HOMEWORK

1. Begin defining words and crafting sentences in your "Tuesdays With Morrie Vocabulary Log" for "The Curriculum" through "The Syllabus".
2. Personal Response Journal, Entry#1: The subtitle of Tuesdays With Morrie is “an old man, a young man, and life’s greatest lesson.” It is common that we learn great lessons from our elders, but is it also possible that older folks can learn great lessons from young people? For your first entry, describe a time when an older person learned a "great lesson" from a young person. "Great lessons" are those that help us understand the world differently. (If you can't think of a time when an older person learned a great lesson from a young person, describe a time when you learned a great lesson from an older person.)

HOMEWORK

Beginning tomorrow, all seventh graders will begin reading Tuesdays With Morrie by American author Mitch Albom. As we read, you will be expected to prepare and maintain a series of writings in a personal response journal.

Response Journals record student feelings, responses, and reactions to literature. This strategy encourages you to think deeply about the materials you have or will read and to relate this information to your knowledge and experiences. Response Journals allow students to reflect on and raise questions about a text. These journals are especially valuable for promoting opinion making, value judgments, and critical thinking. Hopefully, your journal entries will help you relate Albom's ideas to your own life.

Writing prompts or other specific instructions will be given you at the end of each class. For your convenience, the prompts and instructions will also be posted here on Mrs. Smith’s blog at http://www.esmithims.blogspot.com/.

Sometimes you will be challenged to write prose in your journal; other times you might write poetry. You may be asked to interview an adult and include that information in your journal. You may need to use a computer to research a topic and use the information in your journal. You will be asked to share your writing with a peer or an adult.

Please complete your journaling for homework and bring your entries to class daily. Be prepared to share all or parts of your writing with a peer or the entire class.

Your personal response journal will be assessed based on the following criteria:

• Entries are typed, 12-point font, single spaced and feature a creative title
• Ideas presented in each entry are rich, specific, clear and original.
• Details in each entry are well organized with a beginning, middle and ending
• Entries show excellent attention to word choice, sentence fluency and conventions

HOMEWORK

Rain, rain, go away...

Although differently than planned, our ICE trip learning continues. 

Students should be maintaining their trip folder as they experience trip activities. All handouts, instruction sheets, and written work should be stored in the folder.

Most importantly for English: Make certain that you are storing and organizing your Harvest for Hope margin notes.

HOMEWORK

It's trip time!

Check Mrs. Senechal's website for up-to-date information regarding the trip and rain cancellations.

You should bring a small notebook and pen with you to each site to record your daily observations. These notes will be used for writing assignments later in the week.

HOMEWORK

• Due Friday, 5/13: Create your "True About You," "Love/Loathe," and "Friendly Tribute" poetry collection.