Essay - Call of the Wild

Repeat of yesterday. No homework but to finish your essay.

Final Essay for The Call of the Wild

Your final essay is due on Friday. Think about the various themes that we talked about today in class.

Survival of the Fittest
The Power of Instinct
The Laws of Civilization and Wilderness

Choose one and find three examples from the novel that give evidence that this a theme from the novel.

See the Web Quest for full directions.

Compare and Contrast

The essay from Chapter 5 is due tomorrow.

Tomorrow is also the day of your comma quiz. Need more practice? Try this website.

Commas, Part V

To separate introductory clauses and phrases
If every automobile in the country were a light shade of red, we’d live in a pink-car nation.

According to some experts, solar-powered cars will soon be common.

When people start buying cars that use alternative energy sources, we will become less dependent on oil as a fuel source.


In compound sentences
Many students enjoy working on computers, so teachers are finding new ways to use them in the classroom.

Computers can be valuable in education, but many schools cannot afford enough of them.

Commas, Part IV

Commas 4

To set off dialogue

Use commas to set off the exact words of a speaker from the rest of the sentence.

The firefighter said, “We will try to keep the fire from spreading.”

The fireman said that they are containing the fire.
Do not use a comma or quotation marks for an indirect quote


In direct address
Zoe, do you know the answer?


To set off interjections

No kidding, you mean that one teacher has to manage a class of 40 students?

Uh-huh, and that teacher has other classes that size.


To set off explanatory phrases
English, the language computers speak worldwide, is also the most widely used language in science and medicine.

More than 750 million people, about an eighth of the world’s population, speak English as a foreign language.

Commas, Part III

To set off Appositives (renames a noun or pronoun)

The capital of Cyprus, Nicosia, has a population of almost 643,000.
Nicosia renames the capital of Cyprus

Cyprus, an island in the Mediterranean Sea, is about half the size of Connecticut.
an island in the Mediterranean renames Cyprus

The Mediterranean island Cyprus is about half the size of Connecticut
Cyprus is needed to clarify which Mediterranean island - so no comma is needed


To separate equal adjectives
Comfortable, efficient cars are becoming more important to drivers.
comfortable and efficient both describe cars

Some automobiles run on clean, renewable sources of energy.
clean and renewable describe energy



**Please finish Commas 3 tonight for homework.

Can't get enough of Call of the Wild? You can listen online.

Commas, Part I & II

Commas 1
Between items in a series

Chinese, English and Hindi are the three most widely used languages in the world.

Being comfortable with technology, working well with others, and knowing another language are important skills for today’s workers.


To keep numbers clear

Use commas to distinguish hundreds, thousands, millions, and so on

More than 104,000 people live in Kingston, the capital of Jamaica.

The population of the entire country of Liechtenstein is only 29,000.


In dates and addresses
On September 11, 2006, The World Trade Center in New York was attacked.

The school’s address is 10 Borrett Road, Mid-Levels, Hong Kong.



Commas 2

To set off non-restrictive phrases and clauses

People get drinking water from surface water or groundwater, which makes up only one percent of the earth’s water supply.
which makes up only one percent of the earth’s water supply is additional information – it is non-restrictive

Groundwater that is free from pollutants is rare.
that is free from pollutants is needed to complete the meaning of the basic sentence.


To set off titles or initials

Melanie Prokat, M.D., is our family doctor.

In the phone book she is listed as Prokat, M.



To set off interruptions

Interruptions can be identified through these tests:
You can leave them out of the sentence without changing the meaning
You can place them other places in the sentence without changing its meaning.

Our school, as we all know, is becoming overcrowded.

My history class, for example, has 42 students in it.

There are, indeed about 1,000 people in my school.

The building, however, has room for only 850 students.

Chapter Four

In class, we read Chapter four. I collected notebooks to check your work over the past couple of weeks. So we will begin the activities tomorrow.

Maps of the Klondike

On Monday, we started to read about when gold was discovered in the Klondike and what life was like for those who went to find it.

Please study the two maps that were handed out in class and then answer the questions in your Humanities notebook. You'll be cutting out these maps and putting them in your notebook as well.

Also, I returned all essays on Gold. Please revise them for this Thursday.

We won't be meeting for Humanities class tomorrow because of the Book Cafe.

Chapter Three Activities & Vocab Quiz

"With the aurora borealis flaming coldly overhead, of the stars leaping in the frost dance, and the land numb and frozen under its pall of snow, this song of the huskies might have been the defiance of life ... "


For the first chapter 3 activity, you wil research exactly what is the aurora borealis. Look at the specific directions on our class website.

