Homework Reminders

Language Arts: reading for thirty minutes every evening is an ongoing assignment throughout the sixth grade year.

Language Arts, due Wednesday, December 8th. Write five sentences using the words for your Weekly Word Study quiz in a way that makes the meaning of the words clear. Please remember to write in complete sentences, making your best attempt at correct spelling and grammar. Work that is neat and clean is required. 

Literature Circle, due Friday, December 10th: Please come to class with your Literature Circle job completed, and ready to discuss your novel with your group.

What makes an effective Book Review?

Students' ideas on what goes into a good book review.

This year the students have had an ongoing homework assignment of reading for thirty minutes every evening of the week. In addition they have also had two SSR (silent sustained reading) sessions during their school week. While reading is an individual activity, there are many ways to share the pleasure of reading, such as giving recommendations, discussions and book reviews. In the week before Thanksgiving break the sixth graders discussed What makes for an effective book review? Their next task will be to draft their own review of a book of their choice.

This morning we shared something we enjoyed or did not enjoy about our Thanksgiving break. The students were then asked to brainstorm a paragraph in which they described the anecdote they chose, using a free write, or mind-mapping. We discussed how to choose what goes into a paragraph and what does not. The students were then asked to write the first draft of their paragraph for home work.

Homework:
Language Arts: reading for thirty minutes every evening is an ongoing assignment throughout the sixth grade year.

Language Arts, due Wednesday, December 1st. Write five sentences using the words for your Weekly Word Study quiz in a way that makes the meaning of the words clear. Please remember to write in complete sentences, making your best attempt at correct spelling and grammar. Work that is neat and clean is required. 

Cultural Studies, due Tuesday, November 30th: Finish your identity chart of Berkeley.

Gather new information about Berkeley by talking to your parents, neighbors, or other community members, or by doing research on the Internet.

Ask the following questions, which are related to the concepts

of membership, community, and belonging that you will be exploring in the next lesson:

1. What are important or defining moments in the history of Berkeley?
2. What is an example of a moment when you feel that the residents of Berkeley came together as a community around shared goals?
3. What is an example of a time when you feel that the Berkeley community was divided?
4. How would you describe Berkeley to others?

In addition to these questions, you can contribute your own interview questions.

Language Arts, due Thursday, December 2nd: Please bring the first draft of your paragraph about your anecdote from your Thanksgiving break.

What is a Berkeley?

This week we began our Weekly Word Study spelling program. The students brought in the five words that they chose from their personal spelling list, and working in pairs, they self administered the quiz. Any words that were spelt incorrectly will go back on  the list for their next quiz.


In Writing Workshop students are working on, or finishing up the first draft of their personal memoirs. After the first draft the students get a peer edit from another student in the class, and then they show their work to the teacher, who offers edits, suggestions, and assignments for them to use in a second draft. 


Since we have finished the novel Maniac Magee, the class has been choosing the novels they want to read for their next unit of Literature. In this unit the Literature groups of no less than three and no more than five students, will choose their own books. A couple of the novels we are looking at are Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring, Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, by Jeffery Kinney.


In Cultural Studies the sixth graders have turned their attention to the city of Berkeley. They looked at images and brought in artifacts of the city, and using the answers to the earlier questions about what is a community, the students have tried to define the identity of Berkeley.

Homework: 
Language Arts, due Tuesday, November 23rd. Write five sentences using the words for your Weekly Word Study quiz in a way that makes the meaning of the words clear. Please remember to write in complete sentences, making your best attempt at correct spelling and grammar. Work that is neat and clean is required. 

Cultural Studies, due Tuesday, November 30th: Finish your identity chart of Berkeley.

Gather new information about Berkeley by talking to your parents, neighbors, or other community members, or by doing research on the Internet.

Ask the following questions, which are related to the concepts

of membership, community, and belonging that you will be exploring in the next lesson:

1. What are important or defining moments in the history of Berkeley?
2. What is an example of a moment when you feel that the residents of Berkeley came together as a community around shared goals?
3. What is an example of a time when you feel that the Berkeley community was divided?
4. How would you describe Berkeley to others?

