Hellos Students and Parents,
The GA Milestone test will be upon us soon. We will continue to heavily focus on rigorous reading and writing activities in preparation for the test. This year, seventh grade students will be taking their tests online, so we will be visiting the lab often to practice this skill. This week's agenda: Monday: On Demand Writing Assessment - a writing test to assess how well a student understands the writing process using a particular writing genre Tuesday: On Demand Writing continued Wednesday: Test refection and debriefing Thursday: USA TestPrep writing/typing practice Friday: Reading Groups Homework will be assigned and due Friday. Please encourage your student to read 30 minutes daily. Reading contributes to vocabulary acquisition, better comprehension and increased writing proficiency. Have a great week! WELCOME BACK EVERYONE!
I hope everyone had an enjoyable break. With that being said, there are only 25 more school days before the Georgia Milestones. Due to this, our focus will continue to be reading and responding to texts through analytical writing. This week we will revisit the Writing On Demand (WOD) essay we did in January. The prompt focused on informational writing and its elements. The students will see how they were assessed and have the opportunity to evaluate themselves as well as revise their pieces based on current knowledge and readiness. It's almost time for break! However, before we leave, we have to conclude our week.
Students will continue to work on their explanatory essays. Monday - citing text evidence/drafting Tuesday - drafting Wednesday - revising Thursday - final copies Today, students further analyzed the article, "Marketing to Kids Gets More Savvy with New Technologies. Students constructed questions in "expert" groups today based on one section of the article; tomorrow, they will deploy to other groups to discuss the other sections.
On Wednesday, the students will begin to plan and organize their explanatory essays - Embedded Assessment 1 for this unit. Thursday, we will work on conclusions. Assessments this week: Cornell Notes Socratic Seminar Observation Socratic Seminar Reflection Article quiz Hello,
This week students will be learning a new method of text analysis called Socratic Seminar. Today, we spent time learning about how its purpose and how it is structured. Tomorrow, we will read the text and learn how to construct probing questions that help students analyze texts on a deeper level. The Socratic Seminar will take place on Thursday. Assessments
Please use the mentor paragraph below as reference when preparing to write informational texts. mentor_paragraph.pptx Hello everyone,
I hope everyone was warm and safe during our time out of school. Now, it's back to business. This week, we will be focused on primary and secondary sources. Students will be going to the lab to research and collect articles that will be useful for their informational/explanatory essay. In class activities, we focus on applying the concepts independently and in groups. Assessments this week: constructed response, primary and secondary quiz and pop quiz on advertising techniques. Hello all,
This week we are still practicing and reinforcing skills associated with Informative/Explanatory writing. Additionally, we will re-visit close reading and text annotation strategies. Students will be writing 2 constructed responses this week on topics related to Unit 2 : Marketing and Advertising to Teens. These will count as their assessments for the week. Students are reminded to review the T-L-Q strategy (transitions, lead-ins and quotes) to assist in the revision process of their writing as well as the 5 advertising techniques used to market and influence products to teens. Hello Students and Parents,
Happy New Year! This week our focus will be writing informational/explanatory constructed responses. Students will view a presentation on advertising techniques and they will write a constructed response on this topic. Additionally, they will compare and contrast methods and be expected to write a second response using a compare and contrast text structure. Both assignments will be graded. Homework Students will be given an article entitled, "The Power of Advertising." This assignment is due on Friday. Additionally, students should be reading for at least 30 minutes daily to increase stamina and comprehension. Hello Parents and Students,
School will resume on Tuesday, December 12, 2017. In class, we will continue to work on Unit 2 and discuss the effects and techniques that advertisers use to target and/or influence teen choices. The lessons will come from our SpringBoard books, which all students can now access online. This feature is very helpful if students need additional time to read, understand or apply critical thinking skills to the text. If for some reason your student does not have access or has forgotten their login information, please let me know. Please be safe as the snow continues to melt and have a great week! Monday- Reading Inventory Tuesday - Reading Inventory Wednesday - Text Features Thursday - Quality Research Questions Friday - Independent Reading Tomorrow, and Tuesday, students will be taking the Reading Inventory (RI). This is an important test, so we are encouraging students to take it seriously and take their time.
The proficiency range for a 7th grader is 970-1124. Please discuss your student's current Lexile level with the to see where they fall and how they can set a goal to improve upon their score. Although we are just beginning Unit 2, the focus of this unit is to write an Informative or Explanatory paper based on a research topic and/or question. Discuss some possible quality questions with your child, so they will be actively thinking about a topic for an effective paper. Papers/Essays carry high weight for grading. Students are reminded to read 30 minutes a night and to always have their independent reading books with them, especially on Fridays. |