Before break I challenged my 8th grade students. At the conclusion of Spring Break they were to have completed their essays for Old Man and the Sea. Tuesday morning all but one 8th grader had completed the assignment, and let me tell you.....they are amazing. I will post some excerpts on here when we have completed the revision process. In the meantime I encourage you to keep reading your student's blogs. We will post our OMS essays there as well.
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The students of 8L took a break from research and Mr. LaValle's draconian ways to visit the second graders and view their wonderful animal displays. Eighth Graders went to various booths and heard presentations from some very talented second graders. Eighth Grade Students were very respectful and well behaved.
Shout out to 7S today. They had a triple bell with me. The first bell we worked on annotation . The remaining time they spent diligently working on research. A few chose to walk around St. Faith for a break. The maturity shown today is exactly what I'm looking for from my 7th graders. Excellent job 7S!
Seventh graders are learning about works cited and collecting sources. Right now we are amassing sources and creating source cards. Students will have 4 sources due tomorrow on source cards. Of the four sources, two must be print. The other two may be online. Today 7S worked on their source cards in class, and worked hard! We will work on the source cards and research paper tomorrow with both 7S and 7C. Seventh Graders discussed topics and format for their research paper we will be completing third into fourth quarter. Please download and read the guidelines in the homework blog and keep up with the weekly assignments. Right now 7th graders should be thinking of a topic over this weekend and come prepared Monday 2/13 to start searching for sources. All of 7S who were here today have chosen approved topics. 7C still needs to establish topics. The first due date is a week from today (2/17) when 4 source cards are due. Students will learn about source cards and note cards this week.
Thank you for your support. This will be a great project that will ultimately end up on their web pages! I was out Thursday and Friday for a trip to the south (evidenced in my sunburn. I guess you need sunscreen in February?) Mr. Woodard filled in for me nicely. Students continued to work on their Writing Prompt Cycles.
It is always nice to have substitutes that have that kind of rapport and skill that the kids do not miss a beat. Thanks again Chris! Seventh Graders are working on a story about a lost dog. The dog befriends a boy and protects him. Students will be creating a flier that has a description of the dog. In "Dirk the Protector" by Gary Paulsen, Dirk rises up to take care of a boy who is being bullied. Our seventh graders will print a flier as if they are Dirk's original owner. The description of Dirk will match that of the story but also allow for embellishment. We will post our fake fliers around St. Faith to thoroughly confuse our cohorts. 8th GradeEighth Grade research papers were tabled until third quarter due to the many interruptions during second quarter instruction. I was not prepared for the shadow days, retreats, and various other disruptions to the eighth grade schedule that we encounter during second quarter. If you checked out library books that needed to be returned or you returned them it will be fine. Students will have already taken notes form those sources and they have the source cards necessary to cite the work in their papers. We will begin work in earnest on the research papers Monday February 6. Guidelines for the paper are downloadable below:
7th GradeWe will begin our research Monday February 6. The Seventh Grade topic is place. They will choose somewhere in the world to research. I will be encouraging students to stay local. Local history and research is always interesting as it is relatable. I enjoyed the Glendale history the Mayor presented at the awards ceremony last week. Topics will be reviewed with students and it will ultimately be their choice.
Students were asked to review the painting My Back Porch by Gregg Spears, and write about the scene taking place. Our students made inferences based on the painting as to theme and setting. They tried to glean as much information as possible from the painting. Many guessed the setting as Louisiana or Alabama. Time period guesses were all over the place. My best guess is the painting's setting is a neighborhood in the artists hometown of Chicago called Bronzeville. Spears painted many works set in Bronzeville a the height of its power and activity. A diaspora of African Americans to this area ballooned population counts to around 300,000 between 1925- 1950. For more information about Bronzeville and its place in history, please click here
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April 2017
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