Graphing Writing?

Yes, you read it correctly; writing is graphable!  Students in grade 7 recently graphed the first 10 sentences in their essays explaining one of the quotes in the novel Walk Two Moons. They also recorded the first 10 words that their sentences began with.  This exercise provides two types of information to the student: do my sentences have varied lengths and varied beginnings. N2SSWTSW means that No 2 Sentences Start With The Same Word in the same paragraph. When we talk, our sentences begin differently and when we write, the same idea holds true. We also say sentences of different lengths when we talk or our language would sound robotic!  A great graph for writing has lines that jump up and down the grid and 10 sentences that begin with different words.  Ask to see your son's or daughter's writing graph when they come home with their work from unit one this week. See if you can interpret the sentence structure! :)

We graphed our writing and are learning more about varying the beginnings of our sentences and their lengths!

Inside the Mind

Grade 8 students are currently completing projects on symbolism in literature.  They are taking a look inside the minds of the characters to see what items, symbols and images play a role in explaining more about the main character and the character's relationship to others in the story. For example take the ring in the book Fellowship of the Rings. What synmbol does the ring stand for in the book?  What is the meaning? In The Hunger Games, what symbolizes the strength, capability, and talent of Katniss? Evidence of symbolism is all around us.  Discovering how symbols alter our perception of literature is often interesting, amazing, and quite profound. Stay tuned for more projects to be posted as completed.

What are you afraid of?

If you want to view some spooky artwork and read about weird phobias, come to Mrs. Huber's room, 311, and take a look at the Teen News bulletin board for the month of October. An interesting phobia is ephebiphobia - a fear of teenagers! Do not believe your teen when he or she comes home and tells you they have lachanophobia - fear of vegetables. One believable phobia is testophobia - fear of taking tests. From a fear of mirrors to a fear of beards, there are some VERY interesting phobias out there!

Relationships 101

This is the new unit 8th graders will be engaged in over the next six weeks or so as they explore relationships with parents, friends, teachers and people in the community.  The Unit 2 question is "What makes a healthy relationship?" We will be reading the novel The Pigman in class and taking a look at the different relationships among the characters, some healthy and some not.  Ask your child why Mrs. Huber's dress is hanging in the classroom (did she run out of closet space?), why a credit card and a death certificate are dangling from the ceiling, and why there is a cool poster of John Lennon. All will be revealed in time. . .

Poetry Tree

Do you have a poetry tree in your home?  We have one in our classroom!  It is an 8' tall Norfolk Island  Pine and we have to remember to douse it with a generous gulp of water every Friday. A poem from every grade 8 student hangs on its branches and we have a good time reading them. Come and see the Poetry Tree and read for a spell. :)

Bewitching Books!

Students in grade 7 were offered an opportunity this month to write epilogues (the chapter that comes after the last chapter) for books they have been reading independently this month, or they could have chosen to write a reading reflection (which they learned is NOT a book report!). Would you like to read the new ending for The Hunger Games? Maybe you would prefer to hear how the author used suspence to create an atmosphere of doom and gloom. Come to room 311 and check out the comics and reading reflections that fill the cauldron of reading possibilities!

Note Taking Tip!

I was impressed with how easily and efficiently students in grades 7 & 8 took notes in Grammar Camp!  Several students used different colored pens to write the headings for various note topics.  Using a different color really made the heading stand out from the other information and it was so easy to find the answers to questions when writing.  Very smart tip!  Other students were highlighting the headings for notes and that was a smart note taking tactic to use as well.  Great thinking, students!

Me Taco!

This is how one 8th grader described himself in a poem. :)  Students in grade 8 were asked to compare themselves to amusement park rides, kitchen appliances, animals, foods, colors, writing tools, natural disasters and anything else they could think of in order to create a metaphor poem.  The poems are fantastic and really help to get to know another person. It is often hard to tell personal facts about yourself, but if you tell me that you are like a volcano erupting with anger, I can tell how you are feeling at times when you get mad. Here is PA's poem.  Enjoy!
                                  

