Wednesday, February 28, 2018

My Daughter Sent Me This


How should the sentence be punctuated?   Extra credit if you are the first (and perhaps second) in your class to tell me.  

Monday, February 26, 2018

In the News


I wondered how they would do this: 
"Use Visa for a chance to win a trip to a past Olympic Winter Games"

Then I read the rest of the headline: 
"Use Visa for a chance to win a trip to a past Olympic Winter Games host city"

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Monday/Tuesday, February 26/28, 2018


Announcements and Reminders for Monday/Tuesday, February 26/28, 2018:
                         
Tomorrow  (February 27) is your day to job-shadow.  Come back to school on Wednesday!

Leave (or put back) your composition books in your haning folders.

Book Sign-Ups are due February 28!  
Biography
Autobiography/Memoir
Literary Nonfiction

If you  weren't here to get the Nonfiction Book-of-the-Month Assignment, you can download it from here:

Finding the Central Idea Graphic Organizer.docx

Recommended Nonfiction

See the tab above for required reading for more information. 

Targets for Today:

I can recognize simple, compound, and complex sentences.

I can recognize these expository (informational) text structures:
descriptive, cause and effect, comparison/contrast,  sequence (and chronological), problem and solution.



Today’s  Agenda for Monday/Tuesday, February 26/28, 2018:

Leave your composition books in their hanging folders. 

1.  Quiet, individual reading time -- If you can, use this time to read your nonfiction books. 

If you have not picked a book yet, sample the nonfiction books available on the rolling table at the front of the room.  

2.  Sign-up for your nonfiction books -- by Wednesday, February 28. 

3. Sentence Types Practice. 
Students practiced recognizing simple, compound, and complex sentences. 
Here are a couple of games for practice with sentence types: 


4. Students practiced recognizing expository text structures.  



    Note that Sequence and Chronological are different because sequence shows the order of what repeatedly happens (the metamorphosis of a butterfly) or what should happen (recipes or science experiments or assembling a bicycle).

 Chronological order, on the other hand, is about what happened.  Example:  You were born, then you learned to talk and walk, then you went to kindergarten, then first grade, and so on.  It’s time order using days, weeks, months, years. 




If You Were Absent:

See above.  


Vocabulary:



 Help and Enrichment 

More About Types of Phrases

Text Structure Resources








Thursday, February 22, 2018

Thursday/Friday, February 22/23, 2018



Announcements and Reminders for Thursday/Friday, February 22/23, 2018:
                         
 Slideshows and Book Projects 
Finish up your book project and/or slideshow (if still needed) as soon as possible.  Share the finished Google slideshow with Ms. Dorsey and check for comments from her.   Share your book project Google Doc with Ms. Dorsey, check for comments, revise and edit as needed, then print the document and attach it to the front of your rubric.
Jan BookoftheMonth 2018.docx

How They Croaked Teaching Project Rubric.docx 

Link to the Sample Slideshow:  
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1oSWW8nZtqYtPpTyOqjjbghkZiHUBw9VU3gZIvPP1IhM/edit?usp=sharing'


Nonfiction Book Project 
Our new book project is nonfiction.  We will be going to the media center on Thursday and Friday of this week.  There are also nonfiction books available for checkout from our classroom.  Pick a book and start reading.  You will be looking for one or more central ideas in your book and how the central ideas are supported by details in the book.   For instance, in the movie, The Greatest Showman, P.T. Barnum learns that the most important goal in life is to develop caring relationships with others.   We could find many details in the movie that support that idea.
Recommended Nonfiction
                   
         Don't forget to complete your eighth-grade registration by February 26.  

It's LIVE Week!
Live a little -- make new friends,
get to know your old friends better. 



Targets for Today:

Reading: Informational Text Standard 2 
I can determine  central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the text;
I can find details to support ideas and conclusions.

Conventions of Standard EnglishLanguage Standard 1 
I can demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
a.  Explain the function of phrases and clauses in general and their function in specific sentences.
b. Choose among simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences to signal differing relationships among ideas.



Today’s  Agenda for Thursday/Friday, February 22/23, 2018:

Pick up your composition book.
1.  Prepare for your test on spelling and other conventions.

2.  A1 and B-Day Media Center for a presentation 
about Nonfiction and time to find books
Bring your composition book and a pencil or pen.  
Write down titles in Books I'd Like to Read.

A1  Beginning of Class
A2 (last 25 minutes)  10:25 - 
B5, B7  Beginning of class 

3.  Take the Spelling and Other Conventions Test 
This week we will take a break.  
Just review your past spelling and conventions assignments. 
Look for links to learning helps in the light blue boxes on this blog.  

Conventions of the Week #4.docx
Conventions of the Week #2.docx


       plus the main point the author is making about the topic. 
Synonyms:  main idea, main point, gist.  

Examples:  
A Woman in the House (and Senate) 
  • Women frequently bring a different perspective to decision making. 
  • If we are to celebrate the options available to girls and women today, 
we must learn about those who fought to give life and reality to our dreams. 

The Finest Hours: The True Story of A Heroic Sea Rescue 

  • The Coast Guard rescuers told about in The Finest Hours 
    • fought against insurmountable odds.  

(Supporting details would tell about the odds 
and what made them insurmountable.)

Non-examples:  theme, topic, specific details


supporting detail

  noun
    Supporting detail is additional information that explains, defines or proves the main idea.

    Information in Supporting Detail

  • Facts - Statistics or graphs
  • Statements - Quotations or opinions from authorities or experts
  • Examples - Comparisons, contrasts, graphs, case studies, illustrations, 
    • or predictions
  • Explanations - Clarifications, definitions, sequence of events, 
    • causes and effects, or summaries
  • Descriptions - Character traits, setting, action or events, or directions
            • An example of a supporting detail in a story is a description of the character's clothing.
            • An example of supporting detail in a newspaper article are sentences that answer 
            •      the questions who, what, where, when, why and how.
            • An example of supporting detail in a movie review are sentences that explain 
            •      how or why the critic came to that decision: perhaps the acting was mediocre 
            •       or the dialogue stiff and cliched.
            YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2017 by LoveToKnow Corp
          Read more at http://www.yourdictionary.com/supporting-detail#KBM3Bm1GJE3xtQ4c.99





           The "5-Paragraph Trick" for finding a central idea for a nonfiction book:
          Most nonfiction books are structured like a 5 paragraph essay, only longer. In a five paragraph essay 
          we are guaranteed to find a concise statement of the main idea/theme of the book at the end of the 
          introductory paragraph. Similarly, a nonfiction book will often have a concise statement of the 
          main idea in towards the end of the introductory chapter.  

          (Introduction, prologue,  first chapter --

          Where else in a 5 paragraph essay can we find a concise restatement of the main idea?
          last chapter)

          It doesn't always work, but it does often enough to be helpful. 
          Examples: 
          My Yosemite  by Mike Graf
          The first page ends with "Read on, then explore what makes Yosemite special for you." 
          Central Idea:   Yosemite is special to different people for different reasons. 

          Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow  738 pages 
          "Today we are indisputably the heirs to Hamilton's America [and to his vision of the modern world] (6)."

          Superman Versus the Ku Klux Klan by Rick Bowers
          The character of Superman “stands guard against threats to human dignity and freedom.” P. 149 

          The Children of Willesden Lane: A True Story of Survival During World War II by Mona Golabek and Lee Cohen
          Music gave Lisa Jura the strength to face hard times and an uncertain future (vii).

          Choosing Courage: Inspiring True Stories of What it Means to Be a Hero by Peter Collier
          This is a theme -- not a central idea! 
          “Courage isn’t something you’re born with, but rather something you discover within yourself “(xiii).



          _______________________________
          A2  Media Center for a presentation about Nonfiction and time to find books
          Bring your composition book and a pencil or pen.  
          Write down titles in Books I'd Like to Read.

          A1  Beginning of Class
          A2 (last 25 minutes)  10:25 - 
          B5, B7  Beginning of class 



          If You Were Absent:



          Vocabulary:


          Central Idea = the topic 

                 plus the main point the author is making about the topic. 

          Supporting detail is additional information that explains, defines or proves the main idea.


           Help and Enrichment 

          Study and Review: 
          Conventions of the Week #4.docx
          Conventions of the Week #2.docx

          See the helps and enrichment for the previous days we have worked on spelling and conventions.
          Conjunctions:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2biawdXGAiI

          More About Types of Phrases


          Reading Comprehension Tips: How to Find Main Ideas in a NonFiction Book
          Gretchen Wegner

          https://gretchenwegner.com/2011/12/11/reading-comprehension-tips-how-to-find-main-ideas-in-a-nonfiction-book/