Monthly Archives: April 2018

Block 2 LA Update — Final one!

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If you are looking for 8th Grade Seminar Updates, click here.  This is for Block 2 only.
I’ve had so much fun with your student these past two months.  It is amazing how quickly the end of the trimester is coming — we have a mere 10 days remaining of LA!
Here’s a few upcoming due dates of note.  My hope is that most of this work gets done in class, although there may be a bit of spillover.
Thursday, April 26th:  Final Design a School Project due.
Tuesday, May 1st:  Reading PSR due
Friday, May 4th:  We’ll be going to see the musical TOMMY at the DCPA.  All students should dress up for the performance.
Wednesday, May 10th: Final day of class.
I’m hoping we’ll be able to take our final I-ready assessment on March 8th, but I’m still waiting on confirmation on these dates.
Thank you for all your continued support!  -JF

Co-op Update — Week of 4/23 and 4/30

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A few links of note:
1) End-of year conference schedule.  Thank you all for signing up,.
2) End of year portfolio requirements.  These must be complete prior to your student’s conference.
Core groups start this week as we’ll begin preparing for our Spring Trip adventure.  We still have LOTS of needs for volunteers.
3) Wanna join us on Spring Trip.  Please complete a driver’s form here.
4) Wanna help us prepare for the trip.  Here’s the ADSTG volunteer sign-up.
On Friday 4/27 and Thursday 5/3 — students will be headed out of the building for their ADSTG (All day spring trip groups).  Students should dress appropriately for the weather/activity (we’ll help prep them) and a sack lunch.
On Friday 5/4, the entire CHOICE program will be attending Tommy at the DCPA.  All students should plan on dressing up for the event.
There will also be lots of other needs (tents, cooking supplies, etc.) that your student will let you know about in the coming days.
Thank you for all your continued support!  I look forward to celebrating your student’s accomplishments during conferences.  -JF

8th Grade Seminar Update — Final One!

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The end of the year always approaches fast and we have a mere 10 days left of seminar this semester.  Our primary focus will be learning how to write a literary analysis, but there are lots of other things happening.
Upcoming dates of note:
Tuesday, 4/24:  Students should have finished reading To Kill A Mockingbird
Thursday 4/26: Reading PSR due (and signed off for portfolio.)  (PSR Task Description)
Tuesday, 5/1:  To Kill a Mockingbird Final Project due.  (Literary Analysis Task Description).  (This project must be turned in via hard copy)
Wednesday 5/2:  End of Semester Rubric due via google classroom
Thursday 5/4:  CHOICE (entire program) headed to see Tommy at the DCPA!  All students should dress for the occasion.
Tuesday 5/9: Thank yous due,  We’ll talk 8th grade goodbyes.
Wednesday 5/10:  Final day of seminar.
Thank you for all your continued support!  Your kids are awesome.

8th Grade Seminar Update — Week of 4/17/18

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We are finally done with CMAS testing!  We still need to do one last round of I-ready assessments, but that will take place in May.  This week, we’ll dive back into our Book Group Discussions as well as learn a bit about the connections between TKAM and the Scottsboro Boys.   Here are upcoming due dates:
Tuesday: 4/17:  Chapters 18-25 of TKAM due with annotations.
Tuesday, 4/24:  Book Complete.  We’ll start the final TKAM project
Have a wonderful 4-day weekend!  -JF

LA Update (Block 2) — Weeks of 4/9 and 4/16

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This page is for my LA Block 2 class.  If you are looking for 8th grade seminar, click here.

We’ll be working on the following in class:

  •  Reading A Tale Dark and Grimm
  • Continuing work on tracking our thinking in our independent novels.
  • Developing our “ideal teachers” for our design a school project and if time allows — descriptions of students.
  • Starting work on I-ready.  We haven’t started this yet and enthusiasm for doing so is low.  We’re going to start just by taking a few of the I-ready tests together to try and see if we can demystify the format a bit.
  • Working on our non-fiction article study.
    Due dates TBA — but I’m trying to keep most of the work completed in class.  Thank you for all your continued support!   -JF

Co-op Update — Weeks of 4/9 and 4/16

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Here’s the schedule for our end of year conferences.  Please sign up by typing your student’s name into a slot at your convenience.  Prior to the conference, students will need to complete all portfolio requirements.  We really end up with only about 30 minutes a week to work on the non-academic reflections during co-op, so students will likely need to complete some of thinking at home.
Friendly reminders:
  • No School 4/13 and 4/16
  • Want to join us for Spring trip? Complete driver’s form here.
  • 4/12 — Spring Trip Parent Meeting.  (Highly encouraged)
  • 4/17 and 4/18:  POLs — Check with your integrated teacher (or your student) for a schedule.
  • As always, check out the CHOICE weekly for more happenings.
Thank you for all your continued support!  -JF

Fast Food Nation Update — Final One!

