Classwork

January 2nd to January 6th

The next couple of weeks is to help us prepare for our whole class novel study on The Call of the Wild by Jack London. Students will receive their independent reading assignment. Students are to pick a book from the assigned reading list about The Hero's Journey and have them read by January 20th. We will also spend a couple of days reviewing my class expectations and procedures so students can start the new year off feeling confident and assured as to what will make them successful in my class. Using our most recent MAP scores as a guide, we will work on recognizing and writing the three basic complex sentences patterns (opener, interrupter, and closer). The end of the week will close with us looking at conflict in literary texts.

January 9th to January 13th

We will start this week by continuing to work on our internal and external conflict notes. On Tuesday, our writing day, we will review how to write a friendly letter and write to our pen-pals for Wee Deliver. Wednesday we will focus on informational reading and recognizing topics, topic sentences, and main ideas. Students will practice this by reading an article about MLK, Jr. For Thursday, we will look at the eight parts of speech. We will look up the definitions, sort words, and write our own sentences. Friday, we will continue to work on Parts of Speech.

January 17th to January 20th

Due to my husband having surgery, I will be out of the classroom Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Continuing with friendly letter writing, students will write a letter to the protagonist in their independent reading book where they examine why the character is considered a hero in today's society and comparing his/her actions to Jesus and/or Christian behavior. Wednesday, students will take notes and practice examining the Contrast and Contradictions signpost from the book Notice & Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probst. Contrasts and Contradictions is when a character acts/thinks/says something that is opposite of how that character would normally respond or how we would expect that character to respond. When students notice this, they are to STOP and ask themselves, "Why is the character doing that?" The answer can help students to predict or inference character development, plot, conflict, and the relationship between setting and plot. Thursday is Science Fair day and students will spend the day presenting their science fair projects. Friday, students will write a thank you letter to the parishioners of Our Lady Star of the Sea.