Ms. Boyce’s Blog

***Homework Club will be canceled on Thursday, November 20th. I apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.

8th Grade: This week, students will be starting our new paper topic, which is writing a biography on an intriguing family member. We’ll start with compiling a list of interview questions; don’t forget, great questions warrant great answers! The interview questions must be answered by Thursday, November 20th! Later in the week, we’ll use the answers to structure an outline.

7th Grade: In seventh grade, we’ll be wrapping up our extended unit on punctuation, varying sentence structure, compound/complex sentences, and dependent/independent clauses with a test on Thursday, November 20th. After reviewing all week and studying notes/examples at home, students should be prepared for the test. 

8th Grade: Happy Halloween! In continuation with our public speaking unit, students will be practicing some effective debating skills, writing their speech outline, and preparing their visual representation for their speech. We’ll also continue work with our third vocabulary unit.

7th Grade: Happy Halloween! This week is a continuation of our punctuation unit, but also a review and practice of debating skills. There will be a pop quiz on commas, semicolons, and colons near the end of the week; please make sure students are reviewing their punctuation marks daily. We’ll also continue work with our third vocabulary unit.

8^th Grade: Students will be continuing on their public speaking unit. The speech topic will be assigned by Thursday, research will be done in the computer lab on Friday, and the outline will be worked on the following week. Vocab #2 Test is on Monday (definitions need to be written out on the test). The third Vocabulary unit will be handed out later in the week.

7^th Grade: Students will be continuing the punctuation unit. Workbook pages from the Zaner-Bloser Grammar Series will be the main source of homework this week. Later in the week, we’ll be discussing and practicing effective debating skills (to prepare for the debate next week in History). Vocab #2 Test is on Monday (definitions need to be written out on the test). The third Vocabulary unit will be handed out later in the week.

8th Grade:

-In English, we’ll be working on writing thoughtful responses to literature that summarizes and analyzes the writing. Our challenge will be learning how to differentiate between summarization and analysis. Two writing traits that will be the focus of our compositions will be sentence structure and word choice.

-Don’t forget that papers are due this week (see below for due dates).

-Vocab Unit #2… interactive guide completed this week with acronyms

7th Grade:

-Don’t forget that the final due date for papers is Monday, October 6th (no exceptions)!

-Vocab Unit #2… interactive guide completed this week with acronyms

-During English, we will focus on a review of how to structure a paper, the difference between a general sentence and specific sentence, and varying sentence structure.

8th Grade:

-We’ll review how to structure an introduction and conclusion; students will then write the intro and conclusion for their toy essays. Later in the week, students will switch papers for a peer edit with a rubric. Papers should be typed at home (they have an entire week to do so). Final papers are due on Thursday, October 9th. If students hand them in a day early, on Wednesday, October 8th, they will receive five points of extra credit for their paper (this is the only extra credit I offer in English). All papers need to be typed and double spaced, in Times New Roman size 12 font. We will complete the title page in class on Friday.

-On Friday, we’ll start the next unit for vocabulary.

7th Grade:

-Seventh graders will be completing their first peer edit on Monday and Tuesday this week. Students switch papers with a classmate, edit the paper, and use the rubric to assess their classmate. Students are expected to proofread their own papers and ask for help whenever it is needed. Papers should be typed at home. Final papers are due on Monday, October 6th. If students hand them in a school day early, on Friday, October 3rd, they will receive five points of extra credit for their paper (this is the only extra credit I offer in English). All papers need to be typed and double spaced, in Times New Roman size 12 font. We will complete the title page in class on Friday.

-On Friday, we’ll start the next unit for vocabulary.

8th Grade:

-We’ll continue expanding the toy topic outlines into a descriptive essay; body paragraphs and the introduction will be focused on this week.

-Vocabulary acronyms are due on Tuesday; vocab #1 quiz is on Friday!

7th Grade:

-Seventh graders are continuing their work with paper formation and their autobiographies. Students need to make sure to follow the appropriate format as we resume writing!

-Vocabulary Quiz #1 is on Friday; we’ll be working with the words (hopefully in fun ways) to review their meanings.

***The orange Sadlier-Oxford Books are no longer used for the Vocabulary curriculum. Words have been compiled from those units, but are used in a variety of ways. For each unit, students are only working with fifteen words and will only be tested on those fifteen words.

8th Grade: After completing a unit on sentence structure and sentence variation, we will move on with a short review of paragraph and paper formation. During the week, students will be expected to take notes, practice writing well-structured paragraphs, and work on word choice. An interactive lesson on ’spicy’ word choice advertisements will be the highlight of the week. Finally, toward the end of the week, students will begin the first vocabulary unit of the year. Don’t forget that vocabulary is now incorporated into the English grade; it is not a separate grade this year!

7th Grade: Seventh graders will continue learning, taking notes, and practicing the correct format for paragraphs and papers. During the past week, students had a difficult time with this new material. It is essential for students to take excellent notes and ask questions when they need to! The only way to become a better writer is to practice writing, and that’s what we plan on doing. While we focused on the format of body paragraphs and introductory paragraphs already, this week we will work on writing precise thesis statements (part of the introductory paragraph) and the appropriate format for a conclusive paragraph. After a review of all of this material, a short quiz will be given on Thursday, September 11th (key words that should be studied from class notes: introduction, creative opening line, introductory topic sentences, thesis statements, topic sentences, supporting details, transitions sentences, restated thesis, and conclusion). Your child should review this material consistently throughout the week. We will then begin our first paper: an autobiography. Prewriting will consist of a timeline that is separated into related paragraphs. If time allows, students will begin a rough draft later in the week. Finally, toward the end of the week, students will begin the first vocabulary unit of the year. Don’t forget that vocabulary is now incorporated into the English grade; it is not a separate grade this year!

8th: This week, eighth graders will continue learning about sentence types and sentence openers. Later in the week, our focus will move to paragraphs and word choice. Students should prepare for a short quiz (Thursday, September 4th) on sentence types (simple, compound, complex) and sentence openers (subject, adverb, adjective, participal phrase, preposition, conjunction) using the notes we have taken in class. A review of the material will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday in class.

7th: This week, seventh graders will be learning how to structure a paper. It is essential that students take great notes (all notes will be displayed from powerpoint to the projector) and review the material all week. Next week, seventh graders will be quizzed on the material (most likely Tuesday, September 9th). Key words: introduction, creative opening line, introductory topic sentences, thesis statement, body paragraphs, topic sentences, supporting details, transition sentence, conclusion, restated thesis, and creative closing line.

Welcome back! I am entering my second year of teaching here at St. John Fisher and I will be teaching seventh and eighth grade Language Arts during the 2008-2009 school year.

As you know, you play an integral role in your child’s success here at St. John Fisher. While it is your child’s responsibility to complete all assignments on his or her own, it’s always a great idea to maintain communication with him or her regarding different assignments, projects, or tests. I appreciate parent communication, but it’s also important to note that seventh and eighth graders need to become more independent as they transition into high school. If you need to contact me for any reason, you can email me at eboyce@sjfschool.net or you can check my Homework Blog at http://eboyce.edublogs.org/. I know with your help, this will be a great year!