Brantley's Reading Corner

Week of 5/5-5/9

I will be out of the classroom from Monday through Thursday this week, attending the International Reading Conference at the Georgia World Congress Center. I have left several independent reading assignments to be completed in my absence.

The substitute teacher in my room is Ms. A. Middleton. Many of the students are familiar with Ms. Middleton as she has subbed in our building on several occasions this year, and she is a parent of a former Awtrey student who is now a North Cobb High School senior. She is very familiar with how our building and my classroom operates.

The assignments for the week have been posted on the front board in the classroom where they will remain all week for students to have step-by-step directions for completion. I have left Ms. Middleton specific instructions and answer keys so that she will be able to assist students if they require further clarification in any area.

The four assignments are from the READ Magazine, and they incorporate silent reading skills and writing in response to reading. We have been using various issues of READ all year, so the students are familiar with the format of the publication. On Friday, I informed the students that I would not be in class this week, introduced them to the selection, "A Classic Crime (the Lizzie Borden story), and let them know what I expected of them.

All work for this week should be completed and submitted to the classroom drawer by end of class on Thursday. Friday is "Field Day", classes will not be in session, so there will not be an opportunity for tying up loose ends on that day. I will be taking the work up and checking it in over the weekend.

Week of 3/10-3/14/2008

Today in class:  3/10/08

Make up/ Catch up Day

Several students were absent last Friday for the selection test, "Clara Barton and the American Red Cross". The test was made up in class today.

All students were notified of outstanding assignments from the past two weeks. Those assignments were made available for completion during the class period, and were allowed to be turned in for full credit.

Students who had completed all of their assignments went ahead and began reading a biographical drama about the aviator, Amelia Earhart, from the March 2008 volume of READ Magazine.

More to come on that selection and follow-up assignments.

BIOGRAPHY PROJECTS ARE DUE TOMORROW.                 See last week's post to download guidelines and other information/materials.

Week of 3/3-3/7/2008

Unit: Expository Text: Reading for Information

Our focus last week and this week has been on reading biographical sketches.

Our skills focus has been on using context to gain meaning of words and to understand what is being read.

The Classwork assignments that will be due on Friday 3/7 are as follows:

• Skills practice activity: "Biography and Autobiography/ A Person't Life and Times"
• Reading selection: "The Corn Flake Kings" pp.167-169 Gr.8 Literature - Use guiding questions to read the selection. After reading, write answers for the guiding questions. (recalling details, inferencing, critical thinking, writing in response to reading)
• Skills practice activity: Root Words/Clues to the Meanings of Words
• Research/ Reference practice: "Using Primary Sources/ Reading Critically"

Biography Project: Due on or before Tuesday 3/11

Students have recieved all instructions and guides needed for the biography project. Each student should be reading their selected biography and collecting information on the orgranzer distributed in class. Download biography_organizer2.doc Further information should be obtained via the sources listed in the guidelines

Download biography_project.doc (Project 1) Download biography_project2.doc (Project 2)

Download cited_sources_of_information.doc (Source page)

The required report should be written following the template given to each student and explained in class.

Download book_report_form_biography.doc (**Students completing Project 2 do not need this form.)

Homework: Because of the project, there will be no assigned Homework this week. Students should be reading and working on the project each evening.         

                                                

Week of 2/25-29/2008

This week, we will be concentrating on reading for information from biographical sketches. We will be reading from the Grade 8 Literature book and from the Contemporary Reader.

Monday, 2/25  Complete (if nec.) and turn in "Forces of Nature" pp.224-227 Interdisciplinary Lesson (Language Arts/ Health) carried over from last week.

Students completing Wednesday's assignment will move on to "Forces of Destruction", pp.224-227, interdiscipinary lesson (Language Arts/Science-related) on hurricanes and other storms with the potential to cause great harm to human life.

"Marsalis Makes Music" Contemporary Reader biographical selection on jazz musician Wynton Marsalis

Students read to find out about the musician's early life and accomplishments and to note the structure and nature of a biographical sketch. (Not as in depth as a full biography).

Assignment:

• Read the selection, using the questions to guide the reading.
• Write detailed answers to the questions.
• Complete the skills practice sheet associated with the selection (sequencing, cause and effect, synonyms and antonyms for vocabulary words)

Students also were allowed to go to the library to select a biography to read in preparation for the next project. Details on the project will be sent home on Thursday, Feb. 28.

