While we wait patiently for our book club book choices to come in the mail (they should be here by today!), we've been exploring science fiction short stories. We've talked about science fiction elements such as spaceships, advanced technology, aliens, etc., and we've wondered about the "what if..." questions and the warnings authors are trying to help us realize. Many of our short stories have short films to go with, so that's a bonus of this unit! ;) The stories we've read so far are on our student notes here, and we've even dipped our toes into the possibility of us heading to Mars... What's the last science fiction story or book you've read or movie you've seen?
What a whirlwind the start of the year has been. Without the snow to keep kids busy outside, I think they're thinking they need to bring even MORE energy inside. It's been exhausting, yet I'm still here and still willing to give it my best!
Last week, we reviewed plot diagrams / story maps with two short stories - one from Langston Hughes and one from Piri Thomas. This week, we have discussed and done some research on autonomous vehicles. We'll be starting science fiction next week, so we thought we'd start with sharing something that USED to be science fiction and has now become science fact. Our "What if..." questions will drive much of our learning in the next few weeks. We ended this week with a fishbowl discussion, which we have not had in awhile. (Our full plans are here.) Mrs. Rehberger and I also took some time to meet 1-on-1 with students, looking at their reading and writing evidence for this quarter before we came up with a grade. We're sending home the sheet we used to document our discussion with your child today. Please ask your child to see it - it's got information on there you might not yet know about. Here's to the New Year - and to third quarter starting next week! ~Joy
Many years in the past, my ELA classes have been hyped up the week before winter break. These past two weeks have been no exception - unless you count that they were engaged in reading and writing each week - ALL week! We've kept busy with our 12 Days of Stories (writing to quick story prompts) and our Interactive Stories. We chose one piece of writing to make "publish-ready" regarding grammar. I'll get students feedback over break, and they'll have a couple of days to revise the week we get back. We did the interactive stories so I could go around and help students with their grammar. Please ask your child to read his or hers - they were very creative! Our full two-week plans are HERE.
Our gratitude chains made the room festive, and your children have MUCH to be grateful for, for sure! We'll begin our conferences about grading the Wednesday we get back from break, as second quarter ends January 17th already! Please take some time out of the next two weeks to read with your child. Taking two weeks off of reading won't benefit him or her when we return to school and get back into reading each day. Let's keep the stamina strong for sitting for 20 minutes quietly with a book! Thank you in advance! Further Reading: "Researchers say if parents want to successfully cut back on their child’s screen-time, they must first cut back on screen-time themselves"
Oh, that week in between these two has made this past week FLY again! I, like many of your children, was a bit hesitant to come back to school this Monday. I was really enjoying full-time family time. When your children came into the room, however, my attitude was ALL IN once again. Your children's smiles and fun attitudes (and even other types of attitudes) remind me of why I'll be in 7th grade for the rest of my life... ;)
The week prior to break, we finished our book club books! We ended the week sharing our "mock picture books" we created that could extend the learning from their book choices. They were so creative! This past week, we had the classroom spelling bee, and then we dug into two (in-class) projects at once. The first is "12 Days of Stories," where we listen or watch a small, personal story, and then we write in response to it (or write ANYthing). At the end of these twelve days, we'll choose one of our pieces, make sure it's a certain length, and then work on our grammar for our "polished piece." The other is interactive stories. Students choose a partner or work alone, and create their own interactive story - you may know them as "choose your own adventure" story. During this time, I'll be helping students with their grammar, so they can use this feedback on their polished piece. As mentioned in the email home, your child's midterm reflection sheet should be coming home this week with your child. Check HERE to see what it will look like. Your child reflected, and then I wrote on the back my thoughts if I disagreed. If your child does not bring this home, check PowerSchool for the assignment "Midterm 'Grade,'" then ask your child what he or she wrote about their effort, focus, and reading at home. To see our FULL plans for the last two weeks, check HERE. Further Reading: “Sorry, Parents: Middle School Is Scientifically the Worst”
The older I get, the faster the weeks go...
We are currently neck deep in our historical fiction book clubs. What I (personally) love, is that many students who were resistant to reading historical fiction when we started reading are enjoying their book choice! There are still under a handful of students who aren't that happy with their choice. I've noticed they have another book going on at the same time, however - beautiful! We've talked more about characters, conflict with personality traits, and we've been doing a few more (risk-free) quick writes. We've been working on a short creative piece this week. In case you're interested, here were our two-week plans.
