Ms. Cherry

April Update!

It's hard to believe that there is only a month left of 8th grade!  Many special activities are planned for 8th graders, soon to be on their way to high school!

We took the Reading CRCT this past Monday and the students generally seemed to feel that it was pretty manageable.  Progress reports went home today and many students have pretty low grades at this point.  The poetry unit, which emphasized alot of figurative language, was difficult and many did not put forth their usual degree of effort.  The materials we used to try to prepare for the CRCT were also very challenging. I think it was worth it, since many students stated that they felt the CRCT seemed much easier after working so hard on all of the practice work we did.  I'm confident that we will have excellent Reading scores. 

This week we started our final novel of the year, The Watsons Go To Birmingham - 1963.  I made a CD of the top ten hits of 1963 (the kids LOVED that music ;).  We talked about the slang terms from back then, which was cool, Daddy-O.  Students always like this book and this is what we'll finish out the year doing.  There will be a couple of quizzes (open book) and a final test on this book, so they will have a chance to raise their reading grades. 

Keep reading those books outside of class for booklog!  We'd like to see everyone make the 25 book goal for this year!

Reading News

We've been very busy in reading class, learning about reading graphics, identifying various literary devices, and reading and appreciating poetry and all it's terminology. 

We continue to study our vocabulary words.  We recently had a test on words 71-80.  Attached is the list of words 51-80.  Last week we introduced words 81-85 and Monday (3/9) we will add words 86-90.  We will test on those words this Friday. After we finish all 100 words, we will have some review time and then take a comprehensive quiz over all of the words.  Don't worry!  It will be similar to the 1-50 word test, which most students did just fine with. 

Download VOCABULARY-51-80

Students recently finished working on advertisements for the books we read in class together.  They had two days in class and one homework night to complete this assignment.  This task gave them practice in using various persuasive techniques and was required in order to receive credit on their booklog for the books read in class. 

Our current unit is about reading and analyzing poetry.  We have some fabulous poets in our classes.  We have written rap and shape poems, as well as nonsense poems.  We have been exposed to several types of poetry and have spent some time talking about and listening to lyric poetry in the form of songs.  Attached is the last poetry assignment, which will be a major grade.  It is a poetry notebook and the assignment has been discussed in class (on Friday 3/6).  A sample will be provided on Monday, along with more explanation if needed.  Students will have all class period Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to complete this assignment, with the final project being due at the end of class Wednesday.

Download Poetry Notebook for Blog[1]

Download Poetry Project Poems[1]

Reading News

We've been very busy in reading class, learning about reading graphics, identifying various literary devices, and reading and appreciating poetry and all it's terminology. 

We continue to study our vocabulary words.  We recently had a test on words 71-80.  Attached is the list of words 51-80.  Last week we introduced words 81-85 and Monday (3/9) we will add words 86-90.  We will test on those words this Friday.  After we finish all 100 words, we will have some review time and then take a comprehensive quiz over all of the words.  Don't worry!  It will be similar to the 1-50 word test, which most students did just fine with. 

Download VOCABULARY-51-80

Students recently finished working on advertisements for the books we read in class together.  They had two days in class and one homework night to complete this assignment.  This task gave them practice in using various persuasive techniques and was required in order to receive credit on their booklog for the books read in class. 

Our current unit is about reading and analyzing poetry.  We have some fabulous poets in our classes.  We have written rap and shape poems, as well as nonsense poems.  We have been exposed to several types of poetry and have spent some time talking about and listening to lyric poetry in the form of songs.  Attached is the last poetry assignment, which will be a major grade.  It is a poetry notebook and the assignment has been discussed in class (on Friday 3/6).  A sample will be provided on Monday, along with more explanation if needed.  Students will have all class period Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to complete this assignment, with the final project being due at the end of class Wednesday.

Download Poetry Notebook for Blog[1]

Download Poetry Project Poems[1]

Reading 2009!

Welcome back to school!  This grading period, we will be focusing on technical reading.  We started our new year today with a pretest using our GA Studies books, since utilizing textbooks is something we all need to know how to do. 

This week we will be studying our first 50 vocabulary words.  We will have a review quiz on Friday before starting the second 50 words all high school freshmen need to know!  I am attaching a list of the first 50 words for easier studying.

Download VOCABULARY-First 50 words

Tomorrow we will be starting a new "read aloud" book.  We will, as usual, try to complete at least 2 novels here at school, but keep on reading each night at home so you can meet that 25 book goal!

Welcome to December Reading!

Download NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH journals only Well, we finished Nothing but the Truth yesterday!  Parents, ask your students what they thought about this book and the ending!  It was very popular.  We'll be doing a reading skills packet Monday and Tuesday of next week and will have the final test over the book on Wednesday.  As long as students have read along with us, participated in discussions, and completed their journal entries, they should do fine.  I am attempting to attach the journal assignments.  We've been having trouble with attachments on the BLOGs lately.

As far as vocabulary goes, we have made it to 50 words!  Halfway done with the 100 words!   Next Friday, we will have the test for words 41-50 and then the following week, there will be a review test over all 50 words. 

I wanted to congratulate some students for recently improved grades:

Gary Garcia, Lee Ammerman, Tieashia Davis, Steven Martinez, Sabraya Epps, Drew Beard, Carly Mathis, Brandon Emby and Sam Trance.

Worthy of extra special notice for greatly improved attitude and effort are Bryer Brookshire and Caleb Black. 

Keep up the good work and keep reading at home!

Nothing But the Truth is a hit!

