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Debbie Woods, 7th Grade English |
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HomeworkMay 24- Today is the last day I collect late work. We will work on comic strips if the classes meet. (7th period will not meet today due to yearbook signing). I had my last class with them yesterday. :( I will not update tomorrow for obvious reasons.) I have had a great year with you guys and wish you and your families a happy and safe summer.
May 21 and 22 and 23- The day before yesterday the computers were down when I got to work and then with two meetings I had no time to update. Sorry! Tuesday I collected the essays and students chose, read, and began work on a comic strip based on a story from our literature book. They could work as partners or solo to complete this exercise. They will work on it whenever their class meets for the rest of the week. Today, will be the same assignment. I need the following assignments by tomorrow: 14 journals, 2 prefix/suffix worksheets, 19 midterm reports, 17 James Thurber worksheets and 18 humorous essays. Sadly, students who have more than one of these assignments missing are failing this six weeks. No more work will be collected after tomorrow as grades are due Friday at 8:00am. May 20- Today we will be editing the humorous essays written this weekend. The final paper will be due tomorrow. All missing work must be in my possession by Thursday or sooner! I will not be accepting any work on Friday. Homework: finalize essay and have it ready to turn in tomorrow. Finish all missing work. 23 journals; 6 prefix suffix sheets; 23 mid-term reports; and 19 James Thurber worksheets. May 18- What a great trip yesterday! I hope that everyone that went had an enjoyable time. Today in class we will be composing the humorous essay's rough draft. The final will be due on Tuesday. I will also be collecting journals. Homework: continue the rough draft of the essay so we may edit it in class on Monday. I also need 24 mid-term reports, 6 prefix suffix sheets, and 22 James Thurber SOL sheets. Have a super weekend! May 16- We will be beginning the planning of the autobiographical humorous piece of writing today. This will be due early next week. Our trip is tomorrow. Journals are due by Friday. Today is the last day to turn in end-term reports, final analogy worksheets and figurative language worksheets. The 0s remain if these are not turned in today. Still also looking for (but still have until 5/24 to turn in) prefix/suffix sheet, mid-term report, and the SOL work on the James Thurber article. Homework: need a lunch and supper plus snacks and drinks (no glass containers- need screw-on lids) for our trip tomorrow. Please be here by 6:15ish as we need to pull out at 6:30am. The busses should be behind the school where our school busses park. Other homework: please make sure the journal is turned in by Friday and that you begin rough drafting your humorous writing piece. (We will continue to rough draft on Friday in class). May 15- Mixed reviews on Dave Barry's sense of humor- Tough audience...Anyway, today we will look at one of his articles entitled "Sports for the Over-40 Person". Starting tomorrow, students will begin creating an essay that either mimics Barry's or Thurber's writing. An autobiographical piece. We will discuss it later. I will not have 7th period today due to testing. Homework: missing work (lots of pieces), be thinking of a funny thing that happened to you or something common/mundane that you find funny about which you can write. Algebra/Geometry people be ready for your SOL tomorrow. May 14- Monday (only one more Monday after today). -Like you didn't know that!- Today we will be journaling for the final time. We put pen to paper 35 times this year. Writing to a prompt is a skill needed and I hope that by having students journal it was in a way a practice for the SOL next year. Today's final topic: You are completing 7thgrade in the next two weeks. Tell me about your year in school. Overall, how did you do? Did you do as well or not as well as you thought you would? Were there some areas in which you really did well? In what areas could you still use some work? How have you changed as a student? How have you changed as a person? How have you changed as a friend? Explain these changes or stagnation. If you could say one thing to your teachers as a group, what would you tell us? If you could say one thing about the school year to your parental units, what would you tell them? Do you feel that you are ready for 8thgrade? Why or why not? Are you looking forward to 8thgrade? Why or why not? How are you planning to prepare for 8thgrade over the summer? After journaling, we will begin to look at a little of Dave Barry's humor. I will also be taking up Friday's homework and any missing items. The make-up-able 0's on the midterms are due by Wednesday of this week because the trip to Biltmore is Thursday. Please remember, no school lunches will be provided and students must have two meals for themselves and drinks for lunch and supper. We will be leaving from school by 6:30am and returning around 8pm. Whew. SS SOL is tomorrow and Alg/Geom SOLs are Wednesday. Math 7 is next Wednesday. Homework: bring in missing items; complete journal by Friday. May 11- Morning! Today we will be reading a James Thurber essay and I will be sending home work for each student to do based on the essay. Homework: complete worksheets; get mid-term signed if it wasn't already done; and late work is due by next Wednesday since we will be on the field trip next Thursday. Remember, for the field trip, both lunch and supper must be brought by the students (we will not be stopping nor will the cafeteria provide food). Have a lovely weekend! May 10- Late update- SOL testing doesn't allow us to be online during the sessions and I couldn't get to updating this page this morning. Today in class we did a materials check and journaled. Topic was to pick an outdoor storage building of 12 (or their own design) and tell me what they would do with it and how would they decorate it inside and out. I had 12 samples from which to choose or they could look at the buildings across the street or design their own. After journaling, different classes did different things in our humor unit. I am getting everyone ready to read some Dave Barry and James Thurber and perhaps write a humorous autobiographical essay before school is over. I handed out mid-term reports. Homwork: get mid-term signed; get make-up work turned in for credit; and complete today's journal if it wasn't done in class. Sunshine! May 9- The SOL test in reading will be administered this morning beginning at 7:50. After testing, students will resume their normal schedule. In 3, 4, 5, and 7th periods today we will begin discussing elements of humor. Homework: just return missing items and end-term reports. Mid-terms are scheduled to come home tomorrow. May 8- Happy SOL eve to you! Today, as I said yesterday, will be spent in final SOL review. The test is tomorrow morning at 7:50 and is scheduled to run until 9:20 unless someone needs more time. They are allowed more time. I have encouraged students to take their time and do their best. Have a good time with the passages. Homework: sleep well; eat a good breakfast tomorrow morning; 17 ETs; 14 final analogy homework papers; and 12 figurative language worksheets still missing. Mid-terms will come home on Thursday. There will be 5 school days to turn these items in or the zero remains. Have a lovely day! May 7- Good morning! Hope that everyone had a relaxing weekend and feels ready to be successful this week not only on SOLs but in life in general. Today and tomorrow we will complete our final preparations for Wednesday's SOL. It's all about confidence, endurance and taking time to think about what is being asked. Homework: SOL review; ETs (18); missing worksheet (15), start getting a good night's sleep and eating a wholesome protein-filled breakfast for Wednesday (and always). Enjoy Monday. May 4- Today in class we will review figurative language and complete a worksheet to see that this concept has been mastered and then we will discuss author organizational patterns to make sure that these, too, can be recognized. Homework: ETs still need to be returned (18); review for the SOL by looking over the SOL section of the notebook. We will spend Monday and Tuesday completing the discussion of the SOL review sheet I handed out on Thursday. Have a lovely weekend. May 3- Today we will certainly begin our Figurative language quick study. Homework: ETs (20); PS/$ due tomorrow or your child can not go and missing/late work. Please be reviewing the SOL section of the English notebook. May 2- Today I will hand back papers and we should finish the prefix/suffix worksheet begun on Monday. If there is time, we will start Figurative Language concepts as mostly a review. This should take us through Friday. Homework: 51 missing items are needed (20 ET, 6 of Ms. Lutz' analogy sheet and 25 weekend homework that was due on Monday). We also need $$ and PS for our trip by Friday. 13 students have not made a committment one way or the other in writing... May 1- Really? 18 1/2 days of school left? Gee whiz! Well, let's make today a great one! We will be having a lesson (at least the morning classes) by my student teacher concerning prefixes and suffixes and then move on into figurative language for the next couple of days. I changed up yesterday a little. We went ahead and collected the weekend's homework and then discussed Fact and Opinion, did a worksheet and moved on into a prefix/suffix worksheet using the language text book. MOst students need to complete this work, so before we move into figurative language, we will complete yesterday's work. Homework: ETs (20 still missing); PS and/or $$ for field trip due by Friday. April 30- No heart attack!!! A cardiac event... Yippee!!! We are so blessed! Today, I will be collecting the weekend's homework and then going over Fact and Opinion. I have worded the questions with the stems we saw on the benchmark test, so hopefully we can get through any confusion with the way the questions are worded. Homework: complete worksheet if not done in class; ETs (20); money and permission slips are due by Friday so we can have an accurate count to plan staffing needs. Thanks. April 27- Please keep my mother in your thoughts. She suffered a mild heart attack and is undergoing a catheterization this morning away from home in Petersburg, VA. Anyway, today we will complete our analogy study by doing some group work and then getting started on a homework worksheet that will be due on Monday. Homework: complete analogy worksheet, bring in end-terms, permission slips and $$. Have a good weekend. April 26- No driveway adventures this morning...just a lot of frogs on the road with the rain. Today is the final library visit. We should go and return within 10 minutes. Upon our return, we will work on analogies (not allusions). My student teacher will address 1st and 3rd periods and I will work with the rest of the classes. There will most likely be some type of homework dealing with analogies. This was another weak area of the benchmark test. I have taught this concept, so this should serve as a review. Homework: Return ETs (20 needed); $55.00 for trip (23 students need to take care of paying this); PS for the trip (24 students need to take care of bringing in this item); analogies worksheet needs to be completed if not done in class. (if this assignment changes, I will let you know). Stay dry. April 25- Can you say hydrophobia? Yikes! That made for an interesting driveway adventure this morning! Today we will try to finish up a discussion on allusions. I had given out several cartoons and fables awhile ago and need to complete that part of the lesson. Homework: Read 15; PS/$$; ETs (23); last library day tomorrow. Students must bring books to turn in and have no fines or overdue items in order to receive a 100 tomorrow. April 24- Today we will be having a lesson from an RU elementary ed student teacher that I agreed to let have a middle school classroom experience-10 hours observing and 10 hours instruction. She should be doing a lesson on prefixes, suffixes, and roots as well as a review of analogies. These were two of the weak areas overall on the benchmark test. I will update again if she requires any homework on her part. My homework: read 15; ETs (27); $$ and PS also needed. Be prepared for library day on Thursday. I have several overdue/fine notices which I will handout today. Report cards come home today. Please sign the envelope and have your child return it to the Titan teacher. Have a great day. April 23- Winter what???!!! Today I hope that we will complete the released SOL test review in all classes and then I will be giving a journal assignment that will need to be completed tonight for homework. Still need 36 end-term reports and numerous permission slips and/or money for our Biltmore trip. The deadline for those items is May 4th. Homework: read 15; ETs, $$, PS, and complete journal topic. This Thursday is our final turn-in for library materials for a grade of 100. In order to earn this grade, all materials must be back in the Media Center and no fines or missing books are on the student's record. April 20- An additional piece of information: Writing camp at VT- Day camp this summer for writing! Info is available. This one-week summer day camp takes place on the campus of Virginia Tech June 18th-22nd from 9-5.
