November 19, 2009
Write a paragraph describing what you learned from taking and reviewing the
grammar and mechanics diagnostic test. After taking the test and seeing your
results, what have you learned about your own strengths and weaknesses in
grammar and mechanics? In what areas did you do well, and in what areas do
you need to improve? What did you learn in class as we reviewed the test?
What new skills or concepts became more clear to you? What skills or
concepts do you still need to be taught? What language arts goals could you
set to help you gain mastery in the areas of grammar and mechanics? (If you
did extremely well on the test, please study R66-R99 in your literature book,
and find terms and topics that are new to you. Instead of writing about what
you learned from the test, write about what you learned from your independent
study of the seventh grade grammar/mechanics curriculum in the textbook.
What did you already know, and what was new to you? What are your goals for
increasing your knowledge in the months ahead?)
I recommend that you type this paragraph, and please double space it. By
saving it in your file and having it on a flashdrive, you will be able to
edit and revise it much easier than if you handwrite it. I will accept
handwritten paragraphs as long as they have been edited for spelling,
punctuation, and grammar by a family member or friend, and have been
rewritten neatly in ink.
Make sure that you have a good topic sentence, four to six supporting
details, and a good conclusion in your paragraph.
This paragraph will be a part of your second quarter writing folder. It
should be place in your writing folder along with your final Book Club
paragraph, your final Book Club questions, and all of the previous writing
folder assignments.
November 18, 2009
1. Skim pages R66-R77 in your literature book.
2. Spend 20 minutes reading the material in R66-77 and taking notes on the
information that is new to you. Be sure to take notes on the sections that
were difficult for you on today's diagnostic test of your grammar knowledge
and skills. For example, if you scored low on the capitalization section,
take good notes on those pages in your book. If you scored low on
possessives, take notes on that section.
November 17, 2009
Write a well developed paragraph (one with a topic sentence, 4-6 supporting
details, and a good conclusion) about what you learned from participating in
your group's final Book Club meeting. Explain how being a part of your group
discussion in the library and listening to the thoughts of others enhanced
your own understanding and appreciation of your book and its characters,
plot, conflicts, and themes. Give specific examples of what you learned by
listening to others and asking them questions. End your paragraph with a
good sentence that wraps up your paragraph, restates your main idea, and has
some sort of personal twist (show "voice" in your ending). This paragraph
plus the questions you answered for the last Book Club will be part of your
second quarter writing folder grade. Please type your paragraph if you have
computer access.
November 16, 2009
1. Finish the book you selected for Book Club. Tomorrow is the last Book
Club meeting. Make sure you are ready for it!
2. Answer the final set of Book Club questions. They were distributed last
week, and you had class today to work on writing out your answers, but finish
this assignment at home if you do not complete it in class today.
Homework for Thursday and Friday, November 12-13, 2009
1. Please show your parents your midquarter report (you will be given it
either Thursday or Friday).
2. Continue reading the novel you selected for Book Club. By Tuesday of next
week, you need to have completed your novel. By next Tuesday, you also need
to have completed the final set of reflection questions over your book. You
will need to type or write out (in pen) answers to six of the questions given
to you in class.
Homework for Monday Night, November 9, 2009
1.Continue reading your novel. Follow the schedule you and your group
created and wrote in your planners. Walk Two Moons readers should be reading
Chapters 27-35, The Giver readers should be reading Chapters 16-20, and The
Call of the Wild readers should be reading Chapters 5 and 6. Students have
class time to read on Monday. They need to finish their chapters tonight.
2. Prepare for the next Book Club meeting by following the written directions
provided and completing your work as a Literary Luminary, Discussion
Director, Creative Connector, or Intelligent Illustrator.
Homework for Wednesday Night and Thursday Night, November 4-5, 2009
Walk Two Moons: Read Chapters 19-26 and fulfill your responsibility as your
group's Literary Luminary, Discussion Director, Creative Connector, or
Intelligent Illustrator.
The Giver: Read Chapters 11-15 and fulfill your responsibility as your
group's Literary Luminary, Discussion Director, Creative Connector, or
Intelligent Illustrator.
The Call of the Wild: Read Chapter 4 and fulfill your responsibility as your
group's Literary Luminary, Discussion Director, Creative Connector, or
Intelligent Illustrator.
