week of 3/31
Hello and welcome back to my Blog. The site seems to be working on my end – so far so good.
Congratulations to all of my 8th grade students – parents should be very proud. 99% passing with 70% commended are outstanding numbers, and at least 8 of my students were included in the commended range. I am very proud of them. I am sure that 6th and 7th grade will do equally as well come April.
This week:
For 8th grade, we are starting to read the play, “Monsters are Due on Maple Street.” This is a teleplay from an original Twilight Zone episode. We are dividing and taking parts and reading it aloud. We will be discussing issues related to the theme, and students will eventually be answering OER (Open Ended Response) questions about it. I know these students are diligently preparing for the TAKS Math test next week, so I am not assigning any homework for them currently. The only exception to this will be the reading log. It will still be due every Friday.
For 6th and 7th grade, we are stepping up our TAKS practices. Students received the first packet last Thursday/Friday. Their homework assignment was to read (read only, no notes) the first essay. 6th: “Stealing Summer’s Heat” and 7th: “Mystery Guest.” In class, we will be discussing the essay and praticing how to apply strategies to understand the passage and answer the questions correctly.
Today and tomorrow we will discuss the passage and practice highlighting and notes, and then for homework students will be required to read the next passage in the packet. 6th: “Stealing Fire from the Gods.” 7th: “My Halloween Trick.” We will discuss, highlight, and practice notes together on these passages on Wednesday/Thursday. Then, students will have class time to answer the questions regarding both passages. Any questions they don’t finish will need to be finished as homework. On Friday/Monday, we will go over the questions and discuss answers/issues, then they will be given a new packet. Students will do this packet entirely on their own. The packet will be due to be checked and graded for strategies and answers the following Tuesday/Wednesday.
Reading logs are still due every Friday. We are taking a break from the Word Explorer, so students have no homework there.
Thank you for continuing to support your child, and please let me know if you have any questions.