In addition to these questions, you can contribute your own interview questions.

What is Writing?

Today in Language Arts, we took a step back and asked the question, What is Writing? We brainstormed a list of responses, which led to a lively discussion on some of the many different facets that go into writing.

Click on the photo to see what the students came up with.

One of the most important ideas that we came up with was Make it Interesting! We realized that as writers we have to keep our readers in mind, and that we have to be able to keep our readers' attentions.

In Cultural Studies we continued our exploration of what goes into creating and maintaining communities.

Homework: 
Language Arts, due Monday, November 15th. Bring in and show your five words for your Weekly Word Study quiz on Wednesday, November 17th.
Cultural Studies, due Tuesday, November 16^th   Respond to the following prompt on a blank sheet of paper:

Write your own definition of community. Based on your definition, write a list of the communities to which you belong. Pick two of these communities and, writing in complete sentences,  answer the following questions for each:

• What do you have in common with other members of the community?
• What responsibilities or obligations does membership involve?
• Who is not part of the community? 
• Why?

Cultural Studies, due Tuesday, November 16^th Please bring in an artifact (e.g., a newspaper article, postcard, photograph, or souvenir) that represents the city of Berkeley.

Just What Is A Community Anyway?

Homework:Language Arts, due Monday, November 15th. Bring in and show your five words for your Weekly Word Study quiz on Wednesday, November 17th.
Cultural Studies, due Tuesday, November 16^th   Respond to the following prompt on a blank sheet of paper:

Write your own definition of community. Based on your definition, write a list of the communities to which you belong. Pick two of these communities and, writing in complete sentences,  answer the following questions for each:

• What do you have in common with other members of the community?
• What responsibilities or obligations does membership involve?
• Who is not part of the community? 
• Why?

Cultural Studies, due Tuesday, November 16^th Please bring in an artifact (e.g., a newspaper article, postcard, photograph, or souvenir) that represents the city of Berkeley.

SPELLING

Today in Language Arts we began by asking-- Why is English spelling so difficult? We did a brief survey of the history of the English people, and looked at the many influences on the English language. Today's lesson also introduced the students to the format for spelling or Weekly Word Study, that the students will be using this year. 

Homework: Literature; due Friday, November 12th. Read Part lll of Maniac Magee. Do your Lit Circle Job, and come prepared to discuss the novel.

Maniac Magee

We are well into our exploration of the novel Maniac Magee, using a modified Literature Circle system. Rather than have the students exclusively lead their own reading groups, they work in groups while under the teacher's direct supervision. The four jobs the students use to inform their responses to their reading are Discussion Director, Summarizer, Illustrator, and Travel Tracer.
     In Cultural Studies the class is transitioning from our focus on individual identity to thinking about groups and communities. The class read the following quotation from Susan Goldsmith's A City Year,

"Communities are not built of friends, or of groups with similar styles and tastes, or even of people who like and understand each other. They are built of people who feel they are part of something that is bigger than themselves: a shared goal or enterprise, like righting a wrong, or building a road, or raising children, or living honorably, or worshiping a god. To build community requires only the ability to see value in others, to look at them and see a potential partner in one’s enterprise."

 Using this quotation as a launching point the students discussed whether they agreed or disagreed with Goldsmith.

Homework: Literature; due Wednesday, November 3rd. Read Part ll of Maniac Magee. Do your Lit Circle Job, and come prepared to discuss the novel.

Class Identity Chart

In Cultural Studies this week the students have been working together to create a class Identity Chart. Some of the categories they have  identified as important categories are gender, likes, dislikes, nationality, ancestry, age, and place where people live.



In Language Arts we have been analyzing sentences from popular novels, in an effort to learn how to understand and compose more complex sentences themselves.


In Writing Workshop we discussed the components that go into making an effective memoir. The students were give a handout entitled, What are questions that memoirists ask?


Homework: Literature: due tomorrow. Come ready to discuss Maniac Magee, from the beginning of the book to the end  of chapter nine. 
Writing Workshop: Answer the questions in the handout Questions Memoirists Ask. Jot down any words, phrases, or images that occur to you as you think about the questions.

