Ms. Cherry

November update

Hi Again!  So much for my biweekly postings!  It's been a very busy few weeks.

We are still reading "The Watsons Go To Birmingham - 1963".  Our format for this novel is to keep a daily journal in our notebooks, introduce new vocabulary at the beginning of each chapter, read the chapters, and take quizzes over every few chapters.  We also throw in other activities to promote comprehension and make things a little more fun!  Our activity for today, for instance, was to get into groups of 3 and write a song about some aspect of the book using familiar tunes, then perform it for the class.  Some really original ideas came up!!

Progress reports went out today.  We are using a new system which requires you to sign and return the envelope we send home every 4 1/2 weeks with either a progress report or a report card.  If a student is receiving a "D" or "F" grade at the time of progress reports, the individual classroom teachers will send home an individual detailed progress report as well.  Many students in reading class are failing solely due to not completing book logs or journals.

November News

Happy November! 

The sports projects were creative and fun.  We've worked this past week on introducing students to persuasive techniques in reading.  Propaganda techniques were our focus and I used a flyer I got in the mail from Sonny Perdue to point out how many of these techniques are used in political campaigns.  The students also gave short speeches using propaganda techniques to advertise a product.

We have begun our next novel study, "The Watsons Go To Birmingham-1963".  We've had fun listening to music from 1963, discussing slang terms used in that era, and talking about what it was like "back then".  This novel is always a favorite with the students.  There will be many written assignments in class for this study, so there will be alot of chances for students to earn grades.  We like to cover many aspects of this book and it draws in alot of history about racism at that time, so we will spend several weeks reading and completing various activities that apply.

As always, continue to encourage daily use of the book logs.  There are several students who have completed reading multiple books already, but there are many who have yet to fill out a book report.  We are checking book logs and notebooks tomorrow, and the students were advised about this on Monday....with a notice on the board all week. 

Enjoy your weekend and this crisp fall weather!