Here are links to the information page and the registration page:
Registration: http://www.cpe.vt.edu/reg/awvt/ Hope some will take advantage of this opportunity.April 20- Happy Friday! Today will hopefully bring an end to our SOL released test corrections. Depending on the number correct, I can tell students their "score" as if it were a real SOL test. I will also inform students of their benchmark test score. Homework: read 45; get end-term signed and returned (96 on Monday); PS and/or $$ for Biltmore. Have a lovely weekend. April 19- Class is split in half today. We will remain in class the first half of the period continuing the over-going of the SOL released test. Then we will trek to the Media Center to visit the school book fair for the second half of class. Homework: read 15; bring in PS and/or $$ for trip; return end-term report sent home yesterday. April 18- Today we are going over the SOL released test- who knew an 18 minute dvd could turn into a class period's worth of discussion? Anyway, I am handing out end-term reports today. Please sign this and have your child return it tomorrow for a 101. Homework: read 15; get ready for book fair visit tomorrow; PS and/or money for Biltmore due by 5/4; get end-term signed. Enjoy the much needed rain. April 17- The last day of the 5th six weeks. The final six weeks will only have 27.5 days and 3-4 of thoses will be SOL testing, 1 will be our field trip, and 2 will be partially spent in the library at the book fair and returning books for the final time. Whew! How quickly it all winds down. Today I am planning on showing a quick preview DVD covering the book fair and then we will go over yesterday's SOL released test for strategy practice. Homework: read 15; PS and/or $$ by 5/4; go over SOL released test or finish it if you haven't. April 16- Well that was an interesting start to Monday. Ever had an Arthrogram? I shall leave you in suspense. I arrived at school literally at the beginning of 5th period. Today students are working on a released SOL test packet with a partner. Homework: read 15; bring in PS and/or money for our trip in May; last day for mid-terms and journals is tomorrow. (Last day of six weeks). Have a lovely day! April 13- We are sending permission slips home today for our Biltmore trip. Please sign and have your child return the permission slip and money (if necessary) as soon as possible, but by May 4th. Please indicate whether or not your child will attend school if they are not planning on attending the field trip so we have an accurate count for that day. Scholarship donations are obviously optional, but if you can swing it and haven't already done so, we would appreciate any donations to help cover the cost of the trip for those who cannot afford the whole amount. Today in class, I will be handing out a variety of graded assignments and we will be going over the SOL worksheet done while I was gone. Homework: Read 45; turn in missing work (12 journals and 13 mid-term reports); get permission slip signed and bring in money if you haven't already done so. Have a great weekend. April 12- Hi. Today is library day... Need I say more? It is, however, the last day we will be checking out materials to read. Today's grade is either a 100 or an unmake-up-able 0. Books need to be checked out or a book brought from home that will be the reading material for the next two weeks and no fines and/or lost books must be owed in order to earn the 100. Next Thursday we will be visiting the BMS bookfair as a class and the following Thursday will be our last library visit for the year. We will merely return books and make sure that no one has a lost or overdue book and that all fines are taken care of. This visit also results in a 100 or a 0. Homework: read 15; turn in late journals (13) and mid-terms (13); and be bringing in the $55.00 for our Biltmore trip. PLEASE NOTE: The make up day for SOL tests (reading, algebra, geometry, and social studies) is the day of the trip (5/17). If a student missed any or all of these tests, he or she will remain behind the day of the trip to test and it is highly unlikely that a refund will be available. April 11- Today I will be continuing the reading of several fairy tales trying to show how authors and speakers use these stories among others as sources for allusions within their work. Homework: read 15; be prepared for library day tomorrow; still looking for 13 journals and 14 mid-term reports. April 10- Happy return from Spring break! Today is our field trip to Bedford. Return around 4:00. Homework: read 15. March 30, April 2-4- Thought I would update for next week too since I won't be here and obviously won't be sitting down at the computer on vakay! Heeheehee... Today I will be continuing the allusions unit by reading from a collection of fairy tales. These stories form the reference base for a lot of allusions and I wanted to share them with students who either haven't heard them in awhile or have never heard them. I will also be handing out the nursey rhymes and fables and a few Family Circus comics for classes that didn't get them yesterday. Homework: Read 45; listen or search for allusions, prepare to be good next week for Mrs. Kirwan. Next week, students will begin with an SOL activity and, once completed, will select a historical fictional novel set in the Great Depression time period and read that for the remainder of the class period. On Tuesday, Mrs. Kirwan will give every student a novel response sheet to fill in by the end of class based on what has been read in the novel so far. Students will read throughout Tuesday's class and fill in the sheet. On Wednesday, the only class that will meet will be 7th period. The rest of the day (remember it is an early dismissal) will be spent in Titan period watching and discussing the movie The Mighty. 