8F, 8M, 8R- Read for 30 minutes and record. Bring in an example of a sentence containing a comma. 8R- Social Studies  Choose a news story and be prepared to report on it during tomorrow's class. Write down the topic of the news item and where you heard it (internet, radio, TV newscast).  Answer the main questions: Who? What? Where? When? Why? There are still a few students who didn't comment on their classmates' blogs!!

Reminder to everyone: wear blue tomorrow to support our anti-bullying campaign. All classes need to submit their Common Comma Omissions sheet.  You need to find one example of each rule.  That’s five examples in all.  See yesterday’s post about when your reading letter is due. 8M, yours is due tomorrow.  Type it up and submit on line or bring it in on a thumb drive. You can email it to me as a third option.  Check out staff on our website for details.Don't worry about the weather. You can dance the night away on Tuesday! :)

Reminder to all students to sell their tickets. Draw is on Friday.We attended a very moving ceremony at NBCC about Violence Against Women.  Some of our students read names ofwomen who were killed in N.B. We also had a candle lighting ceremony and minute of silence. 8F-  Read 30 minutes and record.  Check your blog to make sure it was posted.  If not, read the teacher comments and resubmit.8M-  Read 30 minutes and record. Check your blog to make sure it was posted.  If not, read the teacher comments and resubmit.8R- If you didn't comment on two blogs, then do so at home. The comments should be a few lines.  Talk about what youlike about the entry and  be specific.   If you can't find your original reading letter, then do it again.  8F and 8M will be in the lab tomorrow.  

Students received their marked log books if parents want to take a peek at it. Students also received their grammar quizzes and weekly homework which is due on Friday.  Those who did poorly on the quiz have extra practice sheets on the areas of difficulty.   The other students are enriching their vocabulary. 8F- Read and record. Work on your Remembrance Day story.  Bring a memory stick to school so you can type at school and work on it at home.   When you pass in your Remembrance Day story on Thursday, you need to pass in both the draft copy and a typed good copy.  You are in the computer lab tomorrow. 8M & 8R-Read and record. Work on your Remembrance Day story.  You can start it at home, save it on a memory stick, and bring it to school.  We will peer conference tomorrow, so don’t forget your story! J 8M and 8R will have time in the computer lab on Wednesday. Remembrance Day Story will be marked for the following: 1) ideas- Can the reader see it? Hear it? Feel it?                                                                                             2) strong verbs- evidence of revising your first verbs to specific, interesting verbs(“Sour Patch Kids”)   3) organization- Do you have a good hook, a satisfying conclusion, logical order, and paragraphs? 4) transition words- Have you added in transition words? (approx. 1-2 a paragraph) 5) sentence fluency- Do you have varied beginnings? Do you have different types of sentences -questions and exclamatory? 6) Conventions- proper punctuation, capitals, apostrophes, spelling

In keeping with the mood of the day, students wrote scary stories in groups on Halloween and shared them at the end of class complete with sound effects. The groups with the most telling details/ideas will receive their prize tomorrow.  Tuesday, students evaluated their connections to the book Rose Blanche for ideas.  Samples of their written work were sent home to be viewed by parents, signed and returned.  They worked on avoiding sentence fragments and reviewed the parts of speech.  Wednesday during writing workshop, they wrote for twenty five minutes uninterrupted on a piece of their choice.   We have been thinking and reading about Remembrance Day and its importance.   There are many moving examples of poems and essays on the Royal Canadian Legion’s website.  Check out the student winners section for inspiration- http://www.legion.ca/Poppy/contests_e.cfm    Students are to check out this site and think about what Remembrance Day means to them.  They may write a poem, persuasive piece, personal narrative, historical fiction or a letter of thanksgiving to a member of the military.  Students can write as if they are a soldier in battle, write a letter pretending that they are writing home from the war front, or write the details of a family member’s contribution in the armed services- in war or peace keeping. Students should have chosen an idea and the format they want to use for Monday. All marked writing samples should be signed and returned.

8F- Finish the reading letter that you worked on in class.  Follow the guidelines on the handout. Remember that you should answer two prompts and have a conclusion.  Evaluation: Ideas (5), Organization (5), and Conventions (5).    Read for 30 minutes and record.  8M- You should do at least ½ of the assignment. You will have tomorrow’s class to finish as you missed 20 minutes due to picture taking. Read for 30 minutes and record. Drama exploratory- The large groups are presenting tomorrow their silly poems! 8R- Finish the reading letter that you worked on in class.  Follow the guidelines on the handout. Remember that you should answer two prompts and have a conclusion.  Evaluation: Ideas (5), Organization (5), and Conventions (5).    Read for 30 minutes and record.