Ms. Haynes / Read 180

CLASS FOCUS 2/27 - 3/09

The class has started Workshop 6 entitled Poe: The Master of Horror.  The literary genre of horror will be used to study story elements such as character, setting, plot, theme.  Three stories will be studied including The Strange Orchid by H.G. Wells; La Llorona, a 500 year old folk legend; and The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe.

In this workshop, students will come to understand and identify the various devices storytellers use to create pictures and emotions in a reader's mind.

Workshop 6 vocabulary includes: genre - category or type; horror - an intense feeling of fear and disgust; organism - a living thing; anxiety - a feeling of worry; despair - feeling no hope; peculiar - strange; tremble - shake; remove - take away; linger - hang around; brawl - a noisy fight; utter - make a sound with the mouth; depressing - making you feel sad; vacant - empty; mental - having to do with the mind; gusts - sudden wind movements; bizarre - very strange; vault - locked room for valuables; quiver - shake. 

Eww, even the vocabulary is creepy.  This workshop is effective in demonstrating the writer's craft.  Although the students say the three stories are not scary enough, they certainly leave this unit with the skills to recognize events and storytelling tricks in a text or movie--this includes character, plot, setting, and theme.

TEST DATES

Please clearly reinforce your expectations to your child about taking tests seriously and doing the best job possible!

The R180 students will take the fourth Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) the week of February 6th--if all goes according to plan.  Please encourage your student to reach his/her personal Lexile goal.

Results of the SRI assessment, which measures reading comprehension progress throughout the year, will be sent to parents soon after every student has finished.

STARR (used to be called TAKS) test dates: 

8th Grade:  Math.....3/27;  Reading......3/28; 

Soc. Stds......4/25;  Sci......4/26

7th Grade:  Writing.....3/27;  Math.....4/24;  Reading.....4/25

6th Grade:  Math.....4/24;  Reading....4/25  

Students-Get Yours Free!

Students can now have their own Gradespeed account even if their parent doesn't have one! 

Parents and students please let Mrs. Haynes know if you are having difficulty setting up a Gradespeed account.  Students without computers at home can set up a Gradespeed account and monitor it from the computers in the library at school.

Being able to monitor your grades in your teacher's gradebook at all times is the ultimate weapon against the enemy--failure!  Get an account ASAP!

 

Class Focus 1/30 - 2/03

The class has started Workshop 5, "Under Pressure", which discusses the power of peer pressure and its dangerous effect on teens.  The overarching question is "How can teens handle the pressures they face?".

During this workshop, the reading comprehension focus will be problem & solution; the writing skill focus will be persuasive writing.

Workshop vocabulary incudes the following words: authority-an expert with power; convince-make someone believe or do something; image-how others see you; negative-bad; pressure-a stressful demand; rebel-act against policy; impress-make someone admire something; constant-all the time; tense-nervous; appreciate-feel grateful for something; mentor-someone who offers help and guidance; principle-a personal rule; recommend-to suggest a certain action; participate-to be a part of something; reinforce-to make something stronger; problem-a situation that must be fixed; attempt-an action taken to fix a problem; solution-the action that fixes the problem.

 

Class Focus 1/05 - 1/13

The class has begun Workshop 4 called "Stolen Childhoods" about children around the world who must work to support their families instead of going to school.  The over-arching question for this workshop is:  "What happens to children who must spend their entire childhoods working?". 

The reading comprehension focus in this workshop is summarizing.  The writing focus is expository (informational) writing.

Workshop 4's vocabulary includes: synthesize - many ideas put together to make one big idea (please read note about synthesizing at the bottom of this entry);  benefit - a good result; economy - the way money is made and shared; international - between two countries; labor - hard work; produce - to make something; require - gotta have (students wanted this definition); manual - done by hand; sacrifice - give up something you love; border - a line that divides two countries; exhaust - tire out, use up; resources - things needed to do something; reform - to change for the better; luxury - something wanted but not needed.

Our vocabulary word synthesize (to take many ideas and create one big idea) is an important concept for the students to master.  Synthesizing requires the brain to function on the highest level.  Each day, the students practice synthesizing text by summarizing what they have read paragraph by paragraph.  Each student then synthesizes the many ideas into one big idea that summarizes the entire reading--in 10 words or less ! 

Class Focus - 11/28 - 12/02

Because identity is the topic of Workshop 3, the class read two poems about identity, and then each student wrote their own identity poem reflecting who they are in 2011.  When we have completed our poetry, the students will shift their writing focus.  As with each READ180 workshop, Workshop 3 requires each student to produce a piece of writing (prose).  The current writing will be a literature response to our previously read fictional short story: "Louisa, Please Come Home".   The students will understand that a good literature response tells how the story connects to his/her life. 

Class Focus 11/07 - 11/18

The students read the short story, Louisa, Please Come Home.  The vocabulary added to our word wall include: character-a person or animal in a story; plot-events that make a story; setting-time & place of a story; theme-the author's message or lesson; protagonist-the main character; reside-live in a particular place; error-a mistake; stereotype-a mental picture of a group; genuine-real, not fake; conspicuous-easily noticed; respond-to answer; expand-to get larger; assure-to promise; precise-exact; trait-the good and bad parts of someone's personality; evident-easily understood; tone-showing attitude; mood-feeling.

While analyzing the author's technique in Louisa, Please Come Home, the students practiced identifying metaphors, similes, personification, irony, idiom, flashback, characterization, point of view--all parts of fictional text that a student must learn in order to become an efficient (and appreciative) reader.

To reinforce the concept of theme, metaphor, and point of view, the story The Three Little Pigs was used.  In addition, the class read The True Story of the Three Little Pigs to hear the story from the wolf's point of view--a different story indeed when told from the wolf's perspective. 

After Thanksgiving, the students will begin the writing portion of    Workshop 3. 

PLEASE SEND YOUR STUDENT'S CLASSROOM SUPPLIES.  WE ARE REALLY STRUGGLING TO KEEP ALL CHILDREN WELL EQUIPPED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PROGRAM.  One box of HEFTY 2.5 gallon plastic bags and 2 two pocket folders.

Class Focus - 11/03 - 11/04

The class has begun Workshop 3 which features a non-fiction story by Shirley Jackson titled Louisa, Please Come Home.  Shirley Jackson is noted for her creepy stories with weird twist endings, and Louisa, Please Come Home is no different.  Each year, the students are shocked at the ending of this story about a girl who runs away from home.

Workshop 3's reading comprehension focus is the story elements: character, setting, plot, and theme.  The writing focus is producing a literature response.  The over-arching issue for this workshop is:   Sometimes understanding and accepting your identity can be a struggle.

The students have already added five vocabulary words:  deceive: to trick; identity: who a person is; impostor: someone who pretends to be someone else; recognize: to see someone and know who the person is; unique: one of a kind.

Class Focus - 10/31 through 11/02

The students have been working on several assignments.  First, the class is learning and practicing test taking strategies using a test supplied with the READ 180 program.  They are highlighting sequence signals, identifying and defining probable test words, making notes on topic/main idea as they read a test passage.  Two short answer test questions were used to identify and restate the prompt in addition to using information located in the passages.  

The students are also using a criteria chart to correct and grade narrative writing produced by other students.  Each student has the opportunity of correcting and grading at least two papers.  

If all goes according to plan, the students will be complete with the work associated with Workshop 2 by the end of class on Wednesday.  On Thursday, we will begin with Workshop 3.  The topic of this workshop is identity crisis. 

Class Focus - 10/26

Today, the students practiced editing a paper using editor's marks.  The class also worked on completing a second draft of narrative writing.