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Daily Happenings
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Today was a Writing day
- The Hot Minute
- DOL Set 4, Day 5: 9/10
- Grammar: We reviewed analogies and developed Vocabulary Set 6 based analogy word problems. We reviewed Pronoun Review B in a full-group discussion and asked questions to fill in gaps in our understandings a final preparation for Friday's assessment
- Short Stories: We completed day three activities for developing our short stories by completing the second of our four days of drafting. We continued to share and conference our prewriting with Mr. Hoskins and Ms. Gengel.
For next class, you should:
Please complete your five anologies for tomorrow (Thursday) and prepare yourself for your Pronoun assessment (Friday)
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Today was a Reading day
- The Hot Minute
- Reading Warm-Up: Post-poned
- Vocabulary Set 6, Day 4: We completed our Vocabulary Quiz 6
- Oral Tradition: We reviewed Oral Tradition and Mythology as general terms. We learned the Greek story of creation, moved into our new reading groups for this unit, then began a group reading of "Zeus" and "Poseidon." While doing this, we collaborated to complete our nre God/Goddess graphic organizers or each of these two gods.
For next class, you should:
Please complete your reading of "Zeus" and "Poseidon." Then, complete your PIBO organizer for each of the two gods (top-half only).
Friday, December 3, 2010
Today was a Writing day
- The Hot Minute
- DOL Set 4: No Quiz Today
- Grammar: We completed our Pronoun final assessment
- Short Stories: We completed day four activities for developing our short stories by completing the Third of our four days of drafting. We continued to share and conference our prewriting with Mr. Hoskins and Ms. Gengel.
For next class, you should:
Please continue to work on your short stories. You will have one final in-class drafting period on Tuesday.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Today was a Reading day
- The Hot Minute
- Reading Warm-Up: "Frogs"
- Vocabulary Set 7, Day 1: We were introduced to Vocabulary Set 7 and began working on our templates
- Oral Tradition: We reviewed "Zeus" and "Poseidon" and collaborated to complete our God/Goddess graphic organizers or each of these two gods, identifying the influence of character on conflict.
For next class, you should:
Prepare for Word Segment Quiz 6. Complete your vocabulary templates. Finalize your "Zeus" and "Poseidon" PIBO organizers.
Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday, Friday, December 7/8/9/10, 2010
These are each Writing days. Each class met on one day due to winter benchmarking.
- The Hot Minute
- DOL: We will be putting DOL on hold or a couple months while we focus on other grammar skills.
- Grammar: We were introduced to our new standard focused on Sentence Types. We built a top-down web, overviewing the path we will take through this grammar unit. We then looked at simple sentences and completed Exercise 1, focusing on subjects and verbs.
- Short Stories: We completed day five activities for developing our short stories by completing the fourth of our four days of drafting. We continued to share and conference our prewriting with Mr. Hoskins and Ms. Gengel.
For next class, you should:
Please have your first draft of your short story ready to share for Monday's writing workshop.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Today was a Reading day
- The Hot Minute
- Reading Warm-Up (2/4): "Huntington Housewares"
- Vocabulary Set 7, Day 2: We completed our Word Segment Quiz, received our "Guiding Light" study guides, conferenced our vocabulary templates, creatively used our vocbulary in an open response prompt, then peer-evaluated our partner's usage of their vocabulary in these written prompts.
- Oral Tradition: We reviewed "Zeus" and "Poseidon" and collaborated to complete our God/Goddess graphic organizers or each of these two gods, identifying the influence of character on conflict.
For next class, you should:
Complete your Poseidon PIBO shift and summary.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Today was a Reading day
- The Hot Minute
- Vocabulary Set 7, Day 2: We completed our PowerPoint Review Game
- Oral Tradition: We reviewed the 12 Great Olympian Gods and Goddesses, along with principle settings of Greek Mythology. We looked at and discussed photoraphs of modern day Greece and its art. We were introduced to our Mythological Lovers project and began the process of selecting our focus pair. We then began working with two new myths: "The Creation of Man" and "The Coming of Evil" while also completing PIBO organizers for Prometheus and Epimetheus.
For next class, you should:
Please complete your two stories: "The Creation of Man" and "The Coming of Evil." Please complete your PIBO forms for Prometheus and Epimetheus.
