What Was on the Board Today? : October 2014

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Periods 3/4, 5/6, 7/8

FINAL ESSAYS DRAFT DUE!!

We began learning about figurative language by reading the poem "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes.

Monday, October 27, 2014

Periods 3/4, 5/6, 7/8

Students were given the weekend to finish writing their outline/rough draft of their 5 Paragraph Theme Essay. Today the students traded papers so they could read and edit, fixing errors.

Essays are due tomorrow, Tuesday, October 28.

Monday, Oct. 20 - Friday, Oct. 24, 2014

Periods 3/4, 5/6, 7/8

The students should have already finished their Intro paragraph. Today we worked on finding RDFs (reasons, details, facts) to support our main ideas in the Body paragraphs.

This is the example essay that we used in class:

Essay Title:

Dynamic Characters and the Lessons We Learn From Them

P1. TS - In this essay, I will be writing about one of the many themes found in the book “Holes” by Louis Sachar. The theme I have chosen to write about is “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

1) Main Idea – Mr. Pendanski was a kind, caring character in the beginning of the book.

2) Main Idea – When first introduced to Zero, the reader assumed that he was not as smart as your average kid.

3) Main Idea –Stanley Yelnats the IV, the protagonist of “Holes,” began as an out-of-shape character who was always down on his luck.

Thesis Statement: One of the themes for the book “Holes” is don’t judge a book by its cover because throughout the book we find that characters change from when we first met them.

P2. TS: = Main Idea #1 -Mr. Pendanski was a kind, caring character in the beginning of the book.

RDF – “You’ve got a big fat heart,” said X-Ray (pg.17).

Ex – Mr. Pendanski was thought to be very nice at the beginning of the book by most of the characters. X-Ray even thought that “Mom” was nice.

RDF – The reader’s opinion of Mr. Pendanski began to change when we read about how he spoke about Zero.

Ex – “ _________________________” (pg. #)

RDF – Mr. Pendanski went so far as to say that a shovel could learn how to read more than Zero ever could.

Ex – This shows how cruel Mr. Pendanski really is to Zero.

Conclusion- These examples show how Mr. Pendanski’s character changed throughout the book and that this character is not who we expected him to be.

P3. TS: = Main Idea #2 - When first introduced to Zero, the reader assumed that he was not as smart as your average kid.

RDF – If a person cannot read, write, or speak, one may assume that they are unintelligent, or at least under-educated.

Ex -

RDF

Conclusion

P4. TS – Main Idea #3 - Stanley Yelnats the IV, the protagonist of “Holes,” began as an out-of-shape character who was always down on his luck.

RDF

Conclusion

P5. Conclusion Paragraph (last paragraph)

Restate thesis statement

Thesis Statement: One of the themes for the book “Holes” is don’t judge a book by its cover because throughout the book we find that characters change from when we first met them.

Restate the 3 main ideas:
- As readers, we saw Mr. Pendanski, Zero, and Stanley change from who we originally thought they were to a completely unexpected and different character than in the beginning. Each example given shows the dramatic change of each of these characters.
Pick a closing word to start your conclusion statement
- Clearly the book “Holes” deals with characters who are dynamic, not static. We, as readers, are able to watch these changes occur throughout the novel. After reading “Holes,” I can confidently state that one should never judge a book by its cover.

Friday, October 17, 2014

Periods 3/4, 5/6, 7/8

Students who had never written a 5 Paragraph Essay before were slightly confused about how main ideas are stated in the Intro paragraph, and then individually discussed in the three Body paragraphs.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Periods 3/4, 5/6, 7/8

Students came up with themes from the book "Holes" to write about in their 5 Paragraph Essay.

The words and phrases circled in green are subjects.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Yearbook:

Yearbook worked in their business groups and planned when to meet up.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Yearbook:

Yearbook was given the option to re-take their test today. If they got a higher score on this test, it would override their lower score from before.

Period 3/4, 5/6, 7/8

All periods reviewed their "Year in Review."

This means that all students had the chance to fill in all of their papers with the correct answers, which I will list below:

Adverb Review

An adverb is a word or phrase that qualifies or modifies an adjective, state, or verb, or a word group expressing a relation of place.

One adverb that does not end in –ly is: quite, then, there

Sample Sentence: I carefully carried my baby sister to her crib.

Preposition Review

A preposition is a word that relates a noun or a pronoun to another word in a sentence.

Under, on, around, outside, inside, before, underneath, in, between, below, out of

Sample sentence: I will kick all talkative students outside of this class.

Sentence Review:

A complete sentence requires three things: Subject, verb, and it must express a complete thought or feeling.

The subject of a sentence is what the sentence is about.

The predicate of a sentence is what the subject is doing in the sentence.

Summary Review:

Before I even begin writing a summary, I should REREAD THE STORY! Highlight the main parts and the important points or events.

The 4 things I should have in a summary are: who, what, where, when. Who is in the story, what happened, where did it take place, and when did it take place?

Theme & Subject:

The subject of a story is what the author is writing about! YAY!

The theme is the opinion that the reader develops about what the author wrote about.

Themes must not be too specific to the story, but must be universal : applicable to all mankind.

Vocabulary:

Barren, vinyl, vacancy, stifling, desolate, condemn, defective, scowl, gully, penetrate, PICK THREE!

Character Traits Review:

Stanley’s character traits are: courageous, nice, helpful, respectful, brave, loyal, caring, positive

Write this down: Stanley’s main character trait is his positivity. If Stanley was a negative character then Zero would not have learned to read because Stanley wouldn’t care. If Zero had not learned to read, he would not have dug Stanley’s holes. And if Zero had not dug Stanley’s holes, Zero would not have run away. Stanley would never have gone after Zero, because Stanley would have assumed that Zero was dead.

Plot Review:

There are five plot elements, starting from the beginning: Exposition/Introduction, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution! Hurray!

Rising action builds up right before the climax.

Reading Review:

“The Seventy-Mile Kid” by Tom Walker. It is about a man who comes up from the 48 States and becomes a famous dog musher in Alaska.

Conflict Review:

External Conflict

Character vs. character
Character vs. society
Character vs. nature

Internal Conflict

Character vs. self

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Today in periods 3/4, 5/6, and 7/8 we did what is called a Gallery Walk. A Gallery Walk means that there are pieces of paper posted on the walls of the classroom and the students have to visit each "station" in order to answer those questions or to copy down information.
This Gallery Walk was a memory test: how much information have you retained, starting from the beginning of this year. There were ten stations and each station had questions about a different thing we have learned about this year. Students were instructed to visit each station, answer as many questions as they could by memory alone, and write down their answers.
Gallery Walks only work when the entire class is silently walking around the class... as if they were in an art gallery (thus the name of the activity). Students who were talking were told to sit down.
We will review the correct answers tomorrow.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Periods 3/4, 5/6, and 7/8 all completed the Warm Up "What We Remember From This year."

The students were broken into four Conflict Groups:

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Periods 3/4, 5/6, 7/8

First, students wrote a creative story about the picture they saw on the board. Students had to use correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, and syntax.

Then students were taught what an interjection is in speech.

Mrs. Colella took this opportunity to sarcastically teach interjections, seeing as the class was being rowdy.

Next the class took fantastic Symbolic notes, focusing on vocabulary.

Monday, October 6, 2014

Periods 3/4, 5/6, and 7/8 watched a video explaining the two main types of conflict (internal and external). Students took notes on this video in their Journals. See the video here: Conflicts in Literature