Wednsday 10-24-2012

Today
~SSR
~Writing WorkShop

- As always the SSR very important .
also report books read please for house competition.
-keep in mind peer reviews and to polish your piece for final showing thank you.

 Reminders:
Personal Narrative is Due Saturday latest.
Order books PLEASE (:
and continue working on your LC


And if im not mistaken that is about it. Thanks for tuning in, see you next time.

Tusday 10-23-2012

Today.
~SSR
~Talkshow Option
~LC discussion
~ Class Share Out
~Book Orders




-We started the day with SSR as always for 20 minutes.
-We added another entry to our awesome notebook
"Talkshow Option" and discussed it and received a sheet and pasted it on the notebook.
-Literature Circle discussion started
the warm-up discussion was "Worst present" and discussed about the book/classic novel.
-When discussion was over randomly Share-out to see what was going on in the groups book.
-And last but not least we received  a catalog to order books. :D

 Reminders:
Personal Narrative is Due Saturday latest.
Order books PLEASE (:
and continue working on your LC

And if im not mistaken that is about it. Thanks for tuning in, see you next time.

Thursday October 18th 2012

Hey guys, this is Cynthia, blogging for the last time. Here are the things that we did today!

• SSR
• LC Discussions
• Share-out

Today we started the class by doing SSR for 20 minutes, and then we proceeded to do LC discussions with our group. After we did LC discussions, some groups did share-out of their books. 

Reminder/Homework:

• We are in the lead for Book Competition! So far, we have 17 books read! Remember  the book competition ends at the end of the month, so try to read as many books as you can!
• Finalized writing workshop piece is due next Friday October 27th! Make all the necessary revisions and if you like, have as many people revise your essay
• LC Discussion prep is due next Tuesday October 23. Remember, after the 10 discussion we will be doing a final assessment! If you have ideas about the final assessment, check with Ortega to make sure that it is fine.

Well East house that is it for me! Have an amazing weekend... Bye !

Wednesday October 17,2012

Hey guys, this is Cynthia. Sorry I didn't introduce myself on the prior post. Anyways, here are the following things that we did today:

• SSR
• Writing Feedback
• Writing Workshop

Today, as usual we did started off class with SSR for 20 minutes. Then, we proceeded to input assignments 26(Writing Workshop Draft) and 27(Peer Review) in our composition books. For Writing Feedback, Amber's essay was chosen and I must say that we had excellent feedback from the class! Good job guys! After we gave Amber feedback about her essay, we proceeded to Writing Workshop. In class, people could either correct the essays that they turned in, or peers could review the essays.

Reminders/Homework:

• LC Prep Discussion is tomorrow (Thursday)
• Finalized Writing Workshop piece is due October 27th (next Saturday). Make sure you make the necessary corrections!
• Book House Competition! Make sure you guys read as many books as you can! The book house competition ends at the end of the month, and I believe that we are in the lead!!

Bye :)

Tuesday October 16, 2012

Today in class we did the following things:

• SSR
• Song Parodies
• LC Discussions
• Share-out

As usual, we started the class off by doing 20 minutes of SSR. We then transferred to the subject of Song Parodies. Mrs. Ortega first played the song "I Want it that Way", by the Backstreet Boys. Then she played the parody of the song, "E-bay". Mrs. Ortega introduced us to song parodies because at the end of literature circle, everyone will be doing a final assessment, and the song parody can be one form of the final assessment. If your group would like to do something that Ortega hasn't talked about, then you can  talk to her to see if she agrees with the idea presented. If you are going to be doing the song parody, however, you have to follow the rhyme scheme of the song that you are making fun of. For more guidelines, please look at the handout that Ortega passed out during class (A#25 Song Parody Info.) Next, we discussed with our lit. circle groups about our books, and the two v for vendetta groups shared out what was happening in their books so far. Another group that got to share-out was the Persepolis group.

