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Welcome to
Mrs. Van Housen's
Language Arts Website
Please contact Mrs. Van Housen at:
Gifted/Blended Updates |
Homeroom Updates |
Rotary Middle Act |
Let's talk about Genre Bingo. Let's praise not only those students who achieved Blackouts -- Colby Dunkley, Marshall Frye, Alex Gurgis, Jack Hart, Lindsey Ki, Aaron Mago, Charlie Pierce and Sammy Warren -- and those who scored 100% or more -- Mark Davey, Rafina Cebak and Cole Reiger -- but let's also honor the accomplishments of those who wrote with true integrity, who kept me reading, who achieved in their Reading Respones quality and quantity -- Alex Eagle, Joe Gravelle, Gena Heylock, Lily Jenkins, Alyssa Miranda, Sam Ohno, Cole Rojahn, Nicolette Roca, Addie Sutton, Journey Wise and
Julia Worman. In class Friday, we considered how many books we thought we would read coming into 7th grade, and counted up how many books we actually read. The results were startling. Consider this sampling of students. Expected to read: Actually read: Sophia Burk 2 53 Kaitlyn Calvin 1 37 Kit Connelly 5 59 Angela DeVincentis 2 42 Cameron Farmer 1 19 Kendall Hamby 15 58 Ethan Hoffer 10 36 Sean Hoffman 5 56 Zach Janocko 5 25 Samantha Joiner 7 43 Sophie Lesher 10 75 Davis Massey 3 63 Reese McMichael 2 59 Jacob Reeves 7 52 Clarke Russell 10 60 Maddie Silva 6 36 Sarah Troup 2 57 I'm so proud of all of you who embraced the challenge of Genre Bingo! You are stars! --posted 6/3/12 |
7th-grade Field Day is this Tuesday June 5th. Come try to win the 3-point hoops competition at my station... and the tug-of-war challenge at Mr. Baggett's... and the hoolahoop wars at Ms. William's...! Be sure to hydrate, wear sneakers and add a little sunscreen to your regimen that morning. Yearbooks will be
distributed in homeroom before we head out to the fields. You can do some signing in your homeroom that morning, and you will be given time after lunch for more signing. BTW, lunch will be provided by Chic-fil-A. In the afternoon, all the 7th-graders will be invited to relax in the auditorium for a screening of The Rookie. Sounds like a nice day.
Summer Reading Information ! Enjoy some good books this summer and earn PBS cards for your return to school. For every three books you read, you will earn 5 PBS cards! Simply fill out this form and return to your language arts teacher next year. 2012 Summer Reading Information & FORM.doc
If you're looking for good book ideas, here is this year's Sunshine State recommendation list. 2012-13 Sunshine State Book List Middle School.docx
Enjoy your summer reading!
--posted 6/3/12 |
Service Above Self We co-hosted with the Council on Aging the Centenarian Luncheon at the Players Senior Center last week... This was our third year in a row, and it was the best yet. Thank you so much to Molly Dent, Colby Dunkley,
Paige Headrick, Aaron Mago, Emilee Mclean, Lily Short, Chris West, Gabe Wise, and Journey Wise for representing Landrum and Rotary Middle Act with such dignity, decorum and aplomb! --posted 6/3/12 |
The "Hero's Journey" essays were fabulous...especially those of Andrew Brown, Matt Crawford, Alex Eagle, Alex Gurgis, Gena Heylock, Lindsey Ki, Lindsay Philcox, Maddie Silva, Katherine Sims, Molly Voytecek, Sammy Warren and Journey Wise. You all flawlessly captured the journey elements of your book's heroes and wove in information about other classic heroes we studied in class. Your essays were a joy to read! -- Posted 5/21/12 |
Here's a look at important upcoming dates: Wed. 5/23 -- Final test "The Outsiders" Thurs.-Fri. 5/23-25 Watch "The Outsiders" Mon.
5/28 -- Memorial Day Holiday Tues. 5/29 -- All textbooks returned Thurs. 5/31 -- L.A. End of Course exam Tues. 6/5 -- Field Day/Yearbook signings Wed. 6/6 -- Last Day of School/Early Release -- Posted 5/21/12 |
Service Above Self This Wednesday, we will co-host with the Council on Aging the
Centenarian luncheon at the Player's Senior Center. This is the highlight of our service year. We are expecting 30 birthday seniors plus their guests and we will be responsible for greeting and service lunch. We'll post pictures soon, so stay tuned! -- Posted 5/21/12 |
"Well done!" Paige Eastland, Claire Flemister, Joe Gravelle, Gena Heylock, Aya Kusomoto, Alyssa Miranda, and Addie Sutton. These students were able to write persuasive essays about whether or not human space exploration should continue to be a priority by blending information about the current status of NASA funding with relevance of such science fiction masters as H.G. Wells and Orson Scott Card. Period 3 knocked this final vocab test out of the park, with a 92% class average! That's huge. -- posted 5/13/12 |
"Way to go!" Cameron Alvarez, Tyler Grant and Denae Jernukian on keeping up with your Reading Logs. I know it's been hectic with Reading Plus and getting ready for FCAT, but now that we're transitioning back to the Reading Logs, I appreciate how hard you worked and how easily you adapted.
I need to ask a favor from any of my parents... We are hosting a field day for the kids on Tuesday June 5th. It's the day before school is out. We need parent volunteers to help us chaperone the students for a couple of hours in the morning (around 9 to 11:00). If you can help, please let me know and I'll pass your name onto Ms. Day. Thanks!
-- posted 5/13/12 |
Service Above Self We're still collecting paper recycling every Thursday. The company we've been working with will change soon, from Paper Retriever to SP Recycling. Our bin will be changed out in the next two weeks. This shouldn't impact our operations at all. I appreciate all of you students who make environmental stewardship a priority in your lives. -- posted
5/13/12 |
Your next Portfolio Paper assignment -- this time exploring "The Hero's Journey" -- is listed in the Resources section. Be sure to reference the Grading Scale for this essay frequently to make sure you're on the right track! Congratulations to those students who scored perfect 100s (or more!) on our last vocab TEST: Cameron Farmer and Gena Heylock. Of the 20 students in P5, 14 of you got As -- including Kendall Hamby, Aaron Mago and Sam Ohno, who all
got 99%. In our recent Mythology Scavenger Hunt, a shout-out to winning teams: P1 Sarah Graham & Journey Wise; P2: Azeem Hasan & Sean Hoffman; P3: Jenny Norenberg & Carly Voytecek; P5: Paige Eastland & Julia Sledzik; P6: Paige Headrick & Lindsay Philcox! -- posted 4/23/12 |
Whew...FCAT is over! You were all wonderful and supportive as we worked through last week's long days. I know your scores will be excellent! Congratulations to the team of Tom Houston, Andre Mauriello & Nash Roderick for winning the Mythology Race! Now that we won't be doing FCAT Explorer, we will go back to completing
our regular reading logs. They will be due every Wed. We will still go to the Reading Lab on Wednesdays for Reading Plus, but I won't require it at home. I'm so proud of you all! -- posted 4/23/12 |
Service Above Self We still have Smencils and Smens for sale! Come by and help us get a Patriot Service Dog for a disabled veteran. |
Students who complete five or more FCAT Explorer stories will receive 100% extra credit equal to one Classwork grade. For those who do so and total in the 90-100% on their Explorer Report, they will receive 110% extra credit. Our Instructional Literacy Coach Ms. Nason has provided me the conversion scores students need to maintain their FCAT values with the new "cut scores" being implemented this year. I'll share those numbers with students tomorrow. --posted 4/12/12 |
Our FCAT schedule for next week looks like this: Mon. morning 4/16 -- Reading Comprehension #1 Tues. morning 4/17 -- Reading Comprehension #2 Wed. morning 4/18 -- Math sessions #1 & #2 Thurs. 4/19 & Fri. 4/20 -- make-up exams only. You will need #2 pencils (no mechanical pencils allowed!). Take it easy this weekend so you're well-rested and relaxed. I know you're all going to do great! --posted 4/12/12 |
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Exceptional job on Q3 Genre Bingo with thoughtful reading reflections that were a joy to read: Sarah Graham, Joe Gravelle, Gena Heylock, Lily Jenkins, Reese McMichael, Lindsay Philcox, Charlie Pierce, Tess Reiman, Nicolette Roca, Cole Rojahn, Journey Wise and Julia Worman. Thank you for weaving together information from the books you read with your own commentary so that I could learn as I read. Beautiful writing! And congratulations Genre Bingo
Blackout Readers Sanjna Chetan, Colby Dunkley, Marshall Frye, Lindsey Ki, Aaron Mago, Jenny Norenberg and Sammy Warren! Time for us to schedule another Reading Celebration! On the End-of-Quarter exam, you had another strong showing... scoring 100% were Claire Flemister, Eliza Koren and Sammy Warren! Again, about half of you got As. If you didn't, and even if you did, I encourage you to use that FCAT Explorer login I gave you and brush up over the next couple of weeks... --posted 3/26/12 |
Congratulations for leveling up on Reading Plus in the past couple of weeks go to: Jordy Bailey, Emma Cramer, Chris Curley, Olivia DeMasi, Olivia Gordon and Hailey Jones. Keep up the great work! Next week is your well-earned Springs Break! The following Monday April 9th is a teacher inservice day and student
holiday. When we return from Spring Break, you will four school days, then FCATs are upon us the week of April 16th-20th. Remember to try and do a little bit of either Reading Plus or FCAT Explorer every day until then. We'll go back to our regular reading log in mid-April. --posted 3/26/12 |
Smencils & Smens are here! Rotary Middle Act is selling these gourmet scented pencils and pens made competely from recycle materials to further our fundraising efforts for another Patriot Service Dog. You can purchase yours during lunchtime over the next couple of days! --posted 3/26/12 |
I've started researching the fascinating world of applied linguistics, specifically the Critical Period Hypothesis as it relates to learning grammar. (The past few weeks have aged me considerably, and I'm determined to get to the bottom of why teaching and learning grammar is so difficult!) Did you know that the acquisition of grammar is more constrained by age that semantic functioning? (Harley 1986) That means people learn semantics -- grasping the meanings of strings of words -- much earlier and
easier than syntax -- constructing sentences by using procedures and rules. Apparently, computer programmers have known this for quite a while. In their world, semantics errors are logical problems, while syntax errors are classified as code errors (a much more difficult process to understand and learn). I bring all this up to point out that while a handful of people in each period did get As on the grammar quiz that focused on subjects, verbs and prepositional phrases, those of you who did not should not feel badly. Your brain is developing and code errors are common. It will get better. Grammar remediation for the quiz will take place tomorrow (Monday 3/12). It will get better. --posted 3/11/12 |
Here's a look at some important dates in the next month: Language Arts End-of-Quarter 3 exam is Monday March 19th. Third quarter ends Thursday March 22nd. Students have a holiday Friday, March 23rd. We have school the 26th to the 30th, then the week of April 2nd to 6th is Spring Break. The following Monday April 9th is a teacher inservice day and student holiday. When we return from Spring Break, you will four school days, then FCATs are upon us the week of April 16th-20th. Although I do not believe in "teaching to the test," FCAT scores will follow you students throughout your academic careers and I want to help you be your best selves. We will be doing some FCAT practice in class fairly regularly, and I encourage you to continue Reading Plus and FCAT Explorer every week at home. --posted 3/11/12 |
King Landrum, the Patriot Service Dog we purchased for a disabled veteran last year, came to visit on Monday. Here he is enjoying love and affection from homeroom students Chris Curley, Mackenzie Frecks, Katie Easom, Emma Cramer, Olivia DeMasi, Brianna Taylor and
Andre Mauriello. Monday was the kick-off for our annual "Name That Dog" contest. Even though we only raised $150 in three days, every little bit will help us pay for the purchase and training of yet another Patriot Service dog. Next week, we will sell Smencils and Smens to the lunch crowd. These are scented pencils and pens made from recycled materials. One case of each has already arrived and is safely tucked away in my office. We will sell them for $1 per Smencil and $2 per Smens. We have potential to make $450 from that fundraiser. Middle Act students with preapproval from me and from homeroom teachers can help with the sales. If there are any Middle Act parents available on any of these days who could volunteer from 10 am to noon to help oversee our lunchtime efforts, that would be absolutely wonderful! Please be sure with Noel Day in the front office that you are an approved volunteer with the county. Meanwhile, you guys have been doing a great job recycling for the school! --posted 3/11/12 |
 Great job on a complicated essay about how William Shakespeare used rhetorical devices in A Midsummer Night's Dream to highlight the play's theme that, "Oh, what fools these mortals be!" Beautiful pieces by Addie Sutton, Carly Voytecek, Claire Flemister, Gena Heylock and Lindsay Philcox, all of whom offer interesting insights into how our modern world relates to Shakespeare's era 400 years ago. Performing mind-blowing Shakespeare monologues were Rowan Fitch as a very convincing Marc Antony during Ceasar's funural; and Lindsey Ki, who brought a Romeo & Juliet passage to life.
The next few weeks we will study poetry and grammar. Shout it out loud and proud now, "We LOVE grammar!" Poetry has been great fun so far shouting out Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky"!
Meanwhile, FCAT will come up suddenly. Just four-and-a-half week until Spring Break. Then only 4 school days and right into FCAT. Many of you have asked me for log-on information so you can access FCAT Explorer at home to be the best students you can be and get in the minds of the FCAT test creators. I've given everyone their codes, whether you asked for them or not, with the hope that you will spend an hour a week exploring the 8th-grade carnival boardwalk of games (since there are no 7th grade questions). Some of you might enjoy the more challenging stories in the 10th grade time-traveler section... --posted 2/29/12 |
Tyler Grant, Cody Langston and Brianna Taylor are all working in the top level of Reading Plus. You guys are awesome! We are really kicking into gear and having students level up constantly. Just today, Katie Easom and Olivia DeMasi leveled up again. I'm so proud of you! It's super important that you keep doing Reading Plus an hour a week at home to get the maximum benefit from it. Your rewards are waiting for you...
