Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

7th GRADE CREATIVE WRITING

CREATING EXTRAORDINARY SCENES

DUE THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2^nd

Take the following summary of a scene and make it into a dramatic, riveting and compelling scene. (Please stay away from the ridiculous.) Please type your work.

The woman from the foster home said that they were nearly to the place where the girl would live. It was raining. When they got there, the girl noticed that the town was sort of weird and sad. At the house, the two foster parents came out to see who their new daughter was. The foster mom thought there was something odd about the girl and she said so. The girl did not want to come into the house.

SCENE = DETAILS (of setting and character), ACTION, DIALOGUE  


8th Graders 
1st Draft of Complete Speech Due Friday, September 2nd

FRAMEWORK OF VALUES
Assignment Five (Due Friday, September 2^nd)

Reread the sections entitled RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY, SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY and EGALITARIANISM and consider the following questions.

1)   Why is DIVERSITY important in a learning environment? Why is EQUALITY important? How does a respect for DIVERSITY and EQUALITY make for a successful learning environment?

2)   Have you ever been in a situation in which you felt powerless? Describe that moment or incident. How did you deal with it? How did the lack of power make you feel? Were you able to get that power back? How so? BE SPECIFIC

3)   Have you ever been in a situation where you have unfairly taken power from someone else? Describe that moment of incident. How was this situation resolved? BE SPECIFIC

Type your responses to these questions, double-spaced, two page minimum.





GOAL-SETTING:

Think about your goals for the year, type them up and give them to Greg by the end of the week. Think about our discussions of HARD WORK, LEADERSHIP and ATTITUDES TOWARD LEARNING when setting your goals.

COURT:

Court quiz on Friday (1st period). Quiz will cover the laws contained in the constitution.
 

Tuesday, August 31, 2011

GOAL-SETTING:

Think about your goals for the year, type them up and give them to Greg by the end of the week. Think about our discussions of HARD WORK, LEADERSHIP and ATTITUDES TOWARD LEARNING when setting your goals.

COURT:

Court quiz on Friday (1st period). Quiz will cover the laws contained in the constitution.

FRAMEWORK OF VALUES

Assignment Four (Due Tomorrow, Wednesday, August 31^st)

Reread the section entitled ATTITUDES TOWARD LEARNING and consider the following questions.

1)   One of the things discussed in the section titled ATTITUDES TOWARDS LEARNING is the importance of cooperative learning in which ideas are shared. Have you ever been in a situation where a classmate does not participate in cooperative learning or in other words, group projects? In this situation, how did the quality of the group work suffer (if at all)? How did it make you feel when a classmate did not put in the same effort as you? BE SPECIFIC

2)   Have you ever been in a situation in which you did not cooperate with others and/or did not put forth full effort despite the fact that your classmates were counting on you to match their hard work? What ultimately happened with the project or the assignment? How did your lack of effort make you feel? BE SPECIFIC

3)   Have you ever been in a situation in which a person displayed a NEGATIVE ATTITUDE toward learning?  How did the person influence the learning environment?  How did he/she interfere with your (or other's) learning? BE SPECIFIC

Type your responses to these questions, double-spaced, two page minimum.

7th GRADE CREATIVE WRITING

CREATING EXTRAORDINARY SCENES

DUE THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2^nd

Take the following summary of a scene and make it into a dramatic, riveting and compelling scene. (Please stay away from the ridiculous.) Please type your work.

The woman from the foster home said that they were nearly to the place where the girl would live. It was raining. When they got there, the girl noticed that the town was sort of weird and sad. At the house, the two foster parents came out to see who their new daughter was. The foster mom thought there was something odd about the girl and she said so. The girl did not want to come into the house.

SCENE = DETAILS (of setting and character), ACTION, DIALOGUE 

Monday, August 29th, 2011

FRAMEWORK OF VALUES

Assignment Four (Due Wednesday, August 31^st)

Reread the section entitled ATTITUDES TOWARD LEARNING and consider the following questions.

1)   One of the things discussed in the section titled ATTITUDES TOWARDS LEARNING is the importance of cooperative learning in which ideas are shared. Have you ever been in a situation where a classmate does not participate in cooperative learning or in other words, group projects? In this situation, how did the quality of the group work suffer (if at all)? How did it make you feel when a classmate did not put in the same effort as you? BE SPECIFIC

2)   Have you ever been in a situation in which you did not cooperate with others and/or did not put forth full effort despite the fact that your classmates were counting on you to match their hard work? What ultimately happened with the project or the assignment? How did your lack of effort make you feel? BE SPECIFIC

3)   Have you ever been in a situation in which a person displayed a NEGATIVE ATTITUDE toward learning?  How did the person influence the learning environment?  How did he/she interfere with your (or other's) learning? BE SPECIFIC

Type your responses to these questions, double-spaced, two page minimum.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Assignment Three (Due Monday, August 29^th)

Reread the section entitled EXCELLENCE AND HARD WORK and consider the following questions.

