I can't believe that we are only a week away from ending our first nine weeks! This year is already flying by us, and we have so much going on!
7th Grade has thoroughly enjoyed our unit on The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. I hope it has inspired some of the students to read more in the Narnia series. We have explored symbolism, allegory, figurative language, and many other interesting literary devices while reading this amazing story. We will be wrapping it up this week and watching the film next week. As part of our standards, we will be doing a film to book comparison activity. ELA nine week exams will take place next Wednesday (10/3). All power points needed from the book unit are posted on the Google Classroom. I expect everyone to do very well.
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Welcome to 7th grade! I am so excited to have each of you in my class this year.
Please look for an invitation from ClassTag. This is how I will be communication with parents both as a group and individually throughout the year. It is similar to Remind, but with a few more features. If there is a prefered number you would like to use, please send it to me and I can add you that way. This is going to be a great year, and we will be very busy, so please email with any concerns you may have at any time! I can't believe that it is February!! 7th grade is working very hard to master our ELA standards before Milestones testing. We have a lot of work to do, and a lot of review to get through. Please make sure that, if your scholar is absent, that they are checking Google Classroom DAILY for work they may be able to complete at home.
***2018-2019 Middle School Trip*** Information will be coming home this week regarding our middle school trip. We are going in November this time, instead of February, due to next year's calendar and Milestones dates. Please let me know if you have any questions about the trip, how to pay, etc. It is first come, first serve, and spaces are limited, so get those deposits in ASAP. We are working this week and into next week to complete our Wonder unit. Students have really enjoyed this book, and I think we have all learned a lot about kindness.
If you have not already, please turn in permission slips ASAP for the movie on Friday, November 17. There is no cost for this trip unless you want your scholar to purchase a snack, so please return forms to me right away! Essay assignments went home last week, I hope everyone has been working on them! They are due this Friday. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. This week, we will take a short break from reading Wonder, so that we can focus on the figurative language element and take a look at an article "About Treacher Collins Sydrome." I encourage you to copy and past the link
https://www.commonlit.org/texts/about-treacher-collins-syndrome/parent-guide and take a few minutes to read the article yourself and discuss it with your scholar. We will be discussing it at length in class, but this is a good way for you to engage with your student about our class activity. As many of you may have heard, we will be reading the book Wonder beginning this week. This is something that Odyssey has decided to do schoolwide this year. I'll admit I was a bit skeptical at first, because this is not a book I would have chosen for 7th and 8th grade, but then I began researching and reading about the book and all of the standards that can be taught through 8th grade level.
If you are curious, I have posted a button to a link with a great breakdown of why teaching this book is so beneficial both academically and socially. In addition to the typical reading standards, one of our standards is to compare a book to a film. In November, the Wonder movie hits the theaters! We will be taking the students to the movies! Yes, there will be an assignment that goes along with this; however, the students will thoroughly enjoy a field trip to the theater. I will be assigning books to students, so each student may have their own copy to bring home as needed for both at home reading as well as assignments they may need to complete or study from for quizzes and discussions. Please help me ensure that these books are well taken care of, and that they are brought back to school each day, as I do NOT have extra copies here in the classroom. I am very excited about exploring this book with students this year. As always, please contact me if you have any questions. We will begin our first "official" narrative essay in 7th grade this week. We have done some writing and review on writing, but this will be our first full essay. We will devote class time each day through Friday to complete these essays. Students should not need to bring work home if they are working and staying on task during class time.
Notes that we take in class are posted to our Google Classroom, so students can review those at any time while at home. Students should be checking the classroom regularly for updates and assignments. We are off to such a great start this year! I'm so excited about all that we will accomplish. Our next test is Wednesday, September 6. We are having a lot of fun in seventh grade ELA so far. Students are doing a great job of participating in class and completing their assignments in a timely manner.
This week, in addition to the excitement of the solar eclipse, we will be having our first test. It will cover vocabulary as well as reading comprehension. Please take the time to study the vocabulary with your students prior to the test. The test will be on Wednesday, 8/23. Students who do not attend, or leave early on Monday, will need to complete their classwork assignments. Excused absences are given three days to complete assignments. Please make sure that you send a note to excuse the absence if you keep your student home on Monday. Mr. Hooper has offered to excuse absences of students who are participating in eclipse activities away from school. Welcome to 7th grade ELA! I am excited to have each of you in my class this year. We will be covering a LOT of material this year, and my goal is to make it as painless as possible. Please contact me anytime via email with questions or concerns.
Check here weekly for lesson plan updates, project assignments, and any other changes/updates/events that you need to know about. Let's have a great year! We are quickly approaching the end of the school year, and 7th grade is hard at work! We began our team projects this week, and we will continue to devote class time to those until May 10th. All projects are due on May 10th with NO exceptions!
Each class has a part to do for the project, and students will receive a project grade in each class. While we work on our projects, we will be completing The Giver unit. We are almost at the end of the book, but we have a few chapter left to read! Important Dates: The Giver Test: Friday, May 5 Project Due: Wednesday, May 10 The Giver Final Test: (tentatively) Thursday, May 11 Field Day: Friday, May 12 Team Gold Awards: Tuesday, May 16 1PM |
Mrs. Smith's 7th Grade ELALanguage Arts is, along with mathematics, one of the primary subjects in our education. Without language arts, we would lack the skills to communicate adequately or to analyze and process information that is provided. In 7th grade, we will work on building those skills through grammar, writing, and reading. Archives
September 2018
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