Last week, English classes traveled to three different spots: the computer lab, the reading lab, and the library. On Monday, students worked on a writing lesson using dialogue. Their journal Friday was a narrative which should have included dialogue with correct punctuation and paragraphing. Students will practice this set of skills throughout the year. On Wednesday, students took the STAR reading test in the reading lab. I will share these scores with the students next week. The STAR score can be a guide to selecting books for AR and independent reading, but I am not terribly strict about this. On Friday in the library, the lesson with Mrsl Potter was about using search engines. The rest of the week was spend reading the Gary Soto story “Mother and Daughter” and the workbook questions.

Tomorrow, we will discuss the story briefly and then take a quiz on that story. I will be teaching a writing lesson this week about descriptive papers, and we will be starting a new story in regular classes. My advanced classes will be working on a poem assignment.

I want to remind parents to encourage students to read every day. AR points are due October 12, but I will begin adding the AR grade on STI next week so that it will appear on progress reports. I have actually added in 100% for those students who have already reached the required 25 points.

Last week, we finished our work on “The Jacket” with a short quiz on Friday. This was mainly just identifying characters and putting plot events in order. Since the story is very short, it should have been easy. (Period 6 and 7 will take that tomorrow. We ran out of time.) The next storoy is again by the same author, Gary Soto. This one is in our textbook, and the students will be working through the interactive questions in the workbook as they read. One of the main concepts is inference, figuring out information without being told directly.

Monday and Friday we will be out of the classroom. Monday, we will be in the computer lab. I will make sure everyone can navigate my web page to find assignments, resources, and the journal topic. Then, the students will be working in pairs to practice writing dialogue using correct capitalization and punctuation, We will be in the computer lab at least once a week. On Friday, we will be in the library. Wednesday, we will be in the reading lab for part of the period to take the STAR reading test. It will be another busy week!

The first week of school zipped by quickly. I hope all of my students feel settled in class and are ready to move forward tomorrow. We are going to talk about writing the first journal which will be a narrative. I will tell students how to do the prewriting, and I will model this for them tomorrow. The journal is actually due on Friday at the beginning of class.

Last week, students made a little mini-book about the story “Seventh Grade.” I began grading those and will record grades for them in the next couple of days. We will read another story by the same author this week. Along with reading these stories in class, students should all have an AR book to read. We will discuss expectations for AR, but of course, you can also read about AR on this website. I have a long list of frequently asked questions that will probably take care of your concerns.

As you may have heard, my two-year-old pug died suddenly last Wednesday after I got home from school. My husband and I will really miss him. We had a quiet weekend. We are trying to get used to not having our little guy around. I hope this week is a bit more uneventful.

Be sure to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about English class.

Thank you to all of our parents and students for a great first day. Parents, all students have a packet of papers for you to sign. These get returned to the homeroom teacher. I remember dreading that part of the day when my girls (now all grown up) brought home my stack to fill out. It is all required paperwork, however, and we appreciate your taking care of it promptly.

Tomorrow, I will be issuing books to all students. Students will be working on reading a story in class while I do that.

I started the year last year writing a blog for parents and students, and somewhere along the way, I just didn’t add any more. I am going to try to write more blogs this year to keep the lines of communication open. I don’t think many parents actually read the blog last year (and I never had any comments), but maybe I can work on that too.

I went to visit at school the other day and met our new librarian. I think we will work together well and have a good year with our seventh graders. She is familiar with AR, and she is looking forward to working on other lessons with my students as well. I also visited my room and saw that we have new grammar books and workbooks already delivered. I have not spent much time familiarizing myself with these books, so that is a job I will need to begin. I typically have not used the actual grammar text much, but that surely doesn’t mean I don’t teach grammar. Seventh graders do a great deal of writing, and we blend in literature, writing, grammar, and vocabulary. I know we will have a busy year.

If you have any questions, be sure to comment or drop me an email. I do check my school email during the summer at least once a day. I hope that the information you find here and on my website is helpful.

I’m sure that everyone knows this, but the Alabama Direct Assessment of Writing test (ADAW) is going to take place at our school on Wednesday morning, February 25. We will have homeroom first thing in the morning, and then students will remain in the homeroom classes to take the writing test. Students have one hour total to complete the assessment. Only what is written in the test booklet is turned in to the state. Students will have some blank paper to plan and use for writing, but the actual writing to be graded must be in the test booklet on the lines they provide. I do not know which of the four kinds of prompts your child will have to respond to, and I do not know what the prompts say. We should have results before the close of school this year. If you have any questions about the test, please contact me.

