Renzulli, SnapGrades, email

361 - I have uploaded a holiday assignment on Renzulli.com. If you have completed your learning profiles, you should be able to access it. If you don't have one, you need to speak with me.

Remember, parents and students, you may email me whenever you have a question. My email is trbasile@gmail.com.

SnapGrades is here!

SnapGrades is up. I have uploaded all of my students into the system. Everyone has received his or her password. Parents will receive information about passwords as well so they can monitor their children's progress.

Alternative book projects

I've assigned Book Talk #6 for all of my classes to be turned in on Monday, December 8th. I have prepared a list of five alternative assignments to do *instead* of a book talk.

Book Review: Write a review of the book you have read in the style of a book review you might find in a magazine or newspaper. TeenInk.com has a lot of good ones.

Book Advertisement: Create a movie poster advertising the book you've finished. Include a (half-page typed, full-page handwritten) summary of the book.

Rap/Poem: Write a rap or a poem inspired by the book you read. It should discuss characters, plot, and setting.

Diorama: Create a three-dimensional diorama of a scene from the book. Include a paragraph summarizing the scene.

Character Journal: Write a (one-page typed, two-page handwritten) journal from the point of view of one of the characters in your book. Take a scene and write about it from a character's perspective.

If you do not wish to do any of these alternative projects, you may do a standard Book Talk instead.

In ALL of these assignments, you must include the title of the book, the author of the book, and YOUR NAME. I have many homework assignments with no name on them.

Spelling bee

I just witnessed and judged the spelling bee and I want to send congratulations to Jessica from 382 for winning second place! Aiyanna from 361 also participated and did very well. I'm proud of both of you.

Conferences and celebrations

I was pleased to see many parents last night at parent-teacher conferences. Thank you to those who came. If anyone would like to contact me about work, you may email me at trbasile@gmail.com.

I also would like to congratulate the students of the month for the month of October!:

382 - Jugens
383 - Andrew
361 - Coty

These students have a 100% homework turn-in rate, excellent behavior, and great classwork. Congratulations to you all. I will arrange your independent library periods soon. (Dunessa, I haven't forgotten about yours; I have to reschedule because I didn't want you to miss class today).

Renzulli update, parent/teacher conferences

My original goal was to take all three classes to the computer lab by Friday, November 21st, to set up their Renzulli accounts. Unfortunately, I will be missing two periods with 383 this week because of our half-day tomorrow. I will take 383 to the computer lab next week when we have a free period.

I hope to see all of my students' parents tomorrow at parent-teacher conferences. Remember, the two sessions take place during 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm and 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Shannon of 382 and Octavia from 361 to making the Bildersee chorus! I can't wait to hear you girls sing.

Marking Period 2

Dear students and parents,

The second marking period is upon us and I'm very excited about some of the changes and new programs that will be integrated into our ELA classes.

SnapGrades - SnapGrades is an online gradebook where students and parents can log in to view their progress in class. I will give you all your login accounts so you can check your progress any day of the week. I hope to accomplish this in the next few weeks.

Renzulli - Renzullilearning.com is an exciting website where students create a learning profile and find thousands of activities geared to their interests and needs. I will take each of my classes to the computer lab to sign up for this website. Every class should create a profile by Friday, November 21.

Book Talks - Book Talk #4 will be due on Monday for all classes. Students should follow the book talk format for this assignment. By the end of next week, I hope to create an independent menu of different book talks, where students can respond to their books creatively.

I look forward to the new marking period. Exciting changes are coming!

Good news and bad news

First, here's the good news. I'd like to congratulate the students in every class that currently have an average of 90 or above.

383: Dunessa, Andrew, Aharon
361: Keisha, Cordero, Coty, Octavia

Keep up the good work, kids!

Other students are close to achieving the 90% mark. Here are the students that currently have an average of 80 or higher.

382: Jugens, Jennifer, Rene, Matthew, Shawn
383: Regina, Natasha
361: Nijiko, Charisma, Teliyah

Another group of students is improving after the most recent progress report. Here are the students that currently have an average of 70 or higher.

