All of my regular English classes completed their projects today on Freak the Mighty. I have started grading them, and so far, I have been pleased with a majority of the work I am seeing. Some students went above and beyond, and their folders are exceptional! By using class time wisely and focusing on the work, most students had ample time to finish the work. A few students have turned in incomplete work which will be reflected in the folder grade. I should have all of the folder grades posted before the Thanksgiving break. In addition, every student in my regular classes took the AR test on Freak the Mighty, and every student earned a passing grade.

My advanced classes will have their literature circle projects finished by the end of class on Tuesday. I have been happy to observe that the students are all working together pleasantly in each group. They have not bickered or complained about partners at all, which is really quite an achievement. On occasion, a few groups have not used their time as well as they might, but their cooperative spirit has been wonderful. Advanced classes are also working on their mystery stories, and I have posted the dates for the remainder of the mystery writing project on the assignment page. Most students in my advanced classes have earned all of the required AR points for this nine weeks — and then some!

Next week, we will just have a two day week, and there will not be a journal due for any students. I hope all of our Mountain Gap families enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday! I will be spending time with my family, my pug, and my quilting. I know everyone is looking forward to a break.

Progress reports go home to all students on Friday. Today, I added AR points as a grade. If your child has no AR points or only a few points, the overall grade for English will look quite a bit lower. Please keep in mind that this is a progress report only, and that AR points are not really due until December 15. Students may take a test on the book that they are reading in class, but we will not finish the book this week. All students should be able to take a test on the class book before Thanksgiving. As students turn in TOPS reports that print when they pass a test, I will change the AR grade on STI up until the deadline day.  Students need to earn twenty-five points each nine weeks. I have a link for frequently asked questions on my web page.

http://www.jeanetheridge.com/info/AR.htm

My classes are all busy, and there never seems to be enough time! My regular classes took a break from my teaching yesterday. I have had an education student from UAH observing each week, and she had a requirement as part of her class to prepare and teach a lesson to my students. She showed a brief video from pbskids.com on bullying, and she had students answer some questions about reading a graph with information about bullying. Then she read a childrens’ book about bullying. The topic ties in to the novel we are reading, Freak the Mighty, in which the two characters stand up to the neighborhood bully. We are now about halfway through the novel, by the way.

My regular classes also took a notebook test this week, and scores have been recorded for that. Many students had better grades on this notebook check. All of the answers for the test should be things that they have written during class instruction — no memory work should be involved.

My advanced students are working on their literature circle novel. I am happy that I could order enough books so that I could check a book out to each student yesterday. Most groups are nearly finished with their first group meeting and are ready to start the next section of reading. Tomorrow, I will be assigning a date for the second group meeting. Meanwhile, they turned in wonderful collages today to go along with the mystery story they will be writing. I was impressed with the creativity and variety of posters they completed. Almost all of the students reported that the collage helped them picture the characters, the setting, and what will happen in their story.

Tomorrow is Halloween, of course, and I hope that all of my students have a safe and happy evening!

I thought it was time to write an update. We are now well into the second nine weeks, and all of my classes have started on the novel study. My regular classes have read chapters one through eight of Freak the Mighty, and students should be working on their folders during class time. It is hard to convince some that when they do have time to work on the folder, they should use the time wisely. I think that most students are enjoying the reading and following along on the CD in class. We are also working on grammar sentences several days a week, and students will continue to have journals due each Friday. I have many students who have one or two missing journals. I have been emphasizing the need to do pre-writing. It is the planning stage for the journal. I have told them that sports coaches, band directors, and choir directors all insist that they warm up first. Pre-writing is their road map or their shopping list. It improves writing and actually saves time in the long run. The journals and AR reading are homework assignments, of course.

My advanced classes are also working on their literature circle novels. I ordered more copies of each book yesterday in the hopes that I can assign a book to each student. That way, they can read at home as well as in class. Students have also completed the skeleton plan for the mystery story they are writing. When I return that in the next day or two, I will assign the next part of the project. We are also working on grammar sentences, and journals are due each week on Friday. I have been emphasizing the need to put effort into the writing rather than hurrying through late on Thursday night. I can really see a difference in the quality of the writing when students complete pre-writing and then try to do their best or when they just write anything — and then don’t even read what they have written.

I know the first nine week grades went home last Friday. If you have any questions regarding the grades, please contact me.

