Read Write Learn

Can it really be November already?  I hope you’ve had time to enjoy the autumn colors and cooler temperatures.  Although November is a short school month, we have a lot of learning to do.

Language Arts

November will be a busy month with several ECR writing projects in Language Arts.  Here are a few due dates:

Nov. 6:  Verse novel book review and Reading Log

Nov. 10 Survival Story

Nov. 13 Sensory Poem

Nov. 16 PSA brochures about a disaster(We’ll do the research and most of this project in school. )

As an additional challenge, many students in our class have volunteered to participate in the National Novel Writing Month which is held every November.  I’ll meet with them once a week to se how they’re doing and give some writing tips.  It’s a just fun activity for students who enjoy writing.

Reading

During the month of November, we’ll continue to  read selected articles, stories and poems.  Our skills this month are: identifying the theme of a literary work, summarizing, finding the author’s purpose and cause and effect.

Reading Log due dates:

Nov. 23 for A day students

Nov. 24 for B day students

All Classes

Please remember to bring your agenda to class every day.

Have a great November!

Ms. Kulp

October has always been a fun month for my family.  The Oktoberfest, Apple Festivals, long drives to look at the colorful trees, homemade soups and of course, Halloween.  For some reason, the months of October, November and December seem to fly by so much faster than any other time of year.  In school, these months go  by fast too.   Here’s an update of some of the activities we’ll be involved in this month.

Language Arts

The PTA is having it’s annual Reflections Contest.  The theme this year is “Beauty is…”  Our class is in the process of working on poems, stories, and plays for possible submission for the contest.  Students who wish to enter their writing in the contest will need to have a parent permission form signed.  I’ll send those home the week of Oct. 12.  Last year, one of my LA students won 3 rd. place.  We have many wonderful  writers in our class so I’m encouraged that we will have another winner this year.  Please email me if you have any questions about the contest.

Upcoming activities:

We’re finishing up our Family Dynamics unit this week with a fun writing project called “Creat the Perfect Sibling.”  This ECR is in the form of a friendly letter.  I can’t wait to read them!

Next week, we’ll start the Survival Unit.    Our next indicator is “author’s purpose.”   We’ll read a variety of texts to examine the author’s purpose for a text.  Our class will also do research in the computer lab and create an informative brochure.   

Students are given time at the beginning of class to write their assignments in their agenda.  Assignments vary from week to week , but word study assignments are due every Thursday.

 

Reading Workshop

This week, we’re beginning lessons on identifying story elements (setting, character, plot, etc.).   

Students will be given the next homework Reading Log on either Thursday or Friday (depending on the day they have my class).   Students should read at least 20 minutes each night in order to complete the log.  There are two columns on the log.  Students are to write a summary of what they read in the first column.  In the second column, they have a choice of describing either the setting, characters, or main idea of the text.  Please email me if you have any questions about the Reading Log.

All Classes

Parent teacher conferences will be held on Oct. 13, 14 and 15.  I look forward to meeting with you.

Happy October!

Student Corner:

Students who wish to have their poem, story, etc. posted on the blog must have written parent permission in order for their name to appear with their writing. 

 

The stars never shine just the same

                                            The citites are never tame

                                                                        The trees don’t wave welcome

We’re all covered in shame

                         - by Claire

Tomorrow’s the first day of autumn, my favorite time of the year.  I love everything about it: watching the leaves change, the smell of pumpkin pies baking, the taste of sweet spicy apple cider, and the cooler temperatures.  What about you, what do you like about this time of year?  Leave a comment, and I’ll share it with our class at the end of the month.

I teach language arts and reading workshop classes.  I’ll label the information for each class, but please let me know if it is still confusing.

Looking back:

September has been a busy month in language arts.  We started our unit on Family Dynamics and began reading Crash.  We took our common assessment on author’s message, and wrote a personal narrative about a memorable family event.  Now, we’re reading, researching, and discussing the way birth order affects a person’s personality.  I’m really enjoying listening to the many different points of view of this topic.

In our reading workshop classes, we have been working on finding the main idea of a passage and writing a summary.  This skill is taking a bit longer than most because we are also reviewing how to write a BCR (Brief Constructed Response).  The common assessment for this skill will be given at the end of the week for 8th. grade and early next week for grades 6 & 7.

Things to Do:

Language Arts

Sept. 22- Turn in your personal narrative about a memorable family event

Sept. 24- Turn in your Crash response questions.

Oct. 2 – Crash projects will be due (We’ll discuss this in class on Sept. 22)

Keep up with the assigned Crash chapters and journal questions.

Reading Workshop

Sept. 21- 8th. grade Reading Logs are due

Sept. 22- 6th. and 7th. grade Reading Logs are due

Looking ahead:

Language Arts:

What do you think of when you hear the word “beauty?”    Beauty is the topic for this year’s Reflection Contest. 

Reading Workshop and Language Arts:

I’d like you to take part in writing the posts for our blog.  If you’re interested in becoming one of our class bloggers, let me know.  Only students with written parent permission will be able to blog.   All content must be approved by me.  We’ll talk more about this in the upcoming weeks.  I’m hoping we can eventually add some cool links and videos. 

For parents reading this blog, I plan to update it at least once a month.  If you have suggestions, please leave a comment.  I’d like the blog to be a useful learning tool.

That’s all for now. 

Happy Autumn!

Welcome to a new school year!

I hope you’ve had a fun-filled summer and are ready for a successful school year.   Our blog is titled Read, Write, Learn for a good reason.  This year, we’ll read great stories, poems, and articles.  We’ll write great stories, poems, and articles. We’ll learn from each other using this blog to discuss all that great reading and writing.

Students will use the blog to showcase their work, discuss topics taught in class, and ask questions.

Parents will be able to use this blog to get a peek inside our classroom, ask questions, make comments, and suggestions.

I will use the blog to help keep everyone up-to-date on the happenings in our classroom and upcoming assignments and events.  My goal is to post at least once a week. 

I’m looking forward to getting to know all of you this year.  Here’s a little getting to know you activity we’ll be doing in class.  

Activity:

1.  Make a list of facts about yourself.  Start by answering these answering these questions.

Where do you live? 

How many brothers and sisters do you have? 

What are some of your favorite things to do?  

What are your favorite foods? 

Do you have a pet, if so what kind? 

What sports do you play? 

What’s important to you (your grades, friends, etc.)?

 

2.  Next, choose 6 words from your list that tells a little about who you are.  

Here’s one of mine:

“Writing teacher who blogs about writing.”

” Proud mother of two amazing sons.”

“Owner of two cats, animal lover.”

3.  See how easy that was?  You’ve learned 3 things about me already!  Now it’s your turn.

      Remeber the rule, you must use exactly 6 words.

We’ll post your 6 word description in the upcoming weeks.