Archive of ‘Class Assignments’ category

Poetry Friday: Not Today

I am again taking part in Laura Shovan’s Annual February Daily Poem Project. Check out the prompts for the first week at the link. It is overwhelming on some days, but the practice of writing a poem every day in community is just what I need right now. I am delighted to see the variety of poems written in response to a single prompt. I also enjoy the chance to explore forms I wouldn’t normally write. I’m even getting to explore new-to-me music.

The poem I’m sharing today is from the first day’s prompt–three video links to dances. I chose the K-Pop song (the first one I’ve listened to) covered by a girl dance group. I was captivated by their attitude.

NOT TODAY
shame us
shush us
NOT TODAY
stomp us
stump us
NOT TODAY
bash us
bend us
NOT TODAY
seize us
stop us
NOT TODAY
we will
rise up
speak up
stand up
YES TODAY
Now I’m off to listen to my first song by Lizzo (yes, I need to get out more) for today’s prompt.

Each Friday, I am excited to take part in Poetry Friday, where writers share their love of all things poetry. Jone hosts the Poetry Friday Roundup today at Jone Rush MacCulloch. She wraps up the New Year Poetry Postcard Exchange (which she generously organizes each year) with a beautiful found poem. Hurry  over and check out all the poetry morsels offered up today.

Poetry Friday: It’s Swap Time!

For the past several years, I’ve enjoyed watching poetry goodness spread all over through the Summer Poetry Swap organized by Tabatha Yeatts. (If you haven’t seen the new look for her website, check it out–it’s amazing!) This year I got brave enough to sign up and take part. I loved it all! Even though I was a little nervous writing a poem for someone whose poetry I admire, it enjoyed learning more about her on my hunt for inspiration.

Then there’s the delight of finding a poetry package from Linda Baie at Teacher Dance.

Inside the package I found a wealth of poetry goodies: a note, a creative journal, and People on a Bridge by Wislawa Szymborska (more coming on this poetry collection once I have savored all the poems).

And best of all, a delightful summer poem to warm me through cold winter days. Don’t you love how she nails the Skinny form? And that tree could be the one outside my office window. And how did she know I spent most of my childhood summers climbing trees?

Sunshine days linger longer.
Summer
holds
promised
play.
Summer
sparks
nature’s
imagination.
Summer!
Longer sunshine days linger.

~Linda Baie (C)

Each Friday, I am excited to take part in Poetry Friday, where writers share their love of all things poetry. Jone hosts the Poetry Friday Roundup today at Deo Writer. She share a poetry fortune teller she received from Tabatha in the Summer Poetry Swap. What fun! Hurry over and check out all the poetry morsels offered up today.

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

It’s Monday! What are you reading? Is a meme started by Sheila at Book Journey and now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. Kellee and Rikki at Unleashing Readers and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts gave the meme a kidlit twist. It’s a great way to reflect on what you’ve read and reviewed the last week and plan what you want to read next. Join up with us and discover what good books other people are reading.

IMWAYR 2015

It’s starting to feel real. This week we have begun the countdown for graduation (for my daughter). My mom has been here for the week to celebrate with us at the Academic Banquet that honors the top 20 seniors and top 10 students in the other classes. Then this weekend we shopped for graduation party supplies and got the invitations and announcements ready to put in the mail. I find it hard to believe that my girl will graduate from high school at the end of this month. It seemed just like yesterday she walked up by herself to the first day of kindergarten.

I finished…

Enough Bull by David Trahair – While this book had some good advice for retirement planning, I found it disappointing overall. That may be primarily because he focuses on Canadian tax retirement issues, which don’t transfer directly to the U.S. He focuses on safety above all, and the warnings against taking on debt to invest in high risk options applies across all borders. I’m just willing to take on a little more risk than only government insured accounts.

I’m currently reading…

Going Postal by Terry Pratchett – A long time ago when I first started teaching, a student told me about Pratchett’s Disc World novels. I thought they sounded incredible, but never got around to reading any. I grabbed Going Postal from the library and am loving it. Moist Van Lipwig has never done an honest day’s work in his life, but when drops through a trapdoor with a noose around his neck, he lands in a government job with the postal service. For some strange reason, he takes on the challenge of restoring the post office to a functional service–despite having little help, sliding down mounds of letters (that may be talking to him) and taking on the evil clacks conglomerate. I love the surreal world where things that shouldn’t make sense almost do. I will be going back for more Pratchett. Does anyone know, do I need to read the Disc World books in order, or can I dive in and out however I find them?

Coming up…

I still have Night Circus on my stack, as well as Big Magic. More good reading coming my way!  What have you read this week?

Disclosure: I participate in the Amazon Associates Program. If you decide to make a purchase by clicking on the affiliate links, including in the linked picture above. Amazon will pay me a commission. This commission doesn’t cost you any extra. All opinions are my own.

