This Week At-A-Glance 11.13.17 – 11.17.17
Important Dates:
English Language Arts:
For the next two weeks we will focus on the writing process and begin preparing to write our first personal narrative essay. When we return from Thanksgiving Break, we will begin our first novels. ELA Blocks 2 and 3 will read, “Hatchet” and HELA Block 1 will read “Fever 1793”.
Writing Process:
Prewriting, Drafting, Revising, Editing, and Publishing
Some students are still working in the prewriting phase, while others have moved on to drafting. This week we will focus on revising, editing, and publishing.
Social Studies: Week 7: Pyramids – This week’s paper will focus on ancient leaders such as Hatshepsut, Ramses XI, and Tutankhamen, the Boy King. Articles will also discuss archeologists Howard Carter, Dr. Kent Weeks and Jean-Francois Champollion, the man who cracked hieroglyphics. Students will also read about the ancient Egyptian architecture.
Advisory – Advisory is being used as a Math and Reading intervention period school-wide from 8:45 am – 9:15 am, Monday - Thursday. Students are working on writing summaries for non-fiction text.
Homework News:
Reading Books:
Please see the attached document for a list of mini-lessons from last week. All documents given to students can be found on my website at http://katrinawomack.weebly.com/.
This Week At-A-Glance 11.06.17 – 11.10.17
Important Dates:
For the next two weeks we will focus on the writing process and begin preparing to write our first narrative essay. When we return from Thanksgiving Break, we will begin our first novels. ELA Blocks 2 and 3 will read, “Hatchet” and HELA Block 1 will read “Fever 1793”.
Writing Process:
Prewriting, Drafting, Revising, Editing, and Publishing
Key Components of a Narrative Essay:
Exposition, Problem/Conflict, Events/Rising Action, Climax, Resolution, Theme
One Tense, Transitional Phrases, Sensory and Specific Details
Social Studies: Week 7: Pyramids – This week’s paper will focus on ancient leaders such as Hatshepsut, Ramses XI, and Tutankhamen, the Boy King. Articles will also discuss archeologists Howard Carter, Dr. Kent Weeks and Jean-Francois Champollion, the man who cracked hieroglyphics. Students will also read about the ancient Egyptian architecture.
Advisory – Advisory is being used as a Math and Reading intervention period school-wide from 8:45 am – 9:15 am, Monday - Thursday. Students are learning the RUNNERS strategy that allows them to monitor their comprehension while reading. Volunteers NEEDED and WELCOME during this time!
Homework News:
Student Agendas: Every 6th grader should have an agenda by now. I walked through the agenda with each class and demonstrated to students how to write in assignments and test. Ask your students to show you their agenda tonight. Have them fill in their vocabulary, social studies, math and science assignments, quizzes and tests for each day of next week.
Important Dates:
- Tuesday, November 7, 2017 – There will be no Social Studies quiz this week. We’re continuing our studies in the Week 7 Social Studies Study Guide.
- Friday, November 10, 2017 – Lesson 10 Vocabulary Quiz
English Language Arts:
For the next two weeks we will focus on the writing process and begin preparing to write our first personal narrative essay. When we return from Thanksgiving Break, we will begin our first novels. ELA Blocks 2 and 3 will read, “Hatchet” and HELA Block 1 will read “Fever 1793”.
Writing Process:
Prewriting, Drafting, Revising, Editing, and Publishing
Some students are still working in the prewriting phase, while others have moved on to drafting. This week we will focus on revising, editing, and publishing.
Social Studies: Week 7: Pyramids – This week’s paper will focus on ancient leaders such as Hatshepsut, Ramses XI, and Tutankhamen, the Boy King. Articles will also discuss archeologists Howard Carter, Dr. Kent Weeks and Jean-Francois Champollion, the man who cracked hieroglyphics. Students will also read about the ancient Egyptian architecture.
Advisory – Advisory is being used as a Math and Reading intervention period school-wide from 8:45 am – 9:15 am, Monday - Thursday. Students are working on writing summaries for non-fiction text.
Homework News:
- This week students are studying for Lesson 10 vocabulary test.
- This week, beginning on Wednesday, students will begin their article of the week and reading log. Students will have until the following Wednesday to turn in their article of the week homework.
Reading Books:
Please see the attached document for a list of mini-lessons from last week. All documents given to students can be found on my website at http://katrinawomack.weebly.com/.
This Week At-A-Glance 11.06.17 – 11.10.17
Important Dates:
- Tuesday, November 7, 2017 – Week 6, Life in Ancient Egypt quiz. Your student has the exact quiz that will be given to them on Tuesday in their Reading Notebook. Please go over this quiz with them as a study aid for the test. Students will no longer use newspaper during SS quiz.
- Friday, November 10, 2017 – Unit 2 Vocabulary quiz – Students should study all words from lessons 5-8. A good 10-20 of these words will show up on the Unit test.
For the next two weeks we will focus on the writing process and begin preparing to write our first narrative essay. When we return from Thanksgiving Break, we will begin our first novels. ELA Blocks 2 and 3 will read, “Hatchet” and HELA Block 1 will read “Fever 1793”.
Writing Process:
Prewriting, Drafting, Revising, Editing, and Publishing
Key Components of a Narrative Essay:
Exposition, Problem/Conflict, Events/Rising Action, Climax, Resolution, Theme
One Tense, Transitional Phrases, Sensory and Specific Details
Social Studies: Week 7: Pyramids – This week’s paper will focus on ancient leaders such as Hatshepsut, Ramses XI, and Tutankhamen, the Boy King. Articles will also discuss archeologists Howard Carter, Dr. Kent Weeks and Jean-Francois Champollion, the man who cracked hieroglyphics. Students will also read about the ancient Egyptian architecture.
Advisory – Advisory is being used as a Math and Reading intervention period school-wide from 8:45 am – 9:15 am, Monday - Thursday. Students are learning the RUNNERS strategy that allows them to monitor their comprehension while reading. Volunteers NEEDED and WELCOME during this time!
Homework News:
- This week students are studying for SS Week 6 quiz and Unit 2 Vocabulary test.
- Next week, students will begin an article of the week along with a reading log. Students will have a week to read their article and answer 2-4 common core based comprehension questions. More information to come.
Student Agendas: Every 6th grader should have an agenda by now. I walked through the agenda with each class and demonstrated to students how to write in assignments and test. Ask your students to show you their agenda tonight. Have them fill in their vocabulary, social studies, math and science assignments, quizzes and tests for each day of next week.
This Week At-A-Glance 3/12 - 3/16
English Language Arts:
This Week At-A-Glance 3/6 - 3/10
English Language Arts:
By the end of the week, students will be able to apply the following standards to literary text.
This Week At-A-Glance 2/6 – 2/10
English Language Arts: Poetry Unit
For the next 2 – 3 weeks, we will focus on poetry and the following standards. Students will create their own portfolio of poetry that shows different forms of poetry such as haiku, lyric, free verse, and limerick poetry. Students will also be responsible for identifying and creating many forms of figurative language.
Social Studies: World History: Historic Times Begin
This Week At-A-Glance 1/23-1/27
English Language Arts: “The Giver”
By the end of the week students will be introduced to and should be able to implement the following standards using “The Giver” Chapter 18-23. Eventually, students should be able to apply the following standards to other pieces of literature.
Social Studies: World History: Historic Times Begin
Next Week-At-A-Glance 1/17 - 1/20
English Language Arts: “The Giver”
By the end of the week students will be introduced to and should be able to implement the following standards using “The Giver” Chapter 12-17. Eventually, students should be able to apply the following standards to other pieces of literature.
Social Studies: World History: Earliest Humans
This Week At-A-Glance 1/9 - 1/13
English Language Arts
By the end of the week students will be introduced to and should be able to implement the following standards using “The Giver” Chapter 11-13. Eventually, students should be able to apply the following standards to other pieces of literature.
Social Studies
World History: Earliest Humans
This Week At-A-Glance 1/2 - 1/6
English Language Arts
By the end of the week students will be introduced to and should be able to implement the following standards using “The Giver” Chapters 6-10. Eventually, students should be able to apply the following standards to other pieces of literature.
Social Studies
World History: Study of the Earth
This Week-At-A-Glance 12/12 - 12/16
Readers Workshop: Students will continue reading the novel, "The Giver" by Lois Lowery. We will read chapters 8-10 and focus on the following standards:
RI and RL 6.1 - "I can cite text evidence to support what the text says explicity and implicitly"
RI and RL 6.2 - "I can determine the theme and central idea of a text" and "I can write an objective summary of a text"
RL 6.3 - "I can describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution."
RL 6.4 - "I can determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone"
Please make sure you review vocabulary for chapters 1-5 as well as class and study guide notes which can be found on Edmodo.
This Week-At-A-Glance 11/07 - 11/11
Reader's Workshop: How do I determine the central idea of an informational text? How do I determine the theme of a literary text? How do I write a summary of a text?
Writer's Workshop: How do I give and accept peer feedback on a writing piece? How do I revise a fictional narrative writing piece?
This Week-At-A-Glance 10/24 - 10/28
Reader's Workshop/Leadership:
Who are our technological leaders? Where do you go to find information for a research report? How does the internet differ from other sources of information? How can you efficiently complete an internet search? What criteria can be used to determine the credibility of a source? What were the intended uses of the internet? What were the unintended uses of the internet.
Writer's Workshop: How do give and accept peer feedback on a writing piece?
