Math CRCT!

Today was the MATH CRCT.

6th: In class, we worked on our myth projects. Final drafts of myths are due on Monday!
Homework: Rest. Complete myth final draft!

7th: We split the class in 1/2. Half of the class worked on writing leads for their stories and brainstorming for a quote to include in their articles. Half of the class worked on drafting. Then, we switched!
Homework: Relax and rest.

ELA CRCT and myth time!

Today was the ELA CRCT!

6th: Today we reviewed our thoughts and feelings about the first 2 CRCTs. Then, we used most of the class to work on our myth projects. Students worked at their own pace, based on what they had already completed. There will be no homework during this week of CRCT.
Homework: none. Get a good night's rest!

Reading CRCT and Journalism article work

Today was the reading CRCT!

7th: We debriefed the CRCT, looked at and analyzed an example article to help us plan our outline for writing our own article and then got our article outline checked by Ms. D. From there, we began drafting our articles.
No homework during CRCT week!

Preparing for the CRCT tomorrow!

Today was the day before the CRCT! The CRCT schedule is as follows:
WED: READING
THURS: ELA
FRI: Math
MON: Science
TUES: Social Studies

6th: Today, students worked on myths- most students peer revised myths, while those who were not ready drafted theirs. The next half of the class period was used for some CRCT review with simple, compound and complex sentences.
Homework: Get a good night's sleep and eat a good breakfast tomorrow to prepare for CRCT!

7th: Today, students turned in mechanics work and took a mechanics pretest. Later, they practiced with adjective and adverb clauses. Then, they did a CRCT review game to practice for tomorrow's test.
Homework: Get a good night's sleep and eat a good breakfast tomorrow to prepare for CRCT!

Compound and simple sentences, myths & Mechanics!

6th: Today we spent the class learning about what makes a complete sentence and we even learned how to tell the difference between simple and compound sentences! Then, we spent the last part of class working on our myths. First draft of the myth is DUE TOMORROW!
Homework: Read. Work on myth draft- due tomorrow!

7th: Today we began class by recalling prepositional phrases- all the way from last year! We used our knowledge of prepositional phrases to understand adverb and adjective phrases and we worked together on understanding this. From there, we worked on mechanics work- DUE TOMORROW- and Ms. D. significantly cut down the requirements for each student to be able to complete the work by tomorrow. We will have a mechanics assessment tomorrow as well.
Homework: Complete mechanics work- be ready for assessment. Read, as always.

Mid East research and prewriting, mechanics, PALS & research conferences!

6th: Today we had research conferences with Miss D and we did PALS with Ms. Cannon. Students did one activity for the 1st part of class and then switched for the 2nd part of class. Have a great weekend! Remember- CRCT is next week and English/Language Arts begins on WED!
Homework: Read.

7th: Today we began class by finishing up our research- writing 2-3 paragraphs about what we learned- before turning it in. Then, students moved forward on the next steps of the process- prewriting! Students brainstormed for their articles and then we moved on to our study of mechanics. Remember- all mechanics work is due TUESDAY!
Homework: Read, work on mechanics work and any work that you feel you need to do for your journalism project.

Middle East research, mechanics & Oceania research

6th: Today Ms. Devine was out with her advisory, watching portfolio exhibitions.

Students began class with interjections practice, using mad lib stories that their classmates had written. Then, they continued Oceania myth research. From there, students had a chance to read an excellent myth from last year and look at the myth to see how it met the standards. ALL RESEARCH NOTECARDS AND COMPLETE KWL AND "DESCRIBE A CHARACTER" PACKET ARE DUE TOMORROW AT THE START OF CLASS.
Homework: Read and record. Complete all research.

7th: Today we began class with some mechanics practice and then did a mechanics activity in table groups where each table group taught the class about proper usage of one of these things: commas, semi-colons, colons, quotation marks and dashes. Then, we spent the rest of the class period working on the 2 big things on our agenda right now- mechanics practice work and Middle East research! Remember- Middle East research is due tomorrow. You should come with all notecards done, KWL filled in and then be ready to properly cite your sources using the bibliography formatting that Miss D will provide.
Homework: Read and work on research!

Middle East research, mechanics, interjections, Oceania research

6th: Today we began class with interjection practice. Then, we did a fun outdoor activity with sidewalk chalk and interjections. I think we have fully mastered them! From there, we went to the library to continue to research for our Oceania myth project. Many students have finished the research- taking notes on notecards, transferring what they learned to the L column of the KWL and then using the research to describe the character and setting of their myth. ALL OF THIS COMPLETE RESEARCH IS DUE ON FRIDAY. IF IT IS NOT ALMOST COMPLETE, YOU NEED TO BE WORKING ON IT AT HOME.
Homework: Read and record. Work on research.

7th: Today we began class by going to the library to continue Middle East research. From there, some of us chose to work on Middle East research, while others worked on mechanics work. ALL MECHANICS WORKED IS DUE ON TUESDAY. ALL RESEARCH- NOTECARDS AND COMPLETE KWL- IS DUE ON FRIDAY.
Homework: Read, work on research.

Mechanics, Middle East research, interjections & Oceania research

6th: Today we began class with a conjunction review. Then, we continued to research our Oceania topics in the computer lab. From there, we finished watching The Whale Rider and discussed the movie. Then, we began our study of interjections with a School House Rocks video. Ms. Devine checked in with us about our portfolio work to make sure she had an up to date list of who had what.
Homework: Read and record.

7th: Today we began class with some mechanics practice. Then, we worked on our bloom's mechanics work and got items checked off our list from Ms. Devine. From there, we worked on our Middle East research project.
Homework: READ!

Golden Dragons, the Whale Rider and Middle East research!

Today we saw the Chinese Golden Dragon Acrobats! It was a very cool performance.

