- J.P. Case Middle School
- This Week in Class
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What did we do in class this week?Week of 9/7There are only two days in our first week together. On the first day of school, we will review classroom procedures and engage in several team-building activities.Week of 9/11This week in class we will continue with team building, but we will also jump in to discussing our summer reading. This will lead us into the first small writing assignment of the year. Prior to writing, we will review some basic paragraph writing skills. Students will also take their first benchmark this week.Week of 9/18This week in class we will get ready to begin our first unit which focuses on tolerance, acceptance, and social justice. We will also begin enhancing our vocabulary through our weekly, word of the week. Lastly, we will conduct MAP testing this week as well.Week of 9/25We will start off the week with library orientations. We will then be jumping into the reading of the book, Inside Out and Back Again. We will explore the idea of figurative language in the reading this week as well as some critical thinking quesitons which will be used for writing practice and discussions.Week of 10/2
This week in class, we are continuing our reading of Inside Out and Back Again. Throughout the reading we have examined figurative language, author's style, plot details, character development, etc. We will also expand our noun study to begin looking at correct use of possessive nouns. Lastly, students will finalize their next writing assignment, which will be a response to literature, and it will be based on the reading of the book.
Week of 10/9
This week in class we will wrap up our noun study with a cumulative quiz at the end of the week. We will also finish up the reading of Inside Out and Back Again. Students will choose from 12 titles next week to continue this unit on social justice.
Week of 10/16
This week in class, students will self-select their next book. We will continue reading both in class and outside of class each night. We will also begin work on our next writing piece, which will provide an introduction to plagiarism and research while having students simultaneously build background knowledge about the books they are currently reading. Lastly, this week, we will focus on studying pronouns as well as how and why we use them in writing.
Week of 10/24
This week we will continue reading both in class and outside of class each night. We will also continue working on our next writing piece, which will provide an introduction to plagiarism and research while having students simultaneously build background knowledge about the books they are currently reading. Lastly, this week, we will focus on studying verbs.
Week of 10/30
This week in class, we will continue our verb study. We will finish up our books by the end of the week, and students will have their first notebook assessment. Lastly, we will close-up the social justice unit with an in-class assessment on theme analysis.
Week of 11/6
This is a short week for students. On 11/6, "B" day students will be doing test preparation for the end of the unit assessment. On 11/8, "A" day students will be taking their end of the unit assessment. Students will be permitted to use their outlines, transition reference sheets and the Powerpoint presentation during the assessment. "B" day students will take their assessment on Monday, 11/13 after the long weekend.
Week of 11/14
This week we began our second unit which will focus on personal narrative writing. We will spend the next two weeks in immersion learning about all the parts of an effective narrative before the kids begin the drafting process. We will also continue building our vocabulary with our weekly word while practicing our revising and editing skills weekly.
Week of 11/20
This week may be short, but we are continuing our work in our second unit which focuses on writing a personal narrative. We are focusing on a different part of the personal narrative each block and engaging in activities to help us apply our understanding of what makes an effective personal narrative. We will also begin a homophone study which will help us as we begin drafting our personal narratives. We will also continue to build on our vocabulary and editing skills.
Week of 11/27
This week we will continue our homophone study while finishing up the immersion week for our personal narrative unit. Students will officially begin drafting on 12/4 in class.
Week of 12/4
This week, we began drafting our personal narratives in class. We also finished up the word wall words for trimester 1. A test will be given next week and will count in the second trimester. Additionally, students should continue to read their independent books and be prepared to finish by 12/14 & 12/15. Lastly, we will conclude our homophone study this week and students will be encouraged to use the homophones we reviewed in their personal narratives.
_________________________End of Trimester 1_______________________
Week of 12/11
This week in class we will be revising and editing our personal narratives. We will also take the first word wall test for trimester 1 words. Lastly, students willf inish up their first independent novel and complete an in class activity at the conclusion of their book.
Week of 12/18
Students will turn in the final copy of their narratives this week. We will begin our trimester two words on the word wall as well as a clause and conjunction study. Lastly, we will get ready for the next unit which will focus on non-fiction.
