Friday, January 31, 2020

The time has come: today, we finish Animal Farm!

Today we will read chapter 10 and compare the ending to your predictions. To start, let's pull-out the written response predictions you did for homework Wednesday night. Be prepared to share with your classmates.

After that, you're going to need to open up the Animal Farm text to chapter 10. This weekend for homework, you're going to have a half-sheet paper that asks you to compare what happens to the different characters in chapter 10, so pay attention as you read and discuss today.

Honors/STEM only: You need to have your final 5 Socratic Seminar Questions posted in Google Classroom by 11:59pm tonight! 

Thursday, January 30, 2020

Hi guys, glad to be here with you today! Don't worry, I'll be back permanently soon enough (although maybe that's disappointing to some of you 😉)

Today we're going to take a look at why people follow the crowd even when the crowd's behavior doesn't make sense. We're going to watch a short video that looks at why people follow the crowd.

We're also going to be reading an article on CommonLit called "Herd Behavior." You can find the article posted in Google Classroom. Today we will read and discuss the article together in class, but you will be responsible for completing the questions on your own tonight for homework.  If you are absent today, you'll need to make sure you read the article and do the questions on your own, then copy the notes I'll post in Google Classroom.

Don't forget your written response predicting the end of the book is due tomorrow - you'll need it for the start of class!

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Before we get started today, make sure you turn in your Chapter 8 Bookmark sheet from Monday. If it's not done yet, remember you need to have it in the drawer by 2:30pm today.

You're going to be reading chapter 9 in class today. Pay attention - as we get closer to the end of the story, there are important things happening that you need to think about and discuss.

Tonight for homework, you are going to complete a written response where you have the chance to predict how the story ends. Think about it as if you were Orwell writing the final chapter of the book; how would you want it to play out? This written response will be due on Friday, but you're going to want to start thinking about that ending as you read today.

At the end of class today, pop into Google Classroom and answer the question that is posted.

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Get out your headphones - it's Nearpod day!

Today, you'll be completing a few Nearpods to review Animal Farm chapters 6 through 8. You're welcome to use any notes you need to and use the PDF text, too. You have the entire period to work on this, but what you don't complete in class is homework. These Nearpods should be completed by 11:59pm tonight and are for a grade; you must complete all 4 Nearpods.

Make sure you're using class time appropriately; this is not time to do work for another class (or make-up work for my class), watch random videos or play games, or listen to music. Ms. Fowlkes will be monitoring your work closely, and I can pull up LanSchool and check your progress at any time.  If you are caught off-task, you will lose points on your grade for this assignment.

A couple things to remember:

• Your IXL skills are due in a month. If you haven't started them, you need to ASAP. You can find information about which skills are assigned by clicking the "IXL" tab at the top of the blog. You can also find them by logging in to IXL and going to the full list of Language Arts skills; the ones with a golden star and highlighted are the ones that are currently assigned to you.
• Honors/STEM only: Your Socratic Seminar questions sheet is due tomorrow by the end of the day Thursday.

Click here for the Character Nearpod

Click here for the Chapter 6 Nearpod

Click here for the Chapter 7 Nearpod

Click here for the Chapter 8 Nearpod

Monday, January 27, 2020

Happy Monday, everyone! We will be finishing up "Animal Farm" this week. You'll see that Mrs. Hollis, our wonderful librarian, will be in the classroom this week. She is an amazing educator who knows a lot about literature and Animal Farm, so utilize her for help understanding the text - she's an incredible resource.

Before you start reading today, please go to Google Classroom and take a short quiz over chapters 6 & 7. You can't use any notes, the text itself, Google, or anything else to help you. It's a pretty easy quiz if you read, though. 😃

Once you're done with the quiz, open up the Animal Farm PDF and find chapter 8. For homework tonight, you'll be completing another "Bookmark" sheet like you did for chapters 1 and 2. This sheet will be due Wednesday by the end of the day.

Honors/STEM only: Please check your classroom tab for information on the Socratic Seminar you will participate in next week. There is a video to watch; you will either be watching it as a whole class on the screen or watching it independently - Ms. Fowlkes will explain this. Make sure you get your Socratic Seminar questions sheet done and turned in by the end of the day Wednesday.