Friday, February 15, 2008

Monday is President's Day. Today Mr. Duncan will be out of the building. Please behave while the substitute teacher cares for you and instructs you today.

HISTORY CLASS

"Presidents Day Activity"

Objectives for Today

• Learners will seek learn trivia facts on each of our 43 Presidents.

Agenda for Today

1. Bellringer: You will come in and write down a list of all the names of Presidents of the USA you can think of.
2. You will be handed a crossword puzzle on Presidential Trivia. You must complete the entire crossword by the end of class. You may use your book. Informaiton on each President is listed in your history books.

READING CLASS

"Recognizing Theme"

Objectives for Today

• Identify ideas and insights about life and human nature expressed in literature.
• Form interpretations of narrative text by making inferences, generalizing, drawing conclusions, and analyzing.

Agenda for Today

1. You will work on the menu for the Readers Workshop today.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

HISTORY CLASS

"George Washington & the Federal Government"

Objectives for Today

• Learners will write a test on the information we've covered for the past two days.

Agenda for Today

1. Bellringer: You will have all five things out on your desk.
2. You will work in partner groups to write a test for the class that covers all the information from the past two days of class. The test must cover all four reading focus questions from Chp. 8.2, the three questions about the presedency, information about Article 2 of the constitution, and the key terms from Chp. 8.2

READING CLASS

"Recognizing Theme"

Objectives for Today

• Identify ideas and insights about life and human nature expressed in literature.
• Form interpretations of narrative text by making inferences, generalizing, drawing conclusions, and analyzing.

Agenda for Today

1. You will work on the menu for the Readers Workshop today.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

HISTORY CLASS

"How the Federal Government Works" (Chp. 8.2)

Objectives for Today

• List the powers of the legislative branch.
• Identify the roles the President fills as head of the executive branch.
• Describe how the judicial branch is organized.
• Explain how each branch of the government can check the powers of the other branches.

Agenda for Today

1. You will write out the four reading focus questions for Chp. 8.2 (p. 252).
2. Mr. D will go over the three questions from yesterday.
3. You will be given 15 minutes to read the section silently.
4. You will break into groups and answer the four reading focus questions.

READING CLASS

"Recognizing Theme" (Core Reading Skill #8)

Objectives for Today

• Identify ideas and insights about life and human nature expressed in literature.
• Form interpretations of narrative text by making inferences, generalizing, drawing conclusions, and analyzing.

Agenda for Today

1. You will write a two paragraph response to the fact that we didn't get a snow day.
2. Mr. Duncan will review the tip-sheet on this new core reading skill.
3. We will finish our shared reading exercise of a mini-read to help us practice this new skill.
4. You will work in pairs on a selection from your book to practice recognizing theme.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

HISTORY CLASS

"George Washington: The Father of Our Country"

Objectives for Today

• Students will examine the presidency of George Washington and be able to answer questions about the effects of his time in office.

Agenda for Today

1. You will write a list of at least 10 things you know (or think you know) about George Washington.
2. You will watch some short video clips on George Washington and we will have an interactive discussion about the things we see in the videos.
3. You will work in partner groups to discuss questions about the presidency.
4. If time allows, we will take a 7-minute video tour of the Oval Office with President Bush.

READING CLASS

"Recognizing Theme" (Core Reading Skill #8)

Objectives for Today

• Identify ideas and insights about life and human nature expressed in literature.
• Form interpretations of narrative text by making inferences, generalizing, drawing conclusions, and analyzing.

Agenda for Today

1. You will write a two paragraph description of Mr. Duncan's classroom.
2. Mr. Duncan will distribute tip-sheets on this new core reading skill.
3. We will do a shared reading exercise of a mini-read to help us practice this new skill.

Monday, February 11, 2008

HISTORY CLASS

Progress Reports & Makeup Work

Objectives for Today

• Students will get an opportunity to see how they are progressing in History class and will spend the class time making up missing work and/or working on extra credit.

Agenda for Today

1. Bellringer: You will come in and get your folder updated. A list of what should be in your folder will be on the screen.
2. Mr. Duncan will return tests and other graded papers.
3. You will spend the rest of the period working on makeup work.
4. If you have no makeup work to do--or you finish your makeup work early--you will spend the rest of the class period working on extra credit.
5. Extra Credit Opportunities: (1) Memorize the first lines of the Declaration of Independence. (2) Memorize the preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America. (3) Memorize the Bill of Rights. (4) Write a three page report on the impact of the Bill of Rights on American society.

READING CLASS

Progress Reports & Makeup Work

Objectives for Today

• Students will get an opportunity to see how they are progressing in Reading class and will spend the class time making up missing work and/or working on extra credit.

Agenda for Today

1. Bellringer: You will come in and get your folder updated. A list of what should be in your folder will be on the screen.
2. Mr. Duncan will return graded papers.
3. You will spend the rest of the period working on makeup work.
4. If you have no makeup work to do--or you finish your makeup work early--you will spend the rest of the class period working on extra credit.
5. Extra Credit Opportunities: (1) Memorize the seven core reading skills in order along with the definition of each skill. (2) Write a three page report on the importance of reading skills and how it can improve your life.