Reminder of Reading Assignment

Remember that you should  be reading your fiction book for the first Basic 8 Assignment.  Find the assignment on Edmodo or download it here:  Basic 8 Reading Assignment 1.doc

Grading for Basic 8 Book #1

If you're having trouble getting into Edmodo, try watching an instructional video:

Edmoto Student Sign-Up

 
Hand in your assignment by typing it up and attaching it on Edmodo.
Due by September 18. 

For recommended books and books not to read, go here: 
http://cavemanenglish.pbworks.com/Recommended-Books
Just for fun (and inspiration),  watch this:  http://bit.ly/oW0Rqv    Reading Flash Mob


The project for Book #2 is due by October 17.  Book #2  must be Realistic Fiction.

August 29/30, Wednesday/Thursday

Announcements

• You should have already set up your Edmodo account. 
•  Don't forget to answer the poll on Edmodo:  http://www.edmodo.com
• You should be reading your novel for the Basic 8 -- the required book assignment.  See the handout or the assignment on Edmodo.
• Happy Birthday, Brynn S. and  Kolby Enosa!

1. iRead -- Individual Reading
      Fill out your reading log.  [Teacher Check]

2. iWrite:    
 August 29 or 30, 2012          

Prompt: A Pet
    Have you ever had a pet you really cared for? Why do/did you care so much about that animal? What is the best memory that you have of your pet? (If you have never had a pet, write about the type of pet you’d like one day. Why that animal?)


 


3. iWriteRight: Capitalization  
     For what reasons are words capitalized in this passage?

     "Old Shep, My Pal (1)  is a timeless classic!" roared the teacher.  "It won the Gunhold Award (2) ! It was my favorite book growing up.  Everybody loves it."  He turned to the rest of the class. "Right? (3) " . . .
      I said, "I knew Old Shep (4) was going to die before I started reading page one."
     "Don't be ridiculous," the teacher snapped.  "How?"
     "Because the dog always dies."  . . . "What happened to Old (5) Yeller?"
      "What about Sounder?" piped up Joey Quick.
      "Don't forget Where the Red Fern Grows,"  I put in. "The (6) double whammy -- two dogs die in that one."

No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman, pp. 4-5

       [Ms. Dorsey adds, "And in The Call of the Wild, more dogs die than in those other dog books combined!"]



Reasons to Capitalize: 

• Titles
       -- books
       -- songs
       -- TV shows and movies
       -- poem
•  First word of a direct quotation
       -- dialogue
       -- quotes from other works when it's the entire sentence

   
About italics:  Italicize book and movie titles and television shows -- titles of something that is big (the whole enchilada), not just a poem or short story or one episode of a TV show.    

_________________________________________________

4.  iGo  to Computer Lab --

Students will receive computer numbers. 
Bring your book and planner and a pencil to the computer lab.

In the computer lab, watch, read, and listen for directions.
Work on  an introduction to MY Access.
Take the Scholastic Reading Inventory.  (Must be done at school.)

We will finish these next time we are in the computer lab. See the handout with step-by-step instructions.

August 27/28, 2012 Monday/Tuesday

August 27/28, 2012 Monday/Tuesday      Monday is Early-Out Day.  

Monday Early Out

Time	Period	Minutes
8:15 – 9:25	1st Period	70 minutes
9:30 – 10:45	2nd Period/Announcements	75 minutes
10:45 – 11:15	First Lunch	30 minutes
11:20 – 12:30	3rd Period	70 minutes
10:50 – 12:00	3rd Period	70 minutes
12:00 – 12:30	Second Lunch	30 minutes
12:35 – 1:45	4th Period	70 minutes

August 27/28, 2012 Monday/Tuesday 
This week we will still be on a no-Cave Time schedule.

 Turn in your disclosure document signature sheet if you brought it.

 1. iRead  -- You should be in your seat reading by the time the bell rings.

•  Quiet  Individual Reading Time 
•   Fill out your Reading Log after you read.   
•   Date it 8/28/12.  
• If you missed school,  pick up a make-up form, read 20 minutes, fill it out, and have a parent sign it.  Return it and hand it in to the wire basket.

If you brought your composition book today, 

see Ms. Bills or Ms. Dorsey -- before the bell or after reading time.

2. iWonder: What questions do you have for us?

• Information for you:  Book orders are due tomorrow.   After tomorrow you may still order from the same catalogs, and the orders will be sent in again in about two weeks.  
• Reminder:  Please DO NOT write, draw, or otherwise mark on desks.  

3. iWrite:   Best Friend               August 27 or 28, 2012
         Prompt:   Describe your best friend. Why is he or she your best friend? Use details and give examples!

