Reading Extra Credit

Did you know that lots of authors have their own websites where they post information about their books, their writing, and their lives? Did you also know that a lot of these authors love to here from their readers (ahem…that means you!)?

If you need a little bit of extra credit this six weeks, all you have to do is conduct a little research on your favorite author! Find an author’s own website and explore it (make sure you are at the author’s website, not a fan site). Use the following online form to submit information to Ms. Parker about your author visiting experience. Be sure to read the form first so that you know what kind of information to be on the look out for!

*Note to students and parents: Some authors have Myspace or Facebook accounts on which they keep a blog. Students should only visit these sites with parent permission!

Author Website Visit Form

Reading Update from NCTE in Sunny Philadelphia

As I was running around, attending wonderful workshops at the National Council of Teachers of English conference, I realized that I had neglected to post this week’s assignments on the blog, so, here they are!

A Christmas Carol Stave 2 Questions

“What Does Scrooge See?” Worksheet

I hope that students had plenty of time to work on these two assignments in class this week, but here they are in case extra copies are needed. Also, students should not forget that I am collecting their folders for A Christmas Carol to check vocabulary and literary device entries on Monday and Tuesday through Stave 2.

I am having a wonderful time at the conference! I have lots of new ideas, lots of great new books, and some pretty unusual experiences to share with students when I get back!

Reading Update

What are we working on?

We are currently working on improving our dialectical journals. Dialectical journals consist of “evidence” from the text and “commentary” about some particular aspect of the text that we have been studying (character, literary device, imagery, etc). The purpose of this activity is to help students learn to analyze  an author’s words. Students may bring their journal home this weekend, so ask them to look at their journals and have them explain dialectical journals to you. Journals will be collected Wednesday/ Thursday, November 4th/5th. This grade will replace the first dialectical journal grade this six weeks as a major grade (the first grade will become a daily grade). I am available Wednesday afternoon if students need assistance.

Literary Device Quiz

Students will have a quiz over literary devices on Monday or Tuesday. They need to be able to identify the definition and write original examples of alliteration, personification, symbols, idioms, and hyperbole. Additionally, they will need to be able to recognize examples of those literary devices as well as the devices we have gone over previously: simile, imagery, metaphor, repetition, and onomatopoeia.

A Christmas Carol

I will be placing the order for our copies of A Christmas Carol and we will begin our introductory activities with the book at the end of next week. Students will also be receiving the permission slip for our December 17th field trip to the Alley Theatre will be sent home next week.

English – Annotated Bibliography Take Home Test

For this test, you are to use four of your history fair sources to create an annotated bibliography. For help in created the MLA style citations please go here:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
You will need to scroll down to the bottom for help with individual entries.

For help in writing the annotations, you may use the same website, or go here:

http://www.nationalhistoryday.org/AnnotatedBibliography.htm

Remember everything I have taught you: alphabetical order by author or title, indent the second and subsequent lines, and use 12 point typeface if you are word processing your bibliography.

Your test is due Monday, October 26 for odd periods and Tuesday, October 27 for even periods.

Exciting News!- Upcoming Field Trip

A Christmas Carol Field Trip

In November and December 6C students will read Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. As a culminating event, we will be going on a field trip to see a live production of A Christmas Carol- A Ghost Story of Christmas at the Alley Theatre. Our field trip will take place December 17th, 2009. The projected cost of the trip will be $11 per person and permission slips will be sent home the first week of November.

We will need parents to help chaperone our trip. If you are interested in joining us, please contact Ms. Parker for more information. In order to chaperone, you will also need to be registered with HISD’s VIPS (Volunteers in Public Schools) program. You should be able to register by using the following link:

HISD VIPS Login

Also…

Our purpose for reading A Christmas Carol is to explore character, theme, and literary devices through classical literature. We will be reading the book together in class, and it is recommended that students have their own copy of the book to make notes and to re-read passages as necessary. We are able to order copies of the book for $1 each through Scholastic and students are receiving an order form for copies of A Christmas Carol which should be returned by October 30th. I am strongly encouraging students to purchase a copy of the book, but a class set will be available for those who are not able to.

Reading- Character and Plot and Vocab…Oh My!

It has been couple of weeks since my last post so I wanted to take this chance to update you on a few things we are working on in Reading.

Character and Plot

Overall, students did a wonderful job on the test over character which we took a couple of weeks ago and it has been returned to students. Analyzing characters is a skill which we will be developing and incorporating with other skills throughout the year.

We have also been exploring plot and conflict over the past week and will continue to work to determine how authors use plot, conflict, and characters to create an interesting story.

Vocabulary Quiz

We will have a vocabulary quiz Friday. This quiz will cover words beginning with the prefixes, pre-, post-, mono-, and poly-. We reviewed all the words that would be covered on the quiz Monday and Tuesday and all students will receive a study packet by Thursday.

In Other News

Independent Reading Books- Students are learning a journaling strategy called Dialectical Journaling. It is very important that students have their Independent Reading Book (IRB) with them each time they come to class. While I know that it is easy to leave a good book on the nightstand after reading at bedtime, please help you child remember that they will have opportunities to read during the day and they will need their book for reading class. Throw it in the backpack each morning because you never know when you will have the chance to read (and don’t forget to record your minutes on your reading log)!

Current Event Article- We will be learning a strategy for summarizing that should come in handy when working on History Fair projects. I am asking all students to bring a current event article that interests them to class Monday/Tuesday of next week. If students do not have their own article, they will be forced to use the articles I have chosen (and I can’t guarantee they will be interesting).

MATH PRE AP GT October 1st, 2009

Note to parents and students:

Tomorrow: Friday, October 2nd:  Multiplication tables Quiz #2

HOMEWORK FOR  ALL CLASS PERIODS DUE ON MONDAY/TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5-6

Textbook pp 93-94 #2-16 (even) and pp 98-99 #2-20 (even).

Friendly reminder:  

Monday/Tuesday, October 5/6 VOCABULARY WORDS CHAPTER 1 TEST. (Refer to all vocabulary words on page 68.)  On this test the student will have to identify 10 terms and WRITE the definition for two of the terms. 

TUTORIALS ON MONDAYS FROM 3:50 TO 4:50 P.M.  Parents will be responsible for transportation. 

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

                                                                                

Thoughts on Writing

Parents, here is a great .pdf that explains how to help your child write better:
http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Positions/tips-parents.pdf

It comes from this NCTE website that encourages all of us to write:
http://www.ncte.org/dayonwriting/tips

Reading 09/09/09

This Week in Reading…

This week we are working on making predictions, asking questions (at which 6C students are very adept), and clarifying. We are reading the short story, Charles by Shirley Jackson. This is a funny story which has a surprise twist at the end!

Next week we will begin an investigation of character, plot, and conflict. I have a  test over character tentatively scheduled for September 21 and 22, and I will give more details on this when we get closer.

Summer Reading

Most students have turned in their Summer Reading assignment, but a few still have this outstanding. Summer Reading must be turned in by this Friday, September 11 for students to receive full credit. After Friday, students will receive a 20% late penalty.

Reading Logs

Students have begun keeping a weekly reading log. I expect student to read for 150 minutes per week and to keep track of their minutes and pages. Students keep their reading log in their folder in class and update it each class day. I have provided a book mark on which student scan track their minutes and pages read at home, around school, or wherever they get a minute to enjoy a good book! These do not have to be signed by a parent, but I encourage you to talk with your child about the books he or she is reading!

MATH PRE-AP/GT September 1st, 2009

 

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 WELCOME EVERYONE TO A NEW SCHOOL YEAR

Notes to Parents and Students:

This BLOG will be an useful tool to learn about the topics, assignments and projects we are working in class.  Use it regularly to stay informed!

As of today, I have asked all students to bring me a copy of their TAKS results 2009.  I will be using those results to know the students better in terms of mastery of the objectives as of 5th grade.

SUMMER MATH HOMEWORK:  as you know this homework is a requirement–not optional– and must be turned in by the end of this week, if you have not turned it in yet.  All students will receive a grade based on the completion of this assignment.

Textbooks:  we have available a class set of textbooks for students in the classroom.  This will give the opportunity to the students to keep their textbook at home and use it for study or completing homework.  If the student wants to bring their own textbook to class, it will be fine, too!

Chapter 1:  NUMBER PATTERNS AND FUNCTIONS

We just have begun studying Chapter 1.  All students must be working on identifying all the factors for numbers from 1 through 100.  Also, we are emphasizing in  clear undestanding of vocabulary words.  Vocabulary words from page 68 must be completed by the end of Chapter 1, previous to Chapter 1 test. 

Dates to remember:  Open House:  September 9, 2009. 

TUTORIALS will be on MONDAYS from 3:50 to 4:50 p.m.  Please be aware that parents will be responsible for transportation after tutorials.