Mrs. McGriff's Reading Blog

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May 6, 2013
by Mrs. McGriff
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2nd, 3rd Week at a Glance: May 6 – 10

Monday

DPG Week 28  (Daily Grammar Practice):  parts of speech.  Today we are going to set a weekly reading goal that will be a homework grade.  To determine your goal, you are going to figure out your reading rate for the book you are currently reading.  Read for 10 minutes and count how many pages you read in that amount of time.  Read at a comfortable rate for good comprehension.  Then multiply the number of pages you read by 6 to determine the number of pages you could read in one hour.  Next, double that number to determine the number of pages you could read in 2 hours.  You should read at least 2 hours outside of class each week.  You will record the page you are on each day in class.  At the end of the week you will total the number of pages you’ve read.  If you change books, you will need to figure a new rate of reading and adjust your goal accordingly.  Looking ahead to summer reading:  SYNC YA–free books for your ears.
Homework: Read.  Start reading toward your weekly goal.

Tuesday

DPG  (Daily Grammar Practice):  sentence parts.  Part one of NWP Prompt.

Homework: Read. How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Wednesday

DGP (Daily Grammar Practice):  Clauses, sentence type and purpose.  Part 2 of NWP prompt.
Homework: Read.  How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Thursday

LIBRARY.  Today is the last day to check out books from the library.  All books are due by Monday, May 13.  What have been your favorite books this year?  Fill out the Google Docs form here to share your recommendations.  Check out what your friends and classmates recommend!  

Homework: Read.   How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Friday

Read first fifteen minutes of class.  DPG  — Diagramming. Post Test for Language Arts.
Homework: Read.  Have you met your weekly goal?

April 29, 2013
by Mrs. McGriff
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Week at a Glance: April 29 – May 2

Monday

DPG Week 27  (Daily Grammar Practice):  parts of speech.  Today we are going to set a weekly reading goal that will be a homework grade.  To determine your goal, you are going to figure out your reading rate for the book you are currently reading.  Read for 10 minutes and count how many pages you read in that amount of time.  Read at a comfortable rate for good comprehension.  Then multiply the number of pages you read by 6 to determine the number of pages you could read in one hour.  Next, double that number to determine the number of pages you could read in 2 hours.  You should read at least 2 hours outside of class each week.  You will record the page you are on each day in class.  At the end of the week you will total the number of pages you’ve read.  If you change books, you will need to figure a new rate of reading and adjust your goal accordingly.  Go over Exercise 1 for Parallel structure.
Homework: Read.  Start reading toward your weekly goal.

Tuesday

DPG  (Daily Grammar Practice):  sentence parts.   Poetry Scavenger Hunt.  Using your literature book, find an example of each kind of poem on the Poetry Scavenger Hunt.

Homework: Read. How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Wednesday

ISTEP Testing.
Homework: Read.  How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Thursday

ISTEP Testing.
Homework: Read.   How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Friday

Read first fifteen minutes of class.  DPG  — Diagramming. Celebrate the end of ISTEP.
Homework: Read.  Have you met your weekly goal?

April 26, 2013
by Mrs. McGriff
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My Favorite Classes’ Reading Records

As our year is drawing to a close, I am amazed at how much we have read this year.  When you add it up all together, the numbers are quite impressive.

Since several students have joined my classes in the last month our so, our current count stands as follows:

136 students have read 3,786 books.  That’s an average of 27.8 books per student!

Here’s the breakdown by class.

  • 2nd period:  31 students have read 1,275 books, for an average of 41.1 books per student.
  • 3rd period: 22 students have read 800 books, for an average of 36.4 books per student.
  • 5th period:  27 students have read 464 books, for an average of 17.2 books per student.
  • 6th period: 29 students have read 744 books, for an average of 25.7 books per student.
  • 7th period: 27 students have read 503 books for an average of 19.3 books per student.

April 8, 2013
by Mrs. McGriff
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2nd, 3rd Week at a Glance: April 8 – 12

Monday

DPG Week 24  (Daily Grammar Practice):  parts of speech.  Today we are going to set a weekly reading goal that will be a homework grade.  To determine your goal, you are going to figure out your reading rate for the book you are currently reading.  Read for 10 minutes and count how many pages you read in that amount of time.  Read at a comfortable rate for good comprehension.  Then multiply the number of pages you read by 6 to determine the number of pages you could read in one hour.  Next, double that number to determine the number of pages you could read in 2 hours.  You should read at least 2 hours outside of class each week.  You will record the page you are on each day in class.  At the end of the week you will total the number of pages you’ve read.  If you change books, you will need to figure a new rate of reading and adjust your goal accordingly.  Would you want to live in the 1920′s?  Watch this video and decide.  Preview the article “The Race Against Death” and complete the Before Reading questions on the “Read, Think, Explain” handout.
Homework: Read.  Start reading toward your weekly goal.

