A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.!!! What a show! I am so proud of each of the 130 participants, especially the 7th and 8th graders! You were AWESOME!!! If you didn’t get a chance to see it, here are some pictures (remember that I am not a professional photographer…unfortunately). I attended Sunday’s performance with my family, so I tried to capture all acts with my students in them. For the rest of the pictures, check our our Shutterfly website (the link is on the left). I also took a video clip of the Traveling Troupe performance if you’d like to watch that!

DO NOT FORGET to complete the following survey for 8th grade presentation!

https://forms.coe.ilstu.edu/metcalf/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=n6KM7l4

You have until midnight Wednesday (April 14th) to complete it!!

Today is Monday. No, I mean Tuesday. But, man, does it feel like a Monday! And then to top it off, it was HOT and HUMID; and it was a C day in the afternoon for 8th grade in which we definitely over-planned! What a C.R.A.Z.Y. day!!! A good day, thankfully!!

This morning 7B had about an hour to work on finalizing their Book Reviews which will be due on Thursday morning. Students will need to turn in their edited drafts, final drafts, editing checksheet, and rubric. Make sure you print your reviews off BEFORE class!!

Seventh graders were also introduced to a new poetry unit today–Nature Poems. They will be reading nature poems over the next couple of weeks before going to Outdoor Ed where they will be writing their very own nature poems. It will be more fun than it seems–I promise!!

After starting a new work work unit today in 7th grade and finishing one in 8th grade, Ms. Leisch reviewed clues to help students read non-fiction more efficiently! Clues such as picture captions, headings & subheadings, notes in the margin, and chapter introductions were discussed. What a valuable review lesson! These clues will definitely help students become better content area readers!

8M were introduced to “Madeline” poetry today–ask them what this means! Hopefully, by the end of the week they will be able to answer this question and will have written one of their own for their biographical subject.

During the Social Studies block, Mrs. Miller helped them organize the information that they learned while reading their biographies before teaching them how to use NoodleBib (www.noodletools.com). This is an on-line website where students can document their research (the old-fashioned notecards). Eighth graders have until Monday to complete their research and send me their “notecards.” They need to find at least 3 different sources for more information. They should also be triangulating their information–making sure that they can find facts in at least three different places.

Whew….I told you it was a busy day. So busy that I totally forgot to snap some pictures of the students in action! Sorry!! Tomorrow!

Oh…and ALL students should be reading 30 minutes EVERY night!! That means EACH student should be bringing a book home to read. If they don’t have one, they need to GET one!!

Please complete the following survey for 8th grade presentation!

https://forms.coe.ilstu.edu/metcalf/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=n6KM7l4

You have until April 9th to complete it!!

Wow! What a busy week, and it’s been only four days!! The Middle School team was blessed with SEVEN interns who started on Monday! Two for Language Arts, two for Science, two for Social Studies, and one in Math. Ms. Leisch and Ms. Wisniewski have begun getting to know the students as readers, writers, and people! They are a great addition to the classroom and are both very excited to work with the students over the next three weeks.

Ms. Leisch and Ms. Wisniewski

Seventh graders have begun writing their book reviews–rough drafts will be due at the beginning of this week (Tuesday for 7B and Wednesday for 7S). We also had a great discussion of what makes a book a Page Turner vs. what makes a book a Good Literary Novel. I posed the question, “What type of book would you want to read while you are lying on a beach in Fiji?” So it was decided that we will be taking a field trip to Fiji in order to try both types of books!! Wouldn’t that be nice?!

We have also wrapped up a Word Work unit where we reviewed Irregular Verbs. Students took word reviews yesterday and 7S will take theirs today.

Ms. Leisch and our America Reads worker, Ms. Wood helping students

7th graders planning their book reviews

Eighth graders are in the process of submitting their final book reviews. They need to be emailed to me by Friday. Students will also have the opportunity to write a review of a restaurant, movie, song, etc. for an extra assessment grade if they choose. This extra assessment will be due by Friday, April 9.

8th graders conferencing and working on their book reviews

Students have also finished (or were supposed to have finished) their biographies this week. More research will be done on their biographical subject next week as we start our multi-genre writing. We also discussed the difference between redundancy and repetition, and as students were working on revising their book reviews they found several examples of redundancy in their writing!

Ms. Wisniewski helping an 8th grade

Today, I was so impressed with the WWII monologues the 8th graders presented! They were amazing! It was obvious as to how much work went into their stories. Pictures can be found on our Shutterfly site. I tried to get good ones of everyone, the lighting in the auditorium made it hard!

This is what I deal with on a daily basis with my 8th grade boys!!

And just a reminder (if you need it)–we have a FOUR day weekend! I’m sure you will all miss not being at school have a great weekend!!

It’s so hard to believe that fourth quarter is officially underway. Where has the time gone?! I am amazed at how fast this year has flown by! The students have been working so hard and producing such quality work, that time seems to get away from us!

Fourth quarter is the same length as all of the other quarters; but with Circus, four day weekends, 7th grade Outdoor Ed, 7th grade Humanities trip, 8th grade class trip, and 8th grade Graduation it seems to be shorter. Before we know it, May 19th (8th grade Graduation) and May 24th (7th graders last day) will be here!

This week the 7th graders have started a unit on writing Book Reviews and have spent time watching their The Outsiders videos. Please visit their sites to see their videos. They are AMAZING!!! Such critical and creative thinking went into each one!

The 8th graders have also started writing Book Reviews, and are well into reading their biographies. Each student (to go along with the decade they’re studying in Social Studies) chose a person to read a biography about and conduct further research in order to create a Multi-Genre Research Project. These research projects will be fabulous. I guarantee it! The biographies need to be finished next week!!

