Weekly Preview: 8/29-9/2

It's our first full week of school! Here's what classes will be up to in Miss Nelson's room this week:

6th-8th GOAL: Our school library won't be open until next week, but there is still a lot of reading to be done. Students may check out books from my classroom library at any time, and the public library is a great option too, of course! On Monday, we're going over journal letter expectations. Students will write one per week. We also are starting our read aloud books for the year. 6th graders will be hearing Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt, 7th graders will be hearing The Cardturner by Louis Sachar, and 8th graders will be hearing To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. They may journal about the read aloud books or about their independent reading books. Either is fine. We'll also be setting up a class wiki for discussion of the read aloud books, so stay tuned for that!

For the rest of the week, we're going to be thinking on our feet and getting to know each other with some impromptu speeches and some quick class debates.

7th Language Arts: We'll start the week with our first spelling unit. Week 1 words are words from the media. Pretest corrections and p. 10 (1-20) are due on Wednesday. Aside from spelling, we'll be starting the 6+1 Traits of Writing with an introduction and then with getting into the trait of Organization. The writing assignment that accompanies this trait will be an essay called, "If I Were Mayor..." More information on that to come.

Week 1 Spelling Words

newsroom

edition

sportscaster

media

headline

copy

editorial

newscast

caption

commentary

newsprint

verify

deliver

footage

masthead

exclusive

update

coverage

newsreel

dateline

Don't forget about picture day on Tuesday, and have a great week!

Class Calendar

I'm trying the embedding tool on Google Calendars. I think this can be a great way to see deadlines, etc. I'll plan on posting it every week as part of my Weekly Preview. Can't wait to see all my students tomorrow!!!

Getting Ready!

School is just around the corner! If you want to help in Miss Nelson's classroom, come to school on Wednesday (August 17) at 9:00 a.m. You can help decide how the classroom will look this year. Stay and work as long as you want. Miss Nelson will buy pizza for lunch!

7:25 pm adjustment: Because the janitors will be waxing the floors tomorrow, we can only get in the classroom in the morning. I'll be there by 8:00 for anyone who wants to come early, and we'll plan on being done by 11:30. We'll still have pizza, but we'll have it picnic style at O.B. Nelson Park!

Summer Reading

GOAL students know that I expect them to read over the summer, but I recently found out about a fun way to document that reading. Thanks to the Free Technology for Teachers blog, I discovered a program sponsored by Scholastic this summer called the Scholastic Summer Challenge. It looks like a great resource for both students and parents alike. I'll be documenting my own reading on Goodreads.com. I hope to learn enough about that site this summer to incorporate it into my routine for students to document their own reading in the fall.

Here is a great link with summer reading ideas for gifted kids. It includes some great reading lists!

Happy reading, everyone!

Hannibal, 2011

We had a great trip to Hannibal last week with the 7th grade GOAL class... enjoy the highlights on this PhotoPeach!

Hannibal, 2011 on PhotoPeach

7th GOAL Animated Movies

Here are the links to all the 7th grade GOAL stop-motion animated movies from this quarter. We're excited to premiere them tonight on the big screen as part of our GOAL movie night fundraiser!

Katherine, Zach, Jacob S., Price

Lindsey, Dakota, Suzannah

Paige, Jacob K., Amber, Katie

Oba, Madelyn, Dain, Kiera

Nathan, Logan, Hannah

Brennan, Shea, Loreena

Weekly Preview: 5/23-5/27

Our last full week. Where did this year go???

6th GOAL: Students will be finishing their GPS scavenger hunts this week. After that, they will assessing the scavenger hunts, writing thank-you notes for the chaperones who went on our field trip to Nauvoo, completing reading contract self-evalutations, and participating in a class quiz bowl.

7th GOAL: Students will be taking their field trip to Hannibal, MO, on Tuesday as part of their Tom Sawyer unit. On Friday, students who made their assignment journal goals will reap the reward at Coral Ridge Mall for the day. So, in between, GOAL students this week are going to be continuing to hear Tom Sawyer, getting animated movies ready for our movie night Thursday, completing reading contract self-evaluations, competing in a class quiz bowl, and writing thank-you notes for chaperones.

