Figurative language hunt & Econ in Europe

6th: We started class today by reading from If the World Were a Village and taking notes on what we learned about the people of the world. Then, we completed the Economics in Europe activity, browsing the books- What the World Eats and Material World. Then, we looked at the data we collected from these books and compared the countries in Europe. Finally, we wrote some discussion questions and began to work on this Diversity in Europe discussion prep guide.
Homework: Finish discussion guide in order to be prepared for tomorrow's discussion.

7th: Today we began class by introducing something we'll be focusing on in unit 2- figurative language. Ms. Devine gave out this figurative language packet and students taught each other about each type of figurative language, creating a visual to represent each type and creating an example for each. Then, we looked back at the "interesting language" Kek uses in Home of the Brave and classified his phrases by the types of figurative language we learned about. Finally, we broke off into groups and read together chapters from Home of the Brave, highlighting and classifying the figurative language in each. Then, groups shared their chapters to the class, teaching peers the figures of speech that they found.
Homework: Read 30 minutes and record it. Complete Tuareg reading and questions for tomorrow.

Economics in Europe & Organizing and Mapping Africa

6th: Today we began class by pondering- what is economics? What is the economy? We came up with some great student definitions. Then, we began this Economics in Europe packet. We talked about currency, development and per capita income, using a map. Then, we took a sneak peek at What the World Eats and Material World, two books we'll be using to look at world economics tomorrow. Then, we used the last part of class to get back our graded Europe geography maps and worked in tutorial groups to revise and improve our scores and understanding.
Homework: none

7th: Today we began class by going over the unit two expectations, overview and what it means to read independently in this class. We shared about our independent reading books. Then, we took all of the unit one work out of our binders and put it into organized file folders in the room. Finally, we checked the Africa mapping activity that we completed the other day. Students revised and corrected their maps and submitted these. Then, we used the time to read our independent books.
Homework: Read for 30 minutes and record your reading in your reading log.

Ms. D out sick

Ms. Devine has been out sick for the past two days. Hope to see you guys soon!

Maps & organization...Book choice and Africa maps!

6th: We began class by reviewing and practicing pronouns. We did the read aloud and did some visualization and discussion of the book. Then, we finished up the mapping activity from yesterday and organized all of our unit one documents and stored them in the pizza boxes. Afterwards, we visited the book fair.
Homework: Complete the possessive and reflexive pronoun pages in your pronoun packet.

7th: We began class by doing the read aloud and reflecting on how Kek's life connected to those in "God Grew Tired of Us." Then, we did a preview visit to the book fair, completed our book choice library activity and checked out books for independent reading. We graded our Africa pretest and then began a geography activity on the prominent physical features of Africa. We will continue to focus on geography on Monday. Happy weekend!
Homework: Be sure to have an indepentd

Finishing the movie, choosing IR books & Mapping Europe!

6th: We began class by reviewing our pronoun homework from last night and then beginning to practice our pronoun homework for tonight. Then, we began to brainstorm a list of all of the geographical features that we could think of. We did a Europe geography activity, defining and identifying the following in Europe: peninsula, plain, island and sea. Then, we labeled a map of Europe and created a key to identify all of the peninsulas, plains, island and seas.
Homework: Complete pronoun-antecedent practice sheet.

7th: We began class by deciding on a reward system for who would be allowed to use the new class pillows! We finished watching the rest of the movie, God Grew Tired of Us and completed the notesheet as we watched. Then, we discussed the movie briefly. We will finish discussing it tomorrow. Then, we talked about last night's homework on Book Choice. Finally, we visited the library and used the book choice sheet to begin to explore independent reading books that would be good for us.
Homework: Use the index card Miss D gave you to write down 3 questions for our speaker tomorrow. Her name is Ami and she spent 2 years living in Burkina Faso (West Africa) and volunteering with the Peace Corps. Ask her anything you want to know about Africa!

Book choices for Europe, Africa pretest & "God Grew Tired of Us"

6th: We began class by brainstorming methods for choosing a just-right book for us. We brainstormed lots of ways! Then, we went over the Europe unit overview, talking about the things that interested us, worried us and questions we had. Then, we looked at the book club choices for this unit and ranked our selections for book club choices. Then, we talked about the concept of the cultural iceberg and did groupwork to determine what aspects of culture would fall in which aspects of the cultural iceberg. Finally, we started our study of pronouns.
Homework: Complete page one (just the front) of the pronoun packet.

7th: Today, we began class by reflecting on what we learned in the Africa stations yesterday. Then, we looked back at our sentence structure tests. The students who met the standards helped out the students who did not and those who chose to do so signed up for a test retake for during lunch this week. Afterwards, we took a pretest for this Africa unit and students received a sheet on "book choice." They are to complete the first side of this sheet tonight for homework so that we can utilize it in choosing an independent book tomorrow. Then, we began to watch "God Grew Tired of Us," a movie to connect to our read aloud book, about the Lost Boys of Sudan. We completed a movie viewing sheet as we watched and we will finish the movie tomorrow.
Homework: Finish up "book choice" sheet for class tomorrow.

Starting Europe and an amazingly FUN Africa preview!

6th: Today we began class with our read aloud. Students received a lot of graded work back including their noun test. Students who met standards on the test worked with and tutored students who did not. Students revised their tests and then once they understood their mistakes, signed up for a time to retake the test. Then, we did our Europe unit pretest and graded it in class. Finally, Miss D passed out the unit overview for the upcoming Europe unit and students reflected on it.
Homework: If you did not do so in class, on the unit overview sheet, write down: one thing that excites you about this unit, one thing you're nervous or worried about and one question you have.

7th: We began class by sharing our Home of the Brave chapters we were responsible for. Students read their chapter aloud to the class and then shared what their group came up with in terms of: descriptive language, chapter summary and things they visualized. We passed back graded work and students received their graded sentence structure test. We will look more at these tomorrow. Then, after lunch we did some amazingly fun Africa preview stations. Kids listened to music, looked at artifacts, maps and flags and took notes on what they saw. We will discuss our station work tomorrow.
Homework: none

Europe, Sentence structure test & beginning Africa!

6th: Today we began our Europe unit! We watched 2 mini-movies. Ones was an overview of Europe and the other was about Europe's culture. We took notes on two different graphic organizers as we watched. We also checked out our bin of Europe books and took notes on all sorts of facts about European culture.
Homework: none

7th: We began class by sharing out our homework from the weekend- Africa postcards. Then, we took a test to assess our understanding of sentence structure. We completed Africa note-taking charts and then a KWL based on what we looked at in our bin of books about Africa. Finally, we worked with our groups from Friday to finish up the Home of the Brave chapter activity.
Homework: Make sure your chapter activity is ready to share out tomorrow at the start of class.

Europe & Africa previews and sentence structure review

6th: Today we began class by reading aloud our read aloud book. We continued to work on turning in portfolio artifacts and entry slips. Then, we began Europe preview activities. We completed a KWL chart of what we know and want to know about Europe, we did a Europe postcard activity and then we completed a video anticipation guide for Monday's Europe video. Finally, we had time to browse the huge bin of Europe books and add to a class chart: observations, wonders, interesting things we read and saw and countries we learned about.
Homework: Complete postcard and video anticipation activity if you did not do so in class.

7th: We began class by reviewing sentence structure and reviewed last night's homework. Then, we did an outside subordinator and conjunction review with sidewalk chalk. Then, we broke up into groups and read chapters of the read aloud book, summarizing the chapter and making posters about the interesting language Kek uses.
Homework: Africa postcard activity.

Govt Summit Meetings & Portfolio reflection time

6th: Today, we began class with a read aloud and then began our process of reflecting on unit one, completing the unit one reflection sheet and then selecting one, portfolio-worthy project for our portfolio, completing a portfolio entry slip, attaching it to our work, and turning it in.
Homework: none

7th: Today we began class by doing a read aloud from Home of the Brave. Then, we got our final drafts ready for the government summit meetings. We met in our original summit groups and shared our essays and reflected on how these meeting compared to the summit meetings we had earlier this month. Then, we got together in a large class share and shared out some powerful essays and reflected on how our summit sharing went.
Homework: Sentence structure practice sheet for upcoming sentence type test.