Sentence Diagrams.

In Language Arts today we continued our work in grammar, and explored the importance of context when looking at parts of speech.

During our thirty minute Silent Sustained Reading period eleven of our students went down to the Temescal Creek classroom, and were reading buddies for the second graders in that class.

Most of the students were given copies of their new Literature novel, Maniac Magee.


Homework: Language Arts. Due Tuesday, October 18th. Write out the sentence;

_____________ Aden always fences with Carter's old foil.


then rewrite the sentence, putting a time changer in the blank space in order to find the verb, and then diagram the sentence with labels and arrows.

Literature. Due Friday, October 22nd; please try to read up to the end of chapter nine in Maniac Magee. If this is too much for you to read in four days please come to me and let me know. Come to class ready to discuss what you have read.

"We Wear the Masks" part 2

In cultural studies the students completed their own masks, some with a desire to hide, and others with a desire to reveal an essence of how they see themselves. The students then did a silent gallery walk, observing each others' masks and bio-poems. They wrote down their reflections about what they saw, and pondered the question, in relation to their classmates and themselves--Who are we?


Photographs of the masks and poems will soon be posted on this blog.


In Language Arts the class is working different ways of summarizing literature. The students are using the, Sentence, Word, Phrase, thinking routine, and impressionistic journal entries to summarize a work of fiction.


Next week the students will all be given a copy of Maniac Maggee, by Jerry Spinelli, which will be the first novel we will be reading as a class this year.

Book Covers Galore!

Two versions of Stargirl.

For their summer reading project the students got together in groups and created their own book covers of works they had read. The three books they focused on were The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis; Tangerine, by Edward Bloor, and Stargirl, by Jerry Spenelli. Apart from designing and creating the cover, the students were also responsible for writing blurbs about the books on the back cover.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and another version of Stargirl.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and Tangerine.

The very popular Stargirl gets another cover.

"We Wear The Masks."

The sixth graders started Cultural Studies today watching a short video on masks, identity and world culture. We then did a quick reading of Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem, "We Wear The Mask." This started us on a conversations on what are some of the purposes of masks. What do masks hide? What do they reveal? The students were then asked to look over their bio-poems, consider some of their thoughts about their own identity, and then create masks of their own. This work will be finished tomorrow in class.
Any student who has not yet turned in a bio-poem needs to do so.

In Language Arts we continued discussing what makes for a good question in a Lit Circle discussion. We looked at differences between a closed question, and an open question, between a fact based question, and a value based question. Tomorrow we will explore strategies to help students summarize material that has been read.


Homework: Cultural Studies. Due Wednesday, October 6th.  Students should finish their Mask-Making worksheet.
Reading: Read for thirty minutes. Remember to make an entry in you reading log.
Tardy Homework: Students who have completed their bio-poems, or did not complete yesterday's language arts homework should do.

Introduction to Literature Circle "Jobs."

Today in Language Arts the class was introduced to some of the jobs sometimes used in Literature Circles.


As a class we began reading, "Chura and Marwe," an African folktale. Using the job of Discussion Director as a prism while we read, the students were asked to underline any words they found unfamiliar or significant. They were also asked to make a note of any questions or comments they had while reading. Throughout our group-reading of the folktale we stopped periodically to discuss questions that students had discovered. The questions ranged from the fact based, to the value based. There were questions about the content of story as well as the style of the language. 


We also looked at the Lit Circle job of Illustrator. The students were asked to draw a sketch of something about the story that had caught their attention. The students then shared their drawings with a partner, and discussed how the illustrations gave them insights into the story. Some students mentioned that sketching was an excellent way for them to gain intellectual entry into a piece of literature.


Homework: Due Tuesday, October 4th. Please finish reading "Chura and Marwe." Bring in two questions you have from your reading in order to add to the class discussion. This counts as your home reading.

Summer Reading Project

The students of Wildcat were the rulers of the second floor today since the 7th and 8th graders were off to Point Reyes for a week. While they won't get a chance to actually see their school mates from the upper grades, on Thursday the 6th graders will be heading out to Point Reyes for a day trip of their own.