Homework: Read your selected biography, keeping in mind the 7 W's,

• WHO is your biography about?
• WHAT is the person's specialty, talent, field, etc?
• WHERE was the person born? Where did he or she become known or do the work for which they are remembered
• WHEN were they born? When did they win any awards or make some major accomplishment(s)?
• WHY are they remembered? For what reason did someone feel that a book should be written about the person?

If it helps you, take notes on these details.

This week, we will be concentrating on reading for information from biographical sketches. We will be reading from the Grade 8 Literature book and from the Contemporary Reader.

Monday, 2/25  Complete (if nec.) and turn in "Forces of Nature" pp.224-227 Interdisciplinary Lesson (Language Arts/ Health) carried over from last week.

Students completing Wednesday's assignment will move on to "Forces of Destruction", pp.224-227, interdiscipinary lesson (Language Arts/Science-related) on hurricanes and other storms with the potential to cause great harm to human life.

"Marsalis Makes Music" Contemporary Reader biographical selection on jazz musician Wynton Marsalis

Students read to find out about the musician's early life and accomplishments and to note the structure and nature of a biographical sketch. (Not as in depth as a full biography).

Assignment:

week of 2/20-22/2008

Short week this week.

We are continuing to read non-fiction/expository selections for the purpose of locating information, recalling details, and making inferences based upon what was read.

This week we will be reading from the Grade 8 Literature book.

Wednesday 2/20:  "High Jumpers", pp.56-61 Interdisciplinary Lesson (Language Arts/ Health)

• Biographical sketch on Dr. Ben Carson
• How to Overcome Obstacles in Life
• Self-Esteem

Using a set of questions to guide the reading, students located specific information, recalled details about Dr. Carson's early life, inferred ways to persevere in hard times, and identified the qualities of postiive self-esteem.

Assignment: Write detailed answers to the five questions and write a one paragraph essay for question #6 which asked what qualities or strengths the student thought a person would need to overcome hurdles.

The assignment was begun on Wednesday and will be due at the end of the class period on Friday.

Thursday 2/21:  Continue/Complete assignment and final draft of essay for "High Jumpers.

Students completing Wednesday's assignment will move on to "Forces of Destruction", pp.224-227, interdiscipinary lesson (Language Arts/Science-related) on hurricanes and other storms with the potential to cause great harm to human life.

Assignment: The same procedure will be followed for the reading of this lesson as was used on Wednesday, using the guided reading questions to practice the focus skills: locating info, recalling details, inferencing.

For the Critical Thinking question students will design a plan for staying safe during a natural disaster as it relates to their own home situation. What would do? Where would you go? Who in the household might need special assistance? Etc.

Homework: None assigned

2/13/08-2/15/08

PROGRESS REPORTS WENT HOME TODAY/ WEDNESDAY 2/13.

We are currently working on reading for information. Students have been reading non-fiction material.

The specific skills for the week have been inferencing, recalling details, decoding suffixes and the changes they make in meaning and parts of speech.

Assignments that were due from last week were:

• Suffixes/ Changes in meaning and parts of speech/ classwork
• Suffixes and Base words/ changes in meaning/classwork
• "Photographing History" from the Contemporary Reader (red)/classwork
• "Body Language" :Homework

Today in Class:

Students received their progress reports for this 4.5 week period. If the grade was currently at 73% or less, a detailed progress report was stapled to the cover sheet.

We continued reading "Hello Euro" from the Contemporary Reader (gold) (the European currency, its origin and the reason for its adoption) (Assignment begun on Tuesday 2/12)

• Use the text to locate the info to answer the six questions at the end of the selection
• Complete the skills worksheet for the selection
• Staple both and turn in when complete.

Homework: None assigned, but some students opted to take home the worksheet for "Hello Euro" to complete. Assignment due tomorrow by the end of the period.

Week of 1/14-1/19

(Keep scrolling for Monday 1/14)

Last week (1/7-1/11), upon returning from the break, we began work on reading for information.

Text that is informational in nature is called, expository text, which will be our focus for the next several weeks.

Last week took a pretest for the new unit. Scores on the pretest do not count toward the overall grade. They are used as a measuring tool for you and for me to see where we are and what we need to do to get where we need to be.

Scores for the pretest were reported to each student today in class.

Last week's test (Friday) was a review test on valid and invalid opinions. Test grades were reported to each student today in class. The tests were not returned because several students needed to complete make-ups due to absences.

Vocabulary words you should know and/ or study to apply to what you read in this unit:

valid     validate  invalid    authority     qualified     qualifications     bias  biased    objective     fact     opinion     judgment     assumption   conclusion     expository    

Assignments for last week

• "Valid Opinions" (skills practice)/ Completion points (100)
• "Reading Expository Writing" (Skills Practice) Completion points (100)
• "1,2,3"  Content Area Puzzle/ Math  (H.W.)
• "Convince Me" Word-Find using persuasive terms (H.W.)
• Test: Expository Terms and Valid/Invalid Opinions

Today, Monday 1/14/08

Test makeups for students absent on Friday 1/11.

Many students did not start/finish "Reading Expository Writing" from last week, so we reviewed the directions carefully after discussing expository writing v/s narratives. Students were given the period to complete the work and to complete/submit the puzzles from last week. All outstanding work was due today.

Students who finished moved on to the next reading assignment, "Tagged Banned as Schools Fear Lunchtime Accidents".

A link to the article has been provided below for anyone who did not get to it in class, but would like to get a head start on reading.

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2606557

Details for this assignment will be provided in tomorrow's blog entry.

Homework: None assigned.

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Tuesday 1/15/08

Students read the expository article "Tag Banned as Schools Fear Lunchtime Accidents" for the purpose of reading for information, comprehension of details, and utilizing the reading skills and strategies we have been working on this year.

This is an important assignment in that it students will be workind to earn a quiz grade (Comprehension Ques. #1-11) and a test grade (#12 Writing in response to reading and offering validating opinions)

Links to each part of the assignment, the directions and the guidelines for writing are provided are below:

• http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2606557  Article
• Download tag_banned_vocabulary.doc  Glossary
• Download tag_banned_questions_and_writing.doc Questions and Writing assignment

This assignment will be due at the beginning of class on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008. Students have been given class time to work on it, and they have been encouraged to take it home to work on if they so choose.

Students will have time to work on this assignment in class tomorrow also.

No homework will be assigned today or tomorrow to accomodate this assignment.

Week of 12/17-12/21/2007

Monday, 12/17/07

Today students continued and completed work from last week.

Last week in review: (There was no blog last week. Sorry!)

I was out ill on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, but on Monday, before my unexpected absences, I had divided each class into two groups and the students worked on critical reading skills from of two different books from the Jamestown Readers series: Crime and Punishment and Phenomena.

The books were assigned by demonstrated ability levels. Both are on grade level, but Phenomena is the more challenging. Both contain non-fiction selections followed by reading exercises. Both groups were assigned to complete the same followup activities for each story assigned:

• Main Idea
• Recalling Facts
• Author's Approach
• Critical Thinking
• Summarizing and Paraphrasing
• Personal Response (Short writing activity where  each student gives his/her own viewpoint based on a provided framed sentence.

The stories assigned were as follows:

Crime and Punishment: "Izzy and Moe", Kidnapped, and a story of personal choice

Phemonena: "Moon Madness", "Sunspots", and a story of personal choice

Upon my return on Thursday, we discussed the concept of bias and how a writer's personal bias might affect the things that we wind up reading. We discussed the need to be aware of bias in reading material. We also discussed the need to be aware of our own personal biases and how we sometimes need to set them aside in order to get a balanced picture, understanding, and appreciation of what we are reading so that informed opinions can be formed.

Terms introduced:

positive bias      negative bias     neutral       loaded or emotional words(reintroduced)

On Friday, students continued with reading their selections from their assigned books. Those who finished began working on a skills practive activity: "Bias/ Understand the effect of emotional words".

Today:

We reviewed bias and introduced the concept of making assumptions. We reviewed loaded or emotional words. And we talked about being objective or neutral.

Assumption: making a judgment or drawing a conclusion based upon the evidence or the facts presented.

Loaded or emotional words: adjectives used in a positive or negative way in an attempt to sway the reader's thinking or to portray a person or situation in a certain light.

(to be) Objective or neutral: to have or to show no bias. To have no opinion on a subject. To stick solely to the facts without giving an opinion one way or the other.

Students who finished all of last week's work started on the first assignment for this week, a skills practice activity: "Evaluating Assumptions".

Some students recieved their project evaluations today. Those who did not get theirs today, will recieve theirs in class tomorrow. Some projects were kept for a planned display on the elements of fiction.

Homework: None assigned today

Week of 12/3-12/7

Monday and Tuesday   

12/3 and 12/4

On Monday, students began the article called "Bullied" from the Teen Newsweek. Some students had begun on Friday, but they received their papers back and we discussed being specific and throrough when answering questions that relate to reading non-fiction or reading for information.

Specific: cite details from the selection, read the question carefully and answer what was asked

Thorough:  answer all parts of the question that was asked, be sure to answer what was asked

Often it is necessary to bring what you already know about the topic into your responses. Don't be afraid to make those connections.

Students who had turned in their work were asked to take a second look at it and rewrite to improve the quality of their work. Those who hadn't started had a fresh set of guidlelines and directions to use to submit quality work.

Homework: Continue to work on Book Report Project due Friday, 12/7.

Deficiencies will be sent home on Friday for any student carrying a current average of 73% or below.

Tuesday  12/4

Students took a Benchmark quiz that covered all the topics we have studied so far: elements of narratives, figurative language, and persuasive techniques. 

***If you were absent today, be sure to see me to make up this quiz.***

After the quiz, work on "Bullied" was continued and, if completed, turned in to the drawer.

Students who finished the above assignment within the class period began working on "Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster" (multiple skills practice) on pp. 108-118 in the Monsters book.

Homework: Continue to work on your Book Report Project due Friday, Dec. 7

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Wednesday,  12/5/07

Today in Class

Students continued to work on "Bullied". They were advised that this assignment should be finished by the end of the period so that they can move on to "Nessie: the Loch Ness Monster, if it hasn't been started yet.

Homework: "Energy Facts" and continue to work on your project. It is due on Friday, 12/7.

Week of 11/26/07

Monday- Wednesday  11/26-28/07

On Monday, students received the written directions for their book report which will be due on December 7. Check back for copies of the directions that were sent home on Monday. I will upload them to this site tomorrow morning (11/29). This is a two-part project for which two separate grades will be issued. Each grade is equivalent to a test grade (35%), so it is important that each part be completed.

Progress Reports went home on Tuesday. A detailed report was sent with those students who are currently carrying an average of 73% or less.

This week, students have been working on non-fiction selections and skills practice. They are as follows:

• Judgments, Fact and Opinion, Persuasive Techniques
• Newspaper Article, "Boy's 911 Pleas Bring Calls for Change" (Debating the situation where a 911 operator in Detroit ignored a little boy's call for help when his mother fell ill)
• Newsweek Article, "The War on Fat" (Debating the effects of fast food on our society)
• "King Kong" from the Monsters anthology (Comprehension and multiple skills practice)

All work assigned this week will be due on Friday.

Homework: "Best Quest" Vocabulary building puzzle using words that rhyme. Work on the Book Report Project.

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Thursday, 11/29

Today in Class:

Students worked on assignments for the week. All assignments for the period 11/19 through tomorrow 11/30 will be due at the end of the period tomorrow.

One new reading task was assigned today: "Fabulous Fakes: Monster Hoaxes" a non-fiction selection about monsters that turned out to not quite be what they were thought to be.

Students who have been absent or felt themselves falling behind and let me know, picked up the work and took it home to be completed.

If you have misplaced your directions for the book report project, they can be found here:

• Instructions_for_completing_your_book_report_diagram.doc (Parts I and II)
• Fiction_organizer.doc (For poster)

Homework: "Spaced out"  Word-Find Puzzle with hidden message

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Friday, 11/30/07

Today in class

All work for the week was passed back to be organized and stapled together for resubmission to the class drawer. All assignments for the week were due today.

Since there was not a test, students were allowed to use the time to either finish what might need completing or to start the first reading assignment for next week, "Bullied" from the Teen Newsweek.

These are the assignments that were due today. They are from the weeks of 11/19 through today: Click

All assignments turned in for the week were passed back. Students were instructed to organize, label, and make revisions where necessary before attaching this slip to it, stapling, and turning it back in. Except in the case of absences, no late work will be accepted for this set of assignments.

Homework: Continue to work on your Book Report project. Both parts are due on Friday, Dec.7.

• Instructions_for_completing_your_book_report_diagram.doc (Parts I and II)
• Fiction_organizer.doc (For poster)