Social Studies Workshop: What leadership qualities were evident in the Great Pyramid's building based on technological advancements, the Pyramid's complexity, and the Pyramid's size. What is the significance of hieroglyphics? How do archaeologist use hieroglyphics to learn about antiquity? What are the key aspects of Ancient Egyptian culture? What are the key features of Ancient Egyptian government?
This Week-At-A-Glance 10/17 - 10/21
Reader's Workshop/Leadership:
How do I identify the stages of the plot of a video clip/short story? How can a diagram illustrate a fictional plot? What are the effects of cyber-bullying? Who are our technological leaders? Where do you go to find information for a research report? How does the internet differ from other sources of information? How can you efficiently complete an internet search? What criteria can be used to determine the credibility of a source? What were the intended uses of the internet? What were the unintended uses of the internet.
Writer's Workshop: How do you convert a plot mountain into a well-written narrative about cyber-bullying? What are the advantages of pre-writing before writing a narrative?
Social Studies Workshop: What leadership qualities were evident in the Great Pyramid's building based on technological advancements, the Pyramid's complexity, and the Pyramid's size. What is the significance of hieroglyphics? How do archaeologist use hieroglyphics to learn about antiquity? What are the key aspects of Ancient Egyptian culture? What are the key features of Ancient Egyptian economics? What are the key features of Ancient Egyptian government? What are the features of Ancient Egyptian geography? How did highly technological boats aid the Ancient Egyptians in trading empire?
This Week-At-A-Glance 10/10 - 10/14
Reader's Workshop/Leadership: How do I find evidence to support a conclusion. How do I make inferences based on three sources of information? How do you display leadership while using social media? What does your digital footprint look like? How do I identify the stages of the plot of a video clip/short story? How can a diagram illustrate a fictional plot? What are the effects of cyber-bullying?
Writer's Workshop: How do you convert a plot mountain into a well-written narrative about cyber-bullying? What are the advantages of pre-writing before writing a narrative?
Social Studies Workshop: What leadership qualities were evident in the Great Pyramid's building based on technological advancements, the Pyramid's complexity, and the Pyramid's size. What is the significance of hieroglyphics? How do archaeologist use hieroglyphics to learn about antiquity? What are the key aspects of Ancient Egyptian culture? What are the key features of Ancient Egyptian economics? What are the key features of Ancient Egyptian government? What are the features of Ancient Egyptian geography? How did highly technological boats aid the Ancient Egyptians in trading empire?
This Week-At-A-Glance 10/3 - 10/7
Reader's Workshop/Following Characters Into Meaning: How do good predictors often make a movie in their mind of what has yet to occur, envisioning not only what will happen but also how it will happen? How do readers make predictions when mining details about characters? How do we develop complex theories about characters by paying attention to how they act? How do we talk up a storm to grow theories about characters?
Social Studies Workshop/Leadership: What leadership qualities were evident in the building of the Great Pyramid? How were Hieroglyphics a significant technological advancement? How does an archeologist learn about ancient civilizations? What technological advancement aided Ancient Egypt's development of such a grand trading empire?
Unit Vocabulary for ELA, SS, and EOG
This Week-At-A-Glance 9/19 – 9/23
Reader’s Workshop: What is sequence and how do we pay attention to order of events in a story? How do I check my understanding as I read? What is cause and effect? Students will have a one-on-one conference with the teacher in Reader’s Workshop this week. The goal is to make sure students have their notebooks setup correctly and that they are copying all notes given during class.
Writer’s Workshop: How do we plan for good writing? How do we draft a story from an organizer? Students will participate in one-on-one writer’s conferences with the teacher this week. Ask your student what they’ve learned about their writing so far.
This Week At-A-Glance 9/12 - 9/16:
Writer’s Workshop – What are the guidelines for giving feedback to a writing partner? What are the guidelines to giving feedback to my peers in small group? What are the steps of the writing process? How do I get help during Writer’s Workshop? What are the behaviors and guidelines necessary for a successful Writer’s Workshop? How do we plan for good writing?
Reader’s Workshop – How do we analyze a character’s interaction with others in a text? What are the different types of fiction available to read? What is a personal narrative? What are the order of events in a personal narrative?
This Week At-A-Glance 9/06 - 9/09:
Last week student continued to learn the procedures and expectations of Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop. Some topics the class touched on in Reader’s Workshop included how to tell the difference between fiction and non-fiction text, how to preview books before deciding to read, how to question a text as a before reading strategy, how to use sketching as an annotation strategy to recall text information, and how to analyze a character in a text. During sustained silent reading students have been recording what they are thinking about the main character in their book as they are reading. In Writer’s Workshop students have focused on how to use sketching to generate ideas for writing, and how to continue a story in their writer’s notebook that was previously abandoned.
