English Language Arts News January 26-30

English Language Arts News January 26-30

This week in class we will work on our January one pagers, take the winter STAR test, learn about word roots, learn the THIEVES pre-reading strategy, and begin learning some background information about Greek mythology in preparation for reading The Lightning Thief.  

Assignments Due this Week:
Daily Homework:  Read nightly (monthly one pager book, quarterly novel, or other book if done with the previous two options)

Monday:  Work day for January one pager

Tuesday:  Due date for January one pager

Wednesday:  STAR reading test

Thursday:  Mythology video guide (will compare to myth stories we read)

Friday:  Notes on Olympian gods/goddesses, weekly reading evidence paragraph 1 due

Upcoming Deadlines:
We will begin our 3rd quarter class novel, The Lightning Thief, next Thursday.  Students will need to read at a pace of one chapter per day.  They will need to balance this with their February one pager book, so they have been encouraged to select a book that is a bit shorter than what they usually read in other months if needed to help them manage the work load. 

The February one pager will be done in class this month (on the 24th) with a new system we are implementing middle school-wide.  The prompt will be given in class and they will need to produce the 3 paragraphs during the work time that day.  Whatever they finish is what I will assess.  This will be similar to a true testing environment and will give me an accurate picture of their ability on that day.  In previous months, they had access to the prompt in advance and could work on it at home.  This new system is also designed to minimize opportunities for plagiarism.  Please contact me if you have any questions about the new system.