Short Story Due Dates

Wishing everyone a relaxing and enjoyable holiday break.  Your short stories will be due at the beginning of class following the break.  You need to demonstrate the following

• understanding of the elements of a short story (project is heavily weighted in this area)
• point of view
• audience
• descriptive language
• Grade 8 - overall solid story with clear audience and point of view
• Grade 7 - solid rising action and resolution
• taking part in the writing process
• using feedback to improve story

You will need to hand in the following

• graphic organizer/plan
• rough copy
• self edit
• peer edit
• teacher feedback (students who had group conferences will not need to hand this in)
• final copy
• rubric and short story check list sheet

Due Dates:

8A - Tuesday, January 8
8B - Tuesday, January 8
8C - Thursday, January 10
8D - Wednesday, January 9
8E - Tuesdasy, January 8

7C-  Tuesday, January 8
7D - Tuesday, January 8
7E - Thursday, January 10

Short Story Conferences

Short Stories conferences are taking longer than I had originally hoped!  Please ensure that you have your conference sheet ready (see blog below) to ensure we have the must fruitful conversation that we can have in our short time together (and we're not waiting for you to get organzied!)

Reminder that I would appreciate your short story before the holiday break, but it isn't officially due until you return.  Once handed in, free choice during Daily 5 fully returns. 

You need to hand in

• the rubric
• rough draft
• self edit  (a different typed copy, or maked with pen). 
• peer edit
• final product (typed is perferred)

We have lost some time for conferencing to performances, job action, and assemblies.  If you want, you can come see me during my extra help time to conference ahead of schedule.  Once you and I have conferenced, you are welcome to hand in your work ahead of the due date. 

Word Work and Short Story Presentations

Short Story -I have been impressed by the majority of the quality short story presenations, and blown away by the few who chose to knock me out of the park by your indepth and insightful presentations!

As you know, I like to scan all rubrics/checklists before returning them.  I have a few more catch up presenations to go, so you should be recieving yours back the next time I see you.

Word Work - I enjoyed how I had to look up many of the interesting words that some of you chose!  My vocabulary has been expanded.

I appreciated the time and dedication that some of you put in to ensure you followed the posted rubric in the classroom and on the blog and from the many classroom discussion we had about the expectations of the assignment. 

Some of you will be disasppointed in your assessment.  Many students forgot to reflect on their word choice or only completed part of the actual Word Work assignment, or that five word sentences were quality for Grade 7 and Grade 8.  Students will have the opportunity to resubmit if they want.

Currently, I have marked 4 out of 8 classes.  (Previous to this, I was marking your graphic organizers!).  I hope to return these assignments as soon as possible as well. 

Only two weeks to go!  We can do this!  How did all this time fly by so fast?!?

Short Story Conference

I hope you are all feeling a bit more relieved about putting down the novel study, as I know I am!

Please ensure that you have your copy of your short story ALWAYS at school.  You are welcome to work on it at home,.  When you save your on the ugcloud so you always have access to it no matter where you are!

We are starting our short story conferences in the coming days.  You have signed up for a day in class this week.  Please come prepared with your short story conference sheet completed to make the most of our time together. 

 A reminder that ALL rough copies are due sometime during the week of December 10.  All self/peer edit copies are due the last week before the holiday break. 

If you have gone through the entire writing process, including teacher conference, you are welcome to hand your work in before the holiday break.

Your final copy is officially due once we return in January, but come on, if you're done, why wouldn't you hand it in???  You can return to Daily 5 free choice for the remainder of our time together in 2012. 

Putting The Novel Study Down

For those of you have been in class these past two weeks, you've been part of my heart to heart.  Thank you for your understanding and helping us best move forward.

Upon reflection, I've decided to put down the novel study until January, so that we can focus our attention on our short story.  We only have 9 classes left together before the holidays, and that was not enough time for us to go through the writing process, with lessons, produce quality work AND complete a novel study.  That is just too much for us to take on, plus ensure that you get quality and effective feedback from myself.

So, you will to come back to school in January ready with your novel, and a published short story (all editing will be done before we leave in December, many of you will most likely hand it in before the break!).

Any questions or concerns, please let me know!

Thank You - Parent/Student Interviews

Thank you for those who were able to make it out for Student/Parent interview.  We had conversations on how to support each other to ensure everyone does well this year.

Thanks again to your parents for taking the time to come out, and for the students who were able to make it to their interviews, being involved in the process.  It will be worth it.

