Happy Trick or Treat!


Today we finished the rest of "Raymond's Run" and discussed the annotations done for homework. We really enjoyed watching and listening as the "tough" character revealed her soft heart. After that, students organized their binders to get ready for the Argument writing unit, and then we went to the IMC to check out books.

Enjoy trick or treating and the weekend!

H/W: Make sure you have your writing composition book for Monday.
          Period 1: Food Drive, please!

Hi everyone!

We had a busy day today! Thank you for being on-task and cooperative. We discussed the editing sheet from yesterday and what students had overlooked in their narratives during their first editing process. Students also finished their group theme activity. If you completed the theme packet from yesterday, please hold onto that in your binder. After that, as a group we read our next mentor text for argument writing. We discovered the story has a unique narrator...she may be small, but she is tough!

Need the Editing checklist for the Personal Narrative? Look under "links."

**Tomorrow is picture re-take and the last day to order a yearbook at a discount.

H/W:

• Reread "Raymond's Run," but don't go past the part that we reached today.
• Underline and annotate (write in the margin) when you discover something new about your character. You will need to make inferences for this. Underline the details, and then write an inference in the margin.
• If you have a tab divider, please bring it in. Don't worry if you don't have one.
• PERIOD 1: Remember canned food! This also includes boxed or plastic containers

Have a great evening!

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy our gorgeous weekend! Perfect autumn weather.

A reminder that DMS has started their canned food drive for River Valley Church. Our goal is 2, 014 cans of food to donate. We can do it! Bring canned, plastic or boxed food items to your period 1 teacher. Let's make this happen for those who are in need.

If you missed the pre on-demand writing for argument (done last Wed.), please come in this Thurs. or Friday at 8:00 to complete. Because this takes a class period, I don't want you missing an entire class to make it up. Please be in touch about which day you are coming. Thanks!

Today we revisited the skill of "Theme" and how to arrive at the message the author is sharing about human nature. Students watched a modern version of "Three Little Pigs" and then identified the steps in the process. After that, they got into novel groups to finish their theme activity - illustrating events that supported their chosen theme throughout the book. Here is a link to the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXcccTEY6h4. The paper is posted below.

• H/W: 
• Please finish the Theme paper handed out in class. Be detailed in your responses and think before you write! The last category in the paper is based upon a book you recently read.
• Stay involved with a good book! 
• If you brought home your illustration for the group activity, remember to bring it back tomorrow!

Have a great evening! Thank you for a nice teaching day!

Fairy Tale Themes

Name________________________________________ Period_____________________________

Fairy Tale	Questions to Consider	Theme: What does this tell us about life?
Cinderella	Who was involved? Cinderella, Prince and Evil Stepmother and Sisters What conflict was in the story? Cinderella is kept from her true love by her evil family. What is the end result and why does this happen? Cinderella and the Prince do get together and her evil family is punished.	Good people will get their reward.
Three Little Pigs	Who was involved? What conflict was in the story? What is the end result and why does this happen?
Your choice	Who was involved? What conflict was in the story? What is the end result and why does this happen?

Hello!

Such a pleasure to meet more parents last evening! I am so impressed by the way the 6th graders could talk about their learning.

Today students wrote their pre on-demand piece for argument writing. This marks the beginning of the Literary Essay/Argument unit.

*** If you were absent today, you will have to come to school early or stay after school to write your pre on demand. I will be here Tuesday, and the office opens at 8:00. Thanks.

Enjoy the long weekend! You deserve it!

Hello!

Today students learned about "theme." We defined it and looked at examples, and then they discussed the theme of their novels in novel groups. After that, they did a group project with illustrations proving that theme exists throughout their novel.

H/W: We will be starting out "Literary Essay - Argument" writing unit tomorrow. To prepare for this:

• Come in tomorrow with a topic about which you have an opinion and strong feelings.
• Write the topic on a piece pf paper or in your agenda.
• Make a list of three bullets which show the reasons why your opinion is correct.
• You may bring outside resources (magazine article, book) to use as a resource. This is not required. The resource must be reliable and valid.

I look forward to seeing some of you at conferences tonight!

Hello!

It was a pleasure to meet so many parents last evening! I told students that they are so, so fortunate to have parents who truly care about their learning. I look forward to meeting the rest of you Wed. evening!

