Tuesday, August 30, 2011

8/29-8/30 Social Studies

In class today we...

1) worked on Hominid notes

SEPTERMBER 2ND - STUDY GUIDE WILL BE PASSED OUT DURING CLASS. Study Guide will be handed in for a grade on 9/9. Students will have 3 options for completion. They may begin work on the study guide on 9/2 during class

SEPTEMBER 9TH - Unit 1a Assessment.  Study Guide is due.

8/29 Language Arts

Today in class we...

1) presented our Literary Culture boxes

2) read independently

*** Don't forget parents "Million Words or Less" is due this Friday :)
*** Reading Log #3 is due this Friday!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Social Studies August 25

This year in Social Studies...

1) 
Each table will be assigned one of the following topics of World History:
Egypt & Near East, 3000 BCE-1000 CE
India, 3000 BCE-1000 CE
China, 1800 BCE-200 CE
Greece, 800 BCE-200 CE
Rome, 600 BCE-600 CE
As group, you will need to divide up your time period based on the number of people at your table:
So…if you have 2000 years of history & 6 people at your table, each person would take about 333 years.
2)
Use the History Alive! textbook (see the table of contents for pages on your topic) as well as other resources in the classroom.
Each person will need to create a timeline on their sheet of paper covering their period of time.
Each person will need to find 2 historic events from their period of time and topic, label these events on their timeline, and create a detailed, colorful illustration for each event.
Each illustration must be neat, colorful, detailed (no stick figures) and be at least 3 x 5 inches in size.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

August 24/25 Language Workshop

In Wednesday's class we...

1) Updated the class agenda

2) Reflected in our journal/Independently read

3) Glue in Table of Contents to Reflection Journal. Add titles/reflections to journal

4) In reflection journal create a page titled "Favorite Places". Students should create a list of their favorite places. After a few minutes of reflection students should pick a location and write a journal entry about their favorite location. We will share the last few minutes of classtime.

August 24 Social Studies

Today is Early Release Day.

Today in class we....

1) worked on Geography sheets that will relate to our studies this year.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

August 23rd Language Workshop

Today in class we...

1) Reflected on the following prompt in our journal, "The best thing about 7th grade is...."

2) Students were allowed to choose an article. Students were asked to read/annotate the article

3) Using their annotations, students were to create an idea web

4) Using their new web, students were to create a unique journal entry into the reflective journal.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Social Studies - August 22

Today in class we...

1. Defined the first 12 vocabulary words in our notebook

2. Watched "What is Pre-History?"

3. Spent a few minutes journaling about "how does the material presented in the video depend on historical perspective?"

August 22 - Language Arts

Today in class we...

1. Spent some time reading independently. Students were allowed to count this time towards their weekly reading log.

2. As a class we read "Chrysanthemum". Students were given a page of the children's book to annotate. Students then took their annotations & reflected in their journal about their feelings of their own name. Teacher participated. After writing time, students were allowed to share.

3. Using that reflection, students created a web to generate ideas for a potential story/memoir/narrative.

4. Students took idea web & began to craft a story in their reflection journal.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

August 18 Social Studies

Today in class we....
1. Completed the 5 Big Ideas of Social Studies review
2. Completed a Review of Map Skills

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

August 17 - Social Studies

Today in Social Studies we.....

1. Talked about the 5 Big Ideas of Social Studies. Students glued a chart into their notebooks. Mrs Berry modeled how you would define one of the terms, then provided and example, then created an illustration. As a group students/Mrs Berry created a definition for "Economics." As a class we created an example and an illustration.
2. As a class we began an in-depth look at each of the 5 Big Ideas. Students were asked to access background knowledge to complete a variety of activities. This will continue through Friday.

August 17/18 - Language Arts

Today in class we:

1. Completed our first On-Demand for 7th grade. Mrs Berry will score those and return them to students at some point next week.

2. After On-Demand, students were given time to read independently, to count for their reading log.

3. Students are expected to have 140 minutes of independent reading documented to hand in on Friday, August 19. Reading conferences will take place then.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

August 16 Language Arts

Today in class we did the following:
1. We reflected about symbolism.
2. We defined symbolism in our strategies notebook through a powerpoint
3. Mrs. Berry modeled the Literary Culture Box, which requires symbolism in the presentation
4. Reading Recommendations - Mrs Berry passed out an example of how the recommendation should be filled out. Students received a blank copy for their reading recommendation. This will be due on September 9th.
5. Chatter Bugs Activity

Monday, August 15, 2011

August 15 & 16 Social Studies

Today in class we:
1. Set up our notebooks
     a. Created a Title page
     b. Created a Table of Contents
     c. Wrote down Essential Question/Guiding Questions
     d. Wrote down Vocab list
     e. Brain storm - What is History?
     f. Reflected "Why do we study history"



August 15 Language Arts

Today we did the following.
1. Journal reflection - weirdest thing that happened to me this weekend
2. Developed ideas for "What does reading & writing workshop look/sound like?"
3. Complete Writing Survey
4. Play "2 Truths and a Lie"

Friday, August 12, 2011

Social Studies - August 12

Today in class we...

1. Reviewed a portion of the NOMS handbook
2. Answered "39 Questions about Me" & discussed/shared

August 12th - Language Arts

Today in class we....

1. reviewed a portion of the NOMS handbook
2. reviewed class syllabus/completed August reading survey
3. completed Puzzle activity
4. assigned reading log
5. assigned Literary Culture Box

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Week of August 10 - August 12 Important Dates

"Dream" reflection sheet passed out, due Friday August 12th - Language Arts

Million Words or Less assignment for parents passed out, due September 2 - Language Arts

7th grade Student Handbook passed out, contract to be signed/returned to first block teacher on August 15

7th grade Open House, Tuesday, August 23rd from 6-7:15

Language Workshop Contract/Syllabus signed, due August 22/23

Literary Culture Box, handed out 8/12, due 8/25

#1 Reading log due 8/19

August 11th Social Studies

Today  in class we did:

1. Journal entry: Why I hate/love history."  We passed the journals around & each student at the table responded to the original post. As a class we discussed the reasons that students love history or hate history.

2. We reviewed the Social Studies Syllabus

August 11th Language Arts

Today in class we did the following:

1.  Reflection - How I feel about this year
2. We read a poem called "Dreams" & discussed how dreams impact our lives.
3. Completed a reflection sheet on dreams. It was assigned as homework, but most students completed it during class.
4. 1st block completed the August Reading Survey
5. 2nd block review the Language Workshop Syllabus


Tuesday, August 2, 2011