During English today the students worked in groups of threes on a project with one of the books they read over the summer. The three most popular books were The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Stargirl, and Tangerine. The groups discussed characters, setting, conflict and plot, and they started creating book covers based on their discussions.


Homework: 30 minutes reading of any book of your choice. Please remember to record your reading in your reading log.

The Bear That Wasn't

In Language Arts today, focusing on grammar, we continued our identification of words that represent "things and stuff," as opposed to words that are describers. We then developed a way of diagramming a sentence by putting an N over all nouns, and drawing arrows from the describer to the noun being described.

In the sentence;
Bobby bit Barry's burger. 
We would put an N over Bobby and burger, and then we would draw arrows from Barry's to burger, showing that Barry's is a describer that is describing burger.


The goal of this work is get the students to look at grammar and parts of speech as something that changes depending on context.


In Cultural Studies, the class worked on bio poems that asked them to explore how they thought about themselves. When asked why they thought we were focusing on their own sense of identity one of the students answered,
     "Individuals make up communities and cultures so we have to start by looking at individuals."


We finished the class by watching the 10 minute video of The Bear That Wasn't, and then talking about what the video said about how we see ourselves versus how we are seen by others.


Homework:
Reading: ongoing. Read for 30 minutes and record your reading in the reading at home
Literature: Please complete this survey about your summer reading by Thursday, September 16th. section of your reading journal.
Cultural Studies:  Please finish your bio-poem and bring it to class tomorrow.

Community Agreements and We Are On Our Way!

So last Thursday two of our representatives met with six representatives from the 7th & 8th grades, and Middle School Cultural Studies and Science teacher, Simon Hurd, and they hashed out the final three community agreements that the Middle School will agree to abide by for the school year. The agreements were as follows:

We agree to respect ourselves and the community.
We agree to be open minded, responsible, and positively engaged.
We agree to try to Behave Exceed expectations Succeed Take risks.

We will spend the rest of the year exploring what these agreements look, sound, and feel like in a learning community.

Today in Language Arts we revisited nouns, and identified that usually a noun is a word that is a representer, such as
The student lost her book.
and sometimes words that we think of as nouns may be really describers, such as,
The student lost her book bag

Homework:
Reading: ongoing. Read for 30 minutes and record your reading in the reading at home section of your reading journal.
Language Arts: due Tuesday, September 14th. Complete questions #1 to #5 of the noun handout you were given.
Literature: Please complete this survey about your summer reading by Thursday, September 16th.

2010/2011 School Year

Here we go everybody! The 2010/2011 school year has begun. It was great working with everyone of you today. I was very impressed with the work you did around creating community agreements. I noticed students thinking, listening to others, and negotiating respectfully.  The three community agreements that we came up with were:

• Keep a Positive Attitude.
• Take Risks in Your Learning.
• Respect Your Surrounding

The next stage in this process will be for two representatives from our class to meet with representatives from the seventh and eighth grades, decide on the final three community agreements.

Homework:
Reading; ongoing. Students should read for 30 minutes five days a week. Remember to fill out your reading log.

Cultural Studies; due Wednesday, September 8th. All students should finish their spider identity charts.

Book Reviews

Language Arts Homework due Wednesday, June 10: Book review for your Literature Circle novel is due. For those who have not finished reading their novel please use your homework thirty minutes reading time to complete it. Use the handout What Are the Features of Good Book Reviews? to guide you in writing the review.

Language Arts Homework due Tuesday, May 4: Please bring in you Weekly Word Sheet with the five words you have picked for spelling.

Language Arts Homework due Wednesday, May 5: Please have your assignments completed and be ready to participate in your Literature Circle Group. Prepare to take your weekly spelling quiz. Please bring in your five sentences containing your spelling words. Remember to turn in your corrections for last weeks spelling assignments.

Cultural Studies due Thursday, May 6: Cultural Studies Inquiry groups that will present today are:

How Did Clothing & Fashion in California Change: Native Americans to the Gold Rush?

How Did The Gold Rush Affect Families, Native Americans, and Other Groups?

How did Mexico Lose So Much Land to the United States?