Tuesday

DPG  (Daily Grammar Practice):  sentence parts.   Read “The Race Against Death” with a partner.  Point out parts that you each find interesting.  Complete question 5 under “During Reading” on the “Read, Think, Explain” handout.

Homework: Read. How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Wednesday

Read first fifteen minutes of class. DPG  – Clauses, Sentence Type and Purpose. Finish the “After Reading” section of the “Read, Think, Explain” handout.
Homework: Read.  How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Thursday

DPG   –  Capitalization and Punctuation. Library Day.  Review genres.  How many books in each genre have you read?  What are your favorites?  least favorites?  Which genres do you still need to read?
Homework: Read.   How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Friday

Read first fifteen minutes of class.  DPG  — Diagramming. Preview quiz questions for “The Race Against Death.”  Label each question as Right There, Think and Search, or Author and Me.  Answer each question.
Homework: Read.  Have you met your weekly goal?

April 1, 2013
by Mrs. McGriff
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2nd, 3rd Week at a Glance: April 1 – 5

Monday

DPG Week 23  (Daily Grammar Practice):  parts of speech.  Today we are going to set a weekly reading goal that will be a homework grade.  To determine your goal, you are going to figure out your reading rate for the book you are currently reading.  Read for 10 minutes and count how many pages you read in that amount of time.  Read at a comfortable rate for good comprehension.  Then multiply the number of pages you read by 6 to determine the number of pages you could read in one hour.  Next, double that number to determine the number of pages you could read in 2 hours.  You should read at least 2 hours outside of class each week.  You will record the page you are on each day in class.  At the end of the week you will total the number of pages you’ve read.  If you change books, you will need to figure a new rate of reading and adjust your goal accordingly.  Share spring break reading and vote for Elite Eight in Book Character March Madness.  Homework: Read.  Start reading toward your weekly goal.

Tuesday

DPG  (Daily Grammar Practice):  sentence parts.   Introduce QAR:  What is the relationship between the type of question and where you find the answer?   How can knowing the types of questions help you find the right answer?   Preview questions for “Hunted for Fun, Left to Die.”  Label each type of question.  What type shows up the most often?

Homework: Read. How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Wednesday

Read first fifteen minutes of class. DPG  – Clauses, Sentence Type and Purpose. Preview “Hunted for Fun, Left to Die” by reading the subheadings and captions.  What do you think you will learn about dolphins?  Read the article.
Homework: Read.  How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Thursday

DPG   –  Capitalization and Punctuation. Library Day. Book Fair & Library Day.  This spring book fair is BOGO–buy one get one free.  It’s a great time to stock up on books for summer reading or anytime reading.
Homework: Read.   How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Friday

Read first fifteen minutes of class.  DPG  — Diagramming. Use your knowledge of QAR to answer the questions for “Hunted for Fun, Left to Die.”
Homework: Read.  Have you met your weekly goal?

March 18, 2013
by Mrs. McGriff
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2nd, 3rd Week at a Glance: March 18 -22

Monday

DPG Week 22  (Daily Grammar Practice):  parts of speech.  Today we are going to set a weekly reading goal that will be a homework grade.  To determine your goal, you are going to figure out your reading rate for the book you are currently reading.  Read for 10 minutes and count how many pages you read in that amount of time.  Read at a comfortable rate for good comprehension.  Then multiply the number of pages you read by 6 to determine the number of pages you could read in one hour.  Next, double that number to determine the number of pages you could read in 2 hours.  You should read at least 2 hours outside of class each week.  You will record the page you are on each day in class.  At the end of the week you will total the number of pages you’ve read.  If you change books, you will need to figure a new rate of reading and adjust your goal accordingly.  Write a blog post that reflects on what you have accomplished this grading period.  Answer these questions in a paragraph about writing and a paragraph about reading.  Writing:  What pieces have you written this year?  What have you learned about the research process?  What did you learn about the author your researched?  Reading:  How many books have you read this year?  Choose five of the recent books you have read to think about text difficulty.  Rank the five books from easiest to hardest and explain your ranking.  What makes the harder books hard?  What progress are you making in regards to moving up in text difficulty in the books you read?  Now that we have been tracking your reading rate, what have you learned about the speed at which you read?  Homework: Read.  Start reading toward your weekly goal.

Tuesday

DPG Week 21  (Daily Grammar Practice):  sentence parts.   Finish your blog reflection from yesterday.  Begin commenting on the reflections and research papers for your blog buddies.  Copy each of your comments to a Google Docs page to turn in for a grade.

Homework: Read. How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Wednesday

Read first fifteen minutes of class. DPG  – Clauses, Sentence Type and Purpose.  Finish commenting on your blog buddies research papers and reflections.
Homework: Read.  How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Thursday

DPG   –  Capitalization and Punctuation. Library Day. ACUITY.
Homework: Read.   How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Friday

Read first fifteen minutes of class.  DPG  — Diagramming. Enter ACUITY answers in website.
Homework: Read.  Have you met your weekly goal?

March 4, 2013
by Mrs. McGriff
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Week at a Glance: March 4 – 8

Monday

Math ISTEP+ for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th period classes.  Report directly to 2nd period this morning.

Read first fifteen minutes of class.   Today we are going to set a weekly reading goal that will be a homework grade.  During ISTEP this week, you can read to replace a low grade from a previous week.  Just set and meet–or exceed–your goal.  To determine your goal, you are going to figure out your reading rate for the book you are currently reading.  Read for 10 minutes and count how many pages you read in that amount of time.  Read at a comfortable rate for good comprehension.  Then multiply the number of pages you read by 6 to determine the number of pages you could read in one hour.  Next, double that number to determine the number of pages you could read in 2 hours.  You should read at least 2 hours outside of class each week.  You will record the page you are on each day in class.  At the end of the week you will total the number of pages you’ve read.  If you change books, you will need to figure a new rate of reading and adjust your goal accordingly.

Book spine poetry.  We are going to use book titles to create poems.  Stack books so that when you read the titles, it makes a poem.  Click on the link for examples.
Homework: Read.  Start reading toward your weekly goal.

Tuesday

Math ISTEP+ testing for 5th, 6th, and 7th periods.  Report directly to 5th period this morning.  2nd, 3rd, and 4th periods will meet in the afternoon.

World Read Aloud Day is tomorrow, but because we start language arts ISTEP testing tomorrow, we’re celebrating all week.  During 2nd and 3rd period, I will read aloud some of my favorite scenes from some of my favorite books.  You’ll have a chance to share some of your favorites as well.  For 5th period, I will read aloud Nightmare by Joan Lowry Nixon.  For 6th and 7th periods, I will read aloud Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff.
Homework: Read. How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Wednesday

Language Arts ISTEP+ testing for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th periods.  Report directly to 2nd period this morning.

We’ll continue to read aloud from our novels in 5th, 6th, and 7th periods.  Be sure to check out the daily book trailers, too!
Homework: Read.  How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Thursday

Language Arts ISTEP+ testing for 5th, 6th, and 7th periods.  Report directly to 5th period this morning.  2nd, 3rd, and 4th periods will meet in the afternoon.

We’ll continue to share favorite read alouds for World Read Aloud Day.
Homework: Read.   How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Friday

Language Arts ISTEP+ for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th period classes.  Report directly to 2nd period this morning.

We’ll continue to read aloud from our novels in 5th, 6th, and 7th periods.  Be sure to check out the daily book trailers, too!
Homework: Read.  Have you met your weekly goal?

February 25, 2013
by Mrs. McGriff
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Weekly at a Glance: February 25 – March 1

Monday

Read first fifteen minutes of class.   DPG Week 20  (Daily Grammar Practice):  parts of speech.  Today we are going to set a weekly reading goal that will be a homework grade.  To determine your goal, you are going to figure out your reading rate for the book you are currently reading.  Read for 10 minutes and count how many pages you read in that amount of time.  Read at a comfortable rate for good comprehension.  Then multiply the number of pages you read by 6 to determine the number of pages you could read in one hour.  Next, double that number to determine the number of pages you could read in 2 hours.  You should read at least 2 hours outside of class each week.  You will record the page you are on each day in class.  At the end of the week you will total the number of pages you’ve read.  If you change books, you will need to figure a new rate of reading and adjust your goal accordingly.   Write your lead for your research paper. RUPR.  Today we will create a plan for the “Facing a Challenge” prompt we started last week.  Then you will practice the steps of RUPR with the prompt “Researching the Unknown – Your Future Career.”
Homework: Read.  Start reading toward your weekly goal.

