Thursday, August 31, 2017

Tuesday, September 5, 2017




Announcements and Reminders:
                         


The check-out/check-in book for our class library is now available.   Fill in the whole line for the book you check out.  When you bring it back, mark the date and have Ms. Dorsey or a class librarian initial that you have brought it back. 



Scholastic Book Orders:  If you'd like to order Scholastic Books online, and benefit our classroom, go to http://pcool.scholastic.com/parentordering/login.jspregister, and enter code GKLJW.
To order through me without going online, bring me the filled out order form and a check written to Scholastic Book Orders. 
I'll be sending in orders on September 15, or sooner if I receive orders totalling $25 or more.
Order forms are available on the back counter near the door.



Targets for Today:

I can read for enjoyment, and participate in discussions about literature. 


Today’s  Agenda:

Find a book or pull out one that your brought.
(Hand in your disclosure document signatures and VIP Form if you haven't yet. They were due by last time.) 

Quiet, Individual Reading Time
Last time we read to chapter 4 together, then students started reading 4 and 5.  
If you were absent or if you didn't get to chapter 6, page 71, catch up during this time.
Then read your own book. 

Write, then Pair-Share
In your composition book, under Reading Responses,  . . . .
Tell about how you feel so far about a character in the book you read during our Quiet, Individual Reading Time.
Is this someone who would be your friend?  Why or why not?
What strengths and weaknesses do you see so far in the character? 


When directed to, join your ___7__ o'clock appointment to share what you wrote.  


A bit about steampunk








Books: 
Boneshaker, Leviathan, Mortal Engines,
http://rivetedlit.com/2017/08/30/5-years-later-leviathan-and-the-awesomeness-of-steampunk/

More Rithmatist beginning with chapter 6. 


If You Were Absent:

See above.  You could come into Cavetime to catch up with reading in The Rithmatist.

Write a brief response to something you read, answering the questions:
Is this someone who would be your friend?  Why or why not?
What strengths and weaknesses do you see so far in the character? 
Tape it into your composition book when you return.



Vocabulary:

steampunk:  a genre of science fiction that has a historical setting and typically features steam-powered machinery rather than advanced technology.
"If you like steampunk, this is a great book for you"


Thursday, August 31, 2017




Announcements and Reminders:
                         
Disclosure Document Signatures (and VIP form)  are due today.



The check-out/check-in book for our class library is now available.   Fill in the whole line for the book you check out.  When you bring it back, mark the date and have Ms. Dorsey or a class librarian initial that you have brought it back. 


School Pictures will be taken during math classes on Thursday and Friday, August 31 and September 1. You should have received your picture packets.  If not, check with the main office, or Mrs. Dorsey. 

Cavetime will begin on Tuesday, September 5. 


Scholastic Book Orders:  If you'd like to order Scholastic Books online, and benefit our classroom, go to http://pcool.scholastic.com/parentordering/login.jspregister, and enter code GKLJW.
To order through me without going online, bring me the filled out order form and a check written to Scholastic Book Orders. 
I'll be sending in orders on September 15, or sooner if I receive orders totalling $25 or more.
Order forms are available on the back counter near the door.



Targets for Today:

I can read for enjoyment, and participate in discussions about literature. 


Today’s  Agenda:

Find a book or pull out one that your brought.
(Hand in your disclosure document signatures and VIP Form if you haven't yet. They are due today.) 

Quiet, Individual Reading Time
Did we read to chapter 3 or to chapter 4 of The Rithmatist last time?  
If you were absent or if you didn't get to chapter ________, catch up during this time.

Set up your composition books.
Your folder numbers are. . . .  

  

Rithmatist 
We read to chapter 3  of The Rithmatist last time.
Today we read to chapter 4, and students were assigned to read 4 and, if time, 5.  


If You Were Absent:

See above. 


Vocabulary:

appointment:  this word comes from Old French apointier "make ready, arrange, settle, place"


Friday, August 25, 2017

Tuesday, August 29, 2017


Announcements and Reminders:
             Welcome to our Seventh Grade Reading Literature Class.
                                                               

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! 



School Pictures will be taken during math classes on Thursday and Friday, August 31 and September 1.

Cavetime will begin on Tuesday, September 5. 

Scholastic Book Orders:  Use our class code when you order online:  GKLJW.
            



Targets for Today:

Read!!!!

Utah State Core: Reading Literature Standard 10


Today’s  Agenda:

Don't forget to bring your composition book to leave in class. 

Find your assigned seat. 

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


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

3  Turn in any disclosure signatures that you've brought back (with the back of the page filled out, too.

      Remember to  bring a composition book to be left in the classroom.


     
4. Here are the results of out voting for books to read as a class:

1) The Rithmatist

2) The Storyteller's Daughter

3) Legend

4) The Graveyard Book -- We will read this after Rithmatist to take advantage of                   (Hopefully) better weather for our fieldtrip to the cemetery.


We will also most likely use some of the other titles for small groups to read together.  
   Among the most popular in the voting  (after the top choices) were these: 

Stargirl
Gregor the Overlander
Vietnam
Island of the Blue Dolphins 





We will begin reading The Rithmatist today.  We read the first two chapters. 


   Part of an interview with Brandon Sanderson --
  


When we have enough here, we will 
set up the composition books and
create a clock of appointments with the other students. 
Composition Book Set-Up


If You Were Absent:

See above.  Don't forget to bring your composition book as soon as possible. 


Vocabulary:


Friday, August 25, 2017


Announcements and Reminders:
             Welcome to our Seventh Grade Reading Literature Class.
                                                               

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! 


Back to School Pre-Game Dance this Friday!
7th and 8th Graders: bring $2 and come down to the girls’ gym right after school and
dance your hearts out until 4.

You can make class changes through Friday, August 25 without paying a fee. 

 4H Clubs begin on Monday, August 28.  The 4H leader will be here August 23rd after school and Friday, August 25 during  both lunches for students to sign up for clubs.

School Pictures will be taken during math classes on Thursday and Friday, August 31 and September 1.

Cavetime will begin on Tuesday, September 5. 

Scholastic Book Orders:  Use our class code when you order online:  GKLJW.
            



Targets for Today:

Read!!!!

Utah State Core: Reading Literature Standard 10


Today’s  Agenda:

Find your seat on the seating chart.  You'll find a copy on a desk near the front of the room, and another on a desk in the back of the room. 

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


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

3  Turn in any disclosure signatures that you've brought back (with the back of the page filled out, too.

      Remember to  bring a composition book to be left in the classroom.


     
4. Review and vote for books to read as a class.

"The Wish" by Roald Dahl 

For a story that is in some ways similar, read this: https://www.juhsd.net/cms/lib010/CA01902464/Centricity/Domain/256/2016_The%20Veldt.pdf
or find it at http://teachers.wrdsb.ca/jackmaw/files/2012/09/The-Veldt-Ray-Bradbury-pdf.pdf   


And here is a television play based on a short story by Roald Dahl: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpDb4EcSnLE
 25 minutes


We looked at a list of phobias:  
https://cavemanenglish.blogspot.com/search?q=phobias

and. . . .
Anatidaephobia

A person suffering from this condition feels that somewhere in the world, a duck or a goose is watching him/her (not attacking or touching, simply watching the individual). The word Anatidaephobia is derived from Greek word 'Anatidae' which means ducks, geese or other water fowls, and phobos is Greek for dread/fear.



The Rithmatist




Legend








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




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.




You will 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.  Don't forget to bring your composition book as soon as possible. 



Vocabulary: