Happy Holidays!


Today we reviewed the rules for using a semicolon and colon in writing on NoRedInk. The scores on the last quiz grades were sort of abysmal, so I clearly needed to reteach. Everyone will have the chance to redo the assignment and quiz. I will replace your old quiz score with your new score.

After that, we did some fun round-robin holiday writing to holiday music!

Update: It looks like eLearning assignments will not be posted on the website until we have our second snow day. Therefore, you cannot do the assignments early.

H/W:

• Please redo the NoRedInk assignments titled "Redo Colon and Semicolon Assignment" and then "Redo Colon and Semicolon Quiz." Make sure you do them in the right order!
• Look at your notes from class and from doing the assignment as you take the quiz. Don't try to do this without your notes.
• NoRedInk is due Jan. 8. Because of the proximity to the end of the grading period, late work will not be accepted.

Relax and enjoy your much deserved break! Have a wonderful holiday season!

Happy Thursday!

I began class by reviewing the elearning assignments for LA. Blizzard folders were given to students who do not have internet access. All other students will find their assignments listed on the PHM website on Dec. 19. For LA, students MUST have their blue Elements of Literature textbook at home. If it is still in your locker, bring it home and put it where you can easily dig it out. The LA assignments are from that book, and they are not available online.

Today in class, students wrote a self reflection of their thematic essay. I instructed them to write first about what they did well; there was a lot for them to write about in that category! Next, they reflected upon what they could do differently on their next piece of writing. There will be many skills that will transfer.

We continued with compare/contrast writing by analyzing a student example which demonstrated the trait, name it, explain it strategy. We will continue with this tomorrow.

I won't be available to answer emails tonight (Christmas errands!), so please be patient and know that I will answer any questions tomorrow.

H/W: Keep reading! Please let me know if you have been absent and need to get caught up on classroom reading.

See you tomorrow! Thanks for trying to stay focused this week.

Hello 6th graders!

I'm back, and it feels so good! I learned so much at the high ability conference in Indy, but I am so happy to be back in my classroom! It was wonderful to see all of you again as we head into the last part of this week before break. School started out with some excitement today due to the power loss, and we enjoyed reading under the one light in our room! :)

Today was spent reviewing the novel and related materials. We tried the "talking points" format where students springboard off of each other's responses and move on when responses have been exhausted. I know you are at different points in your novels, and it's ok. 

Some of you have asked to redo your recent theme essay to raise your grade. This task was a summative assessment. The goal was to see what you knew and were able to apply in class on those particular days.  You were able to use all your resources to write your essay including mentor texts. There was an outline on the board showing what you needed to include in your paper and there were many posters listing specific strategies all around the room. Since this was a summative assessment, the assignment will not be extended. I also need to take this opportunity to reaffirm that there is no extra credit offered in language arts. The goal of our class is for you to learn the standards which are being presented and practiced daily in class. Please put the thought of "grades" aside and focus on how far you have progressed as writers!

Did you know you can find the lexile of any book online? Just google the title of the book and add the word "lexile" after the title. Remember, lexile is just a small snapshot of the text; you can read a book that may have an average lexile and be difficult in plot. It is just a tool to use when choosing a book. You cannot go wrong with the "classics" if you are looking for a gentle challenge and a way to increase your SRI score.

H/W: Keep reading! It is the best gift you can give yourself!

Hello there!

Today we reviewed the expectations for the upcoming novel study. Books and packets were left in the classroom. They will be left at school for the beginning of the novel study.

We are also continuing with literary essay writing, and we are starting to learn the format of a compare and contrast essay. Today we began with comparing and contrasting Coke and orange juice.
We noticed they are in the same category- we want to make sure we have two items that have characteristics that are both the same and different. Using the following format helped:

• Choose a trait (same or different)
• Name it (name what is the same or what is different)
• Explain it

We picked two similarities: 

• both are liquids
• both are sweet

Then, we wrote this simple paragraph:

Coke and orange juice have two similarities(trait). One way in which they are the same is that they are both liquids (name it). They are liquids because they will take on the shape of a container (explain it.) Also, both liquids are very sweet (name it.) Coke is artificially sweetened and orange juice has natural sugar (explain it). Coke and orange juice have some of the same properties.

After that, we followed the same pattern and wrote about two ways they are different.

Coke and orange juice are different in many ways. One way in which they are different is that Coke is carbonated, and orange juice is not. Coke is fizzy and foamy, and orange juice does not bubble. Another way they differ that one is a healthy drink. Orange juice has vitamins and calcium, but Coke does not have any health benefits. Actually, it is used to clean car engines! Yuck. Coke and orange juice are quite different.

H/W: 

• Following the same pattern, compare and contrast two items (that are in the same category)at home. Write a paragraph on how they are alike in two ways, and a paragraph about how they are different in two ways. 
• Use the same pattern that was used above.
• Write this in your composition book with today's date.

Please remember you are Blue Ribbon students! Show your guest teacher what Blue Ribbon students look like in class. Thank you!

Hello!

Students finished their acuity assessment today, and then we discussed the novels they will begin to read on Thursday. Novel will be kept at school for a few days, and then students will start to bring them home.