Here's a brief look at the next month: Third quarter ends Friday March 22nd. Students have a holiday Friday, March 23rd. We have school the 26th to the 30th, then the week of April 2nd to 6th is Spring Break. The following Monday April 9th is a teacher inservice day and student holiday. When we return from Spring Break, you will only have one week, then FCATs are upon us the week of April 16th-20th. We will be doing some FCAT practice in class fairly regularly, and I encourage you to continue Reading Plus every week at home. The year is flying by...mainly, I think because all
of you students are such a delight to work with! --posted 2/29/12 |
 Service Above Self Monday we will kick off our next big fundraiser for Patriot Service Dogs...our annual "Name That Dog" contest. Officer Short will bring King Landrum on Monday 3/5 from 10 am to noon to stand in front of the cafeteria so the kids can see him on their way to lunch. A few Rotary Middle Act members, with approval from homeroom teachers, will work the lunch crowd to collect $1 per name suggestion for our NEXT puppy. The winning grade gets to vote on the puppy's name. The contest will run through Wed. 3/7. Last year, we were able to collect nearly $400 with this activity. Then, a couple
of weeks after that (March 26th-28th), we will sell Smencils and Smens to the lunch crowd. These are scented pencils and pens made from recycled materials. I've ordered a case of each so we have potential to make $450 from that fundraiser. Again, Middle Act students with preapproval from me and from homeroom teachers can help with the sales. If there are any Middle Act parents available on any of these days who could volunteer from 10 am to noon to help oversee our lunchtime efforts, that would be absolutely wonderful! Please be sure with Noel Day in the front office that you are an approved volunteer with the county. Meanwhile, you guys have been doing a great
job recycling for the school! --posted 2/29/12 |
Hello! Long time no chat...sorry about that. We've got the drama in the classroom as you act out Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream; meanwhile, I've got drama going on at home with two teenage daughters! I'm a drama sandwich. All of this is to say I haven't finished grading your Shakespeare essays yet. Overall, they are looking fabulous. Here's one I particularly liked, by Lindsay Philcox. Lindsay's Philcox' Shakespeare essay.pdf
As I come across more excellent essays, I'll post them here. -- posted 2/20/12 |
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"Service Above Self" We've been approved for both of our ideas to raise more money for another Patriot Service Dog! The first week of March we will hold the Name That Dog contest...and the last week of March we will sell Smencils, novelty pencils made of recycled materials. More details to come... -- posted 2/20/12 |
Apparently we have some healthy competition going on. Many students have asked me lately about class averages for assignments. Here's the recent rundown: For the lesson 9&10 vocab test-- P1 86% P2 86% P3 88% P5 89% P6 79% For the Shakespeare quiz-- P1 77% P2 80% P3 80% P5 85% P6 81% And for Q2 Genre Bingo-- P1 81% P2 89% P3 94% P5 93% P6 82% Impressive side-notes...Alyssa Miranda in P3 scored a whopping 114% on the essay portion of the vocab test. That means she used 24 Challenge words correctly! Our highest lexile book read for the Q2 Genre Bingo was by Lindsey Ki...1650 for Winston Churchill's The American Civil War. Other strong readers included Lauren Bell, who
read Paul Johnson's book, ironically, about Churchill (lexile 1450); and Claire Flemister, who read The Holocaust by R.G. Grant (lexile 1430). Way to go, girls! --posted 2/1/12 |
We celebrated Reading Plus success today. Congratulations to Tyler Grant and Diether Mongcupa, who have leveled up 5 times! They have put in many sessions at home in addition to our once-a-week trip to the computer lab. Leveling up 4 times are Emma Cramer, Cody Langston and Andre Mauriello.
Leveling up 3 times: Cameron Alvarez, Chris Curley, Mackenzie Frecks, Tom Houston, Denae Jernukian and Hailey Jones. Leveling up twice are Olivia DeMasi, Katie Easom, Aaron Mercer and Brianna Taylor. I'm so proud of all of you! --posted 2/1/12
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Last week I and two students attended the first meeting of all the Go Green coordinators throughout St. Johns County School district to brainstorm ideas to further our mission to help the planet and all its inhabitants. We're all struggling to find economical, practical ways to recycle. Landrum is ahead of the curve on paper recycling since this is our third year, so Paige Headrick and Sierra Wise were able to share our proceducres. I was so proud of them. Changes will be coming up because Paper Retriever couldn't make a "go" of it in this region and is currently removing all of their bins throughout Northeastern Florida. We can still recycle paper in the cardboard container of Waste Pro, our hauler. A new company might win the county's contract at the end of the school year, so we may have new options down the road. I'll keep you posted... --posted 2/1/12 |
Our Shakespeare QUIZ is postponed until tomorrow (Tues. 1/24) to give everyone a chance to catch up. What a hoot we're having reading and performing "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in class! You guys are hilarious! Nice donkey ears... Also tomorrow, we will go to the library for a special poetry session with Mrs.
Bard. The new Q3 Genre Bingo sheets will be out Wed. They will include poetry and mythology, so everyone should check out a poetry or mythology book. Mrs. Bard said there are hundreds available. Congratulations to two of our own for winning essay contests...Jack Hart won the Ponte Vedra Beach Branch Library writing contest...and Gena Heylock won the 7th-grade division of the Daughters of the American Revolution History Essay Contest! You guys are amazing! --posted 1/23/12 |
Report cards will go home tomorrow (Tues. 1/24). Reminder: Don't be left out of the fun when the end of the year rolls around...Get those yearbook order forms in! If you need another order form, let me know. Tomorrow is Library Day and Mrs. Bard has a special activity writing sonnets to go along with our poetry study. Today was lovely considering the forms, speakers, and (what, Diether?!)...and stanzas of poems by Edgar Allan Poe, Seamus Heaney and Nikki Giovanni. --posted 1/23/12 |
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WOW! Congratulations and Much Applause for the winners of the St. Johns Education Association's essay contest in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: 1st Place -- Kendall Hamby; 2nd Place -- Sierra Wise; 3rd Place -- John Santillo. I'm so, so proud of you...and all of you who wrote excellent essays to enter! These three will receive their prizes (cash & trophies) this Sat. night at a special school board meeting at the district office auditorium. They will also read their essays aloud to the whole crowd. WOW! Meanwhile, congratulations to Period 5 for having
the highest average score on the end-of-semester exam...a 90%. Plus, the only student to score a 100% -- Gabe Wise -- is in Period 5. Way to go! Again, more than 50% of you got As on the exam. Scoring 95%: Callie Brown, Sean Casey-Minchin, Kendall Hamby, Lindsey Ki, John Middleton, Michael Nicandri, Charlie Pierce, Carly Roberts, and Julia Sledzik. Nice job! --posted 1/11/12 |
Time to start doing FCAT Explorer. I will give students their personal passwords in class tomorrow. Please log in and get started. Yes, this is for a grade, and yes, it's in addition to Reading Plus. Oddly, in FCAT Explorer, there are no 7th-grade assignments, so we will tackle 8th-grade assignments. I bet you didn't even know
that the reading comprehension work we've done in class was really 8th-grade level! And look how great you all did on the End-of-Semester exam...your class average on the test was an 80%. That is awesome! I'm so proud of you! --posted 1/11/12 |
We'll have a regular meeting again tomorrow after school. Time to start thinking of fundraisers for another service dog. We deferred to the new Landrum surf team to handle volleyball concession. Can you say, "Boxtops?" --posted 1/11/12 |
Happy New Year! I hope your holiday break was lovely and relaxing...and that you're ready to get back to work! This week we're pulling together all we know about organizing essays to enter a local contest in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I look forward to seeing your essays tomorrow. Great job researching this great
visionary of love and tolerance. Great job also on your Animal Farm essays, especially Rowan Fitch, our only 100%. I couldn't find anything to criticize about your writing! Also flexing strong essay muscles were John Middleton, Carly Roberts, Kit Connelly, Paige Eastland, Lindsey Ki, Aaron Mago, Reese McMichael, Nicolette Roca and Claire Flemister...all with 95%. As I said, I look forward to seeing your Martin Luther King Jr. essays tomorrow! --posted 1/4/12 |
Welcome back! Please start back up with your Reading Plus. Sweet treats for anyone who "levels up!" Tomorrow, we'll begin creating our own Study Guides for our End-of-Semester exam. We'll focus on test-taking strategies since most of the 40 questions are reading comprehension. The exam schedule looks like this: Monday, Jan. 9th 7:50-9:37 Period 1 9:40-12:18 Period 3 (A lunch) 12:21-2:04 Period 5 Tuesday, Jan. 10th 7:50-9:37 Period 2 9:40-12:18 Period 4 (A lunch) 12:21-2:04 Period 6 So my homeroom will take the exam Tuesday during the 2nd block. --posted 1/4/12 |
"Service Above Self" We'll start meeting again tomorrow after school. We will have heavy recycling loads after the holidays and three weeks off. --posted 1/4/12 |
Homework over the weekend is to make sure you're caught up on Genre Bingo. I'll be looking for a total of 10 Reading Responses on Monday 12/12. I've updated our Gifted/Blended Homework page to reflect this. Don't worry about the instruction manual yet. My optimistic nature hoped we would cover more than we could...pretty typical.
