Mrs. Kuhr's Language Arts Blog

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Unbelievably, it is the last nine weeks of this school year.  Lots to do; some exciting changes for next year TBA in upcoming posts; please take note of schedule changes re: CHAI reading (all) and the Sunflower Project (Gr. 8).

READING

• STAR Reading:  Last diagnostic tests for the year were taken this week (4/15-16);  results and recommendations will be sent at the end of the school year
• CHAI Reading:  Book selections made this week (4/15-16)
  • Genre: Historical Fiction
  • Note new due date:  May 8, 2013 
  • Book Review: Posted to Shelfari AND linked on blogfolio
  • CHAI-light:  Assume the persona of your book’s protagonist and write a blog post using his/her voice.  Post to blogfolio with reflection.  Example:

Today my sister Annie’s teacher sent a note home.  She needs a white dress for the Easter play at school.  Annie is one of the angels and she speaks one line.  Mama is furious.  She says we didn’t leave the war in Germany to come to America to be in an Easter play.  She doesn’t understand how important it is that we fit in.  Papa knows.  

Everything here is so hard.  Like the language.  Why are there so many different words for the same thing?  My teacher called me stupid in front of the whole class.  It reminded me of that time in Germany when the teacher called me to the front and said, “‘Look at this Jewish pig, children!  I don’t want to see any of you talking to her.’” (Levitin, 1989, p.9)  I thought America would be different . . .  (based on the character Lisa in Silver Days by Sonia Levitin)

Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com

LITERATURE

• Poetry Unit – Introduction
  • 6:  Rhyme scheme and sensory language
  • 7:  Types of poems (selections for recitations next week)
  • 8:  Shakespeare and soliloquies as compared to monologues 

WRITING

• Editorials
  • All grades:  Cartoon with reflection already posted to blogs
  • 7 & 8:  Written editorial posted on blog or saved as draft in dashboard
• Blogfolios
  • Check to be sure blogfolio is current
  • Edit and revise, as needed
  • Make corrections to Chai book reviews, as noted on your rubrics 

LIFELONG LEARNING

The Sunflower Project, Grade 8, will now be presented at the edJewcon conference on Tuesday, April 30.  The wiki will be officially launched, and 8th grade students will participate in a panel discussion with edJewcon attendees.  Very exciting!

And now, you are up-to-date … at least, for this week!

Welcome back to The Author’s Page.  This month, the showcases some CHAI Reading book reviews formatted in newspaper style*, from LA6.  The literary genre is westerns/pioneer life; settings and characters (specifically protagonists and antagonists) are reflected in banners, headlines and feature articles.  So, hitch your horse and wagon to the post and settle in for some homespun news…

  By Sarah C., Grade 6

By Sarah S., Grade 6

By Brianna G., Grade 6

By Jake G., Grade 6

  All classes, grades 6 ,7 and 8, were charged with the same newspaper assignment.  Results are posted on individual student blogfolios.

*Reflection: Since last presenting this genre and lesson a few years ago, young adult literature and the way in which we get our news have both changed dramatically. Though westerns are, and have been, a less than popular Chai reading assignment, students in previous years have at least recognized the genre. Such is no longer the case.  Furthermore, while aware of the diversified accessibility of today’s media, I was still surprised to learn that only 16% of our Middle School households subscribe to Sunday/weekend newspaper delivery, less than 6% receive daily delivery, and only 3% of our Middle School students have read/seen/touched newsprint. Thus, the newspaper project took longer than anticipated.  I opine that the challenge and subsequent effort were worthwhile.  Mrs. K

Todah Rabah to all who donated so generously to our classroom library.  We are so excited to have new, contemporary reads in a variety of genres, including reference materials.  Check-out requests for Winter Break are fast and furious – you can certainly count on me curling up with a good book!  Thanks, as well, to Mrs. Hallett and all the volunteers for your combined efforts to ensure another successful  Book Fair.

