The weather is getting warmer, the snow is starting to melt, and the sun is shining later… spring is coming! With a new season comes new units. Here's what's happening in language arts class these days: 5th grade just finished reading Wonder by RJ Palacio, which is always a favorite. This book allowed us to laugh together, cry together, and have some deep conversations about kindness and the way we treat people. We are wrapping this up with a Tic-Tac-Toe assessment. Students were given a 3x3 grid with nine mini-project choices, and they chose three in a row to complete. The most popular choice, like always, was the posters with positive messages inspired by the book, so be sure to look for those around the school in the next few weeks! 6th grade is working diligently on their Make A Difference projects. So far, they have written a business letter to their organization, and they just finished a research paper. This was their first major research project in middle school, and they worked very hard, writing several drafts of their papers to get them just right! Next we're starting the extension project and visual displays for their presentations-- the fun parts! Be on the look out in April for news about our 2nd Annual Make A Difference Day! 7th grade will be reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor soon. This is the story of an African-American family in the American south in the 1930s, and in order to fully understand the racial tensions that flow through this story, we are learning a bit of history first! We started with the Emancipation Proclamation this week and are heading toward the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. These are very difficult texts, so we are definitely sharpening our close reading skills on the way to this great novel! 8th grade has just started learning about figurative language/poetic devices ahead of a poetry unit. We are using popular song lyrics to help us build our understanding of these devices before moving on to some contemporary poetry. During our poetry unit we will learn how to read and understand a poem, and we will discuss how and why figurative language or poetic devices are used in poetry. As you can see, there are lots of great things happening language arts right now! I'm excited to see all we will accomplish before April break! -Miss G
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Miss G
I am a 2011 graduate of St. Michael's College where I studied English and Secondary Education. I love teaching, learning, soccer, and buying more books than I could ever possibly read. This is my sixth year teaching at OES. Archives
August 2017
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