Week 1 ELA Update

Happy Friday! We had a great time meeting the new students in our houses this afternoon. The 8th graders did a great job of making the posters to welcome our new 6th grade members. We look forward to a great year of house.

Go Siena house! 

Sixth graders being welcomed to their new house by the middle schoolers. 

In 7th grade Reading and 8th grade ELA, students received their syllabus today, which they plan to get signed over the weekend. They also heard about the 40-book challenge. We're aiming high this year! Any students who complete the challenge will be rewarded in May. Students will receive the paper work to keep track of their books next week.

All students received the plan for their independent reading grade -- book talking on 400 pages each quarter, sharing a book they like with their classmates once a quarter, and then demonstrating that they are reading about 15 minutes outside of class by progressing through their books.

What Will Next Year Be Like?

The soon-to-be 8th graders (but now 7th graders) created these "vision videos" to create how they plan to operate during their 8th grade year to make the school the best place it can be!

Vocab Words

Students,

Today in the lab you'll be posting a sentence with a vocab word so that we can talk about it.

The links:
6th http://linoit.com/users/rajewski/canvases/6th%20Vocab
7th  http://linoit.com/users/rajewski/canvases/7th%20Vocab
8th http://linoit.com/users/rajewski/canvases/8th%20Vocab

Enjoy.

Comic Creation

Students,

You can use either of these sites. If you find another that you'd like to use, let me know!

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/comic/
(In case that one didn't work try (http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/comic-creator-30021.html)
http://www.bitstrips.com/create/comic/\
(If you're wanting to create an account to save your comic, which means you would have to talk/be with your parents http://www.bitstrips.com/signup)

*In class tomorrow, I'll give you my username and password in case you don't feel comfortable or don't want to create your own.
*There is no option to print from bitstrips, but you can print the page that you are on.


Your comic must be at least 6 frames long. Remember to read your directions sheet.

Writing Workshop

Today five students and I attended a writing workshop. We worked on poetry, short stories, song lyrics, and nonfiction writing. They did a great job.

At the end of the day, two of the students were brave enough to share their writing in the room of over 100 students!

Pages Party Update

The third quarter reading totals are in. Twelve students read over 3,000 pages!

Creating some FANBOYS

We've been working in 7th and 8th grade to remember what a compound sentence is. To remind us, we have the acronym FANBOYS to help with the coordinating conjuctions (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So). Compound sentences add some spice to our writing!

Each side has a setence that can stand alone, and a comma and conjunction divide the two sides.

The 8th graders made their own FANBOYS to help us remember, and they are works of art! :)

We have 14 total FANBOYS hanging in the class, 7 for each hour. 

An example of a compound sentence using or

We had fun making the drawings on the day back from our snow day!