                  Me Taco

            I am a crunchy supreme taco

I fill up overtime with attitude

My shell is extremely brittle

It could snap at any moment

I begin to forget some things when piled too high

Every so often, I topple onto my side in leisure

I am organized by being divided into sections

I can be silent as a mouse and motionless when needed

I am decorated and well-balanced with variety

All Good Things Come to an End

Well campers, it is time for Grammar Camp to fold up its blankets, turf, vines, cushions, and camp chairs.  I hope you had as much fun as I did!  Hang on to your camp brochures with all of your notes on sentence structure, punctuation and parts of speech.  These tips will definiitely come in handy as a reference in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead! As October approaches, we will have desks and chairs again so you will have some support for your back as you write all of those essays! What was your favorite part of camp?  Was it the s'mores, the feather game, Schoolhouse Rock songs? A favorite lesson on a topic that you didn't know before? Leave a comment so I will know what to include next year when camp time rolls around again for the next group of grammar campers!  Here are a few memories from camp. . .

Take great notes!

Read, discuss, write!                  

S'more makers! Thanks :)

Campers love s'mores!

A delicious treat for Monica!

S'mores? Yum!

Grammar Camp Going Strong!

Grammar campers are busy learning punctuation these days specifically the semicolon and the apostrophe. The biggest news is that if you see the word "it's" with an apostrophe, it always means "it is." This seems to be a tricky word! The grammar game for the week is Preposition Feathers.  It is so much fun to blow a feather all over!  When I yell out a command like, "Blow the feather above your head," students yell out the preposition in the command like, "above!" Then we all follow the command and feathers fly! Try this at home for a real stress reliever. Next lesson: 12 rules of commas.

A Thought-provoking Question

What makes a question thought provoking?  The answer: a question that is not easily answered by a yes/no/simple answer. Middle School students were asked to write three thought-provoking questions after reading books selected for each grade level over the summer. We are getting ready to have a shared inquiry circle of discussion using these questions.  I bet we have some questions that require much deep thinking.

Welcome to Grammar Camp!

Just when you thought summer was over, here comes an invitation to Grammar Camp! MS students will soon be off to camp during Language A (English) classes. Clipboards, brochures, and sleeping bags are provided for your sitting and note-taking pleasure. Grammar Camp will get your school year off to a successful start as you learn the basics of sentence structure, parts of speech and punctuation. Be the brain of your neighborhood as you learn the twelve secret rules of commas and how to begin sentences in various new, fun ways. Become the pro of prepositional phrases and the master of subject/verb agreement. Come prepared for making smores, scavenger hunts for adjectives and scary stories by the campfire. You will wish Grammar Camp never had to end!

Welcome to Grammar Camp! I am ready to talk grammar with you. :) Mrs. Huber

Turn and talk to your neighbor. What is a predicate?

What vivid adjectives did you come up with?

Rest time at Grammar Camp. . .

Come on in and sit on the grass. :)

KZOO Radio Live!

On Monday, April 16, at 5:30 p.m., Allison Farr in grade 7 and Zena Simpkins in grade 8 appeared live on radio KZOO from its studio inside Shirokyia at the Ala Moana Mall.  They were interviewed because they are both Grand Prize winners in the Japan Airlines Haiku contest.  As their proud teacher, I also got to be interviewed! We had so much fun talking on the radio and being videotaped at the same time.  It was interesting and a bit intimidating to have people standing outside the glass walls of the station looking at us and smiling as we answered questions and told about our Haiku writing experiences.  Allison and Zena read their poems aloud and did such an expert job of representing all of us at LJA! Advice: It pays to write Haiku!

Environments and Decisions

The setting has a lot to do with how a character reacts to a problem or a situation.  Seventh grade students are currently reading books in small literature circles where the environment has a major affect on how the characters act. All of the books that students chose to read occurred during the Middle Ages among teens of all walks of life. The stories make us think about how much our environments affect us and how we choose to handle a problem or a situation we may find ourselves in.  Pick up a book today - maybe one of the ones we are reading in class!

