MCA Testing and Information!

MCAs are here!

Please make sure you know when your child is testing, that they get good nights of sleep, healthy meals and a good breakfast before their testing day!

Monday, April 14^th and Tuesday April 15^th Letson’s and Degen’s math

Wednesday, April 16^th and Thursday, April 17^th Friedrich’s and Oman’s math

Monday, April 21^st and Tuesday, April 22^nd Johnson’s and Roth’s math

Wednesday, April 23^rd- Friday, April 25^th 3^rd-8^th grade reading tests

Monday, April 28^th and Tuesday, April 29^th Rohman’s and Slavik’s math; 8^th grade science test

Wednesday, April 30^th and Thursday, April 1^st Rohman’s math, 5^th grade science tests

Please contact your homeroom teacher or Mrs. McInnis if you know your child will be absent on a testing day so that we can make sure they test before the deadline.

Spring!

Hopefully, spring is finally here!

MUR 5th and 6th: This week we continue to work on our independent study. We discussed visual aids and students began creating sketches for their visuals. We will not be having spelling tests for the next two weeks to give students ample time to work on their project at home!

MUR 7th and 8th: This week we began our nonfiction unit. We are reading Kennedy's Last Days and discussing the life of JFK. Throughout this unit we will be focusing on fact vs. opinion, tone, author purpose and traits of JFK.
  Packets from David Copperfield are due this week!

March 3-7

5th and 6th Grade MUR: This week students began work on their independent projects! We have some very interesting topics and I'm so excited to see how the projects turn out. On Monday, we began our journey into writing research questions. After a short prezi students began writing questions and conferencing with teachers. On Wednesday, we picked new books for our literature discussion groups. 

7th and 8th Grade MUR: This week we continued our study of David Copperfield. Students were introduced to allusion and are working to find elements of allusion within Dickens's work. This is giving the students a more in-depth understanding of the novel. On Wednesday, we watched parts 10 and 11 of the BBC movie David Copperfield. Students made comparisons between the novel and digital version of the story. 

This has been a great week for our middle school students!

5th and 6th Grade: This week we finished reading Walk Two Moons!  The students loved the story and learned a lot about character traits, figurative language and genre. In spelling we continue to work in Wordly Wise.

7th and 8th Grade: Our middle school students are working hard on finishing up Charles Dickens David Copperfield. We have spent a lot of time working on theme, irony and allusion. In literature circles students continue to develop their own inferential questions and lead discussions without the help of the teachers. They are working to understand authors craft and symbolism.

Please check out our middle school Blog for more information:http://www.cologneacademymiddleschool.blogspot.com/

A New Year!

It's hard to believe the new year is upon us again. Each year seems to go by faster than the last. As I look forward in planning here are few things to note:

  MUR 5th and 6th -  We will be switching to Wordly Wise for our spelling. Students will be working in their Wordly Wise books each week and will have fifteen words for spelling instead of thirteen. There will be no challenge words. Students can study for their tests or get word lists by going to: www.wordlywise3000.com. 

  We will also be starting a new book this month. Students will be reading Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. Please note students doing Prezi's on Sharon should have them completed before the end of the month.

MUR 7th and 8th: We will continue to read David Copperfield as we study Charles Dickens. Students will focus on theme, conflict and answering evidence based questions. In literature groups students are reading contemporary fiction and having "book group" discussions. 

  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

A Traitor Among Us

http://www.junctioncity.k12.or.us/Oaklea/curric_files/HolocaustWebQuest.htm

October 1-4

5th and 6th MUR: This week we continued to read Catherine Called Birdy. Students continued to chart the themes of the book as well as character traits and relationships. In literature circles students are functioning independently reading and charting their progress. In discussion groups, students continue to gain independence and leadership skills by running their own "book clubs." Student create discussion questions and then meet once to twice a week to discuss their questions. This week many questions focused on symbolism and character traits. Students share their findings on Fridays with the class.
  In grammar, we are working on helping verbs. In WTW we continue to focus on the suffix -ion and the various forms it takes when added to new words.

7th and 8th MUR: This week we are focusing our study on the hero vs. the coward. Students created a line placing characters on the "hero" side or the "coward" side. Text evidence was used to make these decisions. The students also focused on the character traits of a hero or coward and continue to chart these characters as we move through the book.
  We began our preparation for the ACT Explore by focusing on language skills. Students are working to find and correct grammatical mistakes in a variety of sentences. In WTW we continue to fucus on the suffix -ion and the various forms it takes when added to new words.