Today, after being given time to carefully read the lesson plans and blog, we had a pop quiz. This seemed like an appropriate way to end the grading period that has focused so much on reading comprehension. Mrs. Scales explained that we had started the grading period out working on reading comprehension of a classic novel, Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Then we moved on to reading comprehension of nonfiction work such as the ISTEP instructions and test questions. We even worked on studying specific and differentiated meanings for words that can sometimes be used interchangeably. Okay, those were some big words to say that we looked at exactly what different vocabulary words used on the ISTEP were actually asking us to do. Finally, we have been doing our Twain WebQuest which in a big part is about reading and comprehending the instructions for each step of the process. We also have read nonfiction information about both the Twain Prize and Mark Twain.

Third period did not have to take the quiz because there is currently no one in the third period class with an F for the grading period.

Fourth period won the AR party and didn’t have to take the quiz or do any of the assignments for the day. For the rest of us, we reviewed the requirements of the final task of the webquest.

By now you have completed all of the first three steps of the webquest and gathered a great deal of information about Mark Twain and the Kennedy Center Twain Prize. You are now ready to write and design your brochure.

Your small publications company has been invited to compete for the contract to write and design a presentation that will be available to Kennedy Center visitors throughout the year. It might be a brochure, a slide/multimedia project, a video, or a web site, but this product will explain why the highest award our country can bestow upon a comedian is named for Mark Twain.

Our root word for today was pac, which means peace and we used the words Pacific, pact, and pacifier as our example words.