Need to know about The Hunger Games right now?! Check it out!

Schmoop video on The Hunger Games 

AND 

Here is a Wiki page all about The Hunger Games! It also has the trailer for Mockingjay Part 1!

CATCHING FIRE FANGIRLING OUT!!!

OMGOMGOMG!

I found this great video on YouTube that came out just before (100 days) The Hunger Games came out in 2012. It has a great list of stuff to do before you go see the movie. Even though, it is older. This could be fun to do.

Check it out!

Also, I found a Panem Radio tumblr.  and an incredible FAN-BASED audio blog called The Katniss Chronicles - give it a listen!

Using Socrative.com and getting immediate feedback

So, using the Socrative site  for the practice test went so well we're going to try it for our Wordly Wise Lesson 1 & 2 test. D & E had the paper test on Friday, so we will see how it went. My room number is

ed83009e

And the test is TEST Wordly Wise Lessons 1 & 2 but it will not be open until tomorrow morning in class.

IN OTHER NEWS:
I am still correcting LW papers online. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE sign up for Google Drive and send me your new email addresses so I can share your work and comments back to you!

Follow these instructions!

Creating a Google Drive Account at Home

(Requires a cell phone to receive text messages to verify your account.)

1. Go to http://www.gmail.com.

2. Click on “Create New Account”

3. Add your (First Name) (Last Name)

4. Your address should be (Class Letter).(FirstName).(LastName)

5. Your password should be (breed) and then your ID#

a. If it says that name is taken, use (Class Letter).(FirstName).(LastName).2e07

b. For example, c.sarah.phelan@gmail.com

a. For example, breed178910

7. Birthdate is January 1, 1999. (Google does not need more info on you than they already have!)

8. Mobile phone number (required to set up the account.)

9. Additional email address not required.

10. Type in the numbers into the Type the Text box.

11. Check the box for the Privacy Policy.

13. Verify your account by typing in the number that Google texted to your mobile (cell) phone.

You should be all set up. You can go to Gmail, sign in with your new account and check out your Drive account from the menus there.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST: I am working on your Reading Assessments and collecting the Data on them. THIS IS NOT A TEST GRADE!! But it does count as classwork.

This is what we did this weekend in case you were wondering. Can you guess what it is supposed to be?

Wordly Wise Test Friday (Monday F Block!!)

Your test on Friday is on both Lesson 1  and Lesson 2  for the Wordly Wise list. I have gone through the exercises with you, although I am encouraging you to meet with me if you do not understand vocabulary analogies - they are tricky. I left a bunch of you quick notes on 2D on the bottom. After School Club can meet tomorrow for a bit if you have any questions.

I have given you as much as I can to show you the words and use them, and show their meaning in context. Studying them - spending time looking them over, reading them out loud, quizzing each other on the meanings, making flash cards - will help you get your best grade on Friday.

I can't wait to see how you do!

Best,

Mrs. P!

Mrs. Smith goes to the Capital - The Hunger Games References for You - for use in the class!

Mrs. Smith was nice enough to create a collection of links for our upcoming reading. Below are some synopses, and "cheat sheets" for Suzanne Collins' novels, The Hunger Games  as we get ready to read the sequel Catching Fire.

http://m.sparknotes.com/lit/the-hunger-games/

http://www.gradesaver.com/the-hunger-games/study-guide/short-summary/

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/h/the-hunger-games/the-hunger-games-at-a-glance

http://www.shmoop.com/hunger-games/summary.html

to thank Mrs. Smith.

Wordly Wise 3000, Dictionary.com, and more!

I'm hoping this blog post will have more references for you to improve your writing and seem so SMART!

http://www.wordlywise3000.com/ 
Don't forget to go to Book 7 for ELA 7.

Dictionary.com
Don't be afraid to use it!


Thesaurus.com

In spite of the illustration, it's not for fabulously behatted dinosaurs - it's for synonyms and antonyms.

HOT(S) or Not!

We are constantly working towards higher order thinking skills in ELA class. We're lucky because most of what we create in class, in response to our readings, in the creation of our narratives, in our inferences are already skills and tasks that operate under higher order thinking. It's built into our curriculum!

But one of the most important skills you can learn is questioning. I use a lot of these types of questions when I am creating my lessons and I will ask you to start thinking about creating them in class as well.

Here are some question stems for you to use in class, especially when we Create, Analyze, and Evaluate!

We've expanded moments, we're coming to full circle endings, we're working on word choice... Oh yeah, it's REVISION time!

So this week we will be completing the first big writing assignment of Q1 - the Long Write revision. You have, to this point, created a rough draft, worked on an expanded moment, and you will be creating a full circle ending and adding in better vocabulary based on our first Wordly Wise lesson.

So this will be me this week:

Do you realize what a writer you are? Your new draft is going to be a lot closer to those 5s and 6s we saw in our MCAS scoring practice than you thought before.  We need to just put it all together so that it makes sense.

That means, someone else has to read your writing. But, it's okay. When I can get Google up and running, maybe, just maybe we can start sharing our stuff online. But until then, it's peer editing. Each of you will be given a task - something to look for in the draft, and some grammar to help out your writer friends, to help them improve on their work.

Good luck, writers! Just don't get distracted!