Welcome!!!

Welcome to Ms. Samuels's 8th grade Language Arts class. Here you will find information for students and parents. Please continue to revisit this site for updates on various things occuring in class.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Week of Oct. 29-Nov. 2

Monday-
Objective: Complete BAV words from Friday,  review the current lesson's goal, and identify irony. We listened to the song Ironic by Alanis Morissette and either created our own ironic statement (Advanced) or identified irony within the song (standard).

HW: Advanced only-Complete highlighted columns of Activity #2 (If absent please see me before school for the handout)

Tuesday-
Objective: Understand the definition of word parts (Activity #2) and complete the exposition and rising action (Activity #3) of The Tell-Tale Heart pgs. 522-528.

HW: Finish reading the story.

Wednesday-
Objective: Complete the graphic organizer for plot sequence (Activity #3) and view the monologue of Vincent Price presenting "The Tell-Tale Heart." Part 1 & Part 2


Thursday- Lunch with Ms. Samuels to retake Characterization test
Objective:  Tracing the Character Development (Activity #4)

HW: Finish activities not completed in class

Friday- Test today:Plot & Conflict
                            (Activities 1-4 Due)
Objective: Demonstrate knowledge of plot development and conflict through testing, and review parallelism. 

Benchmark testing on Monday & Tuesday!!!!! Computer Lab 3


Monday, October 22, 2012

Week of October 22-29

Monday: Test Tomorrow!

Objective: Today you organized your binders for the second marking period, and learned that your 2nd Qtr Book Report projects will be due: Dec. 3rd!!!

Activities 16-18 are due tomorrow. Please refer to blog dates 10/11 for the vocabulary and 10/17 for the characterization questions.

Studying for test: To adhere to copyright laws,I could not find and internet site for characterization, please review your notes. For context clues however, I was able to find this link Context Clues. Please print your page and answers to receive full credit.

Tuesday
Objective: Today you were able to demonstrate your knowledge of characterization AND context clues through testing.

Wednesday
Objective: Today  you wrote a descriptive paragraph describing a fictional character or a person you know. Several examples were given in class using characters from famous novels.
If you were absent please refer to this blog: Writerlious to see some examples. Final character descriptive paragraphs due: FRIDAY.

Thursday-Activity #1
Objective: Determine the literary vocabulary words for our next short story: The Tell-Tale Heart, by Edgar Allen Poe. Be sure to follow the template provided. The vocabulary words are: profound, dissimulation, sagacity (yes similar to sagacious), crevice, gesticulation, derision, scantlings, and hearken.
Friday-Character Descriptive Paragraphs DUE!
Objective: Determine the academic vocabulary word for our next story. *Reminder-Your BAV should have 16 boxes per page. The words complete were: Plot, exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, foreshadow, suspense, mood, and irony. These definitions can be found at the back of your literature textbook.

Homework: Finish Vocabulary charts from Thursday and Friday.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Characterizing Joby

After reading The Drummer Boy of Shiloh in our textbook, pgs. 7-14 yesterday, we were very prepared to begin developing the character. To do this we used a stick figure diagram to answer questions about the character. For those students that did not finish in class, the questions are presented below.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Characterization and Context Clues

Today we took notes on two important terms, characterization and Context Clues.
Below you will find links to the Prezi used for each. Please take your notes in the FCAT notes section of your binder.

Characterization

Context Clues

Friday, October 12, 2012

Today I was caught off guard by the article on Amanda Todd, a 15 year old who was being bullied in another country. I felt the need to share this with students today, especially because we had our anti-bullying day on Wednesday. After having a short discussion we completed our BAV vocabulary words. If you were absent today, please refer to the link on the right for the article and please email for the BAV powerpoint. Have a great weekend.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Vocabulary day

Today we learned the definitions for 8 new words that we will see in our next story. This is Activity #16 and all words should be completed and pictures in color by tomorrow.

Vocabulary Words: Rustling, Solemn, Askew, Murmuring, Rein, Lag, Mutely, and Tremor.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Today we reviewed our homework and did a bit of house-keeping with our binders. Tomorrow we moving into our new unit "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh," and we will start, as we always do, with BAV and literary vocabulary words.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Test today!

Today was a whirlwind of a day! The students worked on Fact vs Opinion and then tested on Reliability and Validity.

Homework for tonight is to complete the Subject-Verb Agreement Handout.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Why Leaves turn Color in Fall

Today we began using Reciprocal Reading strategies in our new passage, Why Leaves turn Color in the Fall. Follow handout below to complete today's activity using your Literature textbooks. Be sure to summarize each paragraph in 15 words or less.
Predict:
1.        


2.


3.



Clarify:
1.


2.


3.


4.


5.

Questions:













On the back...
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Summer is leaving and the colors of fall are beginning to come through the leaves.
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Essential Message