4. iWriteRight:

a. What do you notice about this passage?   Periods B7-B8   (A1, A3, A4, we already did this.)
       There are no wrong answers.  Just tell what you notice.  You are not looking for mistakes.  You are looking at an example of  published good writing from a book written for kids around your age.

     Lucky Trimble crouched in a wedge of shade behind the Dumpster.  Her ear near a hole in the paint-chipped wall of Hard Pan's Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center, she listened as Short Sammy told the story of how he hit rock bottom.  How he quit drinking and found his Higher Power.  Short Sammy's story, of all the rock-bottom stories Lucky had heard at twelve-step anonymous meetings -- alcoholics, gamblers, and overeaters -- was still her favorite.
     Sammy told of the day when he had drunk half a gallon of rum listening to Johnny Cash all morning in his parked '62 Cadillac, then fallen out of the car when he saw a rattlesnake on the passenger seat biting his dog, Roy.

  -- Susan Patron, The Higher Power of Lucky

iWriteRight       Periods A1-A4, B7-B8
b. Label this "iWriteRight."

In your composition book,  number from one to ten,  and list the reasons why the underlined words are capitalized.  

Capitalization: Why Capitalize?

     When (1) I was nine, my parents borrowed my grandmother's new Ford Mustang (2)because it had air conditioning and because my grandmother insisted, and because there was no way our old  
Chevy (3) could make the two thousand miles from our house on Mayo Avenue (4) in Houston(5)  to Decker, Montana (6) , where my father's old Army (7) buddy owned a sheep ranch. . . . It was the first day after third grade at Pearl Rucker Elementary School (8) , and I held the bag of peppermints Mrs. (9)  Dodge (10) had given me, along with a note: "Thank you for being my star this year."  I didn't like peppermints, but they were from Mrs. Dodge, and I loved Mrs. Dodge.  So my two younger sisters wouldn't get a single one for the whole drive there and back.  We drew imaginary boundaries on the vinyl seat and dared each other to cross them.

 -- Kathi Appelt, My Father's Summers (2004)

Has one of your parents ever gone away for long enough for you to deeply miss him or her? This book is a memoir by a girl whose father was away from home for long periods of time, working in Arabia.  Then when he did come back "to stay,"  her parents divorced, so he lived across town with a whole new family.

5. iShowIKnow    Paragraph test  30 minutes
          Show us your best writing in this timed test.

A1  begin at 8:50
A3  begin at 11:25
A4  begin at 1:10

B7  begin at 12:40
B8  begin at  2:10

If extra time -- The Outsiders / character (Nope, didn't get to it.)

 ____________________________________________________________________

August 23/24, Thursday/Friday

1. iRead    

• Bring a book to read, or quickly pick a book from the clear plastic boxes on the counter. 
• You will read for about 15 minutes.  
• You will receive your reading log for English class and fill it out for today.  
• Make sure you write both first and last name at the top.

2.   iLearn  -- Visit the Media Center

• We will come back to the classroom afterward, so leave your stuff here.
• Walk, not run, to the media center.
• Go quietly, so we do not disturb other classes.
• Place your backpack on the shelves provided.
• Quickly find a seat.  
• Be prepared to listen attentively to Mrs. Jones and/or Mrs. Bird. 

Media Center   3-2-1

3 books at a time

for 2 weeks

                                                      1 dime for each day your book is late

You learned in the media center about the staff, when you can go to the media center, how to find and check-out books and how to return them.  You learned where to find fictional books, biographies and autobiographies, and nonfiction books.  



3.  Your teachers will introduce the book assignments for this year.

• Basic 8 Assignment 
• on Edmodo -- Required  http://www.edmodo.com 
• You can also download it from here: Basic 8 Reading Assignment 1.doc
• First one due September 18
•  Read your book and do the writing as directed on the handout.
• Turn it in on Edmoto.
• Who's in charge? Ms. Dorsey, Ms. Bills 
• 40 Book Challenge 
• highly recommended
• Who's in charge? Ms. Dorsey, Ms. Bills 
•  40 Book Challenge
• Battle of the Books 
• optional, but we hope many students will compete
• Who's in charge? Ms. Jones -- Your Olympic Training Coach in the Media Center

• Battle of the Books -- Special Opportunity

• Finding Books 
• at home
• at the public library
• in the classroom
• through book orders
• in the media center    

By the end of class, you have received handouts for all three assignments covered above, as well as a letter about ordering books through Scholastic book orders. 

 

4. iWrite    -- Write this in your composition book, or, if you don't have it yet, on a handout provided.
      Prompt:  Good Morning   8/24/2012

Describe your morning routine. Describe your ideal morning routine. 

5. iWriteRight   
What do you notice about this passage? 
       (There are no wrong answers.  Just tell what you notice.  You are not looking for mistakes.  You are looking at an example of  published good writing from a book written for kids around your age.)