6th: Students watched the Whale Rider movie and answered questions as they watched it. We will finish the movie tomorrow.
Homework: Read and record.

7th: We began class by discussing the performance today- what we liked and what we learned. Then, we introduced the Middle East research project and selected our topics to research. From there, we created a KWL to begin research, developed research questions, got these questions checked by Miss D, and set up our notecards to begin research tomorrow.
Homework: Read.

Myth research, conjunctions & Mechanics work

7th graders: don't forget- Chinese acrobat field trip on MONDAY! If you have not yet brought the permission form and money, do so, or you will stay at school.

6th: Today we began class with some conjunction practice. We worked on it and checked it in class. Then, we made sure we were prepped for researching our topic. After lunch, we researched our topic in the computer lab and took notes on index cards.
Homework: Record reading on bookmark.

7th: Today we began class by continuing with Middle East GEOG. Then, we did some prep work for viewing our Golden Dragon performance on Monday. Then, we started our study of mechanics- capitalization, colons, semicolons, commas- based on how we did on our pretest this week.
Homework: I forgot to give out the bookmark. Enjoy!

Myth research & Journalism and Middle East

6th: Today we began class with conjunction practice. Then, we watched conjunction junction to figure out exactly what a conjunction does and make a list of all of the conjunctions we heard. From there, we began our myth research. We made a KWL chart and looked at the articles and atlases Ms. D. gave us to write down everything we knew about our topic in terms of Geography, History and People. Then, we wrote down our research questions in the W(ant to know) column and prepared ourselves to conduct more research tomorrow.
Homework: Remember, bookmark is due tomorrow!

7th: Today we began class by writing thank you notes to VOX who visited yesterday. Then, we came back to our journalism projects- we broke off into groups and shared one of our articles and then facilitated a small group discussion about the article. Afterward, we had a whole class discussion about what we had learned about journalism from this project. From there, we began to investigate the Middle East, the region which we'll be exploring as journalists. We will finish up our Middle East GEOG tomorrow!
Homework: Letter to the editor- VOX story. Bookmark due tomorrow!

***PARENTS, WANT TO CHAPERONE OUR TRIP TO THE CHINESE GOLDEN DRAGON ACROBAT PERFORMANCE ON MONDAY, APRIL 18TH? We need chaperones! Email Ms. D. at cdevine@atlantachartermiddle.com!

Mad libs are funny! & VOX time!

Yesterday was Fernbank. It was great!

6th: Today we began class by reflecting on the mythic creatures exhibit we saw yesterday. We tried to remember the mythic creatures that we saw and the details we learned about them. Then, we had a mythic creature creation contest- who can come up with their own mythic creature and describe it? We shared out some of these. From there, Ms. D. introduced the write-a-myth project. Students selected their topic from the list of 11 topics and will be prepared to research their topic tomorrow before they dive into writing a myth about it. Then, we had time to get together with a partner and exchange mad libs that we wrote. We did the mad libs and heard some FUNNY stories.
Homework: Read and record on bookmark.

7th: Today VOX came to visit. We discussed so many things and learned a lot about becoming journalists. It was a lot of fun- thanks, VOX. Remember that your homework- DUE FRIDAY- is to pick any article in the VOX and respond to it by writng a letter to the editor (see the sheet passed out in class). This is your chance to be published on the VOX blog!
Homework: Letter to the editor (due FRI) and read and record on bookmark.

Projects galore!

Tomorrow is the FERNBANK FIELD TRIP. Have you turned in your permission form and money???

6th: Today we began class with a little reflection about our break and some grammar practice, too! Then, we had some time to prep for myth presentations. From there, we listened and took notes as all 5 groups presented the myths that they had read from Oceania. From there, we took a little assessment to see what we had learned from the stories about characteristics of myths. This was all portfolio eligible.
Homework: Read and record on bookmark. It's due FRI.

7th: Today we began class by reading silently while Ms. D. checked over homework from the break. We reflected on the sentence structure project we completed over break. Many of of us finished and turned the project in; several of us did not. Complete it for homework if you did not. We took a pretest on Mechanics and then graded that together. We will use results from the test to see where we begin when we begin our study of mechanics. Then, we had time to work on our article project, due on WED. Remember, we have a visit from VOX on WED. Also, remember to bring your permission form for the Chinese Acrobat field trip next MON, April 18th. There is a link to the form in the sidebar to the right. Would one of your family members like to chaperone? Please let me know! We would love to have them come!
Homework: Complete the article project, due WED. Also, complete the sentence structure project reflection if you have not done so. Due WED, too.

Mad Lib editing, Oceania myth reading project & Journalism reading project!

6th: Today we began class by discussing the 6 characteristics of myth. We discussed how we might see one or more of these characteristics in the myths we are reading from Oceania. Then, we edited our Mad Libs project so that over the break we are ready to rewrite our Mad Libs stories with blanks and a word bank. That is our homework. From there, we had time to work in our Oceania myth groups in order to finish reading our stories and complete the graphic organizer and the poster. Poster presentations will be after the break.
Homework: Read and record- remember- you only have to read 3 days over the break! Finish up anything you have to do for your group Oceania myth project. Rewrite mad lib with blanks and do the work bank.

7th: We began class by collecting all homework. Then, while Ms. D. was in a meeting, students worked with Ms. Cannon on their articles for the journalism project. All 3 articles + the summary, annotation and reflection are due the MON we return from break. From there, Ms. D. discussed the field trip to the Chinese Acrobats show on April 18th. We also discussed students sentence structure project homework over the break. See description in the sidebar to the right.
Homework: Read and record- remember- you only have to read 3 days over the break! Complete 3 articles for journalism reading project. Complete the edits/revisions for sentence structure project.