I

Short Story Plan and Rubric

Part of the report card comment feedback from you on how to help you do better was for me to give more detail about assignments.  You asked for it, so here it is. :)

Everyone will recieve a copy of both of these links in the coming days in class.  YOU are responsible to keep this piece of paper (will be double sided) and will need to hand it in at the end of the writing process.

Short Story check list has all the info about due dates (as discussed and decided in class) and going through the writing process.

Short Story Rubic has all the info you need about how you will be assessed on your short story.

A copy of the slide show discussed in class about the process.

Descriptive Language in Your Short Stories

Many of you have already handed in your graphic organizers, and I look forward to returning these as quickly as possible. 

Part of your written short story assignment is to use descriptive language.  We have (or will have) a lesson about descriptive language this week.  Please see the link to a slide show that will cover what we did in class this week. 

Success Criteria for Short Story Presenations

Please see attached a copy of the success criteria for your presentation with your partner on a published short story.

We will be discussing this in class this week as well, before your presentations.

Success Criteria for Graphic Organizer

Please see attached a copy of the success criteria for the Graphic Organizer for your short story that you are writing alone.

We will be discussing this Success Criteria in class this week before your Graphic Organizer is due.

Need another copy of the graphic organizer?  Reminder, you do not have to use this graphic organizer, but I must be able to understand that you know about the five elements of a short story.  Check the success criteria to ensure that you are on track.

Student/Parent/Teacher Interviews

Wow!  So many interviews booked already!

If your parent/guardian would like to set up a time with you to have a discussion with me about our English program, and there are not any times left that meet your needs, then please contact me via email to arrange another interview time.

Reminder to the students.  You need to be involved in the interview process. You are the major piece of the puzzle to ensuring your success!

I can also take informal questions about the English program via email as well.  Thank you to everyone who continues to read the blog.  It is a detailed account of what is happening in our English program. 

Like Core French in English schools, we have a limited time together each cycle (3x every five days compared to your French language teachers who are with you 12x every five days).  I am looking forward to the hard work we have put into the new Daily 5 program reaping quality rewards over the coming weeks.  All the best as you work hard on your Short Story and novel study assignments!

Word Work Rubric

You will be seeing this in class this week.  For your review, please see the Word Work Rubric

You will also be receiving your exit tickets back this week as well.  Please take the feedback and use it for your meaningful sentences in your assignment.

Theme, Audience and Point of View

This week we have (or will be talking about) Theme, Audience and Point of View.  These are all elements of stories (hint, hint, hint, you will want to talk about these in your Short Stories presentations with your partner on your selected published short story).

To review what we discussed in class, please see the slides below.

 Audience/Point of View

Theme

Extra Help/Time

Need extra help and time to get work done?

I will be availabe Tuesday/Thursday mornings in Room 202 (Madame Jones' room) during the morning recess (1050-1115).

Sentences

Your exit tickets will be due soon for your Word Work assignments.  This is a copy of the lesson we did/will do in class about sentences for Grade 7 and 8.

Reminder - Grade 7s the expectation is transition words.
Grade 8s the expectation is transition words and the use of passive and active voice.

Looking for ideas about where to find new and interesting transition words?

http://www.smart-words.org/transition-words.html

http://www.gallaudet.edu/tip/english_works/writing/guide_to_transition_words_and_sentence_samples.html

Looking for information about passive and active voice?

(This site also includes Gramar Girl's pocast) http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/active-voice-versus-passive-voice.aspx

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-voice.htm

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/passive

Anchor Text - Where the Wild Things Are

We have been reading (and rereading) Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak for our short story anchor text.  Yes, it is a "children's story," however, this is what makes it perfect for quick 10-15 min lessons about short stories.
 
If you would like review the text again, to reflect on what we have done in class with it, please click here.  It is the version with the weird voices!

Daily 5 Assignments for November/December

Looking for a copy of the assignments for Daily 5?  Well, here they are!  Deadlines have been recorded by the Tracking Binder person and are posted every English class, and we review them every class we have together!  (No excuse for not knowing when something is due).  We work a few deadlines at a time, to not overwhelm us, and to be able to allow flexibility when things like assemblies, trips and general class changes come up.

Quick review -
Reading to Self - Novel study of your own selection, the goal being that you can discuss the main idea of your text.

Read to Someone - Select a short story of your own choice with your partner, either from those available at school or a favourite (children's story or teen/short story).  Reflect with your partner about the elements of a short story, the effectiveness of those elements, and your own feeling about the story.  Present your findings in a 3 min presenation.  Demonstrate presentation skills and audience skills.