Homework for Tuesday Night, November 3, 2009
1. Continue reading the book you chose. Read the chapters your group agreed
to read in preparation for Friday's Book Club meeting.
2. Fulfill the Book Club role you selected in class today. Be your group's
Literary Luminary (important passage finder/reader), Discussion Director(open-
ended question creator), Creative Connector (author, setting, conflict, theme
internet researcher), or Intelligent Illustrator (character, setting,
conflict, theme interpreter and designer). Tomorrow in class you will
receive a one page handout describing your job in detail. Tonight you should
focus on your reading, but keep your job in mind as you read. If you are the
Literary Luminary or Discussion Director, be sure to mark important parts in
your book and make up questions as you read.
Homework for Monday Night, November 2, 2009
Continue reading so that you are prepared for Tuesday's Book Club (it's
tomorrow). If you are reading "The Call of the Wild" (Chapters 2 and 3)
or "Walk Two Moons" (Chapters 9-18), spend time at home reading your book and
working on the questions you were assigned to answer (plus, for the Sharon
Creech group, create the open-ended questions you were asked to write over
the book you selected). Write in complete sentences. You may hand write
your assignment or type it; I suggest you type them if you have computer
access. These answers will be your Ticket to Tuesday's Book Club.
If you are reading "The Giver", your job is to be reading Chapters 6-10 and
writing interesting, open-ended discussion questions about each chapter,
questions that you will bring to your Book Club on Tuesday. You
should make up three questions per chapter, for a total of 15 questions. I
suggest you ask questions that might get your fellow students giving their
own personal interpretations. One way to do this is to ask a question that
asks for students' opinion on some character, conflict, or part of the plot,
and then ends with the line, "Use a quote from the novel to support your
opinion."
Homework for Monday and Tuesday Nights (October 26-27)
Today in class students met with their "Call of the Wild", "Walk Two Moons",
or "The Giver" book groups and worked with their classmates to create a
schedule for how they would go about completing their novels by November
13th. They marked their calendars for official Book Club meetings on October
28th, November 3rd, November 6th, November 10th, and November 13th. In order
to be a part of each of the five official Book Club meetings, students must
have read the pages their group has agreed to reach, and students must also
have completed the written work that has been assigned.
For the first official Book Club meeting this Wednesday, students need to
have read their group's predetermined pages and typed out answers to
questions 1-8 on the handout that was distributed in class on Monday, October
26th.
Homework for Monday and Tuesday Nights (October 19-20)
Do online research, interview family or friends, or go to a library or
bookstore and talk to librarians or bookstore staff to learn about Jack
Londson's The Call of the Wild, Sharon Creech's Walk Two Moons, and Lois
Lowry's The Giver. Come to class on Wednesday with new information about
these books. Prepare to share with the class what you learned about these
famous novels. You will be reading one of these three and will become a part
of a language arts Book Club this second quarter. Please learn as much as
you can about these books so that you will be happy with your second quarter
choice. You need to select a book that you HAVE NOT read, and it should be
the one that sounds the most interesting to you.
Homework for Monday-Wednesday Nights, October 12-14
Practice a dramatic reading of your sequel to "Amigo Brothers." Make
revisions to improve your story as needed. Make sure you have done a good
job with setting description and characterization. Make sure your story has
a good beginning, an appropriate and interesting plot, and a good ending.
Perform your story in front of your mirror at home or in front of your family
members. Seek feedback.
If you are going to be in the Lincoln-Douglas debate this Friday, then you
will need to continue to do research at home to build up your case. The best
evidence would be specific quotes and statistics from reliable sources
(experts). Be sure to cite your source. Know who gave you your information
and be able to say why this person or source would be considered an expert
source. Plan a two minute speech with a strong beginning, lots of quotes and
specific details in the middle, and a great ending. Practice your speech in
front of a mirror at home or in front of your family members. Seek feedback.
Please invite your parents and/or grandparents to come to school on Friday
for our 7th period language arts class. I would love to have them here.
Homework for Thursday Night, October 8, 2009
Either revise your sequel (using advice from your peer-editor and a family
member, as well) or work on your two minute speech for our upcoming Lincoln-
Douglas Debate on the sport of boxing.
Next week short story writers will read their sequels aloud in a sort
of "Short Story Slam" with judges evaluating the stories' entertainment value
and appropriateness (based on our study of "Amigo Brothers") and the writers'
ability to present and "perform" their story with eye contact, expression,
and dramatic appeal.