Week at a Glance: May 19 -23

Monday

Objectives:

  • Compare and evaluate two products.

Using an article from Consumer Reports, evaluate and compare two products.  Create a chart or Venn diagram that shows your results.
Homework: Read a book of your choice for 15-30 minutes.

Tuesday

Objectives:

  • Compare and evaluate two products.

Using an article from Consumer Reports, evaluate and compare two products.  Create a chart or Venn diagram that shows your results.
Homework: Read a book of your choice for 15-30 minutes.

Wednesday

Objectives:

  • Identify ways you can take part in the Summer Reading Program at the Jennings County Public Library.
  • Choose a book to read over the summer.

The Youth Services Librarian from the Jennings County Public Library will present information about the summer reading program.  After their presentation, you can choose a book to take home.  If you would like to bring in books, to swap, you may bring in books to trade for more books.
Homework: Read a book of your choice for 15 -30 minutes.

Thursday

Objectives:

  • Clean out Language Arts binders.

Reading homework is due today.  We will clean out your binders today.  If your materials are in good shape and you do not wish to keep them, you may donate them to next year’s students who may need the supplies.  You should return all of my classroom library books today.

Friday

Objectives:

  • Celebrate the end of a successful 7th grade!.

There will be an awards convo in the morning.  Then you may choose from a choice of activities in the afternoon for the Spring Carnival.
Homework:  Enjoy your summer vacation!  Remember to read and write.

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

We have almost arrived at the end of the school year.  It’s a perfect time to look back on what you have accomplished and to look ahead at what you still can do.  Write a blog post in two paragraphs that celebrates what you have done and that plans for the future.

In the first paragraph, celebrate all you have accomplished this year.  How have you grown as a reader and/or writer?  How many books have you read?  What new topics, authors, genres, or series have you discovered that you love?  Where do you find good books to read?  What book would you recommend that everyone should read?  What have you written this year that you are proud of?

In the second paragraph, plan for the future?  What are five books that you would like to read?  Since I have to pack up my classroom for the summer, where will you find books to read?  How will you connect with other readers?  Check out sites like Goodreads or give reviews on Amazon.  Drop by my blog to let me know what you are reading this summer.  I’ll be posting reviews of the books I read.  If you read them, too, let me know what you think.

If you want to continue blogging on your own, you will need to set up your own blog.  You will need parent permission and an email address.  First, choose your blogging platform.  Edublogs allows students to create their own blogs.  You can also choose from Blogger (convenient if you have a gmail account).  Go to the website of your choice and sign up.  For an Edublogs blog, click the Sign Up button in the top right corner.  Fill in all the required information.  Remember that your username and domain name must be unique!  That means you cannot use your username from our class blog.

Week at a Glance: May 5 – 9

Monday

Objectives:

  • Analyze the parts of a book review.

Daily Grammar Practice Week  18 (Monday – parts of speech).  Write a brief review of a candy bar.  Before you write, brainstorm sensory details that show your opinion of the candy bar.  Your word choice should let your reader know if you like the candy bar or not without stating that whether or not you liked it.  Read the sample book reviews and list the characteristics that you notice.  What types of information is included?  How do they begin and end?
Homework: Read a book of your choice for 15-30 minutes.

Tuesday

Objectives:

  • Use a planning sheet to organize ideas for writing.

Daily Grammar Practice Week 18 (Tuesday – sentence parts).   Choose a book that you’ve read this year and enjoyed.  List the important information to include in your review:  characters, setting, conflict, genre, reading experience, and, of course, title and author.  Is it part of a series?
Homework: Read a book of your choice for 15-30 minutes.

Wednesday

Objectives:

  • Write a strong lead to hook your reader.

Daily Grammar Practice Week 18 (Wednesday – clauses, sentence type and purpose). Using the book reviews you have or examples from the list of review leads, write an opening sentence for your review.  In fact, experiment by writing two or three different leads.  Which one works best for you?  Take that lead and begin drafting the rest of your review.
Homework: Read a book of your choice for 15 -30 minutes.

Thursday

Objectives:

  • Write a rough draft of your book review.

Daily Grammar Practice Week 18 (Thursday – Correct capitalization and punctuation). Continue writing the rough draft of your book review.

Friday

Objectives:

  • Set reading goals for the week.

Daily Grammar Practice Week 18 (Friday – Sentence diagramming).    Fill out the reading goal slip with the title and author of your book and write down what page you begin on.  Read for 10 minutes and write down what page you end on.  Subtract the beginning page from the ending page to find out how many pages you read in 10 minutes.  Multiply that number by 6 to discover how many pages you should be able to read in 1 hour.  Double that answer to find out how many pages you should be able to read in 2 hours.  That is your reading goal for the week.  If you finish or switch to a book that has a very different reading rate, you will need to redo your goal and let me know the new one. After you finish your reading, tell your partner what you read today.  If you can’t remember anything you read, you are reading too fast.
Homework:  Read 15-30 minutes in a book of your choice.

