Announcement

Parents and Students,

I am sorry to say that tomorrow, Friday, is my last day teaching at Jefferson Academy.  It has been one of the hardest decisions of my life, but I decided to stay home to raise my daughter.

I will always be thankful for the experience my students have given me.  They may never know how much they have contributed to my life and I want to formally say thank you.  Because of the wonderful experiences they have given me, I am very motivated to teach again one day.

The new teacher is Mrs. Kearney.  I met her today and will talk to her tomorrow about what I have already taught the students, what I planned to teach them, my rules and procedures and anything else that will help her take over my job.  She will stay on track with what I have been doing and make necessary changes only when the students are comfortable with her.  

Mrs. Kearney seems like a great teacher with a lot of experience.  I am excited for the students to learn from her.

Thanks again for everything you have done.

Mrs. Martin

History Fair: 6th grade history

Parents,

I sent a brief email about the History Fair for Jefferson Academy.  I want to let you know that your students have brainstormed topics for the theme:  Turning points in history.  They can research any person, event, or idea that they can prove is a turning point in history.

So far, students have come up with a lot of good ideas.  Tomorrow, their specific "issue" is due.  They will have to take their broad topic and narrow it down into a specific issue that they feel is a turning point in history.

One student is interested in music and believes it is a turning point in history (rightly so).  That topic is way too broad to research for this project.  He narrowed it down to the Beatles.  That is a good, narrow topic.

The next step is to research how the narrow topic is a turning point in history.  Students have until December 21st (the day before Winter Break) to come up with a thesis statement answering the question as to why their topic is a turning point.

All of the research will be done at home.  There is no time in class to complete this research.  Please remind your child to continually research.  I will teach them how to write a thesis statement appropriate for this project, but the actual process will be done at home.

During Winter Break your child will pick a way to present his/her research.  There are five ways (these are listed in my PowerPoint in assignments).  I have gone over all five options in class, but I will go over them again before the break.

If you have any questions, you can email me, but there is also a plethora of information on the PowerPoint in my assignments.

Thank you,
Mrs. Martin

Week 4 November 26 - 30

Monday

English

Bell work:
In your handbook write answers to the following questions:
1.  What is a dangling modifier?
2.  What is a squinting or two-way modifier?
3.  What is a misplaced modifier?

Objectives:
Read the short story "God Sees the Truth but Waits" by Leo Tolstoy.
Answer the following questions on the white half-sheet of paper that I handed out:
1.  What is/are the setting(s).
2.  Who is the protagonist and who are the antagonists?
3.  What is the denouement?
4.  What is one theme you can see?  (There are many themes.)

Homework:
Short story is due tomorrow.  We will be reading them in class.  Be prepared to read some or all of your story.

Finish reading the short story (posted on my website) if you didn't finish in class.  The answers are due tomorrow.

History

Bell Work:
No bell work.  Get out your homework and turn it in.  Homework is the handout I gave you for the history fair.  You needed to decide on a specific issue you will research for the history fair.

Objectives:
Alexander the Great.  There is a page reading on Alex the Great.  Posted in assignments, term two.  Follow the instructions.  If you are absent, fill out the first four things you learned and stop there.

Homework:
Continue researching for the history fair.  Your research should be helping you find out why your "issue" is a turning point in history.

Tuesday


English

Bell work:
No bell work.  Get out your short story and keep it on your desk.

Objectives:
Vocabulary:  Lego/lectum, Locus, Loquor
Start reading short stories out loud.

Homework:
Read for 20 minutes.

History

Bell Work:

Objectives:

Homework:

Wednesday


English

Bell work:

Objectives:

Homework:

History

Bell Work:

Objectives:

Homework:

Thursday


English

Bell work:

Objectives:

Homework:

History

Bell Work:

Objectives:

Homework:

Friday


English

Bell work:

Objectives:

Homework:

History

Bell Work:

Objectives:

Homework:

Second Quarter, Week 2: November 5 to November 9

Monday, November 5

Language Arts
Bell Work:

Substitute:  I will grade your reader's journals and check your 30 minutes of writing tomorrow.