7th period class will continue to read the novel chosen and fill in the response sheet even further. Homework each night is to read 15 minutes and, over break, to read 1:30. Enjoy the time off and come back to a field trip on Tuesday, April 10 and library April 12. March 29- Today in class we will go over the Mall directory worksheets and share their new store names. After that I will hand out a couple of fables and comics to look for allusions and or allusion material. Homework: read 15; turn in late/missing work. $55.00 for our May 17 Biltmore field trip can be paid at any time. Extra scholarship money is always welcome. Thanks to all who contributed to our D-Day Memorial trip scholarship fund. Remember, that field trip is the day we return from spring break. A ride will be needed from school after we return. 2 days until I head to Florida! Yippee! March 28- Today I will take up and we will go over last night's homework. It is a non-make-up-able 0 if I didn't get it today. Obviously if your child was absent yetserday, they will work on this outside of the classroom while we go over it. I will also collect the last 18 journals and 36 mid-term reports. After we go over the homework, I will hand out a sheet that will need to be completed that goes along with the mall directory sheet given out yesterday. If it is not done in class, it will need to be completed tonight. Homework: read 15; bring in missing and late work; complete today's worksheet if not done in class. March 27- I have 8 students that will need to complete the benchmark, but we are moving on in class so they will need to come during Titan period to complete this for me over the next couple of days. Today in class I will collect mid-term reports and the 30 journals that are still missing, the 6 six word stories, the 10 sentence diagramming worksheets, and the 18 end-term reports. The last three assignments must be turned in by Friday or the zeroes remain. We are beginning a mini unit on literary allusions today. There is an SOL worksheet tonight that will be due tomorrow with no chance to make it up if I do not receive it at the beginning of class. Homework: Read 15; complete the SOL worksheet; return mid-terms and journals and, of course, any missing work. Have a lovely Tuesday! March 26- As expected, the benchmark test will be continued and, hopefully, completed today in class. I will also be handing out mid-term reports to be brought home and signed. The make-up-able zeroes are as follows: End-term report being signed and returned (3/6), the 6 word story ( 3/12), and the Last Sentence Diagramming worksheet (3/16). Library visits and SOL worksheets are non-make-up-able due to the fact we went over them in class the days they were due. All make-up-able work must be turned in by Friday or the zero remains. I am also collecting journals today that weren't turned in on Thursday/Friday. Homework: get mid-term signed; return any allowed missing work; read 15; permission slips and money for the upcoming field trip must be returned by tomorrow. We need to send a check for the busses and needed to set a cut-off date. If we don't have your child's permission slip and money and/or a promise of money by tomorrow, they will not go on the trip. At this time that involves 21 students (not counting the 5 that have already stated they will not be attending for other reasons). Help! We are also sending home a pink permission slip today that will need to be returned before 4/4 in order for your child to participate in the viewing of the movie, The Mighty, here at school on April 4. Please have your child return this permission slip to their Titan teacher in the next several days. March 23- Another Friday! Counting today, there are 9 more Fridays of school. Whew! Anywho, today we will be benchmark testing. It may run over into Monday. Homework: read 45; make sure that journals are here on Monday if I don't already have it; I am still on the lookout for end-term reports (due 3/7), six word stories (due 3/9), a sentence diagramming worksheet (due 3/16) and permission slips and money for our 4/10 field trip-DEADLINE HAS BEEN SET FOR NEXT TUESDAY. Please see that your child has turned in both of these items for our trip or make arrangements to do so by next Tuesday. Have a pleasant weekend. March 22- Today in class we will start with the idioms quiz and then finish looking at the slide presentation of the 6 word stories. After that, if there is time, students will illustrate some of the idioms we studied or others that they know. Homework: read 15; journal is due beginning today through Monday; bring a number 2 pencil tomorrow for the planned benchmark test; and I still need 18 end-term reports, 8 six word stories, 10 sentence diagramming worksheets from last Thursday, and 21 permission slips along with 33 payments for the field trip. I need these last two items on or before next Thursday. Have a great day. March 21- A few more idioms after journaling and then review for the quiz which will be given tomorrow. Homework: read 15; complete journal (it is due on or before Monday); study for tomorrow's quiz; 18 end-terms/11 six word stories/33 permission slips and money/ and several people owe me last Thursday's diagramming sentence worksheet... Mid-terms will be sent on Monday. March 20- Library Day and hopefully complete the going over of the 20 idioms begun yesterday. We will have a quiz on these idioms on Thursday. It will NOT be open notes... Homework: read 15; complete Monday's journal topic; begin quiz preparation; PS/$$; 18 ETs; 12 six word stories. I also still need last Thursday's sentence diagramming homework. I collected it on Friday but of course there are some who have not returned it.(11 to be exact).
