Behind

Working a great deal of hours at Godiva will put a damper on reading time.  I hope to have something else read soon.  I have a book to read for my new school called Young, Gifted, and Black: Promoting High Achievement Among African American Students.  So, I will be reading that this week and I still have the Vladimir Tod books.  I also hope to start The Scorch Trials by James Dashner, the sequel to The Maze Runner.  Lots to read!

The Hunger Games Trilogy

So, last night I finished listening to Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins.  Wow.  I might have to reread them again just to get the taste of the words in my mouth - that's how good it is.  I might be able to teach The Hunger Games this year at my new school, so that is amazing and wonderful.  I'm not going to say anything more about this, except go read them.

Have you read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins yet?

Well, what are you waiting for?!  It is one of the best books I have read in years.  It is well-written with great pacing.  The characters are believable and dynamic, flawed but sympathetic.  Katniss, the main character, is strong and deeply flawed.  I truly enjoyed imagining her in her world.  She is my hero.  They are making it into a movie and I am confident in the outcome there.  The book is so beloved and smart.  It won the Truman Award and Gateway Award in Missouri this year and is being added to middle school curriculum.
Seriously, get this book.  NOW. 

Eighth Grade Bites by Heather Brewer (First Review)

So, this past year, many of my students got into the Vladimir Tod books. I had read the first one, but got busy and forgot about the rest. Several students begged me to read them (you know who you are) and so I am taking time this summer to read the series. I started by rereading the first one since it had been so long. The writing is striking me as a bit oddly descriptive, but I will read on. I hope to read the Maximum Ride series this summer, but we will see.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner (Final Review)

SPOILER ALERT - THIS IS A FINAL REVIEW OF THIS BOOK AND CONTAINS SPOILERS

I just finished this book yesterday and loved it! It's a bit bleak, but his writing is so descriptive that it pulled me in. Thomas is a likeable character, especially the way he mourned Chuck. I also love that we (as readers) still know very little about the world in which these boys live. We have gone from the horror of the Maze to some new unimaginable horror. I bought The Scorch Trials and will be starting that soon.

literature elements CAN be fun!

We have been spending a lot of time going over literature elements (such as mood, setting, characterization, plot, and theme). We will be finishing up theme next week and starting to learn those roles for literature circles so we can start them really soon. Most of you seem to be enjoying your independent reading book and I love that! Keep it up! Make sure you record the books you are reading in your log and determine if it was easy, just right, or challenging. Monday will be the first time we take the Tungsten and I just know everyone will do really well. I feel like this year is going great and it will only get better! :)

You've come a long way...

This year has started out great! We have done our personality posters and I had a lot of fun learning about each of you. We also finished the reading autobiographies and I have enjoyed the ones I've read so far. I am only one third of the way through them. We started studying literary elements and will be working on those for the next week or so. We will be experts at identifying and using them very soon!

chew on what?

I am curious what fact has stuck with you from the chapter we read the other day. Please comment me and tell me (in complete sentences). The fact that stuck with me was the way marketing researchers will pay kids to go to sleepovers and ask them questions late into the night. Creepy!

Parental Involvement - Outsiders

I am curious how many of our parents, grandparents, or older brothers or sisters have had experiences with The Outsiders. This is where you can help your child earn some extra credit on the test we took today. I want to know what you think of the book - maybe you read it when you were in 7th grade, maybe you saw your child feverishly reading it and couldn't believe your eyes, maybe you watched the movie with your child and were amazed at how young Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, and Rob Lowe were. Please comment and make sure you let me know who your child is so they can get credit. :)

Socrates is a Greek God?

Today was great! We read chapter 11 in the novel and will finish it tomorrow! I cannot wait! We also talked about conflict and the different types you will find in stories. I introduced the socratic seminar we will be having on Wednesday and I think it is going to be fantastic. We also talked about grades and I handed out grade printouts and missing work slips.

Here is the deal:

If you have lower than a B- in challenge or C in regular and have missing work, you must stay after on Thursday to finish it. If you have any missing work by next Wednesday (early release day), you must stay with me until it is finished. I am giving you guys a chance to get any late work in to my before you have to miss out on fun times in order to do it. Take advantage of it! :)

theoretical chaos

All the classes are in different spots, so here is - basically - what we have done this week:

We have been reading The Outsiders - we will finish it next Tuesday, there will be a test Wednesday, and we will watch the movie Thursday and Friday of next week. It is really getting exciting! :)

We are also working on the memoirs. I have your prewrites and you should be working on your rough drafts. They are due Monday. I have or will share my memoir with you and we will talk about what is good and bad about it.

So, I know, boring blog today. Maybe tomorrow's will be better. :)

did you ever have to make up your mind?

Challenge: Friday we listened to some music that would appeal to the two gangs in The Outsiders. 5/6 hour we also used the "clickers" to log answers to some very very easy questions about the two gangs. I must say that I was very impressed by your answers. I need to expect more from you, because you had such amazingly insightful evidence for why each group would like the songs - without prompting by me! :)

Tomorrow we will be going over the Tungsten and take care of anything we missed on Friday (3/4 hour, that means the "clickers" for you). There will be questions about the novel on think.com, so be on the lookout for those.