1)   What does HARD WORK mean to you? How do you measure HARD WORK? Give a SPECIFIC example—in school or out of school—in which you feel you succeeded in working hard. How did it make you feel when others recognized your hard work? How did it make you feel when you were able to recognize your own hard work? BE SPECIFIC

2)   The second sentence of this section calls special attention to the concept of LEADERSHIP—Paideia expects all students to strive toward excellence in LEADERSHIP as well as in academics, athletics and the arts. What is your definition of LEADERSHIP? Describe a situation in which you established yourself as a leader. How did your success as a leader make you feel? Describe a situation in which you chose not to lead. Why did you make this decision? BE SPECIFIC

Type your responses to these questions, double-spaced, two page minimum.

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

Framework of Values

Assignment Two (Due Friday, August 26^th)

Read The Paideia School’s Framework of Values to your parent(s). Or give them the document to read. Then ask your parents the following two (2) questions:

1)   Do any aspects of the Framework of Values connect to the reasons why you wanted me to go to school at Paideia?

2)   Are there any other reasons why you decided to send me to Paideia?

Record the answers to these questions and type them up. Please shoot for a one page, double-spaced response.

NO COURT QUIZ TOMORROW

2nd Annual MaGr Scavenger Hunt

Congratulations to Katherine, Ean, Erica and Houston for winning the 2nd Annual MaGr Scavenger Hunt.










Just out of the running. 





 

Hannah thinks it's too hot.

A valiant effort but a very late finish.

Started strong but stumbled on CCXLVI. 

  

 Right in front of their eyes.....

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

Be sure to make your way all the way to the end of this blog post. It's huge and full of important information.

Here is the homework for the 1st assignment of our Framework of Values project.

Assignment One (Due Thursday, August 25^th)

Read The Paideia School’s Framework of Values.

Click on the link below to find our:  Framework of Values 

Make a list of questions based on the document. For example: Are there words you don’t understand? Are their ideas in the document that confuse you? Are there concepts that you can’t wrap your head around?

BE SPECIFIC with your questions. Please shoot for 10 questions. TYPE up your questions and bring to school on Thursday.

ALL SPECIALISTS CLASSES BEGIN TOMORROW EVERYONE GOES TO MUSIC FIRST PERIOD -- INCLUDING BOYS CHORUS

7th Graders: FirstClass Homework: Download FirstClass client and install it on your home computer.  Then send an email to yourself.

Here are the instructions for using FirstClass at home and at school:

Using FirstClass (please click) 

8th graders: The 1st drafts of your speeches are due Monday, August 29th. You should be working on them this week. Don't procrastinate.


8th graders: Write two quiz questions for the 7th grade Court quiz based on your section of the Court presentation.


7th graders: You will be having a Court quiz on Friday. Review the 8th grade presentation that has been sent to you via email.

If you made it all the way down to the bottom of this post, congratulations! If you come up to me tomorrow and say the word EARTHQUAKE, you will receive a prize. Don't tell anyone. Let them find this message themselves.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Welcome to Martha and Greg's Homebase 2011-2012!

Our Decatur Square Scavenger Hunt will take place tomorrow. Please wear comfortable shoes and bring money for lunch.

Specialist classes will begin on Thursday.

Six -Word Memoirs are due tomorrow. Here are the instructions:

SIX-WORD MEMOIRS

Can you describe your life in six words?

Can you tell us who you are in six words?

Try it.

In order for all of us to get to know each other better, we are going to play a game involving SIX-WORD MEMOIRS.

The first step is to write your memoir…. in six words. Be as a creative as possible. Make your memoir specific and unique to you.

Here are some examples for inspiration:

Animals are my passion, even lions.

Ignores everything except fun and sun.

Needed dance partner. Grabbed the broom.

Played baseball, ended up broken nose.

Twelve years. Always the same mood.

Still sleeps with stuffed animal ghost.

Born to be a spy, unnoticeable.

King of the torturing sister club.

Facebook, Twitter, Google+. Lonelier than ever.

For tomorrow, come up with three (3) six-word memoirs. In class, you will choose your best one.

IMPORTANT: Do not share your memoirs with any of your classmates. If you do, the game we will play will not be as fun or as exciting.

You can either email your three memoirs to Martha or Greg or type each one on a separate piece of paper and bring all three to class.