alliteration always alleviates anger

Today was pretty good. Regular classes read up to chapter 8 in the novel. Some mysterious coincidences have been arising. If you can think of some, comment them here!

Challenge class learned about and identified alliteration in poems and then we wrote our own poems with alliteration. Many of them were quite inspired.

Tomorrow regular classes will look at what makes something a piece of art and challenge class will continue to study figures of speech. Pretty cool! :)

mystery schmystery

We continuing the novel in my regular classes and learning more about Petra and Calder. Friday we spent a lot of time working on the MLK poster and essay. I am so impressed with the ones I have already seen. You guys really worked hard on this. If you are entering the contest, I need your form tomorrow.

My challenge class also worked on the poster and essay. Then we played Taboo. I love that game and you guys are getting a lot better at it. The key is thinking around the object - "thinking outside the box," which is your specialty.

This week regular classes with continue the novel and try to decide what makes something a work of art. Challenge class will continue with poetry, moving on to alliteration, hyperbole, and personification.

pentomino fun

Today the regular classes continued reading the novel and we have gotten through chapter 5. We also read the paragraph descriptions of the objects and had fun guessing what they were. Some of you did an excellent job describing them!

In challenge class, we covered some heavy stuff, but you guys did great asking questions. I hope that eventually all of you were able to understand. We talked about the idea that language affects how we see the world and how we behave. For example, how we label things affects what we think of them. I enjoyed the discussion!

All classes got some time to work on the poster and essay due tomorrow. The ones I have seen are so wonderful! You guys have really done fabulously and I can tell you really understand what diversity and togetherness are all about! :)

mysterious poetry

Okay, guys. This week has been busy for me, but I will do better at updating this. Really. :)

This week we have started new, but different, adventures in all classes. It is so neat! We are beginning to study some of my favorites!

My regular classes have begun to study mystery stories and are reading Chasing Vermeer. We are really getting into the puzzles in the book, as well as the playing with the pentominoes. Some of you have already gotten a twelve-piecer! Excellent! We are going to continue with the novel, but also look at what makes something a piece of art.

My challenge class has begun poetry and figures of speech. I love the poems you have already written. We have been focused on simile and metaphor this week, which can be tricky. Remember - NOUN VERB NOUN, NOT NOUN VERB ADJECTIVE! You are comparing something to something else, not describing it!

Okay, okay. You guys are so talented. I know the rest of the year is going to be fabulous. Keep it up! :)

text support

I know today wasn't the most fun, but this is all designed to help you be successful in the future, even beyond the MAP test. We began our weekly MAP preparation and most of you seemed to do pretty well on it. Remember to echo the question, stay within the margins, and use at least three examples from the text to support your answer and you will be just fine. We will be doing this every Wednesday, so be prepared.

Tomorrow we will be starting Devil's Arithmetic. I can't wait! :)

we're back!

Sorry, guys! I got lazy just before and after break. I will try to update regularly here on out.

This week we are celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday by learning about his life and work, as well as many of the other important people in the Civil Rights Movement. We watched a biography of MLK today and completed a KWL chart, detailing what we knew about him, wanted to learn about him, and learned about him. I even learned some things from that video!

We are also going to learn about other times in history during which people treated each other horribly based on arbitrary things like the color of their skin or their religion. Later this week we will be watching The Devil's Arithmetic, a wonderful film about the Holocaust. Some of you have read the book and I hope you are not disappointed by the movie - it is really quite good.

Also, I uploaded the memory box podcasts to the podcast manager on my website. Check them out and tell me what you think! :)

box works

Today was mainly another work day. You guys have been getting a lot done! I am so proud of the job you are doing! I also gave out printouts and told you that all late work must be turned in by Wednesday, 12/20. If you give it to me after that, it will not count. Some of you are hanging by a thread this quarter, so get a move on!

Tomorrow is the "timed test", so don't forget about it (tee hee). We will also have a lot of work time tomorrow.

box work

Today was another work day. I was thrilled to discover that you guys were really good for the sub yesterday! Wonderful! Most of you used this time well and got a lot done. Keep it up!

Tomorrow will be similar to Tuesday in that if you are working for the first half, you will get the second half. I will also hand out grade printouts so that you can see if you are missing anything before the end of the quarter. :)

workshop work day

Today was a work day for most of it, though I was not there. The workshop was great and you may see some new activities in class next semester as a result. I hope everything went smoothly and that you guys were working!

Tomorrow you will have the entire class period, so use it!

ah the memories

Today was the first work day for the memory boxes. Many of you did very well and took advantage of the time in class. Some did not. If you do not use the time I am giving you to work on it, you will lose that time! Maybe some of you think there is plenty of time this week to get it all done, but you will find that this is not the case. I hope tomorrow is more productive.

Wednesday will be another full class period work day. If I do not see you guys working hard without me reminding you, Thursday and Friday may be taken away as far as work time goes. Don't let that happen!

all your database are belong to us

Today we spent some time working (compare/contrast essay, business letter, missing work, research). We also learned some important information about accessing online resources at home and at school in the form of databases. These are wonderful and I used databases all the time when I was in college at Mizzou. It was much easier to look up information on the computer through the library than to go there and try to check out books.