March 19- Happy Monday! Today in class we will journal and begin a very short (20) idioms study. There will be a quiz on Thursday to cover these idioms we study today. We will be heading to the library tomorrow so everyone needs to have materials ready to return/renew/check out and we will probably have a reading day upon our return. We will journal and review the idioms on Wednesday and take the quiz on Thursday. The plan is to take an SOL benchmark test on Friday here in class (paper/pencil). I will also be collecting journals starting on Thursday to grade as well. The official due date will be Monday. A busy week, but we can handle it! Homework: Read 15; prepare for liobrary/reading day; complete journal topic started today; Still need 12 six-word stories, 20 end-term reports, 21 both Permission slips and money, and 13 money only. Have a lovely start to your work week. March 16- Sorry for the late update-Verizon issues and then SOL testing for 8th graders and we are not allowed to be online during that. In class today I collected last night's homework and gave students an SOL reading activity to complete in class. Homework: Read 45; complete journal by Sunday night; need 20 end-terms and 12 six-word stories as well as 22 permission slips and 35 payments for the trip on 4/10... Please??? March 15- Today in class we will journal (topic will be given upon return to class if anyone is absent) and then complete the slide show of the 6 word stories. I will then give out the final worksheet concerning sentence patterns and diagramming (will be given to absentees upon their return) before we move on to figurative language and poetry. I still am in need of 24 end-term reports and 16 six word stories. The EX in Portal usually means I have the product and it isn't yet graded, but several students were absent last Friday and did not receive the assignment and I put an EX in their grade slot as well. I do need those products. They are part of the 16 needed. Homework: read 15; PS &/or $; ETs; 6WSs; complete the grammar worksheet. Cheers! March 13- Today we will journal and then look at the 6-word stories handed in yesterday. I photographed them and placed them on the Smartboard for our viewing pleasure. Homework: read 30; PS and/or money; end-term still needed (26); 6-word stories still needed (24). Today's journal topic involves a very short story and some questions that need to be answered. I will give out the sheet to absent students upon their return. Remember- NO SCHOOL TOMORROW and we will journal on Thursday again. March 12- Today we will finish going over the SOL sheet from last week. (That sounds familiar... oh wait, we just worked on 6-word stories Friday- what a great class!) I will be collecting these stories today and creating a slide presentation of them. I feel like those that participated in the discussions on Friday really enjoyed the concept of these stories. Hopefully, I'll get some really creative examples. Homework: read 15; PS and/or $ for field trip; end-terms (need 30); complete 6-word story if not done already. No school on Wednesday- conference day. March 9- Today we will finish going over the SOL sheet from Wednesday night. Yesterday turned into an SOL testing/life lesson discussion. No apologies, it was a teaching moment. Today, after we go over the answers, I would like to have the students try out a story-writing style entitled "6 Word Stories". Saw it yesterday on an email and thought it was kind of cool. Why not? Homework: read 45; get end-term signed; bring in $ and/or PS; complete the 6 word stories (if necessary). Have a wonderful weekend. Mine will be a family birthday celebration weekend. My sister, one of my brothers and I have birthdays within 10 days of each other in March. So, family time! March 8- REPORT CARDS COME HOME TODAY! Today in class I will colllect last night's SOL worksheet and then we will discuss the answers and the article. Please be encouraging your child to use and practice proper grammar ( I will be covering some more of the basics) each and every day. (Especially verb tenses and pronoun use). Homework: read 15; get end-terms signed; get report card envelopes signed and returned to Titan teacher asap; bring $ and permission slips for our upcoming trip. March 7- Who would have believed that a 15 problem quiz would have taken most of the period yesterday? Hmmm. Anyway, today we will be going over the quiz and then I will be having the students read, discuss and then, individually, begin a worksheet on an article that discusses the misuse of grammar. The worksheet will be due tomorrow. Could you please remind yourself, students, or, if you are a parent reading this, remind your child, that homework is to be completed at home and not when school begins from copying another student's paper? We seem to have a rash of cheating going on before the bell rings by students who feel it is okay to copy someone else's work instead of completing their own work when it was assigned. Very disturbing... Homework: read 15; complete the SOL activity sheet; bring in signed end-term; bring in $$ and/or permission slip. March 6- Quiz today on sentence diagramming then a reading period until all are done. After that, I will read an article on the importance of grammar in the workplace. Homework: read 15; get end-term signed; bring in $$ and/or permission slips for our 4/10 trip. Tuesday it is! (That's SLVPN in an inverted order to add drama to the sentence). March 5- Morning! Well, I left 2+ inches of snow in Craig County this morning... Anyway, today, being a normally scheduled day, we will be going over Friday's worksheet and preparing for a rather simple quiz that will be administered tomorrow. Homework: read 15; bring in $27.50 and/or permission slip; study for diagramming quiz. Enjoy Monday. March 2- Happy Friday to all of my regulars! Hope it was a wonderful week for you and your family. Today in class we will be going over and correcting Wednesday's worksheet, then will spend the rest of class practicing more simple sentence diagramming. If you, Student, or your child, Parent, is absent today, here are the sentences we will diagram after going over the worksheet. Just do them on your own paper.