This Week At-A-Glance 8/29 - 9/02:
This week in Reader's Workshop students learned that "Reading is Thinking". During silent reading students were responsible for recording what they were thinking as they were reading. As the week progressed, students were asked to record what they were thinking about the characters they met in each of their books. In Writer's Workshop students were introduced to expectations and procedures. Writer's Notebooks were set-up with students recording writing ideas for future use. Towards the end of the week students brought in special objects and/or photos to use as inspiration for a writing piece. As an introduction to Common Core State Standards students participated in activities that challenged them to use their listening skills to carry out a task, figure out the gist or main idea of a text, use language frames to support textual discussion, and practice writing about text through modeling.
Parent Connection: Sign-up for Parent Communication and please return signed documentation sent home with students on Friday.
Edmodo: Join at https://www.edmodo.com/?language=en&auto_selected_lang=true&logout=true&user_type=intl and click on "Join a Group". Enter Code: qjnc8k.
Email: [email protected]
FIRST 20 DAYS OF SCHOOL - Students will be introduced to school-wide expectations, classroom procedures, and content area procedures (reading, writing, and social studies) workshop models. Students will learn the importance of Stem Education and what it means to be a part of a STEM community. Additionally, students will learn the best ways to collaborate in a responsible, respectful, safe, and resourceful manner in school, in their home, and in their community. Lastly, students will take Beginning of the Year (BOG) Assessments in reading and math to define their reading and math levels. From this point, students will begin developing Personalized Learning Plans (PLP's) where they set goals for the school year in the areas of academics, behavior, and work habits. Students will have the opportunity to share their PLP's with parents during student-led conferences taking place 1st and 3rd quarter grading periods.
Who are the Ancient Phoenicians and how did they contribute to society?
English Language Arts:
- RL.6.6: Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text. Our focus will be 1st and 3rd person narrative voice.
- RL.6.5: Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.
- Who are the Ancient Phoenicians and how did they contribute to society?
This Week At-A-Glance 3/6 - 3/10
English Language Arts:
By the end of the week, students will be able to apply the following standards to literary text.
- RL6.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone. Our focus will be on the different ways that students can use context clues to determine the meaning of words and phrases as used in a text and how word choice impacts the meaning and tone of a text.
- RL6.5: Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text. Our focus will be 1st and 3rd person narrative voice.
- Who are the Ancient Phoenicians and how did they contribute to society?
This Week At-A-Glance 2/6 – 2/10
English Language Arts: Poetry Unit
For the next 2 – 3 weeks, we will focus on poetry and the following standards. Students will create their own portfolio of poetry that shows different forms of poetry such as haiku, lyric, free verse, and limerick poetry. Students will also be responsible for identifying and creating many forms of figurative language.
- "Analyze the specific impact of word choice on meaning and tone” (RL6.4)
- "Determine the figurative meaning of words as used in a text" (RL6.4)
- "Determine the connotative meaning of words as used in a text" (RL6.4)
- “Determine how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text” (RL 6.6)
Social Studies: World History: Historic Times Begin
- Life in Mesopotamia – city states, religious beliefs, code of Hammurabi, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Assyrians, and The Epic of Gilgamesh.
- What is cuneiform?
- Iraq – the home of Mesopotamia
- Present Day: Artifacts Missing from Iraq
- Should museums return artifacts to their originating country?
- Who is Sir Charles Leonard Woolley?
This Week At-A-Glance 1/23-1/27
English Language Arts: “The Giver”
By the end of the week students will be introduced to and should be able to implement the following standards using “The Giver” Chapter 18-23. Eventually, students should be able to apply the following standards to other pieces of literature.
- "Analyze the specific impact of word choice on meaning and tone” (RL6.4)
- "Determine the figurative meaning of words as used in a text" (RL6.4)
- "Determine the connotative meaning of words as used in a text" (RL6.4)
Social Studies: World History: Historic Times Begin
- Life in Mesopotamia – city states, religious beliefs, code of Hammurabi, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Assyrians, and The Epic of Gilgamesh.
- What is cuneiform?
- Iraq – the home of Mesopotamia
- Present Day: Artifacts Missing from Iraq
- Should museums return artifacts to their originating country?
- Who is Sir Charles Leonard Woolley?
Next Week-At-A-Glance 1/17 - 1/20
English Language Arts: “The Giver”
By the end of the week students will be introduced to and should be able to implement the following standards using “The Giver” Chapter 12-17. Eventually, students should be able to apply the following standards to other pieces of literature.
- "Analyze the specific impact of word choice on meaning and tone” (RL6.4)
- "Determine the figurative meaning of words as used in a text" (RL6.4)
- "Determine the connotative meaning of words as used in a text" (RL6.4)
Social Studies: World History: Earliest Humans
- Who is Louis Leakey?
- What is the prehistoric period? What is the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic Ages?
- How did early humans farm, create weapons, and create cave paintings?
- What should we know about Catalhoyuk a Neolithic town?
- Altamara Cave: Why is this cave so famous?
This Week At-A-Glance 1/9 - 1/13
English Language Arts
By the end of the week students will be introduced to and should be able to implement the following standards using “The Giver” Chapter 11-13. Eventually, students should be able to apply the following standards to other pieces of literature.