Don't forget: Your vocab quiz is on Monday. The words are lsited below.
1. appeasement
2. trounce
3. yelp
4. ravenous
5. perpetual
6. blunder
7. ruthless
8. cunning
9. acuteness
10. conspicuous
11. treacherous
12. goad
13. daunt
14. quiver
15. swerve
16. covert
17. culprit
18. articulate
19. exultantly
20. brood

Get ready for Friday's essay

Fill out the Expository Pillar handed out in class. I want to make sure that you are properly planning your essay.

All assignments are due on Friday.

In addition, please read to the end of Chapter 2 of Call of the Wild.

Gold

What can you say about one of the most precious and sought after metals of all time?

You'll explore just that question as you compose a 5 paragraph essay due this Friday.

Remember to use the Expository Pillar to help you plan your writing.

Rescheduling

Your vocabulary test is rescheduled for this Monday. Make sure you study!

Finish up the second activity for Chapter 1 from the website.

Have a great weekend!

Chapter 1

Please read to the end of Chapter 1 and do one activity from the website.

Vocabulary Quiz

Your first vocabulary quiz will be this Friday.

Make sure you have definitions and sentences for each word, as we will be doing more review tomorrow.

We'll also begin our reading groups and start on our Web quest.

The class website is here.

Call of the Wild

Please finish vocabulary worksheet for Call of the Wild.

We'll go over the definitions in class tomorrow, as well as start the book!

Also: Spooky Story revisions are due tomorrow.

Test Reminder

Test is on Tuesday.

Don't forget to study. Vocab and people are especially important.

Class Timeline

Choose one event/invention/person we have studied about in class this year.

Using half of an A4 sheet, create a milestone to add to our class timeline.

Include:
The date (48 font)
A blurb (26 font)
A picture

(Bauhaus or Rockwell, if possible).

BRING IN YOUR PIECE TO ADD TO OUR TIMELINE ON FRIDAY.

Changing Attitudes & A New Culture

Read both Section 3 & 4 in your history packets. Take notes & answer questions 1-2 in the assessments.

Get ready for the quiz on Tuesday.

City Living

Write a letter:

You have moved from a rural village to London or Paris in the late 1800s.

Write a letter home describing your feelings about city life. Suggest both positive and negative aspects.

Look back at your notes on the Spread of Cities, Section 2.

Due: Friday, October 30th

Spooky Stories

Because of the time we have missed in class, I've asked that you take the stories you have been working on and finish your first draft tonight.

Tomorrow, we'll be doing some revising of your stories together in writing conferences.

Notebook Check

On Wednesday, I'll be collecting your notebooks and grading your classwork over the last couple of weeks.

Specifically, I'll be looking for these assignments:

1. Industrial Revolution Graphs:
2 circle, 1 bar, 1 pictograph
2. Monkey's Paw Response
3. Narrative Elements: Monkey's Paw
4. Tell Tale Heart response
5. Two-part Challenge
timeline of milestones; 6 vocab words

Please make sure that your work is neat and legible. All work is due on Wednesday.

The Tell Tale Heart

In class, we read The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe.

I've asked you to create a response to the short story by doing one of the following:

Create a six-panel comic strip that depicts a portion of the story

OR

Create an acrostic poem about the story.

Work is due on Friday.

Test Tomorrow

Please study for tomorrow's test on the Industrial Revolution.

Read your handouts, notes and practice with your study guide.

Election Debate

We won't be meeting for much of our class tomorrow, but I will be collecting your notebooks for our first notebook check. Here's what I'm looking for:

Section 1: Notes
Section 2: Notes and Questions
Section 3: Notes and Questions
Section 4: Questions

Industrial Revolution

I'm announcing it here first: Friday we'll have a quiz on the Industrial Revolution.

I'll also be doing a notebook check at the same time. Please make sure you have the following recorded:

Section Notes 1-4
Questions for Sections 2-4
"Hard Times" response

Get it ready now ... don't wait!!

Hardships of the Industrial Revolution

Please read over Section 3. Take notes and answer questions 1-6 at the end.

Also finish the questions from Section 2 started in class today.

Britain Takes the Lead

Remember: The revision of your Electricity essay is due tomorrow.

In class, we discussed why Britain was primed to lead the rest of the world into the industrial revolution. They had the resources, the technology, the protection of a strong army, and, most important, the capital.

Finish reading the section we started in class, and please create your own notes.

Revise and Edit

You were given back the first draft of your Electricity essay today in class.

Please go through and incorporate the edits into the second draft. Please revise your work as you write this next version.

Due on Friday.

Essay: Modern Marvel

Over the long weekend, please take the topic you chose and turn it into your first expository essay. You should download this graphic organizer to help you structure your writing.

Notice that there is a place for you to jot down the source you used for this essay. Your essay should have at least one source listed in the bibliography. Use correct format. If you need help. try EasyBib.

