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© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
English Language Arts Novel Studies The first half of each quarter will be designated for whole group novel studies. Then we go through several Harcourt stories for the rest of the quarter. At the beginning of each semester, the class will vote on 4 novels (Set A or B). The top two books will be the novel study material for that semester. The bottom two books will be available for students to use for a book report project. The 8 novels are pictured below:
Novels - Set A
(West-1st Semester; Blackstock-2nd Semester) 740L the_thief_of_always_1.pdfDownload File 690L 770L 1070L elijah_of_buxton.pdfDownload File Loading... Novels - Set B
(Blackstock-1st Semester; West-2nd Semester)
800L among_the_hidden_.pdfDownload File 590L stargirl_.pdfDownload File 570L 770L Loading... The entire powerpoint for each novel that we study will be made available to students via Edmodo.
Each chapter requires students to analyze characters, setting, and plot by completing the following activities in their notebook:
Harcourt Journeys The second half of each quarter in reading is dedicated to our new textbook that has many stories that are aligned with common core skills. Most of the work that we will be doing with each story will be in notebooks. Notebook checks will consist of looking for all 10 words to be written down with part of speech and definitions (10 pts), both the questions and the answers written down for all comprehension questions found in the text (about 4 pts), and different activities/Thinking Maps for both the Target Skill
(5 pts) and Target Strategy (5 pts). Each notebook check is then worth about 24 points. If students don't quite get everything done using the powerpoint in class, they should have access to it on Edmodo each week. Comprehension tests are also completed on Edmodo each week during computer time.
To log in to the ThinkCentral website and access the reading textbook online, first click on the Journeys book cover to the left of this text. Then be sure the following options have been selected for each drop down box (United States / Arizona / Tempe Elem District 3, Tempe 85282 / Ward Traditional Academy, Tempe 85282 / select "Remember My School"). Finally, each student's username will be their student number followed by td3 (ex. 12345td3), and their password will be the same. Extra Credit Many students have been asking if there are extra credit opportunities in Reading. Our first response to them is asking them whether or not they have looked through their notebooks to see if there were any points that they missed that they can fix and resubmit for full credit. Second, we ask them if they went back and attempted to fix any test questions for half credit. If they have done all of this and still need a little boost to the overall grade, then they can complete a RESPOND to Quote Write-Up. This consists of downloading the document to the right of this paragraph and then following the Time For Kids link (different from the link under Helpful Links) to access a collection of at least 15 quotes. Once they have the document ready to use and the quote, they simply cut and paste or type the quote into the top box and then answer the questions or complete the prompts for each of the boxes as they spell out the word RESPOND. The document can then be submitted via Edmodo.
respondtoquote.docxDownload File Famous Quotes Flash-Cards Helpful Links IXL offers a wide variety of practice exercises for English Language Arts. Check out all of the test prep for grammar and language. See how high your score can go. This website also has an app that can be downloaded on iPad and iPad mini, however to get full access you have to pay for a membership. Biblionasium offers a unique online forum where students can create an online bookshelf of books that they have read, write reviews, share recommendations, track reading goals and difficulty levels. Students must have an account with their teacher to access. Time For Kids (TFK) offers tons of interesting and entertaining news articles about a variety of subjects. We will practice our Close Reading Annotations using some of these articles. DOGO News has fun articles for kids about current events, science, sports, and more! An excellent site to practice reading passages of
non-fiction. This website has an assortment of different reading comprehension, grammar, and figurative language activities.
Novels - Set A
(West-1st Semester; Blackstock-2nd Semester) 740L the_thief_of_always_1.pdfDownload File 690L 770L 1070L elijah_of_buxton.pdfDownload File Loading... Novels - Set B
(Blackstock-1st Semester; West-2nd Semester)
800L among_the_hidden_.pdfDownload File 590L stargirl_.pdfDownload File 570L 770L Loading... The entire powerpoint for each novel that we study will be made available to students via Edmodo.
Each chapter requires students to analyze characters, setting, and plot by completing the following activities in their notebook:
- Vocabulary - students write each word with the part of speech and definition.
- Big Idea - students select one word (a noun) that best summarizes a theme for the chapter and then explains their reasoning in a minimum of 3 sentences (using evidence from the text).
- Summary Quote - students will read a quote from the chapter, write a question about it, and answer in another 2-3 sentences.
- Every 5 chapters - students will select one character to answer four questions from their perspective (PATH), and one setting to answer three questions about how it influences the characters and plot of the story (MAP). The questions for PATH/MAP are in the powerpoint on Edmodo.
- Every 10 chapters - students will complete a brief comprehension assessment using Edmodo.
Harcourt Journeys The second half of each quarter in reading is dedicated to our new textbook that has many stories that are aligned with common core skills. Most of the work that we will be doing with each story will be in notebooks. Notebook checks will consist of looking for all 10 words to be written down with part of speech and definitions (10 pts), both the questions and the answers written down for all comprehension questions found in the text (about 4 pts), and different activities/Thinking Maps for both the Target Skill
(5 pts) and Target Strategy (5 pts). Each notebook check is then worth about 24 points. If students don't quite get everything done using the powerpoint in class, they should have access to it on Edmodo each week. Comprehension tests are also completed on Edmodo each week during computer time.
To log in to the ThinkCentral website and access the reading textbook online, first click on the Journeys book cover to the left of this text. Then be sure the following options have been selected for each drop down box (United States / Arizona / Tempe Elem District 3, Tempe 85282 / Ward Traditional Academy, Tempe 85282 / select "Remember My School"). Finally, each student's username will be their student number followed by td3 (ex. 12345td3), and their password will be the same. Extra Credit Many students have been asking if there are extra credit opportunities in Reading. Our first response to them is asking them whether or not they have looked through their notebooks to see if there were any points that they missed that they can fix and resubmit for full credit. Second, we ask them if they went back and attempted to fix any test questions for half credit. If they have done all of this and still need a little boost to the overall grade, then they can complete a RESPOND to Quote Write-Up. This consists of downloading the document to the right of this paragraph and then following the Time For Kids link (different from the link under Helpful Links) to access a collection of at least 15 quotes. Once they have the document ready to use and the quote, they simply cut and paste or type the quote into the top box and then answer the questions or complete the prompts for each of the boxes as they spell out the word RESPOND. The document can then be submitted via Edmodo.
respondtoquote.docxDownload File Famous Quotes Flash-Cards Helpful Links IXL offers a wide variety of practice exercises for English Language Arts. Check out all of the test prep for grammar and language. See how high your score can go. This website also has an app that can be downloaded on iPad and iPad mini, however to get full access you have to pay for a membership. Biblionasium offers a unique online forum where students can create an online bookshelf of books that they have read, write reviews, share recommendations, track reading goals and difficulty levels. Students must have an account with their teacher to access. Time For Kids (TFK) offers tons of interesting and entertaining news articles about a variety of subjects. We will practice our Close Reading Annotations using some of these articles. DOGO News has fun articles for kids about current events, science, sports, and more! An excellent site to practice reading passages of
non-fiction. This website has an assortment of different reading comprehension, grammar, and figurative language activities.