Tuesday

Read first fifteen minutes of class. DPG – sentence parts. How can you elaborate on an idea?  Use the ideas on your handout to add more details to your plan from one of the two prompts.
Homework: Read. How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Wednesday

Read first fifteen minutes of class. DPG – Clauses, Sentence Type and Purpose.  Practice constructed response questions.  Use RATS to write a complete answer.  Restate the question.  Answer the question (with new information). Tie to the text.  Support with details from the text.
Homework: Read.  How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Thursday

DPG  Week  –  Capitalization and Punctuation.  Before answering questions on ISTEP, use QAR (Question-Answer-Response) to help you figure out where to find the information.  Is the information in the text, in your head, or both?
Homework: Read.   How are you doing toward your weekly goal?

Friday

Read first fifteen minutes of class.  DPG  — Diagramming. One last type of question on ISTEP is writing about a reading selection.  Use the RUPR steps to plan your essay.
Homework: Read.  Have you met your weekly goal?

February 20, 2013
by Mrs. McGriff
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Reading rates and reading totals, oh my!

I’m a little late with this latest update on how much we are all reading.  It’s been tough to take count with all the absences (thank you, cold and flu season).  I’m still missing the numbers from one students, but the numbers can only go up from here.

In addition to having my students keep a list of all the books they read this year, I’ve started having students track their reading rate.  I use a method shared by Penny Kittle in Book Love.  Every Monday students read for 10 minutes and record how many pages they read in that time.  Then they multiply that number by 6 and then double the answer to figure out how many pages they can read in two hours.

I’ve been fascinated to see what my students’ reading rates are.  Many complain to me that they are slow readers (and there’s no way they could ever read 40 books in a school year), but are they?  Some are slow readers.  Some are quite fast.  I’m also able to see who is reading more or less than the class expectations.

One thing I’ve discovered is that my students are readers–even the ones who loudly insist that they still hate reading.   Many are reading far more pages than their weekly goal.   With the totals below, it’s hard to believe they are not readers.  Just look at what we’ve done and decide for yourself.

I currently have 132 students in my classes (plus one absent).  They have read 2,759 books as of the first of this month.  That’s an average of almost 21 books per student.

Here’s how it breaks down by class period:

  • 2nd period:  31 students have read 960 books, for an average of 31.0 books per student.
  • 3rd period:  21 students have read 576 books, for an average of 27.4 books per student.
  • 5th period:  25 students have read 319 books, for an average of 12.8 books per student.
  • 6th period:  29 students have read 539 books, for an average of 18.6 books per student.
  • 7th period:  26 students have read 365 books, for an average of 14.0 books per student.

February 20, 2013
by Mrs. McGriff
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There’s love…of reading…in the air

If you’re looking for love, a good book is the perfect place to find it.

Here’s the deal. You can order great books through Scholastic. Sometimes they even give you a great deal. (Always check out the $1 book on the front page.) An even better deal, the more books you order, the more free books I can get for our classroom library. There are two ways to order:

1) Fill out the paper form and bring it with your money (checks made out to Scholastic) by Friday, March 1.

2) Order online at Scholastic (for parents only). On the parent page, click the “REGISTER” button under “First time here,” then register for your own user name and password. When prompted, enter the one-time activation code code (GPBPV). This code ensures that your orders are sent to me. Select the books you want from over 500 titles. Take advantage of on-line only discounts and specials. You will also get a coupon for $5 for your next book order.  SEND your order to me on-line. I will deliver the books in class.

Here are some of my favorites from the February flyer:

  • Lincoln’s Grave Robbers by Steve Sheinkin – Mr. Clarkson assures me this is a true story
  • Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L Swanson – reads like a crime novel even though I know how it ends
  • I Funny by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein – be prepared to laugh
  • Cinder by Marissa Meyer – my all-time favorite Cinderella story ever with a sci-fi twist
  • 10 Days:  Martin Luther King, Jr by David Colbert – history for only $1
  • We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March by  Cynthia Levinson – I’ve been hearing nothing but good about this nonfiction
  • Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz – another Holocaust story on my TBR
  • The Journey Back by Priscilla Cummings – another sequel waiting for me to read
  • The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine – another one I’ve heard good things about
  • Wonder by RJ Palacio – one of the best books I’ve read
  • Lincoln:  A Photobiography by Russell Freedman – impress your history teachers by learning about one of our greatest presidents
  • The Giant:  How He Humbugged America by Jim Murphy – learn about one of hour country’s biggest hoaxes
  • The Raft by SA Bodeen – the author of The Compound has another thrilling survival story
  • Found, Sent, Sabatoged, Torn, Caught by Margaret Peterson Haddix – follow these time traveling teens as they seek to set history right again
  • This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel – If I get brave enough, I might read this prequel to Frankenstein.

Which books would you like me to order for our classroom library?