WEEK 4 AGENDA

Announcements:

*MAP Testing begins this week. 8th Graders will be taking the reading test in history class, the math test in math class, and the language usage test in English class. Testing will take place 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th periods on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

*Student grades can be checked online using Power School. Each student needs an id and password (from the Student Center) for this purpose.

*Emergency forms need to be turned into the office, whether there are information changes or not.

*Each day, 8th Graders have a 30-minute enrichment period after lunch. The focus for enrichment is reading. Students are reading The Legend of Colton H. Bryant by Alexandra Fuller during 1st quarter.

*Students are expected to stay up to date with their Writer's Notebook Entries. All entry prompts can be found on the top left of this blog page under "Writer's Notebook Entries." When a set of entries are due, students will receive one week's notice in order to make sure all entries are revised and completed before the due date.

*Students are required to read two books per quarter outside of school, and post comments for SSR credit on Ms. Swiggum's library blog at http://www.kswiggum.edublogs.org/ (hyperlink on left of page).

AGENDA September 21-26:

This week, students will begin reading a series of fictional narratives, most of which they will select from a menu of choices. The first selection will be read as a class -- "What's the Worst that Can Happen?" by Bruce Coville. Students are also studying narrative structure, literary terminology, and thesis statements this week. We will be reviewing active verbs and figurative language as well.

WEEKLY HOMEWORK: Due Friday

1) Grammar Worksheet

2) Put 2-3 artifacts of your own, with explanations/captions in your WNB

MONDAY:

1) Blog Agenda and weekly homework

2) Ms. Swiggum's library blog -- post two comments per quarter

3) Language Arts binder organization

*Bell Work
*Assignments
*Grammar
*Writing
*Graded Work
*Vocabulary

3) What is a narrative?

4) WNB 'Catch up time'

TUESDAY:

MAP TESTING - LANGUAGE USAGE

WEDNESDAY:

1) www.freerice.com - 10 minutes of English Grammar

2) Literary Terms handout

3) Begin "What's the Worst that Can Happen?" and label figurative language

THURSDAY:

1) Brain Pop! Action Verbs video review and quiz (action verbs, direct objects, indirect objects)

2) Finish "What's the Worst that Can Happen?" and label figurative language.

FRIDAY:

*Weekly Homework due!!!*

1) Review and grade grammar homework

2) Mini-lesson and workshop: thesis statements

HOME BASE:

*Emergency Forms due this week

*One fact on oil drilling due on Monday

*SSR on Tuesday and Thursday

WEEK 3 AGENDA

SEPTEMBER 15-19

Announcements:

*Back to School Night Tuesday, September 16 from 6:30-8:15. All students and parents are encouraged to attend!

*Signed quarterly recognition forms need to be turned in this week.

*MAP Testing begins September 22.

*Student grades can be checked online using PowerSchool. Each student needs an id and password (from the Student Center) for this purpose.

*Each day, 8th Graders have a 30-minute enrichment period after lunch. Mondays are dedicated to student advisory and home base activities. Fridays are dedicated to SSR. (This week, SSR will be held on Thursday). The focus for enrichment is reading. The first novel that students will read is The Legend of Colton H. Bryant by Alexandra Fuller.

*Students are expected to stay up to date with their Writer's Notebook Entries. All entry prompts can be found on the top left of this blog page under "Writer's Notebook Entries." When a set of entries are due, students will receive one week's notice in order to make sure all entries are revised and completed before the due date.

THIS WEEK'S AGENDA:

This week students are completing the drafting and revising process on their name jerseys. Completed jerseys are due at the beginning of class on Friday. Finished name jerseys will be presented and displayed, showcasing both student artwork and writing.

Students are also studying active verbs, and working to incorporate them into their writing. We are using clickers and interactive writing in the classroom this week to practice skills and assess comprehension.

Next week, we will move into reading a selection of fictional narratives, and learning the rules of MLA formatting, which will help 8th Graders begin their first big research project of the year in their history classes.

WEEKLY HOMEWORK:

For Friday:

1. Color code your summer experience paragraph. We will do this together in class on Monday.

red:topic sentence (1)

blue:concluding sentence (1)

green: concrete details (2)

yellow: commentary (4)

2. Revise paragraph to include any of these that are missing.

3. Locate passive voice in your writing. Revise for active verbs.

4. Spell-check, proofread, and re-type your piece. Attach your final draft to your rough draft and turn in.

MONDAY:

1) Blog Agenda for the week/explanation of weekly homework

2) Review Lit. Response Rubric for final grading of paragraph

3) Mini-Lesson: Color coding paragraphs -- Interactive writing sample

4) Drafting of name jersey essay/design jersey

TUESDAY:

1) Mini-lesson: Active Verbs review with clickers

2) Drafting of name jersey essay/design jersey

WEDNESDAY:

1) WNB #3: "I lost..."

2) Focused revision of jersey essay draft

THURSDAY:

1) Mini-lesson: Focused review of active verbs with clickers

2) Finalize jersey design

3) Copy final drafts onto jerseys

FRIDAY:

WEEKLY HOMEWORK DUE at the beginning of class!!!

1) WNB #4: Draw a tree, and on each leaf and/or each branch, write a word or phrase that reflects your personality.

2) Jersey presentations.