And We're Into the Final Term for 2016/2017!

Here we are, already one week into the final term of the school year.  It's always amazing to me how quickly the year flies by.  Last week we were cruising through our agenda PRETTY well, but then we lost internet on Friday which slowed things down.  So when planning out what we need to do between now and spring break, I was trying to figure out where to make up a bit of time.  Then I got my reminders that Monday, 1st hour, they're going to an assembly, and later in the day I'm scheduled for a meeting, so the schedule is off again.

Therefore, given that they are taking the PSAT on April 12th, I think I'll give them a day on Khan Academy for practice tomorrow.  As long as they have internet access, they can do this from anywhere, so if you're concerned about these big tests, feel free to have your student show you Khan Academy.

After that, we'll finish discussing the model text we've been reading, then move into the mini-research paper.  I will give them a giant packet with explanations and work space.  As we do each step I check in that they're doing it.  We'll use Google Docs to do the paper and peer reviews; then we'll print and submit them before spring break if all goes well.

So here's what's coming up this week:

• Monday, 3/27 - 1st hour assembly; 2nd Hour - finish reading and annotating the chapter from Animals in Translation; Khan Academy/PSAT the rest of the day.
• Tuesday, 3/28 - finish discussing Animals in Translation and make sure final quiz is turned in; check in annotations; hand out research packets - pick topic by Wednesday.
• Wednesday, 3/29 - Academic Advisory - form questions for research - due Thursday.
• Thursday, 3/30 - Career Advisory - take notes for research.
• Friday, 3/31 - take notes for research.

So that's the plan.  I hope everyone has a great week. Ciao!

And We're Into the Final Term for 2016/2017! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://www.laurastubbs.blogspot.com.

Welcome Spring!

Can you believe we're actually starting the final term for the 2016/2017 school year?  I know you're blocked from seeing HAC right now, and I'm putting the largest grade of Term 3 in the books, so I think I'll print off a grade report for your kid and send it home later in the week.  I'll drop you an email when I do it so you know to look for it.

This week is not only the start of Term 4, it's also Coming Home Week, so there are a lot of fun things going on: dress up spirit days, an assembly on Thursday, a dance on Friday.  Here's the schedule for the dress up days:

• Monday - Pajama Day - extra point if you're in Superhero theme
• Tuesday - Dynamic Duo-Twin Day - extra points for Superhero Twins, Superhero vs. Villain, or Superhero & Sidekick
• Wednesday - Superhero Class Color Day - Freshmen are green (or Hulk) - extra points for a Green Superhero (for those of us who are Spartans, this is easy)
• Thursday - Clark Kent Day, also known as Pre-superhero/Nerd Day
• Friday - Wolverine Day - dress in Blue and Gold (for those of us who are Spartans, this is painful)

In the meantime, the academics carry on.  So here is my academic calendar this week:

• Monday, 3/20 
• The 10% Summary from the article we read last week is due, so we'll do the read-aloud, edit, revising and turn it in; 
• Continue verb tense
• Type 1 about research and start the next module
• We'll start reading chapter 1 of the book Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin.  This is the only chapter we read of this book.  As they read, they will need to annotate, keep track of some information on a chart, and do some vocabulary
• Tuesday, 3/21 
• Verb tense 
• Type 2 Quiz over yesterday's reading
• We'll discuss what we read and move forward with Chapter 1 and the annotations, vocabulary, and chart
• Wednesday, 3/22 - Academic Advisory 
• Type 2 Quiz over yesterday's reading
• We'll discuss what we read and turn in the chart and vocabulary; homework will be to do a little more reading and annotation in the chapter
• Thursday, 3/23 - Activity Schedule for the Assembly 
• Type 1 and the discuss the reading from yesterday
• We'll finish the chapter and annotate it
• Friday, 3/24 
• Continue Verb Tense
• A final quiz over Chapter 1 of Animals in Translation 
• I'll introduced the Research Project

So it's a full week.  I hope everyone has a good one as we transition into Spring!  Ciao!

 
Welcome Spring! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://www.laurastubbs.blogspot.com.

Well THAT Was a Weird!

What a strange storm!  Clear blue skies, lots of sun, and 60 mph winds.  I hope that everyone who lost power now has it back, and I hope everyone was able to stay warm in the freezing temperatures that followed the storm.  Now it's time to get back to reality, so here's this week's schedule:

• Monday, 3/13 - picking up where we left off, on Monday I'm going to have them do a short exercise on Quote Sandwiches, then they will have time to work on the pre-writing/writing of the essay.
• Tuesday, 3/14 - we'll do some verbs and then they can spend the rest of the time working on their essay.
• Wednesday, 3/15 - Academic Advisory (Jostens will be here to do class-ring stuff with freshmen) - the essay is due!  We'll read-aloud, edit, and revise it and then submit it.  After that we'll spend the rest of the hour doing Khan Academy PSAT training.
• Thursday, 3/16 - Career Advisory - Verb Packet #6; we have a short non-fiction article to read and annotate.
• Friday, 3/17 - Verbs; then we'll work on a 10% Summary Start Sheet and Type 3 assignment that will be due on Monday.

That's the plan.  We'll see what the weather does next, but hopefully we'll get back into routine after this impromptu break we didn't expect.

Have a great week! Ciao!


Well THAT Was Weird! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://www.laurastubbs.blogspot.com.

Two Weeks for Term Three

Buongiorno!  What a beautiful, sunny, Sunday morning!  The birds are singing, and though rain is promised for later, the temperature is going up...it makes for a happy morning!

Well, here we are...two weeks left in term three. The year is moving fast!  We're accomplishing a lot (the lack of snow days probably helps), and we continue to push forward.  Last week we finished reading The Crucible and most classes are done watching the movie.  This week we'll finish the unit by doing the final assessment essay.  While finishing this unit, I tried to break up the monotony a bit by adding in some activities such as:

We started working on PSAT tutorials on Khan Academy - we'll do another round once the essays are written and submitted;

They read in small groups for part of the script;

They also did walk and reads to get the blood flowing - they usually like this.

So we're ready to finish this unit off.  Here's the schedule for the week:

• Monday, 3/6 - those not done with the movie will finish it; we'll do some verbs; we'll do a Type 1 journal writing to get ready for the final question; I'll hand out and we'll start working on the pre-writing packet.
• Tuesday, 3/7 - we'll work on some verbs; we'll complete the pre-writing packet.
• Wednesday, 3/8 - 1/2 Day - we'll work on writing the final essay. 
• Thursday, 3/9 - Academic Advisory - verbs; writing the final essay - due Friday.
• Friday, 3/10 - Final Assessment Essay is due!  Then we'll do Khan Academy for the PSAT tutorials.

That's the plan.  I hope everyone has a good Sunday and a great week.  Ciao!

Two Weeks for Term Three by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://www.laurastubbs.blogspot.com.