May 2014 archive
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.
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.
Daniel Crawford has always been a bit of a loner, not fitting in at his high school, but now that he is at a summer program for gifted students on a college campus, he hopes to make friends at last. Things are looking up when he meets Abbi and Jordan.
Since the regular dorms are undergoing renovations, the summer students are staying in Brookline, a former psychiatric hospital with a dark and secret past. Dan and his new friends explore the twisting tunnels and dusty rooms underneath Brookline, and in so doing, stir up ghosts that do not want to rest in peace.
Asylum (Harper 2013) by Madeleine Roux is the kind of book that gives me nightmares, but I know I will have students who will enjoy it. If you like the kinds of movies where you want to scream at the main characters for entering into the deserted house or dark woods where the killer is lurking, you will enjoy the fear these pages dredge up. It’s not too gory, but the mind games and bizarre occurrences are chilling.
Monday
Objectives:
- Analyze the parts of a book review.
Daily Grammar Practice Week 26 (Monday – parts of speech). Present book talks. While you are listening to your classmates share about their books, add books to your Someday Books list.
Homework: Read a book of your choice for 15-30 minutes.
Tuesday
Objectives:
Daily Grammar Practice Week 26 (Tuesday – sentence parts). Present book talks. While you are listening to your classmates share about their books, add books to your Someday Books list.
Homework: Read a book of your choice for 15-30 minutes.
Wednesday
Objectives:
- Create a reading and writing plan for the summer.
Daily Grammar Practice Week 26 (Wednesday – clauses, sentence type and purpose). Here are some ways you can share what you are reading and writing over the summer: visit my blog, join middle school group at GoodRead, create your own blog. Write a blog post that describes how you will continue to share what you are reading and writing over the summer. What are five books that you are interested in reading?
Homework: Read a book of your choice for 15 -30 minutes.
Thursday
Objectives:
- Complete Language Arts Post Test.
Daily Grammar Practice Week 26 (Thursday – Correct capitalization and punctuation). Complete Language Arts Post Test. Yes, it’s for a grade.
Friday
Objectives:
- Set reading goals for the week.
- Complete DGP Post Test.
Daily Grammar Practice Week 26 (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. Complete DGP Post Test.
Homework: Read 15-30 minutes in a book of your choice.
Over the last couple of years, I have had quite a few books connected with the Civil Rights movement come across my TBR pile. Most of them have been excellent, and I have learned something from all of them, whether I was reading historical fiction or historical accounts. Rita Williams Garcia introduced me to yet another aspect of those years that I knew next-to-nothing about in her novel One Crazy Summer (Scholastic 2010).
Delphine leads her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, to visit the mother who left them. They fly across the country to Oakland, California, for the summer of 1968, to get to know the mysterious Cecile. Even once they are living in her house, Cecile remains a mystery, but Delphine is not stubborn and bossy for nothing. She will do whatever it takes to protect her sisters and get answers from Cecile. She might even learn something about herself along the way.
Delphine’s first surprise (after Cecile kicks them out of the house for the day) is her encounter with the Black Panthers. Behind the headlines she heard back in New York City, she discovers that the Black Panthers distribute food to hungry children in the neighborhood and run a day camp for kids at the Community Center. Before she quite knows how it happens, Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern are practicing parts to perform in a demonstration at the community park. Before the demonstration is over, will encounter even more surprises.
Williams-Garcia tackles some serious issues in this novel–racism, abandonment, and families–and she does it with wit and humor. Delphine is an unforgettable character, who is much stronger than she realizes. As she finds her voice, she discovers the power of poetry and the power of the people and the power of herself.
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.
Because I have been hearing so many good things about Linda Urban’s books from my Nerdy Book Club friends, I knew I had to order The Center of Everything (Scholastic 2013) when I saw it in the book order. I’m glad I did. Urban has written a simply beautiful story about grief and family and friendship and second chances.
Ruby Pepperdine has lost the center of world when her grandmother, Gigi dies. Ruby is haunted by the regret that she didn’t listen to Gigi while she has the chance. Now she is desperate for one last chance to make things the way they are “supposed to” be. Her last chance is if her wish will come true on Bunning Day–the community celebration where she will read her winning essay.
But along the way, Ruby’s world is spinning out of control. She is fighting with her best friend Lucy. She may have met a new friend, Nero, in the library, but she might mess up that friendship before it even begins. Will she be able to set things right again?
This is not a book packed with action, but its pages are packed with feeling and lyrical prose. This is the kind of book I would have snuck under my pillow to read after bedtime when I was in middle school. It’s the kind of book I would have read again and again, wanting to be friends with Ruby and Lucy and Nero. Now it is the kind of book I want to share with anyone who can’t quite find their place in the world.
47) **Guitar Notes by Mary Amato — Music and friendship blossom in this clever story that starts with a shared practice room and notes left in a guitar
48) Finding the Heart of Nonfiction by Georgia Heard – Not only have I learned how to better teach and write nonfiction, I also find myself reading nonfiction more deeply.
49) The Batboy by Mike Lupica – A baseball fan gets his dream job–batboy for the Detroit Tigers–and learns that his heroes are not always heroic.
50) I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863 by Lauren Tarshis – View the chaos of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War through the eyes of an escaped slave who fell in with the Union Army
51) I Survived the Nazi Invasion by Lauren Tarshis – a Jewish boy and his sister flee theJewish ghetto and join up with Partisan fighters in the surrounding forest.
52) I Survived the Japanese Tsunami, 2011 by Lauren Tarshis – Billy and his family are visiting relatives in Japan when the earthquake and tsunami strike terror and devastation across the countryside.
53) This Is Not My Hat by John Klassen – I love this book! According to our MS librarian, it is quite popular with a wide range of students, too.
54) Tiger, Tiger by Lynn Reid Banks – Friendship, an unrequited love, and of course, tigers come together in the Roman Circuses
55) One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia – Three sisters travel to California to meet the mother they don’t remember. They discover so much more–poetry and Black Panthers and power to the people.
56) The Shack by William P. Young – a reread after a friend returned it
57) Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber – a Gothic romance along the lines of Dorian Gray
I read lots of good books–eleven to be exact–but my favorite has to be Guitar Notes. What have been your favorite reads this month?
