Wednesday, September 30/09

September 30 … wow! That is one month down. After reading period today I gave you a new assignment. We did a brainstorm on anything we knew about drugs/drug abuse. Brainstorms are a pre reading strategy … they get our brains “warmed up” for reading new information. Then you started reading the article on your own. During reading you copied down the questions from each box and found the answer in the text. Remember … you don’t need all the text. Be careful to just answer what is asked. That is a good skill in reading too. Have a good evening.

Tuesday, September 29/09

Today was a library day. We completed the activity we started yesterday. I think it brought up some new points for discussion such as “Which is worse: life in prison or death row?” Maybe we can look at that tomorrow.

Monday, September 28/09

The Guillotine …

Today we got into some pretty gruesome stuff … reading the article about executions over the years. Lizzie Borden escaped execution when she was declared not guilty but thousands of others over the years were not so lucky. We did a few Before Reading activities – brainstorming famous executions and discussing the time periods modern, medieval & ancient. Then we read the article. During Reading you highlighted the exact method of death for each execution type. Some were pretty gross. Tomorrow I will get you to rank these.

Friday, September 25

Remembering Terry Fox …

We had a very short class today – after quiet reading period finished, we joined the rest of the students for a walk in honour of a great Canadian : Terry Fox. There is still time to donate some spare change to Terry’s cause of cancer research. Bring it in on Monday. Have a great weekend!!!

Thursday, September 24

Today, after reading period, we went over the questions about the Lizzie Borden story. That gave us a reason to go back and reread it. You read along with me, looking for the information you needed to answer the questions. We then went to the lab to complete this assignment.  I also asked you to come up with two headlines … one for a guilty verdict and one for a non guilty verdict. Good work … thanks!

Remember to bring any spare change tomorrow for the Terry Fox Run. And hope for sunshine!!

Wednesday, September 23/09

 

Today we did a vocabulary test after our reading period. It was tricky but some of you stuck with it. One of our goals this year will be to increase our vocabulary and become better readers.

Sell some magazines tonight!

Tuesday, September 22/09

Guilty or not guilty????

We started out class today reviewing the fact that reading is easier when we have a reason or purpose for doing it. This means there are some things we should do BEFORE we read to help us get a feel for what we are going to read. You suggested reading the title, looking at any pictures, reading little side notes and making guesses about what you will read about. We did this with the Lizzie Borden story. You came up with 5 things you knew or guessed about the story BEFORE you read it. We then read it together. Tomorrow we’ll see if your predictions were right and then you can decide if you think Lizzie should have been found guilty!!!

Monday, September 21/09

Today we worked on an assignment called “The House.” I asked you to read it with me and highlight the important parts. Most of you didn’t highlight much or anything because you didn’t really know what to do. That is what I expected because I did not give you a reason or purpose so you wouldn’t know what was important. We read it twice more … finding what was important to a robber and then to a house buyer. No problems. You did great in both these cases and found a list of things. The whole purpose of this exercise is to show you that when we have a reason/purpose for reading something, we will understand it much better when we do read it. Reading should be like that. Always begin with the question “Why am I reading this? What am I looking for?”  See you tomorrow.

Friday, September 18

Today we worked on finishing the Will Smith assignment I gave you yesterday while I was out. Most of you completed today and we will move on to new activities next week. We will be looking at things we do/can do  before we read to help us with our comprehension skills.

Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, September 16/09

Today we worked on the summary activity “Smokers facing new rules.” I asked you to write out each rule, whether you agree/disagree and explain why. Some of you were able to complete this sheet … great! Tomorrow you have a sub and will be working in the library. I will see you all Friday. For those of you who got the story Di Tri Berrese … see if you can figure it (or most of it) out by Friday.