Ms. Dean's Blog

SHOWING, NOT TELLING

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: After completing the warm-up at the beginning of the class period, students will continue revising sentences to include vivid verbs and descriptive adjectives. Over the next two days, we will take it to the next level by revising entire sentences to focus on the action and create mental images. This will lead nicely to our lessons next week pertaining to active vs. passive writing. (ELA8W2.f)

Additionally, we are adding to our review of compound and complex sentences by analyzing compound-complex sentences. There will be a quiz over this material on Friday. The students will be expected to write five sentences: Two compound sentences (one using a semi-colon), two complex sentences (one with a dependent clause first and one with an independent clause first), and one compound-complex sentence. (ELA8C1.b & e)

Today I collected the summary paragraph with its second reflective paragraph attached. Many students did not have this assignment. As a reminder, my policy for late work is it can be turned-in one day late for 50% credit.

HOMEWORK: On Thursday, the students will be given a Vivid Word Upgrade practice sheet. They will pick five of the ten sentences to revise. This is due Friday when they arrive in class.

Independent reading activities are due Tuesday, September 6. Please see early Blog postings for the list of activities.

Download Warm 8-31

Download Showing not telling

Download Basic dead verb practice

Download Vivid words UPDATE

FRIDAY: There will be a substitute in the class Friday. Students will turn-in their homework, take a sentence types quiz, and read their independent novels. Students who do not bring a novel will continue to work on analyzing and writing various sentence types. A student's poor behavior for a substitute results in the loss of ten points on the behavior card.

 

Dead Words

MONDAY & TUESDAY: Today we will continue to review the difference between compound and complex sentences. We will have quiz on these two sentence types on Friday.

Download Warm-up 8-28 & 8/29

ELA8W2.f (Use vivid verbs and descriptive adjectives) For the next two days will work to identify and replace "dead words." These are the words that do little to create life in our writing. Eventually we will bury these words in The Dead Zone and replace them with more vivid word choices.

Download Dead_Words_paragraph

HOMEWORK: Tuesday night (due Wednesday) students will complete the Vivid Language practice sheet. Download Vivid words UPDATE

Paraphrase & Summarize

THURSDAY & FRIDAY: Today the students worked towards mastering GPS ELA8W2.e which requires them to take notes, paraphrase, and summarize. We used a recent newspaper article describing an encounter between campers in Helen, Georgia, and three bears. After reading the article, students used a 5W1H graphic organizer to gather notes. The next step was to begin to paraphrase the information from the notes into detailed sentences.

Tomorrow we will use these paraphrased sentences to draft a coherent, informative summary of the article. We will also write one reflective paragraph that discusses either how the events of the article impact us as Georgians, how  we connected to the events of the article in a personal way, or how the problems of the article should be solved. If time permits, we will also have time for independent reading.

Download Bear encounter in Helen

Download 5WH

Download Questions for Reflection bear article

 

Media Center Day

TUESDAY: Today all classes were taken to the Media Center for an orientation and then were given time to check out books. Students who still have overdue books from LAST year were not allowed to check out new materials. It is important that all overdue materials are returned ASAP. If books are lost, they must be paid for.

Students were allowed to self-select reading material today. The only requirement was to select something they had not previously read. In the future, they will be required to read specific types of books at specific times or read books within a certain LEXILE range. Students will be required to read three books per quarter. They will also complete a project of their choice for each book read. We will discuss the attached list of projects on Thursday.

Download Reading activities

WEDNESDAY: Students will have a substitute in class today while I am scoring the writing assessment taken on Monday. While I'm away, students will take a grammar pre-test. They will also begin reading informational articles relating to their Georgia Studies current event assignment. We will continue to work on these articles throughout the week.

Download Bear encounter in Helen

Download Dad says son who died in practice

Download Player deaths sadden

Download Seventh grader solves crime

Learning Styles and Differentiation

MONDAY: Today was the school-wide writing assessment. Information gathered from this assessment will help Barber's language arts teachers implement the appropriate lessons designed to improve overall writing skills.

In class, we discussed learning styles and differentiation.

Download Day 6 Click to download today's discussion points.

Download Learning Styles Front Click here to take the Learning Styles Survey.

HOMEWORK: None

"Meet Me Word Splash"

THURSDAY: Today the students shared their "Meet Me Word Splash." Please see yesterday's post to download this file. Additionally, we reviewed sentence types focusing on compound sentences. The students wrote the following sentence on their notes page:

Class Model-I like softball, but I haven't played in years.

They then identified the parts of the compound sentence and created a definition that was written on the page under the class model. Finally, they dove back into their second paragraphs and found their own example of a compound sentence OR created a new compound sentence by combining simple sentences.This sentence was written under the definition on the notes page and labeled "My example." We will continue using this notes page tomorrow as we review complex sentences.

HOMEWORK: 4th period should finish the Word Splash if it was not finished in class.

DUE TOMORROW: Framed paragraph and second, revised paragraph. There must be evidence of revision. It is not necessary to type these paragraphs. I need to see your originals and all revised work.

Revision Practice

WEDNESDAY: Today we looked at ways to revise first drafts to add details, description, and voice. ELAW82.d We looked at models and then went back into the second paragraph we wrote as homework and applied the following revisions: 1. Add three sentences that include any of the following words (also, for instance, for example, because, additionally), 2. Add sentences to ensure writing appeals to at least three senses, and 3. Cross out three dead words and revise to include a word that helps create a mental image.

Download Day 2 final Click here to view the powerpoint with instructions and models used in class.

Classes 3,5,6, and 7 were also given the "Meet Me Word Splash." Download Meet Me Word Splash

HOMEWORK: Complete your revisions of paragraph two, and complete the "Meet Me Word Splash" being sure to add A DETAIL UNDER EACH LINE. For example, if you wrote "dog" under the Family Pet category, you could add detail by writing "Golden Retriever" or "Kirby" under your word "dog."

Framed Paragraph

TUESDAY: Today we began to get to know each other by creating a framed paragraph Download Framed paragraph. ELA8W1b. Those who did not finish in class should download the attachment and finish writing the paragraph on their own paper.

HOMEWORK: Select ONE of the three numbered sentences from your framed paragraph on which  you feel you could elaborate. Use that numbered sentence to help you write a topic sentence, and then develop a coherent second paragraph that gives supporting detail and description to elaborate the topic. This paragraph should be six to eight sentences in length.

Due in class tomorrow: 1. Your completed framed paragraph, 2. A second paragraph that elaborates on any ONE of the three numbered paragraphs.

 

The First Day of School!!

MONDAY 8/15: Today the students will be given their agenda and a CCSD folder containing several pieces of information that need to be filled-out and returned to school. Lockers will be assigned on a first come, first served basis to those students who return all of the signed forms.

A new policy is in place regarding agendas and behavior cards. STUDENTS WILL NOT BE ISSUED REPLACEMENT BEHAVIOR CARDS AND MUST PURCHASE A NEW AGENDA IF THEY NEED A NEW BEHAVIOR CARD. The cost is $5.00. Additionally, there will be disciplinary action taken when students consistently try to replace their agendas.

In Language Arts today, students will discuss CCSD J Policies.

HOMEWORK: None