How is an Ice Age Formed, and How Did the Ice Age Affect Life in California?

Language Arts Homework due Monday, May 10: The 1^st draft of your essay is due. The draft must be typed, double-spaced, and in times roman 12 point font. Please put your name and the title of the essay on the top of the page. Only hard copies will be accepted.

Drama Homework due Monday, May 10: The 1^st draft of your group's skit is due.

As part of Middle school, travel week the 6^th grade will be leaving for Camp Lotus on Wednesday, April 28 and returning on April 30.

Language Arts Homework due Tuesday, May 4: Please bring in you Weekly Word Sheet with the five words you have picked for spelling.

Cultural Studies due Tuesday, May 4: Cultural Studies Inquiry groups that will present today are: What Are Some of the Changes That the Vegetation and Animal Life of California Have Gone Through?

Language Arts Homework due Wednesday, May 5: Please have your assignments completed and be ready to participate in your Literature Circle Group. Prepare to take your weekly spelling quiz. Please bring in your five sentences containing your spelling words. Remember to turn in your corrections for last weeks spelling assignments.

Cultural Studies due Thursday, May 6: Cultural Studies Inquiry groups that will present today are:

How Did Clothing & Fashion in California Change: Native Americans to the Gold Rush?

How Did The Gold Rush Affect Families, Native Americans, and Other Groups?

How did Mexico Lose So Much Land to the United States?

How is an Ice Age Formed, and How Did the Ice Age Affect Life in California?

Language Arts Homework due Tuesday, April 20:  Please bring in you Weekly Word Sheet with the five words you have picked for spelling. Everybody should have finished marking their Write with Information handout, and have started researching and collecting information for their essays.

Language Arts Homework due Wednesday, April 21: Prepare to take your weekly spelling quiz. Please bring in your five sentences containing your spelling words. Remember to turn in your corrections for last weeks spelling assignments.Please have your assignments completed and be ready to participate in your Literature Circle Group.

Language Arts Homework due Thursday, April 22: Prepare to take your weekly spelling quiz. Please bring in your five sentences containing your spelling words. Remember to turn in your corrections for last weeks spelling assignments.

 Language Arts Homework due Thursday, April 15: Prepare to take your weekly spelling quiz. Please bring in your five sentences containing your spelling words. Remember turn in your corrections for last weeks spelling assignments.

Language Arts Homework due Thursday, April 15: All students should be working on their essay topics. Some of you still have to write 10 questions under the headings; What would I like to know? What does my reader need to know? Other students should be using the Write with Information handout to explore some of the many ways to collect information and many forms of information to collect. Please write your essay question or topic on top of the handout, and mark any source of information that will help you gather information for your essay.

Language Arts Homework due Tuesday, April 13: Please bring in your Weekly Word Sheet with your five spelling words.

Language Arts Homework due Tuesday, April 13: Pick a topic for your essay question. Brainstorm the questions: What would I like to know? What does the reader need to know?

Language Arts Homework due Wednesday, April 14: Come prepared to participate in your Literature Circle Group. Each group member must be aware of his or her group’s assignments.

Language Arts Homework due Thursday, April 15: Prepare to take your weekly spelling quiz. Please bring in your five sentences containing your spelling words. Remember turn in your corrections for last weeks spelling assignments.

Language Arts Homework due Wednesday, March 10: Students should read the handout of Chapter two of Philosophy for Teens, and come ready to discuss the discussions questions on page 19.

Cultural Studies Homework due Wednesday, March 10: Students should write twenty questions for their project. Please write these questions in your Cultural Studies notebook.


Ongoing Homework: Students should remember to read for thirty minutes each evening. Doing any assigned reading counts towards the nightly reading. Remember there are no restrictions on what you choose to read, as long as you make sure you get your assigned reading done. Please remember to record the date, the title of what you read, and how many pages you read on your Reading Journal entry form. Please turn in your entry forms on Friday, so that I can review how your reading is going. I will return them to you on Monday. I would encourage you to keep up with your reading over the weekend.

Language Arts Homework due Tuesday, March 9: Students should bring in their completed Weekly Word sheets.

