Happy Tuesday, everyone!
Then, we are going to separate into groups and get myths. Every myth is different. We are going talk about what we are going to do with these myths, read them, and work on our first activity. You will be working on these every single day. Each activity is a culminating piece for your presentation on Friday. Be sure you are using your time wisely, and getting it done in class! Reminders:
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| Then, we are going to read "The First Aviators" and in our groups, plot out the plot diagram of the story. We talked about this a lot last week, so today is your test to see if you can do this in your teams. Read together with your team, have a conversation about the different parts of the story, agree on them, and then draw them out on your poster. Make sure they are nice and neat! We will then do a gallery walk to see if the class agrees on the different pieces of the story. Does your poster measure up to the others? |
iReady testing starts next week. This is a friendly reminder to bring headphones with you next week!
Curriculum Night is Thursday! Hope to see your parents there!
Spelling Unit 2 due Friday!
We've made it to short-day Thursday!!! Woop!
We started yesterday with our Greek God meet-and-greet. We rotated around the room and were introduced to 15 different important Greek Gods. These gods and goddesses are going to be important characters that are going to continue to come up in all our myths, and our novel, once we start reading. It's important to know who they are! If you missed it, it's all below!
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Then, after we meet our real gods, we're going to talk about the role that gods play in our lives. What are gods? Why are they so important? What is the reason they have so much power? And how do all these Greek gods relate to one another?
So, with this in mind, let's think about who our gods are today? When we think of Zeus, King of the Gods, most powerful, ruler of Olympus, who is the modern day equivalent of him today? We're going to look at all 15 gods and try to find someone we know today that would be "godlike" in these situations.
Welcome to Wednesday, everybody!
This will officially kick off your first five days of school! How excited are we?! I feel like we've learned so much already. We've had great discussions getting to know each other, we toured the library and talked about digital citizenship and responsible technology use, and we've had some great discussions about plot and theme. Three Skeleton Key was so exciting to listen to and talk about--what a suspenseful story to start out with!
| Today, however, I'm going to push some responsibility out to you. We are going to get another short story today. This story is called All the Years of Her Life, and it is one of my favorites for discussing theme and moral. We are going to read this together, but you are going to be responsible for doing the plot diagram to go with it. What is the setting, characters, rising and falling actions, etc of this story? Then, we are going to have a discussion about theme. What is the theme and moral of this story? What has Alfred done that has taught us a lesson? What about his mother? What's our take away? |
If we have time, we will start transitioning into some Greek mythology stories, and meet our Greek and Roman gods and goddesses!!
Reminders:
Spelling is due Friday!
I'm glad you all decided to come back for another Tuesday of learning! Today is sort of a special schedule, because we will be going to the library to do some introductions with Ms. Paganis about our new library, how to find everything, where it's all located and new features, and we will be talking about a digital citizenship program we are going to be doing with her throughout the year! That will take up one whole class period. |
Then, we are going to finish reading "Three Skeleton Key" from yesterday, and finish mapping out our plot diagram. This story has been suspenseful, and scary, and we are just about to find out what has happened to our three lighthouse crew members now that the rats have made it on to the island! Let's finish reading, and find out!
Welcome back to another wonderful week (holy alliteration!)
We are getting started with all kinds of curriculum stuff today! We are going to talk about a Jumpstart Journal, and what that is. We are going to get our spelling books (and the crowd goes wild), and we will learn all about the spelling curriculum for seventh grade. It may be different from sixth. I'm not sure. And finally, we are going to talk about the elements of a story, and how we plot them out.
We are getting started with all kinds of curriculum stuff today! We are going to talk about a Jumpstart Journal, and what that is. We are going to get our spelling books (and the crowd goes wild), and we will learn all about the spelling curriculum for seventh grade. It may be different from sixth. I'm not sure. And finally, we are going to talk about the elements of a story, and how we plot them out.
Reminders:
Your first week of spelling homework is due Friday!
Please don't forget to get your Handbook form (pg 17) signed and returned ASAP!
The start of seventh grade is a new opportunity to dream. It's a new opportunity to set goals for yourself, and a new opportunity to reinvent who you are. Today, we are going to read Langston Hughes's "Dreams" poem and discuss some of the figurative language within the poem. What is the extended metaphor we see in this poem? Why is it so powerful?
Then, you are all going to share your dreams with me. What kinds of dreams do you have? For seventh grade? For the future? How are you going to accomplish those dreams? Break out your pencils today and get ready to write!
When the new year begins, it can be awkward. What am I supposed to say to these kids? What do we talk about? Luckily, I've thought of a way to bypass the small talk, and get right down to business. Today, we are going to publish our first newspaper, and it's all about you!
In your newspaper, you're going to tell me a little bit about yourself. Some of it will be in words, some of it will be in pictures. Have fun with it! Draw, color, create, express yourself. After all, it's a newspaper all about you. Have it reflect that. Lastly, we are going to really get down to business and talk about classroom rules and expectations. But, I'm not going to tell you. You are going to tell me what those rules and expectations are. I already know what my job is, and I've got my expectations for myself planned out. I think you should get the opportunity to tell me how your class should be run, what you want to see, and how you think you should all be interacting with each other. And we're going to start that discussion today! | |
Welcome back to a brand new school year!
I'm hoping the 2016/2017 school year is going to be amazing! Seventh grade is a new year, and a new chance to be awesome. I can't wait to be your teacher and your leader through this year's adventures. We are going to stretch our imaginations, dive deep into stories, question our beliefs, challenge our way of thinking, and look carefully at others and their lives.
Tie your laces, zip your backpack, and sharpen your pencils. This is going to be a fantastic year!
Author: Ms. Schalla
bibliophile. logophile. foodie.
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