November 22-23, 2016

Tuesday-

• Students will complete a creative entry task that requires them to build a story using the following words:

Turkey, Larry, cranberry, dirt road, hammer, grandma, explosion, "So now what?", and magnificient.

These stories are hilarious and showcase the fabulous creativity that is in this class!

• Students will read "Magic and the Brain".
• This weeks focus is text features and their purposes.

HOMEWORK:  Students will create a 1-page assignment using the following text features:

1. title
2. subtitle
3. 2 full sophisticated paragraphs
4. bold words  with definitions on the page
5. headings
6. visual aids and captions
7. For elite points:  footnotes, additional paragraphs, professional display

Here is a link to slide share that may be useful:  EXAMPLE

Wednesday-

• We will gallery walk our 1-page text feature assignments.
• A model lesson of annotating a text rich non-fiction piece

HOMEWORK:  Students will read, answer questions, and ANNOTATE p 31-34 in their close reader

Conference Week

Thank you so much to all of you who came in for conference week.  I really appreciate the opportunity to talk with you about your student.  I love the family/school connections that build during these opportunities.

Sincerely,
Susie DeRousie
↞↠

Q2-Week 1 November 8,9,10

Tuesday, November 8th

• Students will finish assessment from last week.
• We dive in to our new collection in the text book,"The People Could Fly".  Our focus is identifying elements of a folk tale and summarizing.

HOMEWORK:  Latin suffix page -ure, -ery, -ary, -ence, -ance,-ive,-ative,-ion,-ation

Wednesday, November 9th

• We will craft a summary of "The People Could Fly" using SBWST strategy.
• Analysis of two poems, "The Song of Wandering Aengus" and "Sonnet 43"

HOMEWORK: #1-3 p.76 textbook (analyzing and comparing two poems)

Thursday, November 10

No school

11/1-11/3 End of Quarter 1!

You should be proud! Your students completed a major essay and used multiple pieces of evidence to support their thinking!  This week we wrapped up the quarter by taking an end-of-unit assessment, scoring our essays to the state rubric and finalizing any missing pieces.

Week 7 10-10 to 10-14

This week's focus will be completing an argument paper.  We read 4 stories, and watched a newscast on youth taking bold actions.  Students will be taking a stance and supporting their thinking with evidence from the text.  They are using the rubrics from the state to guide their work.  They will publish their writing.

Tuesday-

We analyzed the state's rubric to guide our work.  Students also wrote practice mini-claims using data on education in the United States. They also began learning about attention getting techniques.

HOMEWORK:  Students will write 6 attention-getting sentences using the "imagine" technique learned about in class.

Wednesday-

Short day (early release).  We will continue working on introduction techniques and gathering data for our papers.

HOMEWORK:  Gather 15 pieces of text evidence from both sides of the issue using the stories in the text book, close reader, and newscast.

Thursday-

Students will learn concession/rebuttal strategies, elaboration techniques, and begin applying the learning to their papers.

HOMEWORK:  Finish frames for paper.

Friday-

Map making and US Regions

Week 5

MAKE SURE YOU VISIT OUR ONLINE TEXT AND RESOURCES WITH YOUR STUDENT (MY.HRW.COM)

This week we focus on author's claim and using evidence to support our thinking.

Monday

• Read and annotate "Big Things" short story found in their CLOSE READER
• We will revisit some challenging homework and reteach.  Students ALWAYS have the opportunity to re-do an assignment.

HOMEWORK:  Modify or add to Facebook assignment as needed

Tuesday

• Block 2 will be making PB&J for needy students
• Read and annotate "Finding Your Everest" for claim

HOMEWORK:  Finish "Big Things" with annotation

Wednesday

• Begin writing a claim paper on the theme: BOLD ACTIONS
• Annotate and discuss Nisqualli text (5W and H-review)

HOMEWORK:  REVIEW-setting on plot

Thursday

• Continue working on claim paper
• SBAC Performance Task-walk through as a class

HOMEWORK:  Read and annotate Circle (Native American Text) 

secret word: annotate

Friday

• Wrap up claim papers
• Finish reading any text left behind
• Grade Checks
• IR time with conferring

HOMEWORK:  Any missing work or re-dos from week

Week 4

This week WE GO HEAD TO HEAD with another 7th grade class in a "What Really Happened in The Elevator" short story ending.

FOCUS:  Annotating non-fiction text and finding main ideas and supporting details
FOCUS:  Finding an authors claim
FOCUS:  Evaluating an authors claim for validity

Monday

• ENTRY:  What is one book or movie that that setting played a large role in the plot?  Explain. 
• Read short story, "The Elevator" while annotating for character and plot

Here is a link to the story   The Elevator

• Craft an ending to the story (to be used in the competition)

HOMEWORK:  INFERENCE #1  and if you want to challenge yourself, GIFT O MAGI INFERENCE PAGE

Tuesday

• ENTRY:  What text evidence did the author use to show that Martin is not a confrontational person who is not secure in himself?  Note what paragraphs you found the evidence in. 
• Computer Lab-students will have a chance to explore their e-books and complete a who, what, when, why, and how chart on a non-fiction article of their choice.  
• Independent Reading time.  

