Lookin' Sharp with Shelly

Catch up on homework, class activities, and Mrs. Shelly's latest read!

Days 14-16

Sep 21

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Students sure have been busy in English class!  Last Friday, they began a first draft reading of an article all about school fees called “Pay Up!”  What they didn’t finish in class on Friday was due on Monday.  I was really impressed with the amount and quality of comments and questions asked by students in all three blocks! 

We used this in a discussion of surface reading versus deeper reading, as well as a discussion of what they were confused about as they read.  Students became more aware of the face that to “embrace confusion” doesn’t mean they embrace sentences they “don’t get.”  It could be the motivation of a person to do something that students don’t understand.  Our discussion revealed many things students were confused or had questions about.  I was thoroughly impressed.

At this point, we’ve also begun talking about how first draft reading leads us into a second (and sometimes a third) draft reading of the same article.  The purpose of further reading is to look at things we didn’t notice or weren’t as aware of the first time.  This was exhibited in multiple viewings of a clip from North by Northwest.  In a scene where two main characters get into an argument in a public cafeteria, students first noticed the fight between the characters.  The setting (Mt. Rushmore), and an out-of-place extra (a little boy who was plugging his ears) aren’t as noticeable.  With mulitple views and a little refocusing, students suddenly realized that there was more to the short clip than met the eye the first time around!

Students were also introduced to prefixes this week.  They first did a preview of prefixes with a partner, and they are now working on defining words that begin with certain prefixes using three things to help them:

1.  The prefix and its meaning

2.  Other parts of the word they recognize

3.  Their knowledge of how the word is used in context.

Once they have figured out their definition, they check its accuracy in the dictionary and justify their definition and why they wrote it the way they did using the three parts mentioned above.  Students are doing a wonderful job explaining their reasoning!

Days 11-12

Sep 15

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On Wednesday, students took their new-found Word Attack skills to a new level on an assignment for a fictitious magazine called Words Weekly.  They were commissioned to work with a partner and use their creative bones to create a one-page article instructing someone to use the Word Attack strategy!  Students got right down to work, coming up with incredibly creative ways to present information, such as in comic or newspaper form. 

I am excited for the gallery walk that will happen in each class today!  It will be terrific to see all their hard work and the end products that work produced.

Today, students will be taking a short visit to the book fair to look at and perhaps buy books from Scholastic!  They’ll also preview prefixes, which will help them attack words more easily (without using the dictionary unless they have no other option).  Beginning next week, we’ll review the prefixes we know and discover others we don’t know.  In the end, students will make a quilt square to depict one prefix, its meaning (in words and art), and provide examples of words that begin with the prefix! 

The last order of business on Thursday is to work on their personality portfolios.  They’ll have an opportunity to work on that tomorrow (Friday) as well as Monday!  It’s always exciting to see students use their creativity!

 

Days 9-10

Sep 13

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Welcome to Week three! 

Yesterday (Monday), students reviewed my model of first draft reading from last Friday.  They did a fabulous job of identifying all of the strategies we’ve been learning about.  Then, it was their turn to complete their own first draft reading of an article entitled, “Food Trucks Give Students a Way Around Junk-Food Ban.”  I was so impressed with student questions and comments as they read individually!  Each student had a reading focus question, and should be prepared to answer it today as a result of their first draft reading!

Today, students are focusing on some new strategies to add to the meaning of a first draft reading.  One such strategy is the Word Attack!  Students will learn to break down words to their simplest forms and practice looking at context clues with some rather difficult words!  After students break down the word

PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS

no word smaller word can stand in their way!  They’ll be Word Attack masters!

Some important dates to consider:

September 15th:  All Personality Portfolio Materials are due in class!

Days 5-8: Wrapped up in Reading!

Sep 6

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Today marks the beginning of our second week together!  Welcome back, and welcome to the world of reading!

This week, we’ll focus on how to tackle difficult and challenging readings, evaluate our understanding of text, and give our best effort at understanding of the text.  Students are asked to identify the general who-what-when-where-why-how of each text, highlighing confusions they have or words with which they aren’t familiar.  They’ll ask questions of the text, and then try to answer them.  The eighth grade teachers call this first draft reading. 

Students will practice this process throughout the year, but today’s the day I’ll intoduce the concept to students and ask them to take notes that will guide them throughout the year.   I demonstrate to students that I, too, use first draft reading.  I show them my own textbooks, and model how I use the strategy on an article in front of the group.  I’ve found this strategy extremely beneficial as an adult – I only wish I’d had access to it as a teenager!

Due dates to consider:

Wednesday, September 7:

Signed expectations sheet

Friday, September 9:

Required materials

Reading Interests Survey

Materials for Personality Portfolio

Week 1 Wrap-Up!

Sep 2

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This has been a wonderful first week of school.  We are out of the first-week stretch!  Earlier in the week, as you’ve probably seen already, we took a look at our classroom procedures and took the 4-Sight baseline assessment.  Thursday was a lot different, and a first for Manheim Central. 

We had a special presentation from a representative of Rachel’s Challenge, an organization set up in memory of the first Columbine shooting victim, Rachel Joy Scott.  The presentation challenged all students, staff, and community members to spread kindness and compassion instead of prejudice and hatred.  It was a powerful assembly, filled with testimony from people affected by Rachel’s kindness and even Rachel’s own written words, left behind in essays, six journals, and various writings left in unexpected places (like the back of one of her old pieces of furniture).  Students and staff who felt inspired by the presentation and this young woman’s inspirational message were asked to sign a pledge banner that reads, “I Accept Rachel’s Challenge!” 