1. I had pizza on Sunday. 2. The cheeseburger pizza was delicious. 3. I gave Rickey my other slice. 4. The restaurant was Pizza Hut. 5. We ate after our job. 6. The three students worked on the project. 7. The green ivy grew along the walls of my house. 8. My bored students read on the bus during the ride to the museum. 9. The homeless family wandered around the city. 10. He sang badly. Homework for the weekend: read 45; make sure the 10 sentences are diagrammed; bring in permission slips and/or $27.50 March 1- Today is Library/Reading Day. It is also the last day of the six weeks. 12 weeks of school left-That is hard to believe. Homework: make sure that the diagramming worksheet from Wednesday is complete by tomorrow; read 15; and bring in permission slips and $27.50 for our upcoming trip in April. February 29- Today we will work as partners or solo to practice a few diagramming exercises. I posted it on the Handouts page in case you are absent today. Please ignore page 2. Students will then come to the board and show their work. Homework: library day tomorrow-be prepared; read 15; $27.50 and permission slips needed from 2/3 of team; review sentence diagramming. The six weeks ends tomorrow. The only late work I will accept up to through tomorrow is the mid-term report. Everything else was due when it was due (non-make-up-able) or was past due as of 2/16. February 28- Today I will collect the remaining 1/2-backs and we will begin simple diagramming of sentences. Homework: read 15; bring in $$ and permission slip for the 4/10 trip to the D-Day Memorial; review sentence diagramming exercises from today. We will be building on them tomorrow. February 27- Well, hopefully everyone knows what their test grade is by now. There were 18 students who received a D or F! That is disappointing on many levels to me. I also had several students who did not finish and several more that were absent. Therefore, with this in mind, today will be a test day again. Anyone who made anything below a 134/135 is exempt from today's activities and may read or work on other assignments. Everyone else will be correcting their mistakes for half credit, completing, or taking their test for the first time. If students cannot take a simple sentence and determine its parts using logical thought processes, reading and foreign language studies will be very challenging. I have got to make sure everyone can think through these processes before we continue this unit. Homework: Read 15; complete half-backs at home if not completed in class (I must have them by tomorrow for credit), money and permission slips. Library Day is Thursday. Please be prepared. February 24- Well, it's Friday and test day. Hopefully, everyone has been taking my advice and reviewing a little bit each night and, last night, took the time to organize their notes to match the order of the test. After we test today, students will be asked to read quietly until the end of the period. Homework: read 45; bring in $$ and permission slips for our 4/10 trip and I still need 19 mid-term reports. Have a great weekend. February 23- Happy Thursday! Today we will go over last night's worksheet on sentence-type id and then spend time addressing any last questions/concerns. Homework: make sure that all grammar sheets are in the notebook in order that they be accessible for tomorrow's test; review for that test; $27.50 and permission slips need to be returned for our 4/10 trip. February 22- A busy day today in class. We will be going over last night's worksheets and then I will hand out a flow chart and a worksheet to help students navigate through simple, compound, and complex sentence identification. We will of course practice in class before I send them out with homework. I will also be handing out a review sheet with a variety of exercises upon it in order that students will be able to practice the areas that they feel are still weak. The test will still be given on Friday, but that means tomorrow is the final review and practice. Hopefully, everyone will be ready and please remember, it is open note. Homework: read 15; complete sentence identification worksheet; complete review sheet in the areas that you feel need practice; be bringing in $27.50 and permission slips for the first field trip scheduled for 4/10. February 21- Well, I managed to miss the big storm, but had a wonderful girls' weekend in Alabama! Hope everyone was able to enjoy the long weekend. Next trip: March 30- all the way to Florida! Whoo hoo! Judy Kirwan will be my substitute for the two and a half days before spring break. Today in class we will quickly try to go over this weekend's review sheets and I will hand out 3 worksheets that cover pronouns and prepositional phrases. Students have been exposed to these ideas so I want them to complete the sheets with limited discussion (due to delayed opening). I will be going over them quickly tomorrow. The grammar test is still scheduled for Friday. Homework: read 15; complete worksheets; $27.50 and permission slips for our upcoming trip (April 10) and money for our second trip ($55.00) plus any extra for scholarships if possible. Have a great day. February 17- Today we will be going over the transitive/intransitive worksheet handed out on Wednesday. After that, I will hand out a couple of extra practice exercises that will need to be completed over the weekend if not completed in class. Worksheets are placed on the Handouts page. Don't forget that Monday is a holiday. Tuesday we will discuss proper pronoun use and prepositional phrases, Wednesday and Thursday we will learn to identify simple, compound and complex sentences, and the open note test will be next Friday. Whew! Then after the test, we will be building on the writing of those compound and complex sentences as well as playing around a bit with sentence diagramming. Homework: read 60 minutes; review for grammar test; complete the extra practice worksheets begun in class today. Be safe! I will be leaving after school today to travel to Ft. Payne, AL to visit with my daughter and granddaughter who will travel from their home in Florida to meet me. Yippee! February 16- Today is Library/Reading day! Nothing else need be said. All missing work was due by today. Homework: read 15; review for next Friday's grammar test; complete last night's transitive/intransitive verb worksheet. Enjoy the rain. February 15- Today we will take a review quiz on sentence patterns after yesterday's lesson/independent work sessions which, by the way, went very well. After the quick quiz, we will be delving into transitive and intransitive verbs (a transitive verb is a verb that has a direct object after it in that particular sentence. All other action verbs without direct objects, being or linking verbs will not have direct objects after them. EX I saw the dog. Saw is an action verb. Saw what? dog. Dog is the direct object therefore, saw is a transitive verb. EX I looked in the closet. Looked is an action verb. Looked what? no answer= no direct object therefore, looked is an intransitive verb.) It's just logic, folks; however, the knowledge of sentence pattern identification is a must in order to see if there is a direct object. Homework: Read 15; complete T/I worksheet; review for grammar test; all mid-term zeroes are due by tomorrow; optional ACC paper re-do due by 2/27; bring library/reading materials for library day tomorrow. February 14- Happy Valentine's Day!  