Dobbs’ Reader

Because of the snow day on Friday the 8th, today is a B Day.  B Day Reading Classes will have a Reader Response Letter due on Friday.  As discussed with my classes last week, students will be expected to turn in a Reader Response letter every other week for this grading period.  Due dates are as follows:

2nd Response Letter – January 28/29

3rd Response Letter – February 11/12

4th Response Letter – February 25/26

Students are allowed to turn in the response letters early, provided they are not all based on the same reading time period.  For example, if a student reads for 30 minutes at night, he can only write one response letter for that reading time period.  Therefore, the response letters should be based on four different reading time periods.

The schedule for the week is as follows:

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are A Days

• READ 180 classes are finishing their narratives on severe weather in class. On Friday, we will work on conventions, such as grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, etc. 

Tuesday and Thursday are B Days 

• On Tuesday, all Reading classes are having a short quiz on the elements of a novel.  Students will also read and work on pages 110-111 in the Readers Journey.  Students have been given a short worksheet on Inference to complete for homework.  Each class will have about 10 minutes to begin/complete this work in class.
• On Thursday, we will read the nonfiction passage Animals Among Us on pgs. 112-114 in the Readers Journey.  Students will also complete the questions on page 115. 

Welcome back!  Only three weeks until the next big break.   Following is the schedule for this week:

Today:  Review Unit 1.  Students should complete the practice standardized test on pgs. 98-101 for homework if not finished in class.

Wednesday:  Media Center to check out/return books.   Begin Unit 2 – pgs. 106-109.  Students will learn about the different points of view, as well as the parts of a novel.  We will also compare the novel to the short story.

Friday:  Students will take the Diagnostic Test (pretest) for Unit 2.  After, students will work on pages 110-115, learning about making inferences.  We will also preview the story Animals Among Us on pgs. 112-114. 

I have postponed the Reader Response letters for this week (2 weeks in a row).  Students will not have to turn in a response letter this week. 

On Tuesday, all classes took a test on the novel read during this unit.  Each student took a test specific to the book that he/she read in class.  Students have been reading these books since September. 

After the test, we worked on the Language Coach activities on pages 88-91 of the Readers Journey.  We specifically focused on personal and reflexive pronouns, pronoun agreement, and spelling tricky or difficult words.  Students were asked to finish pages 90-91 for homework if not completed in class.

On Thursday, we will review the activities on pgs. 90-91.  Students will work on enrichment of pronouns and theme through handouts (3 sides, 2 pages total).  Any assignment not completed in class will need to be completed for homework by Monday, 11/16.

Monday

As a class, we read The Day It Rained Cockroaches by Paul Zindel.  This story is found on pgs. 68-72 in the RJ workbook.  During the reading, students identified setting details that described the mood; made notes about what they visualized; and defined unknown words using context clues.  After the class reading, students answered the questions on page 73 (#s 1-5).  All classes had plenty of time at the end to also write and complete their Reader Response letter, which is due Friday.

Wednesday:

We will discuss theme on Wednesday.  Students will preview both stories The Grass Harp and Child of the Owl on pages 75 – 86.   While reading The Grass Harp in class, students will be expected to underline details relating to the theme.  Students will also be expected to define the vocabulary words as they read.  Students will have to read Child of the Owl by Friday – all eight pages.  They will also need to complete the questions (#1-6) on page 87 for homework.

Friday

We will wrap up the week with a Language Coach exercise on personal pronouns, reflexive pronouns, pronoun agreement, and spelling tricky or difficult words (pgs. 88-91).  This work will be completed in class.  Also, Reader Response letters are due on Friday.

Monday: 

Review of Author’s Purpose through worksheet titled Reading Skills:  Author’s Purpose.

RJ:  Pgs. 66-67 Literary Analysis:  Setting and Mood.  Follow up with worksheet on Setting & Mood. 

Both worksheets will need to be completed for homework if not finished in class!

Wednesday: 

Independent Reading and review of worksheets.  Preview story on pgs. 68-72, The Day It Rained Cockroaches by Paul Zindel. 

NO RESPONSE LETTER DUE THIS WEEK.  

NEXT RESPONSE LETTER DUE 10/30.

As a result of the early release day on Wednesday and the field trip on Friday, the schedule for this week is different.

Monday:  full day.  Normal B Day schedule

Tuesday: full day.  Normal A Day schedule

Wednesday:  early release.  B Day.  Reduced class time.

Thursday:  full day.  Normal A Day schedule

Friday:  Field Trip.  non-day.  Students  not attending field trip will engage in lessons relating to CNN, Ted Turner, and the Braves.

Hello Reading students and parents!

This week in Reading was spent finishing the descriptive essay (Tuesday) and learning about author’s purpose (Thursday).  Yesterday, students completed pages 62-65 in the Readers Journey.  Students completed the questions on page 65, including Question #5 which asks students to rewrite the business memo on page 64 in email format.  For this assignment, I am looking at the student’s ability to rewrite the memo in a different tone, all while keeping the same message.   Most students completed this assignment in class. 

If you have not completed it and forgotten your Readers Journey, please access it at www.phschool.com.  Enter Web Code euk-1001.  This will take you to a screen displaying three different Readers Journey books.  Select ours (the red one).  We are working in Unit 1 – While Reading the Anchor Book.   This is a pdf file — you will need to scroll through the pages to 62-65. 

Week of 10/19

Monday will be spent reviewing author’s purpose and learning about the importance of setting and mood.  We will be working on pages 66-68.

Parents:

Report cards go home today.  Attached to report cards are progress reports for grades below a D.  If you do not have progress reports attached detailing why your child’s grade is below a D, please contact the appropriate teacher.  Also attached:  a letter describing the importance of the 8th Grade CRCT (this letter needs to be signed and returned), log in information for online tutorials to help with all subjects.  

For students in my homeroom, I am requiring a signature from the parent indicating that you have seen the report card.  This signature can be on the report card itself or in a separate note.  If you sign the actual report card, I will note that I have seen the signature and return the signed report to your child. 

Attention Reading students:  If your child has received a D or F in Reading, you will also receive a letter explaining the importance of completing all assignments.   Please make sure this letter is attached to your child’s report card.

Friday is the last day of the grading period.  Students in my B-Day Reading classes will have to turn in a Readers Resp0nse Letter on Friday, Oct. 8th.  This will be included in this first marking period. 

Following is the schedule for this week.

Monday – Language Coach exercises on pages 51-53.  Lessons include Common & Proper Nouns; Concrete, Abstract, and Possessive Nouns; and Spelling Plural Nouns.  Students are completing the exercises on the above-mentioned pages.   Homework assigned is to rewrite both paragraphs on the bottom of pages 53, correcting the misspelled plural nouns.  Although directions call for students to underline the corrections in the book, I am requiring students to rewrite the paragraphs for additional writing experience. This homework will be collected in class on Wednesday.

Wednesday & Friday – We will begin Lesson 9 of Unit 1, Writer’s Workshop.  Wednesday will be devoted to Pre-Writing, Drafting, and Revising the Descriptive Essay.  Students will continue to work on this descriptive essay in class on Friday.