Cultural Studies Homework due Tuesday, March 9: Please write a paragraph in your Cultural Studies Notebook on the topic you chose for the first Critical Inquiry Unit. You should write on what you hope to learn about the topic. What is it about the topic that interests you?

Language Arts Homework due Wednesday, March 10: Students should read the handout of Chapter two of Philosophy for Teens, and come ready to discuss the discussions questions on page 19.

Language Arts Homework due Thursday, March 11: Students should come ready for your Weekly Word Quiz. You should remember to write five complete sentences with the five words you chose. The work should be done in the your Language Arts Notebooks.

Ongoing Homework: Students should remember to read for thirty minutes each evening. Doing any assigned reading counts towards the nightly reading. Remember there are no restrictions on what you choose to read, as long as you make sure you get your assigned reading done. Please remember to record the date, the title of what you read, and how many pages you read on your Reading Journal entry form. Please turn in your entry forms on Friday, so that I can review how your reading is going. I will return them to you on Monday. I would encourage you to keep up with your reading over the weekend.


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Language Arts Homework due Thursday, March 4: Students should come ready for their Weekly Word Quiz. They should remember to write five complete sentences with the five words they chose. The work should be done in the students' Language Arts Notebooks.

Language Arts Homework due Monday, March 8: Students should read the two articles they were given, and think about what makes for an effective essay.

Ongoing Homework: Students should remember to read for thirty minutes each evening. Doing any assigned reading counts towards the nightly reading. Remember there are no restrictions on what you choose to read, as long as you make sure you get your assigned reading done. Please remember to record the date, the title of what you read, and how many pages you read on your Reading Journal entry form. Please turn in your entry forms on Friday, so that I can review how your reading is going. I will return them to you on Monday. I would encourage you to keep up with your reading over the weekend.

Language Arts Homework due Tuesday, March 2: Students should bring in their completed Weekly Word sheets, as well as five sentences using their chosen words.

Language Arts Homework due Thursday, March 4: Students should write a paragraph on the question: What is culture? They should also answer the review questions at the end of chapter four.

Ongoing Homework: Students should remember to read for thirty minutes each evening. Reading the assigned novel does count towards the nightly reading. Remember there are no restrictions on what you choose to read, as long as you make sure you get your assigned reading done. Please remember to record the date, the title of what you read, and how many pages you read on your Reading Journal entry form. Please turn in your entry forms on Friday, so that I can review how your reading is going. I will return them to you on Monday. I would encourage you to keep up with your reading over the weekend.


In Cultural Studies the students read their short mini-essays on the question, What is Culture? We then spent the class discussing, responding, and sharing thoughts on the mini-essays. 


In drama we worked on honing the presentational aspects of parent/teacher/student conferences.


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Language Arts Homework due Thursday, February 25: Students should bring in their completed Weekly Word sheets, as well as five sentences using their chosen words.

Cultural Studies Homework due Monday, March 1: Students should write a paragraph on the question: What is culture? They should also answer the review questions at the end of chapter four.

Ongoing Homework: Students should remember to read for thirty minutes each evening. Reading the assigned novel does count towards the nightly reading. Remember there are no restrictions on what you choose to read, as long as you make sure you get your assigned reading done. Please remember to record the date, the title of what you read, and how many pages you read on your Reading Journal entry form. Please turn in your entry forms on Friday, so that I can review how your reading is going. I will return them to you on Monday. I would encourage you to keep up with your reading over the weekend.

In Language Arts,  using the textbook Philosophy for Teens, we students will be taking on the mantle of philosophers, and tackle age-old ideas and questions. The first question the students will discuss—What is love?

In Cultural Studies we continue to examine how the Missions functioned, and how they changed the lives of the Indians.

Language Arts Homework due Wednesday, February 23: Students should answer the questions on page 8 of the philosophy handout.


Language Arts Homework due Thursday, February 24: Students should bring in their completed Weekly Word sheets, as well as five sentences using their chosen words.


Cultural Studies Homework due Monday, March 1: Students should write a short essay on the question: What is culture?


