Tuesday, June 16th, 2015 - Happy Fun Day!

Good Morning!

Today is Fun Day for our homeroom as well as Mrs. Mullin's.  Weather permitting, we will be going outside from 10:50 to 12:10 today to take part in activities!

Monday, June 15th, 2015 - Welcome Back!

Good Morning everybody!  Welcome back from the weekend!  Did you know that we only have 9 days of school left, including today?  That means that:

• We have only 1 more Monday,
• We have only 2 more Tuesdays,
• We have only 2 more Wednesdays,
• We have only 2 more Thursdays, and
• We have only 1 more Friday!

Today is a regular school day, with a normal schedule.  This is important because we are going to need today in order to finish up our Persuasive Essays on an Environmental Issue.  Why is this important?  Because any student that doesn't finish the essay by tomorrow morning (Tuesday 6/16) will be unable to take part in the Fun Day for our 6th grade classes. 

We've been working on this essay for quite some time.  We've spent many days in the computer lab, either researching, compiling a rough copy and then working on revisions for a final copy.  A good number of you have turned in your essays after having made your revisions, and I thank you for that.  The rest, however, need to kick it up a few notches.

For those of you that have finished, you will still need your personal reading books and keep working on your Reading Response Journals.

Wednesday, June 10th, 2015

Good morning everyone!  It's the middle of the week again!

In ELA today:

• Final polishing is being done on our persuasive essays again today.  Both sections will be going to the Primary Computer Lab to continue typing their work.
• Please don't forget all that we discussed yesterday regarding the format of your essays, as well our chat about avoiding plagiarism (see yesterday's post in case you have forgotten).
• Remember also that you are responsible for a Reading Response Journal.  It is important to choose a CHAPTER book (not a graphic novel or "Wimpy Kid" type of book) that you are interested in reading.  With the book fair happening last week, as well as the free books given out by Mrs. Quartz (Thank You!), most kids should have access to a book.  You may also browse my books that I have.
• Below is a sample of what your Reading Response Journal pages look like:

 

• Please fill in the necessary information about your book, as well as the question you are using for each response (remember: you need a DIFFERENT question each day).
• These Reading Response Journals are being done so that your reading and writing skills are kept active right up until the end of school.

Tuesday, June 9th, 2015 - Happy Tuesday!

Good Morning, everyone!  I'm back!  It's a soggy start to the day, and kind of humid.

In ELA today:

• We are continuing to wrap up our persuasive essays on an environmental issue that humans have created.
• I need to stress the importance of a few things:
1. Do not copy and paste from a website to your paper.  It is blatant and inexcusable plagiarism.
2. Each paper needs to have a bibliography page for their work.  This tells me that you have used some data from different websites, and have given the author(s) credit for their work.
3. I expect your font size to be 12.
4. You may use Arial, Times New Roman or Courier for your font, nothing else.
5. No double-spacing.
6. No space between paragraphs.
7. Indent new paragraphs.
8. Please use "left" or "justify" alignment in your essays.

• The example below is how your essay should look:

 

Courier font, size 12, justified, 1.5 spacing 

• The persuasive essay is due this Friday (6/12).

Thursday, June 4th, 2015 - It's Learning Fair Day!

We've finally made it!  Tonight at the APWES, we will be having our Learning Fair from 6 to 8.  Most of the students' work will be set up in the gymnasium, but our projects will be located in room 400. 

If you have time tonight, please stop by and see your child's work that he/she has put into their projects!

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2015 - Welcome To The Middle Of The Week!

Good morning everyone!  I hope your day has been wonderful so far!  Have you been checking out the Peregrine Falcon eyases?  They've gotten pretty big!  The poor little male is still quite a bit smaller than his sisters....

We'll be continuing our preparations for the Learning Fair this Thursday, June 4th.  It's from 6:00PM to 8:00 PM.  Our 6th grade projects will be shown in our homerooms that evening.

Students have been hard at work practicing their video presentations and assembling their poster boards and tri-folds.  I can't wait to see the results!

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2015

It's business as usual today in ELA class.  In fact, every day from now until through Thursday (June 4th) will be the same.  We need to wrap up our project work for the Learning Fair this week.  All students have been doing a wonderful job at working together!

Monday, June 1st, 2015 - Welcome Back!

It's June 1st?  When the heck did that happen?!?  Holy mackerel - who's using the Time Quickening Ray without permission????

In ELA today:

• Yes, you guessed it...we are continuing to work on our projects and persuasive essays again today. 
• We'll again be focusing on our environmental issues projects W.6.7: Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and refocusing the inquiry when appropriate. that coincide with our persuasive essay W.6.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content. that we've been researching and writing the past couple of weeks. 
• Yesterday in class, we discussed the different types of projects that students may wish to do.  They are as follows:
• A poster (you may wish to include some kind of model)
• A tri-fold presentation board (you may wish to include some kind of model)
• A diorama (a "scene" depicting your point of view; you have to have written information included to inform the viewer)
• A video
• A commercial
• A Public Service Announcement
• A skit that is recorded
• The poster and tri-fold presentation board, we discussed, are basically the same thing.  It's just that some students prefer working with the poster material, and some prefer the tri-fold material. 
• For the video, we discussed that students are allowed to have others perform with them, with a couple of points to remember:
• If the other members have environmental issues that are different, then they also have to have their own, separate projects.
• If the other members have environmental issues that are the same or are similar, they may work together and earn the same grade.
• All projects must include the same basic parts/points:
• A statement that grabs the attention of the viewer
• Multiple pieces of evidence that illustrates your position on this issue (including data/facts/information learned from websites)
• Some part of it must illustrate the opposite opposition to yours
• Some mention of a career related to your environmental issue. It could be a career that:
• Prevents the issue from occurring 
• Controls the issue after it occurs
• Researches the issue
• Enforces laws that are designed to punish perpetrators of the issue
• A bibliography of the websites/publications that you used for research.
• All projects must include a "call to action" portion.
• All projects must be completed by Thursday, June 4th.  That is the day of the Learning Fair.  These projects will be displayed for others to see.
• We have finished reading Frightful's Mountain, but we have one more chapter quizRI.6.1: Cite textual evidence to support what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. to take for Chapter 19 - Destiny Is On Wing.  Swing on over to Socrative and knock that out.