Before Break

Hello,

SL kids completed and handed in vocab on Tuesday in class.
HL kids need to hand in their vocab on Friday.

All kids should have the words and definitions in their notebooks to study with. They will take the quiz on Tuesday 11/22.

Hunger Games books are due now!! I will be sending home bills for $15 for any student who does not return their book. Please ask your student if they have handed theirs in.

We are working on short stories and the elements of fiction in class; ask your student to tell you about "The Gift of the Magi" or "Tell Tale Heart", the stories we have read so far!


Thanks!!

Out of Class Reading, Shelfari Information!!

Hello-

I have finally put together the expectations for out of class reading. Participation in the reading program, as it is set up, will be dependent on having a Shelfari account. Students will need an email address to set this up. They do not need to have their own, simply one that they can use to register; they may use yours if you are o.k. with that. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about how that works.

The Shelfari Information




Kids To Do:
Reading Contract
Get reading!!!
Fill out your Shelfari Reports!
Tell me what's new about the look of the blog by Friday 11/11 and I'll give you a treat :)

Adults To Do:
Find out more from your student about Shelfari and let Ms. Z know if you have questions/ concerns
We are starting the Elements of Fiction unit. Ask your student about the RAP we learned in class :)

End of the Quarter

Wow! It really has been a while since I updated here, I'm sorry for that. This month has been nuts. As you most likely heard, I was on call for jury duty and that caused me to have a great deal of trepidation in my planning as I never knew when I was going to have to be gone. Fortunately, that is over now. However, I have been asked, very last minute, to attend an invaluable conference next week, causing me to be out for three days. I am confident that it will be a worthwhile conference and will aid in both my classroom instruction as well as building wide programming, but it is not the best time to be out of my room. I have been very clear that the students need to take responsibility for their actions in these last days of the quarter to ensure that the grade they earn is an accurate reflection of their skills, i.e. the substitute and the students are responsible for ensuring that the lesson plans are completed. I will be in school on Monday and gone the rest of the week.

10/31
Students will type up the first body paragraph of their Hunger Games Essay. This will be graded and included on their 1st quarter grades.

11/1
Vocab Lesson 4 due (there will be no quiz for this lesson, students should focus on studying for their final exam on Thursday)

11/1-11/2
Students will by finishing their Hunger Games essay in the computer lab

11/3
* FINAL VOCAB EXAM on lessons 1-4 (students should have all the words in their notebooks to use for studying, this is included on 1st quarter grades)
* FINAL DRAFT OF ESSAY is due either by paper or emailed electronically to ms.zumberge@gmail.com (the full essay will go on 2nd quarter grades)

*** NEVER USE MY HOMEWORK DROP BOX THROUGH THE SCHOOL WEBSITE

Please contact me with any questions. I will be available over email when I am out of town.

Thanks!

Notebook Update

We are working on having SUPER DUPER organized notebooks this year.

Please double check that this is what you have so far:


* The Table of Contents looks like this at this point: Table of Contents


* On page 50 you should have written down these notes: "The Writing Process"


* Page 51 should have these notes copied: Critical Response Sample

Thanks!

Vocabulary Lesson 2

Kids will be receiving their second vocab lesson today. This will be due Tuesday, 10/4. The quiz will be Friday, 10/7. Please spend some time studying the words with your student as they prepare.

SL students, you will find a copy of your assignment under "Helpful Links".

Thanks!

Vocab and New Reading Calendar

This week I will hand out vocab lesson 2 on Wednesday. I warned the kids that I would give them less and less time to complete the assignments if there were a large number of kids who didn't hand it in on time. Unfortunately, there was almost 30% of students who did not hand in their vocab 1 assignment last week. Though this may sound mean, it is actually my experience that the less time students have to work on something the more of them who actually complete it.

I have a new reading calendar for "Hunger Games". I am hoping this link will work, but if not I will also be handing out a paper copy on Wednesday. In the mean time, kids need to read Chapters 10 and 11 for Wednesdays' class.

Homecoming Weekend!

Happy Homecoming Everyone!

It's fun to see all the Park Pride at school today.

This weekend we will be giving everyone a chance to catch up on their "Hunger Games" reading. BE SURE YOU ARE DONE WITH CHAPTER 9 FOR MONDAY!! Also, you will need to finish the Reading Check on the back of your green calendar. If you lost your green sheet, you can get another copy of the Reading Check here.

Next week you will get a new reading calendar and another vocab assignment.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Starting "Hunger Games"

Thursday marks the beginning of our reading of "Hunger Games". Kids will get books in class on Thursday in class. They will receive a paper handout of the reading calendar and they have a small activity to do on the back with each chapter. You can find a link to the calendar here!

Vocabulary Lesson 1

Hello,

All classes will have received their first vocab lesson by the end of Tuesday. I try to keep copies of them on the right here... give me a day or two to get it loaded :)

Remember, you need to write all your words in your notebook in our "Vocab Lesson's" Chapter. Only use 1 page per lesson. Write the words and the definition.

Don't hesitate to email me with questions!

Ms. Z

Welcome seventh graders!

