Homework will be updated weekly; however, sometimes it will change due to the needs of the class. Please also refer to the student planner for the most up-to-date homework information.
WEEKLY HOMEWORK UPDATES
MARCH 3/9 - 3/13 - Students worked hard last week preparing for their debates and the debates themselves will happen in class on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, we will use our Informational Reading CAASPP interim results to review standards, skills, and concepts with reading expository texts. On Thursday we will write a RACE response using a persuasive text and discuss how to be ethical in persuasion and on Friday we will start to review the summative assessment for the unit, which is a research-based persuasive essay. Homework: Students should practice their parts in the debate over the weekend so that they are ready by the beginning of class on Monday, March 9th. Also, the ATL Reflection for the MYP Community Project is due in Google Classroom by Friday morning and students should be working on their notecards for the Elevator Pitch which are due in Advisory on Friday, March 13th. Other than that, students should read from an independent reading novel for at least 20 minutes for five days of the week.
3/2 - 3/6 - This week students will be working on the formative assessment for the unit, which is a debate that practices the persuasive structure that they will use in their upcoming Persuasive Essays (the summative assessment for the unit). On Monday we will review the prompt, outline and requirements and they will receive their partners, choose their topics, and establish their claims. Then they will have the rest of the week to research their topics, plan their debates, create their notecards, and practice with their partner. Students will receive a timeline for the project in class, so they will know about where they need to be every day in order to stay on track. Homework: Students should read from an independent reading novel for at least 20 minutes for five days of the week. Also, they should start practicing their parts of the debate at home on Thursday and then over the weekend so that they are ready when we return on March 9th.
FEBRUARY 2/24 - 2/28 - We are going to spend Monday and Tuesday taking the interim assessment on Reading Informational Texts. While this will not be graded, it will give us information about areas of strength and weakness related to reading and analyzing informational texts so that we can address any gaps in our remaining units. Then on Wednesday, we will launch our new unit on persuasion by exploring our statement of inquiry and concepts. On Thursday and Friday, we will review persuasive structure through a Kahoot, notes, and activity. Homework: Students need to complete a Unit Reflection in Google Classroom by Wednesday morning. Other than that, they should read from an independent reading novel for at least 20 minutes for five days each week.
2/19 - 2/21 - This week we are finishing up our unit on being critical consumers of information. They will have all of class on Wednesday and Thursday to finish their summative assessment, which is a Step-by-Step Instruction Manual that explains how someone can analyze a text; part of their Instruction Manual will include their own analysis of a real-world text. We will finish-up the unit on Friday with some different reflection activities about the skills, concepts, and knowledge that we've been working on in this unit. Homework: The students will start a Unit Reflection in class on Friday, but they might have to finish for homework by Wednesday, February 26th. Other than that, their only homework is to read for at least 20 minutes for five days this week from an independent reading novel.
2/10 - 2/14 - This week students will start working on their summative assessment for the unit, which is an instruction manual about how to critically analyze a text. On Monday and Tuesday, we will review the requirements and the rubric for the assessment and then use this information to analyze a sample instruction manual. On Wednesday, they will choose a real-life text to critically analyze that they will use as an example in their instruction manual. In class on Thursday, they will get a period to plan out their ideas for the instruction manual and then on Friday, they will begin writing. Homework: Over this weekend, students should read and annotate the chapter "Big" as they will have a quiz when we return on Monday. Since we are starting the summative assessment this week in class, there isn't any additionally assigned homework (although it is possible that they will need to finish analyzing the sample on Tuesday if they don't finish in class). As always, students should be reading for at least 20 minutes for five days each week from an independent reading novel.
2/3 - 2/7 - We will start the week watching commercials and analyzing how well they use connotations, evidence, and rhetoric to achieve their purpose. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday, students will work through an activity where they compare conflicting claims in three different texts to determine which text is the most reliable. On Thursday, students will either have only Language Arts and Science for both periods and then they will switch to the other class the next day. Mrs. Dietz and I are blocking classes on Thursday and Friday because she has an awesome lab planned (eye dissection) that requires a longer period. On the day when the kids have Language and Literature, they will be introduced to the summative assessment for the unit by going over the prompt and requirements. Then they will practice formatting a few slides that analyze a text and get feedback from a peer, as this will help them to prepare for the summative that they will start working on next week. Homework: For homework on Monday, students will read and annotate the first three sections of the chapter "Meat." Then on Tuesday, students need to continue reading the chapter through the section "Shocking." At the end of each section, they need to annotate how well the author used evidence to achieve the purpose of the section. On Wednesday, the students need to finish the "Conflicting Claims" assignment if they didn't finish in class. Finally, the students need to read the chapter "Big" sometime between Thursday and Monday. They need to identify the main type of rhetoric used in each section and explain if it was used effectively.
