8thEnglish

Holmes Junior High Teacher Assignment Page

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Mary Teel

teelm@cedar-falls.k12.ia.us

8th Grade English

Welcome to 8th Grade English

BOARD POLICY 603.3 Selection of Learning Resources. Learning resources are selected by the school district to support its educational goals and objectives and to implement, enrich, and support the instructional program. Resources must serve the breadth and depth of the curriculum and provide for the needs and interests of individual students. It is the obligation of the district to provide intellectual and physical access to materials that cover a wide range of abilities and many differing points of view. To this end, principles of intellectual freedom must be placed above personal opinion, and reason above prejudice, in the selection of resources. In the event resources are questioned, the principles of intellectual freedom shall be defended rather than specific resources. The Board recognizes the right of individual parents to request that their child not be required to read, view or listen to specific resources, provided a written request is made to the appropriate building principal.

On my assignment page, you can expect to find what we worked on in class each day, homework assignments and due dates for the assignments, and upcoming test dates. The departmental grading scale will be handed out on the first full day of classes. This should be clipped in the very front of the three-ring binder which is required for my class. I strongly believe that a student's success depends on a collaborative effort between the teacher and home. I will therefore be using the morning assistance plan to help struggling students in my classes. Please take a look at the morning assistance contract on the Holmes Web Site. I will be using this contract to notify the student and home of a student's need to work with me on missing and/or incomplete assignments either before or after school. I am looking forward to a fun and rewarding year.

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<A HREF="http://www.cedar-falls.k12.ia.us/Buildings/holmes/holmes.html">Holmes

Junior High</A>

<A HREF="http://www.cedar-falls.k12.ia.us">Cedar Fall Community School District</A>

<A HREF="http://www.cedar-falls.k12.ia.us/Buildings/holmes/staff.html">Staff Email Addresses</A>

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Thursday, Feb. 11

Book talks

Finish Anne Frank video

Wednesday, Feb. 10

Unit Test for Diary of Anne Frank

Book talks will be tomorrow since we do not have school on Friday.

Tuesday, Feb. 9

No shool - weather cancellation

Monday, February 8

SSR

Unit test review

The unit test will be tomorrow unless we have a cancellation or delay due to weather conditions. Then the test will be on Wednesday.

Friday, February 5

Library Day. Book talks, pink book talk sheets were handed in.

3 journal responses for the play Diary of Anne Frank were handed in. Anyone not handing in these journals will be assigned morning assistance until they are completed.

Thursday, February 4

SSR

Small group discussion of quotes from the play. Individual response due tomorrow for 2 of those quotes. Tomorrow you will hand in all three journals/reflections from the play.

Reminder: Unit test on Tuesday. Test review in class on Monday.

Wednesday, February 3

SSR

Whole group scored discussion. Discussion questions were handed in.

Tuesday, February 2

SSR

Quiz over Act II of the play

Assignment: Prepare 5 discussion questions over the play for a scored whole group discussion tomorrow.

Monday, February 1

SSR

All classes finished reading the play.

Thursday, January 28

SSR

Periods 1, 2, & 3 finished their study guides from yesterday.

Period 4: Read on in the play Act II, scene 2

Wednesday, January 27

SSR

We read Act II, scene 1 together in class today. Be sure to read this section if you were absent.

Periods 1, 2, & 3 worked on the study guide "What I need to Know About Drama". Be sure to get this from me if you were absent today. You will need this to study for the Holocaust unit test.

Reminder: Friday we will be doing book talks in class. Be sure that you have your pink half sheet book log handout filled out and ready to hand in after your book talk on Friday.

Tuesday, January 26

2 hour late start today.

SSR - All periods.

4th period only - Character Counts bricks were created for the "Wall of Kindness"

Students worked with a partner on the study guide "What I Need to Know About Drama". If you were gone today, be sure to get this handout from me. You will need this to study for the Holocaust unit test.

Monday, January 25

SSR - 2nd semester we will begin each day with SSR (silent, sustained reading). Be sure to record each day on your reading record. You need to have your book and materials with you, or you will receive a tardy and need to go get them.

Quiz - over Act I of the play.

Thursday, January 21

Library Day. New independent reading grading criteria handouts were given to students. Get yours from me if you were absent today.

Wednesday, January 20

Early Dismissal at 11:00 due to weather conditions

1st, 2nd & 3rd Periods: Small group discussions.

4th Period: SSR - your small group discussion will take place tomorrow in class.