382: Alester, Ruth, Jeff, Diamond
383: Kevin, Allison
361: Mosiah, Ayianna, Victoria

Unfortunately, with the good news comes some bad news.

If you do not see your name on one of these lists, it means you have a 65 average and are barely passing, or it means you are currently failing the first quarter.

Do your homework. You may also see me about work that you can make up.

Reading log

I had this reading log assignment written on the chalkboard all week. I'm posting it here as well in case someone missed the homework.

Every night:
Read for 30 minutes

Date:
Title:
Author:
Pages Read:

MONDAY - COMPARE AND CONTRAST
Using a T-chart or a Venn Diagram, compare and contrast two characters or events in the book you're reading.

TUESDAY - MAKING PREDICTIONS
Write a 2-sentence summary of what you read. Then write 2-3 sentences about what you think will happen next.

WEDNESDAY - VISUALIZING
Draw a picture of a scene that you read. Explain why you chose this scene to draw.

THURSDAY - VOCABULARY
Write 5 words you don't know OR 5 words that are important in the book.

This is due on Friday for all classes.

Students of the Month

Congratulations to September's Students of the Month!

382 - Shawn
383 - Dunessa
361 - Keisha

These students have a 100% homework turn-in rate and have demonstrated a positive attidude, a good work ethic, and respect for themselves, other students, and their teacher.

Shout-outs to other students with a 100% homework turn-in rate. I have my eye on you for Students of the Month in October!
382 - Matthew, Rene
383 - Regina, Aharon, Andrew
361 - Octavia, Coty

Thanks to all my students and colleagues who wished me a happy birthday today.

ETA: I picked a pretty template for my blog and all I see on the school computer is a boring gray background! How did that happen?

Great book talks

I've graded your book talks - those of you who have turned them in - and I want to congratulate certain students on their excellent work. These students all received a high 3 or a 4 on their book talks.

382:
Tommoi
Shannon

383:
Regina
Dunessa
Tiona
Aharon

361:
Stephan
Keisha (perfect score!)
Octavia

The rest of you are on your way to achieving high 3s. This is only Book Talk #1; you still have plenty of time to improve throughout the year.

Most of you still have yet to turn in a book talk. Remember -

- You should be finishing an independent reading book and writing a book talk every two weeks.
- The book talk and the Sourcebook are worth 40% of your grade.
- If you are reading a book that is very challenging, or a book that is very long, you may write two or more book talks on the same book. For example, you would write one book talk on Chapters 1-18 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and another book talk on Chapters 19-36. See me ahead of time if you think you need to do two book talks on the same book.

Mistake

I edited my last entry about grading guidelines and checklists. This is why I'm not a math teacher.

Book Talk example

In my last post, I reminded all of you of the importance of turning in your book talks. I also published a grading checklist to guide you in your reading your writing. The following is an example of a book talk that would earn the full 40 points in this class:

Title: Reluctantly Alice

Author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Information about the author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor experienced several embarrassing moments in seventh grade. Alice’s adventures in this book are based on some of the author’s experiences.

Summary: Alice McKinley has one goal for her seventh grade year: she wants everyone to like her. Unfortunately, she runs into several problems that make this goal difficult to achieve. Her main conflict has to do with Denise Whitlock, a big, ugly eighth grader who’s always bullying Alice. Denise teases Alice for having a dead mother and laughs if Alice falls down in gym class. One day, Denise and her friends corner Alice and try to make her sing the school song. Alice doesn’t want to because she has a terrible voice, and the eighth graders threaten to dunk her head in a stopped-up toilet. Alice’s brother Lester stops by the school and rescues her just in time, but after that, Denise’s bullying gets even worse. Eventually, Alice figures out how to solve the problem. For an English class project, Alice picks Denise to be her partner, knowing that Denise will have to be nice to her in order to get a good grade. At first, Denise ignores Alice and refuses to answer her questions. After the girls meet a couple of times, Denise starts to be nicer to Alice, and they finish their project and get a good grade on it. They even find out they have something in common: neither one feels completely comfortable within her family. Alice loves her father and brother but misses her mother, and Denise is the youngest of six kids and feels unwanted and unloved by her parents. Alice and Denise solve their conflict and act nice to each other from now on.