8th GOAL: Students are frantically finishing their documentaries, so they're ready to present on Thursday night. They'll also be writing thank-you notes for trip chaperones, completing reading contract self-evaluations, assessing the documentaries (their own and their classmates'), watching their elementary Challenge Egg-Drop video, and competing in a class quiz bowl.

7th Language Arts: No spelling this week... our books are handed in for the year! This week, students will be finishing pen pal letters that were due last Friday, choosing their favorite piece of writing for their permanent writing folders, assessing the fractured fairy tale Zoobursts of their friends, having a spelling bee, and participating in a pass-write activity where students build on the ideas of others.

Whew! It's a lot to pack in, but we can do it. We have to make every minute count!

Weekly Preview: 5/16-5/20

6th GOAL: On Monday and Wednesday (Tuesday is Library Day), students will be setting up their GPS scavenger hunts. On Thursday and Friday, another group from their class will be completing the scavenger hunt. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather!

7th GOAL: Students will be assessing animated movies on Monday. For the rest of this week, we'll be finishing up Tom Sawyer in preparation for our trip to Hannibal next week. We'll also be touching on GPS skills as a mini-unit.

8th GOAL: This week, students will be working hard to finish up their documentary films. The movies will premiere (along with the 7th grade animated movies) on Thursday, May 26, our GOAL movie night.

The 8th grade GOAL class had a great time on their overnight trip to Des Moines last week. They visited the Des Moines Art Center, the State Historical Museum of Iowa, Drake University campus with a tour from an FHS alumni, and the Science Center of Iowa where they saw the Hubbell IMAX movie and saw the new Body Worlds exhibit. Click the photopeach below to see some highlights!

8th Grade GOAL to Des Moines on PhotoPeach

7th Language Arts: Students will be finishing up their last pen pal letters this week. Letters are due Tuesday for teacher edit, and final drafts are due Friday. Week 32 spelling words focus on words ending with -tial, -cial, -cious, and -tious. Page 195 and pretest corrections are due Wednesday.

Week 32 Words

conscientious

crucial

substantial

spacious

repetitious

spatial

confidential

ferocious

residential

financial

gracious

impartial

vicious

facial

influential

ambitious

glacial

suspicious

potential

superficial

Science Fiction Booktalks

Here are the science fiction titles I booktalked today for library day. Enjoy!

Larklight by Philip Reeve

Starcross by Philip Reeve

Mothstorm by Philip Reeve

Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden

The Dark Side of Nowhere by Neal Shusterman

Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Weekly Preview: 5/9-5/13

6th GOAL: Monday was our big trip to Nauvoo... what a great time... click the play button on the Photopeach movie below to see the highlights! For the rest of the week, students will be planning their GPS Scavenger Hunts. We hope to be hunting next Thursday and Friday.

Nauvoo, 2011 on PhotoPeach

7th GOAL: Students will be finishing their animated movies this week... editing, adding music, uploading to YouTube and SchoolTube... getting them ready to present on our GOAL movie night on May 26!

8th GOAL: Students will be working on their documentaries... getting pictures uploaded and in order, writing storyboards, and finding music. Next week, they'll be recording and getting everything in order. The documentaries will be presented on the GOAL movie night on May 26. This class leaves after school Thursday for their big Images of Greatness trip to Des Moines.

7th Language Arts: Students will be starting their final pen pal letters of the year. Rough drafts are due this Thursday. Spelling for week 31 has to do with adding -ly to words ending in "ic." Pretest corrections and p. 190 are due on Wednesday.

Week 31 Words:

specific

classically

mechanical

scientific

artistically

dynamic

historical

drastically

heroic

scientifically

artistic

mechanically

classic

historically

economic

heroically

dynamically

drastic

specifically

economically