Remember: your essay is due on the Wednesday we are back.

Modern Marvels

How has population changed through history?

We looked today at a great video that showed us how population has grown incredibly over the last 200 years compared to the thousands of years prior.

No doubt, technology -- whether it be the tools of farming or building skyscrapers -- have impacted people and the way we live.

Tonight, I'd like everyone to choose one modern technology or innovation and research when it was invented.

Looking for a good research site? I like Answers.com.

First Essay

Tonight you should finish your first full length essay that was started in class.

Keep in mind all the lessons we learned over the last coupld of weeks:

• Use your Golden Bricks
• Show, don't tell when you are writing
• Break up the grocery lists
• Use an attention-grabbing lead
• Have a clear topic sentence.
• Supporting paragraphs need clear and distinct ideas.

I'm looking forward to reading them this week.

Are You Fit?

We'll find out tomorrow how well we did in our writing boot camp by putting together the last two weeks and writing a full-length essay.

Golden Bricks

The Golden Bricks of writing give your essay strength.

They are:

Quote
Statistic
Amazing Fact
Anecdote
Descriptive Segment

We'll talk next week about how to write leads and conclusions, and wrap up our Writing Boot Camp.

Break Up That Grocery List!!

Today we looked at why using long lists in our writing doesn't get us very far ... down the page, or in helping to paint a vivid picture.

Each detail of your paragraph deserves its own sentence. Give it!

Tonight, please rewrite the paragraph handed out in class using the detail-seeking questions as a guide to help you develop it into a rich, full piece.

Revising and Writing Main Idea Sentences

I like sailing.
I like cooking.
I like hiking.

Aren't you glad we know how to write sentences that aren't that dull? Tonight you will continue the work we started in class by writing exciting and interesting main idea sentences.

Sentence Types

We spent most of today's class talking about the different sentence types.

Simple
Compound
Complex

There are some great practice activities on the class website.

Make sure you also complete the Open Response question tonight.

Pick, List and Choose

When writing an essay, you should follow these steps to help identify broad but distinct main ideas for your supporting paragraphs.

1. Pick a topic.

2. List out all the ideas connected with that topic that you can think of.

3. Choose broad but distinct ideas from the list that you generated.

For homework tonight, you will be making a list and choosing ideas for supporting paragraphs for two topics: smoking and going to the mall.

Subject/Predicate

Please complete the worksheet that we started in class.

This week we did a lot of work with anayzing writing and forming sentences. Next week we'll start trying to construct our own sentences, making sure we use lots of detail and showing, not telling.

Great Sentences

ALWAYS HAVE:

Capital letters (beginning word)
End Punctuation
A subject
A predicate

Tonight, fix the fragments and run-on sentences on the worksheet.

Bootcamp Continues

Today we analyzed more essays and started to compare weak to stronger pieces of writing.

Tonight you will be reading and analyzing a second piece called "The Right Wheels for You!" Bring it for class tomorrow.

Tomorrow we'll see how well you do organizing pieces of writing.

Writing boot camp begins

Day 1: We started by first looking at a graphic organizer, a great way to structure writing multi-paragraph pieces. Then we began to analyze that structure by looking at various essays and marking the components.

Tonight you will continue that work by looking at the essay "Mexico." If you don't have it, please make a copy.

Check out the math blog

If you haven't already noticed, a new Math blog has gone up for seventh grade. You can access it on the right hand side of this blog, or click through to sevenspotmath.blogspot.com.

Tonight, make sure that you have completed the tech survey. Many people also need to submit their summer work. I will not accept summer work past this Wednesday.

I enjoyed reading your essays on goals today. I am not grading them, but we will go over how to better read an essay prompt tomorrow in class.

Until then ... Ms. Larson

Tech Survey

Greetings. I would like to get an idea of how comfortable you are with technology as I start planning our activities and lessons this year.

Please take a moment and answer our Tech Survey. Click Here to take survey now.

Thanks
Ms. Larson

Day One Down.

Hey class,

Great gettiing acquainted today and I'm looking forward to getting to know each of you better.

The class was a bit chatty today, but I'm sure everyone was excited to see all the new and familiar faces back at school.

Don't forget to complete the Warm-Up Worksheet that you were given in class. It will count towards your first homework assignment.

See you all at 8 a.m. tomorrow!

Welcome Back!

Greetings Grade 7.

I'm looking forward to meeting all of you tomorrow at our orientation day. We'll be jumping right into a large writing practice unit that I'm fondly calling Writing Boot Camp. Expect at least two weeks of rigorous training to get you in shape for the year ahead.

On Friday, I'll be collecting your summer homework. So please get that ready to be handed in.

Cheers,
Ms. Larson