Middle School Literacy-Fofana Week of December 10th

Important Updates:

• All scholars must log on to Compass Learning daily to work on folders. Compass learning grades will be recorded every Monday for the previous week's activities.
• All Study Island assignments must be completed by due dates in order to receive credit. All grades for Study Island assignments will be recorded on Mondays.
• BAS testing has began. Any scholar who is not yet at a level "Z" will be tested during the BAS testing window.
• December 21, 2012: End of 2nd Quarter
• January 11, 2013: Report Card Pick-Up

Objectives: SWBAT

6th Grade

Monday: Define and analyze character motivation within a story

Tuesday: Analyze plot development (e.g., conflict, rising action, falling action, resolution) to determine    whether and how conflicts are resolved.

Wednesday: Identify and explain different types of conflict in a text

Thursday: Identify the climax of a story and defend their choice by analyzing the overall structure of the plot.

Friday: Complete reading and vocabulary assessment

Word Study: Connotations

7th Grade

Monday: 

Tuesday: 

Wednesday: 

Thursday: 

Friday: 

Word Study: Connotations

6th and 8th grade writing (Scott) for the week of 12.3.12

OVERVIEW: We will continue to work on developing a thesis for our Literary Essays.  Students will then begin pulling details from The Marble Champ to support his or her thesis.  Thursday and Friday we will begin review of Extended Response questions (part of the ISAT reading test).  We will look at the types of questions they may see on the ISAT and start "unpacking the prompt."

HOMEWORK: Students will be pulling details and begin writing their essays.  Thursday there will be an "unpacking the prompt" worksheet.

QUIZ/TEST: Writing a Thesis quiz, Unpacking the Prompt quiz

6th and 8th grade social studies for the week of 12.3.12

OVERVIEW: We will continue reading and taking notes out of History and Geography textbook.  This week we will be concentrating on section 2: Starting Over.  Students will practice our note-taking strategy and continue to identify and use text features.

HOMEWORK: Students will be taking notes on pages 247-250.  There will be a primary source worksheet as well.  Students should review their notes each night, this is a good scholarly habit.

QUIZ/TEST: note-taking quiz, section 1: A Nation of Immigrants quiz (students will be able to use notes they took on this section)

6th and 8th grade social studies for the week of 11.26.12

OVERVIEW: We are continuing our Immigration Unit, concentrating on European immigration at the end of the 19th century and early 20th century.  We are reading from the textbook History and Geography.  Students will be reading, identifying text features, and note-taking.

Strategy to take notes (one sentence per paragraph):

Questions to ask yourself:

1.       What one idea are all the sentences in this paragraph about?

2.       How does that idea fit in with what I know about this topic?

3.       What sentence adds information to the most important idea?

Be sure to include bold words.

HOMEWORK: Students will need to take notes on section 1 "A Nation of Immigrants," p. 242-246.

QUIZ/TEST: Students will have a quiz on note-taking at the end of the week.

6th and 8th grade writing (Scott) for the week of 11.26.12

OVERVIEW: We have started a new unit this week putting together two skills we have been working on in both social studies and writing: creating a thesis or topic sentence and supporting with details.  The new literary essay unit will be concentrating on reading a story, creating a thesis and then pulling details to support our thesis.

HOMEWORK: Students will read and take notes on The Marble Champ.  Students will also need to correct Conventions Tests 1 and 2 to earn extra points and improve test scores.

QUIZ/TEST: see homework

5th Grade word study words for week of 11/12

VOCABULARY WORDS WITH THE suffix “ation”

 which means action, or process

1.     violation

2.     education

3.     dedication

4.     limitation

5.     exploration

6.     graduation

7.     conversation

8.     nomination

9.     inspiration

10.  evaporation

11.  cancellation

12.  demonstration

13.  consideration

14.  anticipation

15.  communication

Write down 3 bonus words with the suffix “ation”.

1._________________________2._______________________3.________________________

Monday:  Copy definition of each word and make flash cards of the vocabulary words.

Tuesday:  Continue to write down definitions and finish flash cards.  Write a story using at least 5 of the vocabulary words.

Wednesday:  Write down a synonym for each word using the Thesaurus.

Thursday:  Practice learning the definitions with the Bingo board.  Study with flash cards.

Friday:  Review definitions and spelling/Vocabulary test Friday.

5th Grade Upcoming Events and News Week of 11/12/12

Important News and Dates:

• Scholars in 5A now have Technology on Mondays. These scholars will not have Gym this quarter, so they should not wear their gym uniform on Monday's. 
• All scholars must log on to Compass Learning daily to work on folders and passing the quizzes at a 70% or higher. Scholars also have one day a week in the classroom to log into Compass Learning and must bring headphones on their assigned day. 
• November 20th, 2012: Progress Reports go home with scholars.
• November 20th, 2012-Holiday assembly
• November 21-23: Thanksgiving Break

Reading Objectives:

• Learning how nonfiction readers ask questions before, during, and after reading 
• Learning the difference between fact and opinion 

Writing Objectives: 

• Finalize informational essay thesis statements
• Draft introduction of essay and first paragraph