B day 6th Graders - Today, you should have finished your similes and metaphors chart for "All Summer in a Day."  If you did not finish the chart, it is your homework to complete it over the break.  Otherwise, there is no homework.

A day 6th Graders - Tomorrow, you will receive some homework on similes, metaphors, and personification.  There will be time for you to work on this assignment in class.  What you don't finish will be your homework for the break.

8th Graders - Over the break, you need to finish revising your DTW #1, if not already finished.  Everyone should type the revised version of the essay, making sure to proofread and revise as you go.  This is due Tuesday, December 3rd.  We will also have a practice writing test so that I can see what we still need to work on as we move closer to the FCAT writes.


Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

My apologies to my 5B and 6B classes.  I entered grades in last week after grading a bunch of assignments.  However, I must have gotten sidetracked and forgot to enter the grades for those two classes!  Oops!  Grades are now entered.

6th Grade:
Just a reminder that the text features quiz is tomorrow and Friday (except for 5B - due to the Spelling Bee, your quiz will be next Tuesday).  If you took your text features project home to complete, make sure you turn it in to me tomorrow (A day) or Friday (B day).  2A did not have a project to take home.  Bring your Literature book tomorrow - the quiz will probably not take the entire time.

8th Grade:
You need to finish breaking apart your old essay by filling in the planning sheet.  This way, you can see what you were missing and what you still need. Next class we will work on your planning some more (you will re-do your planning), so make sure you don't write on the back of the handout I gave you when you do tonight's work.

If you did not finish writing the engaging beginnings (see previous post), you need to make sure those are completed and turned in to me next class. 

6th Grade:  The text features quiz will be next Thursday and Friday.

8th Grade:  Your homework is to finish rewriting your introductions, if you haven't already.  Then you are to choose three of the following prompts and write an introduction for each of those.  You should include an engaging beginning, a transition to your thesis, and your thesis.  This is due on Wednesday.

1.      We all have people that are important to our lives.  Write an essay explaining why someone you care about is important to you.

2.      Everyone has an activity he or she enjoys. Think about an activity you enjoy. Now write to explain why you enjoy the activity.

3.      Being friends with someone takes more than just sitting next to him or her in class.  Write an essay to explain why honesty is important in a friendship.

4.      Through the years, new inventions have changed the way we live. Think about one invention that has had an impact on the way you live. Now write to explain how this invention has changed your life.

5.   Most of us like something found in nature. Think about something from nature that you like. Now write to explain why you like that something from nature.

6th Grade:  We are continuing to work with text features.  We will work on the text features projects some more next class, so the Text Features Quiz will be on Thursday and Friday of next week.  Use your Literature book to study.

8th Grade:  Please come to class each day ready to participate and cooperate.  We will continue to work on revising your original expository essays, with a focus on the introduction.

6th graders - Don't forget that you have a quiz tomorrow and Wednesday on text structures and main idea.

Your homework (due tomorrow - A day and Wednesday - B day) is as follows:

•Find an article in a newspaper, magazine, or online resource.  It must be an article and not an advertisement!  Make sure it is appropriate!

•Read the article.

•On a separate piece of paper, identify the topic, the main idea, and supporting details in a web form, like the one below.

•Attach the article to your paper.

 

8th Grade - DO NOT FORGET TO BRING YOUR LITERATURE BOOK NEXT CLASS.  THIS WILL COUNT AS A GRADE!!!

Today, students were given an opportunity to work on missing assignments.  Some students took advantage of the additional extra time and will see at least a slight improvement on grades.  Others decided not to use the time and now have no more opportunities to make up their grades.  Please let this be a lesson for the second quarter; do your work on time and always turn it in!

2A - Your homework was to finish the chart and questions 4 and 7 on page 871 (the chart is the one that starts on page 865 under "Set a Purpose for Reading").  If you were working on make-up work, you need to do the same, but of course read the article first.
3A - You only needed to finish the assignment written above, in addition to page 877, question 4.
4A - We did not get very far, so you do not have homework for tonight!

The CGA results are in.  Over the next couple of days, I will put the scores into the gradebook.  In order to prevent grades being significantly altered (should a student score really low, for example), I am going to count the assessment out of 50 points, rather than 100.  In other words, if your child made a score of 70/100, for example, the grade book will show the score as 35/50.  The score remains the same, but the points influencing the gradebook are lessened.

Extra credit (the map of The Giver and hall passes) have not been entered in yet.  That is always the last piece of the grade that I complete.