Week at a Glance: April 28 – May 2

Monday

Objectives:

  • Read and perform “The Red-Headed League.”

Daily Grammar Practice Week   (Monday – parts of speech).  Each group of students will read one scene from “The Red-Headed League.”  Practice reading for fluency and expression.  Then you will perform your scene for the rest of the class.

Tuesday

Objectives:

  • Review ISTEP questions.

Daily Grammar Practice Week  (Tuesday – sentence parts).   Work with a partner to determine the best answer for each question about “The Red-Headed League.”  Be sure to write down the page where you find the answer and be able to explain why your choice is the best answer.
Homework: Read a book of your choice for 15-30 minutes.

Wednesday

Objectives:

  • ISTEP test.

Daily Grammar Practice Week  (Wednesday – clauses, sentence type and purpose). ISTEP Language Arts test.  We will meet in the library for testing.
Homework: Read a book of your choice for 15 -30 minutes.

Thursday

Objectives:

  • ISTEP test.

Daily Grammar Practice Week  (Thursday – Correct capitalization and punctuation).  ISTEP Language Arts test.  We will meet in the library for testing.

Friday

Objectives:

  • Set reading goals for the week.

Daily Grammar Practice Week  (Friday – Sentence diagramming).    Fill out the reading goal slip with the title and author of your book and write down what page you begin on.  Read for 10 minutes and write down what page you end on.  Subtract the beginning page from the ending page to find out how many pages you read in 10 minutes.  Multiply that number by 6 to discover how many pages you should be able to read in 1 hour.  Double that answer to find out how many pages you should be able to read in 2 hours.  That is your reading goal for the week.  If you finish or switch to a book that has a very different reading rate, you will need to redo your goal and let me know the new one. After you finish your reading, tell your partner what you read today.  If you can’t remember anything you read, you are reading too fast.
Homework:  Read 15-30 minutes in a book of your choice.

Week at a Glance: April 21 – 25

Monday

Objectives:

  • Explore nonfiction text features.

Daily Grammar Practice Week  17 (Monday – parts of speech).  We are going to the library today.  While we are in the library, explore one of the nonfiction books on the table.  Using your paper as a guide, write the purpose for each text feature and find an example of it in your book.  Once you have finished, find a new book to read and enjoy the time to get lost in a good book.

Tuesday

Objectives:

  • Review elements of a drama.
  • Read “Pandora’s Box.”

Daily Grammar Practice Week 17 (Tuesday – sentence parts).   Review elements of a drama:  characters, stage directions, dialogue.  We’ll choose parts and read “Pandora’s Box” aloud together.
Homework: Read a book of your choice for 15-30 minutes.

Wednesday

Objectives:

  • Read and discuss “Pandora’s Box” and “Are You Curious?”

Daily Grammar Practice Week 17 (Wednesday – clauses, sentence type and purpose). We will finish reading and discussing “Pandora’s Box” and “Are You Curious.”  We will play a game to review the quiz questions that go along with the story.   You will choose what you think is the correct answer and try to convince your classmates that you are correct.
Homework: Read a book of your choice for 15 -30 minutes.

Thursday

Objectives:

  • Conduct written conversations about literature.

Daily Grammar Practice Week 17 (Thursday – Correct capitalization and punctuation).  We’ll brainstorm big questions from the books we read aloud.  Choose one question and write at the top of your paper.  Write your response to the question until I call time.  Then pass your paper to the left.  Read what the person before you wrote.  Add your response.  Write until I call time.  We will repeat this process until you have had a chance to read and respond to everyone in your group.

Friday

Objectives:

  • Set reading goals for the week.

Daily Grammar Practice Week 15 (Friday – Sentence diagramming).    Fill out the reading goal slip with the title and author of your book and write down what page you begin on.  Read for 10 minutes and write down what page you end on.  Subtract the beginning page from the ending page to find out how many pages you read in 10 minutes.  Multiply that number by 6 to discover how many pages you should be able to read in 1 hour.  Double that answer to find out how many pages you should be able to read in 2 hours.  That is your reading goal for the week.  If you finish or switch to a book that has a very different reading rate, you will need to redo your goal and let me know the new one. After you finish your reading, tell your partner what you read today.  If you can’t remember anything you read, you are reading too fast.  We will have a quiz over this week’s DGP sentence.  If you want to review what we did each day, you can click here to watch the lessons.
Homework:  Read 15-30 minutes in a book of your choice.

Week at a Glance: April 14 – 18

Monday

Objectives:

  • Read “Welcome to the Future” on pages 21-24 of Scope magazine.

