October 3rd-7th: Literature Circles Continue!

It was nice to meet many of you during our Parent-Teacher Conferences! Thank you to those who were able to come. For those of you who were unable to make it, please contact me any time with questions or concerns.

This has been a great week in our Language Arts classroom! We have continued with our Literature Circles and the students are doing awesome! I love to walk around during class and listen to the great ideas being shared and insights the students are discovering together while reading their novel. We will continue with Literature Circles over the next several weeks. Please help your child keep up with their reading assignments for their class novel, as well as continue to read independently for their iRead books. Have them show you their Google Classroom page so you can see their reading assignments.

Speaking of the iRead program...please visit Chili's on Wednesday, October 5th  anytime from 11am-11pm and buy food. They will donate a portion of sales to fund our iRead program--just show this flyer or say you are supporting Lava Ridge. Being a good reader can make all the difference! It does take money to pay for incentives, prizes, t-shirts and our field trip, so this money would go a long way to help your child. Please join us if you are able. 

Thanks for sharing your wonderful children with me! 

Schedule

October 3rd-7th

Monday, October 3rd

Free Reading/Book Business

Simple and Compound Sentence & Practice

FANBOY Conjunctions (Unit Guide)

Tuesday, October 4th

Free Reading/Book Business

Quick Write

Literature Circle Discussion:

                      -Find sentence types

                      -Write Sentences on Graffiti Wall

Vocabulary: Cliffhanger, Suspense, Foreshadowing
Chili's Fundraiser

Wednesday, October 5th

Free Reading/Book Business

Quick Write

Theme Lesson

Thursday, October 6th

Free Reading/Book Business

Quick Write

Literature Circle Discussion

                       -Work on Plot Chart/N & N Map/ABC Booklets

Mini-Lesson: Complex Sentences

Sentence Practice

Friday, October 7th

Free Reading/Quick Write

Scope Magazine: Sentence Identification
Book #7 Due

September 26th-30th Literature Circles Begin!

This week we finished our Notice and Note Unit and took a test on Tuesday! After scoring tests, we had a Gecko Day to reteach concepts where needed, provide study hall for students who needed to finish work or offer an enrichment activity for students who mastered the Notice and Note signpost test and are caught up with work. 

I'm so excited to start Literature Circles: Friendship Unit! Here is a recap of expectations for students. 

• Students made a chart of how many pages they need to read each day, ranging from 5-15 pages depending on the book. 
• During Literature Circles in class, students will do daily individual quick-writes, participate in group discussions and work on creating their final products: a Notice and Note Map and an ABC Book. All this is kept in class and will be worked on in class.
• Students have a Unit Guide and a Plot Chart that will be the starting-off place for individual work. 
• I encourage parents to ask to see the Unit Guide to gauge student progress.
• Attendance is CRUCIAL! If you miss a day, there will be quite a bit of work to make up.  Please, please come to school.
• Yes, this will count as an iRead book
• Yes, keep reading your regular reading book too. You should be reading at home 30 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week.

If you have any questions, please email me at jandi.gubler@washk12.org or call after school hours at 435-652-4742. 

Schedule

September 26-30

Monday, September 19th

Free Reading/Book Business

Google Classroom Quick-Write

Introduce ABC Chart

Tuesday, September 20th

Free Reading/Book Business

Google Classroom Quick-Write

Literature Circle Discussion

Wednesday, September 21st

Free Reading/Book Business

Google Classroom Quick-Write

Literature Circle Fishbowl/Discussion

Book #6 Due

Parent Teacher Conferences: 3:00-6:30pm

Thursday, September 22nd

Free Reading/Book Business

Google Classroom Quick-Write

Literature Circle Discussion

Red/Yellow/Green Transition Notes

Parent Teacher Conferences: 3:00-6:30pm

Friday, September 23rd

Free Reading/Book Business

Google Classroom Quick-Write (Week #1 Writing DUE)

Scope Magazine Activity: Transitions Application

September 19-23 Literature Circles

We have had a good week continuing to learn about signposts in literature that encourage Close Reading through Notice and Note. Recognizing these signposts help the reader to interact more fully with the text. We have learned about: Aha Moments, Tough Questions, Contrasts and Contradictions, Words of the Wiser, Memory Moment and Again & Again. Students have glued notes into their notebooks and they have completed practice sheets for each signpost that will count toward their academic grade. These were all turned in Friday, September 16th.

For the week of September 19-23, we'll be moving into Literature Circles. Students will be choosing novels in their table groups to read, discuss and learn together. The unit will reinforce plot elements and Notice and Note signposts. Students will need to read a required amount of pages at home each day. They'll come home with a calendar. They can read at home or during FLEX. It is ESSENTIAL they do these daily readings. More information will be coming home. This is a highly interactive, successful way to deeply study literature and I am excited to see how students will do.

