Monday, Dec. 1 - Reading Stamina Day: If you are absent on a reading stamina day, please make sure to read for 40 minutes at home or after school and get a teacher, parent or guardian to write a note and sign it to make up the credit.

Wednesday - Friday - THANKSGIVING BREAK!
Tuesday, Nov. 25th - We tested on Anne Frank.
Monday, Nov. 24th - We finished reading Anne Frank.

Friday - Today 8th graders were testing all day - no language arts class today.
Thursday - Today we assigned parts and began to read the play from our literature anthologies. 
Wednesday - Today we started our study of the script of "The Diary of Anne Frank".  In their journals, students responded to the following prompt:  "People of all ages make important contributions to the world.  What impact do you now have on others?  What impact do you hope to have later in your life?  Think about how education and life experience might affect your goals for the future."
We also introduced the following vocabulary words:
apprehension
disgruntled
foreboding
fortify
indignantly
pandemonium
remorse
unabashed
We did a quick review on setting, characters, conflict, events and resolution because students will need to identify those pieces in the play.  
We watched the following video for background knowledge:

Monday and Tuesday - We analyzed the data from the benchmark, and we went through the test question by question.  Students were able to analyze their own results.  Now we will use this data to plan out the coming weeks.

Friday, Nov. 7 - Today students used the notes from yesterday to write their final drafts.  Students emailed me their final drafts by the end of class.


Thursday, Nov. 6 - Today was our Peer Revision day.  I paired students up and had them write detailed notes on each of the following area:
1-How is their organization?  Do they have an introduction, conclusion and two body paragraphs (one comparing and one contrasting?)2- Are their ideas clear?  How can they improve?
3-Word choice:  give them suggestions for more powerful/meaningful words.
4- How is their spelling?  Do they have complete sentences?  Is their punctuation correct?
5- How could they improve?


Wednesday, Nov. 5 - Today students used their graphic organizers and wrote their rough drafts.

Tuesday, Nov. 4 - Today we watched an animated short film version of Edgar Allan Poe's "Tell-Tale Heart".  Students filled out a graphic organizer comparing and contrasting the film version to the original text we read on Friday.  I introduced the following writing prompt:  "In a short essay (2-4 paragraphs) analyze the extent to which the filmed production of 'Tell-Tale Heart' stays faithful to or departs from the text, evaluating choices made by the directors and actors."

Monday, Nov. 3 - Today was our district Language Arts Benchmark, so students took the test during my class.

Thursday, Oct. 30th - Students  turned active sentences into passive ones on their Active/Passive  worksheet.  Then we corrected them as a class for further learning.

Wednesday, Oct. 29th - I taught students about active and passive voice.  Students worked in groups to identify the subject and the verb in sentences to identify whether it was in the active or passive voice.

Tuesday, Oct. 28th - We corrected the pretest as a class, and I taught minilessons on the concepts students struggled with.

Monday, Oct. 27th - Students took a Parts of Speech Pretest.

Tuesday, Oct. 21st - Friday, Oct. 25th - Students presented their writing projects (Seedfolks), and they discussed each one.  Students earned a grade for presenting their story and one for listening and responding to their peer's stories.

Monday, Oct. 20th - Today is the first day of the new quarter, so we went to the library to give everyone a chance to have a good book.  I also handed out the new AR trackers (see the "Accelerated Reader" link at the top of this page for more info.).  After students set up their trackers with their book(s) and necessary signature(s), they read for the remainder of class.

Tuesday - Thursday -  Students improved/revised their "New Chapter" writing projects.  Here's a checklist:

Monday - Students read for AR points, and took AR tests, and made sure their binders were good.

Friday, Oct. 10 - (Sub teaching today) - Students worked on their rough draft and emailed it to Mrs. Burge for suggestions.


Thursday, Oct. 9 - We worked on the "New Chapter" rough draft.


Wednesday, Oct. 8 - We watched a Flocabulary video on the 5 elements of story and filled out a graphic organizer defining all 5 elements with examples from the video and seedfolks.  We also worked on our "New Chapter" writing assignment by filling out the profile of our character.

Tuesday, Oct. 7 - Took AR test on Seedfolks and introduced the final writing assignment for the quarter.

Monday, Oct. 6 - Character Sketch on Amir and Florence  *YAY!  We finished Seedfolks!