Picture Narrative

Wow! What a great day we had today in class! Many times students forget about the importance of theme when we switch reading passages and genres. With our study of Anne Frank we talk a lot of the characteristics that are found in narrative non-fictions readings. Today we again discussed theme in regards to why individuals view the Holocaust as an important time in history. We followed a photo narrative activity with pictures from the USHMM website.  Students were given 26 different pictures  and instructed to choose six that they believe addressed one of the three themes: 1) Why remember the Holocaust? 2) Tell the chronological story of the Holocaust 3) Reflect on how and why the Holocaust even happened. Below you will find pictures that taken today in class. 

As an extension activity, students were given all 26 pictures and were instructed to place each individual picture into the "right theme" and defend their reasoning! 

Extension Activity 

Extension

Anne Frank Audio

Anne Frank Audio

Week of October 2nd- October 6th

Happy Monday everyone! More importantly Happy Royals Monday! What a great way to end a long weekend! Below you will find a calendar of homework for the week as well as any announcements. 

Announcements

1. School dance, Friday November 6th @ 7pm-9pm (Cost= $3)

2. Anne Frank Vocab Test will be on November 24th and the Unit test will be November 30th

3. Wamego USD 320 Food Service Facebook page

Week of October 26th Calendar and Outlook

Hello all, 

Due to the fact that we don't have school on Thursday or Friday this week your student may be feeling a little bit overwhelmed with the amount of work that is required because your teachers are trying to put five days of lessons into three. For this reason I have included a calendar for the week as well as any "to do" and friendly reminders! 

Reminder: 

- Parent Teacher Conferences: Tuesday (4pm-8pm) and Thursday (9am-6pm)

- PTO Gambino's Fundraiser is October 26-28th. 25% of of qualifying sales will be donated to WMS! You can find the flyer below!

- Yearbook sales will be from October 15-30, 2015.  The home bases will get their forms on Wednesday. Orders will also be done online at www.balfour.com for a $1 convenience fee.

To Do This Week: 

1. "Staking a Claim" PDF document (two sided) with two separate claims for students to prove using primary source documents (found in their Edmodo folder under the 8th ELA group)

2. 1 paragraph summary from "Staking a Claim" outlining their stance for a Socratic Seminar on Wednesday. 

3. Online Question #1: Claiming Responsibility (Instructions on Edmodo) 

QR Code Scavenger Hunt

      Yesterday in class we successfully attempted our first time at using QR codes in order to extend our learning and technology usage. Students were instructed to scan 6 different QR codes that were linked to a URL of a primary source document or an online website outlining different elements and historical lessons regarding post- WWI in Europe, WWII and specifically The Holocaust. We will begin our reading of The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank today in class. 

Anne Frank Pre- Reading

Good morning, 

     As most of you already know we are beginning our second unit which covers The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. I am extremely excited about this next unit as it is something I have become very passionate about over the years. I took my first trip to the National Holocaust museum at age 7 and have been hooked ever sense. I have been back three other times and have actually traveled to Munich, Germany and walked in the first running concentration camp, Dachau. I am beyond excited to share my studies with the students! 

     As a Pre-Reading strategy to set up the importance of this book, the eighth graders have been constructing a scaled model of a house that includes a secret annex or hiding space. They have not read one single word of Anne Frank as of yet and the products were incredible! I have attached a few of the pictures from this week in class. Please join us the week of October 26th for parent teacher conferences so you can see the fully finished products!

 Objective/ Task

 Beginning Scaled Blueprint

 Initial Construction stages

Finished scaled blueprint

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank Audio Book

ANNE FRANK AUDIO

Essay #1 "Helpers"

Hello all, 

Below you will find a link that will lead you to a sample introductory paragraph and the 1st body paragraph for Essay #1. Essay #1 is due in a final TYPED copy on Thursday, October 8th. 

Essay #1

September 28- October 9 Calendar Outlook

One-Pager

Hello all, 

I am currently at an awesome conference @ KSU called Notice and Note. The students will be working on the activity linked below today during class! 

One Pager Instructions

Have a great weekend!

Talking about Theme...

Hello all, 

Getting kids to understand theme can be tough.  Really tough.  It’s one of those ideas that seems to be just outside of their reach, but you can see them trying to grasp the concept.  This year, with The Outsiders we have been working through the various ideas and concepts in our Interactive Notebooks. 

