After a wonderful three day weekend, we were back to work as soon as the bell rang.  There was a lot of information on the front board in English class today.

 

1)      Review Class Blog

2)      Review Lesson Plans on moodle

3)      Wait for Mrs. Scales to begin quiz.

 

The quiz was 15 questions pertaining to the regular classroom procedures that we have been using since day one of the school year. Part of the quiz had to do with us being able to come into the classroom, follow the directions on the board, turn on our computers, log into moodle and be ready to take the quiz.  Being able to do it is a performance assessment.  Answering the written questions correctly is a knowledge assessment. It is important that we have the knowledge (know stuff) and can perform the task (do stuff).

 

Also on the board was a Martin Luther King Jr. quote. “Ten thousand fools proclaim themselves into obscurity, while one wise man forgets himself into immortality.”  This is the quote for the 2012 Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest.  The essays must not exceed 450 words.

 

Another essay contest that we can enter is the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution’s American History Essay Contest 2011-2012.  This year’s topic is “Young America Takes a Stand: The War of 1812” and to enter you must pretend you were alive during the War of 1812.  You had a friend who has become famous in history because of standing up for America during that exciting but dangerous time.  Describe the person and how he or she stood up for America and explain why it is important to honor such heroes when we celebrate the 200^th anniversary of the War of 1812.

 

There are two other essay contests that we can chose to enter but they are open ended and we can write about anything we want. Everyone will have to write an essay for at least one of the writing contests, but we can chose which contest we want to enter.

 

Today we had a writer’s workshop and we could work on the edited copy of the writing assignment we had been working on, or start a first draft for one of the essay contests.  To help us get started Mrs. Scales also wrote the following proof reading marks on the board.  We copied them into the notes section of our W-R’s N and added an entry on the second line of our Notes Table of Contents page.

 

 

Delete

 

Insert space

 

Close up

 

Caps—used in text

 

Transpose—used in text

 

 

Paragraph

 

 

 

Insert comma

 

Insert period

 

There are lots of other proof reading marks, but these are some of the most common.  We can use these marks when we peer review each others writing.  Today we could do peer review conferences on the piece of writing we have been working on in class, or start a new essay.  Writing workshop is all about choice and we could choose how to spend our writing time.  Either way everyone has to turn in a writing assignment on their way into class tomorrow.  They can either turn in their edited copy of the first writing assignment stapled to the top of all the other drafts, or a first draft of a new essay.

 

We also received a handout packet with instructions on how to set up formatting on our classroom computers.  We did not have time to go over it, but Mrs. Scales did tell us to put it in the writing section of our English Binders so we would have it to help us when we are typing our writing assignments.

 

Our root word for today was the Greek root – therm or thermo, which means heat. Three example words used were:

 

Thermodynamic (adj.) caused or operated by heat that has changed into different forms of energy

Thermos (n.) a container that is used to keep things worm, such as your soup; a double-walled container that keeps things warm

Thermostat (n.) a device used to control the temperature (heat)

Lesson Plan for: September 5-9, 2011

English 7 / Mrs. Scales

 

Monday—

• No school—Labor Day

 

Tuesday—

• Read Daily Classroom Blog
• Review Weekly Lesson Plans on Moodle / Take Classroom Procedures Quiz
• Book Talk Tuesday Presentations:
• Root Word Therm – Hannah / Cainen / Emily / Trever
• Pass out Proofreader’s Editing Marks Handouts & Essay Contest information
• 2012 Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest
• American History Essay Contest
• Creative Communications
• The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
• Writing Workshop
• Mini lesson – Peer Reviews – Editing / Essay first draft
• Most Common Editing Errors

• Homework: Finish Writing 2^nd Revision / Edited copy of first writing assignment or 1^st draft of essay to turn in at start of class tomorrow. AND Three notebook entries for this week. You may choose from the ideas covered in Ralph Fletcher’s A Writer’s Notebook: Unlocking the Writer Within You or make up your own. Label each one with a large capital “H” and the date written at the top of the entry.

 

Wednesday—

• Turn in 2^nd Revision Writing Assignment or 1^st Draft of Essay.
• 1, 2 & 7^th period -Begin reading chapter 5 of The Call of the Wild by Jack London
• 4th period – Begin reading chapters 9 & the Epilogue of Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
• Read Daily Classroom Log
• 4^th Period present plan for Book Club
• Pass out The Call of the Wild study guide.
• Context Clues – Literal and Inferential
• Active Reading – Graphic Organizers
• Characters / Dogs
• Root Word Meter – Megan / Ryan / Katie / Marissa

• Cooperative Learning Group Activity –

• Craft Review:

o Whispering Parenthesis, Ellipsis, Colon

o Looking for Whispering Parenthesis, Ellipsis, Colon in literature

o Adding Whispering Parenthesis, Ellipsis, Colon to your own writing

• Homework: Complete any reading not finished in class; continue Tuesday’s homework

 

Thursday—

• Quick Write – Free Write
• Read Daily Classroom Log
• Root Word Bio – Tyler / Miles / Isabelle / Jaylin
• Review Vocabulary from reading
• Cooperative Learning Group Activity:

• Craft Review:

o Hyphenated Words

o Commentary Dash

• Homework – Continue Tuesday’s homework and 1, 2 & 7^th period – read chapter 6 of The Call of the Wild by Jack London: 4th period – Review Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer to fill out Different Types of Faries / Faries & Fairy Magic / Mud People / Complex Sentences Handouts.

 

Friday—

• 1, 2 & 7^th period -Begin reading chapter 7 of The Call of the Wild by Jack London
• 4th period – Take AR test of Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

• Read Daily Classroom Log
• First Root Word Test – Root Word Cards 1-10

• Cooperative Learning Group Activity -Craft Review:
• Introductory Phrases
• Appositive Phrases
• Intentional Fragment
• Artful Use of And

• Turn in W-R’s notebook for grading (Must leave notebooks on back table when you leave class. Points will be given for having all three homework entries for this week and they must be labeled to get credit. Points will also be given for having 10 different forms of craft highlighted and correctly labeled in any of the writing in your response section.

• Homework: Make up any reading not completed as scheduled for this week. For 1, 2 & 7^th period you must have read through chapter 7 of The Call of the Wild by Jack London. For 4th period you must have read through chapter 15 of Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

• Make sure you are ready for a class discussion over the novel up to these points on Monday.

 

Announcements:

 

We are collecting Box Tops for Education, please bring any you have into school.

 

We are getting our daily and weekly routines down pretty well. You should know how to do most of the common procedures we do regularly by now. If you are still feeling lost or disorganized please read the information in your English Binder and if you still have questions see me before or after school. You should know how we do things and where things are in the room by now without me having to tell you.

 

Also, you are about a third of the way through the first grading period and should have about 1/3 of your AR points. That means you should have around 8 points or be reading a longer book that you know will be giving you more points when you finish it. Don’t let yourself fall behind on your AR reading.

 

Progress Reports go out next week.