Ongoing Homework: Students should remember to read for thirty minutes each evening. Reading the assigned novel does count towards the nightly reading. Remember there are no restrictions on what you choose to read, as long as you make sure you get your assigned reading done. Please remember to record the date, the title of what you read, and how many pages you read on your Reading Journal entry form. Please turn in your entry forms on Friday, so that I can review how your reading is going. I will return them to you on Monday. I would encourage you to keep up with your reading over the weekend.

In Language Arts, we are beginning a philosophy unit using the textbook Philosophy for Teens. The students will be taking on the mantle of philosophers, and tackle age-old ideas and questions. The first question the students will discuss—What is love?

In Cultural Studies we continue to examine how the Missions functioned, and how they changed the lives of the Indians.

What's Love Got To Do With It?

Language Arts Homework due Tuesday, February 22, 2010: Students should bring in their list of five words on their Weekly Word List

Cultural Studies Homework due Tuesday, February 22, 2010: Students are to read the handout of Lesson 4. Come to class tomorrow ready to discuss ideas presented in the handout.

Language Arts Homework due Wednesday, February 23, 2010: Students should answer the questions on page 8 of the philosophy handout.


Ongoing Homework: Students should remember to read for thirty minutes each evening. Reading the assigned novel does count towards the nightly reading. Remember there are no restrictions on what you choose to read, as long as you make sure you get your assigned reading done. Please remember to record the date, the title of what you read, and how many pages you read on your Reading Journal entry form. Please turn in your entry forms on Friday, so that I can review how your reading is going. I will return them to you on Monday. I would encourage you to keep up with your reading over the weekend.

In Language Arts, we are beginning a philosophy unit using the textbook Philosophy for Teens. The students will be taking on the mantle of philosophers, and tackle age-old ideas and questions. The first question the students will discuss—What is love?

In Cultural Studies we continue to examine how the Missions functioned, and how they changed the lives of the Indians.

Language Arts Homework due Friday, February 5^th: Students should hand in the first draft of their book reviews.

Drama Homework due, Monday, February 8^th: Students should come to drama class with the piece of writing they chose memorized, and any adjustments from last week should be made to their performance.

Language Arts Homework due Tuesday, February 9^th: Students should bring in their list of five words on their Weekly Word List

Language Arts Homework due Thursday, February 11^th: Students should bring in their completed Weekly Word Lists, and come prepared for their spelling quiz. Remember to also bring in five sentences, each with a word from your list.


Ongoing Homework: Students should remember to read for thirty minutes each evening. Reading the assigned novel does count towards the nightly reading. Remember there are no restrictions on what you choose to read, as long as you make sure you get your assigned reading done. Please remember to record the date, the title of what you read, and how many pages you read on your Reading Journal entry form. Please turn in your entry forms on Friday, so that I can review how your reading is going. I will return them to you on Monday. I would encourage you to keep up with your reading over the weekend.

Today in Language Arts the students worked on their Island of Blue Dolphin final presentation. Some of the students are presenting a group project, while others chose to work on individual projects.

Books to Recommend

Language Arts Homework due Tuesday, February 2^nd: Students should bring in their list of five words on their Weekly Word List

Language Arts Homework due Thursday, February 3^rd: Students should bring in their completed Weekly Word Lists, and come prepared for their spelling quiz. Remember to also bring in five sentences, each with a word from your list.

Drama Homework due, Monday, February 8^th, 2010: Students should come to drama class with the piece of writing they chose memorized.

Ongoing Homework: Students should remember to read for thirty minutes each evening. Reading the assigned novel does count towards the nightly reading. Remember there are no restrictions on what you choose to read, as long as you make sure you get your assigned reading done. Please remember to record the date, the title of what you read, and how many pages you read on your Reading Journal entry form. Please turn in your entry forms on Friday, so that I can review how your reading is going. I will return them to you on Monday. I would encourage you to keep up with your reading over the weekend.

Today in Language Arts the students worked on writing book reviews of novels they would recommend. Using suggestions from last week's lesson on what are the features of a good book review, the students began drafting their own reviews.

In Cultural Studies, we discussed the first European settlers in California, and what was Spain’s reason for wanting settlers in California in the first place?