Wait until you see all I'll try to cover this week! BTW, check out this Reading Response that I came across last week. This is exactly what I'm looking for. The typing isn't the point; the fact that it made me want to read the book is the point! Thank you Sarah Graham for making my work such a pleasure!Sarah's R.R. Shakespeare's Secret.pdf
-- posted 12/11/11 |
Here are the Champion Spellers representing 7th grade in this week's Landrum Middle School Spelling Bee: Bella Amador Shealyn Cunningham Sofija Djukic Sam Ohno Hal Swan Carly Voytecek
Congratulations! For many of the others contestants, sorry about "subterranean".... -- posted 12/11/11 |
Belen Munoz from Ecuador joined us Thursday and shared her experiences as an exchange student with Rotary International. It was so inspiring! Thank you Belen, and best wishes for a wonderful year at PVHS! -- posted 12/5/11 |
Yowza...! We have some work to do on Parts of Speech! In today's pre-assessment, only five students seemed to know what nouns, pronouns, verbs, conjunctions, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and interjections are. Way to go Alex Gurgis, Jenny Norenberg, Ryan Quintal, Journey Wise and Collin York. You give me hope!
Meanwhile, Animal Farm Chapter 1 & 2 homework was very straightforward, but it appeared that some students waited until they were exhausted on Sunday night to do it. Not so for Matt Crawford, Rowan Fitch, Jenny Norenberg and Molly Voytecek, who clearly took their time writing analysis with elaborate, insightful detail. Good job! --posted 12/5/11 |
The 7th-grade Spelling Bee has been rescheduled for this Friday, Dec. 9th. Tomorrow (Tuesday 12/6) we will have a countywide essay exam. Bring your #2 pencils and be ready to write. Only 9 more school days until Winter Break. Let's work hard and really earn that break. When checking your new Genre Bingo Reading Logs today, it seemed that only a few of you -- Cameron Alvarez, Chris Curley, Mackenzie Frecks, Tom Houston, Denae Jernukian and Brianna Taylor -- really are getting the hang of this. I'm so proud of you guys for keeping up with your reading and logging! -- posted 12/5/11 |
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We will send two champions from each period to the 7th-grade Spelling Bee this Friday. And they are... Period 1 Michael Nicandri & Journey Wise Period 2 Ryan Quintal & Hal Swan Period 3 Carly Voytecek & Emma Sims Period 5 Sam Ohno & Charlie Pierce Period 6 Eliza Koren & Spencer Slayden Way to go Spelling Champs! -- posted 11/29/11 |
Congratulations to our Homeroom Spelling Champions: Jordy Bailey & Andre Mauriello! You will get to represent us at Friday's 7th-grade Spelling Bee! Tomorrow (Thursday) we will go to the computer lab for FAIR testing. Vocab. Lesson 7 QUIZ Friday. -- posted 11/29/11 |
We will have a special guest speaker at our meeting this Thursday, Dec. 1st! Belen Munoz is from Ecuador and through Rotary International has the opportunity to study this year at Ponte Vedra High School. She will come and share her experiences and talk about how the Rotary International Exchange Student program works. Bienvenido Belen! |
Congratulations to our VFW Patriot Pen Honorable Mention Writers...Gena Heylock, Eliza Koren and Cole Rieger! We didn't snag a top 3, but we did collect 3 of 7 Honorable Mentions...out of 148 entries. That is awesome! We only have 14 school days left until Holiday Break. So little time and so much to do! Here's a
brief overview of our next three weeks: * Study of Truth & philosophy; Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" this week (open-note QUIZ Fri. 12/2); * Vocab #7&8 TEST Thurs. Dec. 8th; * Read George Orwell's Animal Farm beginning this Friday (TEST Thurs. 12/15); * Create Instruction Manuals
next week; * PLUS, grammar and parts of speech! Genre Bingo Reading Logs will be DUE Tuesday, Jan. 3rd, the first day back from holiday. No other assignments will be given over break. Whew! --posted 11/28/11 |
Library Day tomorrow (Tuesday 11/29/11)! I hope you all found the Reading Plus reports that I emailed home interesting. If you complete one or two hour-long sessions at home, you will make tremendous progress. As a reminder, here are the instructions for logging on at home: 2. at the top right, click "login"; 3. click "student login" on the right; 4. enter sitecode: landrumms; 5. select your class: P4 Van Housen; 6. enter your username and password. Complete one hour each week at home or at the Ponte Vedra Library. --posted 11/27/11 |
Photos by Cole Rojahn Did you see our nice write-ups last week in the Beaches Leader and the Ponte Vedra Recorder? I'm so proud of all you students who live your life by the Rotary Motto: Service Above Self. You touched so many lives at the Veteran's Day Assembly. --posted 11/19/11 |
I've been meaning to publicly congratulate the classroom winners of the Harris Burdick short story contest. I hope you've enjoyed your delicious rewards...made available by the PTO. (Thank you Mrs. Janocko! We so appreciate your support in honoring writing talent.) Congratulations! Period 1 Winners:
Olivia Barr Sanjna Chetan Sarah Graham Period 2 Winners: Michael D'Aquila Alex Gurgis Holly Mazzella Period 3 Winners: Rowan Fitch Gena Heylock Aya Kusumoto Carly Voytecek Period 5 Winners: Kendall Hamby Lindsey Ki Sam Ohno Period 6 Winners: Amali Dunmore Eliza Koren Lindsay Philcox You guys are great writers and managed to convey plot, characterization, mood and theme in less than 250 words. I'm sure Mr. Van Allsburg would be proud! --posted 11/19/11 |
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Wonderful way to honor Veteran's...Fabulous job everyone! |
It will be a busy week for us, culminating with the Science Fair on Friday. Because of an uncertain schedule for my class that day, we will have the Vocab. Lesson 5 & 6 TEST Thursday 11/17. Library Day for Gifted/Blended periods will be tomorrow, Tues. 11/15. None of this leaves us much time for my pet
portfolio project...to further develop an understanding of the realities and perceptions of being gifted; and to learn how to advocate for yourselves and others in your learning environment. Every spare minute in class we will spend writing memoirs about "The Life of a Gifted Child" to serve as your fourth Portfolio Paper. The idea is to have it finished before the Thanksgiving Break.
--posted 11/14/11 _
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Library Day will be Wed. 11/16 for Homeroom, where we will unveil the new Genre Bingo Reading Log! Lessons 5 & 6 Vocab. QUIZ will be Thurs. 11/17. We're also studying the format and style of nonfiction memoirs to get ready to write your own lovely memoir about gratitude and Thanksgiving.
This will be your second Portfolio Paper so I hope we get some class time to work on it. We'll to Reading Plus in the computer center on Friday. We need the next few days to get some traction under our wheels for the memoir project, Vocab. and the New Reading Log. --posted 11/14/11 |
"Service Above Self" Rotary Middle Act is hosting the Veteran's Day Assembly this Thursday, Nov. 10th, and it's shaping up to be amazing! I'm calling a half-hour special meeting this Tuesday after school
to run through all the details with the Middle Act crew. We are expecting more than 400 people to attend, plus at least a dozen veterans from the Ponte Vedra area (thank you Patty O'Callahan, Adjutant, Post #233, PV/PV American Legion!) and five or six Patriot Service Dogs with their handlers (thank you Susan Bolton!). Middle Act parents who would like to attend are welcome. Please just sign in at the front office. Also, a special "thank you" to Mrs. Rojahn and Mrs. Dunkley, who have offered to bake something for the post-assembly reception. Two 7th-graders--Lauren Bell and Gena Heylock--will sing a duet of the National Anthem. (It will be awesome...) Thank you all for your support and encouragement! --posted 11/6/11 |
Six of you in Period 1 scored 100% on your end-of-quarter projects! That is more than all of my other periods combined! I'm blown away with the quality of projects from Period 1 students Mckenzie Fischer, Jack Fox, Sarah Graham, John Middleton, Carly Roberts and Journey Wise. Fabulous, amazing job writing commentary and combining it flawlessly with specific text references! Also doing awesome work and achieving 100% were Gena Heylock in P3; Sam Ohno and Molly Voytecek in P5; as well as Sean Casey-Minchin and Amali Dunmore in P6. Overall, the highest average score was Period 5, with 85%. Congratulations all of you and thank you for being such wonderful students! --posted 11/6/11 |
Great to see so many of you do well on your next-to-last fiction-focused Reading Log. I'm especially proud of Cameron Alvarez, Mackenzie Frecks, Tyler Grant, Denae Jernukian, and Brianna Taylor for blending commentary with their specific text references. Well done! On Wednesday, we'll start using a different Reading Log that will include non-fiction reading responses. --posted 11/6/11 |
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Fabulous job on the Vocab. Lesson 3 &4 short stories Mckenzie Fischer, Jenny Norenberg and Reece McMichael. What great writers you are! It's not easy to use more than 10 Challenge Words from Vocabulary from Classical Roots in context in a well-written story. Meanwhile, Genre Bingo for Q2
Nonfiction is now available in the Resources tab, along with the corresponding update to the Reading Response Questions. Our next Library Day is this Tuesday, Nov. 1st and Mrs. Bard is putting together a special nonfiction presentation
for us as well. --posted 10/29/11 |
Picture Retake Day is Tuesday, Nov. 1st. If you didn't order photos the first time, you can still order them. If you weren't happy with the first set of photos, you can bring in the packet and go down for retakes on Tuesday. Our next Library Day is also this Tuesday, Nov. 1st! Much better Reading Logs this week. Keep up the reading and reflecting! It seems like Reading Plus is going more and more smoothly. You are all getting the hang of it. Good job! We will continue every Wednesday to do Reading Plus in the computer lab. I notice several of you still need to complete an hour at home this week. This is for a grade!! Remember that research shows two sessions have much more impact on your reading comprehension that just one. In case you're still trying to figure out how to get on from home, here are the instructions: 2. at the top right, click "login"; 3. click "student login" on the right; 4. enter sitecode: landrumms; 5.
select your class: P4 Van Housen; 6. enter your username and password. Complete one hour each week at home or at the Ponte Vedra Library. Good luck! --posted 10/29/11 |
Great job everyone collecting paper recycling throughout the school on Thursday. Special "Thanks!" go to Claire Flemister, Alex Gurgis and Sean Casey-Minchin for staying late to deal with the "spill." We've given all the teachers their own 2011-12 signature green duct-tape boxes by now.
Veteran's Day is coming up in two weeks and so is the official kick-off of our fundraising campaign to pay for the purchase and training of a Patriot Service Dog for a disabled veteran. Many more details to come...! --posted 10/29/11 |
Congratulations to Genre Bingo Blackout Readers: Colby Dunkley; Claire Flemister; Alex Gurgis; Lindsey Ki; Aaron Mago; and Jenny Norenberg! We'll schedule our special Reading Luncheon celebration soon! Also, congratulations to Period 5 for reading the highest number of total pages: 50,021! Top lexile readers were Joe Gravelle (Hills Like White Elephants, 1,500); Zach Janocko (American Literature Anthology, 1,530); Lindsay Philcox (Legends of Sleepy Hollow, 1,440); Carly Roberts (Ben Franklin, 1,370); and Kendall Hamby (Stolen Lives, 1,200). As we discussed in class, I recommend that you add at least one piece of research (from a .edu site) and several specific personal details to your essay. Since it's only 300-400 words, you will need to rewrite it and tighten it up considerably, making sure every word matters to the thesis. No room for sloppiness here. I will edit those turned into me by Tuesday, along with rough draft. Those who work hard on this and achieve a 90% or above based on the essay grading scale (found on the Resources tab as your P.P. #3 scale) will
receive a one-point increase in your overall Q1 grade. Good luck! --posted 10/21/11
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Great to see that several of you have already figured out how to get on Reading Plus at home to meet your new requirement to do one session at home in addition to our once-a-week Wednesdays. Tyler Grant, Denae Jernukian, Cody Langston and Aaron Mercer are all showing they want to improve their reading comprehension. Great job, you guys! If you're not sure how to get on Reading Plus from home, here are the instructions: 2. at the top right, click "login"; 3. click "student login" on the right; 4. enter sitecode: landrumms; 5. select your class: P4 Van Housen; 6. enter your username and password. Complete one hour each week at home or at the Ponte Vedra Library. Good luck! READ and fill in your Reading Log each time. Enjoy your day off on Monday.
See you Tuesday... --posted 10/21/11 |
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Wow! More than 75% of you scored A's on today's End-of-Quarter exam. You guys are amazing! Congratulations to our only "perfect" 100%...Callie Brown! Now about those Genre Bingo Reading Logs...I'm not seeing such great results there. I'll go over them in class, but just so you know, the main problem is that you're missing specific textual references. Some of you cite one in every Reading Response Journal entry, rather than the required three (that are listed in the directions!).
Some of you don't cite any, but write elaborate, eloquent journal entries. Some of you have your three MLA citations, but clearly were in a rush and didn't provide much commentary to explain why they are important. We're looking for specific text references (with MLA citations) to back up our assertions. We'll be looking for that all year, so get in the habit of always citing the text. When you read, put sticky notes or dog-ear the pages where you see compelling sentences that you might want to write about later. I hope to have your new Genre Bingo sheet available by Wednesday. --posted 10/17/11 |
Our two homeroom Lion Guides have been nominated and have accepted the positions. Kyndal Grace and Cameron Alvarez will represent Mrs. Van Housen's homeroom...with dignity and decorum, of course! Library Day is moved this week, from tomorrow to Thursday, Oct. 20. (Mrs. Bard asked us to change it for all these end-of-quarter exams this week.) We'll still do Reading Plus on Wednesday, and I'm going to start requiring one extra session of Reading Plus at home each week. It will be for a homework grade and is a super way to improve your test scores (and have fun reading on the computer!). I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but you haven't been getting much homework lately. Rather than pile on the homework, we're just going to work harder in class! Homework will be limited mostly to Reading Plus and Reading Logs, due every Wednesday. Last week's Reading Logs were a bit sloppy. Please look closely at the
directions. You must cite the book you're reading, with a page number, to back up your writing. We're looking for complete sentences...always and forever! --posted 10/17/11 |
Well, it came down to one point against Liberty Pines...and the Lady Lions lost. What a bummer...No concession stand for us tomorrow night. It was a good run while it lasted. We'll think of more ways to make money toward our goal of paying for the purchase and training of a Patriot Service Dog for a disabled veteran. --posted 10/17/11 |
You can choose between a Literary Analysis summary or an essay for your End-of-Quarter project...due Monday 10/17. See the assignment/grading scales in the Resources tab. Always check the "Homework Gifted/Blended" tab for homework due dates (especially if you miss a day of class!) Our next two weeks will be busy. Here's a brief run-down: Wed. 10/12 Genre Bingo DUE Fri. 10/14 Proofreading QUIZ Mon. 10/17 End-of Quarter Project DUE Mon. 10/17 County End-of-Quarter EXAM Fri. 10/21 Vocab. Lessons 3&4 TEST Tues. 10/25 Short Story Contest Entry DUE Fri. 10/28 Group Teleplay Presentation
Time for me now to "Eat, Shoot & Leave..." --posted 10/10/11 |
Our visit to the Book Fair is this Wednesday 10/12...bring your money and plan to buy a keepsake book. Remember to bring your Lit. book back to school Tuesday! We're going to keep them in class from now on to make classwork more efficient. If you need to access the textbook online, we have a new
activation code. Go to www.classzone.com; create a student account with this number: 60652040-50. Full instructions are in the Resources tab.
Our End-of-Quarter Exam given to all 7th-graders in St. Johns County is Monday 10/17. Good job on the FCAT-style reading comprehension practice. You'll all do great! --posted 10/10/11 |
"Service Above Self" We made $250 toward our goal of paying for the purchase and training of a Patriot Service Dog for a disabled veteran last week by working the two home basketball games. Great job everyone! One more to go...if the Lions win in the playoffs. We won't know for sure until next Monday whether or not we're working Tuesday 10/18. I'll keep you posted. --posted 10/10/11 |
You're putting it all together...providing contextual evidence to support your claims when evaluating literature as you incorpate analyses of all literary elements. Many of you beautifully applied all that you've learned to discern characterization, tone/mood, diction, plot, theme and figurative language in Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge." Take a look at how these four students put it all together: Owl Creek Jack Fox.pdf
Owl Creek Gena Heylock.pdf
Owl Creek Matt Crawford.pdf
Owl Creek Alex Eagle.pdf
No homework this weekend! Do a great job on your Science Fair research notes. --posted 10/1/11 |
Please remind your folks to donate something to our "Grilling" basket for the PTO fundraiser. We are working on the basket with Ms. Williams' homeroom. They already have accumulated some nice items. Let's pitch in! Your homework is posted...should be interesting! You can type or hand-write the paragraphs.
For your Reading Logs, please check the Resources tab. The "Reading Log Questions" are there. I'm sorry they didn't get copied on the backs of your logs, but we will work through it for this week. Read, read, read...no excuses! (Katie, eke out some quiet time to read!) --posted 10/1/11 |
We will host concessions for the home basketball games again this week. Mon Oct. 3rd is against Fruit Cove; Wed. Oct. 5th is against Liberty Pines. The crowds should be abundant and hopefully hungry...so we can make more money in our effort to raise $2,500 to buy a Patriot Service Dog for a disabled veteran! The puppy we purchased last year has been delivered to his trainer. King Landrum in 17 weeks old and is being trained by the head of all the K-9s in St. Johns County. We will get
to meet him soon and hopefully we can introduce him to Landrum's students. See you at the games...and go Landrum! Go Spencer! --posted 10/1/11 |
Word-nerds rule! Congratulations to Claire Flemister, Jenny Norenberg, Lindsay Philcox and Lauren Soncrant for completing the New York Times crossword last week. I'll have another for you tomorrow... Also, here's a special shout-out for referencing the Robert Frost poem "The Road Not Taken" when you answered the "Create" writing prompt. Way to go Journey Wise, Azeem Hasan, John Santillo, Addie Sutton, Angela DeVincentis, Paige Eastland, Aaron Mago and
Nicolette Roca! Well done! Our class edmodo is up and running. I look forward to reading all of your favorite quotations. Work hard on revising your short stories. Every single sentence...every word...in your stories should matter to the tone and theme. Revisions should focus on broader issues; we will do edits for such language conventions as grammar, capitalization, spelling and RUN-ONS next. Stories will be finished by Friday so you don't have homework
over the weekend. I want you to do a great job on your research notes and bibliography for the Science Fair. --posted 9/20/11 |
Look your best! School pictures are this Thursday, Sept. 22nd! Make sure your folks order your photos online before then. Or bring in the envelope with a check on Thursday. You'll go down to the multi-purpose room for your photo with your social studies class. Keep selling your Charleston Wrap fundraising items. Your orders, plus money, is due Monday, Sept. 26th. Reading Logs are due tomorrow! Then we will switch from a log that focuses on your reading process to a log that focuses on what you're reading. I'm proud of Cameron Alvarez, Emma Cramer, Thomas Houston, Denae Jernukian and Nash Roderick for citing specific text references in Ray Bradbury's "Dark They Were and Golden Eyed" when writing about how imagery is used in the story. Nice job! Also, congratulations to the Purple team -- Emma Cramer, Katie Easom, Olivia Gordon and Tyler Grant -- for winning the vocabulary game and securing 5
extra-credit points on Friday's vocab quiz! --posted 9/20/11 |
We made $100 last night at the basketball game working the concession stand. Every little bit helps when trying to raise $2,500 to buy a Patriot Service Dog for a disable veteran! See you Wed. night when we work concessions again...and go Landrum! Go Spencer! Meanwhile, our first meeting is this Thursday, Sept. 22nd from 2-3 pm. We're a group of students who care about the earth and all the people who inhabit it. We're the glue that holds together elementary school's Early Act
and high school's Interact. We're the service club affiliated with the Ponte Vedra Rotary, which helps students gain educational opportunities in other countries. We meet every Thursday to recycle paper for the entire school and find other ways to help people in our community. If any of this sounds interesting to you, please pick up an application from my door, room 560. |
For homework tonight, please review the "Character Paragraph Frame" on the Resources tab. I mention this simply to reinforce that you will need to provide three text citations, plus commentary, to support your assertion. Speaking of supporting assertions ... during yesterday's Genre Bingo Reading Log conferences, I noticed several of you -- including Rafina Cebak, Gus Logue, Callie Brown, Jenny Norenberg, Sean Casey-Minchin, Sophie Lesher, Lindsay Philcox, and just about the
entire Period 5 -- writing fantastic Reading Responses! You're referring to your texts multiple times to back up your claims; you're including authors in your Response titles; and some of you are already using correct MLA citation format. I'm so proud of you! --posted 9/15/11 |
Interims go home next Tuesday, Sept. 20. Interims are a report of progress being made -- merely a map to let you know whether or not you're on the right track, and if not, what you can do get on it in time for the real report card grades! PTO membership drive ends tomorrow. Please ask your parents to go to the Landrum website and click on the PTO membership form to join! Charleston Wrap fundraiser ends early next week. Remember: if you sell 10 items, you'll get to attend the BMX bike-show (and miss classes!). Picture Day is next Thursday, Sept. 22nd! Make sure your parents see the photo-order package you took home yesterday! --posted 9/15/11 |
Rotary Middle Act students have accepted the challenge of raising money to buy and train a service dog for a disabled veteran again this year. We raised most of our money when we did this last year for "King Landrum" by working the concession stand for home basketball games. We will do that again this year. This year's
games are next Mon. & Wed. 9/19 & 9/21, plus Mon & Wed. 10/3 & 10/5. There might be a fifth date (10/18), depending on how the team does. Students would need to be here to work from 5 pm to 7:30. They can work shifts or the entire time, whatever works best for you. Also, and this is the big request...can any parents supply concession products to help us? We can make much more money for the puppy if we get donations rather than purchasing supplies. We need chip bags, sodas, Gatorades, waters and candy. I will try again to get the half-off deal from Fox's for the pizzas. Please let me know if you happen to be running to Costco in the next few days and don't mind donating food items. I will need to put in a check request by Thursday so I can purchase this weekend if we don't get donations. Thank you for supporting our service group and for raising such wonderful children! --posted 9/19/11 |
Homework tonight is to review the essay grading scale to be ready for tomorrow's county-wide essay assessment. Also, Wed. is Reading Workshop. Please update your logs! I will update our homework page tonight once I pick "A Happy Story" for later in the week...Stay tuned... --posted 9/12/11
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No homework tonight! The 9/11 essays were so fabulous and I'm proud of all of you. Remember the organization issues we addressed today when you settle in tomorrow to take the county-wide essay assessment. PTO membership forms are due this Friday! Here is a link to download one, or pick one up at the front office.
--posted 9/12/11
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Open House was great. Your parents got to sit in your very own seats for a view of your life as a middle school language arts student. I really enjoyed talking with your folks about all the hard work and fun we have in class. About your short stories: Homework is to draft a short story in whatever genre you prefer. Ideally, one of your character sketches will make a good starting point for your story. But, if for any reason, you'd rather create a new character around whom you envision conflict
and plot, that is fine as well. The grading scale for this draft is in Resources if you lost your copy from class. Please self-assess your draft and attach your scale to your story to turn in Monday. Key work: DRAFT! Don't stress about it being anywhere near perfect. We will edit and revise over the next several days, so you will have plenty of opportunity to nit-pick the story. DRAFT only is due Monday. Also, since you're turning it in, don't write this in your Reader Response Journal. --posted 9/10/11 |
Please remind your parents that we are trying for 100% PTO membership in our homeroom. Our class will win a prize! Also, the Charleston Wrap fundraiser should be in full-swing this weekend. Your orders are due in one week. Again, let's try for prizes! As I told you in class, we will have a county-wide essay assessment this Tuesday, Sept. 13th.
To brush up on our essay writing (and organizing!), your homework is to write a 5-paragraph essay answering the prompt: "What is the significance of 9/11 events to Americans?" It should be pretty straightforward to gather information about this, as the 10th anniversary is this weekend and special reports are everywhere we look...magazine covers, TV shows, stories being shared by your own neighbors and family members. When you turn your essay in Monday, you will need to attach your organization strategy, whichever you chose from the several we reviewed yesterday--idea web, outline, meatball sandwich or right hand graphic. The essay should be no less than 1 page and no more than 2 pages, handwritten or typed is fine. Meanwhile, have a great weekend. I love my homeroom! --posted 9/10/11 |
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Library Day Tuesday 9/6! You are all such fabulous students. I so enjoyed your mandala presentations and getting to know you better. It took a little more time than I expected, so we haven't had a chance to delve deeply into your character sketches...but we will. Since I know you all worked so hard to have them
done by today, I promise not to give any homework next Thursday night. Deal? Meanwhile, enjoy "The Scarlett Ibis." Please do your evidence-commentary work in your Reading Response Journal. Enjoy reading over the long weekend. For your reading responses: "Go back to the text...go back to the text!" --posted 9/2/11 |
Library Day 9/6! Enjoy the rest of "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi." I can't wait to see your plot graphs decorated with cobras and mongooses! Remember to review the Literary Terms for a quiz on Tuesday. Keep reading and getting into the habit of it. I want to hear how many of you tried reading before bed instead of having electronics on! Have a great long weekend! --posted 9/2/11 |
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I hope to see your parents at Open House next Thursday, Sept. 9th!
I recently sent out an email to all of your parents about how I will make sure not to conflict with the Science Fair deadlines when scheduling due dates for Portfolio Papers and projects. Please ask your parents if they received the email. There were a few bounced back because of inaccurate email addresses. I'd like to include everyone! Please ask your folks to email me if they didn't get the email so I can update the list.
I'm so excited to see your personal characterization mandala projects tomorrow! --posted 8/31/11 |
I hope to see your parents at Open House next Thursday, Sept. 9th!
Our Library Day will be next Tuesday, Sept. 6th...Yeah! Then we will get to go to the Library every other Tuesday...Yeah!
Also on Tuesday, Sept. 6nd, you will have a QUIZ on Literary Terms. I suggest you make some flash cards and study hard this weekend.
Now that you have your Reading Logs, you can start getting in the habit of picking up a book every day. I will check your Logs each day this week to see how's it's going. Next quarter, the Log will become more focused on Reading Responses rather than on your own reading process. Reading Logs are due for a grade every Wednesday...with parent signature!
(As we continue to focus on short stories for the first quarter as a way to explore plot, setting and characterization, we will read more and more short stories in class and for homework. Please keep in mind that these stories don't count on your Logs.) --posted 8/31/11
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Last year, we raised $2,500 to purchase a service dog for a disable veteran. We also co-hosted with the Council on Aging the Centenarian luncheon at the Players Senior Center. We also raised nearly $1,000 to help the Ponte Vedra Rotary build access to fresh water for a village in Guatemala. Our club will begin meeting one month after the beginning of school to give students a chance to acclimate. Please watch for posters and updates on this website for membership information. --posted 8/21/11
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Summer reading update: Amazing job on reading and filling out those Summer Book Report Forms! More than 80% of you completed this project. When I told Dean Anthony we would need 510 PBS cards, she said, "Whoa...wait a minute!" Turns out, it would be too expensive to order that many, so she is devising a stamp for the back that represents 5 cards. She will get those to me soon and you will be richly rewarded. This was not a competition, but I would like to make special mention of students who really went above-and-beyond with their book report forms. Gus Logue = 10 forms Lindsey Ki = 9 forms Amali Dunmore = 8 forms Sarah Graham = 7 forms Lily Jenkins = 6 forms Sean Casey-Minchin = 6 forms And it wasn't just that they filled out that many forms; they did a fantastic job doing so, and they read quality literature. Well done! Portfolio
Paper I hope your character analysis papers are going well. Quick note on MLA citation standards. I noticed on the resource sheet on my website that there is no comma, so your citations should be: Ender's bravery is seen (Card 42). or Card said Ender is brave (42). Check out the resource. It says: Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263). or Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings"
(Wordsworth 263). In class I mentioned there is a comma between author and page number. I will now practice what I preach and learn from my mistake rather than beat myself up over it! See you all tomorrow for another great week... --posted 8/28/11 |
Great first week getting settled into our homeroom routines! That was especially gratifying to spend time on the Book Pass to work on selecting a "just right" book to read. I hope you are all enjoying your book choice this weekend. I look forward to hearing about it. I've really enjoyed reading your Introductory Letters. We will put them in your portfolios as your first writing artifact for the year. Setting up those portfolios will be a priority this week. Getting started on your
Reading Logs will be another focus. --posted 8/28/11 |
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You will get your textbooks tomorrow, along with your first homework in your new Literature book...due Thursday. It shouldn't take more than an hour to complete this homework, and it should prove very helpful when you write your upcoming Portfolio Paper. I thought today's breakdown of the characterization of Jake in Isaac Asimov's "Sally" was helpful, too. Wasn't it interesting to see how the character changed when we viewed him through physical description, dialogue, interaction with others,
internal thoughts and action? Also, I will give you copies of the Genre Bingo Reading Log and accompanying required Reading Response Journal questions. These essential questions are important because they will help reinforce the practice of going back to the text for evidence to support your claims. (That will be our focus this year in almost everything we do!) About the reading log, we want the gifted/blended class to be challenging, even rigorous. Reading 20 books for the school year is the standard requirement, which means a C grade...average...for gifted. Look closely and you'll see how I cushioned the genre sheet with myths, folk tales, short
stories, poetry, drama, plus, of course, the free space. That free space could even be an anime-type book! The way I see it...you can read 8 actual books for an A. About a book a week is what I expect is par for you students. You are all such a joy to work with! We will get a smooth rythm with homework and lessons over the next week or so...no worries! --posted 8/23/11 |
I really enjoyed conferencing with each of you today to see how you did on your homework. I'm so looking forward to getting all of your introductory letters tomorrow. I can tell already we are a great homeroom! You will get your textbooks tomorrow. Please remember that our Language Arts books all need covers on them. Also, you can access the textbook online if you forget to take it home or don't want to haul it around. The instructions to access it online are in the "Resources" tab of this
website.
