading:
We had a fabulous guest speaker today.  Gailmarie Pahmeier, an author and instructor at UNR, read poetry to us and we had the chance to ask questions and comment on her poetry.  It was wonderful, and all the kids did such a nice job for her.

Writing:
We are working on our A-Z encyclopedia entries.  Students are really getting into expressive and reflective writing.  I am enjoying hearing their thoughts.  We will continue this type of writing for a couple of more weeks.

Monday, November 3

Flocabulary homework for 7th and 8th grade reading is due Thursday at the beginning of the class perdiod.

Projects:

Students are putting their presentations on child labor in the Progressive Era together.  Presentations must be finished by the end of the project block on Thursday.

8th grade reading:

As a class, we watched the Flocabulary video for this week.  We talked about the current events, made connections, asked questions, and made comments. Homework is due Thursday

7th Grade Reading:

Flocabulary, same as 8th grade today. Homework is due Thursday.

Writing:

We are using our 6 word memoirs to create "Tweets."  Students will work on 140 character or less tweets to put into our Google document of tweets.  They are really starting to understand the difference between expressive and reflective writing!

**Don't forget Domino's Pizza tonight!  

Tuesday, October 28

Flocabulary homework is due Thursday at the beginning for our reading block for both 7th and 8th grade reading.

Please remember to bring a pumpkin for pumpkin decorating on Thursday!  Students are also welcome to bring food to share.

Projects:
Students continue to collaborate and research child labor during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.

8th Grade Reading:
Working on building reading and writing stamina through Daily Five.  Student-teacher conferencing;

7th Grade Reading:
Students broke up into Socs and Greasers for an exercise with our novel, The Outsiders.  We had a great discussion about why some want to be Socs and why some prefer being Greasers.  This is a wonderful book that addresses a lot of issues that teens face every day.

Writing:
Working on 6 word memoirs for our expressive/reflective writing unit.  I'm really enjoying listening to the kids read them off.

Monday, October 27

Flocabulary homework for both 7th and 8th grade reading blocks is due this Thursday, October 30, at the beginning of the block.

Projects:
Continuing to research child labor in America during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.

8th Grade Reading:
Introduced this week's Week in Rap with Flocabulary.  Packet due Thursday.

7th Grade Reading:
Outsiders quiz chapters 1-4
Wee in Rap with Flocab.  Packet due Thursday

Writing:
S.O.W. skill review and  sentence imitation
Students are working on determining the difference between expressive writing and reflective writing.  We will work on writing both types.

***7th Grade Halloween celebration is this Thursday at 1:30 (ish).  Don't forget to bring in a pumpkin to decorate!

Wednesday, October 22

Flocabulary homework is due tomorrow (Thursday) at the beginning of the class period.

Projects:
The new unit on the Gilded Age/Progressive Age is underway!  Students broke into their separate roles.  I am teaching child labor and am looking forward to a great couple of weeks with the students.

8th Grade Reading:
Students are reading the poem "The Wreck of the Hesperus" by Longfellow.  It's a narrative poem and we will take a couple of weeks with this one.  It's just too long to try to finish with in our normal one day a week poetry allotment.  Students read it today and are working in groups to dramatize this sad, sad story.

7th Grade Reading:
Same as 8th (poetry every Wednesday)

Writing:
Students met with me regarding their Chautauqua performance and we discussed their rubric.  All students are writing a reflection regarding their performance and are focusing on strengths, weaknesses, like, dislikes, etc.

Book Fair Family Night is tomorrow (Thursday, Oct. 23) from 6:00-8:00.  I hope to see everyone there!

Please don't forget our Family Night for the book fair this Thursday from 6-8 pm.  Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Projects:
Today we watch "The KKK vs the Mafia" documentary.  It was an informative, interesting start to our project on the Progressive Era.

8th Grade Reading:
We visited the book fair today and student work on their reading strategies.

7th Grade Reading:
We visited the book fair and read chapter 5 of The Outsiders.  The students are loving this book.

Writing:
Wrapped up Chautauquas and are reflecting on how those went individually.

Don't forget to send money with students who wish to visit the book fair during school hours.

Monday, October 20

Projects:
Students finished Glogs and turned them in.  Tomorrow we will begin a new project covering the Progressive Era/Gilded Age

8th Grade Reading:
Flocabulary/Week in Rap  Students listened to and watched this week's rap.  Flocabulary packet is due on Thursday at the beginning of class.  It's the assigned homework for the week.

7th Grade Reading:
Flocabulary/Week in Rap  Students listened to and watched this week's rap.  Flocabulary packet is due on Thursday at the beginning of class.  It's the assigned homework for the week.

Writing:
Students presented their Chautauquas, and we will continue this tomorrow.  Great job all!

Wednesday, October 15

Flocabulary homework due tomorrow (Thursday) for both 8th and 7th reading students!

Projects:
We are still work on glogs to who an in depth understanding of Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and Black Codes.

8th Grade Reading:
Poetry Wednesday!!!  Kids read and annotated the poem "The Poison Tree," by William Blake.  I am LOVING how these 8th graders are responding to poetry and going deep with it.

7th Grade Reading:
Same as 8th grade today.  Seventh graders love poetry, also, and are working to think critically about it and find meaning in figurative language.

Writing:
Working on Chautauqua presentations.  The students worked hard today to memorize these.  Tomorrow we will practice and dress up.  I will time them and work on building a presentation schedule.

Monday, October 13

Projects:
Students began working on their online posters on the Jim Crow Laws, Black Codes, and Reconstruction using Glogster.  These are due on Thursday.

8th Grade Reading:
Flocabulary:  Students watched the video and we discussed all events, using prior knowledge to connect to this week's news.
Flocabulary Homework due Thursday.  Students should give detailed responses in complete sentences.

7th Grade Reading:
Flocabulary:  Students watched the video and we discussed all events, using prior knowledge to connect to this week's news.
Flocabulary Homework due Thursday.  Students should give detailed responses in complete sentence

Writing:
Students worked on Chautauqua presentations.  These are due Thursday, and presentations are next Monday and Tuesday.

Wednesday, October 8

Projects:
Students are working on building understanding of Reconcstruction, the Black Codes, and Jim Crow Laws.  We will start online posters using Glogster on Monday.

8th Grade Reading:
In poetry, students completely wowed me (that might not be a word) with their role playing with the poem "Speak Up."  We will continue building reading skills through CAFE tomorrow and next week.

7th Grade Reading:
My 7th graders impressed me, also, with their role playing.  I'm hoping that poetry is growing on everyone, and that by the end of the year we will all be a little better at analyzing it.  Tomorrow is chapter 2 of The Outsiders.  They're loving this book already.

Writing:
Continuing work on Chautauqua timelines and presentations.  Students are doing a great job, but it's crunch time. :)  I'm seeing some great costumes coming together.....You have to love Thrifty Finds!

Tomorrow is Pizza Thursday.  Can't believe how the weeks fly by!

Wednesday, Oct. 1

Projects:
We studied how to make amendments to the constitution.  Tomorrow we will put information about the 13, 14, and 15 amendments into a newspaper document.  On Monday we will begin working on making an online poster dealing with the Jim Crow Laws, Black Codes, and Reconstruction.

7th and 8th Grade Reading:
Today we  worked on figurative language posters to reinforce our knowledge of what poets and other authors use.  Week in Rap homework is due for both blocks tomorrow.

Writing:
Continued researching and writing about our characters for chautauqua.

It's Pizza Thursday tomorrow! :)

Tuesday

Projects:  We are discussing the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, as well as the process of making changes to the constitution.  Students will summarize all of this information and put it into a newspaper on Thursday.

8th Grade Reading:  Students are learning more about poetic devices and figurative language.  Tomorrow, they will create posters that depict several types of figurative language.  We are also continuing our reading of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

7th Grade Reading:  We are finishing up Two Miserable Presidents this week, as well as all of the comprehension questions.  We will start our next book, The Outsiders, on Thursday or Monday.  I can't wait for this!  I love this novel, and look forward to sharing it with these kids.

Writing:  Students are researching their chautauqua character and putting information into their notes.

Monday!

Projects:  Civil War battle maps were due today.  The kids worked so hard on them, and they look great!

8th Grade Reading:  Listened to and watched the weekly current events Flocabulary Rap.  Students are working on homework related to it all week.  We will focus on Uncle Tom's Cabin and poetry for the rest of the week.

7th Grade Reading:  Flocabulary Rap.....homework all week is related to the rap.  Students are loving this, and are enjoying making connections to these current events.  They need to make sure they complete all related assignments this week!

Writing:  Students were introduced to the chautauqua assignment related to the Civil War.  Students chose a character to research and portray for our Chautauqua presentations.

Projects:
We are hoping to finish our art project for Civil War battles tomorrow. The students are working so hard, and they are looking great!

8th Grade Reading:
We are reading two poems and annotating them (homework tonight).  Students are becoming more familiar with poetry and how to pull certain attributes out.  We also finished reading chapter 4 of Uncle Tom's Cabin.  I'm so impressed with how they respond to this very difficult text.

Writing:
Narratives were turned in and we are moving into working on Chautauquas for Civil War.  These will be researched and written in class.  Students should be thinking about who they want to "be."

7th Grade Reading:
Students finished comprehension question for Two Miserable Presidents.  They also worked on annotating two poems, and will finish them for homework tonight.  I love teaching poetry, and the kids are responding well to it.

**Parents, thank you so much for sending in all of the supplies for projects.  I know this can be stressful and I want you to know how much I appreciate it.

Projects:
Our maps are coming along.  Students have worked hard to research 10 key Civil War battles and locate them.  The products will be finished in the next day or 2.

8th Grade Reading:
We are reading chapter 4 of  Uncle Tom's Cabin.  Although the text is hard, students seem to enjoy the challenge, and our discussions are starting to take shape.  It's important that each student has a "good fit" book, so parents please help them at home when it comes to choosing what to read.  Homework tonight is to read for 20 minutes.  Tomorrow night they will have an assignment associated with poetry.

Writing:
Students continue to revise their narratives, and I am working hard to make sure I conference with each student at least twice before they hand the final in. Tomorrow the kids will do final edits and turn in a finished product for a grade.

7th Grade Reading:
We are continuing to read Two Miserable Presidents both together and individually.  Comprehension questions for sections up to "Can Anyone Win This War?" are due tomorrow at the end of class.

Monday

Projects:
Students are continuing to work on their 3D maps of Civil War battles.  Maps are due at the end of class Wednesday. We will start our politician portion of the project on Thursday, and that product will be due next Thursday, October 2.  Please make sure students are paying attention to the timeline on their project calendar in their drives.  We moved everything back a day, so things are due one day later than is stated on the calendar.

8th grade reading:
Working on comprehension questions with Uncle Tom's Cabin.  Tomorrow, we will read chapter 4 of the book and discuss questions together.  Also, students worked on current event issues through Flocabulary.

Writing:
Narratives are due Wednesday at the end of the writing period.  Students are working hard to edit and revise their stories and turn in final copies.

7th Grade Reading:
Students continue to read and answer questions with Two Miserable Presidents.  Also, they worked on current event issues through Flocabulary.

Wacky Wednesday

Projects:

Students started researching Civil War battles, and choosing 10 for their art project.  We will start Civil War maps tomorrow in class.  Please make sure supplies make it to school!

8th Grade Reading:
Students listened to chapter 2 of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and followed along with the text.  They are working on building their vocabulary through words from the book as well.  We ended the class with a poem activity.
8th Grade Reading Homework:  Finish putting line breaks into poem and writing it in correct format.

Writing:
Students worked on their narratives, and we discussed transitions to use in writing.  They also continue to work on using coordinating conjunctions.

7th Grade Reading:
Continuing with Two Miserable Presidents, as well as with focus questions for each section.  Students also worked on putting a poem into the correct format.  They worked in groups to try to determine line breaks.  We will finish this activity tomorrow.

Pizza Thursday is tomorrow!

Tuesday the 16th!

Tomorrow is picture day for our class!

Projects:
Finished "Gone With the Wind" and went over our new project timeline.  Materials for the art project we start Thursday should be sent in by then.  Thank you, as always, for all of your support here!

8th Grade Reading:
Finished "Gone With the Wind" and moved into some prereading activities for Uncle Tom's Cabin. 

Writing:
Worked on our sentence of the week skill (coordinating conjunctions) and went over the grading rubric for our narratives.

7th Grade Reading:
Finished "Gone With the Wind," then moved into reading Two Miserable Presidents.  Students are working on discussion questions associated with each section.  We focused on pulling details and evidence from the book to support each answer.  I reminded them that full credit will not be given without text support and evidence.

We wrapped up the day with a TRIBES activity called "Two Truths and a Lie."  We loved learning facts, as well as one lie, about our classmates.

I continue to be amazed at the work ethic these students have.  I love teaching students who genuinely want to learn and go deeper every time.  These kids all want that.  Thank you for sharing them with me.

Monday!!

Projects:
Students watched "Gone With the Wind" to make connections and gather background knowledge on the Civil War.

8th Grade Reading
Students continued to watch "Gone With thd Wind" and we began our discussion of Uncle Tom's Cabin

Writing:
Students worked on this week's sentence of the week skill (using FANBOYS to make sentences with coordinating conjunctions) and wrote in their journals.

7th Grade Reading:
"Gone With the Wind" continued
Also, 7th grade read several pages in Two Miserable Presidents, which will be our text for the Civil War.

Picture day is this Wednesday, so please don't forget your form/money

**Send project supplies in as soon as possible (see email sent over the weekend)

Wednesday!

Projects:  Students conferenced with me one on one about their presentations, and they continued working on their chapters.  Chapters are due tomorrow at the end of the class period (9:50).

7th and 8th Grade Reading:  We are wrapping up passages related to the Antebellum era.  We had to switch poetry Wednesday to Poetry Thursday, but will get to it tomorrow.

Writing:  Today, I conferenced with each student as they write their narratives.  Students are also doing a great job with their writing prompts.

Tomorrow is pizza Thursday!
Please don't forget to send in box tops for your child's team!

Tuesday

Presentations were today in projects.  Students will conference with me tomorrow about strengths and areas for improvement.

7th & 8th Grade Reading:  Read a passage about the institution of slaver from the beginning.  Students finish reading and annotating for homework.

Writing:  Students continue writing their narratives, as well as giving examples of simple sentences for our Sentence of the Week lesson.

Reminder:  Please send in box tops ASAP!

Monday Madness

Projects:  Students worked on presentations, which are tomorrow (Tuesday, 9/9).  After presentations, students will work with their partners to create their textbook chapters.  These are due Thursday, September 11.

7th and 8th Grade Reading:  Students summarized and illustrated passages on the northern and southern economy during the Civil War.  Cause and Effect organizers (revised and edited by students) were collected today.

Writing:  We are continuing to work on narrative writing.  Students are conferencing with me and beginning to put their thoughts into a story.  I'm impressed with their efforts to improve their word choice as they work.

**Student Council officer candidates are campaigning hard this week.  It's been terrific seeing all the creative posters come to school.

Paragraph presentations are now going to be on Tuesday, as opposed to Monday.  We will take one more class period to work on them and get them right.  I am almost done conferencing, and paragraphs are looking good.  Presentations should be in first person, and students should practice, practice, practice over the weekend.

In reading, 7th and 8th graders are reading passages that have to do with Antebellum issues. Together, we are working on identifying cause and effect, as well as being able to summarize passages.  Students are also working on poetry at least one day a week.

In writing, students continue to work on their narratives.

Parents, please remember to send in your box tops if you have them.  They will be collected on September 29th.

Wednesday update

Today in projects students printed their North/South paragraphs and worked on revising them. It is critical that they start practicing their presentations, which we have moved to Monday.  Students should present their event in first person and give a detailed explanation and opinion of it.

In writing, we are continuing to brainstorm and prewrite our narratives.  Students listened to a story from a first person point of view today, and took some time to decide which point of view they would like to write from in their own narratives.  Tomorrow we will conference and students will firm up their story line before beginning their draft.

7th & 8th grade Reading classes both focused on poetry.  We continued to look at "Abandoned Farmhouse."  Students wrote details from the poem that helped describe each character.  We also talked about the mood of the poem and compared it to the mood of another.  Students will explore poetry every Wednesday, so parents please ask them about what poems they are reading and what they can tell you about elements of poetry.

Homework is to read for 20 minutes tonight.  Please make sure this is happening at home when this is homework.

Tomorrow is the last day for student council forms.  If students want to run, they must make sure they have their form completed, signed by a parent, and turned into either me or Mr. Lewis.  Campaigning starts Monday, September 8.

Remember that tomorrow is Pizza Thursday!  Don't forget your coupons!

Update for Tuesday

Projects:  North/South paragraphs were due today at 9:50.  I will grade them, provide feedback, and students will use them to make their textbook chapters.  At home, students should be working on their first person presentation that he/she will give to the class on Thursday.  This presentation is basically their paragraph, but changed to first person point of view.  We will discuss this tomorrow in class as well.

7th and 8th grade reading:  Students read a passage about social reform in the Antebellum era.  They are working on pulling causes and effects out of what they read.  Students also worked on expanding their vocabulary by pulling out unknown words and using context clues and the dictionary to apply meaning.

Writing:  Students are starting to work on a narrative that they will write and turn in.  We read a book today written in third person, and will read another tomorrow that is written in first person so students have an idea of how each point of view should look.  Students are only in the pre-writing stage of the writing process, and will take the next week or so to write a good, solid narrative.  I will conference with individual students throughout this process, and each student will come away with a good perspective on narrative writing.

Homework:  All students should finish their cause/effect organizer with their social reform reading passage.  If they finished in class, that's fine.  However, students know that I'm looking for specifics and a lot of detail in this.

Another awesome day!!!

Thursday!

We had a great day today.

 In projects, students are working steadily on their event paragraphs.  These are due at the end of our project block on Tuesday (9:50 am).

In both 7th grade and 8th grade reading blocks, students are looking at poetry and learning to annotate them and look for literary elements in them.  I will do at least one poem a week with them throughout the year to get them used to reading poetry.  It can be hard!

In writing, students used all 6 writing traits to create another piece of writing.  They swapped papers with a partner and provided feedback to their peers.  It went well, and I really do believe I am going to have a talented bunch of writers this year.  I'm hoping to get them all to enjoy it along the way!

Have a wonderful 4 day weekend!

Wednesday!

In projects, students started their paragraphs on their Antebellum event, focusing on either the northern or southern perspective.  They are using their research to put the paragraphs together and will present them next week.

7th & 8th grade reading:  We started looking at characteristics of poetry, and tomorrow the students will get a poem to analyze using the tools we discussed today.  Students continue to work on reading passages connected to their projects, as well as building stamina during our read to self block.

7th grade writing:  Students finished their creations, writing from the perspective of a ball of pizza dough.  We looked at the last 2 writing traits are (sentence fluency and conventions) and students took some time to edit their writing using these traits.  About 6 kids offered to share their writing.  Every single one was fabulous, and I can't wait to work more and more each day to build on their skills.

Tomorrow is pizza Thursday.  Don't forget!

Tuesday News

Students will start working hard on their paragraphs tomorrow in projects.  They have all done a great job with researching and taking notes.  I had individual conferences with them today and all seem to have a nice grasp of their Antebellum event, as well as their perspective (North or South).  Parents, please ask your student to talk with you about their event.  It will be good practice for when they have to present to the class.

In writing, students worked on ideas, organization, word choice, and voice from the perspective of a pizza.  I am LOVING the creativity and enthusiasm I'm seeing in their writing.  Tomorrow I am hoping some brave souls will share their masterpieces.

7th and 8th grade reading students are all working on Antebellum reading passages, and trying pull out the causes and effects of each passage.  They continue to read for pleasure and build reading stamina.

**Parents, please consider donating small prizes to our collection of auction items.  Students are keeping checkbooks and earning "money" when I see great work.  Giftcards are always hot items ($5 to Dairy Queen, McDonald's, Sonic, etc.).  We appreciate anything.
Thank you and have a great evening!

Monday update

Today in projects, students continued researching their Antebellum event and writing their source and evidence cards.  We will continue this tomorrow and Wednesday, then move into writing our paragraphs from the North/South perspective on Thursday.

In writing, we focused on the ideas and organization of our pieces.  Students worked together to create a paragraph that was strong in both ideas and organization.  We will work on writing and the writing traits continuously throughout the year.

In both 7th and 8th grade reading, we are working hard to finish the first 50 pages in Two Miserable Presidents to build background knowledge of the events leading up to the Civil War.  Students are learning different CAFE strategies to help them with comprehension (we will move into accuracy, fluency, and expanding vocabulary soon).  Students are also working on their stamina during silent reading.

Tonight's homework in reading (both 7th and 8th) is to read to "Brother Against Brother" in Two Miserable Presidents."  They should be able to access this from home by searching Kindle Cloud Reader online.  Username is:
ebook-studentnumber@oasisacademyfallon.us

Password:
OAreading2014

For example, if I am number 1, my username is ebook-1@oasisacademyfallon.us
If, for some reason, you can't access it, please don't worry.  We will work out kinks tomorrow, and the students can always finish reading in class.

Finally, students were given information about student council today in class.  They should be able to access this in their Google Drives.  If your student would like to run, they need to sign (and so do you) the form and return it by next Thursday (9/4).  All of the specifics are laid out, but please let me know if you have any questions at all about it.  Mr. Lewis and I will be heading it up, and we are VERY excited to get some student leaders involved.

It's Friday (I mean Thursday)

Well, what a great week we had!  The kids did a phenomenal job settling in and getting used to new procedures.  We are going to move project due dates around, as we are finding that we are taking more time to build background knowledge for students to be able to be truly successful when it comes to producing their final products.  I am impressed with their questions, responses, and all around curiosity about the Antebellum era.  Next week there will be specific reading homework (look for a poem or two!).

Enjoy the next few days with your really spectacular children!

Read, Read, Read! Pizza, Pizza Pizza!

Students should be reading a text of their choice for 30 minutes each night, unless there is different reading homework assigned.

Pizza Thursday is tomorrow!  If your child wants pizza tomorrow, parents have to purchase coupons from Ms. Julie in the office.  Students will not be able to buy it on their own during lunch.  Coupons are $15 for five weeks of pizza.  Students will receive 3 slices of pizza per coupon.  Students who want more than 3 slices can turn in more than one coupon.  The order to Dominoes will be placed by 9:00 tomorrow morning.

We're having a great first week!

The Fun Continues......

We started our first project today.  The students created their project folder and subfolder.  They will be researching events that happened in Antebellum American that led up to the Civil War and creating textbook chapters surrounding these events.  Students were partnered up and assigned events.  Please encourage them to remain organized and on top of their assigned tasks during the school day.  Projects are rarely sent home as homework, but some students may need to finish up at home if time doesn't allow in class.

In reading, students are working on building stamina as they sit and read quietly to themselves.  Together, we are reading passages related to the project and working on annotating in margins as we highlight.

It was another terrific day in room 18!

AWESOME FIRST DAY!!

We had a wonderful first day of 7th grade!  I can tell that I am going to love being with each student every day.  Tonight, the only homework I assigned the students is to read for 30 minutes.  This will be our default reading homework, if nothing else is assigned.  Reading every single day is critical if students are going to build on skills and improve overall comprehension.  Parents, please remember to return all of the required signed paperwork.  Binders need to be at school every day, with the daily planner papers intact.
We fill these out every day.  Again, I am thrilled with my class and can't wait to get to know all the kids better and enjoy our year together.

Welcome!

I am so excited to be teaching 7th grade at Oasis Academy this year.  Parents, please remember that Back to School Night is on Thursday, August 14, at 6:00. This event is for parents only.  I look forward to seeing all of my wonderful students on Monday, August 18th.  Get ready for a fun year!