This week in Language Arts class students prepared their writing folders for 7th grade. Students started by going through their elementary school folders and selecting three pieces that they wished to include in their 7th grade folder. The rest of the elementary pieces were to be taken home. The rest of the week was spent revising, sorting, and labeling writing pieces that they have produced this year in 6th grade. Students included a variety of types of writing from all their subjects. The writing folders are used to show each student’s growth as a writing through their schooling.

K-Prep testing finally made its way to our school this week. Students tested every morning this week. They then had homeroom and three classes in the afternoon. In language arts students went to the computer lab this week to type and publish their poetry and memoirs from this year. No homework was assigned this week.

This week was extremely busy trying to review content to get students ready for testing. We started the week by reviewing what makes a good introduction or topic sentence. On Tuesday students had the opportunity to evaluate a previous stand alone On Demand Prompt based on what they have revisited during our review for testing. During Wednesday’s class students did a second stand alone On Demand prompt to show all they have learned during our review and to compare it to their previous work. Thursday and Friday students read through different writing situations and tasks to practice pulling out the situation, purpose, audience, and form (S.P.A.F.). No homework was assigned this week.

Testing is quickly approaching, so we are busy reviewing On Demand writing in Language Arts classes. On Monday classes finishing taking notes over the power point presentation that reviewed On Demand writing. The students also used their investigative skills to find evidence to solve a murder. This practice was used to help students learn how to write an argument supported by facts and evidence and not opinion. Students evaluated their prewriting skills on Tuesday, by using a “House” graphic organizer. After they reviewed what that had done previously, we went through what the “House” organizer represents and how it is used to organize writing. Wednesday students were given a passage based On Demand Writing Prompt. We practiced as a class how to find the Situation, Audience, Purpose, and Format in the prompt, and we pulled out the evidence that was used to support both sides of the argument. During class Thursday we filled out the “House” organizer based about the side the class wanted take on the prompt that was given. Friday students used their “House” organizer to draft their response. No homework was assigned this week.

As we get closer and closer to testing (May 7th – May 11th), things are getting busier and busier in Language Arts class. This week students finished up their vocabulary work. Monday and Tuesday work was completed on the vocabulary review packets. Wednesday students did their last vocabulary in context practice. Thursday classes started work to prepare for the On Demand Writing portions of the K-Prep test by reviewing the new scoring criteria and taking a pre-test. Friday students started note taking over what the K-Prep On Demand Writing tests will look like and how to go about prewriting for these tests. No homework was assigned this week.

Students have been doing a lot with vocabulary lately in Language Arts, so we took some time this week to review study techniques for vocabulary and learning concepts. Monday, Tuesday, and Friday students worked on vocabulary review by practicing synonyms, antonyms, homographs, and homophones. Wednesday and Thursday we did another cartoon vocabulary unit and took the quiz over the ten new words. Homework was only assigned on Wednesday this week (10 vocabulary sentences for Unit #2).

Students are learning many new vocabulary words in Language Arts. I know that some of them have been testing them out on parents too. Monday started off with students finishing up their Cartoon Vocabulary Unit #4. This week students did another cartoon vocabulary lesson (Unit #1). They also had a quiz over the ten words in the unit on Thursday. The classes practiced vocabulary in context by completing a reading passage and then answering 20 questions about the vocabulary in the passage. Friday ended the week with class presentations of a vocabulary cartoon that each student created. Home work was assigned Monday (10 sentences for Unit 4) and Wednesday (10 sentences for Unit 1).

Monday in Language Art class peer conferencing was finished over the memoir draft. The next day’s class had students grading their own memoirs based on any revisions they made since peer conferencing. The students followed the Kentucky Writing Rubric and gave themselves a score for structure, content, and conventions. Wednesday had the classes stepping away from their memoir until later in the 4th 9wks. and switching to vocabulary. The next vocabulary units will focus on learning new words through cartoons. Students will view 10 cartoons that tie in the meaning of new vocabulary words to words they sound like. On Thursday students finished writing their homework vocabulary sentences in class and took a quiz over the new words. Friday students started their second set of vocabulary cartoons. Homework was assigned on Wednesday of this week (a sentence for each new word presented in class). All students will take the second quiz on Monday.

The name of the game in Language Arts this week was memoir. Monday through Wednesday students typed a draft of their memoir in the school computer lab. They also finished revising their drafts during this time. Thursday during class each student evaluated another student’s memoir draft by using the Kentucky Writing Rubric as their scoring guide. Students had to rate each other in the areas of Content, Structure, and Conventions. They also had to explain how they came about each score and offer suggestions for improvement. No homework was assigned this weekend.

This week ended the third nine weeks of school. Students worked on revising their memoir in class Tuesday and Wednesday. (Monday was a snow day.) The classes looked over their writing by using a three column chart. The chart had them evaluate their sentence beginnings (sentence variety), sentence lengths (fragments/run-ons), and verbs (word choice). Once students’ memoirs were revised we used Thursday and Friday to type a second draft of the Memoirs. We will use the beginning of next week to finish the second draft. No homework was assigned this week.