Overdue Assignments!

You may notice on Student Achieve that your son or daughter may have an overdue assignment. For grade 8 students this would be their historical narrative(based on the Halifax explosion) writing piece. Whereas grade 9 students may not have completed their short story writing piece.

It should be noted that students had ample amount of time to do these assignments in class.Students were also given sufficient time in the computer lab to type a final copy of these assignments. In addition, students were given the opprotunity to pass drafts into me for final suggestions.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Grade 8 & 9: Best Book of 2015 Video

Best Book of 2015 Video

In a video interview discuss your favorite read (book) of 2015. Include the author, title, and why you enjoyed the book.

Please email video or YouTube link to: sxballum@edu.pe.ca 

In the subject line of email please include your first and last name.

Due date: Monday, January 11, 2016

Students will be assessed on speaking outcomes for this assignment.

*Your video should be no longer than 45 seconds.

*Please try to have a copy of the book to show your audience.

Give the Gift of Reading! Coles & SIS Fundraiser!

A friendly reminder!

An Update from Room 112!

Grade 8's - This week we'll begin studying historical narrative texts. Students will write an historical narrative based on The Halifax Explosion. 

Grade 9's - This week we'll begin studying short stories. Students will study the elements of short stories and write their own. 

Term 1 Reading Ladder - Grade 8 & 9

All students will complete a reading ladder before the end of first term. Next week students will be given time in class to work on their ladders. See below for assignment guidelines.

Reading Ladder – Analyzing your reading process

A Reading Ladder is simply a piece of explanatory writing where students rank the books they’ve read according to complexity, reflect on their reading habits, and make plans for future growth.

Purpose: to step back and look at what you have accomplished as a reader in order to measure progress and set new goals for term two and the rest of the school year.

Process

1.    Compile a list of all of the books you completed and abandoned so far this school year. List the books in order of most difficult to least difficult.

2.    Write a “Why this Order?” paragraph.  Explain your reasons for ranking books. Discuss what make a book ‘difficult.’

3.    Reading Rate – calculate the number of pages you've read this term. Then calculate the average number of pages you read per week(number of pages read/9weeks). This will determine your reading rate for this term. Compare this new rate with your reading rate at the beginning of the term. Discuss your at home reading habits.

4.    Summary – summarize 1 book. Provide a true summary of the book, not just a review of the book.

5.    Personal Goals – set goals for term two and the rest of the school year. These should be specific: I will read 15 books by February. I will read one nonfiction book. I will develop an at home reading habit. I will…

Due date:__________________________

An Update from Room 112!

Grade 8's are studying the elements of a story and will have an inclass assignment on Monday, October 26th.

Grade 9's are writing a personal narrative. First they 'threw up' their stories and now were in the process of 'cleaning' them up!

A reminder that students are expected to read 2 hours per week outside of school. Please encourage your children at home to read!

Letter to Parents/Guardians.

Dear Parents/Guardians:

Last year language arts teachers at S.I.S. started a school-wide reading initiative that was designed to foster life long readers. The results and feedback of this initiative have created a positive reading culture at S.I.S and will therefore be continued this school year. The central goal of the English Language Arts department is to establish a reading habit in the busy lives of our junior high students.

Through independent reading we want to develop reading fluency and stamina, which result in increased reading rates and thus, help students develop confidence, build vocabulary, and improve writing. 

It is our hope that we can work together with parents to ignite and sustain the pleasure and passion of young readers as well as to instill a comfortable confidence in students as they build stamina for reading in preparation for college and career.

Independent reading will be based on student choice, either through recommendations by teachers, through a student’s own research, or through recommendations made by fellow students.  Each cycle students visit our library to hear book talks about potential reading titles and check out books. We strongly feel that students should choose books that interest them in the hope that it will encourage students to become lifelong readers.

Finally, we ask for your help. We do require that children read at least two hours per week outside of school. We have posted this requirement as homework on the class blogs. We have talked to students about the importance of reading at home, and they know that we expect them to read at home. It may not seem that we assign much homework in language arts, but that is because we want the students to read and read and read.

We hope that reading will be a shared experience in your homes this school year and that you value the positive effects family literacy has on your child’s education.

If you are so inclined, please consider donating books you no longer need to our classroom libraries. Our classroom benefits from castoffs.

Thank you for your support.

Shellilee Ballum