Sunday, February 21, 2010

February 25/26, 2010

February 25/26, 2010

Important note:  Please check your scores on MYAccess.  Many students still need to revise and edit  their work on the Theme in Literature essay (your January Book-of-the-Month assessment)  and the Persuasive essay (based on The Giver).   A few still need to do one or more of these assignments. 

Reminders: 
-- The last day to work on either of these assignments for credit is March 12. However, if you do not submit before March 4, you will not be able to receive points for revising.
-- Your user name is your first name and student number.  Your password is 999 with your last name.
-- Check messages and comments on PowerSchool and when you log into MYAccess.

Activity 1 :  Self-Starter.  In your composition book, under writing, tape the small handout, edit the passage, and write in answer to the prompt. 

Activity 2: Spelling test today on the spelling words based  on the suffix "-tion":
-tion means act or state
Words: attention, population, operation, transportation
  
Extra Credit:  
trans = across
port = to carry

at = to 
"tend" = bend or stretch
  
oper = to work

populare  = people, to inhabit

New spelling list:
Vocabulary/Spelling #19            Test on  March 3-4
 Prefix to study:   un-  which means   not
1.    unable
2.    unfit
3.    unequal
4.    unearned
5.    undone


Activity 3:  Examples of Timeline and Who's Who.
   Upload the example of the Timeline here:

Project: Example of Timeline

   Upload the example of the Who's Who here: 

Project: Example of Who's Who

Your project will be due March 8, with no late work after March 12. 



Activity 4: Read Ice Story in Groups

Activity 5: Watch more of the DVD for Shackleton, an A&E movie about the Shackleton Expedition. 

February 23/24, 2010

Bring your nonfiction book today to read or to work on the external text feature you have chosen to create. 

Activity self-starter 1a. Prepare for spelling test by  completing a crossword or wordsearch.

Activity self-starter1b.  In your composition book, under writing, tape the small handout, edit the passage, and write in answer to the prompt.


1) Fix the punctuation and capitalization in this passage. (Editing)

growing up in westchester new york elizabeth cody kimmel did not find much in the way of sub-zero temperatures and blizzards to play in. In her imagination, however, each winter brought the frozen wasteland of antarctica to her doorstep, and in her dreams she explored the icy peaks and glaciers surrounding the south pole.

2) Prompt:  If you could go exploring, where would you go? Why? 

Activity 2: Class watches a clip from Ice Story.

Activity 3: Groups read from Ice Story, collect information for their external text features. 

Activity 4:  Time for individuals to read and work on projects for their own nonfiction books.




Friday, February 19, 2010

External Text Features

See the chart on the second page of this PDF for a clear listing of external text features:

http://viewer.zoho.com/api/urlview.do?url=http://t4.jordan.k12.ut.us/cbl/images/litfac/binfo.pdf

 

External Text Features  http://quizlet.com/285777/external-text-features-flash-cards/

Term Definition
headings and titles announces the topics that will be covered
subheadings a heading given to a subsection of a piece of writing.
pictures used to emphasize or make important points
captions a phrase, sentence, or paragraph describing the contents of an illustration
boldface type or bolded words slow down and pay attention
graphs uses pictures and symbols to show information
   Here are two graphs used to show a lot of information about what we do for work in the United States: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/03/20/149015363/what-america-does-for-work?sc=fb&cc=fp
charts gives information, show processes or make comparisons
tables of contents is a list of the parts of a book or document organized in the order in which the parts appear.
glossary alphabetical list of key people, places, events, and terms.
index found at the very back of a textbook
map A representation, usually on a plane surface, of a region of the earth or heavens.
captions tell you the reason for putting the picture or illustration in the text 

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Example of Persuasive Essay from One of Our Own

by Rylaan

         My task is to convince you that you need to be able to feel emotions.  My view of this is that you need to be able to feel emotions to be able to do something great in life, and something bad.  To be able to feel emotions is a big part of our community.  We feel emotions every second of every day.

          First, we must feel emotion so we can feel love.  Have you ever felt loved in your life?  Because people before us have felt love every day from the second they were born, they love it.

        In, we must feel emotions to be able to feel proud.  Have you ever done something great that you thought was neat, if someone else saw you do it they couldn't tell you because it would make you feel proud.  Feeling proud is an important thing to feel because it builds self confidence and will help you do better in all that you do because you want to be able to feel that emotion.. If you could.