Tuesday, January 19

2 Hour Delay - 1st, 2nd & 3rd periods were 10 minutes in length. SSR.

4th Period: SSR

Genre characteristics explained. Students worked on classifying the independent reading books read during 2nd quarter.

Small group discussion role requirements were worked on for the remainder of the period. Our second small group discussion will take place tomorrow in class.

Tuesday, January 12

Finished reading through to the end of scene 3 in the play. Students then worked on their discussion role assignments for tomorrow's small group discussion.

Monday, January 11

W. W. II Book Reviews were handed in today.

We read on in the play. Our first small group discussion of the play will take place on Wednesday.

Reminder: 2nd Quarter Reading Logs Due Tomorrow.

Wednesday, January 6

Discussion groups met and assigned role for the first discussion of Diary of Anne Frank. Handouts were given to students detailing role responsibilities. If you were absent today, be sure to ask your group what role you were assigned for the first discussion and get your handouts from me.

We then read on in the play Act I, scene 2.

Tuesday, January 5

Check-off completed for Journal Response 1. If you were absent today, but sure to show me your journal when you return to class to receive credit.

Read Act I, scene 1 of the play. Discussion groupings were assigned. See me to get your group number if you were gone today.

Monday, January 4

Welcome back from holiday break!

Journal Response 1 for Diary of Anne Frank is due tomorrow. The handout for reading responses was given to students during class, and we went over the expectations and questions together.

Reminder of Upcoming Due Dates: W. W. II Book reviews are due this Friday, Jan. 8.

2nd Quarter Reading logs are duing Tuesday, Jan. 12.

Wednesday, Dec. 16

Reading time for W. W. II books.

Today we started watching the video Anne Frank - The Whole Story.

Tuesday, Dec. 15

Students worked on the Diary of Anne Frank vocabulary in class today. If you were gone today, you wil need to work on these as homework.

W. W. II Book Reviews are due on Friday, January 8.

Reading time for W. W. II books.

Monday, Dec. 14

Handout for Drama Unit was given to students. If absent today, be sure to get the handout. We read through the article on drama together in class. Students were then given time to work on Diary of Anne Frank vocabulary and time to read W. W. II books.

Friday, Dec. 11

Library Day. Reading logs for 2nd quarter will be due on Jan. 12.

Thursday, Dec. 10

Snow Day. No School.

Wednesday, Dec. 9

Snow Day. No School.

Tuesday, Dec. 8

W. W. II books - reading time

Writing Assignment: In response to your watching yesterday's video. Rememember I had told you

that Mr. Ross was fired because of his experiment with "The Wave". You are to write a letter to the administration of Gordon High School either supporting the retention of Mr. Ross as a teacher or recommending he be fired because of "The Wave" experiment he conducted with his class. You can approach this from either the perspective of a student at the high school or a parent of a student. If this was not completed in class today, this is your homework assignment for tomorrow.

Monday, Dec. 7

Students watched the video The Wave.

Friday, Dec. 4

Holocaust Background quiz

Reading time for W. W. II books

Thursday, Dec. 3

Discussion of background article we read yesterday in class. Filled in questions students had in the W section of the KWL charts we started on Monday. Additional background notes were taken in class today. Quiz tomorrow over the article and notes taken in class today. You will be able to use the article for the quiz but not the notes. SO STUDY THOSE NOTES!

Wednesday, Dec. 2

Reading time for W. W. II Books

Assignment: Read the Holocaust background article and complete the written think aloud by tomorrow.

Tuesday, Dec. 1

Mrs. Teel did book talks for W. W. II book assignment. Students chose their W. W. II books and began reading.

Monday, Nov. 30

Spelling Pretest 10

Mr. Huber was in class today to go over the results of the Explore testing.

We are beginning our new unit today focusing on the play The Diary of Anne Frank and the Holocaust period in history. During this unit we will be reading fiction and non-fiction literature about this period in history. The theme for this unit is tolerance with many of our writings and discussions centering on this theme. Today we began working on a KWL chart focusing on what knowledge students already have regarding the Holocaust.

Tuesday, Nov. 22

Finished movie

Library Day - independent reading time. Reminder: Be sure that you are filling out a book review card for each of the books you complete this quarter. You will not receive credit for any books over which you have not completed a book review card.

Tuesday, Nov. 24

We finished the movie Charly and had a discussion of the differences between the movie version and short story version and why the screenwriters made those changes.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Monday, Nov. 23

Continued watching movie

Friday, Nov. 20

Started to watch movie version of "Flowers for Algernon". Students are to keep a running list of the differences between the movie and the short story versions.