Standards reflection and super organization & Finalizing GOVT essays

6th: Today we began class by starting to read our read aloud book- The Last Book in the Universe. We visualized things we imagined from the book and then wrote down the new words we heard in the book and tried to figure out what these words meant. Then, Miss D handed out the standards tracking sheet and students recorded their grades on the work that they have completed for this unit. The rest of the class period was used for: work revision and submission, Humanities binder organization, readers' journal preparation and unit reflection.
Homework: none

7th: Today we began class by reading our read aloud book and discussing some ideas and questions about the book. Then, we continued to work on our government essays which are due tomorrow.
Homework: Complete, final draft of govt essay due tomorrow. Also- complete sentence structure practice sheet.

Noun test, BTSN prep & drafting essays

6th: Today, we took a noun assessment and then completed a Back to School Night letter to give to our families at tonight's event. Then, we each picked up a readers' journal and decorated it and began the previewing of our read aloud book, The Last Book in the Universe.
Homework: none

7th: Today, we began class by starting our new read aloud book, Home of the Brave. Then, we began our individual processes of working on our government essays. Students were to: conference with Miss D, complete their rough draft, self revise their essay, sign up for peer revision, exchange papers with a peer and peer revise and edit and then get started on their final draft. We will complete this process tomorrow and final essays are due on Thursday.
Homework: Come to class with a rough draft of your essay tomorrow.

Book project presentations & Govt essay writing...

6th: Today, we began class with some noun practice. We showcased our book project presentations in a presentation style and a museum format. We gave each other feedback on presentations and saw some amazing Seedfolks projects! Finally, we concluded class with noun practice.
Homework: Complete noun practice.

7th: Today, we began class with sentence type practice using the example sentences we wrote on Friday. Then, we completed our essay planning sheet and conferenced with Miss Devine about our plans so that we had a format for our essay. Miss D. provided students with an example introduction to start their essays.
Homework: Students who conferenced with Miss D today: do some work on your govt essay draft. Students who did not conference with Miss D: come ready to conference at the start of the period with your completed essay planning packet.

Nouns & Clauses & more...

Today was Grandparents and Special Friends Day.

6th: Today we worked on nouns and did some noun practice to prepare us for the noun assessment on Tuesday. Then, we had some time to work on the presentations for our projects, which will be on Monday.
Homework: Make sure that book project is ready to go for Monday!


7th: Today, we began class with some clause practice. Then, we started to fill in our Perfect Government graphic organizer with the notes we brainstormed yesterday. By Monday, you need to have page one of the graphic organizer complete.
Homework: Page one, perfect government graphic organizer.

The weekend! Por Fin! Enjoy it!

What form of gov't is best? & Noun work and book projects!

6th: Today we began class by making a to-do list of all we needed to accomplish today to finish our book project by the end of class. We spent about half of the class period working on noun work. Our goal of moving all students from the "understand" activities to the "apply" activities was accomplished! Then, we spent the rest of class working on our book projects which will be due and presented on Monday.
Homework: Completely finish book reflection and project tonight. Tomorrow, we will just be working on presentations.

7th: Today, we began class by discussing the reflection questions about the Lois Lowry trilogy discussion that we concluded class with yesterday. Then, we watched some of the teaching presentations given by students yesterday. Next, we completed the Stand By Your opinion activity, with students reflecting on what form of government they believe is best. Finally, we introduced the Essay Project: What Form of Government is Best? Students began brainstorming for their essays and received a writing folder to put their writing materials in.
Homework: Continue brainstorming for the essay project.

Book Projects & All 7th discussions!

6th: Today we began class by working on some noun practice. Then, we charted where we were in our independent noun study on a chart on the board so that students could utilize the chart to see who could help them out when they needed it. The rest of the class was used for students to work on book projects.
Homework: Work on book project. These are due on Friday!

7th: Today we took a couple of minutes to prepare the teaching tools for our discussion groups. Then, we broke off into all-7th discussion groups and taught students from the other classes about The Giver and discussed the commonalities and links between our books. Then, we came back to class, shared out some of these teaching presentations and then reflected on the discussion using these questions.
Homework: Complete 2 of the reflection questions in paragraph format, no less than 5 sentences per paragraph.

Seedfolks book projects & Lois Lowry discussion preparation

6th: Today we began class by sharing our completed and final Seedfolks stories. Students shared in small groups and then with the whole class. Students gave feedback on each others' stories. Then, we used the rest of the class period to work on our Seedfolks book projects. Students chose whether or not they would be working in partners or independently, what project they would do and then completed the project planning sheet to get the project approved by Miss Devine. Tonight, for homework, students need to complete the book reflection sheet about Seedfolks and then bring in any materials needed to complete the book project.
Homework: Book reflection sheet.

7th: For the first part of class, we worked with our groups to prepare the teaching tools for the all 7th Lois Lowry trilogy discussion tomorrow. For the second part of class, we worked on understanding the difference between a dependent and independent clause.
Homework: Remember- tomorrow, you have due one VISUAL tool to remember one sentence type. Make sure all of your materials are ready to teach the other 7th grade classes about The Giver.

Finalizing Seedfolks projects & Preparing for Perfect World meeting...

6th: Today we began class by sharing out specific aspects of our Mapping the Seedfolks stories that we really liked. Then, we took the period of class before lunch to work on the rest of those stories. They are due and will be presented on Tuesday. After lunch, we worked on the noun work that we started this week and students progressed in getting their noun checklist marked off. Finally, Miss Devine introduced the Choice Book Project on Seedfolks that students will start next week.
Homework: Your completed seedfolks project is due Tuesday. Use this checklist to make sure all of the required elements are complete. Look at this Multiple Intelligence Choice sheet to determine what project interests you.


7th: We began class by going over the homework from last night, reviewing the sentence structures. Then, we took a diagnostic to determine students' levels of understanding of this grammatical concept. Finally, students got together in small groups to work on their presentations for next Wednesday's Which is the Most Perfect World? meeting with Ms. Glow's and Mr. Fine's classes. Students wrote about The Giver and then created a teaching method to teach the other classes about their book.
Homework: Work on teaching method for next Wednesday's meeting.

Sentence structure & Revising Seedfolks stories.

6th: Today, we began class with a noun warmup. We shared some of the Seedfolks stories we had written and used the revision checklist to see if each reader had included all necessary elements in his/her story. Then, we self-revised our Seedfolks stories, peer revised and began our final drafts with the maps. Students need to come to class tomorrow with AT LEAST a story that has been peer/family member revised. We will work on final versions for a short bit tomorrow and then stories are due to be shared on Monday.
Homework: Get that Seedfolks story almost ready to turn in!

7th: We began class today by reviewing parts of a sentence- identifying the subject, verb and conjunction. Then, we continued to look at the sentence structure packet from yesterday. We did part one of the packet together; part two is for homework. Then, Miss D handed back the quote paragraph practice we did yesterday, with the students' grades. Students who received a JB or AS revised and rewrote their paragraphs. Students who received a grade of MS continued to practice their skills by choosing a different character from the Giver and writing a quote paragraph about this character, supporting a character trait with a quote from the book. Then, we did a "Stand by your opinion" activity for students to begin to think about which government type they believe is the best. We will continue this activity tomorrow.
Homework: Create a visual to remember one of the sentence types (due TUES). Complete part two of sentence types packet.

Mapping the Seedfolks and Writing paragraphs with quotes

6th: Today we began class by reviewing what a noun is: a part of speech that is a person, place, thing or idea. We did some practice identifying nouns in sentences and then students received this checklist sheet, laying out how students will work through understanding nouns at their own pace in class. Students received a version of this checklist with their current level highlighted (per test results from beginning of unit pretest). For 30 minutes in class today, students worked on their independent noun levels, getting activities signed and checked off by Miss D. as they completed them. Then, we looked at an example of a Seedfolks story from last year, checking to see if it met the rubric requirements. For the last part of class, students worked on their rough draft of the Mapping the Seedfolks essays and the maps that go with it.
Homework: Complete rough draft of Mapping the Seedfolks, with maps.

7th: We began class by discussing themes in the Giver from yesterday. We went over the plot structure homework and collected it. Then, we came back to our "using quotes in writing" piece that we worked on last week and exchanged this with a partner, revised it, rewrote it making changes and then submitted it to Ms. Devine. Finally, we started looking at sentence structure and will continue this tomorrow.
Homework: none