In drama the students presented their memorized pieces, and discussed how understanding the Who, What, When, Where, and Why can help an actor focus their performance.

A Visit From Mitali Perkins.

Homework due Thursday, January 21^st: Students should bring in their completed Weekly Word Lists, and come prepared for their spelling quiz. Remember to also bring in five sentences, each with a word from your list.

Since we did not have a Literature class today due to a special visit to our classroom, students should bring in the Literature Circle work they prepared for today; which was to read from chapter 23 to chapter 26 of the Island of the Blue Dolphins, and then complete their Literature Circle tasks for that week.

Homework due, Monday, January 25^th: Students should come to drama class with the piece of writing they chose memorized.

Ongoing Homework: Students should remember to read for thirty minutes each evening. Reading the assigned novel does count towards the nightly reading. Remember there are no restrictions on what you choose to read, as long as you make sure you get your assigned reading done. Please remember to record the date, the title of what you read, and how many pages you read on your Reading Journal entry form. Please turn in your entry forms on Friday, so that I can review how your reading is going. I will return them to you on Monday. I would encourage you to keep up with your reading over the weekend.

Today the Wildcat Creek classroom was honored with a visit from writer Mitali Perkins. Ms. Perkins has written such books as Monsoon Summer, Rickshaw Girl, Secret Keeper, and her latest work, Bamboo People. In her novels, the location where they take place is an important element. Today during her workshop with the 6^th graders, she focused on how to use place in a story to create mood. The students got a chance to try some of the techniques she shared with them.  Ms. Perkins ended the class by reading some of the students' writing. She told the students that she was struck by the use of active verbs, and the sense of detail in their work. All in all it was good day to be a writer in Wildcat Creek.

Back to School

Homework due Wednesday, January 20^th: Students should read from chapter 23 to chapter 26 of the Island of the Blue Dolphins, and then complete their Literature Circle tasks for that week.

Homework due Thursday, January 21^st: Students should bring in their completed Weekly Word Lists, and come prepared for their spelling quiz. Remember to also bring in five sentences, each with a word from your list.

Homework due, Monday, January 25^th: Students should come to drama class with the piece of writing they chose memorized.

Ongoing Homework: Students should remember to read for thirty minutes each evening. Reading the assigned novel does count towards the nightly reading. Remember there are no restrictions on what you choose to read, as long as you make sure you get your assigned reading done. Please remember to record the date, the title of what you read, and how many pages you read on your Reading Journal entry form. Please turn in your entry forms on Friday, so that I can review how your reading is going. I will return them to you on Monday. I would encourage you to keep up with your reading over the weekend.

The students are finishing up their work on memoirs and getting ready to start exploring the planning, researching, outlining, drafting and polishing of essays.

In Cultural Studies today the students began presentations of their Age of Exploration group project.

What makes for a productive Literature Circle?

Homework due Thursday, January 14^th: For language arts students should be ready for their Weekly Work Study quiz. They should bring in their completed Weekly Word Study sheets, as well as five sentences using their five spelling words.
Homework due Tuesday, January 19^th: Students should bring in the five words they plan to study for their Weekly Work Study quiz

Homework due Wednesday, January 20^th: Students should read from chapter 23 to chapter 26 of the Island of the Blue Dolphins, and then complete their Literature Circle tasks for that week.

Homework due, Monday, January 25^th: Students should come to drama class with the piece of writing they chose memorized.

Ongoing Homework: Students should remember to read for thirty minutes each evening. Reading the assigned novel does count towards the nightly reading. Remember there are no restrictions on what you choose to read, as long as you make sure you get your assigned reading done. Please remember to record the date, the title of what you read, and how many pages you read on your Reading Journal entry form. Please turn in your entry forms on Friday, so that I can review how your reading is going. I will return them to you on Monday. I would encourage you to keep up with your reading over the weekend.

In language arts today the students ran their own Literature Circles, focusing on chapter 20 to chapter 22 of Island of the Blue Dolphins. Halfway into the class we stopped to share what was working in the various groups, and what qualities made for a productive Literature Circle. We ended the class with a general discussion of some of the questions presented by the discussion directors.