Summer is here!

Enjoy your summer!  but...Don't forget to read and write .

The Last Days

We are making our way through the last days of the year and they are going fast!
Projects have been handed in and we will spend the next few days looking at student videos,power points, prezzies, web pages, and other wonderful creations.  I am always amazed at their creativity.  I have seen several great papers, stories, and essays as well while I have been grading. One of my favorites is an essay on how to make Mrs. Butterworth  angry.  The writer's voice came through and it was right on correct : )  As I said, their creativity always amazes me!
I have truly enjoyed working with your kids this year and will miss them.  Most of them make their way back several times as eighth graders (which I love)!
Have a great summer!

Week of May 1st

Can't believe it is already here!

This week in English:

• We will continue to work on our 4th quarter assignments due May 11th.  This is in place of a final test as this shows that your student is able to use reading and writing effectively.
• On Wednesday, Tuesday, and Thursday of this week, we will take our last performance test of the year.
• Students should still be reading an independent book; we are reflecting on them in class.

Due this Friday:  Reading reflection sheet
                          Fractured Fairy Tale Sheet

Reading:
We will finish up the outsiders this week and begin writing our theme essay for the book.

April 23

This week in English:

• Working on Nursery Rhyme Characteristics
• Students will research two nursery rhymes on-line to learn history and meaning
• Students will continue to work on projects Tuesday and Thursday DUE May 11
• We will be reading stories from other countries and analyzing them
• Students are reading and reflecting on their independent books daily

Due Friday:  Nursery Rhyme on-line assignment
                    Short story review
                    Reading Reflection sheet



Reading
We hope to finish up Outsiders by the end of the week
Continue responding to the questions on the Bookspot Blog
Discuss and practice prediction and inference

April 16-20th

Wow! We are so quickly moving to the end of the school year!
English
Last week students had a great beginning to working on their 4th quarter projects. They are working hard on getting things accomplished.

This week we will:
Continue working on our projects on Tuesday and Thursday.
Begin looking at Tall Tales as a form of story telling.
Explore some popular Tall Tales and analyze for characteristics of Tall Tales.
Continue to perfect our skills for our last Ed. Performance computer test on May 3.
Due by Friday this week:
Tall Tale Table
Written Fable or Tall Tale
Reading discussion reflection for discussion on independent reading books


Reading
Continue with The Outsiders
Review questioning as an important reading strategy of strategic readers

April 9-13

MAP is done! All students did a great job staying on task and trying hard.

This week in English:
If you have not seen the Fourth quarter packet to sign, please ask to see it.
We are working on our last Unit of Study which includes "Other Literature"
Fairy Tales, Fables, Tall Tales, Myths etc.
Tuesdays and Thursdays are work days for fourth quarter project work.
Our last book talk is on Thursday of this week. Be sure your student has read the book.
We will not have reading records the last quarter of the year as I am planning to do some in class discussions about their independent books and maybe even some on-line things.


Reading:
We are starting again with the last reading group.
We are in the process of doing The Outsiders.
Students are finishing up their book talk books for Thursday.
We are on the website blogging about The Outsiders.

April 2nd

We are ready to go....

Last week we spent the week doing final preparations for MAP testing this week.
This week we will be testing On Tuesday and Wednesday.
English testing will be on Tuesday morning!
I'm looking foir them to do a great job!


The rest of the week we will talk about our last Unit of Study for the year.
Watch for a syllabus and assignment sheet to sign for projects that we will be working on during this unit.