- "Analyze the specific impact of word choice on meaning and tone” (RL6.4)
- "Determine the figurative meaning of words as used in a text" (RL6.4)
- "Determine the connotative meaning of words as used in a text" (RL6.4)
Social Studies
World History: Earliest Humans
- Who is Otzi the Iceman?
- Who is Louis Leakey?
This Week At-A-Glance 1/2 - 1/6
English Language Arts
By the end of the week students will be introduced to and should be able to implement the following standards using “The Giver” Chapters 6-10. Eventually, students should be able to apply the following standards to other pieces of literature.
- "Describe how a story's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution. (RL6.3)
- "Determine the figurative meaning of words as used in a text" (RL6.4)
- "Determine the connotative meaning of words as used in a text" (RL6.4)
Social Studies
World History: Study of the Earth
- Who is Margaret Mead?
- What is the Amazon Rain Forest, where is it located, and what are the key causes of its destruction?
- What are the differences between the dating system BCE and CE and B.C. and A.D? Why do some people prefer one over the other?
- What scientist studies the written records of different cultures?
- What part of a culture does a political scientist study?
- What is the difference between the terms culture and custom?
This Week-At-A-Glance 12/12 - 12/16
Readers Workshop: Students will continue reading the novel, "The Giver" by Lois Lowery. We will read chapters 8-10 and focus on the following standards:
RI and RL 6.1 - "I can cite text evidence to support what the text says explicity and implicitly"
RI and RL 6.2 - "I can determine the theme and central idea of a text" and "I can write an objective summary of a text"
RL 6.3 - "I can describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution."
RL 6.4 - "I can determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone"
Please make sure you review vocabulary for chapters 1-5 as well as class and study guide notes which can be found on Edmodo.
This Week-At-A-Glance 11/07 - 11/11
Reader's Workshop: How do I determine the central idea of an informational text? How do I determine the theme of a literary text? How do I write a summary of a text?
Writer's Workshop: How do I give and accept peer feedback on a writing piece? How do I revise a fictional narrative writing piece?
This Week-At-A-Glance 10/24 - 10/28
Reader's Workshop/Leadership:
Who are our technological leaders? Where do you go to find information for a research report? How does the internet differ from other sources of information? How can you efficiently complete an internet search? What criteria can be used to determine the credibility of a source? What were the intended uses of the internet? What were the unintended uses of the internet.
Writer's Workshop: How do give and accept peer feedback on a writing piece?
Social Studies Workshop: What leadership qualities were evident in the Great Pyramid's building based on technological advancements, the Pyramid's complexity, and the Pyramid's size. What is the significance of hieroglyphics? How do archaeologist use hieroglyphics to learn about antiquity? What are the key aspects of Ancient Egyptian culture? What are the key features of Ancient Egyptian government?
This Week-At-A-Glance 10/17 - 10/21
Reader's Workshop/Leadership:
How do I identify the stages of the plot of a video clip/short story? How can a diagram illustrate a fictional plot? What are the effects of cyber-bullying? Who are our technological leaders? Where do you go to find information for a research report? How does the internet differ from other sources of information? How can you efficiently complete an internet search? What criteria can be used to determine the credibility of a source? What were the intended uses of the internet? What were the unintended uses of the internet.
Writer's Workshop: How do you convert a plot mountain into a well-written narrative about cyber-bullying? What are the advantages of pre-writing before writing a narrative?
Social Studies Workshop: What leadership qualities were evident in the Great Pyramid's building based on technological advancements, the Pyramid's complexity, and the Pyramid's size. What is the significance of hieroglyphics? How do archaeologist use hieroglyphics to learn about antiquity? What are the key aspects of Ancient Egyptian culture? What are the key features of Ancient Egyptian economics? What are the key features of Ancient Egyptian government? What are the features of Ancient Egyptian geography? How did highly technological boats aid the Ancient Egyptians in trading empire?
This Week-At-A-Glance 10/10 - 10/14
Reader's Workshop/Leadership: How do I find evidence to support a conclusion. How do I make inferences based on three sources of information? How do you display leadership while using social media? What does your digital footprint look like? How do I identify the stages of the plot of a video clip/short story? How can a diagram illustrate a fictional plot? What are the effects of cyber-bullying?
Writer's Workshop: How do you convert a plot mountain into a well-written narrative about cyber-bullying? What are the advantages of pre-writing before writing a narrative?
Social Studies Workshop: What leadership qualities were evident in the Great Pyramid's building based on technological advancements, the Pyramid's complexity, and the Pyramid's size. What is the significance of hieroglyphics? How do archaeologist use hieroglyphics to learn about antiquity? What are the key aspects of Ancient Egyptian culture? What are the key features of Ancient Egyptian economics? What are the key features of Ancient Egyptian government? What are the features of Ancient Egyptian geography? How did highly technological boats aid the Ancient Egyptians in trading empire?