Thursday, Nov. 19

"Flowers for Algernon" test

Wednesday, Nov. 18

Scored Discussion.

Tuesday, Nov. 17

Assignment: Journal 2 for "Flowers for Algernon"

Need to have 5 discussion questions over part 2 of the story written for tomorrow's scored discussion.

Test Thursday over "Flowers for Algernon"

Monday, Nov. 16

Spelling Pretest 9

Read to the end of Part 2 of "Flowers for Algernon" by the end of the period tomorrow.

Write 5 discussion questions over part 2 of the story for Wednesday's scored discussion.

Thursday we will be taking a test over "Flowers for Algernon" and then starting the movie version of the story, Charly.

Wednesday, Nov. 11

Periods 1 & 2: scored discussion of Part 1 of "Flowers for Algernon"

Periods 3 & 4: Independent Reading Time - Make sure that you are filling out a green book review card for each book you read this quarter.

Tuesday, Nov. 10

Periods 1, 2, & 3 were testing for ITBS this morning.

Periods 1 & 2 need to have their 5 discussion questions for tomorrow's scored discussion over Part 1 of "Flowers for Algernon."

Monday, Nov. 9

1st period had an assembly, so their scored discussion will be on Wednesday in class. 2nd period will also have their scored discussion on Wednesday. Period 3 & 4 had their scored discussion today. Students should be sure to have their free reading books with them each class period this week.

Friday, Nov. 6

Students were given work time to read to the end of part 1 in "Flowers for Algernon." Students were to write 5 discussion questions for a scored whole class discussion on Monday.

2nd Quarter Reading Log Requirements: The requirements for number of pages and books read will be the same this quarter. However, this quarter the logs are required, not extra credit. For each book that you expect to receive credit for this quarter, you will need to fill out a book review card. Each student was given one card. Extra cards are on the front table in Mrs. Teel's room.

Thursday, Nov. 5

Spelling Test 8.

We looked at entries students had done for Journal 1 for "Flowers for Algernon." We discussed the ideas in the entries, the structure, strengths, and weaknesses of the entries we looked at. Students were then given time to read on in the story and to work on the assignment from yesterday. Since we did not have much time to work on the assignment during class today, I have changed the due date to tomorrow.

Wednesday, Nov. 4

Students began reading "Flowers for Algernon." Everyone needs to have read to the May 15 Progress Report on page 217 by Friday.

Assignment: Write a summary of Progress Report 4. Extra Credit for identifying and spelling correctly the **words on page 207. This will be due at the end of the period tomorrow.

Tuesday, Nov. 3

Journal 1 for "Flowers for Algernon" was handed in today. Those students who did not have the journal completed are expected to come into Mrs. Teel's room tomorrow morning with the completed assignment or to work on the assignment.

Mrs. Teel read the short story by Edgar Allan Poe, "The Black Cat." Mrs. Teel then read her example of today's writing assignment - "My Palm Pilot."

Writing assignment: Poe-like Paragraph: Take an everyday ordinary object and write a paragraph about that object making it an object of terror or horror. This is to be stored in the writing section of your three-ring binder. Students shared some of their examples at the end of the period.

Monday, Nov. 2

Spelling Pretest 8

We will be starting to read the short story by Daniel Keyes, "Flowers for Algernon."

Students read the background information about the author and the story on page 202 of our brown texts.

Journal 1 assigned and due tomorrow in class.

Thursday, Oct. 29

Spelling Test 7

Library Day and end of quarter make-up day for those who have been absent.

Wednesday, Oct. 28

Storytelling group shares were done today in class. Each group selected a super, stupendous storyteller who will share his/her story with the whole group on Monday. These ss storytellers will be earning some extra credit for 2nd quarter.

1st Quarter reading logs were handed in today.

Tuesday, Oct. 27

Students read the short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe and answered reading response questions. Students then completed the "author" side of the anticipation guide (gray handout).

Monday, Oct. 26

Spelling pretest 7.

Students practiced their storytelling with a partner. Small group storytelling will be on Wednesday.

1st Quarter reading logs due on Wednesday.

Friday, Oct. 24

Discussion of "The Storyteller"

"Hansel & Gretel" as told by Mrs. T.

Thursday, Oct. 22

Spelling Post test 6.

Students then had work time for their short story assignment of independent reading requirement. Reading logs for 1st quarter will be due next Wednesday.

Wednesday, Oct. 21

Students were in the computer lab today finalizing their short story analysis. These were then handed in at the end of the period or are to be handed in no later than tomorrow during class.

