Longer School Day, Longer School Year?

In class we've begun to have very interesting discussions about a proposal to lengthen the school day or year or both.

After reading an Achieve 3000 article about this topic, we began to explore how Governor Cuomo's idea to expand learning in New York could play out.

We discussed how other public officials like President Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan support expanded learning time as well.

Students have expressed their own opinions, while also considering other's views about the pros and cons of altering the traditional school calendar.

Dog Doodles

Tonight's homework assignment is a favorite of mine: 3-2-1.

I ask students to write three questions about what they read, write two comments, and draw one doodle.

As we're continuing to read Jack London's The Call of the Wild, most of the doodles will be dog related.

Here are some doodles from the last time the students worked on this assignment. Can you guess which parts of the story these doodles portray?

How about this one?

And this?

And finally...

Dog Books

As we work through Jack London's The Call of the Wild, I've challenged the students to choose another "dog book" for independent reading.
Mrs. Kennedy answered the "call" with a bunch of book recommendations. Among them:

• Trouble by Gary D. Schmidt
• Saving Zasha by Randi Barrow
• A Dog's Life by Ann Martin
• Copper by Kazu Kibuishi

And these:

Seize the Storm by Michael Cadnum
The Underneath by Kathi Appeit
Listen! by Stephanie Tolan
Cracker by Cynthia Kadohata

Stand with Malala

My friend, Joi Chimera, is a sixth grade teacher in Western NY.
She and her classes are very interested in promoting awareness of social justice issues. Her latest effort is a class blog, and she has invited our students to get involved by commenting on a blog post about Malala Yousafzai, an 11 year old advocate for girls' education in Pakistan.
I've invited our grade 7 students to visit Joi's blog and leave a comment. Here's hoping we can take part in this important discussion!

A Snowy Winter Vacation Saturday

It's a snowy Saturday and a perfect time to total up the books that seventh graders have read so far. Drumroll.... as of today the number is 367 (6.1 books per student)!
To jump start the post vacation reading, I plan to share more book trailers; you can peruse some of them here.

What's New in ELA Class (week of 12/10)

We're heading into the final week before winter vacation, and our study of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is winding down.
This past week, we read from a stage adaptation of the story by Israel Horowitz, Scrooge and Marley.
We also made a connection to a "modern day" Ebeneezer Scrooge when we read a non-fiction article called "Rich Man, Poor Country" about the world's richest man, Carlos Slim.

Assignment: 12/4

Please read "episode 3" of the BBC radio version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol by Thursday, 12/6. Also, Please answer the following "take home quiz" questions in COMPLETE SENTENCES in your notebook (also please remember to date your work.)
1. Describe, in your own words, The Ghost of Christmas Past's appearance (what does it look like?)
2. At first, Scrooge is afraid to leave with the ghost. Explain why and tell why Scrooge finally agrees to go.
3. The Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge an image of himself as a "solidarity child." Explain what this means and describe Scrooge's reaction to seeing his younger self.
4. Who is "Fan?" After talking about Fan with the Ghost, explain why Scrooge seems, "Uneasy in his mind."