Genesis: In reading workshop, fact/opinion knowledge was preassessed, which paved the way to students’ study of logical fallacies in persuasive language.  We also read “The Monkey’s Paw” by W. W. Jacobs to practice the annotation skill of circling key words and phrases as well as our inquiry into plot line (exposition, initial incident, rising action, turning point/climax, falling action, resolution/denouement).  Each student continued independent reading and conferences that are targeted toward individualized reading goals.  Genesis students will work with Ms. Rekkas in writing workshop for the next two+ weeks in order to integrate grammar and writing process study.  In writing, students pretested their grammar knowledge and began prewriting and brainstorming for children’s “scary story” picture books.

Legacy/Explorers: In reading workshop, students learned the literary term “allusion” and applied it to their independent reading texts while locating references in popular culture.  Students investigated what makes allusions successful or unsuccessful in writing (after being introduced to works by Geoffrey Chaucer and Walt Whitman), and were assessed on these concepts.  Every student continued independent reading and conferences that are targeted toward individualized reading goals, and students began presenting their book talks to the class, where they think-aloud their reading process and share a piece of text from their book that demonstrates their critical stance on the literature.  In writing workshop, we developed our curriculum integration plans.  These define student-developed curriculum that will be investigated in a collaborative group using age-appropriate primary sources from across the humanities.  We will continue this inquiry in LA and X Block during Trimester 2.  We also reviewed the components of Summary Notes (these summary paragraphs address an author’s main idea and point of view in a nonfiction article).  Students continued to revise their work for their writing portfolios.

Genesis X Block: We began our unit with a conceptual study of change.  Students worked in collaborative groups to practice the higher-order thinking skills engaged through abstraction: finding examples, categorizations, non-examples, and generalizations of and about change.

Explorer X Block: Students wrote and shared “I Am” poems in order to reteach and reinforce knowledge of participial phrases.  We also practiced four-line grammar analysis of sentences with participial phrases.

Genesis Reading Blocks 2 and 4: Read for at least 30 minutes every night–but take Halloween off!

Genesis Writing Blocks 3 and 5: We will be working on our children’s picture books drafting, revising, editing and publishing next week; keep prewriting and brainstorming over the weekend!  Be inspired by your Halloween haunts!

Legacy/Explorers Reading Blocks 3 and 4: Read for at least 30 minutes every night–but take Halloween off!  Your reading portfolio is due no later than Friday, November 7, so anticipate and prepare your class book chat for next week.  Keep reading to complete your reading contracts by Friday, November 7.

Legacy/Explorers Writing Blocks 3 and 4: Your writing portfolio is due no later than Friday, November 7; all workshop classes next week are devoted to writing revision and portfolio preparation.

Genesis Reading: Read at least 30 minutes of choice independent reading book. 

Legacy/Explorers Reading and Writing: Read at least 30 minutes of choice independent reading book.  Complete Summary Notes if you did not complete in class.  Work on artifact completion for Reading and Writing Portfolios (due by November 7).

Genesis Reading Block 2: Read tonight for at least 30 minutes.

Legacy/Explorers Writing Blocks 3 and 4: Continue thinking about questions/concerns related to your group collaboration.

Genesis Reading Blocks 2 and 4: Complete “Persuasive Language” paragraph rewrite for your next reading class.  Read choice independent book for at least 30 minutes at home.

Legacy/Explorers Reading: Read choice independent book for at least 30 minutes at home.

Genesis: We are doing great work with the reading workshop in class!  The reading workshop classroom environment is comprised of a poem reading, status-of-the-class report, independent reading with teacher conferences, and community share.  This week’s minilessons included Reading Territories, which culminated in students developing their own lists for reading and “someday” lists; book talks, where students listened to example book talks that emphasized critical reading of a text using read-aloud strategies; and student expectations for teacher conferencing.  Students should bring an independent book to class daily, and read for at least thirty minutes outside of school each day.

Legacy/Explorers: We are doing great work with the reading workshop in class!  The reading workshop classroom environment is comprised of a poem reading, status-of-the-class report, independent reading with teacher conferences, and community share.  This week’s minilessons included Reading Territories, which culminated in students developing their own lists for reading and “someday” lists; book talks, where students listened to an example book talk that emphasized critical reading of a text using read-aloud strategies; and student expectations for teacher conferencing.  Students should bring an independent book to class daily, and read for at least thirty minutes outside of school each day.  In writing workshop, students developed their nonfiction issue-problem Summary Notes/projects or social studies essays in class.  They learned an expanded construct for Paul’s reasoning model, which had been previously introduced in class, and used the model to think through a group-selected issue.

Genesis, Legacy, and Explorers Reading: Read your independent reading book for at least 30 minutes tonight.  Bring the book (and a spare if you are close to the end!) for reading workshop tomorrow.

Genesis, Legacy, and Explorers Reading: Read your independent reading book for at least 30 minutes tonight.  Bring the book (and a spare if you are close to the end!) for reading workshop tomorrow.

Additional Genesis Homework: You must turn in your friendly letter to me tomorrow!  Remember that you need to choose two artifacts from our reading class to represent achievements you are proud of or areas for growth for your conference portfolio.

Genesis, Legacy, and Explorers Reading: Read your independent reading book for at least 30 minutes tonight.  Bring the book (and a spare if you are close to the end!) for reading workshop tomorrow.

Explorers Writing: Your social studies draft is due Wednesday, October 29.  We will have time to work on this assignment and conference during writing class.

Legacy Writing: None–we will continue our Summary Notes writing during our next block.

Genesis: We defined patriotism and discussed how this definition was manipulated in Nothing But the Truth. Students learned how to develop high-level interpretive questions on points of doubt in tough text, using Mark Twain’s maxims on patriotism as their source material. We successfully held our mock trial on Nothing But the Truth, where students took on roles as characters in the novel as well as prosecuting lawyers. Students practiced clarifying their position in an argument, as well as defending their claims using text evidence. They did a fantastic job!

Legacy/Explorers: We wrapped up our reading of Cry, the Beloved Country. After reading the novel, students interpreted Paton’s world view in their own writing. Our novel study culminated in a multigenre product showcase, where students performed poems, songs, and drama based on the novel’s themes and essential ideas. In writing, students learned how to identify parody, and can locate purpose and audience in nonfiction text using the clues of its organizational pattern. They can also craft a document that shifts purpose based on a change in the audience (we looked at three forms of scientific writing—an abstract, an essay, and an op-ed column—to study this in-depth). We continued our daily poems, grammar study, and weekly perspective checks.

Explorers X Block: We came to an understanding of diction and syntax during our prose analysis enrichment.