I have started to receive videos about the new ISTEP test, CCRA,for this spring. Not only are the assessment questions very rigorous, but so are the questioning formats. Students have to know how to manipulate the navigational tools on the question to read and answer the questions; for one question they are expected to manipulate three tool bars and a tab! So...we started practicing today. We watched a video describing the various tools, and then we practiced.

On the right side of this page under "Links," you will see a practice test for a CCRA practice test. Go ahead and practice some test questions. I will have more coming. We are remembering that Acuity is a direct link to question types and skills that CCRA will test, so it will help to do your Acuity assignments.

H/W: Do Acuity assignments for 20 minutes. Use your note sheet from Friday and write the lesson name, date, take notes, and final score. If you earn a score of less that 5/6, redo it. If you log out, you will not be able to redo it. It is so important to take clear notes...if you do, you should earn a passing score using your notes.

Thank you! See you tomorrow!

Hello!

I hope to see many of you at student led conferences tonight!

Today students were put into groups to discuss their novel study responses. Each student was held accountable by a peer for their work and the quality of their discussion input. Remember, you are responsible for your work, and when it is not complete, that affects a group.

H/W: Looking forward to seeing you tonight or Wed.! No homework tonight.

Good afternoon!

Today students went in to Acuity and worked on their assignments. These would be practice skills that they didn't perform well on in the assessment. It is very important they do the assignments because these are the skills they will be tested on for ISTEP.

Students were also put in novel groups to discuss their novel questions. Everyone should have their novel questions passed into the tote on the back counter or shared with me on googledocs.

We went to the book fair and the IMC. The book fair will be open until next Tues.

H/W: Start your acuity assignments. Try practicing 15 minutes per day. Please remember to read! Take note of the lexile of the books you are choosing.

See you tomorrow!

Greeting!

Students were super busy today preparing for conferences! The conference is their responsibility, so they are learning how to take ownership of their learning and communicate that to parents. Today they wrote their language arts reflections.

Novel responses were due today. I had many emails from students who forgot their books. While I understand there is a huge learning curve for middle school, students need to also find strategies to help them remember their work. Please share your responses on googledrive with me by 5 pm if you did them online. Otherwise, there is a minor penalty for late work. Everyone will need their responses for class tomorrow.

H/W:

• Period1: Box tops (ends Friday!)
• All classes- bring novel responses tomorrow. You may print them if you did them online.
• Pick up your folder from period 6 before period 1 tomorrow.

Great job today!

         

Hello!

Today students continued to work on analyzing pre and post on demand writing. This is a complex task with a high level of difficulty! These will be shared at conferences. Rubrics were passed back for the Personal Narratives. Because of the time limit with the end of the grading period looming, my written feedback on the rubric was limited. I plan on conferencing with students about their scores. I am very proud of my 6th graders and their writing stamina!

The Book Fair is here, and my LA students will be going on Thurs. to purchase items. Of course, you may buy anything at any time! So, if you are planning on bring money, bring it Thursday.

H/W: Novel study responses are due tomorrow. If you have typed them on google drive, please share them with me. Novel questions are on Canvas.

Thank you to my period 1 families for responding to conference times! See you next week!

Dreary Monday...

Hello! Today students worked on their reflection pieces for conferences. They are in the process of comparing their narrative on demand writing pieces from Aug 22 and Oct. 10. They were shocked at the difference! I have their post on -demand writing graded (I will be passing those back tomorrow). They started a chart comparing the two documents, and we will continue with that tomorrow.

The Book Fair is here! Students will have a "preview" tomorrow, and then we will go on Thursday to purchase items. So, if you see something you want to purchase tomorrow, bring money on Thursday.

H/W: Continue to answer your novel study questions. these are posted on Canvas for each novel. You may type them on googledocs or hand-write your answers on lined paper. All responses are due Wed.

If you need to finish Acuity or your post on-demand writing, please come in at 8:00 tomorrow morning. Report to the office before coming upstairs.

Thank you!

Hello!

Today students finished up with Acuity and also finished reading/annotating their novels. Tomorrow they will answer critical thinking questions about their novel and begin to learn how to respond with supporting evidence. This will be done through an assignment on Canvas.

We have a LA meeting tomorrow, so there will be a guest teacher. If you do not finish your novel questions, it is not homework. Get as far as you can, and we will finish them next week. 

H/W:

• Make sure you bring your novels tomorrow! Come to class with them...no locker runs!
• Period 1: Please bring your conference slips! Give them to Mr. Alfrey (guest teacher)
• Period 1: Please bring box tops! You are doing a great job with this!

Enjoy your evening!

          

Hi everyone!

Today all students took their ELA Acuity assessment. I want to remind you that this assessment is based upon what a student should know at the end of their 6th grade year. So..the results of this may not be too pretty, but the hope is that you will see your score rise as the year progresses. If you didn't finish, you can complete it tomorrow.

H/W:

Everyone should have put their choice narrative into their turn-in folder for LA by now. We will be checking on that tomorrow in class. I can't wait to see what you have written!

Keep reading - follow your schedule. All books should be read by Friday.

Remember to bring conference slips to Period 1 teacher by Friday!

See you tomorrow!

Good afternoon!

Students logged onto their narratives today and they did a peer revision "jigsaw" activity for feedback. They moved to four different computers reading narratives, and they charted evidence of tension, inner thoughts, show not tell, and powerful ending. If one of those areas is blank on your chart, you know it is missing in your story. Use this feedback chart to revise your story. Students noticed many editing issues...make sure you have completed your yellow editing sheet. Thank you for your focus and attention to this activity!

H/W:

1) Tomorrow is the day to write your Post On-Demand Personal Narrative. You will do a comparison of this to the Pre On- Demand you did Aug. 22. Here is the criteria:

• Come to class with an idea for a personal narrative.
• You can choose the same topic you wrote for the Per On-Demand
• Or..you can choose a topic you already wrote about in your composition book
• Or../you can choose a new idea
• You may not write the same narrative as the one you wrote on googledrive 

2) Revise your narrative on googledrive according to the feedback you received today

3) Stay on your novel reading schedule. we will be working with the books at the end of the week.

Thank you all! 

Helloooo Friday!

Today I will be out in the afternoon for a meeting, so this is the plan for the day:

Students will finish typing their narratives and be ready for peer edit Monday. Please look at your checklist and be able to show evidence for the categories of Overall, Lead, Elaboration, and Organization. We will do this in class.

Reading time was given today. Make sure you are staying on schedule, and this includes reading over the weekend! It is ok to read ahead, but you don't want to fall behind.

H/W: Finish typing, revising (use the orange sheet), editing (use the yellow sheet) your narrative on googledocs. Keep reading and annotating your novel according to the schedule. You can view the reading schedule under "Links."

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Thursday!

Today students continued typing their narratives on the laptops. Many thanks to all of you who carefully handled your computers! Some students went to the IMC to return or check out books. Here is the procedure for when you finish typing:

• Review your grade 6 narrative checklist. Have you done as much as possible in the highlighted areas?
• Review your Alphablocks. Have you used as many strategies as possible?
• Ask yourself the questions on the orange revising sheet and let them be the guide to find the holes in your writing. Fix those holes!
• Review each question on the yellow editing sheet (p.1- you will get these tomorrow). Have you done all these editing suggestions?

H/W: 

• Finish your narrative for Monday. After tomorrow, we will not spend any more time typing this paper.
• Bring your novels tomorrow and continue to read!
• Crazy Socks Day tomorrow! Dig out your silliest pair!
• Period 1: We start the Box Top collection on Monday. Some cool prizes for the class that collects the most!

Thank you for a great Thursday!

Hi 6th graders!

We finally broke out our laptops today! Yay! Students picked a narrative to take through the writing process and began typing it today. We will type tomorrow also, and the final product is due Monday. If you cannot finish your typing by the end of class tomorrow, it will have to be finished at home. I know this isn't possible for all students, so feel free to talk to me if you need to use a computer before or after school. It is not a problem. Another option is during lunch time.

Don't forget you probably have a narrative that needs some revising because we practiced different strategies on different pieces. You will need to apply some of those strategies to your piece, especially a slowed-down moment and meaningful endings.

H/W: You may continue to type your narrative googledocs. Remember to keep up with the novel- reading schedule and annotate when you learn something new about a character.

See you tomorrow!