Today the classes divided into two parts: students who feel comfortable with sentence pattern identification and students who aren't quite there yet. I worked with the students who need a bit more practice and the other students completed two activity sheets for me independently. Homework: read 15; bring in any missing work; review for grammar test (late next week); think about redoing the ACCpaper -(optional- due on or before 2/27, I would need the graded packet I handed back yesterday/today and the new final paper). Have a lovely day. February 13- Well, an after-school update is better than no update at all... 7 papers, 14 end-terms, 13 journals and 27 mid-terms needed. Today, I handed back papers and we went over the two sentence quizzes. Students have a chance to redo their ACC paper if they wish. I am available during lunch or before school if they need any help. The final paper along with the original packet of planning etc... would be due on or before 2/27. Homework: read 15; review for grammar test; bring in any missing work. February 10- Today I need 7 papers, 16 end-terms, and 16 journals. I will also be checking last night's homework and collecting signed mid-term reports. After all of this, I will be having the students fiddle with the directions with which they worked last night and have the option of retaking or resubmitting the quiz from yesterday based on their homework last night. Homework over the weekend: read 45; complete and return any missing work and/or mid-term reports, review for grammar test. Enjoy the cold weekend ahead. February 9- 7 papers, 16 end-terms and 21 journals. Mid-terms come home today. My apologies to some of my 5th period students. I did not get the essays graded, so the EX remains in this catagory for some students. As soon as I get papers finished, I will update the grades so you can see how your grade was affected. For everyone, I did not put the first materials check on this mid-term, but will post that grade by the end of school today. Also, the EX on the journal grade means I have it or there was an absence. The zero indicates the journal is missing and must be turned in within 5 school days (2/16) for credit to be received. Otherwise, the zero will remain. Essays and end-term zeroes can also be repaired on or before 2/16. Today in class we will take an open note quiz on Sentence Pattern identification. After the quiz, I will give out a homework assignment that will be due by the beginning of class tomorrow for a grade. (It is not a fixable zero). I am not posting this assignment on this site. If absent, I will give it to the student upon the return to class. Homework: read 15; bring in late work; complete homework sheet; review for grammar test; get mid-term signed. February 8- I still need 8 papers, 17 end-terms and 26 journals. Mid-terms come home tomorrow. Today in class we will be doing a sentence pattern group activity. There will be a quiz tomorrow on sentence pattern identification. 10 sentences/each pattern will be used twice. Homework: read 15; bring in late work; review for quiz. February 7- Happy birthday, Charles Dickens! I need 8 papers, 17 end-terms and 33 journals! Today in class, we will go over last night's worksheet on sentence patterns (#1), go over the second set of sentence patterns and do some practice picking out linking verbs and predicate nouns and predicate adjectives (SLVPN, SLVPA). Homework: read 15; turn in late work; review for test; sentence pattern worksheet #2. (On Handouts page for those who are absent or just plain curious. February 6- Today I am still in need of 8 papers and 17 end-terms. I will be collecting journals as well and then we will be going over some sentence pattern notes and completing an SV, SVDO, SVIODO pattern worksheet (I placed the notes and worksheet (ignore the date)on the Handouts page for your convenience). Homework: read 15; complete worksheet; review for grammar test (two weeks away); bring in any missing items. Mid-terms come home on Thursday. Please be looking for them to sign. February 3- 17 end-terms and 10 papers left to be collected. Today we will go over Tuesday's night's homework and then take a quick 10-sentence quiz identifying subjects and verbs. It will be open note just in case linking verbs need to be verified. I will add to that the first page of the grammar test for additional practice (but not a grade). Homework: read 45; practice 1st page of grammar test; bring in any remaining late work and the journal on Monday (if it wasn't already turned in). Have a SUPER weekend! February 2- Number of missing items still sits in the same position. Hello? Anybody out there? Anyway, today is Library/Reading day. Nothing else need be said. Ahhhhh. Homework: read 15; practice 1st page of grammar test; review Tuesday night's homework and add other pieces of info to the sentences (ie. sentence patterns/adjectives/adverbs/prepositional phrases, etc...); complete journal for turning in on or before Monday; review for S/V quiz tomorrow (10 sentences from which students will identify subjects and verbs) and make sure late work and course registration sheets are turned in asap. Have a great day! February 1- Number of missing items remains the same. Today we will journal (it's a doosie) and then go over last night's double-sided worksheet. Topic: A letter of recommendation is often required of anyone interested in obtaining a job as well as for some volunteer positions. For instance, if you were being interviewed for a babysitting position, the family might require you to get several letters of recommendation from previous as well as current families for whom you babysit. Sooner or later, you will need to ask people you know, and who know you well, if they would write a letter of recommendation for you. Generally speaking, it cannot be a family member or can only be a minimum of one family member. The letter would contain information about your work ethic, your responsibility, your dependability, your maturity, your ability to get along with others, your ability to problem solve, and your ability to learn. It could also discuss your punctuality, your attention to detail, and whether you can, and are, willing to go above and beyond that which is asked of you. As you can tell, a lot of thought would need to go into the writing of a letter of this kind and could only be written by someone who knows you well and with whom you have established a strong relationship. Today I want you to think about your relationships with non-family adults in your life. Who would you get to write a letter of recommendation for you?It may be a member of your worship center or a parent of a child for which you babysit. It may be a scout leader or your music teacher; it might be a teacher. It may be an employee of a job that you have right now. Why do you feel that they would be the person you ask to write your letter? Finally,what do you think their letter would say?