Next week debaters, meanwhile, will compete against one another in a formal
Lincoln-Douglas Debate. We will use actual high school level debate
scorecards. Affirmative (pro-boxing) and negative team (anti-boxing)
debaters will be timed as they give two minute speeches to present their
cases. Debaters will also have to think fast and refute their opponents'
points in a 30 second rebuttal. This competition will be judged by a jury of
peers and parents or grandparents. The debate is tentatively schedule for
next Friday, 7th Period.
Homework for Wednesday Night, October 7, 2009
If you have decided to write a sequel to "Amigo Brothers," then tonight you
need to complete your first draft and then share it with a parent. Ask a
parent to give you advice. Where could you add action, description, or
dialogue to add voice to your story and make it more interesting? Have you
proofread your paper and fixed errors in spelling, punctuation,
capitalization, and paragraphing?
If you decided to be in the Lincoln-Douglas debate on the topic of boxing,
then tonight you need to first finish your research, write down all the
sources you used, complete the "persuasive plan" paper (a graphic organizer I
gave you in class), and then plan a two minute speech based on what you have
on the paper and what we discussed in class today about putting together a
good speech. Use your notes from September 4th on persuasive essay writing
to help you build a strong two minute speech with a good beginning that grabs
our attention, three main reasons, quotes from expert sources to support your
reasons, and a strong ending which sums up your major point and calls on the
audience to take action.
Homework for Monday and Tuesday Nights, October 5-6, 2009
Either do thirty minutes of internet or book reading, research, and note-
taking for our upcoming debate on the topic of boxing, OR work for thirty
minutes on your first draft of a sequel to the short story, "Amigo Brothers."
Homework for Thursday Night, October 1, 2009: "Amigo Brothers" Vocabulary
Answer #1-10 on page 373. Tomorrow in class we will read and discuss the
climax, falling action, and resulution of the short story entitled "Amigo
Brothers."
Homework for Wednesday Night, September 30, 2009
1. If you did not finish revising your short story, the sequel to Langston
Hughes' short story, use the comments and corrections on your graded paper to
create a new and improved draft. Bring both copies, the graded one and the
new one, to class tomorrow, and place them both in your writing folder.
2. Review your flashcards tonight. See below for details if you have been
absent and have not yet done flashcards. Bring your flashcards to class
tomorrow.
Homework for Tuesday Night, September 29, 2009:
1. Make flashcards for yesterday's vocab words. Put the word on one side and
the definition, the part of speech, and the sentence from the text using the
word OR a drawing of the word on the back side of the flashcard.
2. Bring a flashdrive with your short story saved on it, so that you can pull
your story up here at school on a computer instead of having to retype the
whole story. In the computer room, you will be revising your story based on
the suggestions I gave you on your paper (which I will give you tomorrow). If
you do not yet have a flashdrive, I suggest you purchase one. It will make
your life as a language arts student much easier this year. It will be
required next year. This year, if you do not own a flashdrive, you may try e-
mailing your paper to yourself, but this has not always worked for students,
so I recommend you use a flashdrive.
Homework for Monday Night, September 28, 2009:
1. Read page 361 in your literature book, and take notes as you read this
page. Preview the short story entitled "Amigo Brothers."
2. Answer the "Connect to Life" question on page 361; write the answer in
your class notes.
3. Use your literature book to define the words under
"Words to Know: Vocabulary Preview" on page 361. Write the words, their part
of speech, and their definitions in your class ntoes.
Homework for Thursday night, September 24th:
Prepare for Book Talks tomorrow. Practice your speech at home. If you have
already given your speech, I would like you to spend at least 20 minutes
tonight reading a book, magazine, or newspaper of your choice. Ask a family
member to sign your planner after you have read for at least 20 minutes, and
in your planner, write down the title of whatever it is that you read. Also
write down how many pages you read. If you are giving your Book Talk
tomorrow, spend the 20 minutes practicing your speech at home instead of
reading at home. Use the speech rubric as your guide.
Homework for Tuesday and Wednesday Nights, September 22-23, 2009
Study for the test (it has been postponed one day in order for us to finish
our poster presentations and play a review game). The test will measure your
knowledge of the short stories we have studied, literature terms such as
characterization, setting, plot, theme, and dialogue, and the six reading
strategies. Half of the test will involve editing to find and correct errors
in spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. Review your literature books
and your notes tonight!
