Monday, August 11th

Today we read the The Giver and went over our daily grammar.  Since we had a fire drill and other interruptions today our schedule was a bit erratic.  We concluded class by going over our vocabulary words and this week's homework.

This week's root word is SPEC and the vocabulary words are:

Circumspect

Inspect

Introspection

Perspective

Respect

Retrospective

Spectacle

Spectacles

Spectator

Speculate

Click on any of the words above to study them on the quizlet site.

This week's homework

-Read for 30 minutes daily (this INCLUDES time that students spent reading their individual books in class.  So if they read for 15 minutes in school, they only have to read  for 15 minutes at home to meet the requirement)
-ELA/SS homework - due Thursday
-Math homework - due Thursday
-Study vocabulary and fill-in-the blank questions - on Quizlet
-Study the Bill of Rights - on Quizlet

Friday, August 8th

Today we had a "turn and talk" discussion during our reading of chapter 3 of The Giver.  Students listened to, then discussed questions and at the end of the chapter, they realized an important detail about the characters in the book.  We then watched a short BrainPop* video about root words so students could understand how vocabulary will work in my class this year.  

During Social Studies, students worked in small groups to sort specific amendments into categories.  Students read the actual amendments and worked with their group to figure out if each was an individual right, a right of people within the judicial system, or a protection from the government.  The activity was challenging; however, I feel that it's important for students to have experience with how our amendments are actually written.  We concluded class by watching the BrainPop video of the Bill of Rights.  

Overall, this was an excellent first week of school and I'm looking forward to a productive 2014-15.  

*BrainPop
username:  decaturga 
password: decatur

Thursday, August 7th

Today we started with our daily grammar mini-lesson and then we finished chapter 2 of The Giver.  Each student has their own copy and they each take turns reading when randomly selected (I pull their names from a cup so everyone gets a turn).  We also discuss unknown words, character details, and plot points.  Overall, our whole-class study of an exemplary book series helps students improve fluency, listening, and comprehension.  After finishing chapter 2, we continued working on the skill of identifying details that "show."  We looked back through what we've already read and found sensory details in select paragraphs.

We then moved on to reading about the origins of the Bill of Rights.  We did a close read of a text that detailed the struggle between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists in 1791.  Students found the main idea in each paragraph and then answered the question:  "Why did we need a Bill of Rights?"

Wednesday, August 6th

Today we read Eleven and students identified sentences and phrases in the story that included details that show instead of just telling.  We finished chapter 1 of The Giver and then students worked with a partner to write their Rights & Responsibilities reflection.  During our final activity, students worked with their table to group to select 10 out of 15 proposed rights that a new government should have.  Many groups had difficulty agreeing on the rights that should be included and/or eliminated.

Tuesday, August 5th

Today we started with our daily grammar mini-lesson.  I explained to the students why we start with that activity and we corrected the work we did.  We used our ELA notebooks to take notes about narratives.  I let students discuss with their table groups what they remembered about narratives and then I wrote down what they came up with. Pictures of the notes are included below to show what each class thought of.

We continued by discussing our agreements about reading The Giver and started the first chapter.  We then moved on to the writing diagnostic.  I explained to the students how I use the diagnostic to help customize my writing lessons.  I gave students 20 minutes to write and I will look over their paragraphs over the next few days.  We concluded our day with the Rights and Responsibilities Inquiry lesson.

McFaddin's Notes

Black's Notes

 Writing Diagnostic

Rights & Responsibilities Inquiry

August 4, 2014

Today Ms. McFaddin and I did our "First Day of School" orientation/activities with our own homerooms.  We discussed behavior expectations, set up subject notebooks, and went over classroom procedures.  Both homerooms had Spanish and my homeroom had Art while Ms. McFaddin's homeroom had PE and Music.  Overall, we had an excellent day and I'm looking forward to a productive year.

Tomorrow we will be in the full swing of things and I will meet with Ms. McFaddin's homeroom first thing in the morning.  

Meet & Greet

Welcome to F.AVE's Meet and Greet!  

This is the class blog and I update it with notes, assignments, assessment dates, and upcoming school events.  I'll also include video attachments and links to assist students when they're studying at home.  I will update it most days by 4:00pm; however, during busy weeks, I may post an update of several days at once or do updates later in the evening.  I typically don't update it on Fridays and I'll occasionally create a pictures-only post so parents know about what we did for that day.

Please look at past updates so you know what to expect and let me know if you have any questions.

See you on Monday!