Week 13: 11/24-11/27

This week we are continuing our study of arguments about fracking. We are closely reading articles on both sides of the issue, identifying the author's claims, evidence, and analysis. We are using informational text features - such as titles, headlines, authors/publishers, images, urls, etc. - in order to predict an author's point of view. Links to the articles can be found below"

"The Costs of Fracking" by Environment America
"Why Cuomo Must Seize the Moment on Hydrofracking" by Ed Rendell

Students also received information about the Quarterly Reading Expectations and wrote in their planners that all Q2 Reading Logs are due Friday, January 23. We discussed how they might manage their time in order to reach their individual reading goals.

Enjoy the short week and say thanks to those you are grateful for!

Week 9: 10/27-10/31

This week, as the quarter quickly comes to a close, the students are creating their own magazines reflecting what they have learned and are still curious about on the topic of immigration. Students are working in small groups to design their magazine cover. Then, each student is responsible for writing their own article and supplemental feature (for example, an advertisement, a poem, a comic, a political cartoon, a crossword puzzle, etc.). The students will be working on this project throughout the week and it is due for students in 6-1 and 6-3 on FRIDAY OCTOBER 31.

We are taking a break from Skill of the Week in order to maximize our time on the project.

Here are some links that might be helpful as the students are creating their magazines...

Immigration Process
Millions of Immigrants Waiting for Green Cards

Challenges Immigrants Face
Newsela (type "immigration" in the search bar - tons of resources there!)
Migrant Workers in Michigan

American Dream
What Happens to the American Dream in a Recession
Waking Up from American Dreams
VIDEO (from my favorite author!): Is the American Dream Real?

Interviews with Francisco Jimenez
http://www.teachingbooks.net/content/Jimenez_qu.pdf
http://www.learner.org/workshops/tml/workshop8/authors2c.html

Mentor Text for Profiles/Biographies
http://www.thewritesource.com/studentmodels/wi-kameelah.htm

Hiring Discrimination
He Dropped One Letter in His Name

Week 8: 10/20-10/24

This week, we are wrapping up our reading of The Circuit, reading an interview with the author, a writing our own informational texts (in the form of magazine articles) about the challenges that migrant workers face. Also, Monday is the National Day of Writing with the theme #writemycommunity, so we are brainstorming the communities we are a part of, listing the people that we appreciate in those communities, and choosing one to write a letter of gratitude to. In the process we learned from Soulpancake about The Science of Happiness - showing gratitude increases the level of your happiness!

Our skill of the week is AAAWWUBBIS front branch sentences. AAAWWUBBIS words are used in phrases to add extra information to our sentences. AAAWWUBBIS words include (but are not limited to): as, although, after, while, when, unless, before, because, if, since. Listen to this song or practice here!

Week 7: 10/13-10/17

This week, we are moving ahead with our reading of The Circuit, and some of the classes might even finish the novel! As we read, we are continuing to look for and highlight those places in the text that reveal the challenges migrant workers face, especially in the categories of work, money, education, and health.

Our Skill of the Week is formatting titles correctly. In class, we discussed several rules:
     -"smaller" texts are always formatted with quotation marks (i.e.. short stories, poems, chapter titles, song titles, and newspaper articles)
     -"larger" texts are formatted with italics when typing and underline when handwriting (i.e. novels, newspaper titles, and album titles)
     *An easy way to test whether a text is "smaller" or "larger" is to ask whether it can be broken into sections. If a text CAN be broken into sections, it is most likely a "larger" text.

HOMEWORK:
     -Read 30 minutes each night. All Reading Logs due by October 30.
     -6-1 Author's Craft Evidence Sandwich revisions due Thurs. 10/16
     -6-2 Author's Craft Evidence Sandwich due Thurs. 10/16
     -6-3 Author's Craft Evidence Sandwich revisions due Fri. 10/17
                      

Week 6: 10/6-10/10

This week, we are in the middle of writing our Author's Craft Evidence Sandwiches. The students are learning the four parts of an Evidence Sandwich (Focus, Context, Evidence, Analysis) and drafting their own about the author's use of symbolism in "Inside Out." At the end of the week, we will return to reading the novel.

Our skill of the week is citing quotations. The rules we discussed in class are:
1. The transition into the quote must include the speaker's name as well as a verb (such as said, asked, declared, shouted, etc.)
2. A comma is needed before the opening quotation marks.
3. The first letter of the first word inside the quotation marks is capitalized.
4. The punctuation from the quote is only inside the quotation marks if it is a question mark or exclamation point.
5. Inside of the parentheses is only the author's last name and page number where the quote was found (no pg. or p. or # or comma needed).
6. A period is needed after the final parenthesis (unless you are continuing the sentence).
Here is an example: Anita announced, "I love french fries!" (Smith 42).

HOMEWORK: Read 30 minutes each night. Reading Logs for the quarter are due October 30. Check your planner for the due date of your Author's Craft Evidence Sandwich!

Week 5: 9/29-10/3

This week, we are continuing our learning about the experience of migrant workers. We will be reading several chapters from The Circuit, including "Under the Wire," "Soledad," and "Inside Out." We will be analyzing author's craft in "Inside Out," particularly the way the author uses a metaphor to enhance his writing.

The skill of the week is identifying subjects and verbs/verb phrases in sentences. This is a more simple skill this week, but it is important as a base for the skills we will be working with in the coming weeks as we learn about how to vary sentence structure. Practice here!

HOMEWORK: The students should be reading 30 minutes every night. Also, as a reminder, all Reading Logs for the quarter are due October 30. The goal is that the students are completing Reading Logs every time they finish a book and handing them in throughout the quarter. We will be checking in this week about the students' progress with Independent Reading.

Week 4: 9/22-9/26

This week, we are beginning our reading of informational text related to immigration. The students can access the articles "We Are Americans" and "Becoming American" from the Expert 21 link on the Jamestown Schools webpage. After that introduction, we will be moving toward discussion and reading about migrant workers in The Circuit, as well as watching this brief video on the experience of migrant workers and how it has changed/stayed the same over the last 50 years.

Our skill of the week is commonly confused homonyms. Click on these links for practice with you're/your, it's/its, and they're/their/there.

HOMEWORK: Read 30 minutes every night. Complete a Reading Log when you finish your book!

Week 3: 9/15-9/19

This week we are finishing our Reading Log for the short story "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros. We are also beginning our official work of analyzing informational and literary texts. This unit's texts will all be centered on the topic of immigration. We will begin with a discussion, read several texts along the way including The Circuit by Francisco Jimenez, and later close the unit with the same discussion questions to see how our ideas have changed.

Our Skill of the Week is using apostrophes to show contractions.

Homework: Please be sure to finish typing the Reading Log on "Eleven." It is due Thursday, September 18.

Week 2: 9/8-9/12

This week we are reviewing the elements of a story as well as identifying and analyzing character traits. We will be using the short story "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros, When we finish reading, we will complete a Fiction Reading Log together. Also, on Friday, the students will be taking their first progress monitoring assessment for reading.

Our Skill of the Week is using apostrophes to show possession.

Homework: Please be sure to cut, sign, and return the form from the Independent Reading packet.

Week 1: 9/2-9/5

This week will be an introduction to Language Arts. We will be getting to know one another, organizing our binders, completing our Quarterly Writing Assessment benchmark, and learning the Warm Up procedure.

Each week, our Warm Ups will focus on one editing skill - what we will call Skill of the Week. On Friday, the students will be able to use that skill in addition to previously learned skills in their Reflection Friday response. This week's skill is capitalization.

Looking ahead, next week we will be reviewing story elements and working through a model Reading Log together.  

Welcome!

Welcome to Ms. Richer's Language Arts class! Here you will find links to a variety of resources as well as updates for the week.