Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

When we get back to school we will begin reading Chapter 4 of Catching Fire.  We need to finish part 1 of the book so that we can begin writing our argument papers. 

A little info: the best arguments are the ones that show the other side of the argument and persuade the audience by showing both sides, but proving that yours is better!  When you are watching TV this vacation, pay close attention to any actor that is arguing so that you can pick up on some of their strategies.

What's coming up the week of Dec 8

All students will be writing an open response based on Catching Fire Chapter 3. You are going to have to find evidence to prove that Katniss changed her mind about being superior to the people around her.

Remember, this type of writing requires evidence from the text: hard facts-no opinions.

Wordly Wise Lesson 5

We are now working in Lesson 5. This is the last lesson we will do in this book before the holiday break. Make sure you master these words. 

Catching Fire Chapter 3

Here is the link to complete your homework.

http://ipadebooks1.com/167/Hunger_Games_2_-_Catching_Fire_split_003.html

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Ok....we have accomplished Wordly Wise Lessons 1-4!  If you get bored over this holiday weekend, I would highly recommend you go to WWW.WORDLYWISE3000.COM and play the games.

Catching Fire Chapter 3 is coming up after our break.  Remember:  WE ARE ASKING LOTS OF QUESTIONS WHEN WE READ!  LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of HOTS and HOTS and HOTS!
(Higher Order Thinking questions:  Remember?  Analyze, Evaluate, Create)

What do you think?
What is your opinion of?
What would happen if?

Keep asking questions like these when you read and when you are watching your favorite movie. These are not the only questions!  You guys already know this.

Enjoy your holiday!

Here’s What’s Happening Quarter 2

Mrs. Gidaris-Papantonakis and Mrs. Donovan

7^th Grade ELA

November 10, 2014

 Dear Parents and Guardians,

          I wanted to tell you a little bit about what our class will be doing the second quarter in English class.  Each quarter I will send out a letter outlining the areas that we will be covering in class.  This information is also available  on my blog located on Breed’s website.

 Quarter 2 students will…..  

*will be reading Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins

* use HIGHER ORDER THINKING in every class

          this includes ANALYZING, EVALUATING and CREATING which means they will

* read VERY CLOSELY in order to dig deeper into the text to identify things like theme, motive, relationships, and much more.

* draw conclusions, classify, assess, elaborate, support, improve, change or modify elements of the text

* write a five paragraph Argument essay based on the novel

*continue to learn new vocabulary and use it in their writing and speaking

*continue to write using only complete sentences and focusing on correct grammar

          Please remember that the first and most important teacher that your child has is you.  Remind your child to come to class prepared, to be polite, to be productive and punctual.  It is a pleasure and an honor to be teaching your children. 

Valerie Gidaris-Papantonakis and Mrs. Donovan

HUNGER GAMES and BEHAVIOR

Please make sure that you have read or have watched The Hunger Games (part 1/book 1) by Monday, October 27th, as we are going to soon begin Book 2 Catching Fire

PROCEDURE FOR BEHAVIORAL ISSUES IN CLASS
In order to keep and maintain a safe environment, as well as give students the opportunity to help themselves I have developed this method for behavioral issues in class.

When students' conduct becomes somewhat disruptive in class they have 2 opportunities to fix this.  I will write them up but put the write up slip away, allowing them to better their behavior and conduct.  If conduct becomes an issue again, the same thing happens.  Thus, students have been given another opportunity to correct this behavior.  On the third time, all 3 write up slips are turned into the Vice Principals' office and dealt with as they see fit.

Audio of "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson:

This is the story we read in class.   The beginning of this is an interview with the woman that is reading "The Lottery."  Don't let that confuse you.

http://downloads.newyorker.com/mp3/fiction/081112_fiction_homes.mp3

Also, here is the movie version of The Lottery.  It is 20 mins long.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIm93Xuij7k part one of the lottery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMhV3fwx5Sg part two

What's Coming After Narrative

Get ready. We are going to begin reading!!!!!! And not JUST reading. We are going to be reading with a magnifying glass. Not a real one...

We are going to be reading our text REALLY CLOSELY.  We will learn how to INTERPRET what we read and ANALYZE and QUESTION like you've never questioned before!

Also, get ready to have conversations with yourself, each other and the text itself!

The Key To Your Success

Please take a minute to watch this video on GRIT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwsZZ2rprqc&feature=youtu.be

Inspiration for you guys!

How to write a THESIS STATEMENT

This video gives you a basic idea of how to write a thesis statement.  This is the statement that tells your reader what they will be reading in your essay.


How to write a THESIS STATEMENT video:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCzuAMVmIZ8

Expanded Moment and Full Circle Ending Videos

A lot of you guys seem to be struggling with Expanded moment and Full Circle Ending.  Here are two videos to help you.  You really have to pay attention to what the speaker is saying to understand fully.  It is the same one we watched in class (the Expanded Moment). 






Expanded Moment:      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L65ePtWwAFg
Full Circle Ending:       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Bp90QMVIMo

How to Write a Hook

Hi kids!  Please watch this you tube video on HOW TO WRITE A HOOK.  A hook is part of your Expanded Moment and is what grabs the readers attention.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rnq17dyxyu4

5 Paragraph Narrative Re-Write

Re-writing our 5 paragraph essay will begin early this week.

This will be followed by peer editing using Ratiocination, and one-on-one conferences.

Wordly Wise Lesson 1

CLASSROOM UPDATE:

Wordly Wise Lesson 1 should be finished by tomorrow, Sept. 30. 

Worldly Wise Online

www.wordlywise3000.com

This website has all the words in your book. It reads them to you and there are games!

Expanded Moment Video

Here is the video we watched in class if you forget how to complete your expanded moment!

http://youtu.be/L65ePtWwAFg

Wordly Wise Books Coming

 Wordly Wise vocabulary workbooks will be coming home soon! Students will be using this program to enrich their vocabulary and help them to employ more specific words in their writing.  

Please know that students will each be given their own books and therefore will be responsible not to lose them. 

What are we learining this quarter?

Here’s What’s Happening Quarter 1

Mrs. Gidaris-Papantonakis and Mrs. Donovan

7^th Grade ELA

September 9, 2014

 Dear Parents and Guardians,

          I wanted to tell you a little bit about what our class will be doing the very first quarter in English class.  Each quarter I will send out a letter outlining the areas that we will be covering in class, and I promise to keep it as simple as possible.  This year, our theme is a “hero.”  We will be using this theme to guide us through our curriculum.  We will not only focus on the hero in our readings but also the hero within all of us.

 

Quarter 1 students will…..  

*learn how to cite evidence from a variety of literary texts and infer

*be introduced to “research” and how to do it correctly

*write a five paragraph narrative essay  (ongoing practice)

*write journals as practice for writing   (ongoing practice)

*determine and analyze themes and central ideas

*write informative/explanatory texts to examine topics and convey ideas

*enrich their vocabulary through Wordly Wise (all year)

*engage continuously in Higher Order Thinking practices

 

          Please remember that the first and most important teacher that your child has is you.  If at any time you have any questions, please feel free to contact us . 

Looking forward to a great year!

Valerie Gidaris-Papantonakis and Mrs. Donovan

 

         

 

 

Helpful Videos For English Class!

Here is a great resource to help with figurative language.   http://youtu.be/vMSLgxj2dxk


Smiley Face Tricks to help improve writing.

What makes a hero?  (We will be talking about this in class throughout the year)  http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-makes-a-hero