Monday, December 14, 2009

Winter Break Approaches

Students are continuing to meet in the Media Center during Language Arts every day this week. They are expected to have a flashdrive and all research materials with them each day.

Monday - ALL note cards are due. Students will be given a mini-lesson on organizing notecards and outlining using "mywebspiration.com", which can also be accessed through the Internet at home.

Tuesday - Students continue to type Outline in "mywebspiration.com" per directions in class. Examples of an outline are available in the research packets and on the directions for the software.

Wednesday - Typed Outline due and work on rough draft body paragraphs. Information about how to transform the outline into rough draft paragraphs under "handouts".

Thursday and Friday - Continue working on rough drafts - Rough draft of BODY due on Monday, January 4.

In Literacy Skills we will continue to explore Animal Farm and students should have a choice book in class.

May you have a great Winter break full of rest, reading, laughter and peace.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Report Cards are Here!

Report cards are being distributed today. Please sign the envelope and have your student return it to his/her Adviser. If there are any grades missing, a new report card will be printed next week for individual students.

ALL notecards for the research paper are due on Monday. Students should complete all notecards over the weekend, with one note per card as instructed in class. Some students may have as many as 100 note cards. It is possible to have fewer, but students should keep in mind that they need to have all relevant facts and enough information for an enlightening and complete final paper. The final essay length should be about 4-6 typed pages.

A flash drive is mandatory. Students were expected to have 3x5 cards, a two pocket folder, a highlighter and at least 5 sources with source cards at the start of the week.

If you have a question, please check the research schedule, which is listed under "handouts" on my blog.

Thanks for your continued support.
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Monday, December 7, 2009

Snow and Research - What a Fantastic Combination!

We have completed the first week of research in the Media Center, and students should have all of their research sources in their research folders (photocopied, printed or checked out).

Here is the LA schedule up to Winter Break. Please understand that each student is responsible for meeting all due dates, whether present or not in class that day. Students may find me during lunch or immediately after school if absent from class.

Mon, December 7 Media Center Search for sources, work on source cards

Tues, December 8 Media Center Easybib review, ALL sources + source cards due

Wed, December 9 Media Center Highlighting sources, work on Easybib/Works Cons

Thurs, December 10 Media Center Review note cards, Works Consulted due

Fri, December 11 Media Center Work on highlighting and making note cards

Mon, December 14 Media Center Organizing and Outline info, ALL note cards due

Tues, December 15 Media Center Finish typed outline, work on rough draft body

Wed, December 16 B 207 Outline due, work on rough draft body

Thurs, December 17 B 207 Work on body paragraphs

Fri, December 18 B 207 Work on body paragraphs

Mon, January 4 B 207 First Draft due (body only), type outside of class


In Literacy Skills we will be reading Animal Farm.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Week of December 1

I hope you and your family had a pleasant and warm Thanksgiving holiday with many opportunities to play, read and be renewed.

Monday and Tuesday are two exciting days full of reading activities throughout GBMS. Please remind your student to bring several books of choice to classes for silent sustained reading. There will also be a variety of activities that lead up to the author visit on Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday evening is Family Literacy Night, and we hope to see all of you there.

On Monday in Language Arts, students are revisiting the purpose of a research paper with a fill in the blank activity (located under handouts). By now they should have completed and revised their research topic, found at least one source, and turned in their 3x5 cards and two pocket folder. They also need to bring a flashdrive to class each day for the next month. Student should not rely on typing only at home or at school, so they need the flashdrive to carry the information back and forth. The schedule for the research paper and other research documents are available under handouts.

Thanks for helping your student stay focused through the three weeks before Winter Break.