Word Work - Choose 5 words that are a challenge to you.  Complete one of the 4 challenging word work assignments, including a definition, meaningful sentence and explain why those words will challenge you as a reader/writer.

Work on Writing - Go through the writing process and create a short story.  (Be mindful of the term SHORT story!)

Listening to Reading - no formal assignment.  Students may listen to their read to self book to help ensure comprehension. 

Elements of a Short Story

We have (or will be) enjoying the video by Flocabulary Elements of a Short Story.  More detail about the elements of a short story is available here.  

You will be receiving your assignment for a short story very shortly.

To remember while brainstorming your ideas for you short story, a short story is a story with a fully developed theme but significantly shorter and less elaborate than a novel.  Often depicting few characters and concentrating a 'single effect' or mood.

We will be having more lessons around theme and conflict, audience, point of view and expressive language.

Short Story Selection for Read to Someone

You will be required in the next coming days to select a partner for your Short Story assignment.

A bin of short stories written for children and for teens has been selected.  You are NOT limited to this bin, and I would challenge you to find your own short story. 

I have not vetted all of the stories/content of these websties, so you are encouraged to view these documents with an adult.  Ask an adult about their favourite short story, including those geared for children as those too have rich, deeper meaning, which will help in your presentation.

American Short Stories

Enotes.com Essential Short Stories list

Work on Writing

Students this week will have knowledge on all five Daily 5 activities.

Work on Writing is being introduced this week.

Now that you have all 5 Daily 5 activities, how you use your time in class to complete assignments will be extremely important.

More information on your first Daily 5 assignment will be given next week.

Listening to Reading/Daily 5 Update

Thank you to the students and parents who have brought to my attention how difficult (impossible) it is to download audible books from the Public Library onto Apple products.  It is disappointing considering how many current titles are available.

Listening to Reading is still a valuable skill, and whenever possible, students should listen to quality reading.  There is a listening station in the classroom, however, access is limited to 5 students per rotation.  With 2-3 rotations/class, it will be difficult for all students to take advantage of it every week.

With student feedback, I am looking at how to change Daily 5 to work better in the rotary format.  Due dates and formal assignments are coming.  You can look forward to more discussion about this in class.  Any feedback you have on how to improve Daily 5 in English would be appreciated.

Some comments that I have heard are:

• more formal assignments with due dates
• reduce the rotations to 2/class with more formal teaching time (20 min rotations, 10 mins teaching)
• non Daily 5 classes for catch up
• add another list of challenging words for Word Work

I am excited to learn more from you.  It is your learning, your time.  Let's us it the best way possible!

Listening to Reading

Listening to Reading, activity four of five for Daily 5 will be introduced this week.

If you haven't already done so, please download a book from the library onto your mp3 player that you bring to class.

Here are 3 stories that I have borrowed from the Public Library that you may borrow onto your devices.

To view/listen to Alexandria Of Africa, you will need Adobe Digital Editions (free)


To view/listen to Thunder Over Kandahar and/or The Outsiders you will need OverDrive (free)

I am working on getting CD copies of books for our listening centre from Terry James (the Board's teachers' library) over the next few days.

Word Work Options

There are 1200 words in the Word Work folders to choose from.  Some of you are very comfortable with the spelling of all these words.  Some of you need to keep working on these words.  This is the joy of Daily 5, working and learning where you are at, to become a better writer and reader.

Looking for new and interesting words?  Check out this Word of the Day website.  There is also past word of the day on the right, linking back to word lists to the mid 90s.

Want a challenge on definitions?  Check out Vocabulary.com to see what words you know, and new ones for next time.  This is a great activity to do during Daily 5 Word Work on your wireless handheld device.  Document your learning in your Daily 5 folder as Vocabulary.com and write down at least 5 words and their definitions.

The origins activity can be made easier with dictionary.com .  Look up your word, scroll to the bottom on the page and find the origins section.

Antonyms and synonyms are also available at dictionary.com

You are encouraged to play around with words, find the definitions, antonyms and synonyms.  The more words you know and feel comfortable using, the more likely you will use them in your writing, which adds detail and interest to your reader.  Also, the more you know about words, the easier it is for you to read when you come across new words.    

Daily 5 Success Criteria

Thank you to all the classes for your hard word on your anchor charts to remind you what you need to do during Daily 5 to ensure that everyone is learning.

