7TH GRADE:
We spent the first quarter focused on the novella The House on Mango Street. Students practiced identifying character development and figurative language while reading the vignettes in this novella. We concluded the quarter by writing vignettes about ourselves, focusing on peoples, places, events and things that help shape who we are. I was so excited to read some very personal and other quite witty stories about these kids. What a great way to get to know them even better! My hope is to publish these vignettes in a bound book in December! Students will have the opportunity to refine their work (yes, for a writing grade) in the coming weeks.
We will be kicking off our study of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" next week with our first Actor-Led workshop with Mikey Mulhearn. Mikey is a local actor/server/office temp who has come to James Ward for the past two years to help our students get a better grasp on the idea of Shakespeare. The students love when he is here and I'm so excited to introduce him to our new crop of 7th graders and get working! The Shakespeare unit will include reading and analyzing major scenes, watching the play on film, a research project on the Elizabethan Era and finally, a student production of the major scenes in the play.
8TH GRADE:
Talk about a challenge - the 8th graders completed Lord of the Flies in the first quarter and most did an outstanding job on the final test (many beating my score of 85%)! We spent the last two weeks writing diary entries as if we were the boys stranded on the island. Students really took on the voice and persona of these characters to create some great diaries.
Next week, MIKEY'S BACK and so is Shakespeare... only this time, we're tackling "Romeo and Juliet". I am excited to share this play with our 8th graders because they will read it again in high school and will be so much better prepared than many of their peers! The Shakespeare unit will include reading and analyzing major scenes, watching the play on film, a research project on the Elizabethan Era and finally, a student production of the major scenes in the play.
BOTH GRADES:
Grammar - we will be switching to a new bell ringer program called "Daily Dazzle" in which students will cover a variety of grammar, thinking and writing skills in our daily bell ringer time. Our hope is that we can keep the students engaged while evaluating their skill on a variety of tasks.
Accelerated Reader - students MUST be reading 30 minutes per day MINIMUM at 7th and 8th grade. Many students did not take this ongoing assignment seriously in the first quarter and received a very low grade. I will be monitoring independent reading much more closely for the remainder of the year. I will also be giving book talk/reflection assignment each of the remaining quarters.
Words Their Way/Word Study - students will also be expected to do some of their word study work at home. We are in the middle of unit 3, and I want to stress that students not try to memorize definitions, but rather understand how to use the words in sentences to help improve their comprehension and their writing.
Please feel free to contact me anytime with questions or concerns. My CPS email is [email protected].
We spent the first quarter focused on the novella The House on Mango Street. Students practiced identifying character development and figurative language while reading the vignettes in this novella. We concluded the quarter by writing vignettes about ourselves, focusing on peoples, places, events and things that help shape who we are. I was so excited to read some very personal and other quite witty stories about these kids. What a great way to get to know them even better! My hope is to publish these vignettes in a bound book in December! Students will have the opportunity to refine their work (yes, for a writing grade) in the coming weeks.
We will be kicking off our study of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" next week with our first Actor-Led workshop with Mikey Mulhearn. Mikey is a local actor/server/office temp who has come to James Ward for the past two years to help our students get a better grasp on the idea of Shakespeare. The students love when he is here and I'm so excited to introduce him to our new crop of 7th graders and get working! The Shakespeare unit will include reading and analyzing major scenes, watching the play on film, a research project on the Elizabethan Era and finally, a student production of the major scenes in the play.
8TH GRADE:
Talk about a challenge - the 8th graders completed Lord of the Flies in the first quarter and most did an outstanding job on the final test (many beating my score of 85%)! We spent the last two weeks writing diary entries as if we were the boys stranded on the island. Students really took on the voice and persona of these characters to create some great diaries.
Next week, MIKEY'S BACK and so is Shakespeare... only this time, we're tackling "Romeo and Juliet". I am excited to share this play with our 8th graders because they will read it again in high school and will be so much better prepared than many of their peers! The Shakespeare unit will include reading and analyzing major scenes, watching the play on film, a research project on the Elizabethan Era and finally, a student production of the major scenes in the play.
BOTH GRADES:
Grammar - we will be switching to a new bell ringer program called "Daily Dazzle" in which students will cover a variety of grammar, thinking and writing skills in our daily bell ringer time. Our hope is that we can keep the students engaged while evaluating their skill on a variety of tasks.
Accelerated Reader - students MUST be reading 30 minutes per day MINIMUM at 7th and 8th grade. Many students did not take this ongoing assignment seriously in the first quarter and received a very low grade. I will be monitoring independent reading much more closely for the remainder of the year. I will also be giving book talk/reflection assignment each of the remaining quarters.
Words Their Way/Word Study - students will also be expected to do some of their word study work at home. We are in the middle of unit 3, and I want to stress that students not try to memorize definitions, but rather understand how to use the words in sentences to help improve their comprehension and their writing.
Please feel free to contact me anytime with questions or concerns. My CPS email is [email protected].