Not only am I trying to help the students grasp the idea of theme, but I’m also trying to instill in them the task of finding textual evidence that supports their ideas.  So, I decided to start with topics.  

I picked out several topics that are prevalent in the novel. For example.  family support & structure, Socioeconomic stat & class structure, loyalty, juvenile violence and the consequence of those actions and finally education.  Then, I split the class up into groups, giving each group a different group number.  Their job was to go back to the text and find as many quotations as they could that supported each topic. Below you will find some of the AWESOME examples from class! 

Chapter 7-8 Take Home Quiz

Take Home Quiz Due Monday

Assignment Instructions

Monday (due Friday)

Tuesday (due Friday)

Vocabulary

Week of September 14th

Hello all, 

Below you will find our plan for the week as well as any assignment directions that are given in class!

MONDAY: Homework- "Change Poem" due Friday (instructions attached) 

TUESDAY:   Chapter 6 of The Outsiders (if not finished in class)-- CLICK FOR AUDIO

WEDNESDAY: Chapter 7 of The Outsiders 

THURSDAY:  Chapter 8 of The Outsiders

FRIDAY: Chapter 7&8 Quiz, Chapter 7&8 Vocabulary Due, Submit Interactive Notebooks for grading 

"Wanted Poster" Directions

Outsiders “Wanted” Poster Directions: You will create a Wanted poster for a character from The Outsiders. You will determine from your notes whether he/she shows acts of loyalty or rivalry in the book. Fill out the information below before finalizing your poster. See teacher for poster template or paper

1. Name of character:

2. Wanted for acts of:

3. Detailed physical description (what s/he looks like):

(use pages 6-10 in book for Greaser descriptions)

4. Personality traits (how s/he acts): _

5. Specific acts (you need to use the legal terms):

6. Consequences of acts (directly stated or inferred):

7. Known hangouts:

8. Nicknames (if any):

8. What to do if found:

9. Reward amount (if any):

10. Hand draw your character’s face using color for the final poster

11. Final poster must be neat and free from errors in grammar or spelling

12. Put your name, date, and period on the back of the final poster

Week of August 31st- September 4th

Below you will find the upcoming homework for the week as well as the audio link for The Outsiders  and the place at which we finished today in class.

THE OUTSIDERS 

124:00 MIN. 

MONDAY:  Finish Chapter #3

TUESDAY: No HW 

WEDNESDAY: "Wanted" Poster
THURSDAY: Vocabulary due tomorrow
FRIDAY: Chapter 3-5 Quiz

The Outsiders-Audio Versions

Below you will find a link for The Outsiders audio version as well as the general outlook for the upcoming week! 

The Outsiders 

THIS WEEK: 

Monday: Pre-Reading Questions (If not finished in class)

Tuesday: Finished Chapter #1, Fall Pictures 

Wednesday: NO HW

Thursday: Vocabulary (Chapter 1) due tomorrow/ Finish Chapter #2

Friday: Vocabulary due/ Chapter #1 & #2 Quiz 

CHAMPS

As most of you know, here at the middle school we have adopted and implement CHAMPS  classroom management and discipline plan within the classroom, on the playing field and anywhere in between. Below you will find my CHAMPS expectations for various classroom activities and transitions.

Classroom Expectation	Conversation	Help	Activity	Movement	Participation
Test	Level 0 (no talking)	Raise your hand	Teacher will pick up test	No Movement	On Task
Direct Instruction	Teacher Voice (0) or Whisper Voice (1)	Raise your Hand	On Task with instructions: Verbal/ Written responses to teacher Q’s	Free to move around room (purposeful)	Engaged: note taking, answering questions, analyzing
Technology	Depends on activity	Ask 3 Before Me to group	Verbal/ Written responses to teacher Q’s	Free to move around room (purposeful)	Only use tech. for educational purposes
Bell ringer	No Voice/ Whisper Voice	Raise your Hand	When the bell rings you have began your bell work and followed instructions	No Movement	Silent Engagement
Group work	Group Voice: 2-3	Ask 3 Before Me to group	Instructions from teacher	Free to move around room (purposeful)	You should be expecting an adult in the room to ask a Q and have a direct answer from every teammate

Remind 101

Remind 101 is a safe, free way for teachers to text message students and keep in touch with parents. I strongly urge you to subscribe to my Remind  101 classroom group in order to receive friendly reminders regarding academic and school related announcements! See you all soon! 

To use a text message: 

To use a URL link: 

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