Week 37: April 27-May 1

I can't believe this year is rapidly coming to an end! I am so happy with this group of students and the amount of effort they put into their work. The Book Finales look great and it's been fun to see students try so hard and be successful. We've made great progress on SAGE Reading Test prep. while exploring good literature and honing our skills. It's just been a great week.

This next week's focus will be three-fold in preparation for SAGE: editing, listening comprehension and reading comprehension. It's vital that students are in attendance each day and make-up any missed work.

The success of the iRead program has been astounding to me. More and more students are reading 40+ plus books for the year (um, WOW!!!) and those that finish by May 4th will qualify for the iRead party on May 11th at Laser Mania. Keep up that good reading! The most important thing is that I feel students are becoming life-long readers, which is really the best gift they can give themselves. Check out the iRead 40 Club members this week as well as a a shout-out to David Cosby for winning a national contest!

Thanks for the continued support and encouragement. Please email or call me (652-4742) with any questions. Enjoy your week!

Nation-in-the-News

to present Friday, April 24th

2nd period: *Matt Quigley, Sierra Renstrom, Katie Rubio, Gia Stinson, Alaina Smith
3rd period: Savannah Milton, Clint Wright, Mackenzie Wright
4th period: Junior Torres, Andy Villasenor, Atreyu West
5th period:  Abbie Pemberton, Tony Tami, Frankie Urias, Elisabeth Veltkamp, Dax Wood
6th period: Hunter Berry
* = unprepared, you own me 2

Monday, April 27th
Free Reading
DOL: Editing (grammar, punctuation, spelling)
Scope Magazine: "Your Phone Could Ruin Your Life"
Reading Comprehension Quiz

Tuesday, April 28th
Free Reading
DOL: Editing (grammar, punctuation, spelling)
"Dreams" and "Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening" poems
Notes on rhyming scheme, tone
Figurative Language/Poetry Analysis Quiz

Wednesday, April 29th
Meet in Library
Scope Magazine: "Banned Forever"
Listening Comprehension Quiz

Thursday, April 30th
Free Reading
DOL: Editing (grammar, punctuation, spelling)
Scope Magazine: "The Girl Who Lived Forever"
Main Idea/Support Details Quiz

Friday, May 1st
Free Reading
DOL: Editing (grammar, punctuation, spelling)
Figurative Language Practice
Read Aloud: "The Crossover"
Book #9 Due (Book #11 for Honors)

8 iReaders AND 1 National Writing Contest Winner This Week!!! 
WOW!!!

Audrey Godfrey

Lemmon

Ryder Dalton

Kaden Crouch

Garrett Graff

Keean Kirkland

Angie Stucki

Gracee Larsen

Big congrats to David Cosby who entered and won the Korean Culture Essay Contest!!! This was a national contest and David was also the only winner from Utah--so amazing. David received a couple of books and $300. 

Week 36: April 20-24

Wow! The Project Utopia presentations were so much fun. I really enjoyed seeing the students demonstrate their creativity. There is one final "big"project left in the school year... the book finale. Book Finale options are found here on the blog: Click Here for Book Finale Options  Students need to choose a book they have read this trimester (not "The Giver") and choose a book finale type they have not done before. Book Finales are due on Friday, April 24th

April 24th will also be the deadline for the final Book Order I'll be sending. If you are interested in purchasing books for summer reading, this is the month! Scholastic has FANTASTIC prices because they know their window of selling to you is closing. It's certainly worth checking out! You are welcome to send in a check to Scholastic or cash or order online. Here is the link to order online: Click Here to Order Online  Online orders = free books for the classroom, so I really do appreciate any order you place. This month Scholastic is giving away free mustache bookmarks with any orders. It's a win-win!

We will be moving into prep for SAGE Reading Test. To begin, I'll be taking students on the SAGE portal where they can see how specific question types are answered. On Tuesday, I'll have them take the Portal Practice test. It's not scored, but it's good, solid practice. We will then be moving into a day of Listening Comprehension and a day of analyzing figurative language in poetry. I'm going to be doing a read aloud each Friday. This allows me to model good reading, teach comprehension skills & conduct literary class discussions. We will be reading "The Crossover" by Kwame Alexander. This is a huge hit in the YA world right now and I really loved the book. This will be a fun one to read in class and provide excellent opportunities for understanding and analysis.

According to goodreads: "With a bolt of lightning on my kicks . . .The court is SIZZLING. My sweat is DRIZZLING. Stop all that quivering. Cuz tonight I'm delivering," announces dread-locked, 12-year old Josh Bell. He and his twin brother Jordan are awesome on the court. But Josh has more than basketball in his blood, he's got mad beats, too, that tell his family's story in verse, in this fast and furious middle grade novel of family and brotherhood.  Josh and Jordan must come to grips with growing up on and off the court to realize breaking the rules comes at a terrible price, as their story's heart-stopping climax proves a game-changer for the entire family."

Thanks for the continued support and encouragement. Please email or call me (652-4742) with any questions. Enjoy your week!

