Well the first week is over and what a week it was! There was a fire drill (all students are now to proceed to the BLACKTOP instead of out to Penn Drive), there was a welcome assembly (remember appropriate bagginess and coverage of your clothes, and to get to my any of the A and B rooms at lunch you need a pass).
In class we began looking at the Holt History textbook, got into groups and will be making a "big book" together in class next week. In English We cracked open our BRAND NEW Pearson Lit books and began discussing the Big Question for the next six weeks- "Is the truth the same for everyone?".
We also started the book Schooled, which we are reading along with Mr. Hoex, Ms. Anderson, and Ms. Saylor's classes. This is our first novel of the year and we are looking at the elements of fiction as well as integrating our Big Question, "Is the truth the same for everyone?" In the first half of the book the chapters are from the perspective of various characters, thus we are focusing on setting and character development. We will follow with complications, the climax of the book, and then the falling action and the resolution. We will be done with this book in about two weeks.
Students were asked to find a different fiction book to read at home and bring it with them to school on Wednesday and Friday. This is a YEAR LONG assignment. While the type of book read will change (sometimes chosen by the student and sometimes by me), you can be sure that even if I don't mention it, students are required to read for a minimum of 3.5 hours a week (or 30 minutes a day). The state English Language Arts Framework states that students in Grade 8 should be reading 1 million words annually. This translates to roughly 15 minutes per day 365 days a year. Since we know that's not going to happen (an is often not possible) we have set 30 minutes as the goal during the school year.
This year instead of asking students to complete reading logs at home, I am having them bring in their books and I am checking their progress through pages read. Students have 15 minutes of SSR time tin class every Wednesday and Friday to help them attain their reading goals.
Students also turned in their first batch of homework on Friday. As a rule (which, of course, I will be promptly breaking this week) homework is assigned on Friday and due the following Friday. Over the course of the year there will also be classwork that may have to be completed at home on any given day (I really try to keep that to a minimum) if we will need it to move on in class.
So this week we turned in history book contracts (no English books were assigned), movie permission slips, plagiarism policies, honor codes, and the last page of the student information sheet about my class. All of these forms can be found on my website at www.teacherweb.com/ca/wellsmiddleschool-dublin/anderson click on the 8th grade materials tab to find them. While there, click through the other tabs for more information on all kinds of stuff.
The last thing we turned in was our beginning of the year assignment. This assignment asked students to think about who they are and how they define themselves. Then it asked them to find out a little about their families. Students were to bring in the completed assignment as well as an object that represents how they see themselves by Friday. If you or your child were having problems printing, or getting the work to finish, please let me know and I will help on Monday.
In general, after the first few weeks of school I expect students to check that they have what they need to complete their homework early in the week (NOT Friday morning...) so that we can take care of it together. If you need to use the school to get homework done, my room (A2) is open at about 7:45am and students are free to use it as a study hall. There is student computer access in this room.
I am also available on many days after school, just let me know.
So, now to this week's homework:
English- Writing assignment #1: poetry
Students went over this assignment with me in class, there are two poems to be written and then the students need to find a way to orally or visually communicate the work to the rest of us. This assignment is posted on the website, please follow the directions and feel free to stop me at any point in class to ask questions. Students- I will be checking in verbally on your progress this week, so if there are any problems just let me know and I will help you.
Reading: 3.5 hours there will be no Friday check as there is no school, but I expect all students to check in on Wednesday- book in hand.
History: we will continue the "Big Book" in class and at home.
In class- we will continue Schooled and on Wednesday will be doing yoga with the other 8th grade classes (it is part of the book).
We will start our first reading selections from the English book, and will continue to look at the question "is the truth the same for everyone?"
We will introduce our first character trait of the year- respect
among other things...
Mrs. A
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