Week of 1/2
Welcome back!! As we return from break, we will jump right back into our third unit which will focus on non-fiction texts. Students will be reading independently in class every day. Also, during this unit, we will re-visit MLA formatting as well as how to use research in writing while avoiding plagiarism. As for grammar, we will begin our study of different sentence types. Lastly, we will continue to add words to our word wall in enhance our vocabulary.
Week of 1/8
This week we continued our study of sentence types. Students are continuing to read non-fiction books of their choice during class time. Lastly, we will be taking the MAP assessment this week on 1/12 & 1/16.
Week of 1/16
This week, we will continue our study of non-fiction texts. Students are reading DAILY in class for 40-60 minutes depending on the class. We will also have a quiz on conjunctions, clauses and sentence types. Lastly, we will begin an adjective study while continuing to build our vocabulary.
Week of 1/22
This week in class, we will continue with our adjective study. We will also continue with our non-fiction reading unit.
Week of 1/29
We are wrapping up the non-fiction reading unit this week. Towards the end of the week, the project for this unit will be explained and students will begin working on it in class. Students will also have their end of the unit notebook assessment on Thursday and Friday of this week. Lastly, we will continue to build on our vocabulary for writing and speaking by adding a word to our word wall, and we will continue to practice our editing and revising skills with our weekly edits.
Week of 2/5
This week we are wrapping up our non-fiction unit and preparing for the end of the unit assessment. Students will work all week on understanding w what makes a good oral presentation. Students will also work on their presentations in class and practice as they go.
Week of 2/12
This week we will finish any presentations that need to be made up. We will also continue our comma study while practicing with weekly edits. Lastly, we will begin our next unit which will focus on argument and debate.
Week of 2/20
This week we will continue our work in our debate unit and also our comma study. We will also have a special lesson presented by our Librarian which will cover in-text citations, plagiarism, etc. This lesson will go deeper into these skills to prepare students for the debate and research units.
Week of 2/25
This week will be introducing the final word for trimester 2. The Word Wall Quiz will take place on 3/5 (B) & 3/6 (A). All students were sent an email on 2/21 with study tips and a review game. This week, we will also continue to explore the elements of an effective debate. Students are learning about and practicing thesis writing, how to produce good logical reasons with evidence, counterarguments and refuting. After this week, students will be ready to start working on their debates with their groups.
Week of 3/4
This week, we will begin our work in debate groups/teams. Students will be given a topic and a team to work with to develop an effective debate with. Students will do several days of prep work before they present the week of 3/18. Students will also take a Word Wall Quiz that will cover the vocabulary from trimester 1 & 2.
______________________End of Trimester 2- 3/13/23____________________________
Week of 3/11
This week in class we will continue working on our debates and begin our practice sessions in class at the end of the week. Students will be doing all of the work in class with their debate groups in preparation for their debates on 3/20 & 3/21. More details and specifics are outlined in Google Classroom.
Week of 3/18
This week we continued to work in our debate groups to prepare for debate. Debates will take place on 3/20 & 3/21. At the end of the week, we will jump right into the next unit which will focus on research writing. Our grammar focus will be adverbs and we will continue to add to our vocabulary study with a new word of the week (facade).
Week of 3/25
This week in class we are going to continue gathering research in the library for our research projects. Students are researching a well-known person in society. Students self-selected a person from a provided list. While in the library, students will receive instruction from the librarian on database sources and how to find credible websites. Students will a lso continue to work on a self guided adverb study throughout the week.
Week of 4/8
Welcome back from spring break! This week, we will start the note-taking process for the research we conducted the week before break. Students will be presented with a strategy for note-taking and they will work solely on the note-taking of their three sources this week! At the end of the week, we will do a brief adverb review tot prepare for a quiz next week.
Week of 4/15
Week of 4/22
Week of 4/29
Week of 5/6
Week of 5/13
Week of 5/20
Week of 5/27
Week of 6/3
Week of 6/10
Week of 6/17