When we returned to the classroom, students participated in a classroom challenge: working as a team to create as long a paper link chain as possible in five minutes.  The catch?  Each team member could only use one hand.  We’d talked earlier in class about how to handle difficult tasks, and the challenge was designed to demonstrate that!  Students reflected the challenges they faced and upon what allowed them to be successful in their groups. All year long, we’ll continue to talk about how no one just gave up; instead, they kept moving toward the accomplishment of the goal at hand.  Each of us should keep that in mind as we complete tasks that may be difficult or challenging for us to complete: don’t give up – find a way to succeed, and don’t be afraid to ask for help! 

Students:  The one other item I’ll point out in regards to the challenge is that, no matter how many links your group completed, everyone completed the challenge.  Everyone was successful; it doesn’t matter if you ended up with two or ten.  You all worked hard and did your very best. 

Next week, we’ll apply this concept to the idea of reading difficult texts as we dive into a concept the eighth grade calls “First-Draft Reading.”

Thanks for a great week, eighth graders!  See you on Tuesday!

Day 3: 4-Sight Baseline

Aug 31

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Students did very well today with the 4-Sight Baseline Assessment; they spent a good portion of the block reading three different pieces of writing and answered twenty-eight questions, one of which was open-ended.  Students will take different versions of this test throughout the year, which will provide me with data essential to helping them reach their maximum potential!  This data will drive my instruction and planning for whole-class instruction, skill-based mini-lessons, and help me provide enrichment based on my knowledge of students’ strengths and areas for improvement. 

Students, thank you for doing your best work!

Milkweed, by Jerry Spinelli

Aug 31

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Milkweed is a touching novel about a Gypsy boy who lives in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust.  As an orphan who knows nothing about his family or himself (not even his name); because of this, he is forced to fend for himself.  He’s small, but quick, which allows him to steal what he needs to survive.  Soon, he meets up with a group of older boys who are, other than being Jewish, very much like him: they take what they need to survive and look out for each other in the process.  The leader takes the boy, who he names Mischa Pilsudski,  under his wing, and the boys do what they need to do to survive in a grave and dangerous situation. 

 I wasn’t sure what I expected this book to be like, as it was written by the popular author of Stargirl, which is so different from the subject and setting of the Holocaust.  I had faith that Spinelli would put stars in my eyes for this book, just as he did with Stargirl itself!

I wasn’t wrong.

 

Days 1-2: We’re off to a great start!

Aug 31

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The past few days have been chock full of new things: a new year, new teachers, new schedules, and a LOT of new faces!  It’s always an exciting time, meeting students for the first time and getting to know them as people.  The challenging part?  Learning all of their names as quickly as possible!  That’s always one of my first-week goals.  I usually end up calling one or two (or a few) students by the wrong name while trying to do this, but I hope they’ll be patient with me as I experience that learning curve! 

Over the past two days, my classes have concentrated mostly on how my classroom runs. We discussed grading policies, important parts of the classroom to which they’ll have regular access, different procedures that can vary from classroom to classroom (such as entering and exiting the class), and most importantly, respect.  As the teacher, I talked and explained a LOT, but there was also time for students to review what they learned, through Bell Ringers, Think-Pair-Shares, and even a little game to review all the parts of the classroom. 

We also took time to talk about some of the due dates we’ll have over the next few weeks. 

Due Wednesday, September 7:  (10 points) Signed Expectations Sheet

Due Friday, September 9:  (15 points) Required Materials:

  • 2-3 inch binder
  • three binder dividers (“English,” “Writing Tools,” and “Reading Tools”)
  • a pencil
  • a small supply of paper
  • school-supplied agenda
  • a book to read 

Having the required materials (at least the binder) as soon as possible would be very helpful to students so they don’t lose any papers!  Please see me if this isn’t possible, and I’ll be happy to provide you with a temporary folder! 

Thanks for a wonderful first two days!  Let’s work together to make every day of this year just as good!

 

 

 

Forge, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Jun 17

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I just finished the sequel to Chains.   Forge, told from Curzon’s point of view instead of Isabel’s, caught my attention immediately; I found it so much more interesting since we’d had our Skype presentation with Laurie Halse Anderson.  In the Skype session, she mentioned that she wanted to give young adults a way to experience history from beyond the history textbook, and I couldn’t agree more!  Having a work of historical fiction allows a reader a glance into not only a work of fiction, but a living history with a fictional twist! 

 I think it’s important to keep an open mind when reading this type of genre; for those of you not so inclined to read historical fiction on your own, think about how different a perspective you get from what you learn from a history book (which is still incredibly valuable, by the way)!  As readers, we’re able to see things from the first-hand experiences of a character whose inner thoughts we can see and with whom we may be able to connect!  I know that I connected with Isabel and what she was feeling; likewise, I connected to Curzon and what he was thinking about as he experienced events that had actually happened in our country’s history.  I don’t know that I would have known what I now know about the Revolutionary War without Laurie Halse Anderson’s tireless research and uniquely entertaining voice–at least not in a way I connected to so emotionally.  That is the power of historical fiction.  It may not be your first choice for “pleasure reading,” but I hope you give it a chance in the future.  I believe it to be an incredibly worthwhile experience and a way to make history come alive!

Hello summer, and hello class of 2016!

Jun 14

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Class of 2015:  The 2010-11 school year as been a great one, full of learning and laughter.  I wish you luck and much success in your freshman year (and beyond).

Class of 2016: Welcome to eighth grade!  Have a great summer, and I’ll see you in August!