I hope that everyone has a safe, relaxing holiday next week. I am certainly looking forward to spending time with my family. When students return to school after fall break, we will begin some new activities while continuing with daily grammar and journal assignments.

In my regular English classes, we will be working on a novel study together. Each student will maintain a folder of classroom work, and I will keep those folders in class. The novel we will be reading is Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick. I have a class set of these novels, and we will be following along with a CD. The unit includes studying character development, plot development, theme, selecting key passages from the text, and vocabulary. It is not necessary at all, but if you would like to purchase this book for your child, I am sure you can do that through Barnes and Noble, Amazon, or any major bookseller. However, I would encourage not to have your child read ahead of the class. That makes it difficult for them to participate in class discussions and to stay focused during daily reading and assignments.

In my advanced classes, students will be working on writing a mystery and working through all steps in the writing process. They will be also be working in groups studying a novel. I have several choices available for the groups, but they will not be assigned a particular book until after fall break. These groups are called literature circles. Students will work both independently and together collaboratively to complete a variety of assignments. Students will maintain a folder of work in class, and they will have specified days for group meetings to share their work.  This is usually a project that students enjoy, even though it entails a good bit of work. I will explain this assignment more fully as we progress.

Last week on Thursday and again on this Monday, our students have been taking diagnostic tests geared toward the ARMT and SAT tests which will be given, as you know, in April. These diagnostic tests have been used by many other schools in the district, but this is our first year to use them. We can get specific data about your child’s strengths and weaknesses, and then we can practice those particular skills. The tests are through Discovery.com.

I have been reminding students that AR points are due October 1 which is next week. The school year seems to move along very quickly! I have many students with all of their points. Mrs. Rutland, the librarian, has been working with some students who find it stressful to take the ten question multiple choice quizzes, but she seems to have success in helping them. She and I are certainly able to give students some ideas of books they may enjoy.

This week in journal writing, students will be trying their hand at persuasive writing. I will spend the better part of a class period today instructing and modeling the prewriting process. It is so important that students do the prewriting. I tell them that it is the hardest part of the assignment because this is where they develop the ideas for their paper. Then, when they actually go to write, they have plenty to say, and their ideas are organized logically.

I have some exciting news about the computers in my classroom. As of today, I have five student computer stations. Our computer tech, Mrs. Bailey, added three new monitors and keyboards using Xtenda’s desktop expansion kit. As I understand it, four keyboards and monitors all work off of one CPU. We have Xtendas in the keyboarding room upstairs, and now a set in my room. Students have always had access to computers in my room, but now it will be easier to accomdate everyone in our short class periods.

Last week, we used another kind of technology. Mrs. Rutland, our librarian, is housed in room 215 which is a regular classroom. My whole class cannot visit at one time, so we hooked up Skype. She has a camera on her computer which allowed her to talk to my students in my classroom. She will be using Skype to teach lessons to my students until we can move into our renovated library sometime next semester. I think it is wonderful to be able to learn how to use new technology.

This is just another reminder that progress reports will go home tomorrow. They will be printed today sometime, I imagine. Yesterday before I left school, I printed the most recent list of AR points earned and updated STI. I also caculated current AR averages (based on points earned out of 25), and I posted those grades.  Remember, the students have until October 1 to earn all of their 25 points, and I will change grades as they turn in test results to me. In addition, there will be other grades added which will lessen the impact of AR grades as the quarter progresses. Please encourage your child to read at least a while every day. I have had many students tell me that they can finish books quickly, but they just haven’t started yet.

In class this week, we are working on our daily grammar and a literature selection. You can see the assignments under English page or Advanced English page on my web site. The journal topic is narrative this week, and I expect students to include some dialogue using quotation marks and correct indentation. We have practiced writing conversation in the computer lab, and it has been incorporated in our daily sentences.

I wanted to remind students and parents that progress reports will be sent home September 5, which is next Friday. They will most likely be printed Thursday afternoon, so that means I will be entering AR scores Thursday. Then I will continue to change the grades as students earn points up through the last day for this nine weeks. AR points are actually due October 1. Currently, I have quite a few students who have all twenty-five points for this nine weeks, and others who are well on their way. However, I am concerned about those who have not even taken an AR test yet. I have allowed students to go to the library each Friday, and some have asked for extra visits beyond our regular days, so access to books should not be an issue. I have AR tests on the computers in my room, and students can take tests any day. Did you know that our AR school list is available on the Mountain Gap Middle website? Go to the library page or click here on AR list.