Thursday, August 25, 2016

Wednesday, August 31, 2016



Announcements and Reminders:
  
                                              
  •  Cavetime will begin on September 6. 
  •  School pictures will be taken on September 8. 
  • Your disclosure signature sheet is was due by August 26.  If you haven't turned it in yet, complete and turn it in as soon as possible. 
          




Targets for Today:

Read!  

Utah State Core:  Reading Literature Standard 10.  



Today’s  Agenda:

1.  Pick up your composition book.  Finish setting it up if needed.  

2.  Sit down with a book of your choice, relax, and read.
Notice what you like about what the author is doing. 


(Hand in your disclosure document -- with VIP form --
 if you haven't yet.)

3.    When directed to,  respond to what you read in your composition book, under "Reading Response Log."   Use the prompt, "I like the way the author. . . "  Write at least a third page in response.   Date your response: 8-31.

Ms. Dorsey says: 
I like the way the authors use words. Here is a favorite:  "And there is a giant whoosh of light. A smash of noise."  (pg. 105)

4.  Find your __11__ o'clock partner and discuss your responses to what you read today.  (We used 6 already.)



5.  Continue reading our group book. 



The Graveyard Book -- winner of the Newbery Medal, the Carnegie Medal, and the Hugo Award.


Chapter 1 
Last time we read  to page 18 -- "In a locked graveyard, at night?"
minute 20:00
Today we read to page 38 -- "You do not." minute Chapter 2, 3:16.  

A favorite (and useful) quote:  "And what would that be when it was at home?" 
(asking about the banana on p. 27)   


Neil Gaiman's son: 
This is Ash, Neil Gaiman's son.




If You Were Absent:

See the agenda above. 

Respond to something you are reading, using one of the reader's response journal starters. 
Write at least a third page.  Bring it to tape it into your composition book.  

Read on your own to catch up with the class on The Graveyard Book.  You could do this during your quiet reading time at the beginning of class next time. 
You can also listen to Neil Gaiman read the first chapter at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOF01vb4Rec .



Monday, August 29, 2016



Announcements and Reminders:
  
                                              
  •  Cavetime will begin on September 6. 
  •  School pictures will be taken on September 8. 
  • Your disclosure signature sheet is was due by August 26.  If you haven't turned it in yet, complete and turn it in as soon as possible. 
          




Targets for Today:

Read!  

Utah State Core:  Reading Literature Standard 10.  



Today’s  Agenda:

1.  Pick up your composition book.  Finish setting it up if needed.  

2.  Sit down with a book of your choice, relax, and read.


(Hand in your disclosure document -- with VIP form --
 if you haven't yet.)

3.  Receive a list of suggested reader response starters.
 Write:  When directed to,  respond to what you read in your composition book, under "Reading Response Log."

4.  Find your __6__ o'clock partner and discuss your responses to what you read today. 


Results of the Book Vote:  
1.  The Graveyard Book
2. Gregor the Overlander
3. The Storyteller's Daughter
4. Touching Spirit Bear

5. Stargirl and Legend 


5.  Begin reading our group book. 



The Graveyard Book -- winner of the Newbery Medal, the Carnegie Medal, and the Hugo Award.


Chapter 1 
Today:  to page 18 -- "In a locked graveyard, at night?"
minute 20:00



If You Were Absent:

See the agenda above. 

Read on your own to catch up with the class on The Graveyard Book.  You could do this during your quiet reading time at the beginning of class next time. 
You can also listen to Neil Gaiman read the first chapter at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOF01vb4Rec .



Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Thursday, August 25, 2016





Announcements and Reminders:
                         
Welcome to our Seventh Grade Reading Literature Class.
                                                               
This is a class for students who LOVE to read.  If you don't, you will want to consider a different elective.  If you do, you will enjoy this class and do well in it. 

Please bring a composition book to use for this class. 
Also, remember to bring something to write with every day.  
      Have back-up pens or pencils in your backpack! 



 August 25 is the last day to change classes without paying a fee. 





This Friday, Aug 26 is our first dance of the year. The 7th and 8th grade dance is from 3 to 4 after school and will cost $5 dollars.


  • Your disclosure signature sheet and VIP form are due by August 26.
Cavetime begins on September 6. 
School pictures will be taken on September 8. 



Targets for Today:

Read!!!!

Utah State Core: Reading Literature Standard 10





Today’s  Agenda:

Bell-Ringer:  Be in your seat as soon as possible, reading a book of your choosing. 

  • If you left your composition book here last time, pick it up from the black crate. 
  • If you have brought your composition book today,  take it out ready to use it. 
  • If you brought your signed disclosure document, hand it in. 
  •      (Don't forget to fill out the VIP form.)



1. Individual Reading Time: Choose your own materials

2. Set up your composition book: 
      See the instructions page.

3. Respond to what you read:   In your composition book, under "Reading Response Log."
4. Create an appointment clock.


 Appointments   
  • On the very LAST page of your composition book, draw a big clock face with just the numbers -- no hands. It should fill a whole page.
    Move around the classroom to make "appointments" with other students.
    • Find one other student and pick a time on the clock face.  
    • Near that number on the clock face, you will write your name on his or her clock and he or she will write his or her name on your clock. 
    • Move on to another student and do the same thing with him or her.   
    • Keep making appointments until all numbers have been used.   For each number on the clock you will have an "appointment"  with  one other student.

5.  Meet with your _____ o'clock appointment to discuss what you read earlier in class. 


6.  Finish looking at choices for books to read as a class -- and vote.

A Christmas Carol


Freak the Mighty    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUm_Xg8ZuPo
   


 Trouble Don’t Last    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-9UEchl2CE

 The Invention of Hugo Cabret
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiXkL0bBcjs   There is a movie.





If You Were Absent:

See the agenda above (in yellow).



Monday, August 22, 2016

Tuesday, August 23, 2016



Announcements and Reminders:
   
Welcome to our Seventh Grade Reading Literature Class.
                                                               
This is a class for students who LOVE to read.  If you don't, you will want to consider a different elective.  If you do, you will enjoy this class and do well in it. 

Please bring a composition book to use for this class. 
Also, remember to bring something to write with every day.  
      Have back-up pens or pencils in your backpack! 


Targets for Today:

   READ! 

  Think about and write about the history of my reading.


   Receive disclosure document and hall passes.


  Learn about some books we might read as a class.



Today’s  Agenda:

   Find your seat on the seating chart. 

     1. Pick up a disclosure document.  Read through it, then start filling out the VIP form on the back. 

     2.  Time to read and/or peruse the classroom library.  

     3. Reminder to bring a composition book to be left in the classroom.


     4..  Write your own reading history. (Use a sheet of lined binder paper -- with NO spiro-bits.)
    The following questions are just to jumpstart your thinking! 
           Did someone read to you before you could read on your own?
           When and how did you learn to read?
           Do you remember the first book you read?
           What else do you remember reading, and how
                 did those things affect you?
                  picture books?
                  chapter books?
                  books designed to help children learn how to read?
                  longer books?
                  nonfiction books?
           What else do you read?
           Have you had any bad experiences reading?
           What are some of your good experiences?
           What else should go into a history of your experiences with reading?
           What are your favorite books?



     5.  Look at the books we could read.






 


Great Depression ---

Reminds me of --
The Watsons Go to Birmingham

  

Reminds me of --




  

The Storyteller’s Daughter
Summary:  
In a faraway kingdom, a king has been betrayed. Deeply hurt and bitterly angry, he vows never to be deceived again. Unfortunately, the king's plan to protect himself will endanger all of the realm's young women, unless one of them will volunteer to marry the king -- and surrender her life. 

To everyone's relief and horror, one young woman steps forward. The daughter of a legendary storyteller, Shahrazad believes it is her destiny to accept this risk and sacrifice herself. 

On the night of her wedding to the king, Shahrazad begins to weave a tale. Fascinated, the king lets her live night after night. Just when Shahrazad dares to believe that she has found a way to keep her life -- and an unexpected love -- a treacherous plot will disrupt her plan. Now she can only hope that love is strong enough to save her.


Reminds me of --
Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
Princess of the Silver Woods, Princess of Glass, and others by Jessica Day George



S

  The Graveyard Book 
       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_UUVwTaemk




Reminds me of 
The Jungle Book (watch a movie, too?) 


 Stargirl



Reminds me of --



  Chasing Vermeer



This novel is a puzzle, wrapped in a mystery, disguised as an adventure, and delivered as a work of art.
When a book of unexplainable occurences brings Petra and Calder together, strange things start to happen: Seemingly unrelated events connect; an eccentric old woman seeks their company; an invaluable Vermeer painting disappears. Before they know it, the two find themselves at the center of an international art scandal, where no one is spared from suspicion. As Petra and Calder are drawn clue by clue into a mysterious labyrinth, they must draw on their powers of intuition, their problem solving skills, and their knowledge of Vermeer. Can they decipher a crime that has stumped even the FBI?



Reminds me of --

Okay for Now 




  Touching Spirit Bear


     After severely injuring Peter Driscal in an empty parking lot, troublemaker Cole Matthews is in major trouble. But instead of jail time, Cole is given an alternative: a one-year banishment to a remote Alaskan island. This program—called Circle Justice—is based on Native American traditions that provide healing for the criminal mind. To avoid serious jail time, Cole resolves to go. While there, Cole is mauled by a mysterious white bear and left for dead. 







