The 7 Habits of a Proficient Reader

Classes 702 and 703 have gotten through the first three. 701 will be there soon. You should be using these strategies in ALL classes, not just reading fiction books, but while reading textbooks, magazine articles, Internet postings, etc.
1. Activating Schema
2. Questioning
3. Visualizing (or Envisioning)
4. Inferring
5. Determining Importance
6. Synthesizing
7. Monitoring for Meaning

Books - Don't Come to Class Without Them

Please have an independent reading book with you EVERY ELA class. Why?
1. You use them during reading workshop to try the stratgegies you learned in the mini-lesson
2. Reading is a great thing to do during "downtime" - when you are done with classwork, in between lessons, during breaks, etc.
3. During conferences, I will frequently test reading levels and discuss the books with you.

Timelines...

...are due Friday (702/703) and Monday (701). Please make sure you include:
Main idea - one sentence main idea includes who + what
3-5 points (in order that they happened)
Brief description - under each point
Detailed description - includes adjectives/adverbs, descriptive language, emotions

NOTE: the timeline is due at the end of the work period. It will be used as your periodic assessment and graded according to how well you demonstrate that you have mastered the small moment narrative skills so far.

Small Moment Timeline

All classes are engaged in creating and revising small moment narrative timelines - a great way to narrow down a topic and organize thoughts before drafting.
Keys to this timeline:
1. Keep it short (it's a small moment) - 3 to 5 points
2. Start at an interesting point in the story (don't waste time with introductory or concluding info)
3. Add details such as adjectives/adverbs, senses, and emotions
4. It is a work-in-progress that will be added to, deleted from, and possibly even moved around.
5. NEVER throw away drafts of the timeline - your work is a progression and we (and you) want to see each step of the process.

AAAAAHHHH>>>> SPA

Please remember to bring in supplies for Mrs. Marks' Advisory Spa Day....Here is a link to making natural spa recipes at home. http://www.spaindex.com/HomeSpa/HomeSpa.htm
We can use these for our next spa day. Tomorrow, we will enjoy nail polish, hand massage (instruction led by Kayliegh), good-for-you snacks, and other fun stuff.

Changing and Rearranging

The workshop model is designed to let students try out strategies they learned in the mini-lesson. Today, during Workshop, classes 702 and 703 got a chance to finish/revise their envisioning classwork. While some of you totally "got it" the first time, others asked for helped and worked hard to make the work better. Still others were done really quickly and did not care to revise. Our class is ALL ABOUT REVISION - working hard to make sure you "get it" (asking for help from your classmates and/or the teacher) and changing, rearranging, and polishing your work to show that you understood and could use what you learned.

Keep revising - nothing is ever perfect the first time around. It's a process!

Post Your Small Moment Narrative Ideas Here...

...so that your classmates who are struggling with finding ideas may be inspired by yours
...so that you may receive feedback

Today classes 702 and 703 created event timelines. 701 will begin theirs on Thursday. We will use (and revise) these timelines as we begin to draft our stories. Please remember that the workshop model is made for experimenting with ideas, and nothing has to be "perfect" at the end of a period of work. Also, please limit talking to accountable talk.