This blog with be a source of information for students and parents. Please check often! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I look forward to meeting you on Tuesday!
P.S. Ask your parents to send you with some Kleenex for your OT!!

For SL Vocab Exam 13-16

Here are lessons 14, 15 and 16. You will also need to know lesson 13 but I don't have an electronic copy of that to post here.

Please be sure you read the post below this one regarding your SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT!!

Thanks :)

Lesson 16

Lesson 15

Lesson 14

Summer Reading Assignment

Please note that the kids have a summer reading assignment.

This assignment can be seen here.

And... the discussion on Shelfari can be found here.

I hope everyone has a super duper summer!!!

Poetry Study Guide

For the poetry test tomorrow, these are the terms the kids need to know. They have a study guide already, but this is in case they loose it or it is incomplete :)

Thanks!

End of the Year Notes

Hello! We are quickly winding down and I apologize for the infrequent updates here, this spring has been a crazy one!

Between now and the end of the year this is what you want ask your student about:

1. Did they hand in their "Hamlet" essay?
2. Have they written their three Ancestor Poems: the ballad, the free verse and the
sonnet.
3. Have they studied the words in lessons 13-16 for the final exam, June 8th? (They
will not be handing in lessons 15 and 16 for credit, but will be tested on the
words in the final exam on June 8th)
4. Are they ready to take the Poetry quiz on June 7th?
5. Did they hand in any books they borrowed from me this year?

Please contact me with any questions!

Shakespeare Online

Today the kids worked on this activity in class: Shakespeare Online

If you missed it, please complete on your own time.

Ophelia Questions

Why is she so affected by the things around her? (manipulation by Dad and Hamlet, Dad dies b/c of Hamlet, Hamlet leaves, Laertes leaves...)
How does she die?
Why do people remain so interested in her?
Would she be this popular if she lived?

Pecha Kucha Hullaballoza!

Congratulations to these kids, who will presenting at our Human Rights Pecha Kucha Hullaballoza evening, April 26th at 7 p.m. in the Jr High LMC...

Hussein
Sam W
Tess
Zoe
Alyssa
Aedan
Lexi R
Elena
Santi
Sophie
Arryon
Patrick

These students should plan to stay after with Ms Zumberge on Thursday 4/ 21 in order to prepare.

Hope to see you all there!

Greek and Latin Roots

This week the kids will be working on some Greek and Latin root words. They will have a quiz on Friday. If they happen to loose the study guide I gave them, it can be found here.

Thank you!

4th quarter is here!!

Welcome to 4th quarter!

I plan to dates posted soon for vocabulary, but I wanted to get out the reminder that vocab lesson 13 is due for HL classes tomorrow, 4/7/11.

Thank you!!

Late Work Updated

FYI: I have gone through my late box and my grades are reflective of all the work that has been handed in for the listed assignments. I am still working on entering 2 other assignments, but there was nothing in the late box for either of those.

Vocab Due Dates Quarter 3

Vocab Lesson 10 is due 2/8, Quiz 10 is 2/11
Vocab Lesson 11 is due 2/22, Quiz 11 is 2/25
Vocab Lesson 12 is due 3/8, Quiz 12 is 3/11

Also, we will have the Elements of Fiction Exam on Friday of this week. We are preparing this week in class.

Finally, this quarter I will be changing the format for reading goal and reading log sheets. We will continue to use the Shelfari reports to show out of class reading. Students NEED TO HAVE THEIR 3 MHL BOOKS read by 3/22!

This Week

We are going to have vocab due on Friday of this week, with the quiz the same day. I realize that this is a short turn around, but even the kids will have to agree that we do better with handing in assignments and on our quizzes when we have less time to forget.

We are working on the Elements of Fiction unit, which involves reading short stories and learning about the parts of a plot. We will have our exam on this on 2/4 and will then move into the research unit. I will send out more details on this in the future.

Thanks!

Vocab Exam

We will have the exam on weeks 5-8 tomorrow. This will always be the way we spend the last day of the quarter. Please let me know if you have questions.

Thanks!

Essay and End of Quarter

Essay:
This week we are finishing up the 5 paragraph essay we started on "All Summer in a Day" way back before winter break. Kids need to have the outline complete in order to get my signature and begin typing. We were in the lab yesterday and will be in there today and tomorrow. Essay's are due at the end of class tomorrow.

End of Quarter:
The biggest reminder that needs to go out is that Reading Logs and Shelfari Reports are due TOMORROW!! Kids have known about this for a long time, and they were also told several times that there would be no extension given this time because they had all quarter to complete the assignment.

The end of quarter vocab exam will be given next Thursday, 1/20/11.

I am working on updating grades. Feel free to write me with questions but please know that several assignments are in the late box and will be entered as soon as possible.

Thank you!

Back in the Swing

Welcome back to school!

This week found us in a chilly classroom looking out the window to an even chillier landscape... ugh. Fortunately, we are working hard on our 5 paragraph essay's on "All Summer in a Day", and that generates lots of heat :)

We will be finishing those up in class next week. Be sure to hang on to your outlines and see me with any questions you may have.

Vocab 8 will be due on Friday. We will also take the quiz that day. You will have class on Thursday to work on this.

Thanks!