Next week we will be working on those memory boxes. I will be staying after Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday to give you extra time to work on them. :)

big 6

Today we spent half the period typing things. Compare/contrast essays, business letters, etc. Most of you were extremely productive! The second half of the class was spent learning the big 6 method of research - breaking the research down into six steps. I think it will really help you guys with the memory boxes.

Tomorrow will be a work day! Hooray! The essays must be finished, along with the business letters. The second half of the period will be spent in the library with Mrs. Struckhoff learning about accessing the databases - wonderful resources for your research. :)

book or movie?

Today some of us worked on the compare/contrast essay that is due Friday. The rest did a sequencing activity for The Outsiders. I had a meeting for about half the day, so there was a sub and I was disappointed with the report. I was also extremely disappointed with the room when I returned. So, something will happen tomorrow - a lesson.

Tomorrow we will be finishing up the sequencing activity and I will be telling you about the memory box project that you will be doing next week. I will also be introducing the spelling sheets.

Snow Day!

Well, I am feeling much better. I was so very sick all week, but I am ready to come back (after the weekend, of course). I missed you guys and am looking forward to finding out how you're doing!

Next week we will dive into those compare/contrast papers. We should be able to finish them by Friday or Monday. We will also be going over theme and main idea because it seems like a lot of you are having trouble with that. Can't wait! :)

the outsiders - the movie part 2

Today we finished the movie and some classes got to watch some of the extras on the DVD. This includes Hinton talking about the making of the movie and actors looking back on it. It was neat to see how they were with each other during the making of this wonderful film. We also learned that it was a letter from a seventh grade class that made Coppola decide to read the book and make the film. Cool!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving break and roll back in here refreshed and ready to go! I know I will!

the outsiders - the movie

Today we talked a little bit about the compare/contrast paper and then started the movie. I love this story so much! The book is great, the movie is great, what else can I say! :)

outside the outsiders

Today we did all different things in each of my classes. Here is the rundown:

3/4 hour read chapters 10 and 11 and then we tried to get caught up on the summaries. If you are missing chapters, go to the podcast manager and listen to 7/8's summaries of chapters 1-8. After that we talked about grades. Progress reports are being mailed Tuesday and I don't want you guys to be surprised. We will finish the last chapter on Monday and then talk about the paper and start the movie.

5/6 hour finished the book! It was so fun seeing your faces! We also worked on the summaries and then talked about grades.

7/8 hour worked on the summaries and recorded some more of them. Then we talked about the poem and tried to figure out a picture representation of "Nothing Gold Can Stay". I ran out of time to talk about your grades, but I will share your printouts with you on Monday.

5/6 and 7/8 will start out Monday introducing the compare/contrast paper you guys will write for the film and the book. Then we will start watching it. You guys are going to love it!

Remember that the double-entry journals are due Tuesday and 7/8 hour has summaries for chapters 9-12 due Monday.

no release

Today was hectic! We had a lot to do and not enough time to do it! I am proud that so many of you were able to finish your business letters. After school I put them in the mail, so they will go out tomorrow and be on their way. It will be neat to see how many come back! Many of you also completed the survey. I appreciate your patience with the slowness of the internet. I think everyone was doing them at once and that slows the whole system down. UGH! Anyway, you guys were great. I also got many great responses to the blog question. There will be another one up there soon.

Tomorrow will be cleanup. If you did not finish your business letter, you will be first on the computers. Then the people who need to take the survey. Last will be the blog questions. We will also listen to a chapter and go over the worksheets that were due yesterday. We are almost done with the book!

don't judge a book by its cover

Today we read some more of The Outsiders and talked about the theme of the novel. There are many possible themes to it. Just one of them is that we should not stereotype people - don't judge someone by the way they look or dress. Just because someone has long, greasy hair, that does not mean they are a hood. Not all Socs are like Bob and not all greasers are like Dally. We will talk more about the theme as we finish the book later this week.

We also worked on the summaries. 7/8 hour recorded two podcasts for everyone to use as a resource. They are fantastic! You can listen to them here.

Tomorrow is an early release day, but we have much to do! We have the lab and we will (finally) finish and mail the business letters. Anyone who needs to will finish the Tungsten and you will have time to answer the blog question (and there will probably be another one up there). I want us to have a chance to really discuss this book since it is such a wonderful story and is so deep with meaning - there is so much to talk about and I want to know what you think! :)

gang music

Today we compared and contrasted the two gangs in The Outsiders, the Socs and the greasers. We talked about it and then we listened to the music they each like. Finally, we used the clickers to determine which would identify with two other songs, "Did you ever have to make up your mind?" by the Lovin' Spoonful and "My Generation" by The Who. I really enjoyed it and I hope it will help you guys remember the differences between the two groups!

We also listened to a little bit of the next chapter, but I want you to finish it at home tonight. We will listen to a lot of it tomorrow and discuss it. We will also be going over the summaries and character charts, as well as the two worksheets on conflict and idioms. I have to say that from what I've seen, you guys really know conflict! Er...the literary kind..you know, not the physical kind. Aw, you know what I mean! :)