Ready to Get Back to Work???

I hope everyone enjoyed their extra long Thanksgiving Break. We have a lot of work to do between now and winter break so come prepared to work hard and learn a lot!


As many of you know this is my first winter in the Pacific Northwest. It has been an interesting introduction. The snow was a huge shock as I have never lived anywhere where it snowed that much or this early! I also got a huge dose of snow due to my commute. I left the middle school at 3 pm on Monday afternoon and did not arrive at my home until 8:15 pm. The driving conditions were quite scary in parts and so many roads were closed! 

Celebrities Read the Declaration of Independence

Language Arts & Social Studies - Tues. Nov. 16

Language Arts:

1. Skill Work - Seed Questions vs. Tree Questions

2. Creation of Reading Groups

3. Revisit the Peer Review Work from Monday

Homework:

- Finish Memoir Draft

- Collect Titles for Reading Group

Social Studies:

1.Review Purpose of the Declaration of Independence

2.Read and Discuss the Declaration

3.Take Notes on the Sections of the Declaration

Homework:

- Collect resources for debate

Language Arts & Social Studies - Mon. Nov. 15

Language Arts:

1. Skill Work - Evaluating Ideas

2. Peer Review Notes and Discussion

Homework:

- Finish Memoir Draft

Social Studies:

1. Review Complaint Lists created on Friday

2. Narrow down your complaint to one that you will focus on in your personal declaration

3. Personal declaration pre-writing

Homework:

- Collect resources for debate

What Not to Do in Peer Review Sessions

We will be working on this in class on Wednesday-Friday. Even though this is elementary students creating this video it still has some valuable information:

Looking for a Good Book?

Declaration of Independence

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere

This is the poem you read in class on Monday:

Patrick Henry's Speech - "Give Me Liberty OR Give Me Death"

A teacher's rendition of Patrick Henry's speech - no, I will not be doing this in class:

Student Created Six Word Memoirs

This is not the same assignment we have been working on in class, but I thought it was pretty cool how these kids were able to capture the memoir genre in six words.

Social Studies: Tuesday 11/9

Here is what we did in class today:


- Reviewed major events that caused the American Revolution that we had studied previously
- Notes: American Revolution

Language Arts: Tuesday 11/9

Here is what we did in class today:


- Skill Work: Possessive Nouns
- Reviewed skills for active reading
- Setting Analysis

Thursday and Friday

Last week was a bit crazy in the Chapman block. On Thursday, students took the Reading MAP test to help me find out their reading level. This will allow me to better serve the needs of each student. On Friday, students had more time to finish missing work and conference with me about performance and missing assignments. Students also participated in a practice seminar.

Week in Rap: Election Edition

Week in Rap: Halloween Edition

The Road to Revolution Game

Just click on the sentence below:
Head on over to PBS and play!

The Boston Tea Party - Part 2

The Boston Tea Party - Part 1

The Boston Massacre

Social Studies: Wednesday 11/3

Here is what we did in class today:


- Many students have several missing assignments so they were given time to work on these items since the end of the quarter is this Friday!
- Students who are caught up on all of their work were allowed to read a book, work on memoirs, or work on something for another class.


**Students will have more time to complete missing assignments during the SS time tomorrow. Students who do not need this time will receive an incentive period. All missing work must be turned in by Wednesday, November 10th if a student would like to receive credit.**

Language Arts: Wednesday 11/3

Here is what we did in class today:


- Skill Work: Parts of Speech
- Worked on Memoir Drafts
- Conferenced with Mrs. Chapman about grades, missing assignments, and memoir work

Social Studies: Tuesday 11/2

Here is what we did in Social Studies today:


- Reviewed our Boston Massacre work
- Read a comic on the Boston Tea Party
- Discussed how the Boston Tea Party was an event leading to Revolution

Language Arts: Tuesday 11/2

Here is what we did in class today:


- Skills Work: Parts of Speech
- Memoir author's purpose analysis
- Create a purpose statement for your own memoir

Social Studies: Monday 11/1

Here is what we did in class today:


- Read mini readers theater on the Boston Massacre
- Students were asked to choose either the Boston Massacre OR the Boston Tea Party and create a newspaper article OR a comic strip to explain the event


Homework: Finish assignment - due tomorrow!

Language Arts: Monday 11/1

Here is what we did in class today:


- Discussed subject and predicates; skill practice
- Read two memoirs written by middle school students and discussed positives, negatives, purpose, and role of relationships within the pieces
- Created a list of significant people in our lives; these people may be used in the memoir or to generate other pieces in the future
- Reading Logs were handed out - students should be reading 200 minutes per week - Reading Logs are due Monday November 29th


Homework: Read!!!