October 31, 2012 - November 2, 2012

Wednesday

·         Reading 8 – Students will begin reading “Cub Pilot on the Mississippi,” by Mark Twain. In this nonfictional piece, students will examine conflict and resolution as well as make predictions. Students will use the think aloud and talking to text strategies while reading together and on their own.

·         English 8 – Students will take a quiz on possessive nouns. When finished, students will complete the section on appositives in the nouns packet and discuss notes on appositives.

Thursday

·         Reading 8 – Students will begin reading “Cub Pilot on the Mississippi,” by Mark Twain. In this nonfictional piece, students will examine conflict and resolution as well as make predictions. Students will use the think aloud and talking to text strategies while reading together and on their own.

·         English 8 – Students will review appositives by discussing the section in the nouns packet together. Students will have a quiz on appositives tomorrow. Students will also begin working with adjectives. They will identify adjectives within sentences and write synonyms and antonyms for adjectives in their adjectives packet.

Friday

·         Reading 8 – Students will work with a partner to complete a worksheet in order to analyze and write about “Cub Pilot on the Mississippi.” Students will determine what type of nonfiction this piece is and discuss the author’s purpose in writing it. Students will have a quiz on conflict and parts of plot next week.

·         English 8 – Students will take a quiz on appositives. When finished, students will complete lesson 2 in the PSSA Coach book on adjectives. As a class, we will discuss this together. Students will then work with a partner on the next section in the packet on possessive and proper adjectives.

October 22, 2012 - October 26, 2012

Monday

·         Reading 8 – Collect Reading Log notebooks to be graded. As a class, we will discuss the critical thinking questions from the textbook on the story, “Raymond’s Run.” Students will then review conflict within the story and review the types of conflict as well as the elements of plot.  

·         English 8 – Students will read and respond to practice Study Island reading passages (focusing on summarization). As a class, we will discuss these together to analyze our responses. Students will then work on finishing the section in the nouns packet on singular and plural nouns.

Tuesday

·         Reading 8 – As a class, we will discuss the critical thinking questions from the textbook on the story, “Raymond’s Run.” Students will then review conflict within the story and review the types of conflict as well as the elements of plot.

·         English 8 – Students will discuss gerunds and gerund phrases and singular and plural nouns together by examining the work within the packet. As a class, we will discuss responses together on the board. Students will have a quiz on gerunds tomorrow in class.

Wednesday

·         Reading 8 – Students will discuss the big question relating to the next story they will read: “Cub Pilot on the Mississippi” by Mark Twain. Students will preview the story and discuss the type of text it is as compared to “Raymond’s Run.” Students will then begin to read the story while using the think aloud and talking to text reading strategies. Students will finish reading the story on their own for homework.

·         English 8 – Students will take a quiz on gerunds. When finished, students will finish reviewing singular and plural nouns. Students will have a quiz on singular and plural nouns tomorrow in class. Students will also begin working on the next section in the nouns packet (possessive nouns).

Thursday

·         Reading 8 – Students will be in a computer lab or in the library on computers to take a Reading Benchmark test on Study Island.

·         English 8 – Students will take a quiz on singular and plural nouns. When finished the quiz, students will examine their work on the possessive nouns section of the packet by discussing examples on the board. Students will have a quiz on possessive nouns tomorrow.

Friday

·         Reading 8 – Students will be in a computer lab or in the library on computers to take a Reading Benchmark test on Study Island.

·         English 8 – Students will take a quiz on possessive nouns. When finished, students will complete the section on appositives in the nouns packet. Students will discuss this section together and have a quiz next week on appositives.

October 15, 2012 - October 19, 2012

Monday

·         Reading 8 – Students will discuss the elements of plot and what their purposes are within a story. Students will also discuss making predictions within the next story they will read: “Raymond’s Run,” and how the big question relates to this story. Students will read the first part of the story with a partner while using the talking to text/think aloud strategy. They will finish reading the story on their own using talking to the text and responding to the guided questions that follow the story.

·         English 8 – Students will discuss gerunds by viewing samples on the board and writing their own samples. Students will practice identifying gerunds with a partner first in the gerund section of the nouns packet. They will then create their own gerund phrases on their own in the packet.

Tuesday

·         Reading 8 – Students will discuss the elements of plot and what their purposes are within a story. Students will also discuss making predictions within the next story they will read: “Raymond’s Run,” and how the big question relates to this story. Students will read the first part of the story with a partner while using the talking to text/think aloud strategy. They will finish reading the story on their own using talking to the text and responding to the guided questions that follow the story.

·         English 8 – Students will go to the library to take a benchmark test on Study Island on computers.

Wednesday

·         Reading 8 – Students will discuss their talking to text notes by examining samples on the board. Students will then work with a partner to complete the critical thinking/analysis questions in the textbook on the story, “Raymond’s Run.”

·         English 8 – Students will go to the library to work on various lessons on Study Island based on their benchmark scores.

Thursday

·         Reading 8 – Students will discuss their talking to text notes by examining samples on the board. Students will then work with a partner to complete the critical thinking/analysis questions in the textbook on the story, “Raymond’s Run.”

·         English 8 – Students will go to the library to work on various lessons on Study Island based on their benchmark scores.

Friday

·         Reading 8 – As a class, we will discuss the critical thinking questions from the textbook on the story, “Raymond’s Run.” Students will then review conflict within the story and review the types of conflict as well as the elements of plot. Students will have a quiz on plot and conflict next week.