Daily Grammar Practice Week  16 (Monday – parts of speech).  Read “Welcome to the Future on pages 21-24 of Scope magazine.  As you read, take discussion notes.  Write down ideas that you want to talk about from the article.  What surprised or amazed you?  What confused you?  What questions do you have?  Which vocabulary words are confusion or interesting?  What does the article remind you of from the news, other books, other television shows or movies?
Homework:  Read 15-30 minutes in a book of your choice.

Tuesday

Objectives:

  • Discuss “Welcome to the Future.”

Daily Grammar Practice Week 16 (Tuesday – sentence parts).   Use your discussion notes to talk in a small group about the article.  Share your ideas, answer each others’ questions.  By the end of your discussion, everyone in your group should have a deeper understanding of the article.  Then you will take a quiz over the article.  For each question, cross out one or two answer choices that are obviously wrong.  Choose the best answer from the choices that remain.
Homework: Read a book of your choice for 15-30 minutes.

Wednesday

Objectives:

  • Review elements of literature.

Daily Grammar Practice Week 16 (Wednesday – clauses, sentence type and purpose). Read “Electric Summer” in Scope magazine.  We will review the literary elements of character, point of view, setting, tone and mood, and plot.  Complete “Back to Basics,” giving examples from the story.
Homework: Read a book of your choice for 15 -30 minutes.

Thursday

Objectives:

  • Review literary elements.

Daily Grammar Practice Week 16 (Thursday – Correct capitalization and punctuation).  Complete the “Electric Summer” and the review of literary elements.

Friday

Objectives:

  • Set reading goals for the week.

Daily Grammar Practice Week 15 (Friday – Sentence diagramming).    Fill out the reading goal slip with the title and author of your book and write down what page you begin on.  Read for 10 minutes and write down what page you end on.  Subtract the beginning page from the ending page to find out how many pages you read in 10 minutes.  Multiply that number by 6 to discover how many pages you should be able to read in 1 hour.  Double that answer to find out how many pages you should be able to read in 2 hours.  That is your reading goal for the week.  If you finish or switch to a book that has a very different reading rate, you will need to redo your goal and let me know the new one. After you finish your reading, tell your partner what you read today.  If you can’t remember anything you read, you are reading too fast.
Homework:  Read 15-30 minutes in a book of your choice.

Week at a Glance: April 7 – 11

Monday

Objectives:

  • Finish vocabulary presentations.

Daily Grammar Practice Week  15 (Monday – parts of speech).  Before we head to the library today, we will discuss this question:  How do busy people find time to read?   Brainstorm a list of times and places you had to wait during the past week.  Plan to have a book with you so that you can read a few minutes anytime you have to wait.
Homework:  Read 15-30 minutes in a book of your choice.

Tuesday

Objectives:

  • Review grammar and editing.

Daily Grammar Practice Week 15 (Tuesday – sentence parts).   We are going to look at an example of the grammar and editing section of a past ISTEP.  Working with a partner, look at each question and identify what grammar or editing skill is being tested.  HINT:  look at what changes in each of the answer choices.  Then decide on the correct answer choice.  Be prepared to explain why.
Homework: Read a book of your choice for 15-30 minutes.

Wednesday

Objectives:

  • Analyze symbol and theme in poetry.

Daily Grammar Practice Week 15 (Wednesday – clauses, sentence type and purpose). Read “Two Haiku,” “Fireflies,” and “Fireflies in the Garden.”  For each poem, write down sensory details and what they make you think of when you “see” them.  A symbol is a person, place, object, or activity that stands for something beyond itself.  In the poem “Fireflies in the Garden.”  look at the description of the firefly to analyze what fireflies symbolize.  Then answer, “What theme about life might the author be trying to express?”
Homework: Read a book of your choice for 15 -30 minutes.

Thursday

Objectives:

  • Connect nonfiction text to poetry.

Daily Grammar Practice Week 15 (Thursday – Correct capitalization and punctuation).  Read “Stars with Wings.”  Use the different text features of nonfiction to record facts you learn about fireflies.  Which of the poems that we’ve read is the most factual?

Friday

Objectives:

  • Set reading goals for the week.

Daily Grammar Practice Week 15 (Friday – Sentence diagramming).    Fill out the reading goal slip with the title and author of your book and write down what page you begin on.  Read for 10 minutes and write down what page you end on.  Subtract the beginning page from the ending page to find out how many pages you read in 10 minutes.  Multiply that number by 6 to discover how many pages you should be able to read in 1 hour.  Double that answer to find out how many pages you should be able to read in 2 hours.  That is your reading goal for the week.  If you finish or switch to a book that has a very different reading rate, you will need to redo your goal and let me know the new one. After you finish your reading, tell your partner what you read today.  If you can’t remember anything you read, you are reading too fast.
Homework:  Read 15-30 minutes in a book of your choice.

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