Tuesday (1A)/Wednesday (1B), December 16/17

-Today's warm up consisted of spelling and grammar activities 15/16.
-Students had the rest of the time to:
A. Work on their Block 3 review.
B. Read The Book Thief
C. Study for and retake the lesson 8 vocabulary quiz.

-Online essay score must be a 5 by today.
-Tomorrow is the last day to turn in work for second quarter.
-Thursday (1A)/Friday (1B) we will take our final essential concepts quiz for quarter 2 AND take our block 3 post-assessment. Both scores will count toward students' academic grade for quarter 2.

This is the last post of the second quarter blog information.

HAVE A GREAT BREAK AND A MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Friday (1A)/Monday (1B), December 12/15

-The first half of the class period was spent completing a group review activity for Block 3.
-The second half of the class period was spend on individual review activities for Block 3 based on the students' scores on the pre-assessment.

--> DRAFT 1 OF THE ONE ACT PLAY WAS DUE TODAY (MONDAY) FOR BOTH A AND B CLASSES!

-->ONLINE ESSAY SCORING ACTIVITY DUE WEDNESDAY!

Wednesday (1A)/Thursday (1B), December 10/11

-The warm up consisted of Spelling & Grammar 13/14.
-Students took the essential concepts quiz for this week. Neither class achieved an ATB (All Time Best). There was no dancing. :(
-We went to the media center to work on the one act play assignment.

-THE FIRST DRAFT OF THE ONE ACT PLAY IS DUE MONDAY FOR ALL!
-THE FINAL WILL BE THURSDAY/FRIDAY. STUDENTS WHO WILL NOT BE HERE MUST MAKE ARRANGEMENTS TO TAKE THEM EARLY!

Monday (1A)/Tuesday (1B), December 8/9

-The warm up consisted of adjective and adverb activities.
-One act play writing continues:
-Step 1 is LATE
-Step 2 is LATE
-Step 3 is LATE
-Step 4 due TODAY
-Step 5 due BEFORE NEXT CLASS PERIOD

-FIRST DRAFT OF ONE ACT PLAY IS DUE MONDAY, 12/15 FOR ALL STUDENTS! THIS WILL BE PART OF THE SECOND QUARTER WRITING GRADE (20% of final grade). THE LA DEPT. LATE POLICY WILL BE FOLLOWED: 1 day late = 90% of score, 2 days late = 80% of score, and so on.

Thursday (1A)/Friday (1B), December 4/5

1. Vocabulary lesson 8 quiz
-35 points possible
-students will have an opportunity to retake the quiz next week.
2. One Act Play
-Steps 2/3 due at the end of class!
-PLEASE work on this over the weekend if you are behind! Next week's steps will be very challenging.

Tuesday (1A)/Wednesday (1B), December 2/3

1. Warm up --> Spelling/Grammar 10
2. EssConcepts 12 --> 1A achieved an ATB (All-Time Best) of 478! We danced!
3. One Act Play --> Worked on steps 2/3 in media center.

Wednesday (1A)/Monday (1B), November 26/December 1

-The warm up (1B only) was to write about a Thanksgiving Break event from the perspective on a non-living object involved.
-Students began working on the one act play project. Step 1 is due next class period. The assignment can be accessed from the web page. You can access the web site from this blog.

Monday (1A)/Tuesday (1B), November 24/25

-Today's warm up consisted of a Reality Store review. Reviews were given to the Counseling Center for data analysis.
-We spent some time going over information from the mid-term writing assessment. We discussed the class' strengths and weaknesses and students reviewed student examples.
-We spent some time talking about the Reality Store experience.

-ASSIGNMENT #1: Assume your Reality Store situation (occupation, marital status, and so on) and write a letter to your parents after one month in that life.

-ASSIGNMENT #2: Students received an assignment to use the Holt Online Essay Scoring internet program to write a descriptive essay for their end of quarter writing assessment. I will try to upload the assignment to the web page. By December 17, students need to have earned a score of 6 on their essay. Students who procrastinate too long, may not achieve a 6.

Thursday(1A)/Friday(1B), November 20/21

-The warm up consisted of a learning styles inventory. I will use this information to help plan learning activities more consistent with the students' strongest learning styles.
-The rest of the class period was devoted to Lesson 8 vocabulary activities.

Homework: Students who did not finish the vocabulary activities in class need to finish them and turn then in by Wednesday, November 26.

Wednesday, November 19 (1A/1B)

-Students attended the Reality Store in the media center. The Reality Store is an interactive activity sponsored by local businesses. Students participated in various activities designed to help them get a taste of reality.

Monday/Tuesday, November 17(1B)/18(1A)

-The warm up consisted of a pre-test for Wednesday's reality store activity.
-Students completed the mid-term writing assessment, which consisted of an in-class persuasive essay. 20 is the standard for this quarter.
-Every student was present both days!

Thursday/Friday, November 13(1B)/14(1A)

-Today's warm up consisted of writing a paragraph about August without using the words humid, hot, sun, and heat.
-We took the essential concepts quiz for week 11.

-1B achieved an All Time Best (ATB) of 500! We celebrated by DANCING!

-We took a pre-assessment for the lesson 8 vocabulary words. Students who met the standard (80%) are finished with these words. Those who fell below the standard will complete the vocabulary activities and then complete the post-assessment.

-Folder #s 1/1A and 27/1B are the two students who met or exceeded the standard!

-Students received missing assignment reports.
-ALL MISSING ASSIGNMENTS MUST BE IN BY TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18!
-MISSING ASSIGNMENTS WILL AFFECT CITIZENSHIP @ MID TERM!

Tuesday/Wednesday, November 11(1B)/12(1A)

-Today's warm up consisted of three critical thinking questions.
-The main activity today was a peer editing writing workshop. In groups of 4, students completed peer editing activities on their rough drafts.

-HOMEWORK ALERT: The next draft of the essay is due at the beginning of next class period. Students need to have a revised copy of their draft PLUS all of the previous copies (including the peer edited copies) of their essay to turn in.

Friday/Monday, November 7(1B)/10(1A)

-The warm up consisted of some vocabulary activities.
-Last week, students were assigned to STUDY a selection in the literature book, A Christmas Memory. Students completed a reading check on the selection. Those who scored BELOW 80% went to the library to re-read the story and answer questions in order to help them study the selection. Those students who scored 80% or above stayed in class and completed the planned activity.

--IMPORTANT: 75%-80% of the students in each class did not meet the standard on the reading check and went to the library to study the story. In some cases, students had as many as 6 days in which to study the 9-page story. The data suggests that students did not complete the assignment, or just read the selection, and did not study it as they were instructed. This is unacceptable for students in an honors program.

Wednesday/Thursday, November 5(1B)/6(1A)

-The warm up consisted of SAT-type test prep. questions.
-Students took the essential concepts quiz for Week 10. 1B's total was 415, and 1A's was 389. No dancing this week.
-To conclude the ideas activity from last class period, selected students read their paragraphs while the class tried to identify the picture based solely on their description.
-Students received an individual proficiency report from the Block 2 pre-assessment. Students made a list of objectives where they scored below 80%. I will use the lists to plan learning activities based on what each individual student needs to work on for this block of the content.

-HOMEWORK REMINDER: Students need to have completed their STUDY of A Christmas Memory (p. 63 in their lit. book) by next class period.

Monday/Tuesday, November 3(1B)/4(1A)

-The warm up consisted of writing a poem about walking on the moon. This is journal entry #2.2.
-A rough draft for the essay contests was due today. There are still many students who have not yet turned this in. It needs to be typed (size 12 font), double-spaced, and have 1-inch margins.
-We did another activity focusing on the ideas trait in writing. Students were given a picture that they had to describe in a perfect (grammatically correct) paragraph.
-Students received a Block 1 post-assessment report and went through their scores and the assessment to see if they could mark the correct answer.

-HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT: STUDY A Christmas Memory (p. 63 in the lit. book) before class on Friday (1B) or Monday (1A). Remember that "study" means more than just reading the story quickly.

Thursday/Friday, October 30(1B)/31(1A)

-Today's warm up was Halloween riddles. Most of them were lame, but a couple were funny.
-We took our week 9 essential concepts quiz. Neither class danced this week, largely due to a lot of absences due to state volleyball and Halloween.
-For Halloween, groups of students read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and completed a short comprehension check as a group.

Mr. Reeves Now!

I have a website to accompany this blog! You can visit it by clicking on the link labeled "Class Website" at the top left of this page! I will try to post copies of assignments and other information on this website. Please check it out!

Tuesday/Wednesday, October 28 (1B)/29 (1A)

-Today's warm up was to see how many sentences the students could write using all 26 letters of the alphabet.
-Assignment update:
-Prewriting activity is late and should be turned in. If the assignment was turned in but all requirements were not met, the assignment needs to be completed and turned in again for credit.
-Once quarter 1 data summary has been approved, it needs to be taken home and a parent signature is necessary. Please pay close attention to the students' second quarter goals.
-We took our second block pre-assessment today. I will post the results once every student has completed the assessment.

Friday/Monday, October 24 (1B)/27(1A)

-We went over the answers to last class period's critical thinking warm ups.
-We are going to be focusing on the IDEAS trait in the six traits of writing. Please ask your student to explain this trait to you. We did a writing activity (2.1) where the students described a painting, and then looked at the painting again from 6 different perspectives and wrote about it. Next week we will go over some examples from class and then do another IDEAS writing activity.

Wednesday/Thursday, October 22 (1B)/23 (1A)

-Today's warm up activity consisted of two very challenging critical thinking questions. Students worked on them at the beginning of class, and we will go over the solutions next class period.
-Students examined their individual learning data from quarter 1. They looked at how they compared to the standards and to the rest of the class. They then set specific learning goals for second quarter in the areas of reading, essential concepts, citizenship, writing, and speaking. I will look over the students' goals and then they will bring this paper home to go over with their parents and get a signature.
-We took our essential concepts quiz for week 8. Neither 1B nor 1A danced this week.

Monday/Tuesday - October 20/21

-Students can now choose where they sit. I hope this arrangement will continue the rest of the year. However, there certainly was an increase in chatter today, so we may have to go back to assigned seating soon.
-We reviewed the following procedures/policies: attention signal, class norms, and missing assignments. I feel there were too many missing assignments last quarter. Honors students should be in school to learn, not just to earn a grade. For second quarter all assignments will be worth 10 points, but at the end of the quarter, they still will NOT count toward the final grade. By giving them a point value during the quarter, when you check grades on PowerSchool, it will be easier to tell if there are any missing assignments.
-Today's warmup was a quiz on the "Lesson 7" vocabulary words. The average score on this quiz was 35/40, so I feel that the students have learned these words and their meanings.
-We discussed possible reasons for students' overall scores on the Block I post-assessment. We will continue this dialogue next class period.
-Finally, students received a prewriting assignment that is homework. This will be due Friday (1B) or Monday (1A). I'm going to try to upload the assignment as a reference.
-Thanks to those who are "followers" of this blog. I'm not completely sure what that means, but I think it's a good thing! Now I'm off to download the soundtrack for HSM3: Senior Year! Have a great Tuesday!

Welcome!

Welcome to my new website! Technically it's a blog. I think this will work better for what I want to do for my students and parents. Please be patient with me while I try to figure all of this out!