This is the main conflict of the book, but Alice experiences other problems as well. She and her ex-boyfriend Patrick accidentally embarrass their history teacher and work on a special project for class to make it up to him. The school newspaper prints an interview with Alice, and she gets into a fight with both of her best friends, Pamela and Elizabeth, after they feel jealous of the attention Alice is getting. She arranges a date between her father and her pretty English teacher, Miss Summers, without telling either adult what’s going on. They wind up liking each other, but Alice’s father tells her not to interfere with his love life anymore. Alice also tries to help her brother decide which of his two girlfriends he likes best; this conflict remains unsolved, and it looks like Lester will have to juggle between Marilyn and Crystal for several Alice books to come.

Connections: I made a text-to-self connection when Alice and her friends found out that the seventh graders would have to sing the school song on Seventh Grade Sing Day. Alice and Elizabeth were horrified by the idea, but Pamela thought it would be nice to sing in front of a crowd because she has a good voice. If that happened to me today, I would probably react the same way that Pamela did.

Recommendations: I recommend this book to girls between ten and thirteen; the subplot about Lester and his girlfriends is inappropriate for anyone younger than ten, and girls older than thirteen would find it babyish. I think some boys might enjoy the book too; they might think Lester and Patrick are funny. This book is the third in the Alice series, so if people want to read it, they should read the first two books beforehand: The Agony of Alice and Alice in Rapture, Sort Of.

Sourcebooks and Book Talks

Just a quick reminder that Book Talk #1 for eighth graders are due tomorrow and Sourcebook checks begin tomorrow for ALL students. If you do not have a Sourcebook by the time I collect them to grade, you will receive a 0 on the assignment. Please take this very seriously, as Sourcebooks and Book Talks are 40% of the grade in this class.

To put it another way, if you have a 0 average for Sourcebook checks and Book Talks, the highest grade you can achieve in my class is a 60. A passing grade is a 65. You will not pass this class without working in your Sourcebook or turning in Book Talks.

Here is the grading checklist I use for book talks:
The title and author are included - 5 points

The information about the author explains how the author’s life influences the text - 5 points

The summary covers the beginning, middle, and end of the book, discusses the main conflict and how it’s resolved, and briefly describes any subplots.
(In the case of non-fiction, the summary should mention the most important things the reader learned from the book). - 10 points

There is a text-to-self, text-to-text, or text-to-world connection to a specific incident in the book using details from the book - 1o points

There is an explanation of whether or not the book should be recommended to other readers. The recommendation focuses on a particular audience of readers. - 1o points

This is how the Sourcebook will be graded:
The Table of Contents is accurate and up-to-date
- 5 points

Every entry is clearly marked with a title and page number
- 5 points

Every entry begins on a new page
- 5 points

Every entry has complete, original work from the student
- 25 points

Good luck!

Homework & due date reminder

This is a reminder for all students and parents. This is the homework that is past due:

- An ELA contract signed by the student AND the parent/guardian (5 points)
- Five summer reading responses (5 points each/25 points in total)
- The first weekly reading log (20 points)
- The My Goals Essay, all three drafts (25 points)

Here are the due dates for upcoming assignments:

9/19/08, Friday - The second weekly reading log (2o points)
9/22/08, Monday, 382 & 383 - Test prep packet #1 (10 points)
9/22/08, Monday, 361 - Book Talk #1 (40 points)

Rubrics and guidelines for these assignments will be posted shortly.

- Ms. Basile

Introduction

My name is Ms. Basile and I teach sixth and eighth grade at Isaac Bildersee Middle School in the Academy of Global, American, and Community Connections. On this blog, I will post information about upcoming assignments and class projects, field trips, celebrations of student achievement. I plan to update this blog several times a week to keep students and parents informed about what is going on in the classroom.

I'm excited to start school tomorrow. I hope everyone else is, too!