Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Letter Writing Unit


Students began a letter writing unit yesterday by investigating the five most common types of written correspondence. Students learned about:
-emails
-memos
-notes
-friendly letters
-business letters

Students also talked about how emailing and texting have made some written correspondence obsolete.

Students further discussed the proper format for friendly letters and began writing these types of letters today in class. The friendly letters are to the sixth grade class advising them about the transition to the middle school. After a peer editing workshop tomorrow, students will revise and publish their letters before sending them off to the sixth graders.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

HALF DAY!!!

Just a reminder that this Friday, 1/29, is a half day. Students will begin being dismissed at approximately 10:15 AM. Students will attend periods 1, 2, and 3 on Friday.

Starting a New Unit

This week we will begin a letter writing unit. Students will identify a variety of written communications including emails, memos, notes, friendly letters, and business letters. Students will focus on the use and format of the two latter. Students will begin our unit by creating letters of advice to our current sixth graders advising them on their transition to middle school. We will also create other friendly letters that will connect our 8th grade class to other 8th grade classes in the United States. Students will also use business letters to convey their feelings about specific consumer products. More details and examples of these letters to follow!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Acuity Testing


Students will be taking the second acuity test beginning on Tuesday, January 19th. Acuity testing assesses your child's reading comprehension skills.

Final Literature Circle Quiz

Just a reminder that students will be taking their final Literature Circle quiz tomorrow. Students will answer five short-response questions using their Literature Circle books and notebooks as needed.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

HW Smith in the News

Check out the recent news HW Smith students have been making.

USDA considers getting rid of chocolate milk at school lunch

Local students upset over letter from President Obama

Looking Ahead


To continue with our twenty-five book assignment, the next installment of summaries are due on Thursday, April 1st, 2010. Students will need to read and summarize seven books by this time.
Summaries should include the following information and be no fewer than five sentences:

*the title of the book

*its author

*a short description of the book

* a recommendation if other students should read the book and why

End of the Marking Period

Just a reminder that the end of the marking period is this Friday, January 15th. All work for the quarter must be submitted to Ms. Short by this date. Thank you!

Friday, January 8, 2010

Students of the Week

Congratulations to this week's Students of the Week:

1st Period - James

3rd Period - Asmae
5th Period - Amal
6th Period - Draquan

Keep working hard!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Only One Week Left


Just a reminder that there is only week remaining to finish Literature Circle books. If students are behind, they can sign out a book to read at home.

Staying Safe on the Internet


On Tuesday, January 19, Kathleen Deck from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children will be at HWS to make a presentation on internet safety to all students in grades five through eight. This is a great opportunity for our tech-savvy students to learn how to be safe while they are online.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Literature Circle Final Project - Due 1/22/10

Students received directions today for their Literature Circle Final Project. A duplicate of the student directions are below. Also, the rubric that will be used to score the project is after the directions.

REQUIRED MATERIALS: alphabet planner chart

book pages

markers, colored pencils, or crayons

illustrations (hand-drawn, computer-generated, or from magazines

and newspapers)

PROCEDURE: Students will brainstorm words for each letter of the alphabet that represent something important from the Literature Circle novel. The words can be

Ø names of important characters

Ø parts of the setting

Ø description of events

Ø adjectives used to describe characters, events, etc.

Students will then explain the word’s significance in a short paragraph of at least three sentences. Students will also provide a related picture. Pictures can be hand-drawn, computer generated, and/or cut out of newspapers and magazines.

Students will then combine this information into a creative ABC book that showcases the highlights of the novel. The ABC book can be typed or handwritten, but should be neat and pleasing to the eye.

***Please note that the ABC book should represent the entire novel. Points will be deducted from projects that do not include information from the book as a whole. Students who do not finish reading their Literature Circle book will likely do poorly on this project because they may not know all the events of the story.

Students will not receive the pages to create their book until they have submitted an alphabet planning chart to Ms. Short.

Rubric for Literature Circle

ABC Book Project

CATEGORY

20

15

10

5

Words

Every letter contains a word that is meaningful and directly related to the assigned literature circle novel.

Every letter contains a word that is directly related to the assigned literature circle novel, but one or two are less meaningful.

Most letters contain a word that is meaningful and directly related to the assigned literature circle novel, but at least three letters are missing related words.

Most letters contain a word that is meaningful and directly related to the assigned literature circle novel, but more than three letters are missing related words.

Graphics/

Pictures

Every letter is assigned a graphic or picture that goes well with the text.

Every letter is assigned a graphic or picture, but at least one does not seem to go well with the text.

Most letters are assigned a graphic or picture, but at least two are missing.

Some letters are assigned a graphic or picture, but more than five are missing.

Related Paragraphs

Every letter has a complete paragraph that clearly explains the word and its significance.

Most letters have a complete paragraph that clearly explains the word and its significance, but at least one paragraph is does not clearly explain the word’s significance.

Some letters have a complete paragraph that clearly explains the word and its significance, but at least two paragraphs do not clearly explain the word’s significance.

Although some letters have related paragraph, most do not explain the word's significance AND/OR more than three paragraphs are missing.

Facts Included

The project contains many specific facts and demonstrates a thorough knowledge of the entire book.

The project contains many specific facts, but only demonstrates a thorough knowledge of parts of the book.

The project contains some specific facts, but only demonstrates a basic knowledge of the book.

The project contains few specific facts and only demonstrates a very basic knowledge of parts of the book.

Spelling and Grammar

The project is completely free of errors in spelling and/or grammar in all parts of the ABC book.

The project is nearly free of errors in spelling and/or grammar, but one to three errors remain.

The project contains four to five errors in spelling and/or grammar.

The project contains six errors or more errors in spelling and/or grammar.

Overall Score _________ out of 100 points = ____________


Saturday, January 2, 2010

Just a Friendly Reminder

This is a reminder that students are required to turn in a summary for each of their six books counting towards the 25-book assignment by Wednesday, 1/13. This summaries will count towards each student homework average.

Enjoying Break

Ms. Short hopes that all of her students and their families are enjoying their break. Only two more days and then back to school. Just as a reminder students will be finishing up their Literature Circle books in the first two weeks back. More information regarding the Literature Circle Book Project to follow!