A Quarter of the Way There

The first quarter of the 2016-2017 school year officially came to an end yesterday.  The students in #ENGRoom121 have accomplished a great deal.  Some highlights are below:

1.  Quarter 1 STAR Reader Assessment
2.  Get to Know with Play-Doh
3.  Google Drawings "All About Me" Presentations
4.  Building a CommUNITY of Respect, Kindness, and Courage
5.  Types of Sentences (Simple, Compound, Complex, and Compound-Complex)
6.  Traits of a Perfect Paragraph
7.  Read The Outsiders

On Monday, October 17th students will take the STAR Reader Assessment for the second time this school year.  We are looking for growth .2 or .3 increase from the students score in August.  This shows that there is a progression in the positive direction.  One cannot become a better reader without practicing reading.  Students must commit to 30 minutes of reading five days a week outside of school to improve.  It is a journey I am making with my students this school year.  My philosophy has always been I won't ask students to do something I'm not willing to do myself, so my first quarter reading portfolio and AR quiz scores are as follows:

1.  The Illustrated Man - Ray Bradbury - AR Score - 10/10 - 10 points
2.  Ender's Game -  Orson Scott Card - AR Score - 8/10 - 8 points
3.  All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr - AR Score - 18/20 - 18.9 points

The second quarter is an exciting one for the 8th grade because we will be reading Charles Dickens', A Christmas Carol, and going downtown to Playhouse Square to watch it live on stage.  December 8th will be a memorable day for our 8th-grade students as learning continues outside the walls of MHJH.  Next week the students will be introduced to Charles Dickens, the Victorian Era, and the classic novel A Christmas Carol.

Here's a look at the upcoming week (10/17 - 10/24):

1.  STAR Reader Assessment (Monday)
2.  Celebration of first quarter successes (Monday) ... Shout Outs of Success and Red Bandana ceremony
3.  Complete Perfect Paragraph sample #2
4.  Introduction to Charles Dickens, "A Christmas Carol"
5.  The Outsiders movie night (Thursday, October 20 - 5:30-8 PM)

Vocabulary to know for the upcoming week (10/17 - 10/24):

1. Victorian Era - the period of British history when Queen Victoria reigned
2. Debtors Prison - a place people, who couldn't pay their debts went

Beginning on Monday everyone has a chance to start over and begin again.  Let's build on what we've learned during the first nine weeks and make every effort to continue down the path of success we've created, or make improvements so that we can join our classmates on this path.

GO TITANS & INDIANS!