We will continue having Literature Circles until the end of April. After that, we will pivot into Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series. I will be grading two more of these circles in the next seven weeks (one week is not counted due to spring break).
Journals have been improving each week, but I am asking students this week to improve them. I have given each student feedback. I am focusing on skill building over these next two weeks. I want students to feel like they can add depth to their writing. Please check the Google Drive folder of your student.
Here are the directions for the journals and the frame:
For each day we discuss our books, you need to have a journal entry. This will summarize your thoughts on the reading and mention a few key parts. For each journal entry you need:
Write down things you thought were interesting and that you want to talk about! Try not to write things you think are boring.
INCLUDE PAGE NUMBERS WHEN YOU CAN!
My book: _________________________________
How much do I have to read each week?
How to set up a journal response:
Week # Pages ___ - ____
Summary: In this part of the book, _________. _____ decided to ______, which meant that _______. After that, _______. Then, _______. ______ was important because _____. The most important thing that happened was ______. Finally, _______. (1 paragraph)
Prediction: I think _____ will _____.
NOTES: Write extra notes on bottom – other things you want to talk about but don’t have a place to put it. It’s better to have too much than not enough!
ReadWorks is something that we will be doing each week. Every Tuesday, students will be assigned a new leveled article. I am basing this on their Lexile Levels. It allows me the opportunity to up the difficulty or bring it down a notch. Questions are context based and allow students practice with testing and on how to justify their answers. Students are aware of their class code and password. But just in case: Core 1 - XA3LDC; Core 2 - VYCF3P.
Here is the website: http://digital.readworks.org/?utm_source=Center%20Box&utm_medium=Center%20Box&utm_campaign=6.1.16%20digital
Synthesis projects were fairly well constructed last week. I noticed that some students needed more time. For the next project, students will have four weeks to construct one of the six options into something they are proud of. They will have ample time in class to do this.
Reading Logs have been given out four times so far this year. Please check StudentVue/ParentVue to see how your particular learner is doing. I do not need your signature to give them a good grade. They can receive an 8/10 even without it, as long as they fulfill the other portions of the assignment.
As always, take care!
We have just launched our Design Star project for the spring. We will be working on having students utilize the two sites given to us by the city planners of Newberg. One site is located behind the school near the Allison Spa. This location is over 30 acres of space but provides its own challenges like traffic, water/electricity access. The other site is located in downtown Newberg just across from the post office. This site is very small in comparison but already has access to water and electricity. The downtown site also has parking spots all around it.
For this project, students will be choosing a location, brainstorming a business that would fit nicely into that spot, researching successful business ventures, coming up with a rough mock-up of the location, and then writing and giving a speech that details all the reasons on why their particular business will find economic success in Newberg.
Since we are changing a few items this year to make the process easier for students, the documentation will be coming in chunks. I have attached the Speech frame to this post, and I will attach a rough rubric for the project. In the next week or so, all relevant documents will appear below.
The due date for the speeches and mock-ups is March 21st. I look forward to working with your student on this enriching real-world project.
An attempt to flip an Integrated LA/SS classroom.