4th Quarter Announcements:
Welcome to Mr. Sykes's 7th Grade ELA
website. The site is currently being constructed and updated, so check
regularly for updated information as the site develops.
I-LEAP testing occurs from April 12 -
17. To prepare students for the I-LEAP,
students will practice with the LEAP Intervention booklets Buckledown and Test Alert, which have been supplied by the St. Tammany School Board. After
I-LEAP testing ends each day, students will report to administratively selected
class periods, which have been scheduled to accommodate I-LEAP testing time
requirements. When my Language Arts classes meet, students will practice
note-taking skills while reading Scott O'Dell's The Black Pearl and listening to a recording of the
novel. As I-LEAP testing occupies schooldays in two weeks instead of one week, normal class scheduling will not resume till April 18, 2012, when students will use the notes they
took while reading and listening to The Black Pearl to first review and discuss the novel, and then they will use their notes to answer test questions about The Black Pearl. There will be no weekly Spelling test or contract, DOL entries, and Reading Journal entries while I-LEAP
testing is occurring, but these academic activities will recommence post-I-LEAP.
The fourth quarter's
Guaranteed Curriculum (G.C.) Language Arts study will examine how the G.C.'s
"Essential Understandings and Enduring Questions" relate to S.E.
Hinton's novel, The
Outsiders. In addition, the novel's vocabulary will be defined,
discussed, used to write sentences, and examined for the words' connotations as
used by the author within the context of The
Outsiders. Students will read and critically analyze the novel's
literary elements, and learn various reading skills, types of literature,
and how stereotyping in The
Outsiders relates to stereotyping in the
students' world; the role of family in establishing personal identity;
the qualities of heroism and heroes; and the positive effects of surmounting
adverse circumstances to achieve worthy goals and build one’s character.
During this fourth academic quarter, students will study English Unit 1:"Sentences," and Unit 13, "Complex Sentences & Verbals." A narrative essay will be written, peer-edited, proofread, and submitted for rubric grading. Zane Bloser On-Level, and Honors Scripps/Howard Spelling units will continue to be studied. Normally, the weekly Spelling contract will be due on Thursdays, when a Spelling pre-test will be given, and the Spelling words will be formally tested on Friday. Weekly Reading Journal entries and D.O.L.'s will continue to be written daily and cumulatively checked on Fridays except during I-LEAP Week. Typically, there is a weekly Readingtest on Friday covering that week’s materials read, skills taught, and vocabulary words. There are no course related tests the week of I-LEAP. Be sure to briefly study the English Facts handout daily. The fourth quarter English exam is based on the English Facts handou
I-LEAP testing begins Thursday, April 12, 2012, and concludes Tuesday, April 17, 2012.
To prepare students for the I-LEAP, students will practice with the LEAP
Intervention booklets Buckledown and Test Alert, which have been supplied by the St. Tammany School Board. After
I-LEAP testing ends each day, students will report to administratively selected
class periods, which have been scheduled to accommodate I-LEAP testing time
requirements. When my Language Arts classes meet, students will practice
note-taking skills while reading Scott O'Dell's The Black Pearl and listening to a recording
of the novel. The week after I-LEAP testing, students will be permitted to use
the notes they took while reading and listening to The Black Pearl. There will be no DOL and Reading
Journal entries the week of I-LEAP testing, April 11 - 15.
As in previous quarters,
students will write book reports on independently chosen fiction novels.
Students visited the library 2/14/2012, to select
their fourth quarter book report books. On-Level and Honor students
are to continually be reading their self-chosen book report books. Honor's
written book reports are due in class Tuesday, April 10, 2012. Honor's oral book
report presentations will be begin Wednesday, April 18 and end Tuesday, May
15, 2012. Honors students should schedule their oral book report presentation
dates as soon as possible after the fourth quarter begins. Any student not
scheduling a presentation date of his or her own choosing by Wednesday, April
18, 2012, will be assigned a
presentation date. The proofread, final copy of the On-Level book report,
written on the prescribed form, is due in class, Thursday, April 19, 2012.
Honor's book report presentations will occur as scheduled by the student on the
sign-up sheet. As mentioned in the book report presentation option choice
contract each honor student signed, any presenter not presenting as he or she
scheduled will receive a grade of zero. The presence in class of any
member of a video presentation group on the day scheduled for the group's
presentation represents the entire group and will be expected to present the
video, and the grade earned for that presentation, or lack of presentation,
will be applicable to all members of the video presentation group.
Novels that are also movies, novels taught in class, and serial novels such as Twilight, Chronicles of Narnia, or A Series of Unfortunate Events are not eligible as book report books.