·         English 8 – Students will complete the next section of the nouns packet on singular and plural nouns. Students will work with a partner to write the plural forms of nouns and to write the plural forms of irregular nouns.

October 8, 2012 - October 12, 2012

Monday - Teacher In-Service Day

Tuesday

·         Reading 8 – Students will work from the PSSA book on the lesson on nonfiction and author’s purpose. They will work individually to read through sample PSSA passages using talking to text in order to respond to comprehension and analysis questions.

·         English 8 – Students will discuss mood within the story using the journal responses from yesterday. Students will also write an extended journal response to predict the ending of the story and use evidence from the story to back up their prediction.

Wednesday

·         Reading 8 – As a class, we will review the fiction and nonfiction passages that students completed during the last class period. Students will discuss the elements of fiction/nonfiction as they were presented within the passages and the types of fiction/nonfiction presented. Students will discuss the comprehension and analysis questions for each passage and how talking to text helped when completing these questions.

·         English 8 – Students will work with the text of “Tell Tale Heart” to practice a reading strategy: highlighting and chunking. Students will work with a partner to read each paragraph of “The Tell Tale Heart” while talking to the text and highlighting important information. As a class, we will discuss examples of these on the board together.

Thursday

·         Reading 8 – As a class, we will review the fiction and nonfiction passages that students completed during the last class period. Students will discuss the elements of fiction/nonfiction as they were presented within the passages and the types of fiction/nonfiction presented. Students will discuss the comprehension and analysis questions for each passage and how talking to text helped when completing these questions.

·         English 8 – Students will complete a lesson from the PSSA Coach book on vocabulary and word recognition. Students will complete chapter 1 individually. When finished, students will continue on to chapter 2: using context clues.

Friday

·         Reading 8 – Students will discuss the elements of plot and what their purposes are within a story. Students will also discuss making predictions within the next story they will read: “Raymond’s Run,” and how the big question relates to this story. Students will read the first part of the story with a partner while using the talking to text/think aloud strategy. They will finish reading the story on their own using talking to the text and responding to the guided questions that follow the story.

·         English 8 – Students will begin working with nouns: common and proper. Students will discuss what they already know about these types of nouns. Students will then work with a partner on the first section of nouns and the rest of the common/proper nouns sections within the nouns packet individually. As a class, we will discuss responses to these sections.

Monday

·         Reading 8 – We will discuss students’ talking to text notes and view examples of these on the board together as a class. Students will work with someone who read the opposite story as them, and discuss elements of each to compare/contrast using a Venn Diagram. As a class, we will then compare/contrast the two stories and pairs will report out their findings from their Venn Diagrams. As a class, we will also discuss the story questions and journal responses that students have completed.

·         English 8 – Students will review “The Tell Tale Heart” by discussing comprehension questions in preparation for a quiz tomorrow. Students will then explore setting with the story by completing the setting section of the packet. As a class, we will discuss this section and students will then continue working on the next section: elements of plot. As a class, we will discuss the elements of plot that students identified from the story.

Tuesday

·         Reading 8 – We will discuss students’ talking to text notes and view examples of these on the board together as a class. Students will work with someone who read the opposite story as them, and discuss elements of each to compare/contrast using a Venn Diagram. As a class, we will then compare/contrast the two stories and pairs will report out their findings from their Venn Diagrams. As a class, we will also discuss the story questions and journal responses that students have completed.

·         English 8 – Students will take a quiz on The Tell Tale Heart. Students will then complete a section on figurative language in order to identify different types of figurative language from the story. Students will then begin writing an extended journal response and complete a section on context clues. We will discuss these together as a class.

Wednesday

·         Reading 8 – Students will illustrate their talking to text skills using a short piece of text in order to monitor progress with this specific strategy. They will also respond to specific questions about the text. This will be used as baseline data to compare to later student work. Students will then work from the PSSA book on the lesson on fiction and nonfiction. They will work with a partner to read through sample PSSA passages using talking to text in order to respond to comprehension and analysis questions.

·         English 8 – Students will discuss figurative language within the “Tell Tale Heart” and we will examine the section from the packet on context clues in groups and as a class. Students will then write an extended journal response discussing mood within the story.

Thursday

·         Reading 8 – Students will illustrate their talking to text skills using a short piece of text in order to monitor progress with this specific strategy. They will also respond to specific questions about the text. This will be used as baseline data to compare to later student work. Students will then work from the PSSA book on the lesson on fiction and nonfiction. They will work with a partner to read through sample PSSA passages using talking to text in order to respond to comprehension and analysis questions.

·         English 8 – Students will discuss mood within the story using the journal responses from yesterday. Students will also write an extended journal response to predict the ending of the story and use evidence from the story to back up their prediction.

Friday

·         Reading 8 – As a class, we will review the fiction and nonfiction passages that students completed during the last class period. Students will discuss the elements of fiction/nonfiction as they were presented within the passages and the types of fiction/nonfiction presented. Students will discuss the comprehension and analysis questions for each passage and how talking to text helped when completing these questions.

·         English 8 – Students will work with the text of “Tell Tale Heart” to practice a reading strategy: highlighting and chunking. Students will work with a partner to read each paragraph of “The Tell Tale Heart” while talking to the text and highlighting important information. As a class, we will discuss examples of these on the board together.