Extra Credit: 9/16

Students can earn extra credit this week by answering questions about the video "Malala Returns to School" (Watch the video here by clicking "video" in the section on "Malala the Powerful" resources).
After watching the video, students will answer the "Video Discussion Questions" (you can print them or I will provide a copy in class).
For extra credit, students must answer the questions in complete sentences.
This extra credit assignment is due Thursday, 9/19.

Notes From Saturday: The Week Ahead

In ELA class this week, students will continue the group work that they started on Friday, which is working together to answer some close reading questions about the article "Malala the Powerful."
There will be an extra credit opportunity tied to a short video about Malala returning to school (which will be posted on this blog later).
We'll also look at identifying a text's central ideas and supporting details.
Book trailers have been popular with the students so far, and I'll share one for 3:15 Season One: Things That Go Bump In The Night by Patrick Carman.
Enjoy your weekend.

Malala: A Crusader

We're tackling some narrative non-fiction this week in class, by reading together the article "Malala the Powerful", about a brave Pakistani girl who stood up to the Taliban.
The students have also begun their ongoing independent reading assignment. We spend some time reading independently in class each day, and several times each week students will be required to read at home.

Week 1 Summary

Last Friday we completed a lesson on the use of "then" vs. "than." Here's what "Grammar Girl" says about the topic.
The book buzz continued as well, and we viewed trailers for Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann and The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppet by Tom Angleberger.
First up this week, we'll talk about how to choose "just right books" for independent reading.

... and away we go!

Day 1 is in the books, and it was a great one.
I shared with the students some of the books in my TBR pile, and asked if they thought they could infer anything about me based on the books I plan to read: Boy Nobody and The Enemy.
Independent reading is a big part of what we do in seventh grade ELA. You can read about the benefits of independent reading (often called sustained silent reading) here.
For those visiting this blog for the first time, I try to update as frequently as possible during the school year to provide you a chance to learn more about the things that are happening in ELA class. Comments are welcomed!

Final Exam Info

The final exam for ELA 7 will be on Tuesday, June 18, and will include content from our last unit of study (it will not be a comprehensive exam with matierial from the entire year).
To prepare, students should familarize themselves with the following readings which were given to them in class: "Stage Fright" by Mark Twain, "My Papa, Mark Twain" by Susy Clemens, "Bart Simpson and Tom Sawyer: Then and Now."
Additionally, students will read a short excerpt from a biography of Mark Twain, a timeline of Twain's life, and the following article which appeared in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise ("Playing Twain").
The exam will consist of twenty short answer and multiple choice questions and one essay (the draft of which the students began to write in class).

Summer Reading

Here a two titles that I shared in class. They are on my "to be read" list as I plan my summer reading.
Rotters by Daniel Kraus; you can watch a book trailer here.
Pretty Girl 13 by Liz Coley; here is a trailer.

A student shared her summer reading list yesterday with me yesterday:

Seekers
Artemis Fowl
Mary Bird
Little Women
Misty
Charlotte's Web
Shimmer
Inside Out and Back Again
Crazy Horse
Clementine: Friend of the Week

What's on your summer reading list? Send me some suggestions in the comments section.