        Lastly another emotion we must feel is happiness.  We must feel happiness because without happiness the whole world would be sad.  If the whole world was sad then it would be dark and gloomy, have you ever seen a happy child, or one that just brightens your day from a bad mood to a good one?  The child possessed happiness and passed it on to you.  If you could pass that on to others then they would pass it one to others and then the whole city would be happy and would be having fun all together.  If the whole world could do that then we would not have wars or anything bad like that.


        You may bring up that why would you want to feel the bad emotions?  I would answer with "If there was no bad emotions could there be good emotions, and if there could it wouldn't it  just make the happy emotions even happier."


        Therefore, I think that you need to stop controlling your people's emotions and let them feel and react to them how they would want, like in our community.  You just need to let go it is okay to feel sad once in a while but you will get over it, and be loved also which is a great feeling. If you could feel proud of something that you did you would continue to do it and then it would make a lot of people happy. It is an outstanding idea to stop controlling emotions and let them do what they wish, it would make your community much more enjoyable and happier.

______________________
Important note:  Please check your scores on MYAccess.  Many students still need to revise and edit  their work on the Theme in Literature essay (your January Book-of-the-Month assessment)  and the Persuasive essay (based on The Giver).   A few still need to do one or more of these assignments. 

Reminders: 
-- The last day to work on either of these assignments for credit is March 12. However, if you do not submit before March 4, you will not be able to receive points for revising.
-- Your user name is your first name and student number.  Your password is 999 with your last name.
-- Check messages and comments on PowerSchool and when you log into MYAccess.


Pictures for Museum Walk -- If you were absent.


                   
Print the handout found here, and fill it in using these pictures.

February 19/22, 2010

February 19/22, 2010

More pre-reading activities for Ice Story --

Write about cold.
 
Write about a time when you were cold. Where were you? When was it? How long were you cold? How did you get warm? I should be shivering by the time I finish reading this!


Form groups of three (perhaps a couple of groups of four) -- sit together  -- fill out packets -- numbered -- decide roles: timeline, glossary, who's who (lined paper to be clipped to packet).

Introduce the ship's log (for keeping track of group scores).  

Book pass for text features.  Here  is a chart of some External Text Features.

Video introduction -- We watched part of the A&E production of Shackleton, starring Kenneth Branagh -- from the time they get underway on the ship until the Endurance is beginning to get stuck in the ice.

If time -- Begin reading Ice Story -- Whole class  -- We didn't have time on B-Day.
   Pauses for groups to list needed information for timeline, glossary, who's who.

Important note:  Please check your scores on MYAccess.  Many students still need to revise and edit their work on the Theme in Literature essay (your January Book-of-the-Month assessment)  and the Persuasive essay (based on The Giver).   A few still need to do one or more of these assignments. 

Reminders: 
-- The last day to work on either of these assignments for credit is March 12. However, if you do not submit before March 4, you will not be able to receive points for revising.
-- Your user name is your first name and student number.  Your password is 999 with your last name.
-- Check messages and comments on PowerSchool and when you log into MYAccess.



Reminder of spelling test on February 25/26:
Spelling words based  on the suffix "-tion":
-tion means act or state
Words: attention, population, operation, transportation
  
Extra Credit:  
trans = across
port = to carry

at = to 
"tend" = bend or stretch
  
oper = to work

populare  = people, to inhabit
_____________________

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Nonfiction for the February (spilling into March) Book-of-the-Month

Nonfiction for the February (spilling into March) Book-of-the-Month
(earlier published February 4 -- republished February 16)

Have your book to bring to class before or by February 19.  You may begin reading it before then. 
You will create at least one type of external text feature for your book. Your project will be due March 8, with no late work after March 12.

Rubrics for Projects: External Text Features for your Book-of-the-Month
You need only do one. Due March 8.

See this article in the School Library Journal about some award winning nonfiction books.

Your nonfiction book will be an informational book about a single subject ( not a how-to or self-help book)  and not a collection such as Guinness Book of World Records or Ripley's Believe It Or Not).

Find a topic you really would be interested in learning more about, and look for a book about that topic. 


Qualities of some types of nonfiction:
Report of Information
It focuses on a specific subject, or controlling idea.
It supports the controlling idea with plenty of facts.
It organizes facts in a way that helps the audience learn about the subject.
It uses examples, explanations, and descriptions to clarify ideas that may be new to the audience.

Autobiography
The main character is the writer of the book.
It recounts key incidents in the writer's life.
It describes major influences (people, events, places) on the writer.
It describes interactions between the writer and significant people in his or her life.
It reveals the writer's feelings, reactions, values, and goals.

Biography
It tells about a real person.
It shows that the writer knows a lot about this person.
It describes the person's environment.
It provides anecdotes or details that show the person in action.
It shows how the person affects other people.
It states or implies how the writer feels about the person.

___________________________________

Some Possible Titles:
Chew on This by Charles Wilson and Eric Schlosser (YA version of Fast Food Nation)

Knots in My Yo-Yo String -- autobiography of Jerry Spinelli  (great fun!)


Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Hoose, Phillip M.  133 pages.

With Their Eyes: September 11th--The View from a High School at Ground Zero  by Annie Thomas (editor) 

Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish  Famine, 1845-1850 by Susan Campbell Baroletti

 An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 (Newbery Honor Book) by Jim Murphy

Shutting Out the Sky: Life in the Tenements of New York, 1880 - 1824 by Deborah Hopkinson

 Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman

The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War by Jim Murphy

Now Is Your Time!  The African-American Struggle for Freedom by Walter Dean Myers

Guinea Pig Scientists by Dendy and Boring 

Survive the Savage Sea by Robertson 

Left for Dead (the story of the U.S.S. Indianapolis)  

 Homesick by Jean Fritz 

Brian's Song  by Blinn  (a screenplay about Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo) 

See more information and recommendations at http://cavemanenglish.pbworks.com/Nonfiction.

February 17/18, 2010

Important note:  Please check your scores on MYAccess.  Many students still need to revise and edit their work on the Theme in Literature essay (your January Book-of-the-Month assessment)  and the Persuasive essay (based on The Giver).   A few still need to do one or more of these assignments. 
Reminders: 
-- The last day to work on either of these assignments for credit is March 12. However, if you do not submit before March 4, you will not be able to receive points for revising.
-- Your user name is your first name and student number.  Your password is 999 with your last name.
-- Check messages and comments on PowerSchool and when you log into MYAccess.

 _____________________
1. Spelling test on "re-" words.
Prefix to study:   re-  which means   again
1.    receive           extra credit:   (1 Point)   “ceive” is from the Latin capere “to take”
2.    review        extra credit:   (1 Point)   “view”  is from the Latin videre “to see”
3.    revise         extra credit:   (1 Point)   “vise”   is from the Latin videre “to see”
4.    revoke       extra credit:   (1 Point)   “voke”  is from the Latin vocare “to call” 


2. Receive words for test to be taken on February 25/26:
       (Students copied them from the board.)
Spelling words based  on the suffix "-tion":
-tion means act or state
Words: attention, population, operation, transportation
  
Extra Credit:  
trans = across
port = to carry

at = to 
"tend" = bend or stretch
  
oper = to work

populare  = people, to inhabit


3. Begin nonfiction unit



3. Museum Walk   

Pictures for Museum Walk -- If you were absent.

4. Learning about how snowflakes are formed and making paper snowflakes

http://cavemanenglish.pbworks.com/Museum-Walk

 

Notes for teacher:  

A2 needs to watch video clip.

A4 needs to do "exit slip." 

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

February 12/16

  • Bring your nonfiction book, if you have it. 
  • Media Center visit to look at and perhaps check out nonfiction books
  • Finish and discuss The Giver, which is fictional:  
    • What about that ending?
    •  Themes/anticipation guide

Your nonfiction assignment is to create your own original text feature that your book does not already have:
  • a glossary
  • a who's who in the book
  • a map
  • a timeline
  • a subject index
Your project will be due March 8, 
with no late work after March 12. 

    The last day you will be allowed to hand in this assignment will be March 12 (the deadline for all late and revised work for this term).  You are encouraged to hand it in by March 1.  We plan to have some time in the computer lab on March 8/9 in case you really need it.

     Spelling test February 17/18:
    Prefix to study:   re-  which means   again
    1.    receive           extra credit:   (1 Point)   “ceive” is from the Latin capere “to take”
    2.    review        extra credit:   (1 Point)   “view”  is from the Latin videre “to see”
    3.    revise         extra credit:   (1 Point)   “vise”   is from the Latin videre “to see”
    4.    revoke       extra credit:   (1 Point)   “voke”  is from the Latin vocare “to call”

    Friday, February 5, 2010

    February 10/11, 2010

    1. Spelling test on -ment words.
    -ment means action, state of, result of
    government, equipment, amendment, environment

    Receive re-words for test on February 17/18.

    Prefix to study:   re-  which means   again
    1.    receive           extra credit:   (1 Point)   “ceive” is from the Latin capere “to take”
    2.    review        extra credit:   (1 Point)   “view”  is from the Latin videre “to see”
    3.    revise         extra credit:   (1 Point)   “vise”   is from the Latin videre “to see”
    4.    revoke       extra credit:   (1 Point)   “voke”  is from the Latin vocare “to call” 

    B4 did not receive the "re-"  words today.  However, they are available here, so you can start studying.  The test will still be on February 17/18.  


    2. Persuasive writing about The Giver  -- What would you say to convince people to have or not have a community like that in The Giver? 

    Your task to argue either 
        We should change our community to be more like that in The Giver in one or more ways.  (Security is more important the freedom.)

               (or)
        The community in The Giver should change in one or more ways.   (Freedom is more important than security.)

    Audience:  Either the leaders/elders or the people/community members. 

    For links to handouts and model essays go to : 
    http://cavemanenglish.pbworks.com/Giver
    You'll find these items:  
    Persuasive Writing Guide
    Sentence Outline 
    Writers' Models to show what it takes to receive the various scores. 

    We are working on MyAccess 
    user name:  firstnamestudentnumber
    password: 999lastname

    Prompt: An Important Issue -- HB Unit 5 Level B 

    The last day to submit these essays is March 12, but sooner is much better.  No revision points will be given for essays submitted after March 4. 


    Important Notice:   February Book
    Nonfiction for the February (spilling into March) Book-of-the-Month --

    Have your book to bring to class before or by February 19.  You may begin reading it before then. 
    You will create at least one type of external text feature for your book.   See the post for February 12/16.

     




    February 8/9, 2010

    1. Finish reading The Giver -- Hopefully! using Reading Maps

    The Giver, chapters 21 - 24  = 27 minutes 
    chapter 21 -- 11
    chapter 22 -- 7
    chapter 23 -- 9 




    2. Writing persuasively --
    Students will begin writing a persuasive essay based on The Giver.
    Your task to argue either 
        We should change our community to be more like that in The Giver in one or more ways.  (Security is more important than freedom.)
               (or)
        The community in The Giver should change in one or more ways.   Freedom is more important than security.)



    Audience:  Either the leaders/elders or the people/community members. 

    For links to handouts and model essays go to : 
    http://cavemanenglish.pbworks.com/Giver
    You'll find these items:  
    Persuasive Writing Guide
    Sentence Outline 
    Writers' Models to show what it takes to receive the various scores. 

    We'll be writing these essays next time.  

     
     


    What do you know about writing persuasively?  



    Practice Spelling  -- Test Next Time!
    -ment which means action, state of, result of   
    government, equipment, environment, amendment 
    Other -ment words:  judgment, acknowledgment,  abridgment; refreshment), a product (fragment), or means (ornament). monument,  appeasement, advancement, adornment , chastisement, containment,

    Organizing Persuasive Writing


    Organizing Persuasive Writing
    for February 10/11

    Thursday, February 4, 2010

    Ordering Books

    Ordering online for Scholastic Book Clubs is set up for February.   Due February 12.

    Link to Parent Ordering

    Recommended books:
    TAB Book Club
    Fiction

    The Lightening Thief  # 41 (read it before you see the movie)  
          fits the genre for the March Book-of-the-Month

    Dragon Slippers #24  Great fantasy by a Utah author  -- March genre

    Any in the Uglies series #82  -- March genre

    Candy Shop War #14  -- March genre

    Inkheart books #35 -- March genre

    Ghost of Spirit Bear #29  -- April Genre  -- Adventure (sequel to Touching Spirit Bear)


    Nonfiction 
    Bodies from the Ash #6  -- Pompeii  --  February genre

    The Secrets of Alcatraz #48   -- February genre

    Bury the Dead #12 -- February genre



    ARROW Book Club

    Fiction
    When You Reach Me  #87 (This is the book I'm reading next on my own.)  You could use this, too in March.


    Nonfiction 
    Knots in My Yo-Yo String  - #43- autobiography of Jerry Spinelli  -- February genre

    Students on Strike: Jim Crow, Civil Rights, Brown, and Me  -- February genre

    Wednesday, February 3, 2010

    Amazing Students Come Up with Lots of "-ment" Words

    accomplishment
    aggrandizement
    alignment
    announcement
    apartment
    assessment
    assignment
    astonishment
    atonement
    basement
    cement   (The word part "-ment" is used as a suffix here, added to word part that means "to cut" as in cutting stones in a quarry.)
    comment   (The word part "-ment" isn't used as a suffix here.)
    commitment
    compartment
    compliment
    concealment
    condiment
    containment
    contentment
    element (The word part "-ment" isn't used as a suffix here.)
    embarrassment
    encampment
    entrancement
    envelopment
    excitement
    excrement (gross!) 
    experiment
    filament
    fragment
    fulfillment
    garment 
    internment
    judgment
    lament  ? (The word part "-ment" isn't used as a suffix here.)
    ligament
    merriment
    ornament
    parliament
    placement
    punishment
    reenactment
    retirement
    resentment
    sediment
    sentiment
    settlement
    shipment
    statement
    torment
    tournament
    treatment
    wonderment



    (Kyle K. had a longgggg list.)

    Monday, February 1, 2010

    Student Example for Essay about Theme

    Here is an essay that was written this term by one of our students:



            A whole society of people will stop questioning the authority out of fear. A person will do anything for someone if they really love them. These two themes don't sound like they belong in the same book. However, the book The Hunger Games shows how they go hand in hand. On every page it tells how people act on fear and not always on what's best for them and their family.

            It is sick to know that a government such as the Capitol can brain wash and corrupt a society for power. Power is the enemy. Many people will do anything for power. "Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there's nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you. Just as we did in District Thirteen." (18) This is what the Capitol does to get everyone bowing down to them. They treat the hunger games like a sport when in reality it's their way of saying that they're in control. They have ALL the power. Time and Time again this is shown throughout the book.

             Another example is when Katniss arrives at the Capitol to prepare for the games she meets a mute servant-girl. The Capitol's term for her is Avox "They cut her tongue so she can't speak... She's probably a trader of some sort." (77)

            They keep the people in Districts to show they are under the Capitol's control. No one can leave the fence, and everyone has to work for the Capitol. "In closing all of District 12 is in a high chain-link fence topped with barbed-wire loops." (4)     

            Despite the threats from the Capitol, the people in the districts still show love. They will do just about anything to keep their family and loved ones alive and "safe". When Katniss's little sister Primrose was chosen to be the next tribute she couldn't help but to volunteer in her place. "'I volunteer.' I gasped. 'I volunteer as a tribute.' There was some confusion on the stage. District 12 hasn't had a volunteer in decades."(22)

            Katniss isn't alone in the fact that she really cares about people but because of the Hunger Games she's scared to get married and have a family. "I know I'll never get married, never risk bringing a child into the world, because if there's one thing being a victor doesn't guarantee, it's your children's safety."(311) She really wants to be able to love but in this society how can she?

            Everyone wants to change the Capitol but no one has the power and authority to do so. "I keep wishing I could think of a way to show the capitol they don't own me. That I'm more then just a piece in their games."(142) Any negative talk towards the Capitol can get you severally punished. "When I was younger, I scared my mother to death, the things I would blurt out about district 12, about the people who rule our country, Panem... eventually I understood this would only lead us to more trouble."(43) Eventually Katniss has an opportunity to make a difference. The Districts supports Katniss but the Capitol doesn't agree. "Listen up. Your in trouble. Word is the Capitol's furious about you showing them up in the arena."(356)

            The most frightening thing about these two themes is that we see them happen all around us. Many people love their family and friends and do what ever they possibly can to help them survive. While they try to help their families they still act in fear. Power in government can be a dangerous thing in the wrong hands. It is up to the people to keep it in balance even if it means risking our lives as Katniss did.

    Thank you to Kortnee!

    February 3/4, 2010

    Spelling:  The suffix for today is -ment.
    Vocabulary/Spelling #16           Test on February 10/11
     Suffix to study:   -ment  which means action, state of, result of
    Notice that -ment turns words (usually verbs)  into nouns.

    1.     government       gov -  ern   - ment          
                 Extra credit: “Govern” comes from a Latin word meaning “to steer” as in steering a ship.  

    2.     equipment      e – quip – ment
                    Extra credit:  “Equip” comes from an Old Norse (Scandinavia/Norwegian) word meaning “ship” because it originally had to do with fitting out (preparing everything needed for)  a ship.  
         
    3.     environment      en-vi-ron-ment
                      Extra credit: “En” means “in.”   “Viron” comes from  “around, circle, turn.”

    4.     amendment    a-mend-ment
                      Extra credit: “Amend” means to “correct, or to free from fault.”
                     Do you know about any of the amendments to the Constitution of the United States?

                                         Ode to "-ment"
                         Modifying  words into  
                            Everyday 
                              Nouns.
                                 Tricky 
                                    Old 
                                       Suffix!



    For all the prefix/suffix spelling assignments, see http://cavemanenglish.pbworks.com/Prefixe-Suffixes-Spelling-Term-3



    The Giver, chapters 17 - 20 = about 53 minutes
            Today you'll be reading on your own and answering questions about what you read.

    chapter 17 --  13 minutes  
    chapter 18 -- 11
    chapter 19 -- 10
    chapter 20 -- 19