JANUARY 1/27 - 1/31 - We will start the week on Monday with a quiz on the chapter "Youngster Business" and then we will start reading and analyzing the chapter "McJobs." On Tuesday, we will read more of the chapter and then students will choose a prompt about the book to respond to with a RACE response. In class on Wednesday, we will learn about the different types of rhetoric and how they are used in Chew on This. We will end the week discussing how to question and critically analyze evidence before believing it to be true. Homework: For homework on Monday, students should read the chapter "McJobs" through the section "Just Add Hot Water" and they should finish reading the chapter on Tuesday. While they read this chapter, they should make one annotation for each section that captures their response to the information that was in that section with an explanation. On Wednesday, students should read the chapter "The Secret of Fries" through the section "Tasty" and they should finish reading the chapter Thursday for homework. While they read this chapter, they should annotate they types of rhetoric being used. They should be prepared for a quiz on Friday on these two chapters that we covered in class this week. If students want to get a head start on next weekend's reading homework, they can also start reading the chapter "Meat" over the weekend. 1/21 - 1-24 - We will spend the first two days of the week working on internal text structure, specifically looking at how it is used in Chew on This. Then on Thursday and Friday, we will learn about different types of evidence and how they are used in our class text. We will also spend part of our class time this week reading the book, but some of the reading will also be assigned for homework. Homework: For homework on Tuesday and Wednesday, students will need to read and annotate the chapter "The Pioneers." On Thursday and Friday, students will need to read and annotate the chapter "Youngster Business." Specific pages within these chapters and types of annotations will be assigned in class.
1/13 - 1-17 - This week we are going to start our third unit of the year which is centered around being critical consumers of information. In this unit, we will learn different techniques that writers can use to present information and how it is our job as consumers of information to know how to analyze the information before believing it as true and letting it shape our perspective. On Monday, we will discuss different sources of news, the purpose of news, the evolution of news, and fake news versus real news. Then we will spend the rest of the week analyzing connotations and denotations of words. We will analyze an advertisement, a commercial, and an article with conflicting claims about the same product (Hydroxycut) and discuss the purpose and reliability of each text and how they use language to accomplish their purpose. Then on Friday, we will read the introduction of Chew On This and analyze how connotations are used and what this tells us about the overall purpose of the book itself. Homework: On Tuesday, students will have to identify words in the advertisement that have connotations and claims that are made. Other than that, the only homework for the week is to read for at least 20 minutes for five days from their independent reading novel (unless we don't finish something in class).
1/7 - 1-10 - Students will get the opportunity to look at feedback on their Phrase Tests when we return and then we will spend the rest of the period using Pixar short movies to review theme. For the rest of the week, we will practice using all of the skills that we have been practicing over the first semester with fictional texts by working through some CAASPP interim tests. Homework: Students might have to finish classwork at home for homework if we don't get through it all during the class period. Also, Phrase Test retakes will be offered before school on Tuesday, January 14th; students who plan on retaking this test should study their Phrase Notes or the Phrase Review in Google Classroom for a minimum of 15 minutes four different times and set-up a time to get extra support from me if needed. As always, students should also be reading from their independent reading novel for at least 20 minutes for five days of the week. Finally, we are only a few weeks away from starting our third unit of the year that revolves around the text Chew On This by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson, so please secure a copy of the book by January 27th.
DECEMBER 12/16 - 12/20 - We will spend the first two days of this week reviewing the three different types of phrases for the test that will be on Wednesday. On Monday, students will practice writing sentences with the different types of phrases and on Tuesday they will work with a partner to revise a paragraph to enhance the sentences by adding phrases. The will start the test on Wednesday and they will revise their writing and finish their test on Thursday. For the test, students will have to choose a writing prompt to respond to and then successfully incorporate phrases into their written responses so that the phrases enhance their writing (phrases can add more information or descriptive details, convey emotional connotations, or create sentence variety). On Friday, all of MYP will be on the ice skating field trip, so there won't be Language and Literature. Homework: Students should study their Phrase Notes for ten minutes every night leading up to the test, so that they are very comfortable with the definitions and rules of each phrase type. For Tuesday's homework, I recommend that students look at the two different writing prompt options for their Phrase Test so that they can start to think about their ideas and then just focus on how to best convey their ideas using phrases in class. They are allowed to create a planning document at home to organize their ideas for their response if they want, but this isn't required. Other than that, students should be reading from their independent reading novel for at least 20 minutes for five days.
