Ms. Faircloth

Day 1 : Today students took the pre-test for the 42 most common Latin Word Roots . (We already studied Greek Roots). Then they started making a study guide for the word roots. The first 21 roots on the Study Guide are due by Day 3 this week. The test over the first half will be Day 3. Day 2 : Students continued working on their study guide, and then used it to study for the test tomorrow. There is a Quizlet available to use when students are done with all 42. Day 3 : Today, students finished studying and then took the test over the first 21 Latin Word Roots. Day 4: Today students started working on the study guide for the last half of the Latin Word Roots. The test will be Day 2 or 3 next week.

Day 1 : Students finished their Final Project Presentations for Uprising/Human Rights . Then we practiced how to find evidence and make predictions for the New York Times "What's Happening in This Picture?" page. (Eventually, students will be writing evidence-based predictions for these images - today we did them as a group) Day 2 : Today students read the Scholastic News issue for November 20, 2017. They completed the worksheet and the comprehension Qs on the back of the issue. Day 3 : Today we discussed a "Poem of the Week" - titled " Something Told the Wild Geese ". We discussed figurative language and poetry devices. Students answered the close reading questions with a partner, then, as a group, we developed a theme statement for the poem. Day 4 : Students read a NewsELA article and answered the Quiz Questions for the article. Then they worked on Read Theory - answering at least 3 more quizzes.

Each day began with silent reading (10 minute) in the choice reading book. Then we have listened to the audiobook for Uprising . The goal is to finish the book by Day 4 this week. (Each class is at a slightly different place so one may need to finish up on Monday) I have a couple of copies that I can check out if a student needs to read at home to get caught up. Otherwise, my room is open before/after school most days for students to read, or there would be time in Homeroom as well.

Day 1 - We looked at an infographic and discussed how to read a visual text. Then we talked about how a visual text can support the news article the students are writing. Day 2 - We talked about text features and students started to think about what text features they might use in their final news article draft. Students also wrote out section 3 of their news article (the last text structure for their info piece) and started writing the introduction to the article after looking at all three sections together and deciding what order they will be presented. Day 3/4 - we went to the Library Lab and students began cutting and pasting their sections into one document, in order, with basic text features. They will need a Heading (title), Introduction, Subheadings (one for each section), and (possibly) a conclusion (if their last section doesn't actually wrap up their topic and present the "takeaway" they want a reader to have. Student need to begin reading the document ...

Today students did a flashdraft about their topic for 15 minutes. There was no editing or trying to filter what they wrote. The goal was to figure out what you already know about your topic. Then, students looked for what kinds of text structures they might use in their final article, and what "holes" they have in their research at this point. They continued researching and finding answers to their research questions.

Today we read to page 122 in Uprising . Then students had time to work on their Character Graphic Organizer and on vocabulary in their Reading Notebook. (Vocab check on Day 4 - 8 words minimum for Q3)

Today, students worked with the books from the library, doing research about their topic.

Today periods 3 and 5 worked on the article and close reading questions for "Working Life". Period 7 rewrote the answers for "Life in America" if students didn't earn an A or B on the assignment. The steps: Read article once Read questions Re-read article, highlighting and annotating Write answers using complete sentences, evidence from the article, and restating the question as a topic sentence.

Today students focused on their first choice of a research topic from the collections they scanned yesterday. Today they actually began taking notes about what they found - tracking their sources on a page, giving each source a number. They needed to keep track of which sources they got which notes from.

Today students finished the questions about the non-fiction text " No Place For Jews ". Then we continued reading in Uprising. ( We are reading the section from pp. 44-69.)

Today we finished reading through page 43 in Uprising . Then students read the non-fiction text " No Place For Jews " and the Close Reading Questions . We will finish these tomorrow at the beginning of the period.

Today students worked on getting a "birds eye view" of a variety of possible research topics. They chose a few sources in each collection for 6th grade ELA on the library website, and read/watched the source. The goal is to narrow their interest down to one (or maybe two) topics that they will get into more deeply tomorrow, taking notes. NOTE - if the link doesn't take you to a group of collections specifically on the MMS library site, you will need to go to the library site, choose "catalog" and then the "catalog" tab specifically. Then choose Destiny Discover on the left side, then collections. You may also be able to search for "Faircloth" in the search field and it should pull up the 6 collections we created for 6th grade.

Today we started reading Uprising. Students also worked on their Character Graphic Organizer as we finished each chapter about a new character.

Today students worked on non-fiction text " The Land That Time Forgot ", about Italy and migration to the US at the turn of the 20th century. Then students answered Close Reading questions about the text

Today students worked on the Scholastic Issue about Martin Luther King, Jr. They did the comprehension questions on the back of the issue, along with both sides of a worksheet about Martin Luther King.

Today we did a note-taking lesson. Students watched a video about Malala , practicing how to take notes in a "fast & furious" manner. Then we reread the notes, students created topics or headings that might be used to organize those notes, and rewrote them in a different space in their notebooks. Next we watched a longer video about Malala , and students took notes again. They were also asked to notice the reactions of the audience and the interviewer.

Today, students wrote a timed write to wrap up our Argument unit.

Today, students read "The Living Kuon Yin", using the signposts to highlight and annotate the story. It will be one of the choices for the timed write prompt tomorrow.

Today we read the prelude to Flesh & Blood So Cheap , the non-fiction text that we will be reading along with our novel this month. Students discussed the content. Then we read the dedication page to Uprising  and discussed it. Students made inferences about the dedication with their elbow partners, then shared. We read the first chapter and discussed. We talked about flashback . Then students thought about: Why might an author choose to start a story at the end? Why do you think Haddix chose to use this technique? As a reader and writer, what do you think about this as a beginning?

Today we finished up the DBI for Uprising . Students completed their notecatcher.