Studio Day 4/11/16

This weekend's studio day work is simple:

Do a lesson in Iready in Language Arts.

If you have not done the second diagnostic quiz, do that too!

If you don't have an Iready login, you need to contact Ms. Olea in the office on Friday.
sandee.olea@springscs.org

Week of April 4-9, 2016

Hi Everyone and welcome back. We are back to reading with our assigned reading books, looking and thinking about famous poems, and discussing inference. 

Tuesday: Author's chair. Students will be able to read their poems to the class they wrote over last week(end). Students will then read and respond to the famous Robert Frost poem The Road Less Traveled. 

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173536

Read and answer the following questions: 

1. Do you think the road the speaker took was really the less traveled one? Why?
2. What do you think the chances are that the speaker will get to come back and try the other path?
3. Do you think the speaker regrets his choice, or is happy about it? Why?
4. What type of choices do you think this fork in the road represents for the speaker?
5. What personal choices does this poem remind you of?

Wednesday: 

Students will write their own definition for inference and share it aloud with the class. They will then create a vocabulary page ( definition, part of speech, sentence with context, picture) for the word inference. 

Students will then go through the following videos and questions with the class: 

http://www.mrswatersenglish.com/2014/04/teaching-inferences-with-commercials/

Students will then be able to go back to their vocabulary page and original definition and write a paragraph (main idea, three examples, conclusion) about what an inference is. 

Thursday: 

Students will read the following short story-- 

6th--http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/landlady_text.pdf

7th--http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html

8th--http://205.186.130.127/images/uploads/YoungGoodmanBrown%20-%20Nathaniel%20Hawthorne.pdf

They will need to complete the story for class on Friday. 

Friday: 

Students will work in small groups to complete a story study which includes a complete page with these elements: 

1. evidence of inference, including citing exact passages
2. setting (time and place, be specific!)
3. characters (in complete paragraphs with at least three examples)
4. new vocabulary and definitions
5. a book review, written in a five paragraph essay of whether or not the group would recommend this story and why. 

Studio Day work April 4, 2016

Happy Friday everyone!

Just as a reminder, I want to let all parents know that our superintendent, Kathleen Hermsmeyer, will be at our school on April 4 at 2pm to talk to parents. Please let them know!

Homework for the week:

Finish the packet given on Tuesday. Directions are located in the moodle and website for the week of March 29- April 1.

Take this online survey:

https://docs.google.com/a/springscs.org/forms/d/17tW2TJ5RMgdRTL9RD7IqQep_3cQkzEU5Ub2wToUKEik/viewform 

If you have any questions, please let me know! Mrs. K 

March 28- April 1

This week we are studying poetry and art to begin our unit on writing as an art form. We will become writers and artists. To do this, we have to first perfect our craft. 

This week, we will be:

1. Using a rubric to assess student history projects and reflecting on our learning. 
2. Practicing reading comprehension in a reading selection that uses literary devices and details. This will be scored as a test. 
3. Reading multiple poetry sources and writing our own poetry.
4. Creating a rubric from essential elements of poetry. 
5. Finding and using vocabulary to create engaging poetry. 
6. Using fine art to write six word stories. 

Please attach your poetry piece(s) and six word stories to the packet to receive full credit. Excellent poetry examples will be placed on the board in the office. Use creativity and word play to make your message special! 

Worksheets will be distributed Tuesday in Mr. Griffith's class. Extra worksheets can be found at moodle. 

Tuesday: 

Students are to put their names on their packets and turn them in at the end of the week. 

Each student will then place their studio day work on their desk and take their packet with them. On the first page is a group of 6 rubrics used to grade their friends. At the bottom they can grade themselves. Students are to circulate the room and check out each other's projects, grading them on their own sheet. Ask them to go outside their comfort zone and grade someone they might not have normally graded before, but are really interested in. The comments should be self explanatory. 

For the rest of the period, students will practice doing their reading selection and answering the questions. If they get done early with this, they can read in silence. Let them know this will count as a test grade, especially because their milestone test scores were abysmal for all three grade levels and we obviously need more practice reading and responding. If all the kids get done, we'll to go over the answers small group. 

Wednesday: 

Objective: Students will create a poetry rubric, read poetry selections, and grade selections. 

In pairs, students read all four poetry selections from the packet. They then brainstorm a list of qualities found in good poetry. After five minutes, each group shares out one exclusive quality of a good poem. The class then generates a grading rubric for quality poetry. Students re-read poems in different partner pairs and answer the following questions on their own papers (written on the board): 

1. From which point of view is the poem told?
2. What is the mood or tone of the poem? 
3. What is the main idea of the poem? 
4. Which words make the poem extra interesting or hard? What are the definitions of those words? 
5. According to the rubric, what grade would you give each of these poems and why? 

Thursday: 

Using the descriptive words from question 4 the day before, generate a word list of poetry vocabulary words in this selection of poems. Add any extra vocabulary words which students find extra interesting or illustrative. 

Drawing from the word bank, write a poem about the theme of kindness, using the rubric the class designed on Wednesday. If time allows, student volunteers may do authors chair. 

Friday: 

"For Sale: baby shoes. never worn." Ernest Hemmingway 

Students will be given the six word story and asked to read silently and reflect to a partner the meaning of the story. The class will debrief the meaning while the teacher scribes the different ideas. 

Students will then be shown the following pictures: 

According to historical time period students are studying, student partner pairs will write as many six word stories about the picture in a brief amount of time. Students then will choose their favorites and number them according to preference, eliminating the rest. Using the remaining stories, students will then create a poem from the six word stories to share with the class. Remember to play with punctuation and line order to create different effects in the poems! 

Students will share out their stories and donate their favorite six word story to a class poem comprised of six word stories. 

ASB Music List

Hi Middle Schoolers,

If you have a strong preference on our music selection for the dance April 22, please take the survey below.

Remember that songs with swearing, references to drugs or alcohol, or songs demeaning to women will not be selected. If you have a "Clean" version of a song you'd like played, please give that info in the survey.

The survey results will be collected on March 31. Please complete your answer before then.

Thanks, Mrs. K and the ASB

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RRX3KJ3

Assignment March 16-29

Hi Everyone,

This week is Milestone testing. It's the opportunity to see how much you've grown over the year and what we still need to work on before our CAASPP testing in May. There will only be one assignment, in addition to your book club reading until we get back from break (so make it a good one!)

1. Milestone testing Wednesday and Friday.
2. Book club reading: 30 minutes a day or more. 
3. Historical You Project-- make a personal social media page poster, most like a facebook page, for a person your age during the time period your class is studying. (8th grade: southern US 1800-1850;  7th grade: renaissance Europe; 6th grade: ancient Egypt). The grading will total 10 test points based on the following criteria: 

• poster sized 11x20 or larger (1 point)
• historical accuracy (2 points)
• creativity (2 points)
• visual presentation (1 point)
• written conventions, spelling, grammar, legibility (2 points)
• following directions (2 points)

This is going to be a great week and a super spring break. Please remember that this is the final week to turn in school work for full credit. Jupiter Grades is updated until March 11. Please check and email me if there is anything you're missing and need to make up. Have a wonderful week! 

Studio Day Work March 14, 15

This work is the same for all grades. It has to do with the book club books that students are reading at home in their 30 minutes per evening. According to the schedule, students should be on a new book this week, so I am not requiring a summary. I will give two weeks for students to be able to finish their chapter books at home.

Monday, March 14: From the book you are reading at home, select 15 interesting vocabulary words and create a word book (this will be turned in).

Tuesday, March 15: Using the words from your word book, create a one-page story using them correctly in context. Please underline the vocabulary words. Try to use this CAASPP rubric when writing. This is the exact rubric used to score our state tests in May.

http://sbac.portal.airast.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Narrative-050814.pdf