This Week-At-A-Glance 10/3 - 10/7
Reader's Workshop/Following Characters Into Meaning: How do good predictors often make a movie in their mind of what has yet to occur, envisioning not only what will happen but also how it will happen? How do readers make predictions when mining details about characters? How do we develop complex theories about characters by paying attention to how they act? How do we talk up a storm to grow theories about characters?
Social Studies Workshop/Leadership: What leadership qualities were evident in the building of the Great Pyramid? How were Hieroglyphics a significant technological advancement? How does an archeologist learn about ancient civilizations? What technological advancement aided Ancient Egypt's development of such a grand trading empire?
Unit Vocabulary for ELA, SS, and EOG
- archeologist
- hieroglyphics
- ancient
- polytheism
- caste
- credibility
- source
- imagery
- cyber-bullying
- climax
- analyze
- explicit
- inference
- textual evidence
- conclude
- author's purpose
- describe
- plot
- episodes
- characters
- character traits
- resolution
- dialogue
This Week-At-A-Glance 9/19 – 9/23
Reader’s Workshop: What is sequence and how do we pay attention to order of events in a story? How do I check my understanding as I read? What is cause and effect? Students will have a one-on-one conference with the teacher in Reader’s Workshop this week. The goal is to make sure students have their notebooks setup correctly and that they are copying all notes given during class.
Writer’s Workshop: How do we plan for good writing? How do we draft a story from an organizer? Students will participate in one-on-one writer’s conferences with the teacher this week. Ask your student what they’ve learned about their writing so far.
This Week At-A-Glance 9/12 - 9/16:
Writer’s Workshop – What are the guidelines for giving feedback to a writing partner? What are the guidelines to giving feedback to my peers in small group? What are the steps of the writing process? How do I get help during Writer’s Workshop? What are the behaviors and guidelines necessary for a successful Writer’s Workshop? How do we plan for good writing?
Reader’s Workshop – How do we analyze a character’s interaction with others in a text? What are the different types of fiction available to read? What is a personal narrative? What are the order of events in a personal narrative?
This Week At-A-Glance 9/06 - 9/09:
Last week student continued to learn the procedures and expectations of Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop. Some topics the class touched on in Reader’s Workshop included how to tell the difference between fiction and non-fiction text, how to preview books before deciding to read, how to question a text as a before reading strategy, how to use sketching as an annotation strategy to recall text information, and how to analyze a character in a text. During sustained silent reading students have been recording what they are thinking about the main character in their book as they are reading. In Writer’s Workshop students have focused on how to use sketching to generate ideas for writing, and how to continue a story in their writer’s notebook that was previously abandoned.
This Week At-A-Glance 8/29 - 9/02:
This week in Reader's Workshop students learned that "Reading is Thinking". During silent reading students were responsible for recording what they were thinking as they were reading. As the week progressed, students were asked to record what they were thinking about the characters they met in each of their books. In Writer's Workshop students were introduced to expectations and procedures. Writer's Notebooks were set-up with students recording writing ideas for future use. Towards the end of the week students brought in special objects and/or photos to use as inspiration for a writing piece. As an introduction to Common Core State Standards students participated in activities that challenged them to use their listening skills to carry out a task, figure out the gist or main idea of a text, use language frames to support textual discussion, and practice writing about text through modeling.
Parent Connection: Sign-up for Parent Communication and please return signed documentation sent home with students on Friday.
Edmodo: Join at https://www.edmodo.com/?language=en&auto_selected_lang=true&logout=true&user_type=intl and click on "Join a Group". Enter Code: qjnc8k.
Email: [email protected]
FIRST 20 DAYS OF SCHOOL - Students will be introduced to school-wide expectations, classroom procedures, and content area procedures (reading, writing, and social studies) workshop models. Students will learn the importance of Stem Education and what it means to be a part of a STEM community. Additionally, students will learn the best ways to collaborate in a responsible, respectful, safe, and resourceful manner in school, in their home, and in their community. Lastly, students will take Beginning of the Year (BOG) Assessments in reading and math to define their reading and math levels. From this point, students will begin developing Personalized Learning Plans (PLP's) where they set goals for the school year in the areas of academics, behavior, and work habits. Students will have the opportunity to share their PLP's with parents during student-led conferences taking place 1st and 3rd quarter grading periods.
Who are the Ancient Phoenicians and how did they contribute to society?
UNITS OF STUDY IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS & SOCIAL STUDIES
Unit 1 - Leadership (September - October)
ELA: The Leadership Unit will prepare students to become responsible digital leaders. Students will learn how to search the Internet, recognize a credible site, the importance of their Digital Footprint, and the negative effects of cyber-bullying. Small group work, class discussion, and individual exploration of the Internet, non-fiction and literary text will be a daily practice throughout the unit. Students will also complete a pre-writing activity that focuses on the plot of a story that will conclude with a narrative writing sample.