Well, it seems that the students really like our new book, Nothing But the Truth.  We have had some excellent oral reading this past week.  Did you know that oral fluency has been scientifically tied to better comprehension?  This book offers alot of dialogue, which we are reading in parts like a play.  We have had several students who have done a tremendous job of expressive, dramatic reading.  I just want to recognize a few, even though many have done well.  Robby Skibicki, Zach Grund, Drew Beard, Victoria Lambropoulos, Leshae Evans, Emily Till, Amanda Mills, Alex Nobles, Lee Ammerman, Ben Anderson and Tre Dowell have stood out in my memory this week as going the extra bit to make the dialogue seem believable.  Most everyone has been cooperative and done a good job in reading aloud.  Keep up the great reading!

We are taking a journaling approach to this book, and students should have 4 journal entries in their reading notebooks on Monday.  I am attaching the 4 journal assignments from last week so that anyone who is behind can catch up over the weekend.  Parents, ask your students about this book.....it could start some very interesting moral dilemma conversations....specifically, what really constitutes telling a lie?

Remember that there will be another vocabulary test this Friday, November 21st.  The test will be on words 31-40.  Please keep track of all of your vocabulary words, as there will be a cumulative quiz when we reach 50 of the 100 Words High School Freshmen Need to Know.  Also, keep up with those vocabulary stories that are required for every 5 words.  As you know by now, they are checked and graded.

Don't forget to keep reading for your booklogs as well!  We will try to check booklogs this week if we have time.  You should have at least 3 books read by now, including Chinese Cinderella (if you turned in the assignment to receive credit for it).

Great work this last week!  Keep trying!  Grades overall are looking good so far!

Download nothing_but_the_truth_journals_14.docx 

Completing Chinese Cinderella!

Many students seemed to enjoy reading Chinese Cinderella.  We are now completing an assignment which requires that students write journal entries or letters from the viewpoint of one of the characters in the book.  This assignment will count as a classwork grade and will also give students credit for reading this book on their booklogs.  Attached is the assignment sheet with the rubric for grading.

Remember to study those vocabulary words!  Most students are continuing to do well on the vocabulary tests.  We are up to word #30 now and will have a review test when we reach 50 words. 

We had some very interesting Urban Legends from the week of Halloween!  We went to the computer lab and read some pretty gruesome tales and then created our own legends to share.  There were some really imaginative stories!

Next week we start our next novel - Nothing But the Truth.  Keep on reading as much as possible at home!!!

Download journal_letter_rubric.doc

Download chinese_cinderella_organizer.doc

New Nine Week Grading Period!

This week we began our second grading period and report cards were distributed today.  This time around we will be focusing less on narrative reading and more on expository (informational/explaining) pieces.  We started the week with a short story on the history of various sports and began working on a project about sports.  The first part of the project requires students to read some research materials regarding the origins and history of a particular sport and complete a three part individual assignment.

The second part of the project will be a group portion, requiring students to design their own brand new sport.  I look forward to seeing what creative ideas the groups come up with. 

We will soon be starting another novel together called "Nothing But the Truth".  I am reading aloud "Chinese Cinderella" to the class at present.  It is a true story that the students seem to be pretty interested in hearing.  We are about half way done with it now. 

Vocabulary study is going well, with the majority of students making 100 percent on the first vocabulary matching test.  I am constantly entertained with the stories the students are making using their vocabulary words each week.

Almost October!

Well, so much for my intentions to post every week! 

We did, indeed, complete the novel The Pigman.  All grades on that novel's assignments have been posted to iCue, but we still have several students who are missing assignments. 

Also, last week we finished the book I was reading aloud to the class (a little each day) - Things Not Seen.  Today we started work on a Story Map/Plot Diagram, which will be required in order to receive credit for this book on booklogs. I began checking booklogs today and having students post stickers on their "We Strive for 25!" posters in the classroom to show how many books they have currently read.  Everyone has received one sticker for Pigman and will receive one for Things Not Seen as soon as they turn in their Story Map.  Students need to be reading every night in order to meet their 6 books in 9 weeks requirements to be on track for the 25 books standard!! We actually already have one student, Sydney Yocum, who has read 20 book equivalents!  In addition to several other books, Sydney has been reading the Twilight series and those are long books.....remember that every 150 pages counts as a book!

Today we began our vocabulary study of "The 100 Words Every High School Freshman Should Know".  Index cards are required for vocabulary study, so if students have not purchased these, they will be needing them from now on.  We make flashcards of the words with their definitions, study them, write stories with them, play BINGO with them and will have a quiz after every 10 words.  Once in a while, we will have a cumulative quiz to review. 

This week we will be focusing on key literary terms that will be on the Benchmark Post test at the end of the grading period.  The words we will test on are: Plot, Theme, Genre, Hyperbole, Parody, Narrative, Expository, Pronunciation, Context Clues, and Point of View.  We will present these concepts in a variety of ways and apply them to the novels we have just read, as well as to some short stories. 

September Already!

Classes are enjoying reading the novel, The Pigman.  We just finished Chapter 10 and played a game that the characters in the novel play together.  If we continue on our current schedule of reading, we will finish reading Pigman next week and will be able to count it as a book on our booklogs.

Speaking of book logs, next week will also mark the end of the first 4.5 weeks of school.  It will be time for a book log check.  Remember, we need to be reading approximately 6 books per grading period to be on track for our goal of 25 books this school year.  For this book log check, I'll be looking for 3 books (this includes Pigman and summer reading books) in order to receive full credit.

All students should have a notebook for reading by now and should have finished decorating their cover.  We have begun working on our interactive notebooks and will start highlighting our standards next week. 

Parents, remember to check ICue to keep up with student progress and missing assignments.