New Six Word Memoir Wall + Character

As we are gearing up for our vacation next weekend, we are finally starting to turn in some projects for the mid-term. Here are some wonderful six word memoirs that have been posted by sixth graders:

Great Job Sixth Grade! We are working on our video now and that should be out before vacation so make sure you are looking forward to that! 

We are still continuing our journey into understanding the seven laws of success. Below you can see them in poster form that are hanging in our classroom to remind students that these characteristics are important in their daily routine and rituals. 

Tomorrow is a Grit day and we will be looking for all characteristics in our latest pick.. MALALA! 

Secret WORDS!!!

6th Grade: Footprints
7th Grade: Video
8th Grade: NONConformist

*** Remember, in order to be considered for the secret word prize, you must put the word in a doc and share it with me!

Have a great weekend!

The 7 Laws of Success/Accountable Talk

Good Afternoon fellow bloggers!

6th Graders have been busy finalizing their six word memoirs.

7th Graders have been writing their first pieces of flash fiction.

8th Graders are about half way done with their "My Name" assignments.

While working on these assignments students have also been learning and implementing accountable talk in the classroom:

Accountable talk is used to help students learn through discussion. It asks students to listen to other students and be able to respond or counter argue what other students have said. The talk must also require prior knowledge to the subject and rigorous thought.I have been asking my 7th and 8th grade students to conduct accountable talk in circle style seating about a text that all students have read. I provided my students with accountable talk sentence starters and a poster to get started:

7 Laws of Success:

As teachers here at WSMS, we have been asking ourselves, how do we help students build their character? It has come to our attention that character building has become more important to a student's success in the future than perhaps, their IQ, for example. The 7 characteristics of character that are most important are: 

1.) Zest

2.) Self-Control

3.) Grit

4.) Optimism

5.) Curiosity

6.) Social Intelligence

7.) Gratitude

Students learned about each term and then, with a group, we asked to write on each poster with each term on it, an example of how to display the characteristic or the first thing that comes to mind. Below are just some of the finished posters: 

This week is a short week because of the holiday. I sincerely wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving and remind all to express their GRATITUDE this week! 

Secret Words: 

6th Grade: Zest

7th Grade: Optimism 

8th Grade: Self-Control 

Identity Poems! End of Term!

Good Afternoon Everyone!

7th Graders turned in their identity poems for the end of the term and they look great! Students analyzed "Identity" by Julio Polanco is an extended metaphor poem that is below: 

Identity by Julio Noboa Polanco Let them be as flowers, always watered, fed, guarded, admired, but harnessed to a pot of dirt. I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed, clinging on cliffs, like an eagle wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks. To have broken through the surface of stone, to live, to feel exposed to the madness of the vast, eternal sky. To be swayed by the breezes of an ancient sea, carrying my soul, my seed, beyond the mountains of time or into the abyss of the bizarre. I'd rather be unseen, and if then shunned by everyone, than to be a pleasant-smelling flower, growing in clusters in the fertile valley, where they're praised, handled, and plucked by greedy, human hands. I'd rather smell of musty, green stench than of sweet, fragrant lilac. If I could stand alone, strong and free, I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed.

Polanco tells us a lot about his character by comparing his own personality with that of a weed. Polanco explains that he’d rather be a “tall, ugly, weed” than a “pleasant-smelling flower” because a weed is free in the wild. Our students did their own extended metaphor poems by finding something that they could identify themselves with and writing about it. From cars to animals to food, our students were very creative!

Great Job 7th Graders! 

Now it's time for the secret word!!!

8th Grade: Grit

7th Grade: Perseverance

6th Grade: Overcome

National Writing Day Part Two

Although the tweet board was a success with my own personal classes on Monday, it also important that we try to connect through the rest of the school. This year's theme, #write2connect, asks us to connect with others through writing. We tried to reach out to other classes, students and staff members to all answer the same question: 

What would you want to accomplish before you are 100 years old? 

Through our 'connected people chain' students and staff wrote their answers to this question. It was a success and it was great being able to connect with others. Pictures below!

The National Day of Writing Part One

#Write2Connect

The National Day of Writing occurs every year on October 20^th. This year’s theme asks us to reflect on the ways in which we connect through our writing. Many of us today may connect through various forms of technology and different social medias.

I asked my students to think about how they write, why they write and what helps them write better. Since social media is a popular form of writing, we decided to connect our writing through a tweet on a twitter themed board. You will see a variety of thoughts through writing about writing in celebration of National Writing Day. #write2connect

October Projects

8th Grade Sunglasses 

These 8th Grade sunglasses were inspired by the poem, "Sunglasses"  by Angela Shelf Medearis 

The sunglasses that students created were double sided: 

Side 1 = How you view yourself

Side 2 = How others view you

Students collaged these sunglasses with words and symbols from magazines. 

They must have had 10 words and 6 symbols. 

They also accompanied these sunglasses with a Haiku (3 lined poem: 5, 7 , 5 syllables)

Below are some great examples from students. You will see the outside of the glasses on the student's face which is what others see them as, while they are also looking at the glasses to show how others view them. 

                      

7th Grade: 

Update: We have been conducting our annual 7th grade lyrics study. So far we have studied India Arie's "Video" and now we have moved on to India Arie ft. Akon's "I Am Not My Hair". 

Both songs have themes of individuality and stereotypes. A controversial question that was posed on students is how do we judge others by their appearance? The discussions have been outstanding. 

6th Grade 

6th Grade has almost finished their first picture book, The Secret Footprints by Julia Alvarez. This fictional story deals with vocabulary words such as identity, stereotypes and discrimination. Students have been diligently taking notes and making predictions throughout the book. 

Students have also been presenting their own identity powerpoints to the class which is both nerve-racking and exciting all at the same time! Good job students, they've been great so far! I'm looking forward to seeing more next week! 

- - Until next time.... Ms. Favolise