Reminds me of --

Deathwatch
Never Say Die 





Freak the Mighty    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUm_Xg8ZuPo
   
 


  A Christmas Carol


  Gregor the Overlander,
       books 1 & 2
   
     In  the first novel of the New York Times bestselling series by Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games, young Gregor falls through a grate in the laundry room of his apartment building and hurtles into the dark Underland. This strange world is on the brink of war, and Gregor's arrival is no accident. A prophecy foretells that Gregor has a role to play in the Underland's uncertain future. Gregor wants no part of it -- until he realizes it's the only way to solve the mystery of his father's disappearance. Gregor embarks on a dangerous adventure that will change both him and the Underland forever.

  Trouble Don’t Last    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-9UEchl2CE



  Vietnam #1 & 2: I Pledge Allegiance and Sharpshooter
     Morris, Rudi, Ivan, and Beck are best friends for life. So when one of them is drafted into the Vietnam War, the others sign up, too - each with a different branch of the US military.

     Morris joins the US Navy, and he makes it his personal mission to watch over his friends from the USS Boston. But the Boston itself isn't safe from attack. And although Morris means to keep his friends safe, he may have his hands full just watching out for himself.


  Walk Two Moons
Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle, proud of her country roots and the "Indian-ness in her blood," travels from Ohio to Idaho with her eccentric grandparents. Along the way, she tells them of the story of Phoebe Winterbottom, who received mysterious messages, who met a "potential lunatic," and whose mother disappeared.
As Sal entertains her grandparents with Phoebe's outrageous story, her own story begins to unfold--the story of a thirteen-year-old girl whose only wish is to be reunited with her missing mother.


  The Midwife’s Apprentice
This novel is set in medieval England. The girl known only as Brat has no family, no home, and no future until she meets Jane the Midwife and becomes her apprentice. As she helps the sharp-tempered Jane deliver babies, Brat--who renames herself Alyce--gains knowledge, confidence, and the courage to want something from life: "A full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world." Medieval village life makes a lively backdrop for the funny, poignant story of how Alyce gets what she wants.


  The Sign of the Beaver
Although he faces responsibility bravely, thirteen-year-old Matt is more than a little apprehensive when his father leaves him alone to guard their new cabin in the wilderness. When a renegade white stranger steals his gun, Matt realizes he has no way to shoot game or to protect himself. When Matt meets Attean, a boy in the Beaver clan, he begins to better understand their way of life and their growing problem in adapting to the white man and the changing frontier.

Reminds me of -- 


Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen 




  Island of the Blue Dolphins
In the Pacific there is an island that looks like a big fish sunning itself in the sea. Around it, blue dolphins swim, otters play, and sea elephants and sea birds abound. once, Indians also lived on the island. And when they left and sailed to the east, one young girl was left behind.

This is the story of Karana, the Indian girl who lived alone for years on the Island of the Blue Dolphins.


Reminds me of -- 

The Music of the Dolphins 


  The Invention of Hugo Cabret
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiXkL0bBcjs   There is a movie.



   Maniac Magee?   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jroChOAKgWY





Vote for the top three books you would choose to read.

Small Book Groups -- 
Also be thinking of a book not on this list that you would like to read in a small group.  If everyone in the class  can get together a group of two or  three or four or five students and find enough books for each of you, we will arrange a time for small book groups.  

You'll need to have your books approved by Ms. Dorsey, 
but I may be able to help you find the books. 




If You Were Absent:
See above.
Write your "Reading History"/"Reading Autobiography."
Look at the books we may read so you can select three of them.
Maker sure you receive a disclosure document, and return the signature sheet.


Recommended book (and movie): The Watcher in the Woods


In both the book and the movie, the mysterious events surround  an old manor house and a the woods that surround it.  Thirty years ago, the owner of the home, Mrs. Aylwood, lost her teenage daughter, Karen under mysterious circumstances.  Now a new family has moved into the manor. The elder daughter, Jan is a teen while the younger, Ellie is likely about ten.  Mrs. Aylwood lives on in the caretaker cottage.  It isn’t long before Jan begins to sense something is out there in the woods.  Something that keeps reaching out to her with mysterious visions and words.   It will be up to the three female protagonists to handle it!
https://shanshad1.wordpress.com/2015/01/31/flashback-fridays-into-the-woods/




Ruby Holler? 




     "Trouble twins" Dallas and Florida are orphans who have given up believing there is such a thing as a loving home. Tiller and Sairy are an eccentric older couple who live in the beautiful, mysterious Ruby Holler, but they’re restless for one more big adventure. When they invite the twins to join them on their journeys, they first must all stay together in the Holler, and the magic of the place takes over. Two pairs of lives grow closer and are changed forever.