Summer Reading List

We will post a middle school summer reading list soon. Students in grades 6-8 will be required to read at least two books from this list (and are encouraged to read many more) this summer. There will be assignments relating to the readings the first week of school.
For now, start enjoying your summer. I already miss you!

Publishing Party Thursday

We will (finally) have a publishing party on Thursday. Students are encouraged to read original poetry and realistic fiction. If you have brought your hard copy portfolio home with you, be sure to bring back a favorite poem and/or your story.
Schedule:
Periods 2/3: 702 author's chair
Lunch: 702/731 pizza party
Period 7: 731 author's chair

Please bring in pizza money tomorrow (Wed.) Cost: $3=1 slice plus soda.
Snacks (for author's chair) can be brought in beginning tomorrow. Please bring them in a bag labeled with your class name. We also need plates/bowls and napkins.

ePortfolio progress

The ePortfolio progress charts have been updated. Some of you made really nice progress today. Please continue to upload, reflect and work this weekend.
Remember,,,
9 for ELA
3 each for SS, Sci, and Math

A reminder: completion of ePortfolio is mandatory on your student sign-off sheet. Your advisor must be able to see that you have completely accomplished the task in order for you to receive your report card.

We will be cleaning out lockers Monday through Wed. Please don't leave it all until Wed. Bring bags from home so that you may take some stuff home each day. This is another mandatory task on your student sign-off sheet.

To anyone who still has books from Mrs. Marks' bin: Please bring them in to me by Monday. Thanks!

Have a great weekend.

ePortfolio continues

If you have taken home your portfolio folder, please remember to bring it with you to class tomorrow. Also, if you have digital files, please transfer them to a thumb drive, or upload to GoogleDocs. We will have the laptop cart all day and will be utilizing the laptops, scanners, and class time to upload work to ePortfolio.

I will also speak with Ms. Schneider about having a publishing party (finally!) next week. We can use this time to read realistic fiction and poetry as well as have class ELA awards. And of course, eat.

Bowne Park Field Trip - Tues. June 16

Reminder: All students must have a signed and completed field trip permission slip to go on the Bowne Park outing tomorrow.
School uniforms are still in effect, but students may wear shorts. Girls, please be tasteful (if you think the shorts are too short, they are).
You are allowed to bring portable radios and other equipment OKed by Mr. Millman. Do not bring anything not on the "OK" list - it will be taken away.
As always act like ladies and gentlemen on this public trip.

Realistic Fiction; Revised Work Graded; Final Exam Status

Mostly all realistic fiction stories that were submitted were graded and feedback was given via Teacherease. Please check the site.
If you have submitted work digitally, or have printed work that you have saved on a home laptop, please make corrections/revisions ASAP as our grading deadline is tomorrow.
Thanks to the (small) group of students who dug through their work-in-progress folder, and revised work from as far back as September. Overall, you improved the quality of your work (and your grades!).
For those of you who have not submitted ANY work for realistic fiction, you will receive a zero. Some of you were supposed to email me or Mrs. Moreno early this weekend (not on Sunday evening). If you have not done so yet, please do it immediately.

As for our final exam, we found out that 7th-graders will be singing at the 8th-grade stepping up ceremony on Monday morning, and we are not sure of the timetable. Middle school students are being dismissed at 12. Looks like there is no time to get this final in. If we feel that you need to take it to raise your grades (those of you with NCs or failing grades) we will see you individually tomorrow.

Final Exam (Mon. June 15) Study Guide

• Habits of a Good Reader: Selecting a just-right book; keeping a reading log; responding to literature (inferences such as connections, predictions, envisioning, etc.)
  
• Habits of a Good Writer: The writing process, including pre-writing (brainstorming, outlining, gathering ideas, etc.); drafting;, revising, editing, and publishing
  
• Small Moment Personal Narrative; Zooming in on a small moment; creating a timeline; painting a picture through the five senses, imagery, etc.; active words
  
• Persuasive Writing: How to convince readers to do something or think a certain way; choosing an idea; researching/citing sources; elements of effective persuasive writing (including clear message, attention to audience, effective word choice, factual support, and ethos); avenues of persuasion (PowerPoint, PSAs, speeches, letters, posters, etc.); delivering a persuasive argument to an audience (performance)
  
• Response to Literature: Selecting a big idea; writing a theme statement; using text evidence to back up opinions; structure of a 5-paragraph essay
  Response to Film: Akeelah and the Bee/Spellbound; film reviews; changing the ending/adding a scene; communicating with a character; creating magazines/newspapers.
  
• Poetry: Poetic tools (repetition, internal rhyme, end rhyme, onomatopoeia, line breaks, stanza breaks, vivid language; similes/metaphors); Poetry Hides; Self-Portrait; Memory Poem; City Haiku; poetry performance
• Literature Circles: planning for discussion; discussion
• Realistic Fiction: Characteristics of the genre (life-like, believable plots, situations, characters, conflicts); plot map elements (introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement); scenes; chapters; dynamic characters (characterization: appearance, speech, actions, thoughts/feelings, relationships); hooking the reader; transitions; plot twists; flashback; flash-forward; timestamps; narrators (first-person, third-person); showing not telling (imagery, description, etc.)

Publishing Date; Final Exam

As planned, we will publish this Friday at the end of the ELA period. Every student received a rubric today and was told to go home and use the field work hours to write...finish your drafts, so that we can focus on last-minute revisions, editing, and comparing work to the rubric tomorrow.
702 has a double period, while 731 has one writing period. Don't waste a minute!

Work will be collected and the end of the ELA period on Friday. Mrs. Moreno and I will try to grade all stories and give feedback by Monday, so that you may take Monday to revise at home.

Our final has been pushed up from Tuesday to Monday. There will be a study list posted on the blog. Everyone will need to check the blog on Thursday so that they may come to us with questions by Friday.

Review the notes in your Readers' and Writers' Sourcebooks. It's not necessary to study, just scan what we have learned.

As we discussed, the final will only count if it helps your term 3 grade. Everyone must take the exam, and is encouraged to do their best.

Plan for Week of 6/8; Final Exam

We will publish our realistic fiction short stories by the end of ELA period on Friday, June 12. (731 is period 2, 702 is period 3). Please be prepared. If you are planning to type your stories, include all handwritten drafts. You will receive a rubric early next week.

As discussed today, we will have an ELA final exam - tentatively scheduled for Monday, June 15. It will cover many of the skills and strategies we learned all year. It will only count if it helps your term 3 grade. If it does not, then it won't. I suggest that all students study (look through your Sourcebooks), especially if you have received an NC or a grade that did not meet your personal standards at any point this year.

You may continue to revise/make up work from any term this year. We had previously set a deadline of today, until we found out we had more time. All revised/made-up work is to be turned in to Mrs. Marks or Mrs. Moreno (you can email us if it's easier) by Wed. June 10. If you need help before then, see us.

Have a great weekend!

Plan for Friday

All students should have completed the drafting process (all chapters written) and have revised at least two of those chapters. We will continue to revise on Friday.

Every student is encouraged to revise/make up unsatisfactory or missing work from any point in the year. Look for your work in your work-in-progress or old work folders. See Mrs. Marks or Mrs. Moreno if you need help.

Have a great day off - your teachers will be planning for the rest of this year and next year...

Drafting/Revising Chapters

702 misses ELA tomorrow and 731 only has one work period to write.
By the end of class tomorrow: 731 should have drafted most/all of the chapters. As you write, revise by showing rather than telling.
By Friday: 702 and 731 should have drafted all chapters and be ready to revise/work with partners.

As you are writing, ask yourself these questions:
1. Do I hook the reader in the first few lines?
2. Do I take too long to get to the point?
3. Am I showing rather than telling?
4. Am I listing?
5. Do all or most sentences sound the same...do all or most start with "I" or "Then" or "(insert character's name)"?
6. Would I read my story if I didn't write it (will it appeal to others?)

Show, Not Tell

Though we are storytellers, it's our job to "show" readers what our characters look like, what they do, what they say, how they think/feel, and how they relate to each other. We do this using imagery, descriptive language, similes/metaphors, active words, and adverbs. Today we worked on making our writing come alive.
By tomorrow: Revise Chapter 1 making sure that all language is showing rather than telling. AVOID LISTING!
Draft Chapters 2-4.
702 loses the ELA period on Wed. so it's important we use every moment of writing workshop wisely tomorrow. 731 loses one of the ELA periods, but we still have one to work with on Wed.
No school Thursday (teachers come in, though).
Friday, intensive writing!!!