Objectives:

1.  Read short story: "An Honest Thief"  I cannot post this on my website because there is no free version online.  If you are absent, you need to come in and read it during lunch and before school.

The substitute will read out loud with the class.  Focus for this story is setting:  How does the author describe or show the reader where this story takes place?

Homework:

Read for 20 minutes
Vocabulary and spelling test on Thursday
Short story due November 27th
Sonnet due December 4th

History
Bell Work:
None.  Substitute will continue with last Friday's assignment.  Notebook check on Friday.

Objectives:
Finish Greek philosophers

Homework:
If you had to agree with one of the following three philosophers, which one would you agree with most and why.  One paragraph (not a list).  20 points for name and period.  30 points for grammar.  50 points for answering the question.

Tuesday, November 6


Language Arts
Bell Work:


Objectives:

1.  Dangling modifiers activity.

Homework:
Read 20 minutes.
Weekly word study due Thursday.
Reader's journal due on Friday.

History
Bell Work:

Objectives:

Homework:


Wednesday, November 7

Language Arts
Bell Work:
1.  What is a modifier?
2.  What is a dangling modifier?
3.  How do you fix a dangling modifier?
4.  Fix this sentence:  Running for the bus, my book fell in the mud.

Was the book running for the school bus? It's the only nearby noun beside mud

Objectives:

"Apparently with no surprise" Emily Dickinson

Homework:
Read 20 minutes.
Weekly Word Study due tomorrow.


History
Bell Work:

Objectives:

Homework:

Thursday, November 8

Language Arts
Bell Work:

Objectives:

Homework:

History
Bell Work:

Objectives:

Homework:

Friday, November 9


Language Arts
Bell Work:

Objectives:

Homework:

History
Bell Work:

Objectives:

Homework:

2nd Quarter, Week 1: October 30-November 3.

Every assignment we do for class and homework will now be posted on the website labeled "Assignments: 2nd Term."  I am starting over the count at week one.
_______________________

Monday, October 29

Language Arts
Bell Work:
New seating chart.  No bell work.

Objectives:
Finish the Short Story PPT.
Vocabulary
Spelling Words

"Dr. Heidegger's Experiment," from Realms of Gold.  Full text posted in Week 1 of 2nd term assignments.
Read the short story while thinking about the following questions: (I have a PPT with all the answers in week 1.)

1.  What is the plot?  (Think about what the exposition is, the complication, the climax, and the denouement.
2.  Who are the characters and what type of characters are they (round, flat, dynamic, etc)?
3.  What is the point of view?
4.  What is the setting?
5.  What type of conflict is there and why? (man v man, man v nature, man v society, man v himself, man v fate)
6.  What symbols are there in the story and what do they mean?
7.  What is a theme of the story?
8.  Is there any irony?  If so, what kind? (situation, verbal, dramatic)
9.  What is the mood of the story?
10.  What is the tone of the story?
11.  Does the author use suspense?  How?
12.  Does the story contain any foreshadowing?
13.  What dialect does the character speak in? (refers to the time period/setting)
14.  Is there a frame story in this story?
15.  Is there any allusion?  Where?

In a class discussion, answer these questions.  We may not finish this until Tuesday.

Homework:
Read for 20 minutes.  Continue working on short story.
Spelling (all 40) and Vocabulary (13 words) test Thursday, November 8th.

History
Bell Work:
New seating chart.  No Bell Work.

Objectives:
Finish Persian War.
Textbook: Supplier, get textbooks for your table.
1. Open to page 52.
2. Read 52 and 53 out loud (quietly).
3. Person 1 reads a paragraph and asks a question.
Person 2 answers the question and then reads the
next paragraph.

As a class, write down the timeline of events in the Persian Wars.  Finish Tuesday.

Homework:  No homework.
_______________________________________________
Tuesday, October 30

Language Arts
Bell Work:
"Remembrance of a Friend" Poetry Packet p. 5-6 (Assignments: 2nd term).