Periods 1, 5: Freak the Mighty and Marley: A Dog Like No Other
Period 3: A Long Walk to Water and Ties that Bind, Ties that Break
Periods 2, 6: Robinson Crusoe

H/W: NoRedInk Semicolon and Colon Assignment and Quiz due tomorrow. Don't remember how to sign on? See yesterday's blog!

Happy Monday!

Today all students took their second Acuity assessment. Because this assessment is based upon what they should know at they end of 6th grade, we are looking for scores to be at about 50%. We are giving students two days to complete the assessment because of the long reading passages. I expect for each student to be taking his/her time with rereading and analyzing.

H/W:

• If you have not submitted your thematic essay to Canvas, please do that now! I will be grading these mid-week.
• NoRedInk colons and semicolon assignment and quiz due this Wed. Make sure you take notes during the assignment and use them for the quiz. The quiz is a graded assignment.

See you tomorrow! 

Happy Friday!

Today was spent partnering on the thematic essays. Students are learning the value of hearing their writing being read aloud; we always "think" we know what is should sound like, but it's another story when we actually hear it! Essays were submitted to Canvas.

I won't start grading these until mid-week. Please remember it takes about 16 hours (outside of school) to grade all the essays, so please be patient when looking for your grade. I know it is hard to wait. I post grades when I finish the grades for a class, so all classes are not posted at the same time. Thanks for your understanding!

H/W:

• All classes are assigned NoRedInk: Colon and Semicolon
• Log in at the upper right hand corner of the cite
• Log in is username: first initial, last name, last 3 digits of ID#    Password: ID# phm
• Do ASSIGNMENT first and take notes
• Take Quiz  - Yes, this is for a grade
• Due Wed., Dec 10

You have been working so hard! Thank you for a productive week. Enjoy the weekend!

Hello!

Today was spent revising and typing our thematic essays. I am so excited to read what looks like fantastic academic writing!

If you are struggling or need help, you may come to my room at 8:00 tomorrow morning. Just tell the office staff you are here to see me.

H/W: Please finish typing your paper tonight. You will have time to revise it and have a peer read it aloud tomorrow. Make sure you check spelling and punctuation!

Hi!

Today we reviewed the requirements for the theme essay, and then students began typing their essays. Below are the reminders we discussed and checked for today;

• topic sentence for each paragraph
• evidence (in quotes - directly from text)
• explanation (use tag- This shows...because..., This is significant because...)
• examples - (another way to support theme from the text, but in your own words)
• concluding sentences - (for each paragraph - should relate to topic sentence)
• transitions- (at least three, but you should easily have more)
• ending with restatement of them ( in conclusion)
• ending with quote- (This is your personal connection.)
• correct spelling on all words - and I mean all, including homophones
• correct punctuation of compound sentences - (comma, then FANBOY conjunction, combining two independent clauses

H/W:

• Continue to revise your essay. Use all the resource handouts I have given to you...this is what they're for! There are many of them!
• Do NOT type at home. I want all typing to be completed in class so I can monitor your progress.

See you tomorrow!

Hello!

Today we reviewed sentence structure, especially punctuation of compound sentences, for the thematic essays. I saw the punctuation of compound sentences being overlooked in the last essay students wrote. After that students shared the quotes they found for their conclusions...these were fantastic! They really add so much to a somewhat dry piece of (essay) writing. I loved hearing all the special nuggets that connected to the theme of the story.

I set up editing stations around the room, and students spent the rest of the class moving independently to the editing stations to revise and edit their thematic essay.

H/W: Spend 15 minutes revising and editing the body paragraphs of your theme essay. You should be looking at the handout Revision Strategies as you revise. Some additional suggestions:

• Transition words - do they make sense where they are placed?
• Does each paragraph have a topic sentence, evidence, explanation and conclusion?
• Look at your evidence in isolation, by itself, and evaluate if it really, truly supports your theme.

Thanks, and see you tomorrow!

Welcome back!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and safe travels!

Today was a little discombobulated with the field trip to Penn for band. I think most students were able to join in on one of my other classes, but if not you will want to read this post carefully.

Last week we learned how to write a lead that highly interests the reader, so today we have to give that same attention to conclusions. Remember, this is argument writing, so you want to end with some powerful thoughts for your reader.

We began by analyzing the conclusion of the Teacher Exemplar for Raymond's Run. Students noticed the author begins by referencing the "Life" or "Real World" generalization used in the introduction (these began with "In life, many people...," "Life is.." and "Throughout the world, many people struggle with..."). So, we practiced it this way:

• In __________ (title), _________(character) learns _____________ (now fill this is with the message of your generalization.

We also noticed the shift from character in introduction, to "we" or "us" in the conclusion. So with the next sentence we practiced:

• ____________ (author) teaches us_____________________. Write about what you learned as a reader.

Continue with what "we" can all learn from the author:

• We can all learn________________. remember to keep thinking about the theme.

Now write about how what you learned can be applied to your future:

• From now on, we can all_____________________________.

We then discussed ending the conclusion by giving the reader a lingering thought or message. We decided an effective way to do this would be to have a quote from a song, poem, or author. the tricky part here is that you need to defend how this quote fits the theme of the story. So...

H/W:

• Finish your new conclusion. This may take some thought- you may not be able to write it quickly. Give it time.
• Find song lyrics, poem lines, or a phrase that you like to put at the end of your conclusion. Please write it in your composition book, name the author, and write 3 bullets on how it is related to your story's theme.

See you tomorrow!