Homework & learning updates
This week, we will be working to perfect our public speaking skills before delivering our speeches or poems (memorized, no notes) on Thursday, May 12. We will also continue to read I am Malala and have critical discussions about that. Lastly, we will work on our Class Literary Hero presentations, which will require that students come to school with their poster boards on Monday and Wednesday. They are welcome to leave it with me to avoid having to haul it back and forth.
Homework Monday - Write a persuasive paragraph (claim, reason, evidence) to convince the class that you should be voted class literary hero. Tuesday - Read chapter eighteen of I am Malala and complete a CIU log. Wednesday - Perfect your speech/poem performance. A parent or guardian needs to hear you perform it and give feedback. Thursday - The Weekend - Put the finishing touches on your Class Literary Hero poster. This week, students will be beginning to work on two important things:
1. The Class Literary Hero Project Overview: Throughout the year we have read about various figures whose perseverance through a critical—and often dangerous or disheartening— event transformed them from ordinary children to extraordinary adults. Your task is to become one of the characters we have met this year and compete for the title, “Class Literary Hero.” You will run a campaign in which you explain why your assigned character has faced a challenge heroically – and more heroically than the other candidates in your class. You will start by writing a narrative from the first-person point of view vividly describing the conflict and how your hero reacts. Second, you will allude to a famous historical figure whose example your character has chosen to follow in an explanatory essay. Finally, you will present a campaign poster that will feature your narrative and your essay, in addition to lists of your character’s heroic qualities, illustrations, and any other details that may sway your class to vote for your character to be the Class Literary Hero. Presentations will take place during the week of exams. 2. Speech Night Preparation Every year, Andrew Jackson Middle School's English Department hosts speech night, which is an opportunity for students to recite a poem or speech in front of our school community. Speech night will be held this year on May 19 at 6:00 P.M. Students who wish to participate will audition in front of their class on May 12. Though participation in Speech Night is not mandatory, ALL STUDENTS ARE REQUIRED TO MEMORIZE AND RECITE A POEM OR SPEECH ON MAY 12. It is a test grade! The requirement is the same in all English classes and at all middle school grade levels. Homework Monday - Students will need to have their selected poem or speech to memorize with them tomorrow and know the first two lines/sentences by heart. Tuesday - Students should finish the rough draft for their class literary hero project. Parents: Next week, they will need a poster board (any color) Wednesday - Finish the final draft of the class literary hero narrative. Thursday - Read chapter twelve of I am Malala, and be ready to be quizzed on it tomorrow. Friday - Read chapter thirteen of I am Malala, and be ready to be quizzed on it Monday. LEAP is next week! Students will need to come to school on time daily. Please ensure that your child is getting enough rest and is eating breakfast.
This week's spelling words are:
Homework Each day this week (except Friday) students will complete a handout on which they practice taking apart a prompt so that they are prepared for the writing prompts that they will see on LEAP and they are able to answer them appropriately. Spelling words for Friday's quiz:
Homework Monday - Do the Monday prompt breakdown to better understand how to respond to a prompt. Tuesday - Do the Tuesday prompt breakdown to better understand how to respond to a prompt. Wednesday - Do the Wednesday prompt breakdown to better understand how to respond to a prompt. Thursday - Write an AEC paragraph in response to #16 on today's practice test. Please be sure that your child has purchased a copy of I am Malala. You can send $5 for the book. This week's spelling words are:
Students will be quizzed on these words on Friday. Homework Monday - Write a short poem (one or two stanzas) using a metaphor that compares a maze to something. (Students will have an example with them). Tuesday - Finish the essay we wrote in class yesterday using p. 131 of SpringBoard. Students should only have around a paragraph left to write. Wednesday - After reading "The Riddle of the Frozen Flame," imagine what would happen next. Write one paragraph describing the rising action (events that create complications and/or suspense), and a short paragraph (one or two sentences) that presents the climax. DON'T GIVE AWAY WHAT HAPPENS NEXT! Make it a cliff-hanger! Thursday - Write the falling action and resolution (about two paragraphs) of the narrative that you worked on last night. Spelling test tomorrow! This week, students will need to study the spelling of the following words for their spelling quiz on Thursday. (The words I select are words that students regularly misspell in their writing).
Homework Monday - Create a CIU (critical, inferential, and universal) thinking log for chapter 21 of Harriet Tubman. Tuesday - Add one simile and one metaphor to the narrative we wrote in class. Highlight them. Extra credit: Have an adult read, write feedback, & sign it. Wednesday - Study for the spelling quiz. Monday - No homework.
Tuesday - 3rd - 7th periods need to finish their writing portfolios for their exam grade. Students should have about two paragraphs left to write. If there is more than that, then they have not been doing their classwork with fidelity. Wednesday - Finish reading chapter 19 and be ready to be quizzed on it tomorrow. Thursday - Create an outline for an essay to respond to the prompt presented in class. (Identify a strong theme that is present throughout the book, and explain how the author develops that theme). STUDY SPELLING WORDS FOR TOMORROW'S QUIZ!
This is exam week! Students had the opportunity in science class to copy down the week's altered schedule, so check with your child to see when to study for what! As always, ELA is a little different. In 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, students will not be taking a regular exam. Instead they will create a writing portfolio for their exam grades. Three pieces of writing will be edited, revised, and rewritten. At the end, students will write one new essay detailing how they have changed as writers since the beginning of the 6th grade. The purpose is to create more reflective writers who are capable of revising their writing in a meaningful way. Homework Monday - Create a cover for your writing portfolio. Students were given a colored piece of cardstock in class with which to do this. It should have their full name and the words "Writing Portfolio" written on it, and should be decorated to reflect each child's unique personality. Drawing, cutting and pasting, and even painting are all acceptable methods of decoration. Tuesday - Finish the final draft of the Tice Davids narrative if it was not finished in class. Wednesday - Finish the final draft of the writing diagnostic if it was not finished in class. Thursday - Students should complete the outline they started in class and polish the essay and narrative that they wrote this week. Writing portfolios will be collected tomorrow! Homework
Monday - Finish the final draft of your science class response (we worked on it in ELA today). Rough & final draft are due tomorrow. Tuesday - Take essay home, have a parent or guardian read, write a sentences or two telling what you did well and/or what you need to work on, & sign. Wednesday - Rewrite “Oranges” from the girl’s perspective. Try to keep the structure the same. "Oranges" is a poem that can be found on p.285 of SpringBoard. Thursday - Finish your Harriet Tubman chapter sixteen CIU log. This week, we are focusing on analyzing poetry and writing narratives. Students are using the information that they are learning to write a realistic, fictional narrative from the perspective of a runaway slave or Harriet Tubman. We will also be analyzing a number of poems in SpringBoard, in addition to spending a great deal of time understanding and analyzing the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe.
Homework Monday - Students will have no homework, but they have been asked to bring home the narrative that they wrote in class today and get parent feedback. Those who bring it back with a parent signature and a sentence or two of parent feedback will receive extra credit. Tuesday - Do the Tuesday portion of the "The Raven" packet. Wednesday - Do the Wednesday portion of the "The Raven" packet. Thursday - Do the Thursday portion of the "The Raven" packet. |
Resources
If you would like to earn books for our class, sign up for homework alert texts or emails, and access the same reading and writing resources that we use in our classroom with explanations, check out my Class Resources! Archives
April 2016
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