Prepare for the book talks on Friday and Monday. Practice your 2-3 minute
book evaluation at home. Think about quotes from the book that you would
like to share with your classmates and teacher. Use your rubric as your
guide, and practice in front of your parents. Ask them to time you and give
you feedback.
Homework for Monday Night, September 21, 2009
1. Review your notes. Review today's "Short Story Elements" handout (front
and back). Review the short stories we have studied in the literature book
and the Guide to Reading before each one of the two stories.
2. Create ten test questions over our study of comma rules, parts of speech,
capitalization, short story elements, literature terms, and reading
strategies. You will have a test this Wednesday. You will need to have
written 10 questions and answers for tomorrow; this homework is your "ticket"
to the Review Basketball or Review Baseball game that will take place in
class tomorrow.
Homework for Thursday Night, September 17, 2009
1. Ask a family member to read your two-sided "Voice" and "Conventions"
Rubric. Talk to this family member about the story you were asked to write,
the sequel to the Langston Hughes story, "Thank You, M'am."
2. Ask a family member to read your story, your sequel, and to then offer you
suggestions, or tips, that will help you to improve your story's spelling,
capitalization, grammar, punctuation (Conventions) and its entertainment
value, or appeal to the audience (Voice).
3. After your family member has read both rubrics and your story and offered
you advice, ask him or her to sign both sides of your Voice/Conventions
rubric.
4. Make changes to your story based on what you learned in class today and
what tips your family member was able to offer you. Revise (cut, add, or
rearrange details). Make sure your story has action, setting and character
description, and dialogue.
5. Print off a new and improved story, staple it to your Voice/Conventions
rubric, and be ready to turn it in tomorrow to be graded.
BOOK TALKS are tomorrow, as well. If you are scheduled to give your speech
tomorrow, make sure you practice tonight!!
Homework for Tuesday and Wednesday Night, September 15-16, 2009:
Use what you learned in class today to help you to revise the story you wrote
last night. Make sure that you have plenty of description, dialogue, and
action. Develop your characters. Indent each time a new character speaks.
Remember to use commas to separate nouns of direct address. Proofread and
edit your paper carefully. Print out a new and improved version of your
story. You will read it aloud in class tomorrow. Make sure your story is at
least one page, double spaced, and an example of your "personal best"!
Homework for Monday Night, September 14, 2009:
Today in class we read Langston Hughes' short story entitled "Thank You,
M'am." Review that story, and then spend thirty minutes writing one scene of
a sequel to it. Specifically, what I would like you to do is to pretend that
there is a reunion twenty years later (twenty years after the day Roger tries
to steal Mrs. Jones purse, gets carried home to her house, and then leaves
her house saying, "Thank you, M'am."). Write creatively about this 20 year
reunion between Roger and Mrs. Jones. Describe characters using action,
description, and dialogue. Write in ink or type your story (double space it
if you type it).
Homework for Thursday Night, September 10, 2009:
1. Prepare for tomorrow's 42 point vocabulary, spelling, and parts of speech
test. All of the words are taken from Gary Soto's "Seventh Grade" and are in
your literature book. Please ask a family member to quiz you tonight. Also
review your Bingo Cards.
2. Book Talks are scheduled for tomorrow. They should be 2-3 minutes in
length, focus on visualization and evaluation, include a quote from the
book, and be practiced so much that you do not need notecards and have timed
your speech just right. After tomorrow, there are only two weeks left to
give your Book Talk. Book Talks are worth 20 points.
Homework for Wednesday Night, September 9, 2009:
1. Make sure that you show your midquarter grades to your parents and get a
parent signature to verify that they have seen your grades. If you do not
have a print out of your grades, go to www.msd38.org and look under "For
Parents" for the Powerschool link. If you do not yet have the password and
user id, then you will need to get that from the main office.
2. Continue to review your fourteen flashcards. I am going to postpone the
test until this Friday, so you have an extra day to study the words,
definitions, parts of speech, and spellings. Make sure that you have done
yesterday's homework (described below); if you forgot to do it or were
absent, do it tonight. I will check planners tomorrow.
Homework for Tuesday Night, September 8, 2009:
1. Ask a family member to quiz you over your fourteen vocabulary words (see
them listed below under last Tuesday's homework). Teach the person who is
quizzing you to quiz you using the "Three Pile Method" you learned and
practiced in class last week. Make sure you know the word's meaning as well
as its spelling. You also need to know its part of speech.
2. Write down in your planner how many minutes you studied your words and
spent being quizzed AND how many of the words you can define and spell out of
the fourteen total.
3. Finally, ask the person who quizzed you to sign your planner beside the
time and number/14 that you wrote down for step two above. Tell your parents
that you will be tested on these words this Thursday.
Homework for Thursday Night, September 3, 2009:
Do EITHER A,B, or C below. Select one.
A. Do internet research to find one page of advice on how to write a
persuasive essay. This page may provide steps, pointers, or "persuasive
essay writing techniques." Print off this page, and prepare to share it in
class tomorrow.
B. Interview your family members and/or teachers (before or after school by
appointment) to learn at least 8 keys to writing a good persuasive essay.
Write down what the expert you interview considers to be the eight most
important points to keep in mind when writing a persuasive essay. Write in
ink on a separate sheet of paper, or type out the eight ideas, tips, or
pointers. Cite your sources on your paper (the person's name, relationship
to you, and place, time, and date of the interview).
C. Find a one to two page long persuasive essay or "Letter to the Editor"
from a newspaper, a magazine, a credible online source, or from essays that
your older siblings or parents have written in order to make a point
persuasively. Bring in a photocopy of this persuasive writing so that it can
be shared with your classmates. You will write on this in class, so please
make a copy of the essay if it is your parent's or sibling's writing.
BOOK TALKS BEGIN TOMORROW AND WILL BE GIVEN EACH FRIDAY THROUGH SEPTEMBER.
Homework for Wednesday Night, September 2nd:
1. Ask a family member to quiz you over your fourteen vocabulary words (see
them listed below under Tuesday's homework). Teach the person who is
quizzing you to quiz you using the "Four Pile Method" you learned and
practiced in class today.
2. Write down in your planner how many minutes you studied your words and
spent being quizzed AND how many of the words you can define and spell out of
the fourteen total.
3. Finally, ask the person who quizzed you to sign your planner beside the
time and number/14 that you wrote down for step two above.
Homework for Tuesday Night, September 1st:
Make flashcards for the fourteen vocabulary words below. Write the word on
one side of the card and the definition plus either a sketch of the word or a
sentence using it on the other side of the flashcard.
1. setting
2. dialect
3. plot
4. theme
5. elective
6. scowl
7. quiver
8. ferocity
9. conviction
10. linger
11. trudge
12. portly
13. bluff
14. sheepishly
Homework for Monday Night, August 31st:
Answer questions 1-7 and 1-10 on pages 26 and 27 of your literature book.
Write the first seven questions in complete sentences. Make sure you answer
all of the questions listed beside the first question (you will see that
there are two colunmns of questions associated with Question #1). Make sure
that you are writing in ink or typing your responses.
Homework for Thursday Night, August 27th:
1. Read for at least 20 minutes; read the historical fiction book you
selected for this first quarter's independent reading for social studies and
for language arts. Visualize and evaluate as you read and after reading.
2. After reading, ask a parent to look over your "Book Talk" assignment with
you. Then ask your parent to sign the bottom of the Book Talk paper to
verify that you spent at least 20 minutes reading and to show that he/she
knows about the upcoming speech that you are going to be giving on your
book. Let me know when you have finished your book. You should give your
speech within four or five days of completing your book. (If you wait longer
than this, it will be more difficult for you to answer the questions I pose
to you about your book, the characters, the conflicts, the themes, your
favorite sections, etc.)
Homework for Wednesday Night, August 26th:
1. Either type up a Table of Contents for your writing folder, or design an
artistic one with color on unlined paper. Use today's class notes to help
you with this project.
2. Organize your writing folder, make last minute revisions, and get it ready
to be graded tomorrow.
Homework for Tuesday Night, August 25th:
Take what you learned in class, combine it with what you learned from doing
Monday night's homework, and create a new and improved draft of your
visualization and evaluation paragraph. Please type your paragraph, or write
it neatly in blue or black ink. This draft should be polished. Make sure
you have followed all of the instructions you have been given. Use this
website to help you to go over your work carefully. Be meticulous!
