The last week of school... final exams... early release on Friday.  For ELAR students who have permission, we'll watch the movie "The Outsiders:  The Complete Novel."  Here's how it looks:

We start the week with our last round of reading, vocabulary, and comprehension screeners.  Then, we finish The Outsiders.  Last graded assignment for this grading period, Outsiders Reflections Ch. 5-12, are due Friday.  Here's how it looks:

STAAR testing (and re-testing) dominate this week.  Friday, students who qualified and have parental/guardian permission will attend the trip to the water park Summer Fun in Belton, TX.  Here's how it looks:

We begin a two-week block on the novel The Ousiders, by S.E. Hinton.  We're interrupted next week by STAAR Testing and Summer Fun day at Summer Fun in Belton, TX, but we'll complete the novel the week after that.  Here's how next week looks:

Week two of our original children's book project involves planning, writing  illustrating, and constructing the book itself.  Student's complete a planning packet (for an assessment grade) and turn in the final product on Friday for another assessment grade.  Here's roughly how it looks:

We'll spend the next two weeks analyzing children's books (including how they are organized and built) and then writing and illustrating a children's book either individually or in pairs.  Here's the overview of this week:

ELAR 8 (in conjunction with 8th Grade Science):  Write a Children’s Book Project

You will, either alone or with one partner, create a children’s picture book. The story for your book will be based in an ecosystem and explore a topic related to one of these relationships in your ecosystem:

• Predator/Prey
  
• Parasite/Host
  
• Producer/Consumer
  

See the science portion of the grading rubric and Mrs. Keith for more details.

For ELAR, you will:
Week One (Google Forms)

• Always keep track of all of your efforts by filling out the Personal Accountability Log.   This keeps you on track, serves as an organizer, and helps me see when you worked, how long, and more.
  
• Read numerous picture books, then select three for analysis of all of their major features. Fill out Children’s Book Analysis for the four you choose.  You should fill out The goal is to discover underlying concepts, themes, techniques, trends, etc. that you can harness yourself and apply to your own project in a unique way.
  
• Synthesize and draw conclusions through discussion and from your OWN findings found in the previous analysis sheets. You fill out Information Synthesis. You will be surprised to find out: trends; a secret formula; general rules, etc., all of which provide “guidelines” for you as you move forward on this journey. You will also learn from your classmates.
  

Week Two Packet (A paper packet I will give to you)

• Plan out your ideas, using graphic organizer, “4A-4B-4C Planning My Project.”  Write out, text only, your first draft, using “5 -5A-5B Writing My Story.”
  
• Strategize, plan, and layout the entire book. Use “6A-6B Rewrite and Organize.” Place text snippets where they will go in the actual story. Note on which page illustrations should go (and give them numbers for reference). ESSENTIAL sheet.
  
• Further strategize and plan layout, Using “7 Mock-up of Picture Book.” Create a miniature mock-up. Invaluable, as it along with 6A and B, create a template to follow as you create your actual book.
  
• Once all of your decisions have been made, focus on CREATION and assembly, using software, hand application with computer, crafts, or a combination. You will be graded based on the rubric.
  

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We begin the first week of the final grading period by reviewing informational text.  Students (alone or in pairs) will read a graphic historical novel on a major Civil War Battle.  They will then present to the class what they've learned and how the form of the information did (or did not) enhance the presentation of the information.  Presentations (on Wednesday and Thursday) count as an assessment grade.

We continue writing original poetry this week, with the final product being the final assessment grade of this (5th) grading period.  Grading period ends Friday.  Assignment details and grading rubric are below (last week's post).  Here's how it plays out:

STAAR Reading 8 and STAAR Math 8 dominate this week's agenda.  Then, we transition into our last poetry unit, a unit that will take us to the end of the 5th grading period and include another project.  Here's how the week pans out:

Next week is STAAR Reading and STAAR Math Testing.  We'll concentrate this week on a couple of textbook selections that deal with argument and with cause and effect.  Resources and calendar are below.