All students in all classes will have the option to retake any quiz from the year so far. Review sheets will be made available on Wednesday.
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The Review of Literature is a big part of the science fair project/paper process. It requires students to read different articles that are relevant to what they may want to do an experiment on. It gives them background knowledge as they approach their experiment.
I think our students are so used to cranking out a large paper like this just for the requirement and only viewing it through the "school assignment" lens, that they are missing the big picture. Some are confused about how they can start to write their paper if they have not done their experiment yet... that is precisely the purpose of these first sections, to prepare them to do their experiment. They will be REVIEWING LITERATURE that is related to where their interests lie- as they read about plants or velocity or whatever, they will start to formulate their own ideas of what they want to do an experiment about. They will see what has already been done and where they might take the next step. They will then use this information to decide WHAT their experiment will be and move onto their PURPOSE (why are you doing the experiment) and HYPOTHESIS (what do you think will happen?). These are all due on October 21 and will help them as they prepare to execute their projects. These parts SHOULD be written BEFORE the experiment. Thus, the students will have a chart to help them keep track of what they read. The requirement for CPS Science Fair is 6 sources need to be reviewed/read. This research will be due on Oct 7th and I will provide as much class time as I can for it. REVISED ON 9/29/15. SIX SOURCES INSTEAD OF TWELVE. After starting our Science Fair paper lessons, the proposed Monday, Wednesday, Friday structure for our academic writing will be too choppy. I will be changing the structure of writing class to the following:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday= academic writing and lessons (like the Science Fair Paper) Thursday, Friday= Writer's Workshop (more choice and fun writing process activities) The students have been responding so well to the fun brainstorming activities we have been doing! It's great to see their energy! The Reading Quiz on Thursday will cover the VOCABULARY ONLY from the informational handout on Vietnam (the sheet with the map on it that was handed out on Friday). Students can use the hand out, so please note that I will not be using that exact wording for the quiz... :)
Scholastic has monthly flyers for books that are reasonably priced and high interest for our students. I am currently waiting on the next flyer to arrive.
In the meantime, if you are looking for a way to help your child stay interested in reading, consider ordering some books through Scholastic. They keep track of our orders and I earn points for books for our classroom library every time parents/students order books for themselves! It's a great program. Here is the website where you can create an account, view the flyers online and order very easily online. Our class code is NLZ2H. Scholastic Reading Club Online ordering is the easiest and most efficient way to go. If you need to order by paper and send the money to me, just let me know to watch for it. Happy Reading! Our writing classes are only 35 minutes long. This is very doable and actually very conducive to the attention spans of tweens/teens. That is, IF we can get rolling right away.
My classes of 206 and 201 struggled greatly today (and other days, but today was especially rough) with getting the correct VOICE LEVEL for the tasks we were doing. Quite a few students needed more time with the quiz from Friday. Mrs. Parks had to step in after she couldn't get her message through over the loud speaker to our super loud class. This, of course, is not where we want to be heading during week 3. Students were still not able to complete their quizzes. My 208 struggled with quiet in the halls-- I had a 2nd grade teacher come out and very politely request that we try harder to be quiet as she had just gotten her class focused and when we came by after lunch, her lesson was completely derailed. Please, talk to your child about their part in the chaos. We have to work together to stay positive and to use our 35-minute classes to our advantage- there's no time to get bored or stay in your seat too long, etc. But, to accomplish anything, everyone needs to come in, get in their seat, do the bell ringer with a zero voice, and let the lesson roll on. Spending 20 minutes waiting until folks get the message to get on board is not an option. Thanks. We have broken down the science fair paper into parts that we will chunk and tackle in writing class. Then, the entire finished paper will be assessed as well.
Details are here in a lengthy document- I will be sending copies of this home with each student as we tackle each part (I am trying to load a link to it here but it is not cooperating right now!) Due Dates for each part are posted in the room. We will teach each part, complete it for a small grade, then have that part all ready to slot into (or to revise for) the final paper.
My two reading classes are learning a lot about Vietnam and the Vietnam War in preparation for starting Inside Out and Back Again next week. We are looking at maps, doing KWL charts, watching videos, researching our own questions, and getting some corrections to misinformation we had. We have talked about finding the gist of something we read as well as setting and how important context of the setting is in a story.
Writing classes are covering some broad, overarching concepts about writing- what the writing process looks like, what are the different types of writing (expository, argumentative, and narrative) and how audience and purpose shape what we write. We have done a few small brainstorming activities in our notebooks. We will start the Science Fair Paper on Monday. Please expect READING homework on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. Usually it will be independent reading but it will also branch into vocabulary as well.
Writing will have much less homework, as it does not lend itself as well to homework (and our class is pretty short!). Please watch for some, though, to support those things that I simply won't get to in class, specifically grammar work. This will come probably once or twice a week and I'll try to be mindful of the demands from reading class. We will have quizzes once a week in both reading and writing. ALL classes have a quiz tomorrow, except Writing for 208, who will have their quiz on Friday. We have student council elections tomorrow, which will interrupt our day. Which ever classes miss their quiz for me, they will simply have it the next day. Thank you to those who were able to attend our Back to School Night tonight. We had a good turn out and nice questions.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. You will find a copy of my handout about class and how I grade here, Mrs. Papczun's Classroom Info Sheet. Please get on Parent Portal if you are not already on there. Less than half of our students/parents are connected to the gradebook online! Here is the website to visit: http://cps.edu/Pages/Students.aspx. You will need your child's student id number and the pin, which will be made available through a letter home in the next few days (if you did not get it tonight). Things to note that we overlooked tonight:
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Mrs. PapczunI am always excited to write about what's happening in the classroom! Archives
May 2016
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