I have taken your anchor charts and turned them into Success Criteria. This will be posted in each class for you to review as needed.  We will also take some time to self evaluate our Daily 5 Success Criteria later in the year, once all five activities are up and running.

Choice and Conferencing

This week in class, we will be working on successfully setting up our Daily 5 folders (where your passport for keeping track of your activities and Working with Words work is kept) and actually practising three rotations of Read to Self, Read to Someone and Word Work.  

Once we have successfully done three full rotations as a class, and a second class of three rotations where I put you in selected groups to go through the three rotations, you will be allowed choice, and hopefully, I will begin conferencing.

When I call you to conference, I will be asking about your strengths as a reader and what you want to work on this year.  This will help to direct our conference time better.  Please start thinking about who you are as a reader and what you need to work on to become an even better reader.

After a handful of successful classes of choice and conferencing, introduction of Listening to Reading and Work on Writing will take place, followed by Writers Workshop where you will begin your first writing piece.

Audio Book - Listening to Reading

Here are a couple of free and pay for use site to download audio books for Listening to Reading for Daily 5 for use on your mp3/iPod players.

Free:

Guelph Public Library
http://www.library.guelph.on.ca/
There are many digital and ebooks are availabe for new and older titles.   All you need is your library card.   The lending period is 7-14 days for the file to be active. 

This site is limited in new titles, but have tons of classics. 
http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/
This website also includes the digital text for you to follow along.

Pay for Use:

http://www.audiobooks.com/
This is a membership based website for 25/month.

http://www.audible.com/
This is also a membership based website for 15/month.

If you have your own favourite free or pay for use sites, please let me know, and it will be added to this site.

All About Me Goes Home

Thank you for the amazing work.  Please hear me when I said that I was using this work for diagnostic assessment (what do you know now, what do I need to teach you later).  Please take the feedback you received to push yourself to the next level.

If you have any questions or concerns, please come and talk to me about it.  I will respectfully listen to you and respond with further justification of your assessment or change as needed.  We are all learning together.

Technology in Class

We live in a digital age, and many of you have digital texts on your hand held devices/laptops.   Some of you also prefer to type over hand writing.   You are encouraged to bring technology to class to be used as part of your Daily 5 and Writers Workshop (more about that in the coming weeks) experiences.

To help keep us focus, you will now be asked to put your digital devices (laptops, iPads, iPods, MP3 players etc.) on the back counter during class when they are not needed to help focus your attention.  For example, you will be asked to put your technology away on the back shelf of the room when you are asked to gather in our Gather Spot/Place.

Thanks everyone for keeping a positive learning environment.

Daily 5

Here is a copy of the slide show from class about Daily 5

The order that we will be introducing the concepts are as follows

1. Read to Self
2. Read to Someone
3. Working with Words
4. Work on Writing
5. Listen to Reading

Anchor charts for each area will be created by you and the final 5 charts will be a combination of agreed concepts between all 8 classes.

You are responsible for bring 2-3 English texts to class, at your reading level, to enjoy as part of your Daily 5 time.  

Positive Learning Environment

This is the wordle for our positive learning environment created by all eight classes.  You should be very proud of your creation and I look forward seeing this positive community full of respect, honesty, responsibility, fun and kindness throughout the year.  

All About Me Update

**** Update!  We are down to a few missing assignment.  My goal now is to return all your work at the next class I see you in the cycle (so, Tuesday is Day 1).  Heads up now, there is no "mark" on it.  If you followed the success criteria, you can be confident that you did what was asked of you.  There is a rubric included on the feed back sheet.  I used the rubric to help guide my diagnostic ( learning what you know so I can teach later) assessment.  For example, in writing, we will be working on punctuation, use of capitals, and trying to remember that faire is a French verb, and fair is the English word meaning carnival or equal.

I have finished marking all the All About Me projects that I have, including digital.  Only 27 missing (and most of those are dead links or wrong email address).  Once I have a plan for those missing projects, I will get your work back to you as soon as possible.

Amazing work everyone!

Project Update!

What a gift it was to read many All About Me projects this weekend. So many of you are involved at home helping with family members, household chores (many of you have chickens!), and at school with Kindies, Office, and Pizza Helpers. There are many extracurricular activities happening with the arts and sports. It was interesting to hear some of your charities too, like Operation Smile, Shoebox, and Humane Society.

You're more concerned if I've marked it, I know :)

I have marked all hard copies that I have received. I have organized all the links and emailed copies, and my goal is to work on those this week.

I am missing 45 pieces of students' work, excluding 8C (looking forward to your work tomorrow!).