12/9 - 12/13 - We are going to continue learning about and working with phrases this week. On Monday, students will write with appositive phrases, on Tuesday and Wednesday, we will learn about prepositional phrases, and on Thursday and Friday, we will learn about Participial Phrases. Students should study their notes about the different types of phrases for about 5-10 minutes for a few nights each week in order to store this information in long-term memory before the test next week. If they are feeling confused at any time, please encourage them to set-up a time to meet with me for extra help. Homework: Essay revisions for their Outsiders essay are due by Wednesday. I reviewed the process for essay revisions in class and posted the directions with a resource in Google Classroom. Since this was a timed essay, revisions are REQUIRED and they should be resubmitted in Google Classroom - if they choose not to revise their original scores will decrease by five percent. On Wednesday, students will be assigned the Unit 2 Reflection to be completed by Friday.
12/2 - 12/6 - We are going to spend the first part of the week working on our final summative assessment for the unit, which is a vlog that determines if The Outsiders version of the movie stays true to or departs from the original novel . We already went over the requirements and rubric before Thanksgiving Break and now they will actually work on planning out their ideas, creating an outline, practicing, and finally recording their vlog. Then we will start our mini-unit on phrases that will take us until Winter Break. On Thursday, we will learn the different between phrases and clauses and on Friday we will start working with appositive phrases. Homework: Students will receive their Outsiders essays back on Tuesday. Since they originally wrote these as a timed write, everyone is required to complete essay revisions by Wednesday, December 11th - we will go over the process for the revisions together in class on Tuesday. Other than that, the only Language & Literature homework for the week is reading from their independent reading novel for at least 20 minutes for five days. In terms of their MYP Projects, students should be working on the "Planning" stage of their project by completing their Action Plan to help plan their projects and documenting their progress using Process Journals. All of these documents and additional resources can be found in the MYP Project Google Classroom.
NOVEMBER 11/18-11/22 - Since we have minimum days the majority of this week due to Student Led Conferences, 8th graders will only have Language and Literature on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Monday and Wednesday, students will watch the movie version of The Outsiders and take notes focused around the four significant scenes from the book that they have previously chosen. Then on Friday, I will introduce our next project, which is a vlog where they have to determine if the movie version of the text stays true to or departs from the original novel The Outsiders. We will go over the directions together and students will start to brainstorm ideas for their project, so that they are ready to start working when we return from Thanksgiving Break. Homework: Students need to complete the "Significant Scenes from the Novel" aspect of the Movie Vs. Text worksheet that they received on Wednesday by the time they come to class on Monday. Other than that, the only Language & Literature homework for the week is reading from their independent reading novel for at least 20 minutes for five days. In terms of their MYP Projects, students should be working on the "Planning" stage of their project by completing their Action Plan to help plan their projects and documenting their progress using Process Journals. All of these documents and additional resources can be found in the MYP Project Google Classroom.
11/12- 11/15- On Tuesday, students will be put in groups to have discussions about The Outsiders, using the essay prompt and their own questions to drive the conversation. They will be able to take notes and then use this page as a resource when they work on their essay. We will also add a few essay resources into their notebooks, including information about attention grabbers, introduction paragraphs, and conclusion paragraphs. Students will then spend Wednesday outlining their essay and Thursday and Friday writing their essay about how characters or character relationships in The Outsiders revealed a theme about conflict. Homework: Since we are working on their summative assessment for the unit, there is no Language & Literature homework for the week, other than reading from their independent reading novel for at least 20 minutes for five days. In terms of their MYP Projects, students need to complete the first three boxes of their Project Proposals by Friday and some groups also need to play catch-up with work for Criterion A, especially their research documents.
11/4- 11/8- This week, we will finish reading The Outsiders and continue to explore the use of characterization and themes in the novel. On Monday, students will have a quiz on Chapters 5-8 and then we will read Chapter 9. Students will work on the formative assessment, which is a character foil chart for Ponyboy and Darry that utilizes the RACE response structure to explain two opposing traits that these characters show and then how this character foil enhances the overall story. On Thursday we will review the elements of an introduction and conclusion paragraph as well as the different types of attention grabbers and add resources to their notebooks that will help them on their summative assessment next week. Finally, we will spend Friday exploring different themes in the novel. Homework: Students will have reading in The Outsiders every night this week. They should come to class on Monday having read Chapter 8, as they will have a quiz on Chapters 5-8 on Monday. For the rest of the week, students will need to read and annotate Chapter 9 on Monday, Chapter 10 on Tuesday, Chapter 11 on Wednesday, and Chapter 12 on Thursday. If they are feeling confused about themes in the novel, they are encouraged to set-up a time to meet with me this week, as that will be the foundation of their essay next week.
