Thursday, December 18, 2014

Project Due Date Postponed!

In light of all the illness going around the school, I have decided to extend the due date for the Crunch projects to MONDAY.  Students who are reading this, please spread the news to your classmates.  Monday is the LATEST day on which the project will be accepted.

Thanks y'all, and Happy Thursday!  For all of you sick people, GET BETTER QUICKLY!

Much love,
Miss Whitman

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

A Christmas Carol Script Link

Hi all!  Tomorrow and Friday in language arts classes, we'll be reading an abridged version of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."  Students, you've already received your parts, but the scripts are here at school with me.  So here's a link to it online.  Feel free to practice at home--I'm hoping that every line of the script will be read with great inflection and expression!

See y'all tomorrow!
Love,
Miss Whitman

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Important Reminders!

Hi there, all!

Some important reminders for this week...

1. Period A did a very nice job at our story celebration today.  Tomorrow we're having our story celebrations for Periods B and D.  All students in those classes should have their FINAL DRAFTS of their stories totally typed and ready to submit at the end of the celebration.  I'm excited for some visiting students to hear what my awesome writers have been working on so far this year!

2. All students have received a list of assignment options for the culmination of our class read, Crunch.  In case anyone has lost it, here's a link to the list of choices.  Students can choose any ONE project, and they're due by FRIDAY of THIS WEEK.

3. This Thursday and Friday (Thursday for Periods E and G and Friday for Period F), we'll be doing a class dramatic reading of "A Christmas Carol."  All students have received their parts, and I'm very excited to hear them tell the story with feeling and gusto!

Thank you all for being wonderful--looking forward to these last few, fun activities before the break!

Much love,
Miss Whitman

Thursday, December 11, 2014

TYPE YOUR STORIES!!!

SUPER IMPORTANT REMINDER!  All stories must be TYPED and PRINTED before your next Writing Workshop class!  For Period A and B students, that means BY TOMORROW!!!  For Period D students, you have until Monday (but getting it done before then is always a smart move!)

Remember the requirements

  • Type it on your CMS Google Docs account and share it with me - swhitman@collsk12.org
  • Font size 11 or 12
  • No bold or italicized text except in special circumstances that you've discussed with me
  • Times New Roman font
  • Double-spaced



Monday, December 8, 2014

Homework 12/8/14 and Information on Story Final Drafts

Hello there, all!  Happy Monday!  I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend.  A couple of important items...

1. Friday and Monday (today), I did a check for student reading reflections, and was disappointed to find that a number of you have not been doing this small task.  All I'm asking is that you record the title of your daily reading book, the date, and something that interested or intrigued you, a connection you made, a prediction, etc.  Just a few sentences will do the trick.  I do these checks randomly to ensure that you are completing your reading reflections regularly, so it's your job to always have the reflections with you in class.  If you can show me your reflections, even though they're late, I will still give you almost-full credit!  But I'm not going to chase you down--it's your job to find me before or after class to show me your work.

2. Your tone and mood packets should be completed by your next Language Arts class (tomorrow for Periods F and G, and Wednesday for Period E).  They were technically due today, but because so few students had them finished, I decided to give extra credit to the small number of students who did submit them.

3. By the end of tomorrow, all students will have had a class period spent in the computer lab to begin typing their stories.  Outside of that class period, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to get them typed, with extra attention paid to spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.  All stories should be typed and shared with me on Google docs by THURSDAY.  We will be peer editing them, and then reading the final copies aloud to each other on TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY OF NEXT WEEK.

4. The second SRC book of the marking period is due TOMORROW.  Please turn it in on time, whether you see me for class tomorrow or not.


Thanks for your attention for this long post--all important stuff.  We have much to accomplish before 2014 draws to a close.  Please do your VERY BEST to stay on task and remember the goals that you set for yourselves at the beginning of the marking period.

See y'all tomorrow!
Miss Whitman

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Homework

Hey y'all!  Happy Thursday!

For homework tonight, students must...

1. Fill in the second column of the "Author's Intent" graph that you received in class today.  (This assignment is for Writing Workshop Periods A and B--it will be given to students from Period D tomorrow.)

2. If for some reason you haven't finished writing your story in your writing notebook, this is a MAJOR issue that must be rectified immediately.  In light of the LARGE amount of time that we've spent on our stories, there will be NO EXCUSE for not having it finished.

Have a splendiferously lovely day! (and yes, "splendiferously" is an adverb!)

Much love,
Miss Whitman

Monday, December 1, 2014

Homework for 12/1/14

Welcome back, lovely students!  

I hope that all of you were able to refresh and rejuvenate a bit over the Thanksgiving weekend.  I am so very thankful to be your teacher!

Three quick reminders:

1. Your next SRC (number two for the marking period) is due on December 9th, which is next TUESDAY.  You have ample time to finish your novel and submit an excellent quiz score and/or alternate assessment.  I'm looking forward to finding out about what you've read.

2. Students in Writing Workshop Periods B and D received a homework assignment today, and the same assignment will be given to the Period A students tomorrow.  You are to record in your writing notebook two techniques used by the author of your independent reading book.  Mention specifically what the author does (i.e. during the high speed car chase, the author writes using short, choppy sentences).  Then write your best explanation of WHY the author does this (i.e. I think the author uses these choppy sentences to make the action move more quickly for the reader).  Try to focus on the techniques we've talked about in our most recent classes--symbolism, imagery, sentence variety (short vs. long/simple vs. compound sentences), mood, etc.  I'll be looking for the writing homework DATED and IN YOUR WRITING NOTEBOOKS (you can do it on a piece of paper and paste it into your  notebook if you want) when I grade them on Friday. 


3. Students in Language Arts F and G have a short homework assignment related to our class read, Crunch.  They should write down answers, in complete sentences, to the two questions below.  This should be ready to submit during the next language arts class period.

  • Why do you think Lil is so stubborn about Robert helping out at the Bike Barn?  How do you think you would act in Lil's position?
  • Dewey feels bad after insulting Lil and saying she's spent her summer "hanging off a scaffold."  Have you ever said something to someone close to you and then immediately regretted what you said?


Have a happy day, my darlings!
Miss Whitman