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Thank you all for a fantastic semester in Fast Food Nation.  I’ve really enjoyed teaching (and learning with) your student this Spring.  As class is rapidly coming to a close, we’ll be working on our POLs during our last few days together. I’ve included the presentation schedule for POLs in this email.  We hope you will join us!

In addition, definitely ask your student about our adventure to Kilt Farms and the National Center for Genetic Resources Protection.  We were lucky to travel to some pretty amazing places.  The seed vault was incredible and I’ve included a few photos that were taken by Kristen Boyer at the farm at the conclusion of this email as an fyi…

Fast Food Nation Due Dates:

Monday the 9th:  Students should have their POL movie scripts written and ready for recording.

Wednesday the 11th:  POL Rough Drafts due.  Students will be delivering their POLs to classmates for final review/feedback.

Tuesday the 17th/Wednesday the 18th — POLs (see schedule below)

Thursday the 19th: Course Rubrics due (introduced in class)

Friday the 20th:  Slow food brought in for our final class/party.  We’ll be watching “The Founder” on this day which details the history of Ray Kroc and the McDonald’s Brothers.  It is rated PG-13 for language.  Please let me know if you have any concerns about your student watching this film.

Thank you for all of your support!  -JF

——-

CLASS:

DATE & TIME

 Fast Food Nation

PRESENTING

Tuesday

April 17th

1:40 pm
  1. Alex F.
  2. Michael F.
  3. Sam T.
  4. Vincent H.
  5. Jade
  6. Wes
  7. Poppy

Tuesday

April 17th

2:45 pm
  1. Taytem K.
  2. Bella
  3. Jackson R.
  4. Noe
  5. Ava
  6. Della
  7. Kiryu

Wednesday

April 18th

1:35 pm
  1. Mollie
  2. Corbin
  3. Simone
  4. Anders H.
  5. Jayson
  6. Anders W.

Wednesday

April 18th

2:40 pm
  1. Heidi
  2. Klara
  3. Asa
  4. Isabella G.
  5. Kara
  6. Giovi
  7. Miles

8th Grade Seminar Update — Week of 4/9/18

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Students will be taking Science CMAS this week during seminar.  Students should continue to be reading/listening and annotating To Kill A Mockingbird.
 
Upcoming due dates:
8:30am on Monday:  Some students requested an extension on their character map.  These should be turned in by this time.
Tuesday, April 16th (after four day weekend):  Chapters 18-25 in To Kill A Mockingbird.
Have a.great week!  -JF

LA Update — Week of 4/2/18

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This page is for my LA Block 2 class.  If you are looking for 8th grade seminar, click here.

In LA this week, we’ll be continuing our work of tracking our thinking as readers.  We’ll be starting with a new book called A Tale Dark and Grimm — it’s a great modern version of the Grimm Fairy Tales.  My hope is to also introduce some non-fiction readings this week as well as leaving time for our design a school project.
Due dates this week:
  • Wednesday:  Non fiction article due via padlet on a subject of their choosing.
  • Possibly more TBA
Thank you for your continued support.  -JF

 

8th Grade Seminar Update — Week of 4/2/18

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This week in 8th grade seminar we’ll be developing character maps and conducting some reader’s theater of To Kill A Mockingbird.  Starting on Monday, April 9th, students will be taking the Science CMAS during seminar.

Upcoming due dates:

Tuesday, April 3rd:  Chapters 15-17 due with any of the following annotations.

  • Sensory Images — Pay attention to the movie camera.
  • Important Moments
  • Figurative Language
  • Questions
  • Atticus-isms

Thursday, April 5th:  Character Map  and rubric due by the end of class.

Week of April 9-13: CMAS Science during 8th grade seminar.

Tuesday, April 17th:  Chapters 18-25 complete.

Have a terrific week!  -JF