(Refer back to paragraph one and the underlined, italicized, bolded text). Try to discuss each area within the bolded text. If you wish, you may ask that person to actually write you a letter of recommendation and you may place it in your journal. (I wouldn’t read it unless you gave me permission). Januray 31- Numbers of missing items remain the same... hmmmm. Today in class we will journal and then go over last night's subject/verb worksheet and I will give out another worksheet to be completed by tomorrow. We will have a quick quiz probably on Friday before starting into our next section. I anticipate that the test will be in 3 weeks, but I will give a few little quizzes along the way. Homework: read 15; complete journal if not done in class; practice 1st page of the grammar test; bring any late items to me asap; S/V worksheet #2 needs to be done; course registration sheets due by 2/2. Journal topic: Think about “alone time”. Do you believe that “alone time” is important to a person’s well-being? Why or why not? Can a person have too much “alone time”? Explain. Do you feel comfortable spending time by yourself? Why or why not? How often do you get true “alone time”? Does everyone in your household have their own “alone time”? Explain. Tell me some activities you would enjoy doing if/when you are alone. Do you believe that your parental units also need alone time? Why or why not? If you think they do, how can you help provide this time for them? Have a great day! January 30- 11 papers & 18 end-term reports are still delinquent. In some classes we need to complete the grammar pre-test and in all classes we will be given a set of grammatical definitions and a worksheet (worksheet is on Handouts page for those who are absent or for parents who wish to practice...) Homework: read 15; practice 1st page of grammar test; bring in course registration sheets by Thursday and late work asap. We will journal tomorrow and Wednesday, go to the library on Thursday and journals will be due on or before next Monday. Happy Monday! January 27- Okay...12 papers and 18 end-term reports still missing. Today will be grammar test corrections to complete that introductory part of the unit. Next week I will be handing out lots of information and we will begin to practice each part of the pre-test's concepts in order to prepare for the upcoming (date TBA) test. Homework: read 45; practice for the 1st page of the test; get any end-terms and papers to me; make sure the journal is complete from this week; bring back course registration sheet (due by 2/2). Have a lovely weekend. January 26- As of this morning I need 13 papers and 20 end-term reports.... Really?!!! Come on! Today we will journal (same sheet as Tuesday, just picking two more topics). After journaling: the continuance of the grammar pre-test corrections. Homework: Late work; practice 1st page of grammar test (Date TBA); read 15; complete journal topic; begin looking at course registration sheet that is due back by 2/2. If your child wishes to take a foreign language next year, please discuss MATURITY LEVEL, WORK ETHIC, ATTENDANCE, GRADES AS A 7TH GRADER, and EXPECTED WORKLOAD and OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL ACTIVITIES ANTICIPATED NEXT YEAR before choosing the language. These are the categories I think about when recommending a student for a language study. Remember, each language class typically has 30-45 minutes of homework each night and so does the math class. That 1-2 hours of guaranteed homework each night does not include Civics, science or English, plus any elective class homework. Is there enough time in your child's after-school hours to accomodate that workload? Also, Latin is a virtual class, totally independent and on-line. Students really need to be self-starters and have the ability to work independently. Of course, there is an adult in the classroom, just not the actual Latin instructor. The other two classes have teachers of the subject in the classroom. Students do not have to take a foreign language in 8th grade because they still have enough time in high school to get in the required credits for colleges. Something to think about. If I have concerns, I will mark them on the registration sheet. If you have questions, please feel free to email me. January 25- As of this morning I need 14 papers and 23 end-term reports. Today we will continue going over the answers on the grammar pre-test. We will also practice the first page of the grammar test. Homework: read 15; late work needs to be done; have journal ready to write again tomorrow; study for first page of grammar test. (Date TBA). Happy Wednesday! January 24- As of this morning I need 14 papers and 29 end-term reports. Today and Thursday we will be journaling in class. The topic sheet will be given to each student individually but I have added it here for convenience: Instructions for life- Pick two of these instructions today and two more for Thursday and write about them as they apply to you and your life. Why did you choose them? How are they meaningful to you? Have you experienced their wisdom? Have you found them not to be true? Explain. Don't forget to make it clear which ones you have chosen. 1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk. 2. When you lose, don't lose the lesson. 3. Follow the three R's: Respect for self Respect for others Responsibility for all your actions 4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck. 5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly. 6. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship. 7. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it. 8. Spend some time alone every day. 9. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values. 10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer. 11. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life. 12. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the past. 13. Be gentle with the earth. 14. Once a year go someplace you've never been before. 15. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it. Dalai Lama
January 23 - At last count I am in need of 24 ACC papers and 38 end-term reports (granted some of these are excused due to absences, but thought I would give the total number FYI). I will be collecting hopefully most of these today. We will begin the pre-test corrections. I want everyone to begin to memorize the first page of the grammar test. After this page is completed, the rest of the test will be open note. DON'T PANIC: the test date has not been assigned-just fair warning. Homework: read 15; bring in any late work; begin to memorize the first page of the grammar test. List the 7 Subject pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, they List the 7 Object pronouns: me, you, him, her, it, us, them Tell what pronouns do? take the place of nouns Name the 5 noun "spots" and tell what type of pronoun goes in each spot: subject (S) subject (S) predicate noun (PN) subject (S) direct object (DO) object (O) indirect object (IO) object (O) object of the preposition (OP) object (O) The first page of the grammar test should take less than 1 minute to complete (abbreviations in parenthesis will be allowed on the last part). January 20- Happy Friday of a very short week. I must be getting very old because time is FLYING BY! Today we will be going to the library (should have gone yesterday-oversight on my part) and then return to class and work on the pre-test. Yesterday I handed back papers, gave out end-terms, and gave a general pep talk. Because we are going to the library today, we probably won't get through the pre-test corrections so that will be completed on Monday. (What's new?) Homework: read 45; bring in any late work (end-terms/ACC papers). Enjoy the weekend. January 19- Ready for the second half of the year? I am! We will be beginning a grammar unit today by completing and beginning to correct a grammar pre-test. We will complete the corrections tomorrow. I will be collecting planning and rough drafting and final paragraphs or essays tomorrow (Friday). Please remember that I need all pieces, the final must either be in ink or typed and, regardless if in ink or typed, double-spaced. Homework: get end-term signed, complete paper, make sure school supplies are in order (pens, pencils, glue sticks, paper, planner, English notebook, etc...). Attitude check!?! Go!!!!! |
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