I hope everyone had a wonderful spring break! It was nice to relax, refresh, and reset. The next couple of months will be very busy for 8th graders--completing their last quarter of middle school (50 school days left), SBAC testing, and the excitement that comes from moving from middle school to becoming a high school freshman.
With that said, we will start our last novel this week. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a district approved coming of age novel for 8th graders that deals with the themes of depression, isolation, violence, education, friendship, communication, and transformation.
This week, students will work on structured writing to strengthen their short answer and essay responses. Students will also update their ELA interactive notebooks to include the hero's journey and the difference between active and passive voice. We will then work on pre-reading activities for Speak before we begin reading the novel next week.
Structured Writing: Week 1
ELA Interactive Notebook: Active/Passive Voice
ELA Interactive Notebook: Hero's Journey
ELA Interactive Notebook Guided Directions
Tuesday
Structured Writing: Week 1
School Blogger/Twitter Setup
Wednesday
Structured Writing: Week 1
Speak: Pre-Reading: Author, Novel, and Poem
AR Log Check (Log-5 entries/Signature)
*Students need to be reading an AR book that has a reading level of 3.5+ for 30 minutes 5 nights per week (students need to have the front side of the AR log completed prior to taking an AR quiz). Students need to earn 35 points at every quarter checkpoint (Quarter 4 is due 6/2). Please see the AR Log for more information.
Thursday
Structured Writing: Week 1
Speak: Pre-Reading: Themes
Friday
Structured Writing: Week 1
Speak: First Marking Period Vocabulary Twitter Chat #tollchat