Homework for Monday Night, August 24th:
1. Review all of the notes below, and then revise and edit your
visualization/evaluation paragraph from last week using the suggestions
provided in these notes. Make changes, additions, improvements in red pen.
2. Show the notes below to a family member. Then read aloud your
visualization/evaluation paragraph to a family member.
Ask your family member how it sounded. Ask yourself how it sounded. Are
there any ways that you could improve your paper? If so, make these
changes. Then ask the family member who listened to you read to sign your
draft so that I know you read it aloud. Reading your work aloud is an
important step in the writing process, and I want you to that for all
assignments from now on. Please make sure you have a family member's
signature on this paper, and ask this person to sign your paper after you
have read it aloud and asked for any advice that may come to this person's
mind.
Class Notes on Revising Your Paragraphs:
1. Make sure your topic sentence has the author's name, the book title
(underlined and properly capitalized), the two strategies (visualization and
evaluation) and the chapters you have read (chapter titles go inside
quotation marks and need to be properly capitalized).
2. Make sure that in the body of your paragraph you have described what you
have visualized, or pictured in your head, as you have read. Paint a picture
with words.
3. Do not summarize your book's plot. I am asking you to visualize and
evaluate---NOT TO SUMMARIZE.
4. Explain how you feel about this book you have selected. What do you like
and/or dislike about it, and why?
5. Use a quote from the book to prove your point, to illustrate what you are
saying. Give the page number in ( ) after the quote. Do not use the
word "quote" in your writing. Introduce the quote by writing something
like, "For example, (author's name) writes, ".............." (34).
Class Notes on Editing Your Paragraphs:
1. Double space.
2. Tab, or indent five spaces, to begin each paragraph.
3. Make sure you have written your book title and chapter titles correctly.
Books should be underlined and chapters should be in quotes.
4. Check your comma usage. In class we are studying the following two comma
rules:
(a) use a comma to separate two independent clauses joined by a conjunction
(Ex. "We went to the Open House on Tuesday night, and we learned that there
is language arts homework each Monday through Thursday night.")
(b) use a comma to separate a dependent clause (or long introductory phrase)
from the independent clause which follows it (Ex: "If you read the notes
provided by Ms. Borkowski on this website, you will have a good chance of
writing a great paragraph about the book you have selected for your first
quarter reading.")
5. Go back and review your sentences in all of your writing folder papers; if
you are able to find and correct errors related to the two comma rules above,
make the corrections in red pen. Show them to me on Tuesday when we go over
folders, and I will reward you with extra credit for demonstrating your
understanding of these two rules and taking the initiative to proofread all
of your papers.
Homework for Thursday Night, August 20th:
Write a well-developed paragraph about your book; please explain the way you
have used two reading strategies, visualization and evaluation, to help you
understand your reading. Make sure this paragraph has a topic sentence which
includes the author's name, the book title, the two reading strategies, and
the chapters you read. (Use the one I gave you in class today; it should be
in your class notes spiral!) Your supporting details should describe for me
what you saw as you read. Paint a picture with words. Do not summarize what
is happening in your book; instead, tell me what you visualize as you read
and what you like and/or do not like about your book. Say how you feel about
your book, and explain why you feel that way. Include a quote from the book
to prove your point. End your paragraph with a strong last sentence that
wraps up the main idea of the paragraph and includes the book's title and
author. Please type this first draft on the computer (double space). If you
do not have computer access, write this first draft in blue or black ink on a
separate sheet of paper. It should be placed in your writing folder; we will
edit it in class on Tuesday. Writing folders (with all written work from the
past two weeks) will be due one week from today (next Thursday).
Homework for Wednesday Night, August 19th:
1. Read the book you selected for your first quarter novel study. Read for
at least 20 minutes.
2. After reading, talk to a parent about what you visualized, or pictured in
your head, as you were reading. Describe what you "saw" in the reading that
you did.
3. Also talk to your parent about why you have selected this book, how you
feel about it so far, and why you feel this way. Give examples. Be
specific. You might want to read a section to your parent to prove the point
you are trying to make about your book.
4. Finally, ask your parent to sign your planner to verify that you read for
20 minutes and then talked about your book and the way you used the reading
strategies of visualization and evaluation to help you understand your
reading.