     Lucky Trimble crouched in a wedge of shade behind the Dumpster.  Her ear near a hole in the paint-chipped wall of Hard Pan's Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center, she listened as Short Sammy told the story of how he hit rock bottom.  How he quit drinking and found his Higher Power.  Short Sammy's story, of all the rock-bottom stories Lucky had heard at twelve-step anonymous meetings -- alcoholics, gamblers, and overeaters -- was still her favorite.
     Sammy told of the day when he had drunk half a gallon of rum listening to Johnny Cash all morning in his parked '62 Cadillac, then fallen out of the car when he saw a rattlesnake on the passenger seat biting his dog, Roy.

  -- Susan Patron, The Higher Power of Lucky (2006)

Capitalization: Why Capitalize?

A3 did not do iWriteRight.
All classes will later go through the meaning of the genres for the book assignments.



________________________________

Maybe. . . .    In case we have extra time before going to the media center, we will listen to some more of The Outsiders. (page 6+)  (We did not have time to do this.  We will at a later date.)

You will create a chart in your composition book for some of the main characters, and fill it in as the narrator describes each.

Characters in The Outsiders
Character’s Name	Description (age, looks, personality, etc.)
Darry/Darrel Curtis
SodaPop Curtis
Two-Bit Mathews
Steve Randle
Dallas/Dally Winston
Johnny Cade
Narrator/Ponyboy Curtis

Grading for Basic 8 Book #1

Due September 18
Make sure your book is a novel of at least 100 pages, at your own reading level or above, one you haven't read before,  and not on the Do-Not-Read list attached to your assignment. 

Grading for Book #1 of Basic 8  Total:  60 points

Book Review Assignment for Book #1

Must include:

1. Title, Author, Number of pages.  

5 points    (title using capitalization, author using capitalization, # of pages)

2. Setting (place and time) and a list of important characters).    About Time Setting

   5 points place, 5 points time       10 points for characters and descriptions
   Give details for each, as much as you can.  Give both general and specific place settings. 

Note: Place can be a specific (proper noun) type of place, such as New York City or Boise, Idaho, or it could be general (common noun) such as at the main character's house in a small town, at his school, and at the city park. 

3. A brief summary of the book read (The summary must be of    

the book from beginning to end, but you may --and should -- leave out major spoilers since it will be read by others who haven’t yet read the book.). 1 to 2 paragraphs

15 points  beginning to end, effective summary, leaves out spoilers

4.  Rate the book on a scale of 1-10 .  (1 being “I would not recommend this book”, 10 being “It was the best book that I have ever read”.)  You also must include the reason why you give it the score that you do.   1 +4 = 5   (1 point for rating, 4 for explanation)

5. Some kind of connection to the book: 2 paragraphs   

Text to text: Connect the book to another piece of literature that you have read.

Text to self: Connect the book to yourself in some way.

Text to world: Connect the book to something that is going on in the world.

10 points -- paragraph, paragraph, clear connections -- Be specific about what you are connecting to what and why.

overall effectiveness, other issues --   up to 5

August 21/22, Tuesday/Wednesday

Welcome to Theater 206:
Now taking you back to the 1960's when S.E. Hinton wrote The Outsiders
Important Vocabulary:
Background Knowledge (also known as schema): what you already know -- Before you read a novel or other text, it helps to think about what you already know, and perhaps to find out more about the subject or setting, so that you will understand the book or other text  better. 

Realistic Fiction/ Life Problems Fiction   The Outsiders is a work of realistic fiction because the story it tells could really happen.  Even though the time setting of the book is  fifty years ago, the same sorts of things could happen today.  It deals with problems people have in life such as the death of  family members or friends and   tensions between the rich and the poor.

Setting (in a work of literature):  where and when the story takes place -- The novel The Outsiders is set in Oklahoma (place)  in the 1960s (time). 

Character (in a work of literature):  a "person" in the book.   In realistic fiction, a character could be a human being, or an animal that acts like animals really act.  In fantasy, a character might be a talking animal or a troll or a mermaid or. . . .

1.    Watch video clip
2. Listen to the beginning of The Outsiders
3.  Write to respond to this prompt:  "Being an Outsider"
   Have you ever felt like you don’t belong? Describe the situation and how you
   felt. Would you change anything to fit in?
    
4. Learn more about the setting of The Outsiders -- the 1960's. 
• A3 got to the madras shirt 
• A4 haven't watched the PowerPoint yet
• B3 got to the last of fashion 
• B4 got to music
5. Receive your disclosure document for this class.  Take a brief quiz on it.
A2 received planners in their other classes.

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Author Coming to Our School

Richard Paul Evans will be here on August 28 at 10 am.  The English and reading classes meeting that period will be going to the assembly.