Homework & learning updates
Homework Monday - Read chapter five of Freak the Mighty and complete a double-entry journal entry. (This is where the student writes three quotes from the chapter, his or her thoughts about those quotes, and the label "literal," "critical," or "inferential" for each thought). Literal - Your thought was basically stated in the text.
Inferential - You are using what you've read to come to a new conclusion that was not stated in the text.
Critical - You are writing about the author's writing (use of descriptive language, word choice, imagery, sensory language, figurative language, etcetera).
Tuesday - Complete the annotation practice sheet. Remember: Annotations are one - two sentences summing up each paragraph in an article. They must make sense, begin with capitalization, have a period at the end, and be legible. Wednesday - Read chapter nine of Freak the Mighty and complete a double-entry journal entry. (See Monday's examples for help). Thursday - AEC paragraph: What significant actions have contributed to the development of Freak and Max’s relationship? Friday - Read chapter twelve of Freak the Mighty and complete double entry journal entry. (See Monday's examples for help). We are perfecting our compound sentences and knowledge of verb tenses this week. Click the links below for some extra practice!Sign up to receive homework reminder texts! It is free, and you and/or your child will get a text message each night that we have homework with a quick reminder of what the assignment is in 140 characters or less! These have been a wonderful help to the parents and students who have been using them since the beginning of the year. Click the link below to sign up: 1st & 2nd period sign up 3rd & 4th period sign up I will be holding a tutoring session this Wednesday! If you would like for your child to attend, he or she must have a ride home at 4:00. We will be focusing on areas of deficit on our last exam. This week we will be reading our new book, Freak the Mighty. All students have had the opportunity to check this book out from the school library, and it is crucial that it is with them at all times as we will be reading it in class and using it to complete homework assignments at home. We will also be starting unit two of SpringBoard. Expect to see the textbook coming home for homework on Monday. Please ensure that it returns with your student to school. Homework Monday - TSW paraphrase the task in embedded assessment one in SpringBoard unit two in their own words. (TSW change the novel in the assessment to Freak the Mighty, as our school does not have class sets of Walk Two Moons). This means that students should write the directions for embedded assessment one IN THEIR OWN WORDS. Paraphrasing tasks is an area of deficit on our last exam. Paraphrasing the task shows that a students understand the directions. Embedded assessment one can be found on p.125 of the SpringBoard textbook. You can tell if your student has done a good job if you are able to tell what to do just from reading the writing and without referring back to the book. Tuesday - Read chapter three of Freak the Mighty, and write down three quotes from the book, your thoughts about those quotes, and classifications of your thoughts (literal, inferential, and critical). There must be one of each type of thought represented. (From here on, referred to as the double-entry journal). Wednesday - Read and annotate chapters one - five of Freak the Mighty. Students will bring home a handout on which to complete this task. Thursday - AEC: How does the outside world’s external perception of either protagonist (choose only one) in Freak the MIghty influence his own internal perception of himself? Students should count this writing as studying for tomorrow's test. Please check your student's writing! Friday - No homework. Today is a test day! Students will read a passage from Walk Two Moons and a passage from Freak the Mighty and answer questions pertaining to each. They will be asked to write from the perspective of a character, describe the conflict that they are facing, and explain how external forces are shaping their internal thoughts/ conflicts. This week, students will be working on their narrative writing skills. They will also write a final draft of their narratives using laptops, which is always a popular activity.
Students will receive their exams to make corrections on Tuesday. These will be brought home to finish corrections for homework, so please take this opportunity to examine your student's writing responses and help them to strengthen their writing. Homework Monday - None. Tuesday - Make exam corrections - Rewrite any response that has red marks on it in order to make it correct. Wednesday - Practice annotations. Students will read an article and practice annotating, as this was a skill that some neglected to display on the exam. Thursday - Exam skills handout. This will be different depending on the class that your student is in. We will begin to read a new book on Thursday of this week, so if your student has not yet finished The Lightning Thief, he or she will need to do that by Thursday. Students will be going to the school library to check out Freak the Mighty. It is one of my favorite books that we read in the sixth grade, and I am pleased to announce that I've been able to find copies of it on Scholastic for $1.00 a piece, so if your child would like their own copy to keep for him or herself, he or she can bring a dollar to purchase one. Students will have exams in all of their classes this week! Please ensure that students are well rested, well fed, and that they come to school with plenty of pencils and a positive attitude.
In ELA, students can expect to read and annotate a number of narrative passages. They will be asked to summarize what they read, and it is important that they are able to pick out the most important ideas and sequence the events of a story in chronological order. Another major skill on which they will be tested is figuring out the meanings of new words using context clues. Of course, they should be prepared to answer any written response question on any exam with an assertion (restating and answering the question) and evidence from the text. Some teachers are beginning to require commentary outside of the ELA classroom as well, so please make use of the "How to Write an AEC Paragraph" packet available on the right side of my page to brush up on writing skills. Some other great exam preparation resources can be found below: Context Clues Lesson with Practice Questions. More Context Clues Practice Homework: Students will only have homework on Monday of this week. They will need to finish the context clues handout that we started together in class. If we are able to review our exams on Friday (this depends on the number of students taking make-ups) I will have students make corrections and finish correcting at home if they do not finish in class. I will update this on Friday to let everyone know if that is happening. |
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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