Tuesday, Oct. 20

Storytelling assignment: Students are to choose a plot that they want to tell as a storytelling activity. This could be from a number of sources: 1) it might be a personal or family story 2) it could be a children's book that is a favorite 3) it could be a folktale or fairy tale 4)it could be an original plot. Here is a site to some possible plots to use for this assignment: http://www.storyarts.org/library/index.html. One of my favorites is to google "fractured fairy tales". There are many sites that you can go to to find examples of fractured fairy tales. Each student should either have a plot summary of the story they plan to tell or an actual copy of that story with them on Thursday. You will be memorizing this plot to tell to a small group in class on Tuesday, Oct. 27. We will be going over tips for storytellers in class on Thursday and Friday of this week.

Students then read the short story "The Storyteller" by Saki and answered some guided reading questions for that story.

Monday, Oct. 19

Spelling Pretest 6. If you were gone today, make arrangements to make this up before or after school.

Peer review of short story analysis rough draft. If you were gone today, see me about how to go about completion of this peer review requirement for your short story analysis.

Friday, Oct. 16

Library Day

Thursday, Oct. 15

This was our last day of word processing the short story analysis during class. If you did not get finished typing your rough draft today, you must do that on your own for Monday. Anyone who does not have their rough draft with them in class on Monday, will forfeit 10 points on the final.

Tuesday, Oct. 13

Students were given the handout of expectations/requirements for the short story analysis. We will be in the computer lab tomorrow and Thursday word processing the rough drafts. A rough draft copy needs to be printed off and ready to bring to class on Monday for a peer review and edit. The final copy will be due Thursday, Oct. 22.

Monday, Oct. 12

Spelling Pretest 5

Small group discussions of folder stories. Students handed in their QCQ and Plot Structure diagrams for the folder stories.

Thursday, Oct. 8

Spelling Test 4

Plot Structure diagram assignment - choose one of the folder stories and complete a plot structure diagram for that story. If you were absent today see me about this assignment.

Students did a partner review of literary terms. Literary terms test is tomorrow.

Wednesday, Oct. 7

Continue to read the folder stories and complete the QCQ process for all.

Reminder: Literary terms test is Friday. You can do flash cards for extra credit.

Tuesday, Oct. 6

Read the three short stories that are in the folders that I handed out today. For each story you are to (1) question - write down as many questions as you have about the story (2) comment - anything you think of regarding the story (3) quote - this needs to be a word for word passage from the story that strikes you for some reason or other (4) identify the irony of situation - explain what you thought was going to happen in each story, and then what actually did happen. I will be checking on your progress on this assignment daily this week. I am hoping that we will be ready to move into our small group discussions on Friday.

Monday, Oct. 5

Students handed in the news story or editorial they had written over the short story"The Lottery".

Spelling Pretest 4

We reviewed all of the literary terms we have studied so far during the short story unit. There will be a test over these terms on Friday. You can make flash cards for extra credit. These will need to be handed in on Friday before the test.

Friday, Oct. 2

Hartman Day. Watch the weather forecast and dress accordingly. We will be going rain or shine.

Thursday, Oct. 1

Library Day. Check your reading logs to be sure that they are up-to-date.

Wednesday, Sept. 30

We read the story "Thank You Ma'am" by Langston Hughes. As we read we practiced using the questioning reading strategy and then answered some "big picture" questions about the theme of the story. If you were absent today, please talk to me about this assignment.

Monday, Sept. 28 and Tuesday, Sept. 29

EXPLORE testing in class

Friday, Sept. 25

Periods 1, 3, 4: Free Reading Friday

Period 2 - Worked on the writing assignment - write an editorial or a newspaper article regarding the short story "The Lottery"

Thursday, Sept. 24

Spelling Test 4

Story maps were handed in

Writing assignment due Monday: Write either an editorial or a newspaper article about "The Lottery". If you were absent today, see me about this assignment.

Wednesday, Sept. 23

Small group discussion of "The Lottery"

QCQ assignments were handed in

Due tomorrow: Complete a story may of either "After You My Dear Alphonse" or "The Lottery"

Tuesday, Sept. 22

Students watched a version of Shirley Jackson's story "The Lottery" and then read the actual story. They were to complete the QCQ assignment and have that ready for a small group discussion tomorrow. If you were absent today, see me about the QCQ assignment.

Monday, Sept. 21

Spelling Pretest 3.

Students finished the discussion questions for the short story "After You My Dear Alphonse" and handed those in. Whole group discussion.

Thursday, Sept. 17

Spelling test 2

Hartman Activity Sign-up. If you were absent today, be sure to see me Monday to take care of this

Read "Alfter You My Dear Alphonse". Answer multiple choice questions and do written response. Get term notes from someone who was in class today.

Wednesday, Sept. 16

Library Day

Tuesday, Sept. 15

Rough drafts of the "Charles" dialogue assignment shared with partner.

All classes went to computer labs to word process the dialogue assignment. If you did not finish this in class today, that is your homework assignment for tonight. This needs to be completed by classtime tomorrow.

Monday, Sept. 14

1) Spelling Pretest Week 2

2) Hand in 2-column notes for "Charles"

3) Dialogue writing assignment. Rewrite the ending of "Charles" using mainly dialogue. Imagine what the conversation might have been when Laurie's mom returned home from the PTA meeting that night, for instance. The rough draft is due at the beginning of class tomorrow. We will be doing some sharing of our dialogue writing before going to the computer lab to word process.

Friday, Sept. 11

1) Read "Charles" pg. 14 in brown text, 2-column notes over the characters Charles and Laurie. If you were gone today, get the handout explaining this assignment from me. Be sure that you have completed the characterization graphic notes we did in class. The 2-column notes will get handed in on Monday.

Thursday, Sept. 10

1) Spelling Post Test Week 1

2) Finish story map for "The Dinner Party" with partner

3) Notes: Characterization graphic. Get these notes from someone who was in class if you were gone today.

Wednesday, Sept. 9

1) Hartman permission slips and letters explaining the 8th grade Hartman trip were handed out

2) Clock partner/buddy activity. If you were gone today, I filled in your chart for you. Get that from me when you return

3) Read "The Dinner Party" pg. 535, brown text. Fill out story map for the plot with a partner. We will finish with this assignment tomorrow in class and then discuss the story.

Reminder: Spelling Test 1 tomorrow. Planner signatures for 4th period.

Tuesday, Sept. 8

1) Spelling Pretest 1. The word list for 1st quarter spelling was handed out today. Each week we will have a spelling pretest on Monday (when we have a Monday) and a post test over the same ten words on Thursday. Anyone who scores 100% on Monday is done with spelling for the week. Those who miss words on the pretest need to rewrite each word they missed 5 times. Do this directly on the pretest. The pretest with rewrites gets handed in with the post test each Thursday.

2) Students worked on story mapping for "100 Handkerchiefs" together in class.

Friday, Sept. 4

Library Day. Be sure that you are filling out your logs and having me initial by the title of books as you begin reading them.

Thursday, Sept. 3

1) Answer the reading reflection questions for "100 Handkerchiefs and hand in

2) Also hand in the examples from the story for foreshadowing, symbol , and climax

Extra Credit Option: Write a friendly letter to your grandparents for Grandparents' Day. Bring in a stamped addressed envelope and your letter by next Tuesday.

Wednesday, Sept. 2

We finished our discussion about "relationships" which is the theme for our short-story unit. Notes were taken for the following literary terms: foreshadowing, symbol, and climax. We read the short story "100 Handkerchiefs". By tomorrow all students need to have this story read and give an example from the story of each of the three literary terms we studied today.

Tuesday, Sept. 1

Students were given handouts for the independent reading requirements and their book logs today.

They also received the handout outlining the short story unit we will be starting.

No homework today.

Monday, August 31 

+Materials check-off for points was done at the beginning of class. Students were given the grading scale for class as well as a list of class expectations which outlined my late work policy.

+Bio poems were presented. Each student was to write down at least the first name and 1 fact that was learned from the bio poem about each individual as students were introduced.

Friday, August 28 

Students finished working on bio poems in class.

Thursday, August 27 

Bio poem assignment handout and directions given in class today. Due date: Monday, Aug. 31

Homework: Bring a recent photo of yourself to class tomorrow to be attached to your bio poem.

Reminder: Materials check-off for points on Monday. Need to have the following for points: 

3-ring binder

loose-leaf wide-lined paper

4 divider sheets w/tabs

pen & pencil

If for any reason you cannot have these materials by Monday, you need to let me know that by the end of class on Friday. 

Wednesday, August 26

Today we had an adjusted schedule for our transition day. No homework assignments for today. We did go over some general expectations for 8th grade English.

My Late Work Policy: I told my classes today that the only reason a student will fail my class is failure to complete and turn in assignments on time. My policy for late work is this:

1st day an assignment is late - 10% is deducted from grade

2nd day an assignment is late - 20% is deducted from grade

3rd day an assignment is late - 30% is deducted from grade

After the 3rd day - no more than 1/2 credit