Regular: Friday we talked about how the gangs are different (we contrasted them) and then we used the "clickers" for further discussion. It was great and you guys did a good job with it. We kind of ran out of time, so we will do the music portion of it on Monday. I think you will really enjoy it! :)

busy, busy, busy

Okay, I know, I know. I have been really slacking at updating this and I apologize. A lot has been going on and you all need to know it, so I will really try to be better from now on.

This week has been excellent. We started The Outsiders and it is such a fantastic book! Some of you have confessed that you cannot put it down - literally - that you can't help but read ahead. I suggest you find another book to occupy you so that you can stop reading ahead and possibly ruining it for everyone!

Tomorrow we will finish the Tungsten and do a fun activity to compare and contrast the gangs. I think you will really enjoy it!

posters with personality

We have accomplished a lot during the past couple of days! Yesterday the regular class worked on the posters and went to the library for a presentation from the librarians. Challenge classes went over the reading autobiographies and also went to the library for a presentation.

Today challenge classes read The Circuit and we talked about the plot arc. It's great that some of the sixth grade teachers taught it so that we can get into the elements of plot even more. The regular class presented their posters and it was so much fun to learn more about you guys. I loved it!

amazing personalities

Today the challenge classes presented their personality posters. I so loved hearing about your interests, friends, and likes and dislikes. It was fun to hear you guys talk about yourselves! We also read a crazy story called Being Mean by Gary Soto about his childhood and the mean things he did. We talked a bit about the characters.

The regular class spent time working on their posters, which are due Wednesday. I am so proud of how hard you guys worked! All of you were very productive!

short week

We spent a lot of time this week working on the personality posters. Most of you used the time in class very well and I am so excited to see the finished products. Remember - for the challenge classes they are due tomorrow, for the regular class they are due Wednesday.

We also focused on setting and mood this week. We read stories and talked about how the setting affected the mood. Thursday we spent time at stations identifying what sort of story would take place in different situations and figuring out why a story makes you feel a certain way. I feel like you guys have a good handle on setting and mood. Next week we will move on to another literary element.

Friday was a lot of fun. In the challenge classes, we got set up on think.com and played with the site a little bit. In the future, we will be using it a lot to publish our work and to discuss the things we read. In the regular class, we read a story by Gary Soto called Being Mean about his childhood and the crazy things he and his brother and sister did. After that we spent time working on the personality posters.

autobiographical reading

Sorry about the gap, guys. I was sick this weekend and just couldn't get the strength to post.

Today I collected the reading autobiographies. I cannot wait to read them and find out what you've enjoyed reading in the past.

We also studied the effect of the setting on the mood in a story, A Secret for Two. What a sad ending!

Then I introduced the personality poster, which is due Friday for challenge and Monday for regular classes. I think it will be a lot of fun creating them and seeing them. I may not have mentioned that you will have to present them. We will have some time in class tomorrow and Thursday for you to work on them. So, don't fret. :)

newspaper shelter

Today we spent some time getting to know our fellow classmates. We talked about the reading autobiography a little bit and looked at ways to spice it up. Then we played the newspaper game. This was so much fun! The goal was to create a shelter using newspaper, copy paper, and tape. You had five minutes to plan, but couldn't touch the materials. Then you had ten minutes to build, but couldn't talk. You learned about non-verbal communication and teamwork.

We also went up to the book fair and I spent too much money on books for the classroom! There were so many good ones! Some of you got these titles: Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, Pretties, Specials, Rules (which was so popular they have to order more), and Code Orange. Remember that the book fair will be up there all week, so if you forgot money today you can bring it later and I'll send you up there.

Tomorrow we will work on those reading autobiographies for most of the time, so bring in brainstorming lists. :)

expectationing?

Today was so much fun! I got the mobile lab and we looked at the websites. You guys figured out how to find information on the team website and on mine. I also showed you how to post comments on here. I loved reading all your silly comments from today!

I also had my challenge classes get on think.com and request accounts. I have a sheet for you to take home and get signed before we can really get started with it, but I think it will be fantastic.

The last thing we did was start talking about the reading autobiography. This will be due next Tuesday and will be a paper in which you tell me about all the books you have loved while you were growing up. I can't wait to read them and find out what you liked to read as a tot. :)

one week down...

So, one week has passed and I think this year is going to be great! You're getting used to how I do things in class and learning about the resources.

This week we mainly did beginning of the year stuff - handed out agenda books, got those civility contracts signed, handed out my syllabus and talked about my expectations. I read Tulip Sees America by Cynthia Rylant and had you write about your summer. I also read What's the Worst that Could Happen? by Bruce Coville and had you write about your most embarrassing moment. Friday, I had you make postcards that we sent home and I did not read them!

Next week we will start doing some English stuff. I will give you your first big-ish written assignment and we will start on some short stories. We will also be getting on think.com in challenge classes and will be checking out the websites when I get the mobile lab.

I hope you guys feel as good as I do about this year! :)

On that note, here is a question for you. What are some of your expectations for this year? What do you hope will happen? What do you hope will not happen?