Objectives:
Finish "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Homework:
Read for 20 minutes.  Continue working on Short Story.

History
Bell Work:
Describe what happened at the battle of Thermopylae.  Who won?  What happened to the Spartans? (Remember the 300!)

Objectives:
Finish writing notes about Persian Wars.  I have these notes written in the History Handbook.
Start Peloponnesian War: Sparta defeats Athens.

Homework:
Write some examples of cause and effect.  There is an effect to every action.  What are some natural consequences to our every day actions?  (100 points)
_______________________
Wednesday, October 31
Language Arts
Bell Work:
Assembly 1st period.  4th period studied vocabulary and spelling.

Objectives:
None

Homework:
Read 20 minutes.  Fill out weekly word study. Continue working on short story.

History
Bell Work:
None.  

Objectives:
Continue Peloponnesian War.

Homework:
No Homework
____________________________________________
Thursday, November 1
Language Arts
Bell Work:

Get a Realms of Gold book and read the poem on page 9.
Watch a video adaptation of the poem.


Objectives:

"I Dwell in Possibility" poem by Emily Dickenson
Apostrophes


Homework:
Read 20 minutes.
Work on Short Story.
Turn in reader's journal with a letter to Mrs. Martin

History
Bell Work: 

Get out your white paper we folded yesterday.  In the appropriate box, write each cause and effect at the bottom of the box in small writing.

Objectives:
Create a comic strip of the main events that occurred during the Peloponnesian War.  There needs to be 7 boxes with the cause and effect written on each box, and then a picture depicting that event.  Due Friday if you don't finish it in class.

Homework:
Finish your comic strip if you didn't finish it in class.
_____________________________________________
Friday, November 2

Language Arts
Bell Work:
No bell work.

Objectives:
Explain Writing Finished Portfolio.

Homework:
Read 40 minutes.
30 minutes of writing (short story or sonnet)
Study for Spelling and Vocabulary test next Thursday.

History
Bell Work:
No bell work.

Objectives:
Start Ancient Greece philosophy.
Read pages 62 to 68 as a class.
Fill in facts about the following three Greek philosophers:  Socrates, Aristotle, Plato.

Homework:
If you had to pick one of the Greek philosophers we studied, which one would you agree with MOST and why.  One paragraph.

Announcement

Dear Students and Parents,

I am starting to grade students on whether or not they write a first and last name on assignments.  Every assignment is worth 100 points in my class (except some large projects at the ends of units).  From now on I am giving ten points for students who write their first and last names on each assignment.  I have multiple students with the same name, but I believe it is good practice to have students write their proper names.  This is only professional.

Thank you,

Mrs. Martin

Week 9: October 22 to October 26

Monday, October 22

Language Arts
Bell Work:  Answer the following questions:
1.  How many feet are in Iambic pentameter?
2.  In one independent clause, write what the word "Iambic" means.
3.  In one sentence, write what the main idea is for the play Twelfth Night.

Put your 30 minutes of writing on your desk.  Once I have checked it off, place it in your green file folder.

Objectives:  Spelling, Vocabulary:  Copy into handbook and planner.  Poem:  "Ozymandias."  Irony PPT.
If you were absent, only write the first and last slide of the PPT in your handbook under a new category, "Literary Terms."

On a half sheet of paper, answer the following questions about the poem "Ozymandias:"
1.  What is the main idea of this poem?
2.  What type of irony is used in this poem?
3.  What type of poem is this?  (Look in your handbook under "Genre".  Count the lines.  Notice any meter or rhyme.)

Turn in the half sheet of paper.

Homework:  Read 20 minutes.  Shakespeare project due tomorrow.

History


Bell Work:
In complete sentences, describe how democracy came to be in Greece.  Mention kinds, land owners, tyrants, rights (remember the tiny of slice of cake and how you would react if that's all you were allowed).

Objectives:  Vocabulary Competition.
2nd period  Vocabulary quiz.  If you fail the quiz, you have until Friday to re-take it at morning greet for possible full credit.    

Homework:  No homework.


Tuesday, October 23


Language Arts
Bell Work:

On a piece of scratch paper, practice writing the following words 5 times each.  Pay attention to any spelling errors you have.  I will come around to check and make sure you are completing the bell work.

Words:  lightning, maintenance, mileage, necessary, occurrence, desperate, dissatisfied, extraordinary, fascinating, foreign.


Objectives: Turn in your Shakespeare project.  If you are doing a PPT, turn in your notes and email me or give me the flash drive so I can access your PPT.

Students will know when the use of italics/underlining is appropriate.  Copy the notes from the handbook on the right side of this blog.

Homework:  Read 20 minutes.

History


Bell Work:

Write a correct thesis statement to the following questions:

1.  Is our election process fair?
2.  Do we have a fair taxation system?
3.  Is cheating out of control?
4.  Should animals be used for research?
5.  Should cigarette smoking be banned?
6.  Should companies market to children?
7.  Are actors and professional athletes paid too much?
8.  Should the alcoholic drinking age be increased?
9.  Does age matter in relationships?
10.  Are there benefits to attending a single-gender school?

Remember! Thesis statements are:
Short, declarative statements.
They reflect your opinion without using the words "In my opinion," or "I think", etc.
They answer the question.
They do not say "Yes," "No."
They do not use pronouns (he, she, it, they).

Objectives:  Greek Culture PPT (week 9).  Greek Wars Text book and PPT (week 9).

Homework:  No Homework

Wednesday, October 24


Language Arts
Bell Work:
Write answers to the following:
Make a list telling when you should use italics.
What makes a good short story?

Objectives:  

 Read the poem, "How They Brought the News from Ghent to Aix."
Answer the following questions on the half sheet of paper:
1.  What is the main idea or theme of this poem?
2.  Does this poem have any meter/rhythm?  Does it have any rhyme?
3.  Do you like this poem?  Don't forget to write why or why not.
4.  Who is the author of this poem?

Short Story introduction.  Fill in the blank PPT.  The complete PPT is in Assignments.


Homework:  
Read for 20 minutes.
Complete your weekly word study due tomorrow at the beginning of class.

History

Bell Work:

What makes a good Thesis Statement?  Write a five sentence paragraph.

Objectives:  
Finish Greek Culture PPT and textbook reading.

Homework:  

No homework.

2nd period:  Do not worry about the quizzes for this quarter.  If you got an “A” on the quiz, it will go on this quarter’s grade.  If you got less than an “A” you will have the first week of 2nd quarter to fix the grade.

Thursday, October 25


Language Arts
Bell Work:
1.  In one sentence, what is the main idea of the short story, "How They Brought the News From Ghent to Aix?"
2.  Taylor Mali poem "Borrowing a Pen From Girls" (week 9: assignments)

Objectives:  
Finish Short Story PPT
Irony Worksheets:  in assignments.  In class, students will write on their own paper and I will have it on the overhead.

Homework:  Read for 20 minutes.  Write your letter in your reading journal to Mrs. Martin.

History


Bell Work:
From what you have learned, make a list of 3 things that Greek Culture has left to us.  What did we get to keep and still enjoy from their culture?

Objectives:  
Finish Greek Culture PPT
Start Persian Wars:  Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis.
Ideas:  Victory and hubris (pride), defeat and shame.

Homework:  No homework



Friday, October 26


Language Arts
Bell Work:  Do NOT get your file folders.

For ten minutes, quietly study the vocabulary on the board.  We will be having a class competition.  The prize is 5 minutes of free time.  

Turn in your Shakespeare project if you still haven’t.  Remember, these are 300 points.  You have until next Friday at the very latest to turn in the project for 70% credit.

Homework (Write in your planner):

Read for 40 minutes.

Write for 30 minutes.  (Start your short story. It is due Tuesday, November 27th.)   

History

Bell Work:

1.  Get out your textbooks.  Turn to your notes on the Persian war.

2.  Remember to sit quietly and raise your hands if you have a comment or question.

Homework, Write in your planner: 

No homework.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Thank you for helping us all have a wonderful first quarter.