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.
Announcements:
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