Vocabulary Quiz 7 is Friday - study
Mythological Lovers Project will be due for presentation on 1/11/11.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Today was a Writing day.
- The Hot Minute
- DOL: We will be putting DOL on hold for a couple months while we focus on other grammar skills.
- Grammar: We reviewed Sentence Types and Independent and Dependent Clauses. We reviewed our understanding of Simple Sentence structures, then expanded on this understanding to include the structure of Compound Sentences. We worked through examples as a class, then complete Exercise 2 in our textbook.
- Short Stories: We conducted our first of three class periods where we worked through an organized, formal sharing of our short stories to the class. We review expectations for participation and for providing constructive ctricism, then completed evaluative "Post-Its" to suppor fellow authors who shared their works in today's class.
For next class, you should:
You have no new homework for tomorrow's class.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Today was a Reading day
- The Hot Minute
- Vocabulary Set 7, Day 4: We completed our Vocabulary Quiz 7
- Oral Tradition: We reviewed "The Creation of Man" and "The Coming of Evil" and expanded on our PIBO organizers for Prometheus and Epimetheus. We received and began work on our two new readings: "Persephone" and "Daedalus" and began working on our new PIBO organizers for Apollo and Demeter.
For next class, you should:
8:1/8:2 - Please complete your reading of "Persephone" and "Daedalus." Please complete your PIBO organizers for Demeter and Apollo.
8:3 - Please complete your reading of "Persephone" and "Daedalus" and be prepared for your assessment on Tuesday.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Today was a Writing day.
- The Hot Minute
- Grammar: We reviewed Simple and Compound Sentences and the ingredients of each. We worked through Exercise 3 from our Grammar text, breaking down and identifying ingredients of these two sentence types and distinguishing one from the other.
- Short Stories: We completed the third of three class periods where we worked through an organized, formal sharing of our short stories to the class. We reviewed expectations for participation and for providing constructive ctricism, then completed evaluative "Post-Its" to suppor fellow authors who shared their works in today's class.
For next class, you should:
Please have your first drafts of Short Stories fully completed for Wednesday's class so that we can begin self and partner evaluations.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Today was a Reading day
- The Hot Minute
- Reading Warm-Up (4/5): "Ooka and the Stolen Smell." We completed our active reading and our response logs.
- Oral Tradition: We reviewed "Persephone" and "Daedalus" and expanded on our PIBO organizers for Demeter and Apollo. We recapped our expectations for our Mythological Lovers Project and finalized our selections for couples
For next class:
Please complete your PIBO summaries for "Demeter" and "Apollo" for Thursday's class.
Please remember your Mythological Lovers Project is due on 1/11/11. Don't wait until the last minute...
*Don't forget to bring back your completed draft of your short tory for tomorrow's writing class!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Today was a Writing day.
- The Hot Minute
- Grammar: We reviewed Simple and Compound Sentences by using a new graphic organizer and working through classroom models. We demonstrated our understanding by building six sentences around three, class selected topics.
- Short Stories: We used class-wide rubrics to self-evaluate our completed short stories. We then participated in a quick-conference with Mr. Hoskins or Ms. Gengel and were partnered to begin work on partner evaluations.
For next class, you should:
Please have your first drafts of Short Stories fully completed for Wednesday's class so that we can begin self and partner evaluations.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Today was a Reading day
- The Hot Minute
- Reading Warm-Up (5/5): "Tantalus." We completed and submitted our Set 7 active reading and our response logs.
- Oral Tradition: We worked in partners and competed in a research-based, mythology challenge.
For next class:
Please make headway on your Mythological Lovers Project - due 1/11/11.
Be Safe! Enjoy your vacation!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Today was a Reading day
- The Hot Minute
- Reading Warm-Up (1/4): "Continental Drift." We began Set 8 Active Reading and Response Logs.
- Vocabulary Set 8, Day 1: We were introduced to Vocabulary Set 8 and began our Vocabulary Templates
- Oral Tradition: We continued working worth Greek/Roman Mythology and expanded our understanding of the theme of Rivalry by conducting an initial exploration of Epics. We identified ingredients that are common to epics and mapped these into an "Epic Cycle."
