Where Our Team Is From . . .

The team is revising their individual Where I'm From poems this week and adding  images that symbolize parts of their poems.  
Here's an excerpt of one of our student's poems. 

Where I'm From

I’m from beaten-up Ghostbusters posters, peeling off the walls.

From Nerd memorabilia and Geeky T-shirts.

I’m from Long-lost friends on a Thanksgiving morning, Fall breeze soft and cold.

From Gathering around a barbecue for warmth, mouths watering over the food.

I’m from a sunlit playground, seen through a classroom window.

From absent-minded doodling in the margins of a math quiz.

I’m from Airport layovers in a Starbucks at midnight.

From departures and arrivals, people and places.

I’m from whispers passing in cupped hands,

From a best friend, who moved to Georgia or Florida, someplace far away.

I’m from home cooking, eating Raman noodles every night.

From shooting for the stars, but needing a Spaceship.

I’m from reading a blank book, inventing chapters as you go.
From Picking up a pen, and starting your adventure.

This week's goal is to finish revisions and make edits (proofread and check for grammar, spelling, and capitalization errors) to their poems.  With the help of our school's art teacher, Monique, we are adding an art component to our project.  We will be creating a team mural that represents where we each are from.  Each student choose an image online that symbolizes a component of their poem and draw the image.  With the help of Monique, they will charcoal their drawings.  We'll assemble all the drawings together to create our team mural.  Above are some examples of what we're hoping our mural will look like.  Ask your child to read their poem when you get a chance.  It's amazing to see what childhood memories we hold onto!

We are continuing to work on building our vocabulary in Humanities.  Our words for September include:  pristine, duped, import, export, and indifferent.  Students have been playing a game called Vocab Showdown in class, where two students come to the board and have a showdown of who can write a more meaningful sentence using one of our vocabulary words.  It's a fun game that can definitely be played at home   with your family.

Last Friday, the team went on a field trip to the Miramar/Scripps Ranch Library.  Several students signed up for library cards and they learned how to use the library's resources for future projects in our class.  A big thank you to parents who assisted in driving and chaperoning that day.  Also, a huge thank you and high fives to two parents who bought a ton of books for our class library.  The entire team appreciates it and already started reading many of the books during DEAR time this week.

Important Dates:
Thursday - Field trip to Los Penasquitos Canyon Reserve to explore the plants and wildlife.
Thursday Evening is Back to School Night -
• 5:00-6:00 visit classrooms to see student work and meet with teachers

• 6:00-7:00 all parent meeting in the MPR, hear important information about Innovations Academy (note: classrooms will be locked and teachers will be in the MPR as well during this time).

• 7:00-8:00 more classroom time.

Friday - Vocabulary Showdown

Weekly Newsletter 9/10 - 9/14

     Another great week down with my amazing seventh grade team!  We had two successful field trips happen this week that were all organized by students.  I want to thank all the parents that gave up their time to drive and/or chaperon  Both trips went smoothly and this couldn't have happened without the help of our dedicated parents.  The first trip took place on Tuesday, which was an all middle school field trip.  The kids had tons of fun in the beach, playing volleyball, grilling vegetables.  Our team brought in quite an array of food for our potluck.   We also had a short field trip to Torrey Pines and spent the morning there.  The purpose was for the kids to see what a pristine beach looks like.  Pristine is one of our vocabulary words for the month of September.  When we cam back from the trip, we discussed what made that beach pristine compared to others the team has visited.
     We continued creating and discussing our team agreements.  Small groups will be presenting their agreements with the class this upcoming week.  We also kicked off DEAR (Drop Everything & Read).  We will dedicate 30 minutes 3 days a week to just reading.  Students are expected to bring their own book from home or pick a book from our class library.  They'll read the entire time and when they are finished reading the entire book, they'll get to write a book review/critique on Amazon or Barnes & Nobles.  Here's a link to suggested books for 7th graders in case your child needs some helping finding a book he/she will like.  http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/read-in-7th-grade
     Most of the team finished up the first step, brainstorming, of the Where I'm From poems.  The purpose of the Where I'm From poems is for our team to know a little more about each other on a deeper level.  We'll learn what memories and events have helped shape each of us so far.  Here is a link to the original "Where I'm From" poem, written by George Ella Lyon.  http://www.georgeellalyon.com/where.html  We will go through a mini version of Writers Workshop with our poems.  The steps include:  brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing.  This upcoming week, we will draft our poems and then give and receive feedback from our peers.  The final piece will be there published poems and individual collages of images that represent where we each are from.

 Small groups presenting their posters on their class agreements and getting feedback from the team.

 Above are our subtopics for our class agreements.  Each small group is focusing on one of the subtopics.

Team agreements on what DEAR will look like in class.

Announcements:

• Brainstorm packet "Where I'm From"  was due last Friday, 9/14.  
• DEAR will take place on Monday, Tuesday, & Thursday from 1:15-1:45.  Please remind your child to bring in a book.
• We are also looking for families who are interested in Suzie's Farm Raiser boxes ($25 for a box full of local organic fruits and vegetables). If you would like to sign up please email Beth Foster at beth@innovationsacademy.org or sign up in the front office.
• If you have any used books that you'd like to donate for our class library, we'd greatly appreciate it. 

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at jennie@innovationsacademy.org

Where my parent is from . . .

This week, I'd like you to write a post describing where one of your parents, grandparents, or caregivers are from.  Talk to them over dinner, on your way to school, etc. and ask them to describe where they are from.  Remind them to think beyond a location, think of the ways we as a class described where we are all from (food, traditions, holidays, etc.).  Once you've gathered the information, write a paragraph (5-7 sentences) on your blog describing where your family member is from.  Include the title (Where My Parent Is From), paragraph, and image.  Use the example below as a model.


Where My Mom Is From . . .

My mom, Sally Abraham Chacko, is from the houseboats, backwaters, busy streets, and rubber trees of Kottayam, Kerala.  It's a highly populated city in the state of Kerala, located in Southern India.  It's a city filled with people of all different religions and backgrounds who accept each other's differences.  Education is valued in Kottayam and has the highest percentage of literacy.  Kids wear uniforms to school even if they go to a public school and all the schools are English speaking schools.  Sally and the kids of Kottayam would play cricket, ride on houseboats, and hopscotch for fun.