Friday 2/27

Today we discussed who the hero was in the story and the theme of the story. We then took a test in class which was an in class longwrite.

If you were absent, you will need to see me to take this test. It is a major grade.

HW: Read/log/Post it Logs due on Monday 3/2 with 170 minutes

Thursday 2/26

Today we worked to map the story "The Dinner Party"  We agreed on the major conflict and worked out the other elements. Notes are here.

HW: Read/log/post it
Logs due Monday 3/2 with 170 minutes

If you were absent be sure to show me LW #14 and ot copy the notes into your tips section of your RN

Wednesday 2/25

Today we read for 10 minutes then made sure our definitions were accurate by viewing these slides--definitions are to be copied into tips section of reader's notebooks. Next, I modeled how to plot a story by working through Jack and the Beanstalk with class.  We then moved into plotting "The Dinner Guest".

HW: LW#14 in reader's notebook

If you were absent you need to:
take notes on plot in RN (link above)
revisit the story of "The Dinner Guest"and identify the conflict of the story and the climax of the story.

Tuesday 2/24

Today we read for 10 minutes then reveiwed the elements of plot in groups.  We shared our ideas about each element including exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. We discussed the concept of conflict and will check our understanding tomorrow.
HW: LW # 13 based on  a post it within the last 20 pages of reading. and read/log/post it

Monday 2/23

Today I looked at longwrites and am impressed with the continued effort to unpack and support your opinions with details from your books.  Now just keep working on organizing your thoughts into paragraphs.
We then reviewed what it means to be a learning community and I handed out the sheet of sentence starters that will make us more accountable to each other.

We then read "Dinner Party" with a partner, annotated as we read and spent time discussing the story with partners.

HW: Read/log/post it

If you were absent please be sure to show me your LW #12 for a grade and to read and annotate the short story linked above and be prepared to discuss it.

Friday 2/20

Today I turned back papers, we turned in completed books lists and read for 15 minutes collecting more post its to potentially write long about.  We spent the remainder of the period looking over returned longwrite comments and writing LW #12 in the reflections section of our reader's notebooks.

HW: Finish LW #12
Read/Log/Post it--`170 minutes due on Monday 3/2

Thursday 2/19

• Today I collected post its and reading logs. Before I took Post its, students chose one they could write long about.  
• We then compared the longwrite directions to the R.A.C.E approach to answering short answer questions and found they are very similar.  
• Students were then instructed to write a longwrite following the instructions pasted in their Reading notebooks and with the reminders of how to extend a response that was handed to them.  
• Longwrites were collected at the end of the period or finished for HW if not complete.

HW: Finish longwrite, read/log/post it




If you were absent it is your responsibility to do the following upon your return:

1. Turn in your log AND post its
2. Be sure you have reviewed longwrite directions and how to extend longwrites
3. Write and turn in a long write (do this on a separate sheet of looseleaf paper
4. get a new reading log that will be turned in Monday 3/2 with 170 minutes logged.

Thursday 2/12

Today we read the article "How to Diffuse Difficult Situations in the Classroom". We then posted our questions we had on one of the docs below and took about 5 minutes to discuss the article with a partner. Next we answered a worksheet (attached to the end of the article above )and turned that in by the end of the class period.

Period 2
Period 8
Period 9



HW: Read/Log/Post it  Logs AND post its will be collected on Thursday 2/19

Wednesday 2/11

Today we practiced using the RACCE strategy to answer short response questions.

Working with partners and consulting the rubric, we created responses that were pretty good. and discussedways to make them better including adding specifcs whenever and wherever possible and making sure we unpack the text, that is to say tell why the details are included.

If you were absent today be sure to show me your topic sentence worksheet that was assigned yesterday.

HW: Read/log/post it

Tuesday 2/10

Today I collected your short response answers. We then talked about the strategies we should employ when facing an open ended question--R.A.C.C.E  We looked at the rubric and then analyzed an examplar 2 point response to find all parts that were required in the rubric.

HW is to write 3 topic sentences for each of the 3 questions on this worksheet.
You should read/log and post it as well. I will collect post its on Thursday when I collect your logs.

Monday 2/9

Today we handed in reading logs and started a new one for the week of 2/9-2/19. We then read for 10 minutes, and then talked a little about the story, "Eleven," and then reread looking for the answer to the questionWhy can't the narrator say anything? We read with a partner, annotated further and then discussed our thoughts with each other.
HW for tonight is to answer the question in paragraph form and be prepared to turn it in on a looseleaf sheet of paper tomorrow. Also you should read/log and post it

Wednesday 2/4

Today we read Sandra Cisnero's short story entitled "Eleven" We spent much time annotating and discussing the different ways to approach annotation.

During 5th period today we filled out a survey in order to get us ready for tomorrow's lipdub.

HW:Read/log post it--logs due Monday even though it's Winter Carnival you still have to read 150 minutes!

Tuesday 2/3

Today we looked at the post its we have been keeping all week and categorized them in order to establish some guides for the type of annotations we might keep as we read our short stories--we found that we keep post-its that fall into the following categories:

Predictions

Questions

Connection

to life

to other texts-sometimes same author

within text

Reactions

Tracking character--growing theories about them

Vocabulary

Commentary

Tracking reading process

Significant passages

Literary devices

Tracking understanding of theme

HW:Read/log/post it --if you were absent, I will need to see your post its upon return.

Monday 2/2

We read for 10 minutes, turned in logs and started a new one for the week of 2/2-2/9.

We then spent time deconstructing each other's drawings to feel the process first hand.

HW: Read/log/post it 150 minutes due on your log on Monday 2/9

Friday 1/30

We looked at tier one and tier 2 questions on one mandala in each class- we noticed how very easy it is to overlook details and to let our brains be lazy!

HW: Read/log/post it 150 minutes due on your log on Monday

Thursday 1/29

We drew mandalas today! What a relaxing day.

HW: Read/log/post it 150 minutes due on your log on Monday