For next class:
Please complete your Vocabulary Template 8 and prepare for Word Segmnt Quiz 8 for Thursday's class
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Today was a Writiing day
- The Hot Minute
- DOL Set 5, Day 1: 1/2
- Grammar: We reviewed our work with Sentence Types, specifically simple and compound sentences. We expanded our understanding to include complex sentence structures, then demonstrated our understanding with Exercise 4.
- Short Stories: We completed our second of two editing/evaluation days. We will have two writing periods to develop our second drafts.
There is no assigned classwide homework. Please continue working on the evaluation and revision of your short story. Second/final drafts are due at the end of the period next Tuesday.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Today was a Reading day
- The Hot Minute
- Reading Warm-Up (2/4): "from Hard Times." We were assessed on our implementation of active reading strategies..
- Vocabulary Set 8, Day 2: We completed our Vocabulary Templates for Set 8 and submitted these fr scoring. Some of us completed an extension activity to demonstrated a "4" understanding of Dictionary and Thesaurus skills.
- Oral Tradition: We continued to work with the Epic Cycle by exploring and identifying modern day interpretations of the structure. We worked in partners to categorize a selected modern interpretation into the eight essential ingredients of an Epic.
For next class:
You have no new ELA homework for this evening, but please keep in mind that you will have two drafting days (beginning tomorrow) to complete the second draft of your short story.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Today was a Reading day
- The Hot Minute
- Reading Warm-Up (3/4): "More Room." We were assessed on our implementation of main ideas, details and active reading strategies..
- Vocabulary Set 8, Day 3: We completed our Word Segment Quiz 8, received our study guides and began work on our Vocabulary Prompt 8.
- Oral Tradition: We continued to work with the Epic Cycle by breaking down modern interpretations of the structure. We selected roles for "The Odyssey" and began reading through the first scene with a focus on tone and inflection.
For next class:
Please complete your Vocabulary Prompt 8. Be prepared to swap and evaluate your partner's to start Wednesday's vocabulary block.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Today was a Reading day
- The Hot Minute
- Reading Warm-Up: Post-Poned (1/2 Snow Day)
- Vocabulary Set 8, Day 4: We swapped and evaluated Vocabulary Prompt 8
- Oral Tradition: We reviewed the Epic Cycle and our selected roles for "The Odyssey." We began reading through scenes one and two with an emphasis on Tone, Inflection and Interpretation of Character.
For next class:
Please prepare for Vocabulary Quiz 8 (Friday)
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Today was a Writing day
- The Hot Minute
- DOL Set 5, Day 4: 7/8
- Grammar: We continued working with sentence types. We reviewed the simple, compound and complex structure, then expanded our understanding to include compound-complex sentences. We proved our understanding by completing portions of exercise 5 on pages 565-566.
- Oral Tradition: We reviewed the Epic Cycle and our selected roles for "The Odyssey." We continued reading through scenes 2-6 with an emphasis on Tone, Inflection and Interpretation of Character.
For next class:
You have no new homework. Please remember that you have Vocabulary Quiz 8 tomorrow.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Today was a Reading day
- The Hot Minute
- Reading Warm-Up: Post-Poned (1/2 Snow Day)
- Vocabulary Set 8, Day 5: We completed our Vocabulary Assessment 8.
- Oral Tradition: We reviewed the Epic Cycle and continued reading "The Odyssey" (scenes 6, 7)
For next class:
You have no new ELA homework for this evening.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Today was a Writing day
- The Hot Minute
- DOL Set 5, Day 5: 9/10
- Grammar: We continued working with sentence types. We reviewed for four sentence forms, broke down and labeled a variety of examples, then completed the first of three assessments to demonstrate our cumulative understanding of the standard
- Oral Tradition: We debriefed our completed work with the epic structure and processed "The Odyssey" and how it fits the mold.
For next class:
Please prepare for DOL Quiz 5 (Thursday)
8:2/8:3 - Please finalize reading "The Odyssey" and finish mapping the ingredients of the epic cycle (Wednesday)
Friday, January 28, 2011
Today was a Writing day
- The Hot Minute
- DOL Set 5: Assessment
- Grammar: We received back our first part of our three part Sentence Type assessment. We processed feedback, worked with Mr. Hoskins and Ms. Gengel to clear up final misunderstandings, then completed the second of our three-part assessment for the standard.