I, personally, have missed two days in the last two weeks, and will be missing two more in the NEXT two weeks. The absence from your children doesn't feel good - I love this group of seventh graders!
Before conferences, we studied the brain a bit - what happened to a man named Phineas Gage and how it's related to the adolescent brain. Their frontal lobes are still developing for about 10 more years - hang in there! This past week, we reviewed the last article of the week, introduced students to a grammar tool called "No Red Ink," and started our historical fiction book clubs!! Ask your child the book they're reading, and in what time period it takes place. Since students are to keep up with their group, this reading will be added to Schoology, so you can always ask your child how they're keeping up. One AWESOME way to keep up is to read it alongside your child. They'd probably love talking about it with you, as well as with their peers! In case you're interested, here are our full plans for the last two weeks. We'll be focusing more on book clubs in the next two weeks.
Our narrative writing is DONE! Students have had two weeks to revise, and many took the opportunity MULTIPLE times! Some students chose to not revise, and some students really didn't need to revise. It was fun for me to read all of the different stories (true or creative) your children have written.
The past week and a half, we've read about animals in captivity, taken copious notes, and then we had fabulous discussions about it. The civility in these discussions was amazing - your children CAN talk to each other respectfully! We even used a new app that tracked the conversation. We could note and recognize that students were referring back to the text, responding to other speakers, and encouraging others to share. Wednesday this week was my Dream Day, for sure. Mrs. Rehberger and I have been having one-on-one conversations about grades for this quarter. They are very revealing, as students have been very honest about their strengths and their struggles. We look at the evidence of their reading and writing (habits and skills), and we also made a goal for second quarter. If you don't yet see a final grade in PowerSchool, we'll be having our discussion next week. Here are our full notes from the past two weeks. The past two weeks, we've been cranking out our writing! We've written narratives - either true, fake, or a mix - and added lots of showing (instead of telling), along with attempting a slow-motion moment. We've experimented with hooks/leads and also conclusions. We've focused on how to punctuate compound sentences, as well. Peer feedback was also helpful yesterday. Our first polished piece of writing was due today, and students will be receiving screencasted feedback if they have not already received one-on-one feedback for their final piece. You'll see the link to the video feedback when you head to PowerSchool, click the "i" after ELA, and click "view" on the assignment for their writing. If students don't check out the feedback on their own, they can take five minutes in class to do so.
We also started the book Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (the author who came to our school last year), and we'll finish it next week. I'm reading this one aloud to students, so we can talk about it as we go. Next week, we'll be delving into a week of research and discussion about the topic of zoos, and the week after that, we hope to begin our first round of book clubs with historical fiction titles (science fiction will come after winter break). That's our big news for the last two weeks - reading, writing, speaking and listening... that's what we do! (Here are our complete notes from the past two weeks, just in case you'd like a bit more detail. You can always find these on this page of our website, as well.)
We're into the swing of things! The past two weeks, we've shared some good first chapters (that have students running to the library), we shared our six-word memoirs, many of YOU came to TMS for Parent Night (it was great to meet you!), we read articles about cellphones in school, got a refresher on how to use WeVideo (for student book trailers, if they wish), practiced a fishbowl discussion, wrote about significant moments, and introduced adding dialogue to our writing. Here are our notes from the past two weeks. There's a link on Schoology for students, in case they're ever absent or would like to know what we may be doing. This link goes to the page on our classroom website that says "Our Notes," so you or your children can check there at any time.
My favorite part of the last two weeks was hearing more than half of our students participating in our fishbowl discussions. They took turns, listened to each other, supported each other, and brought up some great ideas about cellphones in schools. It's usually hard for me to stay out of fishbowl discussions, yet each class was so skilled at them that this time it was easy, and I was able to take notes on what they shared! What was your child's favorite part of the last two weeks?
Further Reading for Parents: "Fifteen Questions to Replace 'How was school today?'"
Animoto not working this week...
I tried to upload our photos from the past two weeks, yet for some reason this year my Animoto account did not renew itself like it has since 2012! (I think that credit card is expired...) I'll be working hard to get this set right so I can pay the $30 educator price for 10 min videos instead of the $96 regular price. Until then, check out our Twitter stream here:
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Come Visit!Simply email me to come into class. We'd love to hear book talks (suggestions for good books) or picture books (read aloud by YOU). We hope to see you in class this year!
Great questions to ask your child: |