Over the next couple of weeks, we will be reading The Giver by Lois Lowry, and using this unit to help us in our review for the GA Milestones.
Students will be focusing heavily on vocab., writing skills, and language. There will be a LOT of review coming home as homework. Students were given logs to keep track of their extra credit assignments on MobyMax. If they are not signed by a parent and turned in to me, then I can not give them credit for the extra credit. Please encourage your scholars to do this work and turn in their logs! Many of them need the extra practice and the boost for their grade never hurts, either. We will have a test next Wednesday, March 22. There will be no study guide given. Students should have everything they need in their notes to prepare for the test. After Spring Break, we will have ONE WEEK to review and then we will take our Milestones test beginning on April 17. Please help us in encouraging the scholars to do their absolute best on these exams. No one loves testing, but it is something that we, as teachers, can use to see where we need to focus our instruction to best help the students be successful.
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This week, seventh grade will be working to complete their argumentative essay. Students have been given several days of class time to work on this so far, and they will have all of Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday this week as well. We have a short vocabulary quiz tomorrow, Tuesday the 14th. The word list is on Spelling City, and students have had the words since Monday of last week, so I expect great grades from everyone! Progress reports go home this Friday. I will also be sending home the extra credit logs today. These will not be reflected on this progress report; however there is still time to bring those grades up before the end of the nine week grading cycle. Tutoring for 7th grade is continuing on Friday, and have been pleased with attendance; however, there are many more students that I would love to see take advantage of this time. If you can schedule to have your scholar here from 3:30 to 4:30 on Friday, they will certainly benefit from the additional instruction. Scholastic books is offering free books!! Click on the button below to find out how to get yours. Have a great week! Unfortunately, our Moby Max assessments have been a total flop so far. I'm not sure what is going on, but we can't seem to get logged in during class time. After school and at home, we are not having problems. I will be sending home the extra credit logs anyway, and assigning students work based on our class assessments so far this year. So look for those to come home this week. Some students have been successful in getting in to do their placement, so those students will get a letter with their placement score. As we get the others completed, I will send their information home as well.
In addition to Moby Max, Odyssey has purchased a writing and grammar program called Write Smart. We have book in the classroom in addition to an online platform. We have already begun using these in addition to our other resources, and it is very helpful. Students will be putting their login information in their agendas this week, so please remember to check their FIRST when they come home with an online assignment. This week, our major lesson in ELA will center around writing argumentative essays. This will take a LOT of attention in class, so please speak with your scholar about being attentive and staying on task. I apologize for the delay, but we are still working to get all of the students' placement tests completed on Moby Max. We have had some technical difficulties, but we are working out the kinks, so hopefully this information will go home to you earlier next week.
Please remember to continue to check the dates for the novel explication checkpoints! It is very important that the students meet those deadlines in order to be on track to turn their final drafts in on time. This is a MAJOR project grade. It is also very important that students are reading and following the instructions that were given to them. Many of them are struggling to do what is asked, because they are not taking the time to read their instructions. 7th grade will have a test over the Collection 2 skills and vocabulary on Wednesday, Feb. 1. Please make sure they are completing all IXL assignments! Right now they should have completed IXL Level I EE.1, FF.1, FF.2, and Q.1 with a score of at least an 85. This week, 7th grade is working on their "placement" test for Moby Max. This will give me detailed information on the language, reading, and writing skills that we need to focus on both in tutoring and in extra practice at home.
If your student does not have internet or computer access at home, please let me know, and I can send alternate assignments home for them to practice these skills. Students who work on these practice skills outside of school (and outside of my class assignments) will be given extra credit. I will send home a log for them to use to keep track of their practice time and skills they are working on that you can initial. Students will go to http://www.mobymax.com/ga2634 to login. This is our school's unique URL for MobyMax. Their username is their first name with the first four numbers of their chromebook password. Their password is the same as their chromebook password. After each student completes their placement test, I will be conferencing with them to show them where they need to concentrate their practice, and I will assign those skills to be worked on at home. Please let me know if you have any questions. 2Happy New Year to everyone and welcome back!!
7th grade will jump right back to school this week with narrative essay writing. Next week, beginning Monday, January 9, we will work on Collection 2 in our books and online curriculum site. We will be delving into reading comprehension as well as writing and grammar standards. Our writing focus will primarily be argumentative essays. 7th grade tutoring will resume on Friday, January 13 from 3:30-4:30. Due to low attendance, I will only be offering 7th grade tutoring on Friday. Welcome back! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving Break.
7th grade will be very busy this week. Before the break, we began the process of writing an informative essay. That will be continued and completed in class this week. If everyone is on task and working, then nothing should need to come home; however, if the steps are not completed in class, the final draft is due on Monday, December 5. 7th grade tutoring will resume this week on Thursday at 4 and Friday at 3:30. We have a lot going on this week in 7th grade.
Our vocabulary test is on Wednesday, November 16. The vocabulary is on the Google Classroom, and it is also on Spelling City. If you go to spellingcity.com to practice, your username is first name.last name (example: april.smith) and your password is your chromebook password. There are various activities there that can be used to practice. Spelling DOES count. It is very important that students are on task and working during class time this week. We are taking steps to write an informative essay. Anything not completed in class will have to be completed at home in order to keep up with the class. Extra time will not be given to students who are not using their time wisely. Thanksgiving Feast for Middle School is Tuesday, November 15 at 12:30. Early dismissal on Friday,November 18. Details can be found on the Odyssey Website. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Seventh grade is off to a great start on our informative essay unit. This week we are analyzing model essays and discussing types of organization patterns that informative essays will follow.
We will have a vocab test next week over the ten words we have learned this week. Soon, we will begin the writing process. All work should be completed in class; however, if students are off task or not using time wisely, then it is possible that some work may need to come home. Otherwise, Mr. Johnson has approved NO HOMEWORK for the week of Nov. 14-18. As always, please let me know if there are any questions. Due to a few unforeseen events/issues, we are behind finishing our book. We will still test on Wednesday 11/2. Study guides were sent home yesterday and are due Friday; however, we will not be beginning our essay unit until Monday 10/31.
Please remember tutoring begins this week!! Thursday tutoring is from 4-5PM, and Friday tutoring is from 330-430 PM. If you have not already signed up, please email me ASAP to be placed on the list. I encourage ALL students who have had any struggles with ELA to sign up. |
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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