Social Studies: This unit on Ancient Egypt and Leadership will closely examine one of the most successful empires the world has ever seen. A close look at the technological advancements, various accomplishments, social structures, economic system, and leadership evidenced in Ancient Egypt’s storied history will give students a unique perspective on leadership and how it pertains to their lives today.
We will also examine what engineering accomplishments that were made through the Ancient Egyptian’s technologically superior boats, and what economic consequences this innovation led to. Students will be given the opportunity to think through their lives from the viewpoint of an archeologist many years from now to help them understand how archeologists today examine Ancient Egypt. Students will also take a close look at what needs Ancient Egyptians were meeting with various other technological advancements.
Culminating Project: Narrative writing sample and Glogster Poster. Both of these tasks will require students to apply their knowledge of gathering and determining credible information; citing textual evidence; presentation skills; and determining the author’s point of view.
Unit 2 - Community (October - November)
English Language Arts:
Students will learn more about their community by reading informational texts and interviewing local citizens. Text features will also be studied to assist the students in the comprehension of text and the communication of information in the unit’s project. A comparison will be made of the students’ community and the euphoric community in various literary text. Inferences will be made throughout the reading to help students understand the importance of using descriptive language when communicating with others either verbally or through written communication.
Social Studies:
This unit begins with mapping skills. Students will discover how to read maps using basic tools that most maps provide such as a compass rose, map key, and map scale. Students will also become familiar with latitude and longitude and discover what the purpose of these markers. The various types of maps will also be discovered as students will see examples of political maps, physical maps, climate maps, vegetation maps, resource maps, and product maps. These mapping skills will be utilized in the project days as students map our county.
Johannes Gutenberg revolutionized how the world communicated with his printing press. This monumental innovation will be discussed in depth and compared to recent changes in modern communication. The printing press will also be discussed in how it affected Martin Luther and his great accomplishments.
Unit 3 - Agriculture (November - December)
English Language Arts:
In this unit students will develop a persuasive argument. They must be able to choose a topic that is both arguable and defendable. They also need to be able to identify specific claims, or reasons, that justify their stand on a topic, and be able to provide sound evidence for these claims. Using their claims and corresponding evidence, students should also be able to create a structured outline that organizes their information into an orderly paragraph and/or essay format. Furthermore, students should know how to form appropriate persuasive paragraphs; these paragraphs should, at the very least, include a topic sentence, one claim, three pieces of corresponding evidence, and a concluding sentence. In addition, students must be familiar with how to construct persuasive writing that is formatted similar to a traditional essay. They need to be able to produce a piece of writing with at least five paragraphs, including: an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
Social Studies:
This unit is focused on the Agricultural Revolution. Within the unit the class will be creating a large, graphically organized timeline of the Neolithic Era through the Agricultural Revolution all the way to modern day. Each class session will realize new material to be included in the timeline. There will be a heavy focus explanatory writings to hypothetical questions about agriculture and how it has affected lives throughout history. There will also be a focus on the technologies developed during this revolution and if they use the same engineering design process as is used today. There will also be math skills utilized to quantify ratios of how much food a given person could produce in a given time frame. Students will be asked on a daily basis a higher order thinking question centered around the theme that agriculture is necessary for the development of civilizations. Additionally, students will examine possible negatives that have resulted from the Agricultural Revolution.
Culminating Project:
Students will create a landscape design for one area of the campus. The students will create a proposal that will include a landscape design plan, an elevation drawing, a budget for the proposed project, and rationale for the design element choices made.
Unit 4 - Medicines & Vaccines (December - January)
English Language Arts:
In this unit students will explore historical fiction surrounding plagues that have occurred throughout history. With research, students will understand the medical advances that have been made throughout the centuries. Excerpts from Fever 1793 will be used as a mentor text. The information gained will be used to create a documentary that will show the natural history of the influenza virus and what medical science has achieved in fighting the disease.
Social Studies:
During this unit we will examine the Bubonic Plague, formerly known as the Black Death. The 650 year-old plague will be examined in how it affected Europe socially, economically, and politically. The Black Death will also be compared to the modern AIDS epidemic, and how medicines and vaccines may have been able to stop the spread of such a catastrophic plague. In addition, the living circumstances that Europeans lived in will be detailed, as well as the symptoms of this illness. There will be a constant influx of writing into daily lessons to tie English Language Arts to Social Studies. Also, fractions and percentages of populations will be details to tie mathematics into the unit. The biological causes of the event will be details to make science relevant to this unit as well.
Culminating Project:
The culminating event in this unit will be a documentary-style video using Fever 1793 as a template.