OCTOBER 10/28 - 10/31- On Monday, we will analyze the poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" from Chapter 5 of The Outsiders. Then on Tuesday we will watch a video about advantages/disadvantages that people deal with in life and connect it to themes from our novel. On Wednesday we will prepare for our first Socratic Seminar on The Outsiders, which is a text based discussion driven by the students' own questions; the actual Socratic Seminar will take place in class on Thursday. Homework: Students need to read and annotate Chapter 5 over the weekend in order to be prepared for class on Monday. On Monday and Tuesday, they need to read and annotate Chapter 6 (I will assign actual pages in the chapter in class) and on Wednesday, they need to finish Chapter 7. Then they need to read and annotate Chapter 8 over the weekend.
10/21 - 10/25- We will continue to read, discuss and analyze concepts in The Outsiders this week, specifically working Chapters 3-5 of the novel. In the first half of the week, we will learn about character foils and analyze how SE Hinton uses character foils in the novel for different sets of characters. Then we will spend Thursday and Friday reviewing the RACE structure for short answer responses and then practice writing a RACE response to a question from the book. Homework: Students will only have reading from The Outsiders this week and for each chapter, they need to make a minimum of 3 annotations. On Monday, they will need to finish Chapter 3, on Tuesday they need to read to page 58 (or when Cherry and Marcia leave), on Wednesday they need to finish Chapter 4, and on Thursday they need to finish Chapter 5.
10/13 - 10/18 - This week we will be having fun with hands-on learning in Catalina :)
10/7 - 10/11 - We will wrap-up the unit during the beginning of this week with the final summative of the unit which is a Google Slides presentation to the class about how a technique was used in two different texts and we will complete a few reflection activities. On Wednesday, we are going to dive into our new unit centered around the novel The Outsiders by completing a Socials and Greasers themed relay race and then we will finish the week by reading the novel and exploring how the author develops the characters. Homework: Students need to complete the Unit 1 Reflection in Google Classroom by Thursday. On Thursday, students will need to finish Chapter 1 of The Outsiders and they should finish Chapter 2 by Monday the 21st. Students will also receive their assessed summative paragraphs from Unit 1 this week. We will go over the optional revision process together and if they choose to revise, their revision packets are due by Thursday, October 24th.
SEPTEMBER 9/30 - 10/4 - Students will finish up their analysis paragraphs on "The Tell-Tale Heart" in class on Monday. We will spend the rest of the week working on the final activity for the unit which is a Google Slides presentation that compares/contrasts how the same technique was used in two different texts. We will go through the prompt, the rubric, and an example together in class on Tuesday. Students will choose if they are working with a partner or alone and then they will create an outline about what texts and techniques they are going to focus on in their presentation. Once they get their outline approved, they will spend the rest of class time that week working on their Google Slides presentations and accompanying note cards for their presentations, which will be on Monday of the following week. Homework: If students do not complete their presentations and/or notecards in class, they are allowed to work on these in Study Hall or at home. Other than that, the only homework for the week is reading from their independent reading novel for at least twenty minutes for three days.
9/23 - 9/27 - Students will spend this week working on the summative assessment for the unit, which is an analysis paragraph about "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe. On Monday, we will go over the prompt and rubric and look at a strong example of an analysis paragraph. Then on Tuesday we will read the story together as a class and they will independently analyze the techniques used in the story on Wednesday. They will create their graphic organizers on Thursday and they will start writing their paragraphs on Friday. Since this is a summative assessment, students will need to move through this process independently and are only allowed to work on it in our class; however, if students start to get behind, they can work with me to find additional time when they can continue to work on it. Homework: On Monday, students may need to finish the sample paragraph reflection if they did not finish in class (due Wednesday). Since students are working on their summative assessments this week, they do not have any other homework for class, except for their weekly independent reading which is at least 20 minutes for three days of the week.
9/16 - 9/20 - We will spend the majority of this week working on the formative assessment for this unit, which is an analysis paragraph for the short story "The Sniper." On Monday, we will analyze the techniques in the story and on Tuesday students will use their ideas to create a graphic organizer to show how purpose, techniques, and audience imperative are related in this story. Then they will have all period on Wednesday and Thursday to write, revise, and edit their paragraphs with the ability to work collaboratively. They will repeat this same process, but for a different short story, the following week for the summative assessment in this unit. Then on Friday, we will lean about the different types of irony and how they can be used to have an intended impact on the audience. Homework: If students do not finish their formative paragraph for "The Sniper" in class on Thursday, they are allowed to finish for homework (it is due Friday morning). Other than that, they should be reading from their independent reading book for at least twenty minutes for three days of the week.
9/9 - 9/13 - We will spend the first half of the week working on a paragraph for the poem "Mother to Son" that analyzes how the concepts of author's purpose, techniques, and audience imperatives are all interrelated. On Monday, we will work collaboratively as a class to create a graphic organizer and then we will work together on Tuesday and Wednesday to write the analysis paragraph. Since this is our first time with this type of prompt/writing, we are going through the whole process together so that we can model how to think like writers and the types of choices that we should make in our paragraphs. Then on Thursday, we will spend class reviewing plot and how authors can use aspects of plot to elicit a specific response from the reader. Finally, on Friday we will read they short story "The Sniper," as this will be the text that we use for our next analysis paragraph next week. Homework: The homework for the week will mainly be finishing up what they don't finish in class, so if they are productive and focused during class time, they should have much homework outside of independent reading. On Monday, they may need to finish-up their graphic organizers and on Wednesday, they may need to finish up their paragraphs. Besides that, they should be reading from their independent reading book for at least twenty minutes for three days of the week.
9/3 - 9/6 - On Monday, we will analyze the author's purpose for writing the poem "The Ballad of Birmingham," identify the techniques that were used, and then analyze how the use of these techniques impacted the audience. On Tuesday, students will put together a two-point analysis paragraph for the poem so that they have a resource in their notebook to use throughout this unit when they start writing their own paragraphs. Then we will spend the end of the week applying these concepts to the poem "Mother to Son." We will read and analyze the poem as a class and then set-up a graphic organizer that we will use to write a two-point analysis paragraph next week. Homework: The final draft of their I Am From poems, either printed out or written in ink, is due when they come to class on Tuesday. As long as students stay productive during class, the only homework for the week is to read from an independent reading book for at least 20 minutes for three days a week (they get to read two days in Study Hall to hit the five day total). This is very important in order for them to maintain consistent growth in their overall reading ability. Finally, students should get a copy of the book The Outsiders by SE Hinton by Thursday, September 26th. If you are unable to secure a copy of this book, please let me know at least a week in advance so that I can provide a copy for you.
AUGUST 8/26 - 8/31 - We will start the week by reviewing the rubric for the I Am From poem and then use the rubric to collaboratively assess two sample poems. On Tuesday, students will have the entire class to work on the rough drafts of their I Am From poems that capture their childhood memories and life experiences up to this point. On Wednesday and Thursday, we will take notes about the relationship between an author's purpose for a text, the techniques he/she chooses to use, and the impact that he/she hopes these techniques will have on the audience (audience imperatives). Then we will watch a short video called "Cardboard Stories" and explore these concepts and how they work together. On Friday, we will read the poem "Ballad of Birmingham" and identify the purpose of why Dudley Randall wrote the poem, the techniques used in the poem, and the intended impact on the audience for these specific techniques. Homework: Students need to finish their brainstorm of childhood memories and life experiences to prepare for their I Am From poem by class on Tuesday. Students will work on their rough draft of the poem in class on Tuesday, but they will probably need to finish their rough drafts for homework; the rough draft is due in class on Thursday. Students will peer edit each other's poems and have the opportunity to ask me for help in class on Thursday and then they can make revisions and changes as needed. The final draft of their poems, printed out or written in pen, are due on Tuesday. Finally, students should be reading from an independent reading book for at least 20 minutes for four days of the week.
8/19 - 8/23 - We are going to start the week by discussing our revamped class library and they will have time to "book shop" the class library in order to create a "To Be Read" sheet in their notebooks. Then on Tuesday, we are officially launching our first unit of the year about the following Statement of Inquiry: Authors make stylistic choices in order to create a desired impact on the audience. Students will explore the different purposes of writing and the different techniques that authors can use to achieve different purposes. Then on Wednesday, we will specifically focus how authors can use figurative language to evoke different responses from the reader. On Thursday and Friday we will spend time discussing the I Am From poem by going over the prompt and rubric and then assessing multiple examples. Next week, students will create their own I Am From poems based on their own life experiences up to this point. Homework: On Thursday, students will need to complete a brainstorm in their notebooks about different life experiences and childhood memories. I strongly encourage parents to discuss these brainstorms at home, as you can help your kids come up with awesome ideas. Other than that, students should be reading from an independent reading book for at least 20 minutes for three nights. Since we are book shopping on Monday, everyone should have a book by then, but they are also welcome to get independent reading books from our school library, the public library, or any other method that works for them.