Have you noticed that the days are a bit longer? It was still light at five Sunday afternoon! We are inching towards spring. That means the Alabama Direct Assessment of Writing is right around the corner. The test will be February 25 following homeroom. All seventh grade students will remain in their homerooms to take the assessment that morning. They will have an hour to complete their writing in the test booklet. Any prewriting or rough draft writing is shredded before it leaves the building. I do not see the prompts, and students are assigned prompts randomly. We have been practicing in class and through journal assignments. Your student should be able to complete the writing in the time allotted by this time of the year. Some students are slow to start writing or they want to ask for help still, but the test is just around the corner, and hopefully, your child is feeling confident and independent about writing on a given prompt by now.

My regular English classes are working on a class novel, The Watsons Go to Birmingham. They are reading along with a CD (version read by Levar Burton) and completing a written log. I am keeping the folders in the room. If your child wants to take the folder home, that is his or her choice, but then the responsibility is theirs for keeping up with the folder. I only have a class set of the books, so books will not be sent home. Of course, we are still working on daily grammar sentences too. I returned a notebook test last week. The questions are taken directly from the sentences and note the students should have at their fingertips.

My Advanced English classes are working on independent reading logs of a historical fiction novel of their choice. Quite a few students have told me that they are really enoying the novel they have chosen to read. In addition, they are working on a children’s historical fiction book that they are going to write and illustrate. We spend several days doing research in the library last week. They have had class time to read and work on their logs as well. The assignment page lists due dates for the various activities in progress.

The library construction is complete, and Mrs. Rutland has begun to move all of the books back in. The computers are all connected, and the fiction books have been moved back from our temporary mini-library.  Actually, everything has been moved except the rest of the books. I know it will take hard work to return the 13,000 books to the shelves.

My classes will visit on Thursday (except that we are also doing Thinklink testing and a couple of classes will not meet with me that day). Mrs. Rutland will talk to students briefly about new procedures, and then students will be able to check out AR books and have some time to read. We are all so excited and proud of the new space!

Last week was a gloomy, rainy start to the new year, but I think that all classes were off to a good start. We had a few schedule changes, and we have welcomed a new student to our seventh grade. All classes have worked on daily grammar, and it seems that most students are starting to remember some of the rules and terms we have been studying all year. Our daily sentences drill students on basic capitalization, punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, and vocabulary. These skills are specifically tested on the SAT in April.

We are also kicking into high gear to prepare for the ADAW (Alabama Direct Assessment of Writing) which will take place the last week in February. Each week between now and then, students will have an in-class practice test. The real test is one clock hour long. We are practicing doing the prewriting (plan) and a quick rough draft of what they want to put into the test booklet. Writing with a time restriction can be stressful, but with practice, most students find that they can produce more than they thought in a short period of time. Last week, they tried a narrative prompt, and this week, they will try an expository prompt.

Meanwhile, we have also managed to spend some time reading selections from the textbook. My regular students read an old Twilight Zone story, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street.” I think they did a good job of reading the teleplay aloud. After we finish the accompanying written work, we will watch the TV episode. My advanced class read several versions of Cinderella and will be working on a comparison/contrast essay this week in class. Adanced classes are going to begin a semester project of writing a children’s historical fiction book. They will begin be doing a book report on a story book from their own childhood. That is always a fun activity.

Let me know if you have any special concerns about your child’s progress as we move along second semester. Grades went home last Friday, of course, and sometimes that can be stressful. Thanks to all of our parents for supporting what we do at Mountain Gap!

First semester is just about complete. Student grades are not finalized yet, but I will be mostly finished before I leave school on Friday. I am finishing grading papers turned in to me in the last day or two, especially the mystery stories by my Advanced English class. I enjoy reading them, and I especially enjoy reading each student’s self-evaluation of what makes them most proud or what they feel they learned from the project. I have read everything from feeling more confident about writing to having an understanding of the writing process. Several said they now know that published authors don’t just write something and call it finished — that writing takes time and work. Some said they had fun thinking up the story, and a couple said they were surprised at themselves because of the piece of writing they ended up producing. I will most likely have my regular ed students work on a similar project second semester.

All of my classes have been working on short stories the last couple of weeks. My Advanced English classes worked with Mrs. Hill last week on a short story, and then the Gifted coordinator from Merts came and conducted a discussion with them on Friday. All students read a story by Truman Capote, “A Christmas Memory,” and today all of my classes were in the computer lab writing a story on the topic “Delivery for You.”

In other school news, the new library is just about complete, and when school opens, Mrs. Rutland will be moving in to the expanded area. Because of that, students will not be able to check out books right away in January, but I know that she will be working hard to get ready to open. Students can borrow books from me, read books that they own, or, of course, borrow books from the public library. Our school AR list is posted on our school web site. Click faculty and then library, and then you will see the link to the list.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday. My daughter’s family will be coming on Christmas night to spend some days with us, and both my husband and I are excited to see our two grandsons. I am also happy that I will be able to spend extra time with my daughter and son-in-law who live here. We will all be watching the Sugar Bowl on January 2.