Dr. Williams

December 22

P1, P2, P3 and P4--Students worked with partners to write stories about a holiday.  The catch was that their stories had to be EXACTLY 100 words.

P4 and P5--During P4 and P5, all 6th graders watched the movie, "Rio."

 

Hope you all have a wonderful break!

December 21

P1 and P3--Students finished the Gift of Giving research.  No homework!

P2, P4, and P5--Students finished typing their persuasive papers and turned them in.  No homework!

December 20

P1 and P3--Students took a vocabulary test.  They then worked on The Gift of Giving, an activity which requires them to research a variety of people from history and decide what creative gift the person should receive.  For instance, Micheal Angelo might be given a spa gift card or a bottle of aspirin.  No homework.

P2, P4, and P5--Students had time in the lab to begin typing thier persuasive papers.  They will be able to finish them tomorrow as they will have more time in the lab.  No homework.

December 19

P1 and P3--We reviewed punctuation of compound and complex sentences.  Students then did an in-class writing, "If I were a gift..."  HW--Study for vocabulary test tomorrow. 

P2, P4, and P5--Students completed the pre-write activity for their persuasive papers and began drafting their papers.  They will be in the computer lab tomorrow and Wednesday typing their final papers.  No homework.

December 16

P1 and P3--Students took their vocab quiz.  They then did Unjournaling--journal prompts that are fun, challenging, and creative.  Their prompt was, "Pen a paragraph that is permeated with Ps.  In other words, write a paragraph that uses at least 10 alliterative phrases that repeat the P sound.  Then, pick another letter and do the same."  HW--Enter the paragraph about "The Gift of the Magi" into the online essay scorer.  Study for the vocabulary test next Tuesday.

P2, P4, and P5--Students took their vocab test.  We then began working on an introductory paragraph for a persuasive paper.  No homework!

December 15

Crazy Sock Day Tomorrow--Fund Raiser for Relay for Life--$1.00 Donation

Today was class meeting day.

Today was a class meeting day.P1 and P3--Students read O'Henry's "The Gift of the Magi."  They then decided which character made the larger sacrifice and wrote a paragraph explaining their answer.  HW--Study for vocabulary quiz tomorrow.  Enter the paragraph about "The Gift of the Magi" by Monday.

P2, P4, and P5--We reviewed the vocabulary words for the test tomorrow.  We then looked at some persuasive papers written by 8th graders and identified the elements of persuasion found in them.  Students were then given a blank chart and a sample paper.  They worked individually to identify the elements of persuasion found in the paper.  HW--Study for the vocabulary test tomorrow.  The test will require that students match words and their meanings, select the word that correctly fills in the blank, and to identify whether given words are synonyms or antonyms to the given vocabulary word.  Enter the persuasive paragraph started in class on Wednesday.  Students had to defend whether the wolf in the stories about the Three Little Pigs meant to blow the houses down or was it all a misunderstanding.

December 14

P1 and P3--Students worked to finish their grammar review that they started earlier this week.  They then worked on lesson 6 vocabulary exercises and made 2-column notes to use as a study guide.  HW-Vocabulary quiz on Friday.  Vocabulary test next Tuesday.

P2, P4, and P5--Students were given their rejected reindeer papers back, and they worked to identify the persuasive elements in their own writing.  Since many of them found that they did not include persuasive elements in their rejected reindeer paragraph, they have another chance.  They read "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs," and wrote a persuasive paragraph saying that the wolf was either blew the houses down purposefully or accidentally.  HW--Study for vocabulary test which will be Friday.  Answers to the study guide are posted on yesterday's blog. Add the persuasive paragraph to the on-line essay scorer.  Due Friday.  Since this is a creative type prompt, the essay scorer may not score your writing very high.  Use the on-line scorer to help fix mechanics and to see how high you get your score, but do not worry if it is not scored as high as you would like.  Directions for using the on-line essay scorer are at the top of the first blog posting.

December 13

P1 and P3--Based on class discussion from yesterday, students were given a packet to work on which reviewed concepts like finding difficult subjects and identifying direct objects, indirect objects, linking verbs, predicate adjectives, and predicate nominatives. 

P2, P4, and P5--We reviewed the vocabulary words from lesson 47 and then looked at the charts of persuasive elements that students started filling in yesterday.  Students then read another persuasive essay and identified persuasive elements used in it.  HW--Finish vocabulary squares started yesterday.  Vocab test on Friday.  See yesterday's blog for details about the vocabulary squares and the test.

Answers for the Vocabulary Study Guide Given Yesterday--

1.  verbose    2. effortless    3.  morose    4. pitiful    5. doubtful    6. merciful, vengeful    7. joyless

8. dutiful    9. bellicose    10. d    11. e    12.  b    13.  a    14.  f    15.c

December 12

P1 and P3--We reviewed several different parts of grammar and mechanics.  From our discussion, I will gather some practice sheets for the areas that the kids are still struggling with.  We will work on them together tomorrow.  P3--Be ready to recite "The New Colossus" tomorrow.  We will finish this up as you work on your practice sheets.

P2, P4, and P5--We looked at 5 sentences and reviewed identifying subjects/predicates, direct/indirect objects, and predicate nominatives/adjectives.  We then discussed new vocabulary words.  Students were given a list of the words and their meanings along with a sheet they can use as a study guide for the test which will on Friday.  We discussed the words, their meanings, and possible antonyms and synonyms for the words.  The test will require that the students be able to match the words and suffixes to their meanings as well as apply the words by using them in sentences, identifying synonyms or antonyms, etc.  HW--Vocab squares--due Wednesday.  In each square, students should add the word and its meaning, the suffix and its meaning, the part of speech, and a color illustration of the meaning of the word.  Study for the vocabulary test on Friday.

December 7

Final Day for the Board Game Drive--TOMORROW

All Classes--Students entered their responses from yesterday's checkpoint into iRespond.  They then worked on creating an illustration of their rejected reindeer.  HW--Finish the illustration of the rejected reindeer. Students will need this tomorrow in class.