- Oral Tradition: We completed our introduction to Viking/Norse Mythology and worked in reading groups, using our PIBO organizer, to work through our first Norse myth: "Idun and the Apples of Youth."
For next class:
Please prepare for DOL Quiz 5 (Thursday)
8:3 - Please complete your PIBO organizer for Loki and "Idun and the Apples of Youth"
Monday, January 31, 2011
Today was a Reading day
- The Hot Minute
- Reading Warm-Up (2/4): "When I Heard the Learn'd Astromoner Speak"
- Vocabulary: We completed our Word Segment Quiz 9. We worked to finalize and submit our templates. We completed an addition, expansion activity to raise our scores to 4's.
- Oral Tradition: We reviewed the background of Viking/Norse Mythology and worked in reading groups, using our PIBO organizer, to finish our first Norse myth: "Idun and the Apples of Youth." We expanded our PIBO with supplementary information, then moved forward with our second reading: "Thor's Journey to Jotunheim"
For next class:
8:1/8:2 - Please complete your PIBO orgainzer for Loki (due Tuesday)
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Today was a Writing day (1/2 day shcedule)
- The Hot Minute
- Grammar: We completed our 40% end assessment for Sentence Variety by drafting and evaluating 3-paragraph "Snow Day" prompts
- Oral Tradition: We reviewed the background of Viking/Norse Mythology and worked in reading groups, using our PIBO organizer, to finish our first Norse myth: "Idun and the Apples of Youth." We expanded our PIBO with supplementary information, then moved forward with our second reading: "Thor's Journey to Jotunheim"
For next class:
8:3 - Please complete any missing or any missing elements of completed PIBO organizers for our mythology readings. These will be collected on Friday.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Today was a Writing day
- The Hot Minute
- Prompt Perfection: We were introduced to Prompt Perfection. We overviewed where we are going in terms of prompt writing and why we are moving in that direction. We worked in our partnerships and in a large group to top-down web our response to "The Adventures of Ulysses" prompt.
- Oral Tradition: We finalized our work with Mythology by working through our completed PIBO organizers, checking and fixing any errors, and completing areas where we found holes. PIBO's were collected as a stapled packet to reflect final understandings of our character/conflict/plot standard.
For next class:
Please edit and refine your Vocabulary Prompt 9 for tomorrow's class.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Today was a Reading day
- The Hot Minute
- Reading Warm-Up (4/4): "Advice for Living in Porcupine Country"
- Vocabulary: We swapped our Prompt 9 response and evaluated one another's work. We then completed our PowerPoint Review game.
- Oral Tradition: We worked in our reading groups to complete an in-clas "final" where we used our notes and gathered materials, along with added internet research, to complete a final compare and contrast of Greek and Norse mythologies.
For next class:
Please prepare your Vocabulary Quiz 9 (Thursday).
Please remember your 8th grade fundraiser dues (Wednesday) and your trip deposit (Friday, February 18th)
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Today was a Writing day
- The Hot Minute
- Prompt Perfection: We were introduced to the second day of Prompt Perfection. We used our graphic organizers and, as a class, worked to develop our first four-paragraph responses.
For next class:
Please complete your final Oral Tradition/Mythology summaries from your packets for tomorrow's class.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Today was a Reading day (broken periods/Worcester Tech. field trip)
- The Hot Minute
- Reading Warm-Up: Canceled
- Vocabulary Set 9, Day 5: We completed our Vocabulary Assessment 9
- Oral Tradition: We finished sharing our Mythological Lovers projects as a means of exploring our third theme: Love and Relationships. In some classes, we began an initial exploration and background building of Folktales (our second of the three story forms to be explored in this unit).
For next class:
You have no new homework for tomorrow's class
Friday, February 11, 2011
Today was a Reading day (broken periods/Worcester Tech. field trip)
- The Hot Minute
- Prompt Perfection: Introduction, Day 3/3. We worked through our first color-coded evaluations.
- Homonym Ho-Down: We were introduced to Homonyms by first, viewing and discussing a BrainPop. We then broke into two-teams, engaged in a homonym competition, and began building independent banks of homonyms, definitions and corresponding sentences.