Reminders:

LC Discussion 7 due Thursday

Print out essay you turned in for writing workshop, and also print out the Peermark review someone did for your essay. Bring these two documents tomorrow (Wednesday).

Scribe for 10/11/12

Hey everyone! It's Amber scribing for the last time!

Agenda

• SSR
• LC Discussion
• Class Share Out

So today in class, we started off with SSR. We then went on to the literature circle discussions.  We also did another square in our LC Membership Grid on who was your favorite elementary school teacher and why.  We ended class with a share out about something in our books.

Reminders!

• The Writing Workshop piece is due Saturday night by 10pm.  Also, you must do a peer review Sunday by 10pm.
• Also don't forget to read those books! We are still ahead with, I believe, 14 books read! Good job guys (:

Well, I guess thats it for me.. Bye!

Scribe for Wednesday, 10/10

So here's what we did today in English..

Agenda

• SSR
• Peer Review Instructions
• Writer's Feedback
• Workshop
• Independent Study

     We started off class with SSR.  Then Mrs. Ortega explained to us how to do peer reviews.  Each person will randomly recieve an anonymous writing workshop piece. The writing workshop piece is due Saturday by 10pm and the peer review is due Sunday by 10pm. 
     Next, we read Joe's writing workshop piece.  Then a few people gave feedback on what they liked in the paper and suggested things he could change or add.  After that, with only a few minutes left in class, we worked on our writing workshop pieces.

     Remember to read those books! Our house is winning right now with 12 books read. Next is South with 8 books, West with 7 books, and North with 4 books.  Let's keep that lead guys!  Also remember that the writing workshop pieces are due on Saturday, so be working on that.  And if you want help from Mrs. Ortega with your piece, feel free to set up an appointment with her so she can read it and give you feedback.

Scribe for Monday 10/9, 1st Rotation

Hey guys, it's Amber and I'll be your scribe for this week!

Agenda for 10/9/12

• SSR
• Mini: Textual Evidence
• LC Discussions
• Class Share Out

     So today in Mrs. Ortega's, we started off class with the usual SSR.  We then put our SSR books away and Mrs.Ortega explained that we would be reading the story of the "Three Little Pigs." Five people volunteered to read a certain character's part (Ex: The wolf, narrator, Pig #1, etc.)  If you were expection the classic version of three little pigs, (I know I was!) then this grim version of the Three Little Pigs may have caught you off guard and taken you by surprise.  After we got through the story, Mrs. Ortega explained to us how to use Textual evidence. (Assignment #20 in our notebooks)  We then had to chose a certain trait a character had in the story and find textual evidence to support it. (Ex: The wolf is naive. The textual evidence to support this would be that the wolf fell for pig #3's tricks every time.)

     After the mini lesson, we went on to fill out another day of our membership grid.  The topic for today was, If you could have dinner with any deceased person, who would it be and why?  After our membership grids were filled out for the day, we then began our Literature Circle discussions. 

Reminders

• Don't forget to leave room for Assignment #22, Library Handouts which we will get when we go up to the library.
• Do LC Discussion Prep 5, Assignment #21 by our next LC discussions on Thursday.
• If you have recently finished a book, don't forget to inform Mrs. Ortega so she can count it toward our house total for most books read. We need that house point!

Scribe for Thursday 10/4, Third Rotation!

What's up guys! This is Joe, scribing for the last time.

Well, today's class went by pretty fast since we had a four core rotation. We got in, and started on SSR, buuuuut, some people opted to start with discussions instead*. So we all pulled out our notebooks, and wrote in assignment #19, "Discussion Prep 4". Once that was done, we flipped back to assignment #18, "Discussion Prep 3, and added some more good stuff onto that page. Ortega added elaborated onto what we wrote in last time, explaining some good things to look out for when preparing discussions. After this was all said and done, we moved on to our Membership Grid and discussed our favorite movies in our literature circle groups! I don't know about everyone else's, but my group's discussion was pretty interesting! ("Up" is my favorite movie!)
We moved directly into Literature Circle discussions from there, and stopped right around 20 minutes till class was over to allow time for SSR. Some people decided they wanted to keep discussing, so Mrs. Ortega allowed some to continue. Then class was over!

*Mrs. Ortega let me know that we would be keeping SSR to the beginning of class, as many lost interest in reading right before lunch. 

Important things to remember / Homework:

• If you've noticed that the Poetry Out Loud grade you received on your grading sheet reads something different than that of your progress report, let Mrs. Ortega know. She is aware she made a mistake, so let her know if yours has a problem!
• Read your LC books, and prepare 4-8 open-ended-ish questions for discussions on Monday!
• Make sure you let Mrs. Ortega know if you've finished a book, so we can win a house point!
• Work on your writing workshop pieces continuously, and have somewhat of a first draft to submit for peer review by next Wednesday.

Scribe for Wednesday 10/3, Second Rotation!

What's up guys! It's Joe again.

As with most ordinary days in Mrs. Ortega's class, we started off with some good 'ol SSR. Afterwards, Ortega reminded us to let her know when we've finished a book, and to not be afraid to let her know during SSR. (Let's get this house point!) Mrs. Ortega also reminded us of the four-core rotation tomorrow; so make sure you read and prepare your questions!

We then pulled our notebooks out, and wrote in assignment #18, "Progress Reports", where we are to tape our progress reports in. After this, we flipped to our peer review pages, and peer reviewed Cris' writing workshop piece, which proved to be a pretty humorous anecdote about his experiences with swimming.

After a few of us shared out about Cris' piece, we begun to work on our own workshop pieces, which we did for the remainder of class. As we worked, Mrs. Ortega came around and checked our notebooks to make sure they were all up to date. She didn't get to everyone, so if she hasn't checked yours yet, make sure yours is complete! She then quickly passed out all of our progress reports, and class was over!

Important things to remember / Homework:

• We have four-core rotation tomorrow, so make sure you read your LC books, and prepare 4-8 open-ended-ish questions for discussions!
• Make sure you let Mrs. Ortega know if you've finished a book, so we can win a house point!
• Work on your writing workshop pieces continuously, and have somewhat of a first draft to submit for peer review by next Wednesday.

Scribe for Tuesday 10/2, First Rotation!

What's up guys! It's Joe. I'll be your scribe for the week. Yeah buddy.

So today, we all got in, got all settled in our literature circle groups, and got ready for story time. Mrs. Ortega read us a (depressing!) storybook called Terrible Things by Eve Bunting (picture shown), which was an allegory for the Holocaust. After the story, we were instructed to discuss the story in our a literature circle groups for a couple minutes. A few people were called on to share out, then we continued on. 

We all pulled out our notebooks, and begun to make our "Literature Circle Member Grids", assignment number 16. (*a simple grid with our group members names, and about five rows under them is about all it looks like. If you need any help with it, don't be afraid to ask me!)
After we were finished drawing this in, (without any rulers!), we talked about Highs and Lows of our weekends, and wrote them on our grids to warm us up for our Literature Circle discussions, which we started right after. The discussions took up most of the remainder of the block.

Mrs. Ortega outlined her desired homework criteria for us, which we were to write in on assignment 18, "Literature Circle Discussion 3 Preparations". She wishes for us to come prepared for discussions with four to eight discussion questions, and the pages we read for homework that night. 

We then had a couple of people share out about their Literature Circle books, and class was over! 

Important things to remember / Homework:

• Ortega's Finished Book Competition has begun and is only going to span a month, so let's all read as quickly as we can for a house point!
• Work on your writing workshop pieces continuously, and try to have some sort of improvements on your piece by tomorrow, second rotation.
• Read your LC books, and prepare 4-8 open-ended-ish questions for discussions on Friday!