If I have your class tomorrow, I will let people know which work is missing. If I don't see your class tomorrow, my goal is to visit your class during your lunch break to share.

Anything received after 9pm this evening will not be considered tonight (must stop marking at sometime!)

Looking forward to a great week everyone.  Remember to bring in independent reading materials for class. 

Locked Blog!

Hello Everyone,

Somehow, Blogger, the hosting company of mrsbarbier.blogspot.ca has decided that my blog is "spam."  I have filled out the appropriate forms to fix this problem.  I apologize for any headaches this causes.  It should be unlocked in less than two business day.  Please feel confident when you click through to the website that it is okay!  Hopefully this will be solved soon.

All best as you finish up your All About Me projects.

Independent Reading Material

Your are asked to bring independent reading materials to class from now on.  This can be any print text.  Novel, non fiction, comic book, or magazine.  You will be responsible for ensuring that you have reading material in class.  Our school library will be opening soon.  Please let me know if you need help finding reading materials.

Happy Reading!

United Breaks Guitar

We have been talking about our pre reading and during reading comprehension strategies to ensure we understand the text (book, chapter, non fiction, movie, video).  If you missed any classes this week, or simply want a review, you are encouraged to look at the links below.

This is the presentation in class about Pre Reading Strategies.

We enjoyed an article about Dave Carroll's experience called Busted Guitar Blues Sweet Youtube Revenge

After reading, we watched the Youtube video United Breaks Guitar

At our next class, we discussed our During Reading Strategies

Some of our classes had a chance to look at graphic organizers for main ideas.

Be Prepared This Week

Reminder that you have time during your classes this cycle and some next week to work on your All About Me assignment.  If you need materials (technology or art), please bring it with you so you can use your class time wisely.

All about Me is due September 14th.  Any digital media is asked to be emailed to mjones4@ugcloud.ca.  When our cloud sharing folders are established, we will start sharing documents that way. 

On the Cloud!

I have been granted access to the UGCloud!

For students wishing to share work with me on the cloud, or need to email me work, the UGCloud is the appropriate destination for this type of email communication.  mbariber@ugcloud.ca

Parents/guardians are asked to contact me at mary-kathryn.barbier@ugdsb.on.ca

All About Me Assignment

The All About Me assignment is a different way to tell me about yourself. You need to use the five character education traits of respect, fairness, honesty, responsibility and compassion to describe who you are and what type of citizen you are. You are also asked to make a goal for the year about what character education trait you want to work on.

This assignment also allows you to express yourself with the expressive language art that you enjoy the most. Writing assignments of poetry, short story, essay, journal style etc., have been asked to be kept to two pages. Oral presentation that are recorded have been asked to be kept to under 2 minutes. Also, any media created (posters, Prezis, comic strips) have been asked to keep to the 2 page or 2 minute guideline as well. Whatever expressive language art you choose for this assignment, your completed assignment will be used towards that language area (writing, oral or media).

So, be yourself, think about all the amazing things you do at home, school, your local community and even globally to tell me about you!

Follow this link for the Prezi slide show from class.

Follow this link for the PDF of the Success Criteria.

Assignment is due Friday, September 14 for all classes except 8C which is due Monday, September 17.

Into the Impossible

The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible. 
Arthur C. Clark

An amazing first day Grade 7s and Grade 8s.  Excited to step into the impossible with you. 

Contact Info

I am excited to join the John McCrae staff.  I have had the pleasure of being a supply teacher, Primary Planning teacher, Grade 6 and Grade 3 teacher with the Upper Grand District School Board over the last four years.  Yes, this will be my first time teaching Grade 7 and 8 English.  I am thrilled to work in a team teaching environment.  I am supported right here at John McCrae as well as other Grade 7 and 8 English teachers across the board.

I am available by email at mary-kathryn.barbier@ugdsb.on.ca or by voicemail at 519-824-0028 x 425.

I look forward to working with each and everyone one of you (there are over 200 of you) and your families to ensure a successful year. 

Welcome Back.

I would like to welcome you and your family back to another successful year at John McCrae.  Grade Seven and Eight is an exciting time, and we are going to have an amazing year in the English Program.

My goal is to have all our assignments, success criteria, rubrics, PDFs, links and anything else class related available in one spot, this blog.  You can access materials when and where you need them.  It will be a bit slow at the beginning as our goal as we begin our time together is to get to know one another and discover who we are as learners and teachers (I expect to learn much from you!) together.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to contact me.