Midweek Homework for HISTORY CLASSES

Hi all!

Students started their first set of Cornell Notes today in class. I am asking all students to complete the notes at home. We will be going over them and fixing any mistakes/adding to our work tomorrow.

For information on how to set up Cornell Notes please see the 8th grade materials page of the Teacherweb site.

Mrs. A

Boxtops for Education

Don't forget to keep collecting boxtops for education! Have your student drop them off in my class A2, we need all we can get!

http://www.boxtops4education.com/

Mrs. Anderson

Homework 9/11/09

Hi there all you Smarties!

Today we took a moment in school to remember those lives lost on 9/11/01, as of 2008 the total lives lost were 2,998.

This week in class we finished comparing fiction and non-fiction and we started working on vocabulary for the student reading selections for next week. Period 2 will be focusing on A Retrieved Reformation by O'Henry and Periods 3 and 6 are reading Raymond's Run by Toni Cade Bambara.

We contimued to read Schooled by Gordon Korman, analysing plot and character.

On Friday students were given several assignments that need to be completed as the week progresses in order for us to most efficiently complete our work in class. Below is an outline of this week's homework. This is our first foray into this new book, so adjustments will be made each week until we achieve a good balance of homework and classwork.

This is the same website they use for their science textbook.

www.pearsonsuccess.net the student username and ID are the same: 7 followed by student ID number.

Period 2: Reading A Retrieved Reformation by O'Henry

This is a more challenging piece of literature. Students should be practicing the vocabulary and take their time in the journal activities.

1. Before reading:

9/11-9/14 backround video: safecracking- watch video (about a minute)

9/11-9/14 Getting started video and quick write (5-15 minutes of time)

9/11-9/14 Common and proper nouns- watch video (about 3 minutes)

9/11-9/17 Vocabulary central- Three times this week play games, song, and practice vocab cards. You don't need to do the worksheets.

2. The story:

Our lab day at school is TUESDAY. While at the lab students will take a language arts diagnostic test and they will begin to read the selection.

9/15-9/17 The story- finish reading the story and answer the journal questions.

Period 2: Reading Raymond's Run by Toni Cade Bambara

This is an at grade level piece of literature. Students should be practicing the vocabulary and take their time in the journal activities.

1. Before reading:

9/11-9/14 Getting started video and quick write (5-15 minutes of time)

9/11-9/14 Common and proper nouns- watch video (about 3 minutes)

9/11-9/17 Vocabulary central- Three times this week play games, song, and practice vocab cards. You don't need to do the worksheets.

2. The story:

Our lab day at school is TUESDAY. While at the lab students will take a language arts diagnostic test and they will begin to read the selection.

9/15-9/17 The story- finish reading the story and answer the journal questions.

Students will be taking a test on their story on THURSDAY. Students will be assigned homework on Friday based on their test results.

In these stories we will be focusing on identifying elements of the PLOT and making predicions. The selection test also covers vocabulary.

Students were also assigned Writing assignment #3. This is our first try at the holistic grader. This essay scorer gives the students tips on how to improve their essay for a better grade. They get up to 12 tries. I encourage students to type their essays in Microsoft Word and then copy and past into the grader window. This will make it easy for students to make changes to their work. Students should SAVE their papers in word (better safe than sorry!). Remember, this is brand new to them and us so just try your best. :)

www.essayscorer.com/ph/ca/wms Student log-ins are the same. 7 followed by student ID number.

Students log in and then click on the essay assignment. The prompt will then come up along with the box to paste the essay in. Once students have written their essay they paste it into the window and save. The grade will then give them a score and tips for improvement. I have set this essay on a 6 point rubric.

I am posting the student how-to guide for the essay scorer under 8th grade materials on the Teacherweb site.

Finally: In HISTORY (period 4 and 7)

Big books are DUE on Monday

Students were assigned the first of their monthly research projects. This handout was sent home on FRIDAY. The rubric for this project is on the instructions sheet. This project is due on Friday 9/25/09.

Please note: Feel free to have your student use the computers in my classroom or in the library to work on their homework. or to use my room as a place to study. My room is opened daily at 7:45am. It is also open on Tuesdays until about 3:45 (then I have off-site meetings), Wednedsays until 4pm, Thursdays until 3:45 and Fridays by prior notice. My room is also available at lunch, students need to get a pass from me.

All students should continue to read for 30 minutes per night.

Students: see me on Monday if you need ANYTHING! :)

Mrs. Anderson

Homework 9/4/2009

Hi there all you smarties!

Well, This week went by fast! In class we continue to read Schooled,and on Thursday the Grade 8's spent 30 minutes practicing meditation and learning yoga (the main character of the book is a 13 year-old grade 8 who does Tai Chi and meditation, but none of us actually know how to do Tai Chi so... yoga it is!) Our school counselor, Mr. Levin led the yoga and I led the guided meditation and relaxation.

Next Friday we are doing tie-dye (the main character wears tie-dyed clothing). To make everyone's life easier, we are going to tie-dye paper. Please have your student bring food coloring and shaving cream, along with a cookie baking sheet (needs to have edges to hold the shaving cream, so no edgeless chookie sheets please). Make sure that you label your cookie sheet with a piece of masking tape and your students name so that it gets back to you! The paper needed is card stock.

This great book addresses several key issues for students and is a great way to start the year. First, one of the central issues is bullying, and the idea of not being the bully, but being a person in the crowd who goes along with it.

The second is the idea of accepting peoples differences and looking beyond the surface of a person.

And the third is ethics. What makes something right or wrong?

All of these issues help us to address our Big Question for the first six weeks of school: Is the truth the same for everyone?

This week in History we also began to work on our big books. These are stories about people from our history textbook. There will be time all next week in class to work on these. The only students working on them at home will be stuednts whose groups are behind, or students who have an extra interest in the project.

Homework:

This was a light homework week.

Period 2 was assigned writing assignment #2. It is listed for download under 8th grade materials and is due on Friday, typed. Students will have time during the week to gather evidence from the book to support their opinions and should work on the essay a little bit every day. This weekend (if possible) students should make an outline of the essay. For help with this please download the power point "how to write an essay" from 8th grade materials.

All students are to read a minimum of 3.5 hours this week or 30 minutes every night.

Students will be assigned a 3 week project this upcoming week either on Tuesday or Wednesday. It will be a SMALL research project and will focus on notable immigrants. It will be due at the end of September, with small project check-ins along the way.

On a last sad note, every year many people are lost on these longer holiday weekends. Friday night my 23 year old cousin died in a car accident. He was riding with two friends and was in the back seat when they hit another car. The boy who was driving was legally drunk and my cousin, who was in the back seat, was not wearing his seatbelt and was ejected from the car on impact. Please, please watch out for other drivers, don't drink and then get behind the wheel- even if you are sure you are OK, and make sure you and your kids are wearing their seatbelts, it probably would have saved his life.

http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/5943396

Mrs. Anderson