Homework for Tuesday Night, August 18th:
1. Read your book for at least fifteen minutes.
2. On a blank, unlined piece of paper, draw or sketch what you visualized, or
pictured in your head, as you read. (If you would like to cut out pictures
from a magazine or get them from the computer, you could do that instead of
drawing or sketching. If you choose to find pictures to match with your
reading, use these pictures to create a collage.) On this blank piece of
paper you need to have each one of the following pieces of information:
Your book title (capitalized properly and underlined)
Your author's name
The word "Visualization"
Your name
3. Please give your parents a schedule to follow for tonight's Open House.
They will go to the cafeteria first, then to one of your exloratory classes,
and then to your four core courses in the order that you have them. Open
House begins at 6:00 P.M..
Homework for Monday Night, August 17th:
1. After completing the six sock game questions, ask a family member to work
with you to help you find and fix your conventions errors including spelling,
punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and usage mistakes. Then please have
your editor (the family member who helped you) sign your first draft.
Finally, revise your first draft and produce a second draft; two drafts of
the Sock Game Analysis (including your editor's signature on the first draft)
should be placed in your writing folder.
2. If you are reading a book at home, please bring it to school each day
beginning tomorrow. You will have time to read this book
tomorrow while other students are searching for their books.
Homework for Thursday Night, August 13th:
Select ONE of the following four homework options:
1. Use what you learned in class today to revise your planner paragraph and
then type a final draft of this paper that is new and much improved. Staple
your final draft on top of your previous draft's and on top of the four
quadrant peer evaluation paper that you completed in class. (If you choose
this option and create a final draft, you will earn a bonus point when
writing folders are assessed!)
2. Spend at least 20 minutes reading a book of your choice, a magazine, or a
newspaper. Enjoy this time to spend reading whatever you like!
3. Spend at least 20 minutes reading and reviewing the planner. There is so
much information in it, and you are responsible for understanding your
school's mission, goals, policies, and procedures. You may just like to read
the biographies that are provided, study the tables, or review the parts of
speech. You will need to know the eight parts of speech, so if you don't yet
know them, reading this page of your planner would be a wise action to take!
4. Spend at least 20 minutes reading and reviewing your class notes from
language arts and any other classes that you would like to add to that.
Class notes are a critical part of the learning process. Take the time to
review them each week; that will make you a better, more efficient learner
than you were in the past.
Homework for Wednesday Night, August 12th:
Write a well-developed paragraph summarizing what you learned by reading and
studying your planner. Use today's class notes to help you. Remember the
formula P= TS + 4-6 SD + C. Your paragraph needs:
1. A topic sentence which states the subject of your paragraph and makes a
general statement about this subject.
2. 4-6 supporting details which provide specific examples of what you found
to be either most important in the planner or most interesting to you.
3. A conclusion which summarizes the paragraph and adds a twist which brings
voice into your last line.
Homework for Tuesday Night, August 11th:
1. Use what you learned in class today to make more revisions to your paper.
Add more specificity. Use imagery to paint a picture with words. Be
descriptive. Vary your sentence length and structure. Edit to fix errors in
capitalization, punctuation, and grammar/usage. Print off a third draft
which is new and improve, and bring all three drafts to class tomorrow.
2. Spend 20 minutes reading and studying your planner. Pay special attention
to the following pages: 7,9,10, 12, 19, 21-22, 2 of the next section, 44, and
123-127. Highlight or mark in the margin with a pen or pencil important
points as you read. Read the biographies in the lower left hand corner, and
find someone that you have heard of before and a quote that you really like.
Be prepared to discuss and write about the contents of the planner tomorrow
(Wednesday).
Monday, August 10th:
1. The first part of Monday's homework is to take the paper that you wrote in
class and revise it (this means adding details/description, cutting parts
that don't fit, reordering and/or reconstructing sentences, improving your
word choice and sentence fluency, and working to improve your ending). Seek
advice from a family member. Ask a parent or sibling for suggestions that
will help you to take your narrative to the next level.
2. Proofread your writing. Correct errors in capitalization, punctuation,
spelling, grammar, usage. Again, seek an editor at home. This may be a
parent or a sibling. The more eyes that look over your paper, the better.
3. Finally, type your revised narrative. Please, if you have a computer at
home, type all of your writing assignments this year (double space, 12",
Times New Roman or Arial, no bold). If you do not have a computer at home
and are unable to get to the public library to use their computer, you may
revise and then rewrite your paper in blue or black ink.