Science Fair:  Due to the disruption of Thursday’s classes, the due date for final research papers is now TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11.  Remember to incorporate Mrs. Burkhart’s comments regarding content, before you do your final edits. (See guidelines for formatting in Google docs.) Papers must be printed and submitted to the in-box by the start of your class period – NO EXCEPTIONS!

CHAI Reading – Grades 6 and 8: If we have completed our novel studies by next Wednesday, assessments will be on Thursday, 12/13.  If not, we will continue the first week we return from Break.  Grade 7: Don’t forget to bring Tuesdays With Morrie with you on January 3, 2013.

We light the first candle of our Hanukkiahs this Saturday.

May all of you be blessed with a peaceful Shabbat and a very Happy Hanukkah!   Mrs. K

The clock is ticking, and the kids are counting the number of days to graduation and the school year’s end.  Teachers are counting, also.  For us, the clock ticks much too quickly – there will always be one more story to tell, one more discovery to make, one more page to write (including this one).

CLASS UPDATES

All Grades:

• Poetry tests were taken this past week.  Results are not what I had hoped for.  Next week we will re-review in preparation for a retest on Thurs. 5/31 or Fri. 6/01.  (More on this, later.)

• Using piclits.com (an awesome tool new to this classroom) students created some awesome poetry, which you can find on their blogfolios.
• 6th: haiku
• 7th: diamantes

• Poetry recitation continues Wednesday, 5/30.
• 6th: “How To Eat A Poem” by by Eve Merriam
• 8th: selected scenes from “Cyrano de Bergerac” by Edmond Rostand

•  LAST Chai Reading due 5/30/12
• Chai-light: Write a journal/diary entry as one of the book’s characters
• Rubrics have been shared with all students on Google docs
• Genre: Children’s Literature for the Primary Grades (Have fun!)

LOOKING AHEAD

• 5/28/12     No School:  Shavuot, Yizkor, Memorial Day (Chag  Sameach)
• 5/31/12      Talent Show 2:00 P.M.
• 6/01/12      School-wide Kabbalat Shabbat 3:15 P.M.
• 6/1-7/12     Housekeeping
• 6/06/12     Middle School Graduation 10:30 A.M.
• 6/06/12     End of last 9 wks.
• 6/07/12     Last Day of School – Noon Dismissal
• 6/08/12     Summer Break Begins!  

Photos courtesy of Wikiimages, Public Domain

Nine school days and counting until the first seder, matzoh brei, and BREAK.  We will not be idle this last week and a half; rather, we will be so busy we won’t even notice the days flying by.  Although the MS Master Calendar is now available for scoping out scheduled tests, long-term projects and recurring assignments, there are some specific events I’d like to bring to your attention.

The MJGDS Library is hosting the Scholastic Book Fair from March 26 to 30, 2012.  Our library and media center specialist Mrs. Hallett has made a concerted effort to feature books for teen readers, including a display of Scholastic Award Winners. 

I encourage you to share my passion for reading and my ongoing commitment to literacy by supporting this year’s Book Fair.  It couldn’t be more convenient; hours are posted on the MJGDS web page and the Fair is accessible online:  http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/mjgdslibrary

They’ve been a long time in production, but the results proved worth the wait. Last Friday, students debuted their documentaries based on last month’s required nonfiction reading for Club Chai.  The topics are as varied as the multimedia tools used to showcase them, from: the Chinese Cultural Revolution to the first women’s basketball team, the Oregon Trail to the great Czars of Russia, teen idol Justin Bieber to the Vikings, Anne Frank’s world to the world of child abuse – and this is just the beginning.   Presentations continue Monday and Tuesday.  The last step in the project is to upload/embed the documentaries on student blogfolios (6th and 7th) and the class blog (8th).  Target date for this is next Tuesday, 4/3.

All grades 6 – 8

• 3/26/12        Book Fair begins
• 3/26-27/12  Presentations of documentaries continue
• 3/27/12        Last day of third 9 weeks
• 3/28/12        CHAI Reading review due, reader’s choice

March Chai-light: Create and conduct “radio interview” with the
book’s author

• 3/29/12        Test on Nonfiction – types and traits

Open book, open notes – no stress

In case I don’t see you, let me take this opportunity to wish all of you Hag Pesah Sameah, and a safe and relaxing Passover Break. 

“Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com”

Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. ~ Barbara Tuchman

This month features the literary genre, nonfiction.  Students are learning that nonfiction is more than biographies/autobiographies; in fact, ask them to name as many examples as they can.  (The 6th grade discovered 18 different types!)

(segue) Speaking of 18 . . .

CHAI book selections were made last week.  PLEASE NOTE: There is only one (1) Chai reading assignment this month. (See due dates.)  Instead of written book reviews, students will create and produce documentaries* about their books’ subjects.  You should see a rubric by the end of this week.

*As with all CHAI reviews and Chai-lights, these documentaries are independent reading projects.  Assistance, need determined by Mrs. K, will be offered by appointment before and after school hours; however, research, storyboards and the collection of media must be done independently.  Anything saved on a flash-drive can be downloaded to a school laptop.

Our exploration of nonfiction is well-supplemented by selections from the Mirrors and Windows textbook.  HW will be intermittent; students are responsible for keeping track of assignments.  Expect a genre test mid-March.

Plus…

Slow but steady progress through class novels, continues. Study packets for grades 6 and 7  are chapter-based and disseminated, accordingly.  Note-taking and roundtable literary analysis are 8th grade requisites.

All grades 6 – 8

• 2/10/12        Chai book selections approved and recorded on Google docs
• 2/23/12        Documentary storyboards complete with text, voice-overs, media
• 2/29/12        Documentaries recorded and ready for final edits
• 3/05/12        Documentaries published
• 3/6-16/12     ITBS prep: test-taking skills
• 3/14/12        Chai Reading : summarize the book in a sonnet (a 14-line lyric poem                       written in specific format and meter)
• 3/16/12        Test: nonfiction genre
• 3/19-26/12   Standardized Testing
• 3/28/12        Chai Reading : conduct a radio interview w/the author of the book

Barbara Wertheim Tuchman (1912-1989) was an American historian, author, and Pulitzer Prize winner for nonfiction. You can read more about Tuchman in Jewish Heroes & Heroines of America: 150 True Stories of American Jewish Heroism, © 1996, written by Seymour “Sy” Brody of Delray Beach, Florida.

“Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com”

Welcome back!  I hope your Break was refreshing, renewing, restful and restorative.  (Note alliteration.)  We have much to look forward to and much to accomplish, during the remainder of this nine weeks.  SUCCESS = FOCUS + ORGANIZATION.  Check in with Mrs. K regularly and remember to log onto your blog.  Here’s to a promising new year!!

All Grades 6-8:

• 1/09/12     Novel Studies begin (bring your book, Kindles, Nooks to class)
• 1/11/12      Elements of Literature (fiction) -  mid-year exam
• 1/18/12      Spelling/Vocabulary -   mid-year exam
• 1/25/12      Writing* (published essay) -   mid-year exam
• 1/31/12      Chai** (class novel project) -    mid-year exam

*Writing Exam – In class,  grade-specific, in response to a prompt.  Students will be assessed on content, organization, fluency, and mechanics (spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, usage).

February is non-fiction month in Club Chai; readers will select two (2) non-fiction books to read and review with Chai-lights.   **Chai Reading for the month of January is a class novel study,  guided by Mrs. K.

• Bring your novels to class with you on Monday, 1/09/12.  Be sure to have your name somewhere prominent on the cover; library books may be labeled with sticky notes.(Note: you may bring your e-reader to my room earlier in the day, and I will lock it up for you until class begins.)
• Please DO NOT READ any of your novel until your class meets on Monday.
• Novels are available in paperback, hardcover, ebook;  I have found all of the titles at local book stores.

Class Novels

Grade 6:  Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick

Grade 7:  The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Grade 8:  That Was Then, This is Now by S.E. Hinton