Nation-in-the-News

to present Friday, April 24th

2nd period: *Seth Millward, *Jaedan Mandato, Skylar Reid, Matt Quigley, Hallie Remund
3rd period: Jose Ruiz, Kayden Stauffer, Kyla Thalmann
4th period: *Olivia Quezada, Bailee Southam, Zach Tilford, Maddy Stucki
5th period: Keean Kirkland, Emily Leavitt, Tonga Nilo, *Santiago Perez
6th period: *Treson Swingler, Angie Stucki, Gracee Larsen, Carlos Romero, Tali Puriri
* = unprepared, you own me 2

Monday, April 20th
Short PLC Day (school out at 11:45am)
Mustache Random Student Form
SAGE questions (I'll review with you how to answer specific questions)

Tuesday, April 21st
Free Reading
SAGE Portal Practice Test
2nd period Honors: Newspaper Day
(do practice test at home)

Wednesday, April 22nd
Free Reading
Listening Comprehension Notes
Practice: "Red River"

Thursday, April 23rd
Free Reading
Figurative Language in Poetry I

Friday, April 24th
Free Reading
Figurative Language in Poetry Quiz
Read Aloud: "The Crossover"
Project Utopia PresentationsBook #8 Due 
Book Orders Due
Book Finale Due!!


Looking Ahead...next week
Reading Comprehension
Context Clues
Vocabulary

Congrats to Braden C. for entering the iRead 40 Club!

Week 33: All Things Language Arts

I ran across this Wordle and thought it really described this last week in Language Arts as students completed their Project Utopia. I had a fantastic time watching presentations today. It was so cool to see students take the knowledge of society, apply it to their own interests and create a world of their imagining with writing and graphics. We had fantastic space societies, communities of Disney characters and land of sports--really fun to watch! After presentations conclude, students will vote on the best utopia in each class and I'll post the winners.

This week, we will be doing reteaching with our CFA of sequencing and retelling and move into more SAGE prep with reading and listening comprehension. It is going to be a great week!

Thanks for the continued support and encouragement. Please email or call me (652-4742) with any questions. Enjoy your week!

Nation-in-the-News

to present Friday, April 17th

2nd period: Seth Millward (2), Jaedan Mandato, Carrson Mckenna, Ethan Pack, Shayne Nielson
3rd period: Lief Peterson (2), Haley Poulsen (2), Rachel Reep, Jose Ruiz
4th period: Olivia Quezada (2), Diego Quiroz, Caden Sagendorf, Lezly Sandoval, Ellie Sandstrom
5th period: Colton Maycock (2), Emily Memmot (2), Santiago Perez (2), Liddia Jaques, Kyli Jones
6th period: Treson Swingler (2), Angie Stucki, Chyanne LaFountaine, Gracee Larsen

Monday, April 13th
Book #7 Due 
Reader's Theater: The Gold Touch
Free Reading
Book Finale is due April 24th

Tuesday, April 14th
Reteaching/Enrichment Day
Retelling & Sequencing

Wednesday, April 15th
Library Day (pay overdue fines to participate in Jeopardy)
Free Reading

Thursday, April 16th
Free Reading
Retake CFA (students who have completed reteaching)
Introduce Book Finales
Project Utopia Presentations

Friday, April 17th
Book #8 Due 
2nd period Honors: Newspaper Day
Finish Project Utopia Presentations (vote on winner)
Work on Book Finales


Looking Ahead...next week
April 20th: Short PLC Day
*Introduce SAGE Portal Tutorials
April 21st: SAGE Portal Practice Test
April 22nd: 2nd period Honors Newspaper Day
Listening Comprehension
April 23rd-24th: Figurative Language in Poetry

Week 32: Project Utopia

We completed our benchmarks and I was so happy to see some great improvement. I'll be sending home certificates this week so you can celebrate with your students. It's pretty amazing to see some of the growth students have experienced this year and I am so very proud of them!

This week, we'll be finishing Project Utopia. As we read "The Giver" we also analyzed and studied the concept of utopias, including modern and past examples. Students will now engage in a creative writing exercise where they create a slide presentation on their concept of a "perfect" society. This will be a blend of writing and graphics. Students have had fun with it so far and I'm excited to see them flex their creative writing muscles.

Thanks for the continued support and encouragement! Please email or call me (652-4742) with any questions. Enjoy your week!

Nation-in-the-News

to present Friday, April 10th

2nd period: Aubrey McCombs, Cheyanne Long, Jaedan Mandato, Carrson McKenna, Seth Milward

3rd period: Lief Peterson, Haley Poulsen, Greyson Shipp, Aaron West

4th period: Olivia Quezada, Demetrik Salas, Diego Quiroz, Caden Sagendorf

5th period: Colton Maycock, Stiles McCormick, Emily Memmot, Santiago Navas

6th period:  Max Tholen, Treson Swingler, Angie Stucki

*unprepared, you owe me 2 reports!

Monday, April 6th
Easter Break

Tuesday, April 7th
Meet in B Lab: Project Utopia

Wednesday, April 8th
Meet in B Lab: Last Day for Project Utopia
Free Reading (when finished)
Project Utopia due at the end of class 
(share it with me electronically, keep your rubric for presentations)

Thursday, April 9th
Free Reading
Project Utopia Presentations

Friday, April 10th
I'll check for Book #7 on Monday 
Free Reading

Listening Comprehension Practice (Scope)


Looking Ahead...next week
April 13th: Project Utopia Presentations
CFA #3 Reteaching (Sequence-Retelling)/Enrichment
Library Day
We will then be moving into Reading/Listening Comprehension and prep. for SAGE Reading Test (May 13th and 14th).

A Huge Congrats to the newest members of the iRead 40 Club

Camden S.

Sophie C.

Laine S.

Bailee S.