Donaldson's Doodles

End of the Year

A few important reminders...

Bring in a dollar so your report card can be mailed to you.

Your Prentice Hall Writing and Grammar and Prentice Hall Literature textbooks must be turned in by Monday.

Discuss your summer reading handout with your parents. You received this on May 16th.

Take your last week of sixth grade seriously.

Awards ceremony will be held in the theater Thursday, May 22nd.

Have a Wonderful Summer

Dear Awesome Language Arts Students,

It seems like yesterday when you first entered the sixth grade.  I cannot believe the year went by so quickly.  I hope everyone has a wonderful summer.  Keep a journal of what you do each week.  (Be sure to vary those sentences!)  Take some time to relax, enjoy your family and friends, and complete your summer reading.

I will miss you.  Don't forget to visit next year.  I hold a special place in my heart for you.

Fondly,

Ms. D :o)

Choice Board

Choice board

• newspaper template
• If you wish to write the poem,
• step 1- listen to the the podcast
• step 2- View the brush strokes poem PowerPoint directions and model to write your the draft of the poem. You need to type your poem to Word (remember to change it to landscape) and add a watermark.  Print your final copy.
Sample obituary to view for epitaph and obituary activity

May 12-16

Advanced Content Language Arts

• Monday:  Students will finish the analytic response essay. LA-3, 5, and 6 will go over the homework.  LA-7 will complete the homework for discussion on Tuesday.
• Tuesday:  Students will read "The Veldt" by Ray Bradburry.
• Wednessday:  Students will analyze the actions of George and Lydia.  Homework:  Students will determine the parents' biggest mistakes.  
• Thursday:  Students will participate in a shared inquiry discussion.
• Friday: Students will begin to work on the

  Think Tac Toe Choice Board for "The Veldt."

  Advanced Content RCICA Social Studies

  • Monday:  Correct lesson 9 B, review, and introduction to lesson 10.  Homework: vocabulary activity & a parody
  • Tuesday:  Would you rather.... game, Lesson 10 exercise A, B and review 1
  • Wednessday:  Correct exercise 10, cw- review 2, introduction to game assignment
  • Thursday and Friday: Students will work on their game for lessons 9 and 10.

  *Next week- test: Wednesday (lesson 9 and 10) and newlog/article

May 5 - 9

Advanced Content Language Arts

• Monday:  Students will finish the manuscript.  Time in class will be provided for students to finish their individual "I Am" poem. Homework:  Write a character "I Am" poem, complete the question leader's question on the shared inquiry paper.  Students should use sticky notes in their book to justify their answer. Indian Island invitation packets will be collected on Tuesday. (Students should have worked on the invitation packet throughout the book.)
• Tuesday:  Students will participate in a shared inquiry discussion.  They will answer the leader's question after discussion and give evidence to support their opinion.  Students will analyze the nursery rhyme in the novel. 
• Wednesday: Students will interpret Emily Dickinson's poem and compare it to Agatha Christie's nursery rhyme.  Working with a partner, students will pan an analytical response.
• Thursday and Friday: Students will use the process of writing to complete the analytical response. (On Friday, LA-7 will be in the theater for a diversity program.  They will have Monday to complete the writing assignment.)  HW- Thursday: Revise and Proofread your draft -

  Revision

  c  Read aloud and make revisions with word choice.

   Add stylistic techniques

   Revise sentence structure

   Vary sentence starters

   Include a semi-colon

   Include six strong verbs

  Proofreading and Editing

   Eliminate contractions

   Check end punctuation

   Check punctuation for compound sentences

   Check proper nouns and sentence starters

  HW- Friday: The Veldt"

  pre-reading

  is due on Monday.

Advanced Content RCICA Social Studies

• Monday: Students will take notes during a video streaming on the Black Plague
• Tuesday:  Using Excel students will graph the population for Europe during the Middle Ages.  They will examine the population change and calculate the percentage change.  Students will evaluate the general connection between the slop and the percentage of change per year.
• Wednesday: Students will be introduced to chapter 9.  Homework- lesson A and C
• Thursday: Students will complete lesson B and will own the words completing a vocabulary activity.
• Friday:  SSR

• Monday

April 28 - May 2

Advanced Content Language Arts

• Monday:  Students will read chapter 12
• Tuesday: Students will turn in the A.T.T.W.N.take home test.  ETV review is due.  Students will share their paper with a partner.
• Wednesday:  As a class, we will read chapter 13 and 14.  Students will answer comprehension questions.
• Thursday:  Students will read chapters 15 & 16 independently. As they read, Ms. Donaldson will assess for fluency.  Students will complete the questioning organizer.
• Friday:  Students will read the epilogue and examine the inspector's report.

Advanced Content RCICA Social Studies

• Monday & Friday:  SSR
• Tuesday & Wednesday: Examine the symbolism in "The Masque of the Red Death."
• Thursday: Writing prompt assessment for "The Masque of the Red Death."
• Friday:  SSR

April 21-25

Advanced Content Language Arts

Monday

• Finish the organizer for “Home by the Sea” and complete the ETV organizer for your song
• Read chapter 9- sections i-iv
• Disco test on literary terms on Thursday

Tuesday

• Finish chapter 9 and give an alibi for two characters (finish for homework)
• Read the draft assignment for ETV
• Final copy of the writing is due 3/29

Wednesday

• Discussion- characters’ motives
• Read chapter 10

Thursday

• Disco Test
• Examine how they Ms. Brent’s personality is dynamic.

Friday

• Group questions
• Read chp. 11
• Take home test and ETV- due Tuesday

Advanced Content Social Studies RCICA- 

• Read and answer questions on Australia- The Penal Colony
• Read and summarize “The Masque of the Red Death”
• Newslog and article due on Thursday

Podcasts- Regions of Oceania

Our RCICA class created folk literature to tell about the culture of a region in Oceania

Australia	Fiji	French Polynesia	Micronesia
Niu	Palau	Solomon Islands	Vanauta

April 14 - 18

Advanced Content Language Arts

• Monday:  Students will work collaboratively completing an inductive learning activity with commas- grouping sentences and determining comma rules.  Students will finish reading chapter 3 in And Then There Were None  Homework:  comma handout, finish chapter 3, complete the first 5 questions, continue working on Crazy 8 Project (Students may turn the project in early if it is completed.)
• Tuesday:  Students will work collaboratively writing the rules of titles.  Students will read chapter 4 and the beginning of chapter 5.  Be careful of what you drink!  Homework:  Finish Crazy 8 Project, complete chapter 3-4 questions
• Wednesday:  Students will turn in the Crazy 8 Project.  They will work determine the rules of the basic parts of a sentence. Students will finish reading chapter 5-6.  Homework:  Five adjectives and finish chapters 5 and 6
• Thursday:  Students will discuss the parts of a narrative.  Read chapter 7. Homework:  Finish chapter 8 by Monday.
• Friday:  Students have just been hired by ETV (similar to MTV).  We will be using a narrative song Home by the Sea and examine the elements of plot using an organizer.  On Monday, students will draft a class critique.  Homework: Copy the lyrics of a narrative song and complete the organizer.

Advanced Content RCICA

Monday and Tuesday: Students will work on the podcasts.

Wednesday: Students will evaluate podcasts and predict the "Masque of the Red Death."

Thursday: Students will continue to evaluate podcasts and use context clues to determine the meaning of vocabulary terms.

Friday: Students will continue to evaluate podcasts. They will read background information about the Black Plague.

*Homework: News article and log are due April 24th.

Crazy 8 Grammar Project

I hope you have been working on your Crazy 8 Project. Here is a checklist that may be helpful.

 Gather materials for the project
o Suggestion: card stock or large index cards
o Writing and Grammar Textbook
o Notes from your reference section in your notebook
o Internet
o Ziplock back

 Card 1- Noun
o Write the definition of a noun, proper noun, common noun, concrete noun, abstract noun, collective noun, plural noun, possessive noun
o Choose a genre
o Include an illustration below the definitions (You may use a computer graphic.)
o Glue or scan the genre on the back of the noun card.
o Identify any 5 nouns.
o Cite your source. (If you use a soup label, you just need to list the soup and company.)
o Make this look like a card (suggestion: place a N and heart on the corners or watermark a card behind your definitions)

 Card 2- Verb
o Write the definition of a verb, action verb, transitive and intransitive, linking, helping
o Choose a genre. (It must be different from the previous genres.)
o Include an illustration below the definitions.
o Glue or scan the genre on the back of the verb card.
o Identify any 5 verbs.
o Cite your source.
o Make this look like a card

 Card 3- Pronoun
o Write the definition of a pronoun, interrogative, demonstrative, possessive, personal, indefinite
o Choose a genre. (It must be different from the previous genres.)
o Include an illustration below the definitions (You may use a computer graphic.)
o Glue or scan the genre on the back of the pronoun card.
o Identify any¨5 pronouns.
o Cite your source.
o Make this look like a card

 Card 4- Adjective
o Write the definition of an adjective, article, common, proper, comparative, superlative, demonstrative
o Choose a genre. (It must be different from the previous genres.)
o Include an illustration below the definitions
o Glue or scan the genre on the back of the adjective card.
o Identify any 5 adjectives.
o Cite your source.
o Make this look like a card.

 Card 5- Adverb
o Write the definition of an adverb
o Choose a genre. (It must be different from the previous genres.)
o Include an illustration below the definitions
o Glue or scan the genre on the back of the adverb card.
o Identify any 5 adverbs.
o Cite your source.
o Make this look like a card.

 Card 6- Preposition
o Write the definition of a preposition, common, object of a preposition
o Choose a genre. (It must be different from the previous genres.)
o Include an illustration below the definitions.
o Glue or scan the genre on the back of the preposition card.
o Identify any 5 prepositions.
o Cite your source.
o Make this look like a card.

 Card 7- Conjunction
o Write the definition of a conjunction, coordinating, subordinating, correlative
o Choose a genre. (It must be different from the previous genres.)
o Include an illustration below the definitions (You may use a computer graphic.)
o Glue or scan the genre on the back of the conjunction card.
o Identify any 5 conjunctions.
o Cite your source.
o Make this look like a card.

 Card 8- Interjection
o Write the definition of an interjection, mild and strong emotion
o Choose a genre. (It must be different from the previous genres.)
o Include an illustration below the definitions
o Glue or scan the genre on the back of the interjection card.
o Identify 1 interjection.
o Cite your source.
o Make this look like a card.

 Card 9- Title Card
o Include your heading
o Make this look like a card

Check your cards with the rubric. Complete the questions on the rubric and place the cards in the Ziplock bag.

March 31-April 4

Advanced Content Language Arts

• We finished our I-Movies, and they are great!  Students are in the process of evaluating the Public Broadcast Announcements. We will be previewing 1-2 videos each day.
• We are beginning And Then There Were None this week.  Watch for your invitation to an exciting vacation off the coast of Devon.  Hope you will join me! It is guaranteed to be an adventure you will not forget.
• Homework: Monday- language arts CRCT review; Tuesday- proofread the invitation letter and circle the personification; continue working on the Crazy 8 Project

Advanced Content Social Studies RCICA

• This week we are using our research to write folk literature.  Students will be using audacity to create a podcast. Newslog and article will be due on Thursday
• Homework: Monday- responspe journal #2 (setting) and work on newslog/article #2