All books have been entered into Power School. Everyone should have FOUR books completed by now. Students should be reading 30 minutes a night. The average 7th grader reads 136 words per minute. Most books have about 300 words per page. This means that one page should take about 2-3 minutes to read. If students are reading every day during flex time and Language Arts free reading time, and at home for 30 minutes, they can and should finish an average 7th grade novel every 10 days!

Remember to keep up the good reading! Please feel free to email me at jandi.gubler@washk12.org or call after school hours to 652-4742 with any questions. Have a fabulous weekend!

September 19-23

Monday, September 19th

Free Reading/Book Business

Catch-Up Day

Finish Table Flags

Test Review

PLC Short Day

Tuesday, September 20th

Notice and Note Test

Free Reading/Book Business

Book Talks for Literature Circles

Choose Book with your Table

Wednesday, September 21st

iRead Book #5 Due

Students will attend the Counseling Resilience Lesson

Thursday, September 22nd

Free Reading/Book Business

Literature Circles Organization

Friday, September 23rd

Free Reading/Book Business

Literature Circles Discussion

September 12th-16th Notice and Note

Another fun and busy week! We began learning Notice and Note, which are sign posts found in literature. We learned about two signposts, "Contrasts and Contradictions", and "Again and Again". Understanding these sign posts creates skilled readers. I am introducing these concepts with short stories and novel excerpts, then having students summarize our class discussions on an application worksheet. I'm looking forward to teaching the remaining Notice and Note signposts next week, and I'm excited to see how learning about these strategies will help the students understand and analyze literary texts to a deeper level as they read.

After completing Notice and Note next week, we will be starting literature circles. In order for literature circles to be effective, students will need to put in the time to READ!  Most students are doing a fantastic job, but some are floundering. It's all about putting in the time. I provide reading time most days in class, they can read during FLEX time if they are not making up work, and reading space is available in my room or the library before and after school. I'll help students find good books, but they need to keep reading. 

Teaching your children is AMAZING! They have interesting insight when we have partner, group and class discussions, they work hard, and they are supportive of each other. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at jandi.gubler@washk12.org or call 652-4742 before or after school hours.

September 12-16

Monday, September 12th

• New Seats
• Book Business/Free Reading
• Table Flags
• Notice & Note: AHA Moment

Practice Text: "Crash" by Jerry Spinelli

Tuesday, September 13th

• Book Business/Free Reading
• Table Flags
• Notice & Note: Tough Questions

Practice Text: "Long Walk to Water" by Linda Sue Park

Wednesday, September 14th

• Book Business/Free Reading
• Table Flags
• Notice & Note: Words of the Wiser

Practice Text: "Riding Freedom" by Pam Munoz Ryan

iRead Book #4 Due

Thursday, September 15th

• Library Day (reading/book business)

Remember to meet in the library

Friday, September 16th

• Book Business/Free Reading
• Table Flags if needed
• Notice and Note: Memory Moment

Practice Text: "Hope was Here" by Joan Bauer

September 5th-9th Notice and Note

We had a very busy week last week! We had our first library visit, our first CFA (common formative assessment) and our first Gecko Day.  Overall the students did well on their plot assessment-ifyou haven't already, please check Power School for your score.  Most students were able to participate in the interactive sidewalk chalk activity for Gecko Day.  We have some creative students with great imaginations and some art skills!  Check out the pictures on our department website HERE.

Some students had the opportunity to go to Mrs. Robins's room for reteaching and to retake the CFA.  All students involved improved significantly on their test.  There was also a "catch-up" room for students needing time to read, enter a book into the book tracker, and/or work on Quizlet.  Hopefully everyone is now current with all assignments.

One housekeeping note: As students submit books on the online tracker, I will mark "collected" in the grade book.  The actual grade will be entered when I conference with the student about the book. I enjoy discussing their completed books with each student. It is exciting to see how students are working hard to keep up with their reading! Read, read, read!

This week we will be working on a couple of close reading strategies developed by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst.  In their book Notice and Note Strategies for Close Reading, students are taught to recognize markers that are I all literature to aid understanding and analysis. Notice and Note strategies aid in comprehension and act as a guide for the reader as he/she interacts/wrestles with the text. These will be taught in the context of short stories. 

MONDAY
9/5 - LABOR DAY ~ No School
​
TUESDAY
9/6

• Book Business/Free Reading
• Notice and Note: Contrasts and Contradictions

             Practice Text:
             "Thank You Ma'am" by Langston Hughes

WEDNESDAY
9/7  

• Book Business/Free Reading
• Notice and Note: Contrasts and Contradictions
• Finish "Thank You Ma'am"
• iRead Book #3 Due
  
  

THURSDAY
9/8

• Book Business/Free Reading
• Notice and Note: Again and Again

             Practice Text:
             "Girls" by Gary Paulson


FRIDAY
9/9 Plot Elements Unit Guide is Due

• Book Business/Free Reading
• Notice and Note: Again and Again

              Practice Text:            
              "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros