Newbery Booktalks!

Today most of the GOAL classes heard booktalks about three of the Newbery Award winning books for this year. They happen to all be historical fiction, and they happen to all be WONDERFUL!

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus

The books above are Newbery Honor books. The following is the Newbery Award winner for this year... drum roll please...

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Check them out today!!!

Weekly Preview: 3/28-4/1

Welcome back from Spring Break! I hope you all had a restful and rejuvenating week. Here we go into the 4th quarter at FMS!

6th GOAL: We'll be setting quarter reading goals this week and then getting into our Westward Expansion unit. This will involve research on an aspect of westward expansion in the United States and/or a topic relating to the middle 1800's. The unit will culminate with our class field trip to Nauvoo, IL, later this spring!

7th GOAL: After setting our quarter reading goals, we're starting a couple of things at once this week. First, I'll be starting to read Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer aloud to the class. I'll share a bit each day. In another month or so, we'll be studying more about Mark Twain. The Mark Twain unit will culminate with our class field trip to Hannibal, MO, later this spring, but we're starting Tom Sawyer early to make sure we finish the book before the end of the unit. For the rest of the week, we'll be working on our stop-motion animation unit. This unit is an extension of a Mod Tech module on animation. Students will be working in groups to create an animated movie of about a minute in length.

8th GOAL: We'll first set our quarter reading goals, and then, as promised, we'll be finishing up our To Kill a Mockingbird read aloud by watching a little of the master, Gregory Peck, in action!

7th Language Arts: We will start the week with spelling unit #26 (Greek Forms: gram, chron, phon(e), and scope). Page 160 and pretest corrections will be due on Wednesday. Then, we'll be working on a week-long alphabet poem writing assignment. This assignment will be due next Monday.

Week 26 Spelling Words

phonics

telescope

chronology

diagram

microphone

stethoscope

headphones

telegram

chronic

anagram

symphonic

grammatical

synchronize

telephone

periscope

chronicle

megaphone

earphones

microscope

saxophone

History Day Adventure

The 7th grade GOAL students had a great day at District History Day competition yesterday. They all successfully presented their projects as proud representatives of our school. We even have three projects going on to State History Day in May. Congratulations to all who participated on a job well done!

the whole gang

Lindsey & Katherine accepting their pin for State (group exhibit)

(Suzannah was sick, but she'll be going to State for this project as well)

Oba accepting his pin for State (individual documentary)

Nathan & Logan accepting their pins for State (group documentary)

What Do You Think?

This new graphic biography is getting a lot of buzz... what do you think about it?

History Day Documentary Links

We uploaded the 7th grade History Day documentaries to YouTube as a backup plan in case we had technology glitches at the big event. But, now that they're there, everyone can enjoy the hard work of the documentary groups. Enjoy!

Oba's documentary on Child Labor

Logan & Nathan's documentary on the Cuban Missile Crisis

Hannah & Madelyn's documentary on the Scopes Monkey Trial

Jacob's documentary on Genetic Modification

Brennan & Dain's documentary on Dropping the Atomic Bomb

Weekly Preview: 3/14-3/18

First of all, Happy Pi Day, everyone! :)

It's a crazy week... it's the end of the quarter, it's the week before spring break, it's the week of History Day, and it's the week of Images of Greatness. Hang on to your hats, folks!

6th GOAL: We'll be finishing up our unit on consumption by sharing what we learned in our oral history interviews and then comparing our consumption log data. Remember that consumption logs are due Wednesday!

7th GOAL: Tuesday is History Day! Students need to be at school by 7:45 a.m. to get ready for the big event. The rest of the week will be spent reflecting, assessing, and grading projects.

8th GOAL: Thursday is Images of Greatness! Students will need to be at school by 6:30 p.m. to get in their costumes and to get their display boards and foods ready to go. Images of Greatness begins at 7:00, and the public is invited to attend.

7th Language Arts: We'll be working on Parts of Speech this week by finishing up group presentations, making a Parts of Speech study guide, and then taking the P.O.S. quiz. Spelling p. 154 is due on Wednesday along with pretest corrections.

Week 25 Spelling Words

monopoly

dual

unique

biennial

monotony

duplication

unite

monocle

unify

duo

binoculars

university

monorail

duplex

unison

monotonous

biannual

monotone

universe

monogram

3/8 Booktalks: Iowa Teen Award Nominees

For today's booktalks, I highlighted some of the nominees for the Iowa Teen Award. If students read at least 2 of the nominees, they'll have the opportunity to vote in the next few weeks for the winner!

Airman by Eoin Colfer

Elephant Run by Roland Smith

Football Genius by Tim Green

Notes from the Midnight Driver by Jordan Sonnenblick

The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott

Bye Bye Birdie Recap

Click here for a great Animoto movie recapping the celebration following Bye Bye Birdie!

Weekly Preview: 3/7-3/11

6th GOAL: We're in the middle of our unit on consumption. On Monday, student will be presenting their "stuff" posters, looking into the secret lives of everyday things in our lives. Later in the week, we'll be starting personal consumption logs and looking into the journeys taken by the "stuff" in our lives.

7th GOAL: This is the last week to work on History Day. The competition is next week, and I can safely say WE'RE BEHIND! Be prepared to put in some major time this week to make sure our projects are done and ready for competition!

8th GOAL: This is the last week to work on exhibits for Images of Greatness. Display boards and costumes are due Friday. This week should also be spent memorizing Bio-Riddles. Next week, we'll practice on stage, and then students will present their projects next Thursday night, March 17, at 7:00 in the FMS Cafetorium.

7th Language Arts: We'll start the week by finishing Parts of Speech presentations. We've had some very memorable ones so far. :) When those get finished, we'll move into a writing activity based on the interdisciplinary unit on epidemics that 7th graders are finishing. This is a spelling maintenance test week, so we'll be reviewing and studying words from weeks 19-23. Book pages 147 (1-20), 148 (1-20), and 149 (1-10) are due Wednesday. The maintenance test will be on Friday.

Have a wonderful week!

Images of Greatness Exhibit Examples

8th graders are working on their exhibits for Images of Greatness. They are due next Friday, and some are having trouble envisioning how to put their information together. To help this process, I've displayed some exhibits from previous years to give students some examples.