HOMEWORK:  INFERENCE #2 AND CHALLENGE:  USING INFERENCE IN WRITING

Wednesday

• ENTRY:  Focus on Latin.  What is mar, nav, ology, er, or, and bio
• CONTEST!!!  We will head over to Mr. K's classroom and read their Elevator endings and vote.  They will be in our room reading ours.
  

• Claim mini lesson
• Read 2 short stories on a teen sailor

HOMEWORK:  WHY I HATE FACEBOOK (AUTHOR'S CLAIM)

Thursday

• ENTRY:  Review-List and define the elements of plot.  
• We will learn how to annotate news stories.  "Was Abby too Young?"  
• Independent Reading
• Extend and Review-Students will be given time to review concepts that they have been struggling with and will work with me in small groups.  Students who are at mastery will have a chance to extend their learning with higher level texts. 

HOMEWORK:  Read and annotate 2 stories on Teen Sailor and complete attached charts (5W's1H) and fact vs. opinion.  **Just pick 1 story for Thursday and 1 for Friday.  DUE MONDAY

Friday

• ENTRY:  Read paragraph and make an inference using text based thinking.
• SBAC-we will walk through a performance task (what they complete at the end of the year as their state-based assessment).  We will not get through the entire process, but we will continue next Friday.
• LIBRARY-Don't forget to bring your books back and exchange for new books!

HOMEWORK:  Complete Teen Sailor work

Week 3

This week we are focusing in plot elements in short stories and making high-level inferences using text evidence.  Students will be able to read a text and take pieces of information that the author gives them, add their own educated thinking, and formulate a well-rounded thought on the topic or character.  This skill is challenging because it must be based on text, not just the student's thinking.

WEEKS FOCUS:

• FOCUS:  Tracking character details and making text based inferences.
• FOCUS:  Charting plot and identifying each stage of plot development.
• LATIN ROOTS FOR WEEK:  mar, nav
• ACADEMIC LANGUAGE: evaluate, resource, text

Monday

**A letter to parents/guardians goes out on Monday.  Please read and complete the attached survey and return by WEDNESDAY.**

• Watch video intro of a rogue wave.
• Begin short story, "Rogue Wave" pages 3-6.
• NB (work in their reader/writer notebook) Track character details and inferences
• NB-chart out plot elements
• Independent Reading time with teacher conferring
• Revisit annotations from Friday with suggestions of how to raise level of work

HOMEWORK-Annotate a 1 page excerpt for character using strategies from week 2 and instruction from today.

Tuesday

• We will continue to read "Rogue Wave" (pages 7-10) and track our thinking in our notebooks.
• IR time with conferring
• Small group time for extra support with this week's skill and extension activities for those who have mastered the skill.

HOMEWORK-Craft your own exposition.  You may model yours after a movie you have seen, a book you have read, our you may use your own ideas.  

Wednesday

• We will finish "Rogue Wave" (pages 11-14) and track our thinking in our notebooks.
• IR time with conferring
• Small group time for extra support with this week's skill and extension activities for those who have mastered the skill.

HOMEWORK-Craft your own character introduction.  It can be 1/2 to as many pages as you would like.  

***PLEASE RETURN PARENT SURVEYS***

Thursday

Students will apply what they have learned on a mini-assessment that focuses on inferences, plot elements, and being able to support their thinking using text evidence.

HOMEWORK-Craft an example of internal and external conflict that your character (from Wednesday's homework) could have.

Friday

• Students will have a chance to answer a question that is formulated like the questions on their annual assessment.  We will go over the question and answers together as a class.  This will be a weekly opportunity.  
• Students will read a short story called, "The Elevator".  They will apply what they learned this week about character and plot and will use those skills while having academic class discussions about the text.

HOMEWORK-Students will read and annotate the first story in their Close Reader book. 

Week 2

September 6-9, 2016

Tuesday-

• How to have college-like academic talk around text?
• First read of, "If Cornered, Scream"
• Assessment of basic comprehension by using a quick write on story

Wednesday-

• Genre day 1-Students will know Realistic Fiction, Science Fiction, Action/Adventure, Horror, and Folk Tales
• Annotation day 1-Students will learn how to annotate a text (mark, take notes, etc.) based on character.
• HOMEWORK-please sign up for Remind (I will text/email you assignment, text, project reminders)

Thursday-

• Annotation day 2-Students will learn how to annotate a text for different purposes.  They will annotate for plot.

• Reader/Writer notebooks will be returned and grades for the first rubric will be posted on PowerSchool. 

******PLEASE CHECK YOUR STUDENTS POWERSCHOOL OFTEN FOR GRADES**** (If you need help, please let me know)

Friday-

• Assessment-Students will annotate a 1-page paper using annotation model from Wednesday.

Welcome

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