Can we learn from studying the mistakes and successes of others?

Eighth grade students are currently reading in small literature circle groups from books they chose related to teens from other continents including Africa, Asia, North America, and Europe. All of the books and students (real ones and fictional ones) have one thing in common - they have all learned from a success they had or from a mistake they made.  Can we relate to the fictional lives of teenagers in other countries?  Can we learn anything from them based on the ways they solve their problems? Everyone in English class is about to discover the answer to this question. Here are some of the books being read in literature circles.  Pick one up and read it.  You will be glad you did and you just may learn something about the way someone on another continent thinks.

The Mysterious Book of Secrets

In conjunction with the eighth grade Research Unit: Social Injustice, students are working with the art teacher, Mrs. Tam, to create individual Books of Secrets. Are there secrets connected with forms of social injustice?  Ask the eighth graders and they will tell you, "Yes!" From child abuse to child labor, slavery to women's rights, there are words and symbols that reflect a desire to hide that which is painful or embarrassing. The Book of Secrets sends a powerful message of images, numbers and words that are at times disturbing to view and sad to recognize, but should they be forgotten? All books will be completed and on display in the MS/HS Library beginning the week of March 5th. Take the time to see what our children are thinking, learning, revealing and trying to change.

Researching the Facts

Working on the Tiny Pages

Secrets for the Drawers in each Box

Pages of Secrets

This is how the drawers open and close.

An Open Book

Closing the Cover

Cutting Wire

Battleships, Planes, and Limos

What do these three topics have to do with each other? They are all vehicles the eighth grade students helped their kindergarten buddies to build last Thursday, February 23rd. The transportation unit in K-land is always a favorite! There is lots of taping, spray painting, and aluminumn foil present. Everybody had a ball creating unique modes of transportation. On Friday, all vehicles were "driven" around the loop while obeying all traffic signals. I only have one question: Where is the ice cream truck? Check out the events of the day below. :)



                First we plan!

One big gun!

Let me help you spray paint. . .

Is this my boat?

Big kids get to cut.

Listening to each other :)

Note Cards, Databases and Research, Oh My!

Students in grade 8 are researching topics related to social justice or rather injustice. They are considering the questions: How can learning about the past help us make just and fair decisions in the future?  What secrets can we uncover about the past?  How can I make a difference in the pursuit of fairness? The topics range from child soldiers to domestic abuse as students pursue topics of their interests and curiosity.  Right now they are furiously locating books, databases, and websites as they take notes to report their findings.  Check out the pictures below to see students at research!

We Love to Write Haiku

Seventh and eighth grade students are participating in the JAL International Haiku Poetry Competition.  The theme for this year's contest is "Festivals."  After brainstorming ideas, students came up with many different festivals in Hawaii and around the world.  Several suggestions included the Merry Monarch Festival, The Festival of Lights, The Lantern Festival, the State Fair, Mardi Gras, the Day of the Dead, and several others that we were not so sure about!  If you have a festival idea, please share it with us so we can write about it.  Here are a few haiku poems from the grade 7 class.

               Lanterns
         Hundreds of lanterns
     Drifting across the night sky
          Turning into stars
                            by AF

New Years
The moon stares down
Watching the bright sparklers shine
Enjoying the lights
by TE


                             Day of the Dead (A Spanish Halloween)
                                           The ancestors come
                                       We revel in their wisdom
                                  Their graves smoke and steam
                                                 by IC

8th Grade 2011 Memory Gallery

Students in grade 8 are looking back at the year 2011 and reminiscing (one of our vocabulary words this week) about a memorable event that made an impact on their thoughts or lives. The photo memory could be a personal, community, state, national or global reflection. An attention grabbing title and caption had to be written for each photo that students selected.  If you are in the neighborhood, please take a look at our 2011 Memory Gallery between rooms 310 and 311 and see the events that made an impression on our students.