Important note from the PTO: Please join the PTO! They do so much to enhance your education here at Landrum. Let's support them in their work. Let's get 100% membership in our homeroom!
See you tomorrow! --posted 8/23/11 |
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It was such a pleasure to meet so many of you this morning at orientation. What a wonderful group of students and parents. I'm glad Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card has been a hit for most of you. Please bring your copy to school Tuesday...if you have one. No worries if not; we'll figure out how to help you get one. A characterization analysis will be due Monday, the 29th, so you will need to pull citations from the book. Again, don't worry: that assignment
will be posted this weekend on my website, along with resources to help you write the paper. In addition, all of our classroom reading and writing activities in the coming week will help you write a great essay. Also, please always bring a book of your choice to read during down-time. Reading is my favorite activity. We will honor reading books in class and celebrate our reading accomplishments with the help of our genre bingo reading logs, which will be posted on my website tomorrow and distributed in hard-copy by Wednesday. Remember to bring in your Book Report Forms printed from the Landrum website for each
book you read over the summer. Bring them in by Tuesday, the 23rd...5 PBS cards for 3 books read. Our Vocabulary from Classical Roots workbooks were delivered today. Mrs. Groleau, Mr. Coghlan and I have all agreed that you will have a test at the end of 8th grade that will include all three years of vocabulary, so please hang on to your "A" book from 6th grade. This year we will assess all the "Challenge" words in addition to the regular words covered each chapter in the "B" book. I so look forward to working with each and every one of you. I hope you'll find Language Arts to be challenging
and exciting at the same time. See you Monday. Have a super final summer weekend. --posted 8/19/11 |
Are you excited about coming to school Monday morning? OK, maybe your excitement is mixed with a little nervousness, perhaps a touch of dread. I definitely dread the alarm clock going off every morning, but I do love school, being with my teacher friends, seeing the students learn and grow, and especially reading and writing. After meeting so many of you, I just know we are going to have a great year in homeroom! Monday morning, we will have extended homeroom to help you get settled. We will stay in P4 from 7:50 until 8:30. We will issue locks and lockers and go over some procedures. Our classroom has been outfitted with new metal high-school-style lockers that will have room for all of your supplies, including backpacks! They will had tremendously to the safety and comfort of our homeroom. I recommend that you bring lunch the first few days. Be sure you have a planner so you can make note of your locker number and combination! Always bring a
book of your choice to read during down-time. Reading is my favorite activity. We will honor reading books in class and celebrate our reading accomplishments with the help of our genre bingo reading logs, which will be posted on my website tomorrow and distributed in hard-copy by Wednesday. Remember to bring in your Book Report Forms printed from the Landrum website for each book you read over the summer. Bring them in by Tuesday, the 23rd...5 PBS cards for 3 books read. I so look forward to working with each and every one of you. I hope you'll find Language Arts to be challenging and exciting at the same time. See you Monday. Have a super final summer weekend. --posted 8/19/11 |
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The 2011-12 school-year is approaching like a locomotive. I hope all of you 7th-graders are thoroughly enjoying your summer. I certainly am. For me, that means seeing my sunflowers blossom and lazing around with good books. When we get started in a few weeks, we will jump right in with a character study of Ender Wiggin in Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It's my suggestion for fun summer reading. I know science fiction is probably not a favorite for all of you, but we will be
exploring all genres this year. It is a favorite of mine. In fact, I finished the entire Ender quartet this summer. So, what have you been reading? When you come to school on August 22nd, bring a "Summer Reading Form" filled out for every book you read over the summer. The minimum recommendation is three books for 5 PBS cards, but I expect to see plenty more forms than that. You can print the forms from the Landrum website homepage. --posted 7/27/11 |
When you come to school on August 22nd, bring a "Summer Reading Form" filled out for every book you read over the summer. The minimum recommendation is three books for 5 PBS cards, but I expect to see plenty more forms than that. You can print the forms from the Landrum website homepage. --posted 7/27/11 |
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When you come to class, always come prepared with a writing utensil, your Language Arts binder and a book to read. Here are the supplies you will need for class this year: * 1 nice hard-cover binder for your portfolio that will stay in class; * 1 hard-cover binder for daily work to carry with you (needs pockets); * 1 composition book; * 1 pack of clear plastic covers for your portfolio; * 2 packs of divider tabs; * 1 pack of college-ruled paper; * 1 pack pens (blue or black); * 1 pack #2 pencils; * 1 flash-drive (2 GB to save computer work). --posted 7/27/11 |
When you come to class, always come prepared with a writing utensil, your Language Arts binder and a book to read. Here are the supplies you will need for class this year: * 1 nice hard-cover binder for your portfolio that will stay in class; * 1 hard-cover binder for daily work to carry with you (needs pockets); * 1 composition book; * 1 pack of clear plastic covers for your portfolio; * 2 packs of divider tabs; * 1 pack of college-ruled paper; * 1 pack pens (blue or black); * 1 pack #2 pencils; * 1 flash-drive (2 GB to save computer work). --posted 7/27/11 |
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While you're out shopping for supplies, there are several things that would help make our classroom a more comfortable learning environment. This is not a must-have assignment, simply a kind gesture if you happen to see any of these items and can bring one in. Any donations will be wonderful and much-appreciated: * tissues; * paper towels; * hand sanitizer; * copy paper; * flash drives; * colored pencils or pens; * BOOKS! That's right...BOOKS! If you clean your
room and find some middle-school-age-appropriate books to enhance our classroom BookNook, I will be forever grateful. We'll put your name inside on a bookplate so you will always be part of my classroom library. --posted 7/27/11 |
While you're out shopping for supplies, there are several things that would help make our classroom a more comfortable learning environment. This is not a must-have assignment, simply a kind gesture if you happen to see any of these items and can bring one in. Any donations will be wonderful and much-appreciated: * tissues; * paper towels; * hand sanitizer; * copy paper; * flash drives; * colored pencils or pens; * BOOKS! That's right...BOOKS! If you clean your room and
find some middle-school-age-appropriate books to enhance our classroom BookNook, I will be forever grateful. We'll put your name inside on a bookplate so you will always be part of my classroom library. --posted 7/27/11 |
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