The Orange TreeHouse

Welcome! And now you have to go!

Go to my NEW WIKI at: http://snoringdog.pbworks.com

For MONDAY:  Turn in your list of CONNECTIONS between Ruth Minsky Sender’s experience and that of Gerda Weissman (from the video on Friday).

Also for MONDAY:  Watch the video on this website of President Obama visting Buchenwald concentration camp.  There will be a short QUIZ on the video on Monday.  (Be prepared to prove that you watched the whole thing — you should know who was talking, what important things they said, etc.)  If you didn’t have the quiz today, 10th period will have it on WEDNESDAY and 11th period will have it tomorrow, TUESDAY.  So be sure to watch the video.

For TUESDAY:  Make sure to bring in your language arts binder.  Specifically, we’ll be working with your PERSONAL PROOFREADING CHECKLIST and your MASTER SPELLING WORDS.  We will be working with your reading/writing portfolios and evaluating what you’ve done this year.  This information will be forwarded to your 7th grade English teacher, so you can pick right up where you left off with your reading and writing!

For FRIDAY:  If you’re planning to hand in some extra credit for our Holocaust unit — and to boost your marking period grade — that is due by Friday.  No late work will be accepted.

President Obama was in Germany on Friday, 6/5/09, and visited the Buchenwald concentration camp.  “I will not forget what I’ve seen here today,” Obama said.

Watch this short video carefully.  Write a short reaction (thoughts, feelings, questions).  We’ll share them in class.  OR — if you wish — you can post a comment here instead.  (Just click on “comment” below.)  IF YOU DECIDE TO POST A COMMENT, YOU NEED TO SIGN IT WITH YOUR FIRST NAME AND THE PERIOD YOU HAVE MY CLASS FOR LANGUAGE ARTS, OTHERWISE I WON’T KNOW WHO TO GIVE CREDIT TO.

The two other speakers are very special people too.  The first is Elie Wiesel, who is a very well known Holocaust survivor.  He speaks about having been in Buchenwald Camp and also about the day his father died there.  The blond lady who speaks after Mr. Wiesel is Angela Merkel.  She is the current Chancellor (leader) of Germany.   The other man in the background is Bertrand Hertz, another Holocaust survivor.

Look for the GRAMMAR MAVEN page to the right of this post.  Click on it, and there you will find lots of information on how to correct common writing problems.  (These are the sheets I didn’t have available for your last week.)

Then, if you don’t find what you’re looking for, POST A COMMENT HERE (below), and I’ll post something to help you with your specific writing problem/question.

Here are some words from the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Scripps Spelling Bee words, pages 1-60

Here’s Jessica’s silly (and wonderful) poem about this even sillier video:  Why Everyone Should Have a Dog. She earned 10 points extra credit for it!  Why didn’t YOU? There is STILL time to respond to the story about Jasmine the Greyhound (below).  Get some extra credit!

Dogs Glorious Dogs

by Jessica Schenckman

Up in the air
Jumping dogs jump

Faster and faster
Running dogs run

Round and round
Chasing dogs chase

Side to side
Swinging dogs swing

Yum and crunch
Chewing dogs chew

Outside the house
Dancing dogs dance

Here and there
Clever dogs figure

All around
Tricky dogs trick

Goodnight dogs
Sleeping dogs sleep

Read this AMAZING animal love story!

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/jasmine.asp

Hand in a 100-word reaction to it for extra credit OR

Post a 100-word reaction as a blog comment below.  If you do that, you must use the screen name you gave me so I know who you are, or simply give your first name and the period you have language arts (e.g., Sylvia, period 1).

Here is a video interview with Anna Lehmann Fox, whose story is told in the play (and book) My Heart in a Suitcase.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLlUv-s4Xvs

Periods 2, 3, 6, 10

This is the week to finish your short stories!  They will be due on Friday.

Spelling quiz (graded this time!) Thursday.  Word lists will be checked on Wednesday, so make sure you have them done.

Period 11

We must finish our presentations on the MACs by Friday.  Personal narratives, also, should be done by then.

When we return from vacation we will resume working on our short fiction stories.  Hopefully you will all have a typed version (double-spaced, #12 font, Times New Roman) of what you have SO FAR.  No need to try and finish it…we just need a nice, clean copy with which to work.

Write a silly poem about this even sillier video:  Why Everyone Should Have a Dog

It can be short — just a few, silly lines, like the accordion poems we did in class together.

Here are some silly “accordion” poems that we wrote in period 3 on Tuesday.  The way these work is that I give an initial line.  The next person writes a line of poetry that complements it and folds over my line.  The third person sees only the line of the one person before them, and so on all around the room.  As each person folds over earlier lines so that only the last one is visible, we make an “accordion.”  Then, at the end, we unfold the accordion and read our poem.  Here’s one.  Open the attachment for more…and enjoy!  (Thank you Period 3.)  –Mrs. M

If I stand on top of a mountain
There will be a nice view.
The view is good, nice or not
Nice, very good view
I look out farther to the water, touched by the cratered moon.
How nice.  How gorgeous!
How beautiful it is!
Just sitting there, watching me
Just like a hawk
I fly in the sky
Until a plane hits
And all is lost
Lost forever in time, blown away in the wind.

More Accordion Poems From Period 3

Sorry I didn’t get everyone’s picture… You were all WONDERFUL!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

ALL CLASSES

Read, 30 minutes every night.

Finishthe  story map  that we began in class–come in with ideas for your work of fiction.

PERIODS 2, 3, 6, &10

SPELLING TEST – THURSDAY.  Review your words beforehand.

PERIOD 11

Continue working on improving your persona narrative–word work from our MAC presentation will make your narrative better.

To everyone who participated in our Celebration Of Writing – you did wonderful, masterful, inspiring work today!

I’m eagerly looking forward to our next writing project:  writing FICTION!

Prepare for our Celebration of Writing:

• Re-read your personal narratives that are saved on your home computers
• Practice reading aloud the excerpt you plan to read on Monday at the microphone
• Make any necessary changes to your “Celebration of Writing” outline sheet.  If you’ve lost yours, here is another copy you can download:CELEBRATION OF WRITING HANDOUT

Periods 2, 3, 6/7, and 10:  Partner spelling test originally scheduled for Tuesday will be postponed until Thursday, 3/26.  I will be out of the classroom on Tuesday, and on Wednesday we have our trip to Liberty Science Center.

Here is the current Quia assignment.  Today, you can take the QUIZ on the reading “Whales and Fishes, Creatures of the Deep.”

• If you already took this quiz and are NOT happy with your score, you can do it again and I will take the best score.
• If you have NOT taken this quiz, you must do it now.

Go to this link for the quiz: 

http://www.quia.com/quiz/1752530.html

Periods 2&3:  Forget what I said in class…this is easier!  Just follow the directions above. 

Sorry for any confusion!  I’m learning how to work this too.  :-0

• The spelling quiz TOMORROW, Friday, 3/20, will count as a grade.
• Read your independent reading books for 30 minutes each night, EVERY night.
• Continue working on your PERSONAL NARRATIVE.
  • Check that your verb tense is consistent
  • Check that your story makes sense
  • Get ready to finish it and publish it…writing celebration next week!

HOMEWORK FOR THURSDAY:

• Finish learning your FIVE spelling words; I will check the sheet tomorrow, Friday.  Quiz on these words on Tuesday.
• Finish your “PERSONAL SURVIVAL WORDS” sheet for Friday.
• QUIA quiz:  if you have not done it (or if you aren’t happy with your score and want to take it again), go to the link posted above.
• Read for 30 minutes each night EVERY night, a book of your choice!