Monday, April 17, 2017

Monday, April 17, 2017

Projects: Students are working in their groups to figure out their museum exhibit plan for World War 2. Also, my students will learn about several major battles this week. Ask them about Pearl Harbor, Battle of Midway, Battle of Stalingrad, and DDay!

7th Grade Reading: This week we will focus on our book club novels and how students use Habits of Discussion and Format Matters to move their discussions along. Reading responses are due every Tuesday and Thursday for these, and I'm expecting them to be lengthy and detailed. Students must show effort of going deep on these and using evidence, evidence, evidence!!

8th Grade Reading: Students will read Night in their book clubs and use Habits of  Discussion and Format Matters to make their points. I will take grades for this every day they meet, so students need to make sure they come prepared!

Writing: We will continue with grammar skills review, small responses to articles (backed up with evidence), and also do some SBAC practice. It's almost testing time!!

Auction this Thursday----Please send goodies in if possible. :)  We will at least one more after this.


Homework this week:

7th Grade: Book Club responses due Tuesday and Thursday; read for 20/write responses

8th Grade: Book Club reading every night; come prepared for a possible quiz on Thursday!

Monday, April 10, 2017

Monday, April 10, 2017

Projects: We went over our final project for this year today--a World War 2 museum exhibit! This is going to be so much fun. Students can choose partners from other middle school classes. We will choose topics and partners tomorrow.  This week we will spend our time learning about the Jewish Holocaust and the Chinesse Holocaust. Next week we will focus on battles and other important events.

7th Grade Reading: Today was Flocabulary! We read and discussed important happenings. The students always have such intelligent input! We will delve into book clubs, reading responses, and poetry for the rest of the week.

8th Grade Reading: Students finished Paideia Seminar today (3 days....they had a lot to say!). Tomorrow we will focus on Flocabulary, and Wednesday will be poetry. Thursday students will get into reading groups for our final book of the year: Night, by Elie Weisel. This book is extremely powerful. It is a memoir of Elie Weisel and the time he spent at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. I'm hoping the students appreciate if for what it is and are as moved by it as I was when I read it. We will read, discuss, write responses, look at supporting videos, etc. as we move through this book. Students will be in reading groups, but we will all be reading the same book.

Writing: This week we will focus on writing World War 2 poetry, IXL skills (simple/compound sentences), Flocabulary instructional videos, and lots and lots of journal writing. I am grading journals a few times a week now, and making sure that students are really delving into the daily prompts!

Homework:
7th--IXL N.1 (subject/predicate), read for 20, fill out logs
8th--Read for 20, fill out logs

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Projects: Yesterday we had a fabulous guest speaker! Mr. Slonecker joined us and gave a fascinating presentation on his visit to Germany and what he knows about that country during World War 2 under the Hitler Regime. We will continue to learn about Hitler and his life this week, and apply what we learn to events that occurred under his regime.

7th Grade Reading:  Students were put into book clubs today. They will read a book that is set in WW2, complete weekly responses, take quizzes, have group discussions, and complete a final project on their book. I'm so excited for this, as students take independent responsibility for their reading during this time.

8th Grade Reading: Students prepared for Paideia Seminar yesterday and today. Tomorrow and Thursday they will have their Paideia discussion and give responses to 10 open ended questions that they have spent time collecting evidence for. Please help remind students to get their reading logs signed each week. We are starting to have an issue with kids simply not doing it, which is resulting in lower grades each week.

Writing: This week students will review IXL skills, write in journals, and complete written responses that compare 2 different texts. We are practicing specific skills in order to review and prepare for our writing assessment later this month.

Homework this week:

7th Grade: IXL SS.1, SS.2, read for 20 minutes/fill out log
8th Grade: Paideia preparation, read for 20 minutes (when finished with Paideia)/fill out log.