New book orders have also gone out–they are due by next Thursday, April 1 (no fools!).

Next week we will meeting two interns–Ms. Laura Leisch and Ms. Sarah Wisniewski. They will be with us until April 23.

The next two weeks are four day weeks. Here is the modified schedule for LA/SS.
Monday, March 29             7th Grade: A Day               8th Grade: B Day
Tuesday, March 30            7th Grade: B Day                8th Grade: B Day
Wednesday, March 31       7th Grade: A Day               8th Grade: C Day
Thursday, April 1                7th Grade: B Day                8th Grade: WWII Monologues
Tuesday, April 6                  7th Grade: A Day                8th Grade: All LA (making up time in LA from the 1st)
Wednesday, April 7           7th Grade: B Day                 8th Grade: B Day
Thursday, April 8               7th Grade: C Day                 8th Grade: C Day              (30 minute classes in morning b/c of Circus)
Friday, April 9                     7th Grade: C Day                8th Grade: A Day

Also, on Monday, March 29th from 6:30 to 7:30 in MLS 102 (the multi-purpose room), there will be a 7th grade Parent Meeting about Outdoor Ed. We hope that all 7th grade parents can attend!

Last Thursday (March 4) Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Herbert, Mrs. Irvin and I flew out to Boston to attend a Nancie Atwell Lessons that Change Writers workshop. Let me tell you! About 8 or 9 years ago, I was privileged to hear her talk. But this time, oh my, I think that I got sooooo much more out of it! Especially since I have used numerous lessons from Lessons that Change Writers.

She is the middle school writing workshop “guru,” if I may. I would love to be able to model my writing workshop after hers, and my goal is to try! Her students usually produce about 23 pieces of writing EACH every year! That is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.!! We don’t have as much time for Language Arts as she does at her school (they have about 80 minutes for writing every day), but I think my students can produce a lot more than they do now!

It will take time, patience, and time management, but the end goal will be worth it. Atwell expects her students to draft between 3-5 pages each week and to write an hour from Thursday through Sunday (no LA on Fridays because it’s their open “art” day). She keeps students progressing through their writing by taking Status of the Class updates and through Writing Conferences. Those are definitely two things that I need to work on doing a better job of as a teacher.

Anyway, let’s just say that I learned A LOT from attending this workshop. Some of the things that I learned I will start applying 4th quarter, while others will wait until next year. The goal is to produce better writers!!

And of course, we couldn’t see Atwell without getting a picture with her:

Mrs. Herbert, Mrs. Irvin, Nancie Atwell, me, and Mrs. Miller

Oh, and the night we arrived in Boston, we had to eat seafood, right?! We had a wonderful Lobster bake…my favorite part of the meal was the mussel! Yum!!

Eating our fabulous meal at Legal Seafood!

Attention 7th graders! Remember to bring in your pictures and songs to class after spring break so all we have to do is plug them in to imovie! If you come to class prepared, you will get it done faster!  Don’t come to class after break with fewer than 40 pictures and 10 songs.

You have had approximately 7 hours of class to work on this project so far. You also had the option to work on it today. It will be due Wednesday/Thursday after break so you will also have approximately 90 minutes to work on it before the due date.

My goal for these videos has been to show them to the entire class. However, if you need the extra work time, you will just be posting your video to your blog (we’ll do this together). I understand that this is a lot of work, but I have given you a lot of time as well.

I am SO excited to view them!!

1. I am an only child and am still very close to my parents.

2. My best friend is also my cousin who I think of as a sister.

3.I teach 7th and 8th graders–12-14 years old–and I love all of them.

4. I’m probably the happiest now than I have ever been.

5. I don’t feel like I am 33 years old.

6. My sorority sisters, Jackie & Amanda, set me up on a blind date with who is now my husband. Nobody thought that that’s how it would end up!

7.I always wanted a daughter, but love my two boys more than anything!

8. My favorite foods are cheeseburgers, maui onion potato chips, and Little Debbie Christmas trees!

9. I don’t like guns, but I really want to learn how to bow hunt. I’d love to go deer hunting.

10. My favorite book is To Kill a Mockingbird, The HELP, and everything by Nicholas Sparks.

11. I am looking forward to moving this summer (hopefully)…my neighbors drive me crazy!!

12. Cooking is what I do to relax. I absolutely love cooking!

13. I really try to like everybody, but I can’t stand being around negative people.

14. My favorite sport is baseball. My favorite team is The Cubs. It really sucks that they traded Mark DeRosa.

15. My favorite soap is General Hospital. I watched with my babysitter growing up, and then got started watching it again with my college roommate, Melissa. Now I watch it whenever I can even though my husband hates every second of it.

16. My other favorite shows are Brothers and Sisters; Criminal Minds ; The Office; and How I Met Your Mother?

17. I have LOVED Anderson Cooper since his Channel One days.

18. I really do hate my name, “April.” The jokes never get funny!

19.  I ate mussels tonight for dinner. It was the first time I had had them and LOVED them!!

20.  Dr. Pepper is a weakness…

21.  My ideal vacation would be to the Dominican Republic!!

22. If I had to pick another job, I think working for the FBI would be fascinating.

23. I seriously would consider adopting an orphan from Haiti!

24.  My most embarrassing moment teaching was when moneybags made me fall into my chair, go spinning around, and gave me a “j” shape cut on my hand!

25. I wasn’t the best student in high school, but I really should have been!

Your tests have been graded and scores are posted to Blackboard. You can see your actual tests by logging into blackboard and going to your grade center.

If you are not satisified with your score, you can complete a Request for a LA Retake which needs to be filled out, signed, and returned to me by Monday, March 1 at 3 pm. Retakes will be available during HELP next week, but need to be completed by Spring Break.  If you have any questions, please email me!