- Oral Tradition: We reviewed Folktales, introduced Tall Tales as a specific form of Folktale, then identified common ingredients for our next graphic organizer.
For next class:
You have no new homework for this weekend.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Today was a Reading day (broken periods/Worcester Tech. field trip)
- The Hot Minute
- Reading Warm-Up (1/4): "The River"
- Figurative Language: We were introduced to Figurative Language, built a working definition as a class and top-down webbed our upcoming explorations. We identified a variety types of figurative language and built a deficition for and examples of Metaphors.
- Oral Tradition: We reviewed Folktalkes, then examined the purpose behind and key ingredients of Tall Tales. We watched a video for Paul Bunyan and used our new Elements of a Tall Tale graphic organizer to identify its key Tall Tale ingredients.
For next class:
You have no new homework
Monday, February 28, 2011
Today was a Reading day
- The Hot Minute
- Prompt Perfection: "The River" Day 2/3. We transformed our top-down webs into our four-paragraph responses.
- Homonym Ho-Down: We continued to build our bank of homonyms (two-days remain)
- Oral Tradition: We reviewed Folktales, Tall Tales, and our collected research on Mark Twain and "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." After sharing our findings, we worked in our reading groups to develop summaries.
For Next Class:
Please finalize and refine your four paragraph Open Response for "The River"
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Today was a Writiing day
- The Hot Minute
- Reading Warm-Up (2/3): "The Latin Deli."
- Figurative Language: We reviewed metaphors, refined and shared our "Metaphor's of Myself" pieces, then began working on brief, 3-line metaphor poems
- Oral Tradition: We reviewed Folktales, Tall Tales, and began reading "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." In doing so, we extraced Tall Tale ingredients to place on our graphic organizers and, as a reding group, developed assessment questions to share with the rest of the eighth grade.
For Next Class:
Please complete your 3, 3-line Metaphor poem's for Thursday's class.
Wednesday, March2, 2011
Today was a Reading day (Read Across America Day!)
- The Hot Minute
- Read Across America Day! - We were introduced to Irony and were read "The Gift of the Magi." We discussed how this fit as an example of irony.
- Prompt Perfection: "The River" Day 3/3. We used our guides and evaluated our partner's draft..
- Homonym Ho-Down: We continued to build our bank of homonyms (one-day remaining)
- Oral Tradition: We reviewed Folktales, Tall Tales, and continued reading "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." In doing so, we extracted Tall Tale ingredients to place on our graphic organizers and, as a reading group, developed assessment questions to share with the rest of the eighth grade.
For Next Class:
You have no new ELA homework for this evening.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Today was a Reading day
- The Hot Minute
- Reading Warm-Up (3/4): " Mirror"
- Figurative Language: We circled-up and shared our 3-line metaphor poems. From there, we took 15-minutes and transformed these into Extended Metaphor Poems, then shared these around the circle. All our metaphor work to date was submitted
- Oral Tradition: We reviewed Tall Tales, and finalized our reading of "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." We finished and submitted our graphic organizers.
For Next Class:
You have no new ELA homework this evening.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Today was a Writing day
- The Hot Minute
- Homonym Ho-Down: We continued to build our bank of homonyms (one-day remaining)
- Prompt Perfection: "Hard Times" Day 1/3. We completed our top-down webbing
- Oral Tradition: We reviewed Tall Tales, and began an introduction to Fairy Tales, connecting these back to Tall Tale ingredients and overarching Oral Tradition concepts. We viewed a short video on Rumplestilskin to draw direct similarities and differences between the forms.
For Next Class:
Please make sure to study your 25-homonyms and to have your sentences ready to submit on Tuesday. Please finalize anything you may need to for your Prompt Perfection, top-down web.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Today was a Reading day
- The Hot Minute
- Reading Warm-Up (4/4): " from Dust on the Road"
- Figurative Language: We began an initial exploration of similies. We tied this in with an examination of cliches and the need to be original and fresh in our simile designing. We practiced reinventing cliches in fresh, visually appealing ways.
- Oral Tradition: We recapped Friday's introduction into fairy tales and complemented this with a short viewing of "The Emperor's New Clothes." From there, we identified the common, universal ingredients of fairy tales, partnered up and were introduced to a two-part fairy tale project.
Please complete your orginial Similes for class on Wednesday.
