Short Stories

The grade 7 classes had a great time at the 67's game on Monday. It sounds like it was an amazing event that the students will remember.

Without our double block this week, we managed to cover a lot of ground!

PLOT, CHARACTER, CONFLICT, THEME SETTING, these are the 5 things!
                                              

We talked about these topics and more while reading 3 short stories. During Friday's period, we read a short story and they were asked to answer a few questions. Some may not have finished and therefore it will be homework. I will check on Monday.

 Review Questions, 

What is the introduction of a story?
What is the climax of the story?
What is a rising action?


Next week we will be talking about figurative language and how that adds to our writing. 

Wrapping Up

This week was all about wrapping up the Fourteenth Goldfish. 

      Ask your child if they enjoyed the ending. I felt the group as a whole really enjoyed the story. We had out live chat on Tuesday after school. The students were so excited to meet the California crew that most of our time was spent asking questions about their personal life and putting names to faces rather than talking about the book. We were shocked to find out they had never heard of poutine! Also, I was shocked to find out that 10+9=21. Overall, I was happy with the event and think the kids enjoyed the experience. I will know to do a few things differently next time but just like Melvin from our story, I'm always learning :-)
      We presented our Biography assignments this week. I was very happy with the work the students put into the presentations. Everyone got up in front of the class and gave an oral presentation about their scientist.  Ask your child what they learned about Jonas Salk, Marie Curie, Isaac Newton, Louis Pasteur, Robert Oppenheimer, and Galileo Galilei. I would assume everyone could tell you at least 1-2 points about each! I talked to the science teachers before going ahead with this project and they said there is no time for a project like this in science. I think it was a great cross-curricular activity that hopefully hooked some of the students who may not love Language studies. The class in California also did a Biography assignment on the same scientist from the novel. We are going to be sharing our final products with each other.

  Short, Short Story Unit

   Over the next two weeks I will be running a short story unit with the grade 7's. We will be introducing elements of short stories and figurative language. 



REMINDERS:

67's Game on Monday for the grade 7 classes. Anyone who is not going to the 67's game will be grouped together to do different activities throughout the day so I will not see them for our double block.

Final blog post about The Fourteenth Goldfish! I have taken the questions down from 3 to only 2

Questions:
1. Name 2 messages or themes from the novel The Fourteenth Goldfish. What was the MAIN IDEA?
2. Alternate ending! Come up with an alternate ending for the story.  
   

November 10-14

    The majority of our class time this week was spent on our Biography assignment that was posted below. I have been very happy with the effort put forward by the grade 7 class and am looking forward to the final products coming in on Monday. I think that the novel really sparked the students' interest and made researching these famous figures exciting. 

   On November 11th all of the students at St. Joseph participated in a Remembrance Day ceremony. It was very well done and the students were all very quiet and respectful as they watched. One of the teachers organized a slide show of family members of St. Joseph students and staff who had been in the military. My husbands Grandfather was in the slide show and I was impressed with how many students came up to me after and asked me about the "Sutherland" picture they saw on the screen. 

                    

 NEXT WEEK:

1. Biography Assignments completed on Monday and presented to
    the class. 

2. After school chat on TUESDAY NOVEMBER 18th until
    approximately 3:30. 

3. Moving on to Short Story Unit 

Biography Assignment

Here is a link to the Biography Assignment. We will be working on it in class all week. Students have chosen to work on their own or with a partner.

 This assignment will be due on Monday, November 17th.

LINK:
https://docs.google.com/a/ocsb.ca/document/d/1CVb_3rPCl2RMt_DQv-mozUbYKSYOs9VPdohQqh7y4PE/edit?usp=sharing

Goodbye October!

 I apologize about not posting on Halloween, but I am sure you can imagine it was a busy night for my family! I know I already shared my picture on my Kidblog Halloween post, but I don't mind doing it again!

Cara 4, Hunter 2, Ashley 6

Now that my proud mother moment is out of the way, let me get back to our Language class.

The Fourteenth Goldfish

     I have been very happy with the response to the GRA novel. It seems to have really inspired some of our students. We have made personal connections with the characters by researching our own grandparents and thinking critically about why or why not the character "Melvin" makes a good grandparent. We are continuing to connect with our new friends in California and the students get very excited when someone from the other class comments on a post they made. This was my first time participating in the GRA. I have had such a positive experience, I am already excited to do it again next year.  

PLEASE NOTE: I sent a sheet home letting parents know about an after school event where our class will be participating in a live chat with the class in California. Due to the 3 hour time change it must take place after school. This is not a mandatory event and students will not lose marks if they do not participate.

DATE: November 18th 

TIME: 2:30-3:30

LOACTION: Our classroom or the Learning Commons

Looking to Next Week:

   Using our novel for inspiration, we are looking at biographies as a writing form. On Friday, November 7th, the students will read the biography of Albert Einstein. In The Fourteenth Goldfish, the character Melvin is a scientist and talks a lot about famous scientists and what they discovered or accomplished. Next week the students will be putting together a biography of one of the scientist Melvin talked so highly about. I am looking forward to seeing what the grade 7's discover! 

Girl Rising

     

      I posted previously about the documentary Girl Rising. Our date got pushed a week, but we did go and view this powerful film on Monday. It was really overwhelming and the students took in some powerful stories of hope and triumph over challenges. Ask them about the film. It will be interesting to hear what they took away from the stories. 

Here is the link to the trailer again, 

GIRL RISING  website @ http://girlrising.com/

Trailer @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJsvklXhYaE