It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood!
Posted by: Mrs. Cornwell in English 7, English 8, GeneralWeek 5 already….Wow! This week, both 7th and 8th graders have been digging deep into their memory banks for those priceless jewels. You know, those totally unplanned, yet completely memorable family activities, or some your “finest” parenting moments. Actually, most students are recalling things like accidents, emergencies, and a few first crushes.
Many of you have completed your portion of this assignment as well by creating your list of 10 memories of your precious child. I’ve only been able to give these a passing glance at this point (still knee-deep in 7th grade comics and 8th grade descriptive paragraphs – oh yeah, and whatever it is that my adorable child keep hacking up at 3am!!) but they are turning out fabulous!
We will revisit these “neighborhood maps” later in the school year when students begin to work on their memoir. You may have heard them talk about writing personal narratives in previous years, and a memoir is much the same. One slight difference is that we try to guide students toward the events in their past that have evoked some kind of change in their lives. Often these pieces are very meaningful to the students and reflect a great deal of time and energy.
Okay. Here’s the nitty gritty part of this post. Next week, starting Monday, October 8th, students will be taking their ELA MEAP test in their ELA classes. This will continue all through next week and the ELA portion of the test will wrap up on Monday the 15th. We spent the first couple weeks of this school year talking about the various portions of the test and different strategies they could employ to make it more manageable.
Lastly, students have received their weekly reading logs which I will collect on Monday, October 8th. Students are asked to complete 60 minutes of reading time and obtain verification of said reading in the form of intials or a signature on their reading log. We will not be doing a log next week in lieu of the MEAP.
Have a fabulous weekend!
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October 6th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Geez! It’s a good thing I read this, Erica hasn’t told me about my homework!!! I guess I had better start thinking of something!
[Reply]
October 12th, 2007 at 10:13 am
[...] are the ways in which my students really are kids. Added to last week’s work time on neighborhood maps, when tongues were curled and lips were pursed in concentration, this week I’ve seen some [...]
October 21st, 2007 at 8:56 pm
[...] I’m proud to report that after only two weeks (I know, I know) I have ALL my students’ neighborhood map projects, the 8th grade descriptive paragraphs and 7th grade comic strips scored and returned to students. [...]