Kate Robertson and Tiffany Benincosa

Update...

LA--1st, 2nd, 3rd Periods

 We'll pause and recap today as students create study guides for tomorrow's That Was Then... quiz. Quiz includes all grammar, vocabulary, and story elements from Chapters 1-3. Study guide will be started in class and completed for homework.

Homework: complete study guide and prepare for quiz tomorrow.

Later this week, students will choose a character to analyze. 

ACLA- 7th Period

Time for a recap of our ongoing caper. Today's focus-- the importance of idioms in the "Who Done It?" Quiz will be moved to Wednesday. Students are responsible for Christie background, vocabulary, and story elements.

Prepare for quiz on Wednesday.

Lit Apps- 6th Period

Our literature circles begin this week. Students will be reading a novel with a holocaust theme. 100 Words vocabulary continues.

 

New Directions...

We'll begin new units this week with a focus on different literature selections with informational text supplementing and broadening our perspective.

Langauge Arts--1st, 2nd, and 3rd Periods

Meet Mark, Brian, & M&M, to name a few. They are part of S.E. Hinton's cast of characters in her novel That Was Then, This is Now. We'll integrate grammar, sentence structure, and vocabulary as we cruise through this 8th grade favorite.

AC Language Arts--7th Period AC Language Arts

Who done it? Shouldn't that be who did it? We'll let that one stand as we embark on a terrifying journey to Indian Island with Dame Agathat Christie. Students will act out Ten Little Indians as they track the byzantine course of events and try to determine...who done it.

Several assessments will be linked to  the Christie unit. Details will follow later this week.

Literary Applications-- 6th Period

Literature circles will be centered on the theme of the holocaust. Students will participate in group novel studies while exploring underlying themes from informational text.

 

So it is written...

...but we're not nearly done.

Take a deep breath, 8th graders. Your first major assessment is complete. More importantly, you made incredible strides in honing your writing skills so far this year. We saw a focused and thorough effort underway as students worked through the essay writing  process.

Language Arts classes will finish the week by analyzing some of David Sedaris's rhetorical strategies from his personal essay "Us and Them." This humorous piece provides a good dose of irony in many varieties. We'll identify and explore the origin and meaning of idioms while creating some of our own.

Literary Applications classes will begin literature circles next week with the common theme of the Holocaust.

Eat, sleep, hydrate...

January 18th-- The 8th Grade Assessent

You are well prepared, and you are going to do a fantastic job. Get a good night's sleep, eat a hearty breakfast; bring water, pencils, and pens.

It's time to show off!

Yes, the long awaited 8th Grade Writing Test is this week!

Tuesday will be a fine tuning day. Grammar and writing medics will be on hand. Writamins will handed out to prevent common alilments such as paragraphaphobia, punctuitis, fear of transition, and a host of other writing related conditions.

Please get a full  night's sleep on Tuesday, eat a healthy, hearty breakfast, and arrive at school with a pencil and pen. You're going to wite a stellar essay!

Welcome back... 8th grade-- Part 2

We look forward to seeing all of our 8th graders on Tuesday. Big changes are on the horizon. Our students will emerge triumphant from the 8th Grade Writing Assessment on January 18th.

That gives us five instructional days to fine-tune writing skills. Please take advantage of morning help sessions. Ms. Hartley, Mrs. Benincosa, and I rotate coverage--look for one or more of our names on the white board in the mornings.

Enjoy the remaining hours of the break, and prepare for a challenging quarter.

See you on Tuesday.

Frosty the Snowman finds a new career...

 

All langugage arts classes:

The creative juices are flowing as students search for a new career for Frosty. They will rewrite the lyrics to this classic winter tune.

On Thursday, all 8th graders will participate in a mock essay session. Morning classes will be blocked to simulate conditions for the 8th Grade Writing Assessment.

7th Period:

Yes, you have a quiz tomorrow on ‘Speaking of Words” words. It will not be difficult because most of the words are not of a recondite nature. Just remember that the words have to do with speaking, so begin by thinking of new words that have become part of our vocabulary like the verb text, and you’ll know that I’m talking about neologism—a new word that has been added to our language.  Also, recall that Alex gave a terse response to a boy who was bothering her. Terse is often used to convey the idea of an abrupt, rude comment. Succinct is used to describe clear, precise expressions in speech or writing; expressing oneself succinctly requires some skill. Terse responses usually do not. And then we have malapropism, a term that originated from Mrs. Malaprop, a character in a 1700s play who mispronounced big words; the author included these errors for comedic effect. ‘Yall better not forget the meaning of colloquialism. Now, it would be a misnomer to call this quiz difficult—it should be fairly easy as long as I don’t obfuscate to deliberately confuse you—I won’t; I promise. Don’t be verbose when you come to class tomorrow. Quiet down and take the quiz and work on your Frosty lyrics. Be sure to look over your words tonight—remember Ben Franklin’s aphorism-- Lost time is never found again.

 

Writer's Cramp

All Language Arts Classes  

We are finishing up our "Build an Essay" unit. It's our big push before we go on break. When students return in January, we'll have just five days to fine tune writing skills. The 8th Grade Writing Assessment is scheduled for January 18th.

Please come in for help sessions in the  mornings. I am available on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 8:10.

We have a talented group of writers this year, and we want everyone to be well prepared.

Build an Essay slides can be accessed from the link below.

Download Essay-- Building an Essay

 

Great source for news articles...

http://www.literacynet.org/cnnsf/archives.html

 

Check Point and Build-An-Essay

1st, 2nd, 3rd, & 7th

All language arts classes will take Cobb County Check Point tests on Monday and Tuesday.

On Wednesday, we will begin Build An Essay-- students will work through the essay writing process in bootcamp style. We'll brain storm, pre-write and produce essays in response to a prompt. We want to ensure that all students are prepared for the 8th Grade Writing Assessment on January 18th.

Please attend help sessions in the mornings if you need any extra help or practice.

 

 

6th Period

Students did a fantasitc job on research projects last week. Well done! We'll resume our 100 words vocabulary instruction this week. Quiz scheduled for next Wednesday, December 21st.