ELA: The Leadership Unit will prepare students to become responsible digital leaders. Students will learn how to search the Internet, recognize a credible site, the importance of their Digital Footprint, and the negative effects of cyber-bullying. Small group work, class discussion, and individual exploration of the Internet, non-fiction and literary text will be a daily practice throughout the unit. Students will also complete a pre-writing activity that focuses on the plot of a story that will conclude with a narrative writing sample.
Social Studies: This unit on Ancient Egypt and Leadership will closely examine one of the most successful empires the world has ever seen. A close look at the technological advancements, various accomplishments, social structures, economic system, and leadership evidenced in Ancient Egypt’s storied history will give students a unique perspective on leadership and how it pertains to their lives today.
We will also examine what engineering accomplishments that were made through the Ancient Egyptian’s technologically superior boats, and what economic consequences this innovation led to. Students will be given the opportunity to think through their lives from the viewpoint of an archeologist many years from now to help them understand how archeologists today examine Ancient Egypt. Students will also take a close look at what needs Ancient Egyptians were meeting with various other technological advancements.
Culminating Project: Narrative writing sample and Glogster Poster. Both of these tasks will require students to apply their knowledge of gathering and determining credible information; citing textual evidence; presentation skills; and determining the author’s point of view.
Unit 2 - Community (October - November)
English Language Arts:
Students will learn more about their community by reading informational texts and interviewing local citizens. Text features will also be studied to assist the students in the comprehension of text and the communication of information in the unit’s project. A comparison will be made of the students’ community and the euphoric community in various literary text. Inferences will be made throughout the reading to help students understand the importance of using descriptive language when communicating with others either verbally or through written communication.
Social Studies:
This unit begins with mapping skills. Students will discover how to read maps using basic tools that most maps provide such as a compass rose, map key, and map scale. Students will also become familiar with latitude and longitude and discover what the purpose of these markers. The various types of maps will also be discovered as students will see examples of political maps, physical maps, climate maps, vegetation maps, resource maps, and product maps. These mapping skills will be utilized in the project days as students map our county.
Johannes Gutenberg revolutionized how the world communicated with his printing press. This monumental innovation will be discussed in depth and compared to recent changes in modern communication. The printing press will also be discussed in how it affected Martin Luther and his great accomplishments.
Unit 3 - Agriculture (November - December)
English Language Arts:
In this unit students will develop a persuasive argument. They must be able to choose a topic that is both arguable and defendable. They also need to be able to identify specific claims, or reasons, that justify their stand on a topic, and be able to provide sound evidence for these claims. Using their claims and corresponding evidence, students should also be able to create a structured outline that organizes their information into an orderly paragraph and/or essay format. Furthermore, students should know how to form appropriate persuasive paragraphs; these paragraphs should, at the very least, include a topic sentence, one claim, three pieces of corresponding evidence, and a concluding sentence. In addition, students must be familiar with how to construct persuasive writing that is formatted similar to a traditional essay. They need to be able to produce a piece of writing with at least five paragraphs, including: an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
Social Studies:
This unit is focused on the Agricultural Revolution. Within the unit the class will be creating a large, graphically organized timeline of the Neolithic Era through the Agricultural Revolution all the way to modern day. Each class session will realize new material to be included in the timeline. There will be a heavy focus explanatory writings to hypothetical questions about agriculture and how it has affected lives throughout history. There will also be a focus on the technologies developed during this revolution and if they use the same engineering design process as is used today. There will also be math skills utilized to quantify ratios of how much food a given person could produce in a given time frame. Students will be asked on a daily basis a higher order thinking question centered around the theme that agriculture is necessary for the development of civilizations. Additionally, students will examine possible negatives that have resulted from the Agricultural Revolution.
Culminating Project:
Students will create a landscape design for one area of the campus. The students will create a proposal that will include a landscape design plan, an elevation drawing, a budget for the proposed project, and rationale for the design element choices made.
Unit 4 - Medicines & Vaccines (December - January)
English Language Arts:
In this unit students will explore historical fiction surrounding plagues that have occurred throughout history. With research, students will understand the medical advances that have been made throughout the centuries. Excerpts from Fever 1793 will be used as a mentor text. The information gained will be used to create a documentary that will show the natural history of the influenza virus and what medical science has achieved in fighting the disease.
Social Studies:
During this unit we will examine the Bubonic Plague, formerly known as the Black Death. The 650 year-old plague will be examined in how it affected Europe socially, economically, and politically. The Black Death will also be compared to the modern AIDS epidemic, and how medicines and vaccines may have been able to stop the spread of such a catastrophic plague. In addition, the living circumstances that Europeans lived in will be detailed, as well as the symptoms of this illness. There will be a constant influx of writing into daily lessons to tie English Language Arts to Social Studies. Also, fractions and percentages of populations will be details to tie mathematics into the unit. The biological causes of the event will be details to make science relevant to this unit as well.
Culminating Project:
The culminating event in this unit will be a documentary-style video using Fever 1793 as a template.