Frederick's Facts

1/23/12 through 1/26/12

Hello.  I hope everyone is doing well.  We will be covering a plethora of information this week with short passages!  We will be looking at conflicts, themes, subjects, topics, questions types, character traits, point of view, and on and on!  Students will need their Reader's Journey books all week.  Each child has their own consummable book.  There is one homework assignment, and I hope everyone actually enjoys this one!

Homework:  We will be talking about theme, tone, mood, questions and answers, character traits, conflicts, and more this week.  Please bring in the lyrics to a song or a poem to share that conveys some of the terms we have discussed this week and all year!  This is due Wednesday.  The lyrics must be school approproriate. 

Take Care,

Mrs. Frederick

Grammar and Writing Workbooks and Assessments

The Grammar and Writing Workbooks have been distributed.  Each child has his/her own book that is consumable.  We will be going over PowerPoints and discussions regarding commas, semi-colons, colons, capitalization rules, ellipses, dialogue, hyphens, dashes, and spelling rules.  Students will have assessments on these conventions beginning on Friday. 

Students are not specifically given any homework on these topics.  Practice is available in the Grammar and Writing Workbooks though.  Grammar and Writing Workbook pages that correlate with topics from above:

Commas (pages 193-198); semicolons and colons (pages 202-204); capitalization (pages 178-189); dialogue (pages 199-201); hyphens and dashes (pages 205-207).

Take Care,

Mrs. Frederick

1/10/12 through 1/13/12

Welcome back!  I hope everyone had a wonderful time during the winter break.  Some dates to keep in mind:

grade level spelling bee will be on Wednesday 1/11

School wide spelling bee on Thursday 1/12

8th Grade Writing Assessment is Wednesday 1/18

For the next few days prior to the 8th grade writing assessment, we will be making sure everyone is comfortable with responding to prompts, generating ideas, and being ready to write.  We will be working on conventions, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and diagramming sentences.  The students have written an expository essay that they will now grade.  This will be the first grade for the new quarter. 

Take Care,

Mrs. Frederick

12/12/11 through 12/16/11

Download Vocabulary Stems Unit 2 Set 4   

WOW!  I don't know about you, but this school year is just flying by for me!  This week we will be working on language art specifics including figurative language techniques, diagraming sentences, literary devices, sentence structure, misplaced modifiers, and all the writing conventions we can think of to cover in class.  Along with this, we will be discussing specifics to expository writing including organization structures.  Logical thinking is the phrase for the week! 

AC class - We will be working on the next vocabulary unit.  Problem - I do not have the form at home to put on the blog and some students did not get to write all the words + down.  Originally I said the homework was due on Wednesday and the assessment would be on Friday.  The homework will now be due on Thursday.  I will be sure to download it from school tomorrow! 

Take Care,

Mrs. Frederick 

12/5/11 through 12/9/11

Hello.  I hope everyone is doing well.  The persuasive essay was due at the end of the period today.  There are some students that did not quite finish.  When finishing, the students need to include the following:

Highlight and label the hook, proposal, thesis statement, figurative language, concession logos, pathos and anecdote.

Tomorrow and Wednesday will be the students presenting their persuasive essays.  I will be looking for variance in speech, body language, articulation, pitch, speed, volume along with all the aspects of the persuasive technique.

On Thursday and Friday, we will be taking a break from writing and reading a novel in two days.  Each pair of students will be responsible for reading a chapter or tow and writing a summary.  As each group presents, the next chapter group will clarify their summaries.  This is a great way to check on summaries, plot analysis, and character study.

Have a great week!

Mrs. Frederick

AC Vocabulary

Vocabulary graphic organizer due Wednesdayish (ish meaning please try, but if it is on Thursday, that is okay).

Download Unit 2, set 2

Download Unit 2, Set 2 Vocabulary graphic organizer

11/28/11 through 12/2/11

Hello!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!  Progress reports will be going home on Wednesday.  Please note if your child is missing any assignments.  I will talk to the students on Monday about the Al Capone Does My Shirts missing assignments and what needs to be done to avoid zeroes.  All week we will be working on a five paragraph persuasive essay.  The essay will be completed in class.  The students will be presenting their essays beginning on Friday.  The persuasive essays have a few things that are genre specific such as a proposal and a concession.  Please ask your child what these are!  There are many attachments below.  Have a great week!

Take Care,

Mrs. Frederick

Download Brochure for Expository Essay

Download Brochure for Persuasion Essay Updated

Download Brochure for Writing Right

Download Compare and Contrast Expostitory and Persuasive Essays

Download Georgia Grade 8 Writing Assessment Scoring Rubric

Download Persuasive Speech Rubric

11/14/11 through 11/18/11

Hello.  I hope everyone is doing well!  This week we will be working on expository reading and writing vs. persuasive reading and writing.  We will be reading, analyzing, and evaluating a writing prompt, writing thesis statements, brainstorming, presenting, and more. 

The AC class will be having a vocabulary assessment on Wednesday.  The students and I talked about this last week and all agreed to keep their assignments to study. 

I hope everyone has a great week and a great Thanksgiving break!

Mrs. Frederick

10/31/11 through 11/4/11

Hello.  I hope everyone is doing well.  We will be wrapping up our Al Capone Does My Shirts novel study this week.  We have covered a number of strategies during this study.  All work is in their journals, and grades will be given for figurative language, character study, question and answer relationships (QAR), Somebody...Wanted...But...So, and classroom discussions.  There are two enduring understandings I would like them to walk away with from this novel understanding.

1. Reading a novel should be meaningful and help you better understand human nature and those around you.
2. Reading should help you feel compassion, sympathy, or empathy with people different than you.

Take Care,

Mrs. Frederick

 

October 24, 2011 through October 28, 2011

Hello.  Welcome to conference week!  Remember, all the periods are shortened.  We will be continuing our novel study including reading strategies, figurative language, building fluency, and comprehension.  That really is about it for the week.  It doesn't sound like much, but it is!!!!!  All of your child's work is in his or her journals if you are interested in taking a peak!

Take Care,

Mrs. Frederick