Catch up and get ready to move forward

Goal: Check in, catch up, get ready to move forward.

Agenda:
Read
Reading Progress Form
Join our Remind Class
Catch up day

Read: 

1. Make sure your book is checked out to you. Ask Mrs. R if you aren't sure. 
2. You should be at least 2/3 done with that book by now to stay on track for finishing on time.
3. Fill out the READING PROGRESS FORM.

Join our Remind Class: 

Remind is a tool that lets us communicate safely and easily. I will give you the join code in class. If you have a smartphone you will probably want to get the Remind app. 

Catch Up:
Well, these weeks have been a blur of schedule changes, textbook check outs, assemblies etc. So, today we are going to take a breath, look at where we are, look at what we need to finish, and get ready to move forward next week. See the "Things to be done with" list below.

Do you have all your textbooks? (Have you changed any classes that you need to change books for?)
Have you had your picture taken?
Always check the class blog when you are absent. You are responsible to finding out what you missed before you come asking questions.

Things to be done with:

1. Six word memoir slide. Did you already turn it in in Google Classroom. Did Mrs. R return it with a 1/1 credit? If not then you might need to work on it. 
2. English Journal: 
1. You should have a paragraph about 8th grade English.
2. AOW from 9/1: TWO paragraphs about the article you read last week about climate change and extreme weather. Wondering what your English Journal is? See this post. 
3. STUDENT DATA FORM: There are a few of you still missing this. We will check in with you if you need to do this. 
4. Read "Us and Them" in Formative. Most of you did this. Some of you might like to finish it. 
5. Good with all of the above? You get some extra time to read. Yay, for you!

Close Reading Questions with your Partner

Goal: Read and then show your understanding of your reading of "Us and Them."

Agenda:
Read
Partner work on close reading questions

Close Reading Questions: 

• Yesterday, you got a chance to finish reading "Us and Them" and we discussed some questions about the end of the story in class. 
• Today you get to work with a partner to answer very similar questions in writing. 
• You are working together. 
• You will fill out ONE form with BOTH your names on it. 
• One partner should open the memoir. 
• The other partner should open the form. 
• You can take turns typing your answers. 
• You are BOTH responsible for the quality of ALL of the answers. LOOK at what your partner types!

Did you read all of the directions above?   YES     NO

Reminders: 

Complete your 6 word memoir. 

Finish your AOW response (except period 5) 

KEEP READING!

Looking closely at "Us and Them" with a partner.

Goal: Look more closely and discuss "Us and Them" with a partner.

Read: 
10 Minutes, read your independent reading book.
You should be about 50% done.

Looking at "Us and Them": 
Go to GOOGLE CLASSROOM and get your own copy of "Us and Them."
Finish reading the story.
Be ready to talk about the story with your partner. 

To be done by now: (You should be finished with these things. If not do them asap.)

• Six word Memoir Slide (See Google Classroom and posts below.)
• Welcome assignment with English Journal 
• AOW in English Journal from 9/1 (except period 5)

Reading, "Us and Them" in Formative

Goal: First read of a memoir, first use of a new tool.

Read: 
You should be almost 1/2 way through your first book for the semester.

Read a Memoir: 
Okay, new tool. We will use it a lot this year, so it is worth a bit of time to teach you how it works. It's called Formative and it will help me understand more about you as a reader. Basically, I put a short reading into Formative and then I add questions right into the reading. You answer the questions as you read.

Directions: 

1. Go to http://goformative.com
2. Choose "Student"
3. Ignore the boxes for the form and choose "Google Sign Up" 
4. Use your district Google account. That's >>> ID#@stu.sandi.net
5. Find the assignment called "Us and Them" 
6. Answer the questions as you read. Do not skip questions. If you change your mind about an answer you can go back and change it. 

To be done by now: (You should be finished with these things. If not do them asap.)

• Six word Memoir Slide (See Google Classroom and posts below.)
• Welcome assignment with English Journal (See post below from Friday.)
• AOW from Friday. (Just period 1. Period 5 skip this.)
• Complete Student Data Form
• Read almost half of book #1.  

English Journals and AOW (What's an AOW?)

Goals: Start and share your English Journal, learn about article of the week (AOW).

Agenda
Read
Start English Journal
Share it with your teachers
First Article of the week

Start your English Journal: 

• Your English Journal is a Google Doc you will be adding to all year long. 
• You will always add the newest work at the TOP of the document. (Later this will save you, and your teachers, lots of scrolling.)
• Today you will start your English Journal and share it with us. 
• Click the copy link for your period to get started. 
• Change the file name to remove "copy of" and change the name parts to your name. 

PERIOD 1 CLICK HERE
PERIOD 5 CLICK HERE

Share your English Journal:
Click the blue share button and type in the email addresses we give you in class.
(Yes, I know we could use Google Classroom for this. We won't. Because reasons.)

First Article of the Week: 
Most weeks we will assign you an Article of the Week.
The assignment is simple: read the article and write two paragraphs about it in your English Journal.
The first paragraph should be a summary of the facts and ideas in the article.
The second paragraph is your thoughts and opinions about what you read.
Click HERE to get to the article. (Sign in with Google.)

Reminders:
Read this weekend. You should be almost 1/2 way through book #1 by Tuesday.
Get a trash bag. You know what to do with it right?
Clean up your room. (The world is messy. Start somewhere.)