November 29/30, 2016

Announcements and Reminders:                           Finish, revise, and edit your argument essays as soon as possible.   You are able to work on them from home or anywhere you have Internet access.  Submit and submit for scoring. We will be writing Santa letters for the Macy's Believe Campaign. For every letter we write, Macy's will donate $1 to Make-a-Wish, up to $1,000,000! You can write asking for your Christmas wish list, write asking for gifts for someone else,  or write a thank you to Santa! http://social.macys.com/believe/ We are trying to beat the record number of letters for our school!  So join in.  You can write a letter on the Macy's Site, and print it.  Or you can pick up a form at school and write a letter there. Turn it in to your English teacher!   By the way, you can write MULTIPLE letters!   Here is an example of a letter typed online and saved to print:  Macy's Make-A-Wish Believe Campaign: #SantaProject 1A.pdf Mrs. Mace had her baby on the 29th.   His name is Hyrum.  He was born on 11/29 at 2:36 pm weighing 7 lbs. 9 oz, and measuring 20.5 inches long.

Targets for Today: Writing Standard 7.1   Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. Writing Standard 7.9   Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Language Standard 7.2  Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.   Reading: Informational Text Standard 10  By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 6–8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Today’s  Agenda: Pick up your composition books. 1.  Watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-m9T7CKAoU and write a thesis sentence to answer this question about it: Should this sort of extreme biking be encouraged as a sporting event?  Remember that your thesis sentence needs to include the claim and two reasons why the claim is true.  Write the thesis sentence in your composition book under  ____NOTES___. Date it with today's date. Receive a ticket for sharing an effective thesis!   2. Finish the practice Article of the Week.  Pokeman Go!.docx You will not have a take-home article of the week yet because you should be spending time finishing, revising and editing your argument essay. 3.  About finishing your argument essay and preparing to take your essay post-test Does your essay have all of its parts?     The parts your argument essay should have: ←Introduction ←Body Paragraph ←Body Paragraph ←Counterclaim Paragraph with the "But. . . " ←  Conclusion Let's look at some Sample Outsiders Essays. Check your RAFTS, ARMS, and SMILES! A1, A2 -- Media Center  for Nonfiction:  biography, autobiography, literary nonfiction 9:00, 10:25 Presentation by Mrs. Jones Look for nonfiction books.   If you already have yours, read it.  If you do not have it with you, look for nonfiction books you might want to read in the future.  B5, B6 -- Mrs. Jones will come to our room. We will spend some time in the media center at the end of class. To find Literary Nonfiction on Alexandria:  Alexandria (On school website find Resources, find Alexandria on the drop-down menu.) Look at the right for a drop-down labeled "Simple." Change Simple to Advanced. Click on Bibliography.  Then type in "Literary Nonfiction."

If You Were Absent: See above.

Some book suggestions:








Mrs. Jones' recommendations:
Bootleg -- about prohibition
With a Little Luck -- about inventions
Bomb -- the making of the atomic bomb
Left for Dead -- the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and how a junior high student uncovered the real truth!
I Am Malala --  young activist for educating girls is shot in the head by the Taliban
Behind the Drive -- about Larry Miller and the Jazz
The Finest Hours --  a ship breaks in half
Unbroken -- stranded at sea, prisoner of war

Vocabulary: